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I’m actually serious about this, if at all possible, right now is a very good time to request queer books from your local library. Whether they get them or not is not in your control, but it is so important to show that there is a desire for queer books. I will also say getting more queer books in libraries and supporting queer authors are pretty fantastic byproducts of any action.

This isn’t something everyone can do, but please do see if you are one of the people who has the privilege to engage in this form of activism, and if you are, leverage that privilege for all you’re worth.

For anyone who can’t think of a queer book to request, here is a little list of some queer books that I think are underrated and might not be in circulation even at larger libraries:

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco     

Harvard’s Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals by William Wright    

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley   

God Themselves by Jae Nichelle

IRL by Tommy Pico        

The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages             

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom          

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow              

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

Queer Magic: Lgbt+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World by Tomás Prower            

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam   

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon 

Hi Honey, I’m Homo! by Matt Baume      

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw  

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman 

Kapaemahu by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Sacrament of Bodies by Romeo Oriogun     

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods 

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt    

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman    

Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist           

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi             

Peaches and Honey by Imogen Markwell-Tweed      

Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color by Christopher Soto

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so the house of representatives just passed a bill that will now move to the senate to BAN tik tok completely in the united states and they are expected to argue that “national security risks” outweigh the freedom of speech and first amendment rights. biden has already said that if it gets to him, he will sign it. whether or not you use the app…….this is something to be worried about

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In case you haven't heard yet Trans Rights Readathon is this month!

It's set during March 22nd to March 29th in preparation and support for Trans Day of Visibility on March 31st!!! The goal is to read and uplift books written by and/or featuring trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and 2Spirit authors and characters.

There's a huge list of books with trans characters and/or trans authors available on their carrd here as well as places to donate for trans causes.

Happy reading!

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I never want to hear conservatives go on about repressive censorship in China, North Korea, and Iran ever again

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Erin Reed reports:

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, the American Psychological Association announced in a historic policy resolution that it opposes gender-affirming care bans for transgender youth. The association, the largest psychological organization in the world with 157,000 members, declared, “Government bans on gender-affirming care disregard the comprehensive body of psychological and medical research supporting the positive impact of gender-affirming treatments,” and resolves the organization’s support for the necessity of that care for transgender youth and adults.  The policy, which passed 153-9, is the strongest yet from the organization in support of gender-affirming care and represents a major consensus among leading psychologists on the importance of gender-affirming care for youth and adults.

The policy includes several findings and resolutions, such as:

Gender affirming medical care is medically necessary - “the APA underscores the necessity for access to comprehensive, gender-affirming healthcare for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults”

The organization opposes bans on gender affirming care - “the APA opposes state bans on gender-affirming care, which are contrary to the principles of evidence-based healthcare, human rights, and social justice, and which should be reconsidered in favor of policies that prioritize the well-being and autonomy of transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals”

Being trans is not “caused” by autism or post-traumatic stress - “legislative efforts to restrict access to care have involved the dissemination of misleading and unfounded narratives (e.g., mischaracterizing gender dysphoria as a manifestation of traumatic stress or neurodivergence, and equating affirming care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary youth with child abuse), creating a distorted perception of the psychological and medical support necessary for these youth and creating a hostile environment that adversely affects their mental health and wellbeing.”

False information on trans care needs to be combatted - “APA supports efforts to address and rectify the dissemination of false information to ensure the well-being and dignity of transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals”

Discrimination, non-affirmation, and rejection risks suicide - “gender-based bias and mistreatment (e.g., discrimination, violence, non-affirmation, or rejection in response to gender diversity) pose significant harm, including risk of suicide, to the well-being of children, adolescents, adults, and families.”

More here!

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Trigger warnings for the book: homophobia, homophobic violence, gaslighting, bugs, attempted kidnapping, religious trauma and themes, drug use, death, and some gore.

"Camp Damascus" is a New Adult supernatural horror book that focuses on a gay conversion therapy camp in a highly religious town. The main character starts to see creepy figures as well as trying to piece together the weird reactions of her parents and therapist, and it all seems to point to Camp Damascus.

