#spreading trans cross propaganda

[dreamsb0u]

Ok so, I have another AU idea that I may or may not persue 

Imagine the bad guys but in og Dreamtale

NM accidentally falls asleep while reading and Dream is in the village doing labour for the residents so no one notices when this little skeleton kid creeps up to the tree and starts counting the beetles on it, Nightmare wakes up and is- understandably- a little freaked out and demands to know Killer’s intentions. Killer points out the beetles like it’s the most obvious answer ever and Nightmare just stares at him until they begin to talk and eventually Killer declares himself as Nightmare’s friend- so yay! Nightmare now has his first ever friend!

One day, Killer drags over a kid and his brother who are starving and injured and asks Nightmare to help them- Nightmare manages to heal them and Dream comes back, sees their condition and sneakily steals some food from the villagers (he is not a perfect angel). The kids talk after this and now Nightmare has another person (aside from Dream) willing to die for him.

Killer one day, along with Horror- drags up a kid who is very vocally NOT HAPPY with Killer and Nightmare is a bit scared of this kid who seems to be pretty angry and violent. Killer says that since Nightmare knows half of the gang he has to know the other half. Nightmare is a bit confused because there is not half of other people which Killer is dragging with him and asks about it. Killer says that the other member isn't allowed to come at the moment and Nightmare is introduced to Dust who is startlingly apathetic towards him.

It's been a few weeks since Nightmare's met Killer at this point and he isn't surprised to see Killer dragging up another kid at this point. This one seems to be very hesitant and talking to Killer about 'getting in trouble' or something. Dream is also here and he greets the two with Nightmare following after him. Cross is way too uptight with the twins even as they insist that (s)he doesn't need to use formalities. XGaster in this AU has drilled it into Cross's head that (s)he needs to treat the guardians with utmost respect. This eventually makes their meetings very awkward and Killer tells Cross to 'calm the fuck down' to which both Dream and Nightmare blank because where are these kids learning swear words? (Ignoring blatant hypocrisy here).

One day Killer runs up to Nightmare with a wooden sword and the rest of the gang and before Nightmare can react- Killer shoves the sword into his hands and demands he spars with Killer to prove he is strong enough to be part of ‘the gang’.

Killer is fast and confident but Nightmare has years of experience with fighting from protecting the tree so he quickly knocks Killer flat on his (non existent) ass and Killer, obviously, is a little butthurt (lol) but quickly gets over it and basically adopts Nightmare into their group.

Killer extends the offer to Dream after he is beaten by him too but Dream refuses, saying that he doesn't have the time. No one takes this to heart and boom shakalaka now Nightmare has some besties lets fucking goooooo

In this au, Nightmare doesn't get completely corrupted as a result of the apples- instead he's stopped by Dream and the gang from consuming more than 4 apples considering the fastest time anyone's eaten an apple in is like 30 seconds meaning that he'd have to eat at the speed of light to devour that shit quick enough. This results in Nightmare staying Nightmare but because of the apples- he has a vengeful spirit following him around and having short bursts of possession. This causes an immense amount of stress and Nightmare begins to get chronic pain from the weight the excess of the apples has on his bones.

The story basically follows a group of kids who have intense issues and a taste for pranks. There is a lot of shenanigans and hijinks.

Tldr; Nightmare becomes friends with the gang in his own AU where they're all children. they manage to stop him from eating all the apples and it follows their tomfoolery in the universe.

[spacelazarwolf]

y’all i found it, i found the post that originated the claim that i’m a ZionistTM and it’s even more ridiculous than i expected.

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this is, of course, the same person who labeled me a MisogynistTM for making a half baked joke reblog basically saying “jewish standards of masculinity are different than white western standards of masculinity” then cited orthodox judaism, a community i’m not a part of, as why Actually The Jewish Community Is Horrifically Misogynistic And Bad (as if i haven’t faced misogyny from jewish cis men before???????)

anyway, my post in this screenshot didn’t once mention israel. it didn’t mention zionism. it was talking about antisemitism. i turned off reblogs because people were making it about zionism and israel, which was derailing my original point. i set a specific boundary and people kept crossing it, so i turned reblogs off and blocked people who wouldn’t leave it alone. absolutely nothing about that could possibly indicate that i’m a zionist unless you think that diaspora jews setting boundaries about being forced into a conversation about israel, especially one where we are essentially being blamed for the antisemitism we face because of the government of a country we don’t even live in and have no control over (there’s a phrase that, it’s called dual loyalty and it’s been getting jews killed for decades) or if you think simply talking about the history of antisemitism and current rising levels of antisemitism is somehow “zionist propaganda” in which case you might want to get your head out of your ass and question why you’re agreeing with literal nazis. also bonus points for this person literally just blatantly blaming jews in the tags for the rise in antisemitism because we’re apparently not being antizionist enough to deserve basic human decency and safety! not even trying to hide it anymore huh!

