#fundraiser for ACLU

[just-rogi]

.

[an-aura-about-you]

son of a bitch I forgot it's gay brunch this Saturday

[sandiegosisters]

A heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to all who participated in CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION at the Til Two Club ~ you are appreciated!

Children of the Revolution is the Novice Project of Judith Priest @sr.judith.priest ~ her thank you letter reads:

"I meant to do this earlier, but there was so much to say that I wanted to really think about

it. I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who participated in the

event on Friday. I'd love to make it a yearly Pride kick-off event. We've got a semi-official count of $1k raised for the ACTU Drag Defense Fund on Friday Night. That gets added to the almost $6500 we raised in the month of June. We should all be proud. I specifically want to thank my friends at the Til Two Club for

reaching out to offer up a free Friday Night. It lit the fire under my tush. I also want to thank

all of my sisters and saints who held my hand and talked me off of the ledge for a month. You

all were more lovely and supportive than a nunling could ever hope for. And a huge shout

out to the friends, fambliy and community members who donated, sang. danced, twirled,

dropped, and generally showed the fuck out for me. The vibes were immaculate and I hope you

feel as uplifted and supported as I do. JOY!!"

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[krissiefox]

Doing two Pride Month fundraisers today - one for a game charity bundle and one for a friend of mine!

The first one is a Humble Bundle Charity bundle of capcom games. It is unfortunately capcom, and the games are unfortunately steam-only (probably with drm) because capcom sucks, BUT if you enter a custom amount you make it so that the money goes only to the ACLU, The Trevor Project, and Humble Bundle, so it's for a good cause!

Also please note: Because capcom and steam suck, they've apparently run out of steam keys for most of the games (except Strider), but are working to get more.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Anna Spoerre at Missouri Independent:

A campaign to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution said Friday that it collected more than 380,000 signatures in just three months, more than twice the likely total needed to qualify for this year’s statewide ballot.  The coalition, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, is hoping to put on the November ballot a measure that would legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability. Since June 2022, nearly every abortion has been illegal in the state with the exception of medical emergencies. 

In order to put a citizen-led constitutional amendment before voters, the campaign had to collect signatures from 8% of voters in six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. That total equates to more than 171,000 signatures.  The campaign on Friday morning announced they officially turned in 380,159 signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. A breakdown of how many signatures came from each district, which will ultimately determine if they met the threshold needed to qualify, was not provided. But the coalition said they collected signatures from each of Missouri’s counties and congressional districts. “Hundreds of thousands of Missourians are now having conversations about abortion and reproductive freedom; some are sharing their own abortion stories for the very first time; and all are ready to do whatever it takes to win at the ballot box this year,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri and spokesperson for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a statement. “Together, we are going to end Missouri’s abortion ban.”  

The effort kicked off 90 days ago, requiring a massive undertaking to reach the May 5 signature deadline. The coalition is led by Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri and Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas City and St. Louis. [...] Around the same time the abortion campaign was announced, a separate coalition organized to oppose them. That group, called Missouri Stands with Women, spent the past few months leading a “decline to sign” campaign, urging people not to sign the initiative petition. So far, they’ve been vastly out-fundraised by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom. “Out-of-state Big Abortion supporters think the fight is over,” Stephanie Bell, with Missouri Stands With Women, said in a statement Friday. “They could not be more wrong when it comes to standing up for life in Missouri.”

With more than 380,000 signatures across the state of Missouri submitted, despite harassment from anti-abortion extremists with their "decline to sign" intimidation campaign, the pro-abortion rights Missourians for Constitutional Freedom group is highly confident that their ballot measure will qualify for the November ballot.

[texasobserver]

From “‘Drag is so Healing’: Austin’s Queens Won’t Back Down” by Digital Editor Kit O'Connell, originally published in the September/October issue of Texas Observer magazine. Photography by Cindy Elizabeth:

In an orange prison jumpsuit and chains, a tall, lean drag queen writhed to a cover of “War Pigs” by Brass Against, which sounds like someone swapped Black Sabbath’s lead singer for a woman and added a highly caffeinated marching band. As she lip-synced, Hermajestie the Hung completed a dramatic strip tease down to an army fatigue jacket and fishnets, all to riotous cheers and a rain of dollar bills. 