The book delves into some horrific scenarios involving the camp that linger with you on the basis of how Christian churches actively demonize queer folks. I really enjoyed the mysteries throughout and it did pay off in the end. This is a phenomenal horror book which tackles the issues of religious homophobia and these institutions that try to alter a person’s sexuality that still needs discussing, all while doing so in a way that many queer folks can still consume it.

While “Camp Damascus” is supernatural, conversion therapy camps are not. Conversion therapy camps are establishments that have the intended goal of “converting” queer people’s sexuality or gender identity to straight or cisgender. These camps are normally founded by religious groups out of the belief that queer people need to be “fixed” to avoid eternal damnation. These camps, though, do not end up changing the person’s sexuality or gender identity, but rather causes irreputable trauma to the individual. Many survivors of conversion therapy deal with depression, PTSD, and suicidal tendencies afterwards. This book delves into themes not only beyond the terrible reality of conversion therapy camp, but also explores with it's fiction how far the church will go in order to maintain control over their oppressed subjects, personal relationships with religion, and the need to have faith in oneself.

As for representation, this book features an autistic lesbian woman as the main character. It’s not necessarily romance centered, but definitely features a romance for Rose.

From here on out, the material I talk about includes spoilers.

The book starts out introducing us to the main character, Rose, a 20 year old woman living in the very religious town of Neverton, Montana. This town centers on a sect of Christianity by the name of the Kingdom of Pine which was founded by the prophet, Cobel. Early on, the Kingdom of Pine is described as doing multiple things differently from other Christian sects, such as taking children out of public school for two years to study what is called "the four tenets" and very strictly demanding no "secular media" is consumed. The biggest thing this church is well known for is the gay conversion therapy camp located in the town called Camp Damascus. This camp touts a 100% success rate where there has never been a converted person who has regressed.

Most of the mystery leads back to the camp and the Kingdom of Pine, but starts in the first chapter with Rose witnessing a galling figure of a pale woman in a red polo while spending time with her friends. This woman seems imperceptible to any other people. However, when she brings up the woman to her therapist and family, they start to act weird, especially after she sees this woman again after a terrifying incident where she coughs up a swarm of mayflies.

Coughing up mayflies is common throughout the book and is even later discovered to be a symptom of the woman's presence. The usage of flies has particular relevance in Christian mythos, where they often are symbols that demons are present, which ends up being a massive form of foreshadowing in the story.

As mentioned above, it is revealed that the woman is in fact a demon of Christian lore, specifically the demon, Pachid , from the 15th century French story Abramelin the Mage. Soon after Pachid’s name reveal in the book and a grisly event caused by her, Rose encounters another mysterious woman that seems to know who Rose is. The mystery picks up raising questions of “Why is Pachid here?”, “What does Pachid want?”, “Why are the parents and church members acting strange when bringing her up?” and even further of “Who is this woman and why does she know Rose?”.

The book starts to take a turn where the supernatural becomes less metaphysical to the main characters. Whereas a lot of supernatural horror involving demons and chthonic entities uses them in either metaphorical or untouchable ways, this book takes the direction where the demons are tangible and can be dealt with in a physical manner. When Pachid, as well as others in the story, start to get more blatant in their presence, Rose and her eventual friends are able to fight back just like if they were human.

Something else I really like about this book is its messages. Not only is the overall message regarding treating queer folks, but it even has messages of how to respect queer members of religious faiths and how to manage your own beliefs in a religious context. Something that I was genuinely refreshed by was the character, Saul. Saul is found later in the book as one of the previous camp counsellors. He was also a victim of the camp. In contrast to Rose, who, after discovering everything about the Kingdom of Pine, was burnt out from believing in a god, Saul still worshiped the Christian god and still went to Sunday service. The reason I felt refreshed by his character is I have seen many of times where LGBT+ folks will be part of a religion and other members of the LGBT+ community who have shamed them for worshipping or labeled them being a member of the religion as problematic. While this seems to have gotten a lot better in the queer community compared to when I was younger, Saul shows how you can be any religion or faith and be queer at the same time, no matter the oppression you have faced from said religion. You get to decide how you handle that faith and practice it. Saul sets an important example, especially since Rose and Saul both come to have different beliefs.