and of course it worked like a charm bc now, months later, you have people saying this:

“the jew is trying to disguise himself as one of you to trick you!!!!!! he is actually evil and trying to manipulate you to further his evil (((zionist))) plans!!!!!!!!!! beware!!!!!!!!!!!” which is literally just repackaged antisemitic tropes that are centuries old. i’ve never interacted with the person in this screenshot in my entire life, and yet they seem to think they have insider knowledge into my Evil Zionist Plans to infiltrate the community and spread Zionist Propaganda because they interacted with one gentile witch that threw a hissy fit about being told not to be antisemitic in discourse about gentiles appropriating lillith. this gentile decided that every single jew who disagreed with them was a zionist, and when i told them it was antisemitic as fuck to call any jew they disagree with a zionist they went on about me being a “raging zionist” and “faking being queer” for DAYS. so it’s not a mystery where the person in this screenshot got the “ooh scary (((zionist))) pretending to be queer and trans to spread his evil (((zionist))) propaganda” rhetoric from. it’s word-for-word from the gentile witch who was pissed about fucking LILLITH DISCOURSE.

bc the thing is, these ppl don’t actually care if i’m a zionist. if they did, they would be engaging with what i’ve said (which is practically nothing because i knew the second the word israel touched my blog that this would happen — which is why i didn’t want people going on and on about israel on a post about antisemitism). they know that labeling a jew a zionist is an immediate death sentence in progressive circles. they know it’s the easiest way to discredit a jew you don’t like. because it doesn’t matter how many times you say “no, i’m not” you will be forever tainted in the eyes of gentiles by that accusation. that’s why they made the accusation in the first place. and so i will continue to not share any of my thoughts or opinions other than “i’m pro palestinian liberation” and “i’m not a zionist” and people will ignore that to play yet another game of Zionist Telephone to target a jew they don’t like. it’s not the first time it’s happened, to me or in general, and it won’t be the last time. i just hope people seeing this and reading this will help people understand how fucked up and antisemitic it is.

so yeah. if you see accusations floating around that i’m a zionist, this is where it came from. a situation that is textbook dual loyalty, being punished for setting boundaries on my own blog, and people who hate trans men jumping at the chance to demonize one with one of the easiest tricks in the book as soon as they see he’s also jewish. the fact i keep having to address this when the origin of the rumor is literally just antisemitism should heavily inform how seriously you take random claims online that a jew is a zionist. most of the time it’s just blatant antisemitism, and very often it’s a way to silence an unrelated conversation that person was trying to have.

[hard--headed--woman]

my dear companions, I'm here to warn you about the rise of blasphemy transphobia. many of our siblings still doubt the existence of the soul gender identity, this innate entity, locked inside our carnal envelope, which represents who we really are. many of our siblings prefer to listen to the great lie that is science, biology, which is nothing but a manipulation aimed at discrediting the word of the lord the experiences of trans and non binary people ! they dare to discuss the fact that every man and woman must follow social rules, and that if these are not respected, then these people are straying from the path laid out by god probably trans or non binary. you can recognize them for example because they do not carry the cross of jesus write their pronouns in their bio. every word they say criticizing our community is a sin pure bigotry. you must not listen to them ! avoid them, ignore them ! it is for your protection and safety. if you want to fight them, you must not be afraid to break all the rules we usually follow about what is good and what is bad. when it comes to people who do not believe in god gender, we must not have any mercy ! they do not deserve it ! it is a holy war, a fight against the devil, a fight to spread the truth to those who have not yet accepted Jesus, and during a holy war, there are no rules, you can use violence, it is a good cause a fight for justice, a fight against the horrible terfs, a fight to spread the truth to those who have not yet accepted your identity and their own, and for a fight like this one, there are no rules, you can use violence, it is a good cause. make sure you do not fall for the atheists/devils terfs propaganda. ah and of course, the evil comes from women terfs !

[roses-edge]

So initially, I got onto this topic seeing this post by our favorite trans propaganda producer assignedmale:

One thing I honed in on was the fact that the character portrayed is a transman and the issue presented is their broken arm.

Which is ironic considering that TIFS are at a higher risk for osteoporosis so their hormones are actually a reason as to why their arm could be broken in the first place.

I wanted to see if any of the trans identified people in the notes pointed this out, so I looked and:

Speechless. Do they think their hormones work like vitamins?

