#LGBTQIA+ Issues

[unclevladscorner]

Activism is more than marching in protests

One of the things I've found frustrating is that younger people seem to believe that physical marches are the only form of activism.

I want people to know that when you provide mutual aid; like food money or clothing donations, help preserve and distribute accurate information to help minority groups, write about your experience dealing with oppressive laws and measures, or volunteer to help people in some capacity, you are engaging in activism!

Activism is a very nebulous, multi faceted thing. Maybe what you do feels small, but it can help those around you. Don't feel discouraged because everything feels turned upside down. Every amount of pushback is neccessary to help protect vulnerable people.

I'm already seeing a lot of older trans people who consider their transitions finished retreating to the safety of being fully stealth. I'm choosing not to retire and stay visible, because I've always been a visible queer and pretending I'm not or never was isn't going to change anything for me. I've already lived through the worst people can throw at me, I know I can take it.

Its going to be tough, and many are going to choose to step out of visible positions out of self preservation. If you do, I only ask that you remain active in the background, helping where you feel comfortable without comprimising your health or safety.

Again, I'm asking people to get to know their communities offline. Know where its safe for you to go to be you. Get to know where you can safely get healthcare, mental or physical, and where you can go and are a welcome.

If we see queer content removed en masse from the Internet, you'll have to seek it out in the analog world. Oldies like me will keep making zines, books, and art for you to find. Methods of distribution may need to shift in order to make sure that our art survives.

It was Gay Liberation before it became Pride.

I don't know what to expect yet, but I plan to go on creating queer content regardless of what happens. I will continue to share resources and try to help when and where I can.

As long as we don't give into apathy, we can continue to fight for a better future.

[phillymothman]

There's no good or bad way to be queer and the only wrong way to be a human is to intentionally hurt others and refuse to grow

Just btw

[istoppedlurkingforthis]

There are many days I am horrified by what comes out of uk politicians mouths.

But then something like this appears on my YouTube recommended viewing (what sins have I done to get the Daily Mail recommended to me?) and I have to recalibrate again. Because apparently the bar is so low in 'stupid things politicians seem to genuinely believe' it has to include "some places will Legally Kill you for being gay and that isn't enough to be a refugee" as being one of those stupid things.

Like I'm not an expert on asylum, I know very little. But. I'm going on common sense (foolish) and what I've read over the years in news coverage. And the UN act that Braverman has badmouthed covers people seeking freedom from persecution or risk to life as far as I'm aware. So the fact she's quoted as saying:

"But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection."

Is. Insane.

Wtf.

How do you care so little about people? How?

Look, I don't like people. I feel were all needlessly complicated and I don't understand us. But. People should be allowed to be safe. People should be allowed to escape to somewhere else to be safe (arguments can be had as to how safe the UK wants to be/is considering The Fucking Stupid Bullshit The Government Keeps Saying And Doing). People should have access to food. People should have access to safe shelter.

People shouldn't be stuck on boats against their wills.

Like, its not hard. I don't like people. But that doesn't stop me caring about them or wanting them to be safe, fed, sheltered and as happy as is possible given the circumstances.

Fuck this government for thinking they can say this.

And, I guess fuck us for letting them get comfortable enough that they can.

[thedepressedjuggalette]

I live in the US but if you're in the EU sign this.

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'There's a petition to ban conversion therapy in the EU' to Cas' 'I love you'. /End ID]

If you are a citizen in the EU please sign this petition:

[lgbtransgirl]

Ice cold takes from a Transgender Woman:

Men are not inherently Evil

Everyone has the capacity for evil

Transgender Men are men

Transgender Women are women

Excluding Cisgender Men from your spaces requires Transgender Men to out themselves if they want to engage (Same for Women)

Anyone can be Non-Binary, there is no "look" or requirement

Non-binary masculine presenting people should be welcome in queer spaces, many are just treated as men and predators

Non-binary feminine presenting people should be welcome in queer spaces without being seen as "Woman-Lite"

Edited the wording on the first point because too many terfs keep thinking I'm their friend.

[my-castles-crumbling]

[unclevladscorner]

On sock puppets, pen names and Freydis Moon

First, lets talk about the difference between a pen name and a sock puppet becauese lots of authors use pen names. This includes me.

