GLR July-August 2025

profits, all of which are stepping in to promote what the Amer ican Library Association and the Association of American Pub lishers call “the freedom to read.” Programs like the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned initiative, which offers free digital library cards to teens nationwide, are helping young peo ple bypass bans. Now, some states—primarily those led by De mocrats—are pushing back on restrictions at the legislative level. In Illinois and New Jersey, laws have been passed to pro hibit book bans based solely on sexual or gender identity, with other states beginning to follow suit. Harvard University has also begun to resist President Trump and the right’s attempts to infiltrate education. On the pretext that it was acting to combat anti-Semitism at Harvard— where many students had exercised their right to protest in sup port of Palestine—the administration issued a set of outrageous demands that included interference in hiring practices and classroom content. Harvard refused. In a letter to the govern ment, President Alan Garber wrote: “No government—regard

less of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Garber’s statement came after the administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and Harvard’s refusal to comply with major changes to higher education pushed by the federal government—including audits that promote “viewpoint diver sity” and overhauling the admissions and hiring process. In re sponse to Harvard’s refusal, the administration acted to freeze federal funding to Harvard and threatened to end its tax-ex empt status. The Trump administration’s attack on Harvard is part of a broader conservative effort to limit access to accurate informa tion about the nation’s history. This effort encompasses not only schools and universities, but also public institutions such as mu seums and national historic sites. They have tried to strip the Smithsonian Institution of any content deemed “anti-Ameri can”—including representations of slavery, internment camps,

The View from Scandinavia TRAVEL MEMO

A DAM M.M C M AHON L ET ME BEGIN this informal survey of reactions in Scandinavia to the Trump presidency with salient devel opments relevant to this region’s LGBT people. The return of Donald Trump to the White House has been accompanied by a litany of executive actions that have changed the course of world politics. In his first few months, the administration has withheld funds appropriated by Congress for foreign aid, which in turn risks HIV / AIDS prevention efforts in several countries, ac cording to the World Health Organization. This includes Ukraine, a country plagued by war since Russia began its war of aggres sion there in 2022. President Zelensky vis ited the Oval Office in February, seeking to secure continued military assistance from the U.S. Instead, he was treated to a public admonishment by Trump and his advisors that seemed more like a setup. Walking back commitments to allies can only unnerve European allies, who warily eye Putin’s attempts to create a Greater Rus sia by influencing and invading its neigh bors. Of course, doing so would be a setback for LGBT people in occupied lands, as Putin has demonstrated his dictatorship is fully capable of scapegoating those who identify as queer. The absence of demo cratic government exposes those who expe rience same-sex attraction to potential violence and death. The recent shift in affin ity on the part of the U.S. toward Russia is a feature of the extreme polarization of Re publicans and Democrats, which results in abrupt policy shifts when control of the

government changes hands. Under Trump, this tendency has gone global, as the chaos is now exported to allies and enemies alike. LGBT people around the world are increas ingly likely to be caught in the crossfire. E ARLIER THIS YEAR , I traveled to Scandi navia to investigate how these develop ments were impacting the queer community. As a gay man and a political scientist, my purpose in speaking to people that I encoun tered in Sweden and Denmark was three fold. First, I wanted to understand how increasing polarization impacted Sweden as it warily eyes an aggressive and expansion ist Russia. I was also curious how Danes dealt with Trump’s imperialist overtures to absorb Greenland, currently a territory of Denmark. Finally, I wanted to observe how foreign policy shifts emanating from the U.S. affected LGBT people residing in these countries. What I found was an unde niable sense of solidarity in the LGBT com munity. Americans were still welcome everywhere I visited, even as our politics wreak havoc around the world. My partner and I arrived via redeye flight to Stockholm in early spring. We had the privilege of staying with our American friends who had expatriated there a couple of years before. We were fortunate enough to experience what they would normally do over a long weekend: attend a concert, visit fa vorite hangouts, go to a gallery opening, shop at the market, and meet up with friends. Bleary-eyed and jetlagged, after dropping off our bags and wandering the city, we popped into Pub Anchor. This was de scribed to me as a metal bar, but I felt at

home in what Americans would refer to as a nicer dive bar with friendly service, dim lighting, and plenty of beers on tap. We sat at a table shaped like a ship’s wheel and ad mired the other sailing accouterments, in cluding a chandelier made out of (I hope) fake spines with skulls attached. A trio of young bar patrons in the corner asked if we knew how to play Egyptian Ratscrew, and they agreed to interviews in exchange for playing cards with them. Regarding the most recent election, David Lundell, 23, told me both Harris and Trump were bad candidates. “Having two parties to vote for, either Democrats or Republicans, for me is weird because here in Sweden we have many parties.” Elliot Svanberg, a 24 year-old accounting assistant and a reserve member of the Swedish Armed Forces, ex plained that Russia invading Ukraine scared many in his country. In the Baltic Sea, east of mainland Sweden lies Gotland, a strategic lo cation for Russia to seize if it wanted to in vade Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania next. “Swedes are very scared that [Putin] would try to take it like Crimea.” He assured me this specific point unites Swedes across the political spectrum. He confessed he had never met a Trump supporter or visited the States. I asked how his fellow residents felt about Americans, and he replied, “the com mon consensus is a lot of Swedes say Ameri cans are crazy. They have strong opinions and are very radical. Swedes and Europeans are a little more open-minded.” Taya Boonchaisri, a 21-year-old market ing and communications student who moved to Sweden from Thailand with her mother when she was ten, told me that

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