I continue on and find this:

A few things stuck out as well:

- She has been experiencing new headaches and optic nueritis since May, and a nueroligist implied it could be her testosterone... but it can't be because her Mental Health is improving! And it's been 7 months! ...as if that debunks his suggestion?

- She brought up this concern with her hormone prescriber anyway, and she directly told her not to worry.

- I also have no doubt that the medical misogyny she faced here impacted the way she was receptive to this possibility. If the nuerologist hadn't infantilized her, maybe she would've pursued this avenue.

In any case, it just shows that medical misogyny and her prescriber directly misinforming her about her hormones is once again a huge issue here. It is also terrifying as it reminded me of this reddit post of testosterone giving a woman a brain tumor:

....And the trans community tried to silence her.

And in some sort of ironic twist of fate, scrolling down my For You page, I saw this post:

And instantly I knew I had to make this post.

The trans community is:

SILENCING those who experience bad side effects and even ADMITTING that their own doctors (In two separate posts) are denying that these side effects exist or are even a threat at all!

It's no wonder people like the first response I screenshotted seemed to think their prescribed hormone imbalance somehow works like vitamins. These doctors are actively out here lying to them, AND others are spreading direct misinfo. The fact that assignedmale even made a comic downplaying the role testosterone (and cross sex hormones in general) has on trans individuals is proof enough!

And even more proof, the first article I linked that states that TIFs are at higher risk for osteoporosis is formatted wonkily too. When clicking the link, you see it references 2 separate articles highlighted in blue. I clicked both (to make sure I had the facts correct before this post):

When I click on the first link, it links to a research paper. The second link leads to Nothing.

PubMed is the first link. The journal of Sexual Medicine is the second one. I scrolled, trying to find the article they described, even clicked on the red booklet. Nothing.

While this may be a mobile issue, this is still extremely misleading. Especially because the original link I linked isn't an obscure source; it is the first one shown on Google!

I didn't bother with the second link as I am specifically looking for FTM studies and not MTF studies. Even so, that blurb is even more damning evidence that osteoporosis is an issue for both males and females on opposite sex hormones.

Point is, trying to research the real effects of these hormones is incredibly hard as links are misleading and don't work, prescribers are directly misleading patients, and TRAs are silencing those who speak up anyway.

The trans movement is straight up PSUEDOSCIENCE, and I am tired of these people thinking that their hormonal imbalance is helpful to them at all.

[rapeculturerealities]

Missouri Attorney General Targets Healthcare for Transgender Adults — Assigned

A propaganda-laden emergency order from Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri is breaking new ground in the far right’s relentless attacks on transgender Americans. The order goes far beyond the recent efforts to ban gender-affirming care for minors, targeting adults for wide-ranging, unprecedented restrictions on necessary medical treatment.

In form, the order closely resembles abortion TRAP laws, which have been used by Republicans to limit legal abortions by arduous, unnecessary restrictions under the guise of protecting the health of individuals seeking the procedures.

The chilling slate of restrictions under the emergency order include requiring a minimum of 15 therapy sessions over 18 months before an adult transgender patient can receive medical interventions such as cross-sex hormones. As a reminder, trans people are disproportionately likely to be poor and unemployed, and insurance companies often limit the number of therapy sessions that they cover. For many poor trans people, a requirement to undergo 18 months of therapy amounts to an outright ban already.

The order would also require “any existing mental health comorbidities of the patient [to] have been treated and resolved.” Practically speaking, this means trans people who experiencing depression or anxiety would be banned from receiving treatment, even though multiple studies have found that treating gender dysphoria is associated with a reduction in depression and anxiety.

The order includes twelve justifications for the restrictions, all of which seem to have been culled from misinformation spread by anti-trans activists. These include items that are technically true, such as the fact that the FDA has not approved the use of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria, without the context that off-label prescribing is both legal and common, along with outright falsehoods.

[precambrian-sea-pancake]

I know people are probably tired of hearing this but it’s probably time I make my own post about it.

The hard truth of boycotting is that it isn’t “fun” or “convenient”

Boycotting is for a purpose, it’s for a statement and push for change.

There’s nothing wrong with thinking the game looks fun. It’s a video game, it’s designed to be fun. But if you want to commit and stand by LGBTQ, POC, and Jewish people you need to learn to let go and accept that part of it is passing up things you might be interested in.

I’m not talking about people who bought the game because they didn’t know. It happens. We all start somewhere and there’s a first time for everything. I’m sure a lot of people playing it are probably kids too, ones who aren’t in these social media spaces. If that’s you, you made an oopsie. It happens. Best you can do is accept the mistake and spread awareness. Donate to trans and Jewish communities if you really want to.