I use two names- Uncle Vlad is for my games and erotic short stories on itch. I do not intend to take this name off of itch or Tumblr. I will publish Sword of the Voivode under T.G. Joye. This is mostly because my legal name is used by several entities to publish other work already, and I don't want to be mixed up with unrelated works that are not my own.

Sock puppets are almost exclusively online handles used to harass and manipulate people. Freydis used both- sock puppet accounts often tended to also be pen names for other styles of writing.

While neither of these things is a crime per se, some of those alternate personas engaged in digital brown face. While also not a crime per se, it is in very poor taste.

Here's where things get absolutely FUCKED-

Freydis is an award winning latinex author who is; by all accounts, not a latinex person. Freydis also engaged heavily in multiple forms of bullying, which I have been on the recieving end myself. This bullying largely targeted minorities who are underrepresented in fiction- allowing Freydis to boost themselves as a supposedly marginalized author as they harrassed many trans, non binary, and people of color out of publishing own ownvoices work.

I've seen the effects of Freydis's predatory behavior first hand on transmasculine writers- many were afraid to leave their sphere of influence after becoming attached to Freydis, in spite of the bad behavior. Many more were harrassed off of various platforms- like Discord and Twitter- cutting them off from a small but tight knit community.

I am one of those people who was harassed off of Twitter, and have not made any inroads into the digital writing community b/c I feared backlash from Freydis. I've spent the last two years trying to figure out what I was going to do once I released Sword of the Voivode. While not erotica, I still felt fear to publish on Amazon due to Freydis's past harassment. It is a miracle the book has come this far in the process and I will be publishing it later this year.

Many, many more people were manipulated into believing Freydis with an unwavering, cult-like fervor, making it impossible to even have a conversation about years of abuse and manipulation going on behind the scenes.

The Takeaway-

We need to be better to one another, both by being more supportive of those within our own communities and by questioning our loyalty to any one person. We talk about believing victims, but never in the context of bullying and I think that has to change here and now.

We also need to boost each other like there's no tomorrow. Many ownvoices works have been left languishing in obscurity because Freydis took up so much space in multiple minority communties. Boost those books you felt unsafe to do so before. Boost your own. We need to lift each other up and engage with one another more readily to really undo the hurt done to us.

Be safe, and be kind to one another,

-Your Uncle Vlad.

[gor3sigil]

When I say that transmasculine people, including, obviously, binary trans men, don't hold power over women, there's always ONE fucker who's like "oh yeah ? But what if it's a whit, able-bodied perisex transhet man who's papers are all changed, who cispasses and is totally stealth AND is a manager ??? What then ???"

And I'm like, you CAN'T be in good faith rn. I'm not saying this particular case doesn't exist but be for real, it must be one in a fucking million. And even in this case, the dude is one outing away from having all his privileges taken away from him, which isn't the case for cis white men.

Stop nitpicking. Transmasculine people don't hold power over women. Period. If you want a punching bag, aim at the people who are truly after your ass.

[thedepressedjuggalette]

The alternative is literally allowing America to become the next Nazi Germany. I've been posting all day about this but here is some shit so you all can learn WHY voting for Biden is the only way to keep this country from falling apart:

Republicans are using coded language and have a plan anyone can read to systematically gain power to control the entire government so they can put LGBTQIA+ people in literal concentration camps, label them as pedophiles and then execute said "pedophiles". They want to also deport anyone who isn't a white person out of the country be them there legally or illegally. If you don't want to read here are a few videos you can watch. The agenda is called "Project 2025" and it is real. It is backed and made by the Heritage Foundation.

https://youtu.be/9k3UvaC5m7o?si=IWAHC8PLDXMLPci_

https://youtu.be/N69YbLBTF7c?si=qmaeq3g_xAMvJx5L

https://youtu.be/YhN43N7dTDY?si=qvDoDskSfuDlgTnp

https://youtu.be/kF4mT_mx7HI?si=fcWlbf0KDcwRPABs

https://youtu.be/A7OlQG9C4zM?si=hSB33U_t4IS1Kfra

And finally this entire plan will destroy democracy as a whole. There is a reason why Christians love this plan and back this plan, it is because Christianity has always rejected democracy it is the reason why it calls their God a king. They want a monarchy and the proof is here:

https://youtu.be/vx_K80YTSOo?si=bnA0qp7zHlXRTBKR

Vote blue. Vote Biden. If you don't, YOU BETTER NOT FUCKING COMPLAIN the moment the country turns into a fucking fascist dictatorship. You better not complain the moment minorities are put in concentration camps and genocide is at this country's door step. You better not fucking complain because you sat there and did fucking nothing but want to feel morally superior.

