Kit O’Connell (pronouns: they/them) is a movement journalist, radical troublemaker and freelance writer from Austin, Texas.
Kit O’Connell is the former Digital Editor of the Texas Observer. Their writing has appeared in The Austin Chronicle, YES! Magazine, and Deceleration, and Truthout, among other places.
Previously, Kit created A Burner Lexicon and “The Ethical Slut” Read-Along.
Kit O’Connell, gonzo journalist
Raised as an activist and a writer since his teens, Kit became a full-time journalist in 2012 through their involvement with the Occupy Wall Street movement, ultimately joining Firedoglake as an editor and correspondent. They worked for 4 years as the Editor-in-Chief of Ministry of Hemp, a site they made into an important news and information site for the hemp industry and its customers. From July 2022 until February 2024, Kit served as the Texas Observer as Digital Editor.
Kit’s July 2022 article in the Observer, “There Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare” was nominated for 2023 GLAAD Media Award for their detailed critique of harmful reporting about transgender healthcare from the New York Times. Their November 2022 collaboration with photographer Jesse Freidin, “Are You OK? The Lives of Young Trans Texans,” was nominated for a National Magazine Award. That same year, under Kit’s leadership, the Observer became one of the first nonprofit publications to launch its own server on the distributed social network Mastodon—a move that ended up being instrumental in saving the publication from closure during a financial crisis in 2023.
For well over a decade, Kit’s organized, marched, and written on behalf of a variety of causes. They briefly appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show” stirring up shit at the Texas Senate during the 2013 feminist uprising at the Texas Capitol. Media from New Zealand to Scandinavia quoted a press release they wrote announcing the arrest of Santa Claus.
Proudly disabled, polyamorous and nonbinary/(gender)queer, Kit lives with their spouse and two cats in Austin, Texas.
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Read Kit’s latest writing & social links.
Follow Kit on Mastodon at @oconnell@federate.social and @kitoconnell@kolektiva.social.
Contact Kit O’Connell: kitoconnell@pobox.com
2013: Now Is The Time To Act — Kit O’Connell with Caitlin Perrone & Taylor Hampton
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