But to the people who are aware, I raise you this question: “Why do you care so much?”

I understand getting annoyed by having something you like shat 24/7 or getting hate for liking someone. Look at me, I’m a Hazbin Hotel fan, I deal with that shit a lot.

But there’s a line.

Sure, other people worked on the game, but money still goes to JKR. Even some people who worked on the game are just as bad as her. Your money IS being used to take away trans rights in the UK. I’m from the US, but I have friends in the UK who are trans, and their rights are being taken away.

And no, I don’t think it’s a power move to pirate the game either. Congrats, your money doesn’t go to JKR, but you’re still playing a very fucked up antisemitic and racist story. It’s NOT a coincidence. Every day we’re finding more gross things and it’s gotten to a point where you can’t just take it out and use headcanon or “not condone it”.

The very structure of the story and world building has these issues. That is what it is.

The line has been crossed at this point.

I’m 100% against harassment and dogpiling. But yes, people WILL judge you for playing and enjoying the game. Only you know you, but impressions are impressions. That’s how we as people interact and form opinions. People are going to be wary of those playing a game rooted in antisemitic propaganda because that actively harms them.

You want to boycott harmful products? You want to stand by marginalized communities?

Then actually commit to it. Don’t just do it when it’s convenient.

[chaseprice]

Wrote a whole ramble to myself earlier then my app crashed and didn’t save it so im not even gonna attempt to re-write this in a comprehensible way. But I’ve been seeing posts like “im glad to see the fall of the union in my lifetime” and…. Well. it isn’t my intention to be a WellActually or contrarian leftist criticising well-meaning people on the same team all like “oh yeah??go do something then” …but i really am so pessimistic about this being the main takeaway from what’s happening

The fact that the uk government is using the never-before-used “fuck you” constitutional order to reverse Scottish bills and desires is just. simply, finally, the most physical and legal manifestation of what the uk has been treating scotland like for decades. it’s being employed because making trans peoples lives easier fundamentally conflicts with their fascist regime. abhorrent, and we knew this. and we are angry and we are assuming this finally must mean something. it must mean change will come ?? But them doing this, solidifying how they view trans ppl and their intentions for trans policy in the country, and them going mask off wrt the facade of democratised devolution by using section 35 despite how obviously repressive and dictatorially batshit that is, does not mean that everyone is as outraged as we are. and even if they were, the uk does not give a fuck. even with the decent amount of backlash we are seeing in Scotland, it will always be the uk’s mission to ignore and suppress scottish desires and needs. they will not allow this to become of international importance. they will continue to lie about the cross party support for independence and trans rights through the paternalistic propaganda they’re expertly trained in. they will continue to platform and allow the spread of the most basic transphobic rhetoric you can think of in the media and sociopolitical sphere and they will roadblock any progress in parliament. that is what they do and they won’t change that, that tory government has no desire to and that spineless labour leader has no plans to. we can’t just assume that an extreme anti-Democratic act will be the last nail in the coffin for the union, bc the truth is there is not nearly enough understanding or support for trans rights in the general public of scotland for it to mobilise in the swathes we need for change. it would be so easy for this to fade out of the british media cycle without action, becoming yet another thing we just have to accept from the uk gov, the fact they can overturn any of our laws whenever they want to.

It sucks so fuckin much. N imo proves that It’s literally imperative for the future of scotland and trans people’s well-being that we don’t shut up about this. Like we have to take this opportunity to organise for independence more than ever more. protesting, disobeying, and publicly backing indyref2. having uncomfortable conversations with friends and family, with liberal and lefty unionists. researching & supporting trans ally pro indy MSPs. without getting involved in a tangible way it’s gonna be 10x less likely and there’s just no time left for ppl to be sitting on the fence

[moonshinemagpie]

This is how they do it, how they draw people in. An innocuous article on the front page of The Economist. The Economist, the uninformed and curious reader thinks, is a proper publication. Their guard is down; they don't expect extremism to lurk between the lines.

The Economist has at least one senior editor who is a radical transphobe. Helen Joyce, a self-described straight lady, has invited herself to Pride parades to cut out the trans colors from the progressive pride flag and burn them. She has been happily photographed doing this. She's written books on how much she hates transgender people, describing them as sexual predators. It's obsessive, creepy, and disturbing. But the vast majority of people who click on this article won't know that, won't be able to identify it as the trap that it is, an intentional seed planted by a radical bigot who hopes to convert other people to her bigotry.