And speaking of faith, during the book once Rose leaves Christianity, she started to write her own bible versus featuring herself triumphing over evil, and this was so important to see. While Saul represents that you can belong to a faith while being queer, Rose represents how you don't have to have any religion or spiritual faith. You don't have to believe in a god or gods and how faith in yourself is so fucking powerful, I don't have words. Rose writes herself as a mythical hero you would read from the Bible with sword in hand ready to cast evil into the fire which I believe is an image we should all have about ourselves in hard times.

The last major thing worth mentioning involves the ending (paragraph is spoiler for the ending). It shows the lengths the church has been known to go to in order to persecute LGBT+ folks but in a depiction where they make literal pacts with demons in order to punish the groups they deem wrong. The depiction of the Christian Church being close to Hell is not a new one by any means, though seeing a book that wrote them to be blatant about their choices was definitely a grand ending that represents them becoming who they fear the most. The ending also reveals how after employing the demons, they erase the memories of the victims. This is reminiscent of how these camps try to erase who queer people are.

I hands-down recommend this book to anyone who loves horror, let alone the idea of horror revolving around these kinds of establishments. The characters are well-written, there are high stakes involved, and the buildup leaves you constantly guessing and wanting more!

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My voice has been getting a bit deeper with more vocal fry since starting hrt and now constantly wanting to talk in it and play with my voice like a toddler who just learned what singing is

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You don't mind the sex But you mind the gender And I'm sorry for the fact that your child is a trans-a-gender

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100 trans/genderqueer musicians

Bands

Against Me! (rock, folk punk) (x)

The Oozes (punk) (x)

The Hirs Collective (metal, grindcore) (x)

GEL (hardcore punk) (x)

Urn (hardcore punk) (x)

The Black Dresses (noise pop, hardcore hyperpop) (x)

Party Ghost (rock) (x)

Lagrimas (hardcore punk, scream punk) (x)

Doll Skin (rock) (x)

Dazey and the Scouts (rock, indie) (x)

G.L.O.S.S. (hardcore punk) (x)

Dog Park Dissidents (punk rock) (x)

She/Her/hers (rock) (x)

Deli Girls (hardcore electronic) (x)

Dream Nails (punk rock) (x)

Sarah and the Safe Word (rock, dark cabaret) (x)

Pinkie Promise (punk rock) (x)

B. Fraser (emo) (x)

Newgrounds Death Rugby (emo) (x)

Scowl (hardcore punk) (x)

Feminazgul (black metal) (x)

Sports Bra (dream pop, light rock) (x)

Club Sofa (indie pop) (x)

The Cost ov Living (grindcore, harsh noise) (x)

Kuromy (punk) (x)

The Sonder Bombs (indie, pop) (x)

Lidocaine (rock) (x)

I'm letting unseen forces take the wheel (cybergrind) (x)

Gum Disease (punk) (x)

Cam Girl (rock, trash rock) (x)

Gully Boys (grunge pop) (x)

Arcadia Grey (sparkle punk) (x)

Schmekel (folk punk) (x)

Destructo Disk (punk rock) (x)

User Unauthorized (hardcore punk) (x)

The Spook School (indie pop) (x)

Pinkshift (emo) (x)

Glass Beach (emo) (x)

Butch Baby (light rock) (x)

VIAL (indie punk) (x)

Sister Wife Sex Strike (folk punk) (x)

homewrecker. (metal, hardcore punk) (x)

Mega Mango (indie rock) (x)

Keep For Cheap (prarie rock) (x)

Steam Powered Giraffe (cabaret, steampunk) (x)

Thotcrime (grindcore, cybergrind) (x)

Whirlybird (indie pop) (x)

Kampsport (hardcore punk) (x)

Um Jennifer? (alt-rock, punk) (x)

Scarlet Demore (alt-rock) (x)

HappyHappy (folk, folk-punk) (x)

Queen Zee (punk) (x)

Grumpy Plum (slop pop) (x)

Cheap Perfume (punk) (x)

Pollyanna (power-pop, rock) (x)

Ballista (metalcore) (x)