Vote before you lose the right to vote.

listen, i hate how biden has responded to the crisis in gaza as much as the next person, but for i cant bear the idea of withholding my vote in the upcoming election… trump just said in the debate that we should “let israel finish the job”

how HORRIFIC. how DISGUSTING. i get that voting for biden feels like we are settling, but the alternative is just so much worse

[jarredlharris]

Live-threading my thoughts while listening to another Thereafter podast discussion with Transvangelical.

The following is a transcript of the live-thread I posted while listening to Thereafter podcast episode 101.

Hey look! There's a new @thereafterpodcast episode! And the snarky episode title already drew me in. Let's do this!

Here's hoping @thepursuinglife and @cortlandcoffey don't take umbrage at me characterizing the episode title as snarky. I like snarky. @thereafterpodcast

I think @thepursuinglife said she and @cortlandcoffey just recorded this episode with @transvangelical yesterday evening, so it's going to be fresh. @thereafterpodcast

.@thepursuinglife is talking about a book called "The Widening of God's Mercy." I've never heard of it. I also don't think I saw the social media discourse about it that Meghan is referring to. @thereafterpodcast

.@transvangelical says that Hays didn't really talk about trans issues and focused on homosexuality. How much of that is because a lot of evangelicals didn't (and still don't) really see the difference? @thereafterpodcast

.@transvangelical: "Why are we still caring what cishet white gays have to say?" Preach, sister! @thereafterpodcast

.@cortlandcoffey: "We talk about Shane Claiborne." Only if people make me! @thereafterpodcast

.@thepursuinglife is calling people who "see the light" to not forget or ignore the harm they've caused prior to their epiphany/change of heart and it's a powerful point. @thereafterpodcast

.@transvangelical is describing how we celebrate progress without celebrating the oppressor who did the bare minimum. Good stuff. @thereafterpodcast

Oh! So THAT'S why we ended up talking about what "ally" means to us in Deconstruction Coffee Hour this morning! @thereafterpodcast

.@transvangelical mentioned Matthew Vines in a tone of voice that suggests she and I have very similar opinions about him. @thereafterpodcast

.@cortlandcoffey: "Meghan isn't saying 'Shut up, white guys.'" No, but I may be at times. @thereafterpodcast

.@cortlandcoffey is suggesting that when maybe privileged people should take a moment to interrogate why they feel the way about certain things when it comes to topics around marginalized people. @thereafterpodcast

.@thepursuinglife is talking about how privileged people talking about some of these topics aren't really "on the ground" seeing the harm being caused. She's right and that is frustrating. @thereafterpodcast

.@transvengelical is pointing out how some of these privileged people are risking a job by being LGBT-affirming while her physical safety is at risk. An important point. @thereafterpodcast

Since @transvangelical mentioned her tendency to make blasphemous jokes, I feel obligated to share her pinned tweet because I love it. @thereafterpodcast

Is Alan Chambers gay-affirming now? I pretty much lost track of him after Exodus shut down. @thereafterpodcast

Oh, @charlotteirene8 got a mention! Awesome! @thereafterpodcast

.@transvangelical is pointing out that policing people's feelings is still oppression. @thereafterpodcast

Another great episode! @thereafterpodcast

[foxleotie]

In case anyone needs a reminder…

Being transgender does not make you intersex.

Going through HRT does not make you intersex. Surgery cannot make you intersex.

Intersex people are born with atypical variations of physical, biological sex characteristics. That is what makes someone intersex.

Perisex trans people (especially on Reddit) have been recently insisting that just being transgender makes you intersex, and therefore able to speak over intersex people on issues that specifically affect us, especially when it comes to dangerous and offensive terminology. This is not true.

Also the idea that you can somehow “make yourself intersex” is untrue. You can make your body more androgynous through things like hormone treatment and surgery, but that does not make you intersex.

Falsely claiming intersex identity based on these things isn’t *always* malicious (though it is often done to speak over us) but it is always harmful.

[thedepressedjuggalette]

Vote blue

Project 2025

If this sounds bad to you, please remember to vote Democrat up and down your ballot from President to the most local elected official

and Mobilize and volunteer this year, any amount of work helps