Kit O’Connell

Kit O’Connell is a genderqueer movement journalist, and digital editor at the Texas Observer, who has lived in Texas since 1998. Their citizen journalism during Occupy Wall Street led to Kit becoming an editor at the formative political blog Firedoglake, where they broke the story of Occupy Austin’s infiltration by six undercover Austin police officers who entrapped activists into felony charges. Later, Kit spent four years writing about the hemp and cannabis industry as an editor at Ministry of Hemp and correspondent for Hemp magazine, where they influenced federal policy into giving Western hemp farmers access to water rights and allowing some people with drug convictions to re-enter the industry. Their journalism has also appeared in Truthout, Yes! Magazine and the Austin Chronicle, among others.