Faetooth (fairy doom, metal) (x)

Lacerated (death metal) (x)

Fortuna Malvada (hardcore punk) (x)

Peach Rings (bedroom power-pop) (x)

Solo Artists

Laura Jane Grace (rock, folk punk) (x)

Left at London (pop) (x)

ZAND (pop, ugly pop) (x)

Ada Rook (hardcore electronic) (x)

Ms. White (pop) (x)

Rett Madison (indie, folk) (x)

Murder Person for Hire (folk) (x)

Backxwash (rap, industrial hip hop) (x)

LustSickPuppy (electronic, rap) (x)

Babylungs (electronic, rap) (x)

Human Kitten (folk punk) (x)

Harley Poe (folk punk) (x)

Ewy (emo, folk punk) (x)

Averstaskta (instrumental) (x)

Andie Schoen (indie) (x)

Elliot Lee (dark pop, electronic rock) (x)

Urias (hip hop, ballroom) (x)

Twink Obliterator* (cybergrind) (x)

Rio Romeo (cabaret punk, indie) (x)

Knife Girl (art pop, indie) (x)

Alexander James Adams (folk) (x)

Starmaxx (pop) (x)

Sofya Wang (pop, alt-R&B) (x)

Boy Jr (indie/alt pop) (x)

Medusa (revenge pop, hip-hop) (x)

Mal Blum (singer-songwriter, folk) (x)

Gina Young (riot grrrl) (x)

Petra Fiyd (indie pop) (x)

awfultune (bedroom pop) (x)

Quinn Hills (alternative pop) (x)

Femtanyl (electronic) (x)

Vivivivivi (electronic, glitchcore) (x)

Lilac Boy (glitchcore) (x)

Rosie Tucker (indie rock) (x)

Ryan Cassata (singer-songwriter) (x)

Pain Chain (noise, synth) (x)

In Love With A Ghost (electronic, lo-fi) (x)

Alice Longyu Gao (hyperpop) (x)

Prophetic Nightmares (ambient synthwave) (x)

Saint Wellesley (indie folk) (x)

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HEY YOU!

Yeah, you! Are you trans? Do you like reading books? Or watching movies?

Do you like media about trans men/transmasculine characters but don't know where to find it?

That's sooo crazy because I have this little spreadsheet I'm working on where I'm trying to document all media with protagonists/major characters who are FTM or transmasculine.

The spreadsheet currently has 200+ entries spread across the following categories:

Books

Manga

Memoirs and non-fiction

Movies

TV Shows

Graphic novels / Comics

Webcomics

Audio dramas

Books and movies are also sorted by:

Which character is trans (MC, love interest, antagonist, etc)

If the trans character is POC

The trans character's sexuality (Because I saw lots of transhet guys sad about only being able to find gay romances)

If the author/actor is also trans (if we know for sure)

It's free to use, and free to add to as well! Editing permissions are on, and I check on the spreadsheet every now and then to make sure everything is in order and to clean up.

If you know something that isn't on the list, please add it! You don't have to fill in every single column, but fill it to the best of your abilities.

If you don't want to use the big ass long link below, you can also use: bit.ly/FTM-protags

I made this because I want it to be a community resource. So even if you're not a trans guy or transmasculine person, please reblog!

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Ah, yes, thank you fandom wiki for reminding me of the allosaurus from the hobbit, completely forgot about him

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rb to have an ultra gay 2024

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ADHD and eating while on medication is a rollercoaster. Like when I need to eat and on Adderall? Will forget to eat all day, all night, might as well throw in a weekend or so. When I need to NOT eat, like say for medical fasting, then I will forget to fast and that is the time I eat everything in my kitchen, three cheeseburgers, and a small horse. There is no winning.

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So go and make a drink with some kerosene With the words that you’re speakin' 'Cause I know you wanna sleep in (Yeah, yeah) 'Cause you know that your words start fires In the middle of love and liars

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I did not expect the Veggie Tales guy to say "trans rights", but hey, I will accept it

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It's a heartache in the making, it's half post lonely Deadbeat promises for your eyes only Eyes wide shut you're all grown up