spectrumdiversitycommunitycenter

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On This Day...

...in 2008, the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen families who were seeking to adopt children but would not be able based on a ballot measure restricting the rights of unmarried couples to adopt children approved the month prior, including a grandmother living with her partner looking to adopt her grandchild and a lesbian couple with two sons already who were looking to adopt a third child. The Arkansas Family Council, a known hate group who campaigned for this law, explicitly stated that it was targeted at same-sex couples, but somehow wasn’t discriminatory because it would affect straight people equally, which would only be the case if Arkansas allowed same-sex couples to marry; they did not at the time. The spokesman for the Council said he expected the lawsuit but was confident it would fail and the new law would remain on the books. He was ultimately proved wrong when the case made it to the Arkansas Supreme Court; they decided in April 2011 that the ban was unconstitutional.

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Shame on Amazon!

Once again, the internet shopping mogul has allowed hate groups to fundraise through the AmazonSmile program. The AmazonSmile program has brought in roughly $215 million dollars to the various organizations, and a chunk of that is going to anti-LGBTQ+ “charitiies,” such as The Family Leader, which has stated publicly that being gay is a “public health risk.” This follows a string of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination on behalf of Amazon. In an incident earlier this year, a pregnant transgender man working in an Amazon warehouse was assigned tasks that were unsafe for him to do on account of his pregnant status because they refused to believe him. Also, back in 2017, a trans woman and her husband were incessantly harassed and bullied in their Amazon workplace, including looking over bathroom stalls, using the woman’s deadname and printing it on her name badge, and calling the couple slurs. I know that from now on, I’ll be going right to the brand’s website and purchasing from there!

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can anyone use thon/thons pronouns? (i want to use them but i’m nervous they’re only for a specific group of people)

This set of neopronouns has no significance to any particular culture and no strictly defined gender to it, so it seems that anyone can use these pronouns. This set was created as a contraction of “that one,” which is open to interpretation.

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Neopronouns

Some within the transgender and nonbinary community elect to use pronouns that differ from the traditional he/she/they pronouns. We refer to these pronoun sets as “neopronouns,” and their use is becoming more common. We thought it appropriate to provide education on how these pronoun sets are used, so I’ve put together some sample sentences below.

Thon/thons

This pronoun set was first proposed in 1858 by American composer Charles Crozat Converse, and is a contraction of “that one.” Thon/thonself pronouns have appeared in dictionaries. They are not widely used today, with 0.2% of the 2019 Gender Census’s respondents were happy with thon pronouns.

“Alex is my manager, and thon is wonderful,” I told Jodi, my new coworker. “Sometimes, thon brings thons dog in with her, and he’s just the sweetest thing.”

“This presentation isn’t mine; it’s thons,” my boss said, pointing toward me.

Mark sighed after coming home from his date with Drew. Thon was nice enough but Mark just didn’t feel that romantic spark toward thon. He tried to figure out how to let thon down easy.

I don’t like any current pronouns, so I’ll create a new set, thon thought to thonself.

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Stephen Whittle

Gender: Transgender man

Sexuality: Straight

DOB: 29 May 1955

Ethnicity: White - British

Occupation: Legal scholar, activist, professor

Note: Has multiple sclerosis

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Did You Know?

The first successful cesarean section where both the mother and baby survived was performed by Dr. James Miranda Stuart Barry, a transgender surgeon born in 1789 in Ireland, in Cape Town, South Africa, where he served as a military doctor. The child was named James Barry Munnik in his honor, and his name even became a family name, eventually having his name borne by a future Prime Minister of South Africa. Barry kept rising through the ranks as a military doctor until he was forced into retirement due to old age. After he died of dysentery, the chairwoman who laid out the dead disputed his death certificate, upon which Barry was identified as male. When Barry’s lifelong physician, Dr McKinnon, refused to pay her for this discovery, she took it to the press, and it became instant news. When confronted by the General Registrar’s Office, Dr. McKinnon essentially said “it’s not my business to discuss.”

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Famous Queer Birthdays

December 21st - Michael Tilson Thomas (YOB: 1944)

Michael Tilson Thomas is an expert pianist, composer, and conductor. An only child and a musical prodigy in his youth, he has the honor of having been the longest-tenured music director at any major American orchestra, becoming the Director Laureate at the San Francisco Symphony in June of 2020 after 25 years as music director. He is also the Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony, an orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida. He resides with his partner, Joshua Robison, in San Francisco. They had been together for about 30 years before marrying in 2014.

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Lady Catiria (Catiria Reyes) (deceased)

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: Born 1959

RIP: 3 May 1999

Ethnicity: Puerto Rican

Occupation: Drag artist, actress, beauty queen, activist

Note: Had HIV

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We welcome our ace and aro siblings with open arms. You are valid and loved, and just as queer as the rest of us. You are at home.

The way that exclusionists treat ace and aro people often reminds me of how the average person would treat me when I started being open as non-binary. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a thousand times, we are not enemies. Our experiences do not oppose each other, they are intertwined. If you’re ace, if you’re aromantic, if you’re any variation thereupon; your home is here. You belong here, too. You are beautiful, and powerful; and you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. You are a valued part of this community.