And the thing is: It's like this every time. The average person sees a cis woman crying in a local court because she didn't get first place in a sport in high school. They might feel sympathetic and start to think that transgender athletes are a real hindrance to feminism. What they don't realize is that Chelsea Mitchell travels across America to give her testimony when conservative politicians call on her, because transgender people playing sports is a made-up problem that lacks actual victims but does have this one bigot willing to cry about it again and again. She's represented by the same far-right Christian legal group that led the fight against gay marriage in the early 2000s. Their website still condemns gay marriage, even as the vast majority of Americans support it.

The average person, knowing all of this, would be deeply turned off by Chelsea Mitchell. But they don't know it. They think hordes of cis girls are crying in courts all over the country, instead of this one bigot from Connecticut crossing state lines to rehash a story about how she lost a race by . 07 seconds six or seven years ago.

This is how they spread their propaganda.

[thatveganwhiterose]

OMFGGG none of those are valid sources at all they’re all incredibly biased and their facts aren’t cross referenced. You are all so easy to influence its pathetic 😭 please think critically for once in your life instead of spreading anti-feminist propaganda as though it has any validity or basis in real life

You might as well reblog anti suffragette comics from the 1900s

Wow here is some good logic for you:

Trans people just wanna live and exist and do their own thing.

People like TERFS want to see them dead.

So fuck TERFS.

Wow so hard.

[gay-otlc]

Got any music recommendations? You seem to have good music taste

Oooh okay so obviously I have to start out by spreading my The Maine propaganda because I am eternally unwell about them. My favorite album is You Are OK, but they're all worth listening to, so I would recommend picking whatever album gives you the best vibes and listening to that.

I would also highly recommend Against Me! Transgender Dysphoria Blues is like required listening if you're trans, and White Crosses is also really really good.

More recommendations include the Offspring, Bad Cop Bad Cop, and Stand Atlantic :)

[lasdelaintuicion]

"radfems" prove how empty their idea of a "movement" is everyday online and offline by being reactionary liberals and spreading as much imperialist propaganda as they cross, but want all classes of women across the world to hold hands and sing kumbaya with them as they support death squads and wars waged on them as long as they... hmmm... hate trans people? don't wear bikinis or maybe even agree to say that makeup and gender roles aren't empowering, the #1 priorities for all women obviously, and then maybe let you reblog and talk sadly about some of the problems they face to tokenize them (never ever ever daring to go indepth to what factors other than misogyny put them in vulnerable spots though as that's against their first and foremost neoliberal/imperialist political indoctrination)🙏🙏💓

[terfslying]

Reference Post

This blog has gotten large, and it's not going to get any easier to do... so lets do this.

General sources

6 kinds of misleading (& fake) TERF "proof" (x)

Radical feminism and political lesbianism (x)

Biphobia in TERF spaces (x) (x)

The term TERF was invented by a trans-inclusive radfem (x)

Radical feminism vs TERF vs SWERF vs Political Lesbian (x)

Addressing TERFs quoting research to “prove” autogynephilia when the research is actually concluding that autogynephilia isn’t a thing (x)

Specific TERF actions & events

Beth Rep defames trans woman, gets followers to find and threaten her (x) (x) (x)

Kate Scottow convicted for creating multiple accounts to persistently publish trans woman's financial and medical information on twitter (x)

Posie Parker & fellow TERFs interrupt a BLM protest (accompanied by fascist white men) and yell in black women's faces (x) (x)

Julia Beck protests the Equality Act on behalf of anti-gay republican senators (x)

Lisa Littman does literally everything in her power to ensure her ROGD study returns the results she wants (x)

Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) and their love affair with right wing groups including the Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom (x) (x)

WoLF denounces multiple human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Southern Poverty Law Center (x)

Fair Play For Women publish methodologically unsound research to get the "41% of trans women in UK prisons are sex offenders" figure (x) (x)

Women and Girls Scotland publish methodologically unsound research to make it look like there is no public support for trans rights (x)

ReSisters Liverpool members attempt to pretend satirical "TRA" sticker they created is genuinely endorsed by Liverpool University (x)

LGB Alliance co-founder discourages school LGB alliances due to "predatory gays" (x)

1979 - anti-trans radfem group 'The Gorgons' send campaign of hatemail and threaten gun violence against Olivia Records (a radfem recording organisation) for hiring a trans woman (x)

1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference - anti-trans radfems disrupt conference to violently attach trans performer & her supporters; (x) 2/3 of attendees vote to include trans women. (x)

TERFs on Tumble actively spreading and using right-wing propaganda (x) (x)

TERFs spread lies on Tumble re: Mermaids UK founder's trans child (x)