It’s April at the Swan Dive on Red River in Austin’s club district, where “Tuesgayz” night LGBTQ+ gatherings—which include “Queereoke” sing-along sessions—are a tradition. For over a year, the Black-led drag troupe Vanguard, with an informal membership of about a dozen performers that includes both drag kings and queens, has opened each show with the same invocation:

“On our stage we proudly proclaim that Black lives matter, trans rights are human rights, no human is illegal, all bodies are beautiful, and my body, my choice.” 

Hermajestie—who described herself as a “postbinary, polyamorous, pansexual pot-smoking parent” and goes by “any pronouns but he/him”—explained later that she started each night the same way because she “realized that once I mention these things, the trash usually takes itself out.” 

(We are using performers’ stage names in this article to protect their privacy.)

Vanguard, she explained, serves as a “declaration and celebration of queer freedom, queer love, queer existence and queer solidarity.” The space she has created is often politically charged. Each night, she recounts the latest legislative attacks on queer rights, urging her audience to get involved. Tuesday’s routine culminated in her holding aloft the severed head of former President Donald Trump and hurling it into the audience (a similar stunt that earned comedian Kathy Griffin public censure shortly after Trump’s election). 

The members of Vanguard represent an evolution in drag. While elder performers were often cisgender, gay men, many of today’s queens are transgender or nonbinary and explore their identity through the art form.

Austin’s drag scene is thriving: From the heart of downtown to the Hill Country, patrons can attend events every day of the week, including late-night revues and brunches on weekends. One monthly show highlights new, amateur queens, another the elders of the community. Drag has made inroads in non-LGBTQ+ spaces as well—queens frequently perform at birthday parties, fundraisers, and, last year, at a new student orientation at the University of Texas at Austin. 

At the same time, drag is under attack. Senate Bill 12, scheduled to go into effect September 1, will levy fines against venues that host performances appealing to an ill-defined “prurient interest in sex” where minors are present; performers could also face up to a year in jail. The legislative affront goes hand-in-hand with protests and harassment from right-wing activists outside of nightclubs and on social media, where drag performers are frequently doxxed. While most performers remain defiant in the face of oppression, the growing pressure leaves them concerned for their future. 

(Editor’s Note: As of September 18, 2023, SB 12 is under a temporary restraining order while a judge rules on a lawsuit led by the ACLU of Texas.)

Read more at the Texas Observer.

[dudefrommywesterns]

finally did refs of my mr. ricco s/i after all this time

first panel reads: left: golf date outfit (ricco thinks the skirt is too short) right: basic work outfit second panel reads: aclu fundraiser dress (unfortunately not easy to avoid bullets in)

[eightyonekilograms]

recursivecringe: Got any thoughts about this effortpost on the ACLU? I found it an interesting perspective, although sadly, the planned following parts seem to have never been posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/vf9kwm/no_the_aclu_has_not_lost_its_way_part_1_what_was/

I wish the author had done the followups they promised, because while I appreciate that post as a reasonably complete history of the ACLU up through the 90s, it has nothing to say about (what I perceive as) the rot which began in the 2010s. Especially in that the author also promised to talk about the Amber Heard issue— which I was really looking forward to, because IMO that's one of the worst instances of the modern ACLU shitting the bed, and I was interested to see an articulate defense of their actions— but alas. It seems like the intention of that post is to point to a bunch of instances in the past where people were said "the ACLU has lost its way and rejected its principles!" and trusted that to be a knockdown blow against the similarly-shaped arguments of today, but that's a rhetorical sleight-of-hand: "other people said the same thing in the past you are saying now, and they were wrong" is a useful warning signpost that one should regard carefully when forming one's own opinion, but it is not in and of itself a counterargument when I say the organization has decayed in recent years. You have to address my object-level complaints.

A while back I was in a discord conversation with @suspected-spinozist where I learned from her that there effectively is no "national" ACLU: the national org does little other than some coordination, fundraising, and media outreach, whereas the state-level organizations do all the actual legal work, which seems to account for a lot of the issues. The small national organization, presumably based in DC, is easiest to infiltrate and deconstruct, hence why the very worst and most rotten thing about the contemporary ACLU is its social media presence. But I do think there's plenty of damage to the actual legal efforts as well. It mostly takes the form of the absence of defense, like in a lot of campus free speech cases which it has declined to address even though they are well in its wheelhouse, and for which FIRE has had to pick up the torch in its place.

