Victoria A. Brownworth

Investigative Journalist at Freelance

Award-winning investigative journo ▪️ 2022 Society of Professional Journalists Award/Newspaper Feature Reporting ▪️2023 NLGJA/Curve Award ▪️ Socialist ▪️Widow

Articles

Health care is a weighted issue for LGBTQ+ people

1 month ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

This story originally appeared in News Is Out. Health care is a weighted issue for LGBTQ+ people. Due to income disparities, particularly for lesbians, bisexual and trans women and people of color, access to health care and essential services is often limited. Among queer and trans people, cancer is more prevalent, HIV is more prevalent, autoimmune disease is more prevalent and substance abuse is more prevalent.
The legacy of Pope Francis

1 month ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

They called him the people’s pope — a charismatic and inspirational leader touched by grace. Pope Francis, controversial head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died early on Easter Monday from a cerebral hemorrhage, sending Catholics and others worldwide into collective mourning.
The escalating risks of free speech

1 month ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

Philadelphians came out en masse on April 5 for the national “Hands Off” march. Despite sketchy weather with intermittent showers, some 10.000 people gathered, marching down Market Street from City Hall to Independence Hall — the very birthplace of American liberty, here in what was once America’s first capital. The march illumined the diversity of our great city. All of Philly’s racial, ethnic and LGBTQ communities were on display. People of all ages were represented.
The Politics of Erasure

2 months ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

March 27 is my wife’s birthday. Maddy Gold was a remarkable artist and an extraordinary teacher. When I posted my original obituary for her, it was on the funeral home website — the same funeral home down the street from my paternal grandparents’ little row home in East Falls. The same funeral home that had buried both my father’s parents, then my mother and father.
Trump tariffs' hidden costs - Philadelphia Gay News

2 months ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

Mainstream media discourse on Donald Trump's new trade wars and reporting on tariffs has not addressed those already living on the edge.
The First Amendment v. Authoritarianism

2 months ago | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

Half my family is Jewish. My late wife was Jewish. I have friends of decades who live in Israel, as well as family. Oct. 7 hit me and my family hard. I only knew one person personally who was murdered in that horrific event — Vivian Silver, a woman whose work as a peace activist I had reported on.
Making America Trump Again

Mar 5, 2025 | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

President Donald Trump delivered a fiery, partisan and deeply divisive speech to members of the House and Senate on March 4. Republicans cheered and clapped constantly while Democrats sat silent, some with small signs decrying the lies with “false” or, objecting to Elon Musk, Trump’s unelected, unconfirmed head of DOGE, “Musk steals.”Early on, Texas Democrat Rep. Al Green was ordered to be removed by Speaker Mike Johnson by the Sergeant at Arms for “disrupting the decorum” of the chamber.
The Cancer in Our Midst

Feb 26, 2025 | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

On Jan. 22, I was rushed to the hospital in what turned out to be a critical condition with bladder and bowel blockages likely related to the five cancer surgeries I had in December. On my third week in the hospital, I crashed — unable to breathe, slipping into unconsciousness, I had to be put on a breathing machine. Doctors removed liters of fluid from my lung with a needle between my ribs. I was unconscious for several days.
Why aren’t soap operas more gay?

Feb 3, 2025 | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

This story originally appeared on News Is Out. Soaps are failing LGBTQ+ viewers. With four network soaps, all of which have been airing for decades, the dearth of representation of LGBTQ+ storylines is disappointing at best. Looking back at queer storylines over the years, soaps seem to be moving backward, not forward, from some groundbreaking characters and storylines that debuted decades ago to little if any representation now.
Cancer, immigration and the price of eggs

Jan 29, 2025 | epgn.com | Victoria A. Brownworth

It’s just past midnight as I write this. It is day seven of my latest hospital stay, having come in by ambulance Jan. 22 right after I filed my story about Donald Trump’s executive order establishing two genders. Like 21 million Americans, I have cancer. So I have been watching Trump’s actions even more closely than usual as they affect me more than just professionally as a journalist or personally as a lesbian.