Sources about trans issues

Youth transition is not a phase (x) (x), and the original 80% desister myth is due to flawed old research (x)

Non affirming (conversion) therapy doesn't work, and it's damaging (x) (x)

Youth transition is not recommended for gender non conformity unless the youth actively identifies in a cross-sex way (x)

Treating gender dysphoria like body dysmphoria is medical malpractice (x)

Puberty suppression risks in both the short and long term have been thoroughly studied (x)

Puberty suppression lowers lifetime odds of suicidal ideation (x)

Young trans girls have comparable sexual victimisation to young cis girls (x)

Trans suicide rates are not higher after transition, and the author of the study is annoyed people keep misrepresenting her findings to say that (x)

The lifetime detransition rate is about 2.2% (x)

Trans inclusive restrooms do not increase risk to cis women (x)

Trans people are primarily people of colour (x)

The 41% of trans women in prison are sex offenders figure is bogus (x)

The majority of transgender inmates in prison have committed economic or sex-work survival crime, and transgender inmates are less likely than cisgender controls to have been charged with a violent crime (x)

The majority of both male and female professional athletes have abnormally high or low testosterone (x)

Useful tags:

All sources | Definitions & “what does X mean” asks

Positivity tags: (trans) (nonbinary) (lesbian) (general lgbt)

[z3r0-f4ilur3]

The Record Begins With a Song Of Rebellion

First Draft Of the Capitalist Surrealist Writing Project. Steal and appropriate, critique and interrogate, with the author's full endorsement and permission. Looking (back)(for)wyrds After the Bush interregneum and the long, terrible, progress destroying Reagan years, the American empire had something like a moment of hope. Riding high on the peace dividend and a delusion of idealism among the donating classes, the economic aristocracy which in effect was the senior partner in “American Democracy” (and so duly represented in both parties) and the voter was a paternalized junior to be both petted and protected had selected the Clinton dynasty. The grand bargain between labour and capital against the state resulted in the bitter fruit of the Bush years, as Conservatives paternalists rightly mocked the Clintonian urge to middling action on domestic issues while gladly partnering with him to rob labour at large. While a wealth transfer had already been going on as part of a trend for the better part of a century, this phase in which a semi-coherent ruling class dynamic of the donating classes and the government service classes became visible. It is beyond satire now, but this was not always so visible, as racism, white supremacy, American exceptionalism, various fundementalist and conservative (as well as equally harmful, supposedly liberal versions of the same) religious beliefs; Turtle Island was rife with reasons for temporary cross class solidarity in order to oppose an other or to advance an idealistic goal.

And yet moments of class consciousness and solidarity have perenially emerged, from the “grassroots” as the insiders like to say. They frame the people as “the base” or “the grassroots” and narrowly target their interests to make people find conflict with each other. It is irrelevent (for this missive) whether this is a conscious, semi-conscious, or unconscious process; it is enough to notice it happening. Despite this, moments in the pre new-modern (to be defined later, promise~) politics that predate terms like Black Lives Matter or Trans Rights are Human Rights show that these movements represent an unbroken chain of revolutionary attempts at self-consciousness and conscience transformation that coincide and are just as important as any history of violence. The Ides of March, and the campaign of anonymous internet citizens against Scientology, represents such a moment. Occupy Wall Street was such a movement. “We’re Here, We’re Queer, Get Used To It!” was such a phrase. The many quotes attributed to names like Mandela and James Baldwin; the Black Panthers, the revolutionary feminists, the Hippie movement, down back to the (In the American mind) hoary days of yore when the Wide Awakes would march a brass band around the houses of pro slave Senators.

It is a poor yet accurate summation to say that the ‘present’ (a dubious notion) political reality is the sum of all of these and more; a reader can orient themselves to the history of late stage capitalism by the growth of the donating classes influence and the acceleration of their detachment from society at large. Moments which also impact this reality are the donating classes sense of pessimism about the future; the devaluing of nearly all forms of labour, the increasing visibility of law enforcement brutality; the list can be referenced in the moment to moment, wide eyed and angry reporting of self-matyring, news-junkie amateur journalists found anywhere online, the shocked and angry expressions of young activists at protests and the weary, numbed faces of the old. Up and down the class system, there has been a wide spread death of hope.

Enter the climate crisis.

Before climate consciousness achieved real steam, our escatological fears were (mostly) confined to the realm of human action or cosmic events unimaginable (and unrelatable) to the modern person’s experience of life. For decades, the effects of climate change were reported to a world told not to care. As Terrance Mkenna said, ““The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it’s only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse.”