[qqueenofhades]

I'm so freaking proud of my state (CA) rn, like there's still a lot of work that needs done but damn our gov just cut ties with freaking Walgreens over the preservation of reproductive rights, like hell yeah take out big pharma and keep us firmly in the 21st century! (Added bonus petty points too for the fact my insurance made me use that shithole and I'm thrilled to see it potentially gone)

Yeah, I saw that Walgreens was refusing to sell the abortion pill even in states where it was still legal, because if you think that big business won't kowtow to fascists, you are very wrong. (Big business doesn't give a shit if everything else is fascist, as long as they don't have to pay taxes.) That's definitely a strong move from Newsom and co., since what goes in California often goes for the rest of the country, legislatively and business-wise. I do hope that there will be some way to offer an alternative, since there are certainly people who live in communities where Walgreens was the only pharmacy or drugstore (I have been one of said people myself, so yes).

Anyway, I'm glad that this happened, even if we're all bracing for the worst Trump judge on the federal bench (not counting SCOTUS) to "outlaw" the abortion pill. To which I suggest, as a few Democrats have, just fucking ignore that ruling. Don't pre-emptively and timidly comply. Make them fight for it. Make them sue in local courts. Make them really own their toxically unpopular and extreme position. I know that not everyone has the legal ability/funds/etc. to do this, but get the ACLU on the case. Launch a national fundraising appeal. I know that some of this work is already being done, since I get mailers from Planned Parenthood asking me for more money literally every few weeks, but yes.

[sandiegosisters]

Jessica Hudson performs all around San Diego County at comedy clubs and bars and is the host of Gen X-Rated Comedy show at Mic Drop Comedy club.

Jessica will be performing at CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION tomorrow night at The Til-Two Club

Doors at 7

Suggested $5 donation benefits the ACLU Drag Defense Fund

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION is a variety show celebrating queer joy and is the Novice Project of Judith Priest

#jessicahudson #comic #comedy

#queershowcase #queervarietyshow #queerjoy #sistersofperpetualindulgence #asylumofthetorturedheart #novicesister #noviceproject #judithpriest

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[ludmilachaibemachado]

John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr and Barbra Streisand at Daniel Ellsberg ACLU Fundraiser of Jenning Lang’s home in Beverly Hills on April 7, 1973🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Via @thebeatleswomen on Instagram 🌹

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop summer fundraiser is almost over! I am an alum, instructor and volunteer board member for this nonprofit workshop whose alums include Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, Nalo Hopkinson, Kameron Hurley, Nnedi Okorafor, Lucius Shepard, and Ted Chiang! Your donations will help us subsidize tuition for students, making Clarion — and sf/f — more accessible for all kinds of writers.

#20yrsago Washington Post embarasses itself with WiFi FUD article https://web.archive.org/web/20040820233734/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51284-2003Jul26

#10yrsago Zero tolerance schools and cops: kids are not perps https://www.techdirt.com/2013/07/26/zero-tolerance-policies-put-students-hands-bad-cops/

#10yrsago Notes from the ducking stool: wget as evidence of guilt at the Manning trial https://jacobin.com/2013/07/bradley-manning-on-trial/

#10yrsago Who is America at war with? Sorry, that’s classified https://www.propublica.org/article/who-are-we-at-war-with-thats-classified

#5yrsago Disneyland will raise park employees’ minimum wage to $15 https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/27/news/companies/disneyland-workers-pay-15-an-hour/index.html?section=money_markets

#5yrsago Ghanaian parliament erupts into giggles as MPs learn about towns called “Vagina is Wise,” “Penis is a Fool” and “Testicles are Sad” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44982570

#5yrsago The future of “fake news”: Pepsi gets Facebook to censor jokes about plastic in its Kurkure corn puffs https://gizmodo.com/facebook-forced-to-block-20-000-posts-about-snack-food-1827892990

#5yrsago Universal basic income vs jobs guarantees: which one will make us happier? https://timharford.com/2018/07/the-secret-to-happiness-after-the-robot-takeover/

#5yrsago The housing market in America’s most expensive cities is imploding https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/american-housing-market-is-showing-signs-of-running-out-of-steam