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Neopronouns

Some within the transgender and nonbinary community elect to use pronouns that differ from the traditional he/she/they pronouns. We refer to these pronoun sets as “neopronouns,” and their use is becoming more common. We thought it appropriate to provide education on how these pronoun sets are used, so I’ve put together some sample sentences below.

Thon/thons/thonself

This pronoun set was first proposed in 1858 by American composer Charles Crozat Converse, and is a contraction of “that one.” Thon/thonself pronouns have appeared in dictionaries. They are not widely used today, with 0.2% of the 2019 Gender Census’s respondents were happy with thon pronouns.

“Alex is my manager, and thon is wonderful,” I told Jodi, my new coworker. “Sometimes, thon brings thons dog in with her, and he’s just the sweetest thing.”

“This presentation isn’t mine; it’s thons,” my boss said, pointing toward me.

Mark signed after coming home from his date with Drew. Thon was nice enough but Mark just didn’t feel that romantic spark toward thon. He tried to figure out how to let thon down easy.

I don’t like any current pronouns, so I’ll create a new set, Charles Crozat Converse thought to thonself in 1858.

[spectrumdiversitycommunitycenter]

Ohio Ban On Changing the Sex on a Birth Certificate Overturned!

A Federal district court judge has just struck down Ohio's ban on correcting the birth records of transgender people to reflect our sex post-transition. He ruled that the ban on changing one's sex was unconstitutional and causes tangible harm because it is discriminatory against individuals based on their gender. People have to submit their birth certificates for everything from getting a driver's license to rental applications to getting a job, and having the sex marker be unchangeable instantly outs transgender individuals to people processing those documents, opening the door for discrimination, humiliation, and blackmail. This was an unacceptable rule that the government had no viable reason to maintain, and the Honorable Michael Watson agrees. Thank you, Judge Watson, for making the compassionate choice.

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Nonbinary people don’t have to conform to standards of androgyny to be respected as nonbinary!

nonbinary people who change their name are great!

nonbinary people who go by the name given to them at birth are amazing!

nonbinary people with gender neutral names are marvelous!

nonbinary people with traditionally masc/fem names are excellent!

nonbinary people with object names are cool!

💛🤍💜🖤 all the names nonbinary people go by are good and valid!! 💛🤍💜🖤

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Did you know?

Homosexuality was still classified as a mental disorder well into the twentieth century. In 1979, citizens of Sweden protested this classification by calling in gay to work as part of a protest organized by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights (RFSL). One woman from the Smålandeven province even received benefits. Though being gay was decriminalized in Sweden in 1944, the National Board of Health and Welfare still claimed it was a disease. The RFSL was eventually successful in August of that year, when Sweden became the first European country to declassify homosexuality as a disease.

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(in)Famous Queer Birthdays

December 15th 

Nero (YOB: 37, DOD: June 9, 68) 

The fifth Roman emperor served from 54 to 68 A.D. His first spouse was Poppaea Sabrina, whom, it is rumored, that he kicked to death in 65. He married another woman, Statilia Messalina, in 66 before also marrying a young boy, who looked remarkably like his late wife, by the name of Sporus, who he had castrated before marriage, as he was a “delicate boy” and Nero sought to preserve his youthful qualities. He has Sporus dress as a woman while in public, showcasing him as his wife, and Sporus’s titles consisted of such terms as “Empress” or “Lady.” His relationship with Sporus has been said to be just one of his sexual atrocities, which include an affair with his own mother. Later on, Nero married another man, Pythagoras, who assumed the role of his husband.

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Neopronouns

Some within the transgender and nonbinary community elect to use pronouns that differ from the traditional he/she/they pronouns. We refer to these pronoun sets as “neopronouns,” and their use is becoming more common. We thought it appropriate to provide education on how these pronoun sets are used, so I’ve put together some sample sentences below.

Ae/aer

Fern asked aer mother if ae could borrow money for gas so ae could go to aer job interview tomorrow.

“Oh this isn’t my dog; I’m just dogsitting,” my brother told his neighbor. Bending down to pat my dog’s head, he said “Corey’s out of town, and Rusty is aers.”

Ollie was determined not to let aer disability get in the way of living by aerself.

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TIL Italy had a gay king.

Umberto II of Italy (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 15 September 1904  

RIP: 18 March 1983

Ethnicity: White - Italian

Occupation: Former king of Italy

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Did you know?

In April of 1966, a few members the Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 by Harry Hay, hosted a “sip-in” at Julius’, a tavern in New York City, to challenge the ban on serving alcohol to queer people. They would identify themselves as homosexuals before requesting service. Julius’ was the fourth bar they visited in their sip-in, after the first two were closed and the third ignored the law entirely. Upon being denied service at Julius’, the Mattachine Society sued the bar, resulting in the landmark decision that allowed gays to peaceably assemble in public, paving the way for legal, licensed gay bars. Ironically, this bar has been a gay bar for quite some time, hosting a monthly party called Mattachine.