The impact of this can and will be expanded upon, but it is safe to say that the bubble has been popped. Whatever finds popular currency within the dialogue around it, that the climate is changing rapidly in ways inemical to human society at large/at present is true by material impact; people everywhere have experienced some negative result of the changing conditions, and there is a rising anxiety in the classes who cannot afford an escape pod or fortress bunker that the people they’ve entrusted themselves to intend to withdraw to safety and abandon them, or even expose them to more harm in order to “make more of the earth’s carrying weight available in the reclamation” (this kind of talk is not alien to them, though this specific quotation is my own invention.

It is important to acknowledge that the bubble has popped. It is the exclamation on Capitalist Realism; it is the moment of awareness, that encounter with a death of hope, in which Capitalist Surrealism, our phenomenological experience of the Capitalist Real, is born. While this Surrealist stage is both uncomfortable and has deleterious effects on the human condition, it represents the chink in the armour of banality and inertia, and the diminishing politics of the powerful. The sense that anything, absolutely *anything,* can happen to you, is both incredibly terrifying, and when looked at squarely, an opportunity for radical freedom.

It is this radical freedom that we see ourselves invited to in the many facets of human expression and convention which have experienced an awakening of new consciousness (or the restoration of old ones. Beliefs, ways of interacting with the world, and surviving are no longer benefited by or even neutrally treated by their operating environment anymore; if the complete weight of propaganda in circulation at the moment could be translated into sound, it would present an impenetrable and unlistenable wall.

It is that environment that individual ideologies not sanctioned by the operating environment have struggled against; all of them now have new life and vigor because despite that wall, and the spectacle societies which generate them, the literal truth of material impacts trump all prior arguments. With awareness of most likely outcomes of the climate crisis on a sliding scale, we see radicalization and existential depression of all varieties spike; the answers they attempt to generate to these apparent conditions lack hope in broad but uneven spikes along that scale of awareness, with the suicidally depressed expert climatologist and the radical anarcho-primitivist sharing the same ontological space in orientation to that crisis.

This project, among other things, is an attempt to generate an alternative answer (what that project consists of is entirely based in literature and mutual aid, the oldest Christian platforms for emancipatory action.) Terms like Solarpunk and Cloud City Futures approach but fail to capture the spirit of an alternative answer, mostly with an appeal to the world of aesthetics, a dubious method for summoning change at best. Terminology alone, or even in tandem with education, is also not sufficient; the noise environment they enter into immediately drowns out the creators meaning, especially if these terms are successful and gain currency with the wealthy.

Rather, we must articulate the positive from all our apparent negatives: The apocalyptic futures we anticipate cannot begin actually describe the terrain of the future, and the apparancy of our material conditions impact on our lives is now drowning out the sound of the standing ideologies. This is a brave time, where people blaze trails for others to follow out of the collapsing structures of the past and into the dwelling places of the new future. Our experience of reality, though surreal, has now unlocked an awareness of an apparent power: making meaning.

It is with the tools of meaning-making that these, who are the heirs of their elders, queer and colour revolutionary and indigenous land defender and abolitionist, pioneer the hopeful vistas of the future. It is necessary that they *be* hopeful; it was the Buddha who taught that people deceived by Samsara may be “deceived” by the apparent gifts of pursuing enlightenment, the majority of which are ancillary incidentals not to be meditated on. The king calls his indolent heirs out of the burning palace with a promise of gifts; when they arrive, they protest the lack of gifts, but it is in his embrace of them we realize they are the gift, and their survival was worth the promise of chariots and ponies.

But there must also be chariots, and ponies; luxuries, and finery; the grim tools of “defense” and all the things the human animal finds comforting in their resting environment to assure them of its stability. In the Dao De Jing, (Though Mueller butchers the poetry,) the Sage articulates this and describes how to create it: “Let there be a small country with few people,

Who, even having much machinery, don't use it.

Who take death seriously and don't wander far away.

Even though they have boats and carriages, they never ride in them.

Having armor and weapons, they never go to war.

Let them return to measurement by tying knots in rope.

Sweeten their food, give them nice clothes, a peaceful abode and a relaxed life.

Even though the next country can be seen and its doges and chickens can be heard,

The people will grow old and die without visiting each other's land.” A.C. Mueller Translation, The Dao De Jing, Attributed to Lao Tzu

It is as naked an appeal to a return to the life of the community and the village as can be found. A return to idigenous ways of being, which speaks to the preservation of folk ways, while the reality that the sage is administering them (even if only by moral teaching) shows a potential for new ideas to be instanced; innovation is not a property innate to the colonizing and walled world, and memetic culture and the society of truth-telling through representation around it reflect callbacks to this desire. The political movement around Land Back, while perennial to the causes of indigenous people, crystalizes an actionable answer for individuals and collectives to support. Its cousins in other colour movements, many of them representing indigenous people displaced by imperialism in the first place, are also generative of positive futures; it is a fact of history that as the rights of people classified as “minorities” are raised, the general quality of life for all in society rises, with the exception of those who could never be touched but by the highest tides.