#5yrsago Voice assistants suck, but they suck worse if you have an “accent” https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/business/alexa-does-not-understand-your-accent/

#5yrsago The ACLU showed that Amazon’s facial recognition system thinks members of Congress are felons, so now Congress is taking action https://www.aclunc.org/blog/amazon-s-face-recognition-falsely-matched-28-members-congress-mugshots

#5yrsago Four Thieves Vinegar Collective: DIY epipens were just the start, now it’s home bioreactors to thwart Big Pharma’s price-gouging https://www.vice.com/en/article/43pngb/how-to-make-your-own-medicine-four-thieves-vinegar-collective

#1yrago Dashcam repo: Cruising the streets with a license plate camera to win debt-collector bounties https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/27/boricua/#looking-for-the-joke-with-a-microscope

#1yrago “War Against All Puerto Ricans” https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/27/boricua/#que-viva-albizu

Libro.fm is the indie-bookstore-friendly, DRM-free audiobook alternative to Audible, the Amazon-owned monopolist that locks every book you buy to Amazon forever. When you buy a book on Libro, they share some of the purchase price with a local indie bookstore of your choosing (Libro is the best partner I have in selling my own DRM-free audiobooks!). As of today, Libro is even better, because it’s available in five new territories and currencies: Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia and New Zealand!

[gregdotorg]

In October 1968 Claes Oldenburg and art dealer Richard Feigen quickly organized a fundraising exhibition to support the ACLU, which was defending antiwar protestors who'd been beaten and arrested in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention.

Oldenburg's idea was a quirky souvenir, but make it cobblestone-size. You know, for kids. Kids in the streets. Oldenburg said Fire Plug Souvenir — Chicago August 1968 looked like a teddy bear, but I think we can all agree those are neither eyes nor ears.

https://greg.org/archive/2023/08/26/cobblestone-sized-fire-plug-souvenir-chicago-august-1968.html

[an-aura-about-you]

oh yeah! y'all will probably wanna hear about brunch from yesterday because it was a combination brunch/awards ceremony/drag show/fundraiser for the ACLU!

-first off, everything was free????? everything???? free??????? I went in expecting to pay for brunch, but they offered that for free buffet style.

-and it wasn't some kind of cheap brunch offerings either. there were plenty of pastries, but also pancakes, eggs, bacon, quiche, and chicken alfredo.

-that goes for the drinks too??????? the booze flowed freely?????? mimosas all around! I even got a gin and tonic because why the fuck not?

-also free swag!! I left with a bunch of stickers, temporary tattoos, a button, a mug, and a t-shirt!

-also let's give Arkansas a little credit because I went out shopping to three different stores yesterday while wearing a shirt that said, "Trans People Belong In Arkansas," and nobody gave me any trouble for it. I didn't run into any enthusiastic agreement, but I also didn't run into anyone who felt the need to disagree to my face.

-I Was Sitting Behind Miss Major Griffin-Gracy For The Entire Brunch.

-every single drag performer took an extra moment with her during their performances :')

-all of the drag performers were phenomenal but special shoutout to the sole drag king of the day because he had such strong 90s boy band energy that it felt like Ken from the Barbie movie was dropped into a job as a male dancer.

-(He had a baseball cap that looked to be made entirely of glitter. Where did he find that? I didn't even know they made those. Also of course he wore it backwards.)

-I am such a sucker for the "wearing what looks like a normal outfit only to take it off and reveal a total showstopper of a dress" and that was our first half finale act!

-I had thought to bring a fan with me and when she came to get my money she asked me to fan her. Of course I obliged.

-also she was hella tall. I mean to the point that with how tall her shoes were, it almost looked like she was on stilts.

-(I couldn't help but think of Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors)

-you ever in a spot where you see someone do the splits but you can't fully see them hit the floor you just hear the thump? yeah, holy shit!!

-after the show I walked over to the farmers market to see what was going on/see if some of my family was there because I had run into them recently

-and before I left the city I grabbed a honey lavender latte. it was a perfect end to that little trip, and I followed it up with a dip in the pool and a little reading.

[dudefrommywesterns]

and then there's the dress i imagine my mr. ricco s/i wearing at the aclu fundraiser