These movements and moments of consciousness are their own inestimable goods, not mere ends for the would be conscious person to hijack for their goals. This is in fact a position inimical to the success of any of these movements; grifting starts at home, and it is the white leftist who is more easily conquered by the white liberal, since neither of them have conquered their own whiteness in the first place. But that supporting them generates positive benefits for all can only be argued against if you value the lives and comforts of some over others; those who value the general benefit first can see a clear path.

It is that clarity that gives meaning makers license to create the vistas of the future. It is the “Mandate of Heaven” that endorses the artists, a general operating license to create. Because the material impact of the present is louder than the noise of Capital, there an outburst of fertility and growth, the very seeds of hope, breaking out in the midst of this Surrealism. It is with the tools of meaning making, and the canvas of the crisis, that people escape the real.

[kob131]

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2020/04/cook-serve-delicious-3-update-includes-gay-and-trans-pride-flags/106835/

David Galindo, the developer behind Cook, Serve, Delicious 3?! announced that the game’s latest update was designed to include trans flags and pride flags for the LGBTQIA+ community. This yet another game aimed at kids including propaganda to further push the gay agenda into your home.

“Propaganda” 

Noun

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

-the dissemination of propaganda as a political strategy.

There is no info presented thus, it CANNOT BE PROPAGANDA.

You on the other hand...

Galindo made the tweet on March 31st, 2020, looking to virtue signal in hopes of gaining viral attention on social media.

Proof? ... No? Cool, so that person over there claiming every depiction of straight people in media is propaganda should also be considered right since we’re listening to baseless statements right?

This is similar to when VoidPoint and 3D Realms donated money to an LGBTQIA+ organization as remittance for offending ResetEra with the hidden jokes they had in Ion Fury.

Bullshit pseudo-news quoting itself hoping you don’t look at the origin of the link.

Take a shot.

This is similar to when Matt Makes Games updated Celeste to include the trans flags, indicating that they support youth transitioning, a sick and twisted agenda being pushed by the Rainbow Reich.

In other news, The Mary Sue reports that all men must remove their dicks with rusty knives or they will mutate every night into rape machines.

This is what you sound like to me.

The idea is that if you can convince people to transition their kids, then the next step will be to convince people that hebephelia should be legalized so long as minors give their consent, and then after that it’s going to be pedophilia getting legalized so long as minors give their consent.

The first and second things have NO correlation, let alone with the third.

It’s a chisel that etches away at the statue of morality, with the erosion of each block being met with cheers by the purveyors of degeneracy for the Poofer Prefects… better known as Centrists™ .

Demonizing centrists because they don’t just mindlessly consume whatever biased bullshit is in front of them.

Take two here.

Transitioning is not a fucking moral conundrum and no sane person is gonna actually transition their kids. And if they do, they’ll pay for it when they rot away in a nursing home somewhere because they fucked up their kid.

Anyone who speaks out against the invasion of this culturally erosive agenda are shouted down by said Centrists™, even while drag queen story time continues to expand.

They say as the boogeyman in their heads also venhemetly hate centrists while centrists usually hate BOTH of them.

Number four.

Heck, even lawmakers are being drowned out by the degenerates even when all they’ve asked for is for parents to have a say in whether they want their kids exposed to sexual deviancy, as reported by The Daily Signal.

Checked the source, all it really cites is a tweet (https://twitter.com/BenBakerMO/status/1220354131124088832) and the just trucks along pretending anyone gives a shit about their unsubstainated claims.

We’re seeing the aberrant lifestyles promoted in kids’ shows such as Clifford The Big Red Dog, Adventure Time, and Young Justice, as well as gay weddings appearing in children media such as Steven Universe, Voltron, and Arthur.

None of the cartoons or kid shows admit that LGBTQIA+ lifestyles come with higher substance and drug abuse compared to heterosexuals, as outlined in a study by by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

None of them cover how lesbians and gays also have higher rates of domestic abuse than heterosexuals, as reported by the HOSB, and

None of them discuss how lesbians in particular are involved in more spousal abuse than heterosexuals, as reported and the NCADV.

They completely avoid mentioning gay men have higher percentages of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted diseases, as detailed in a CDC report.

And LGBTQIA+ suicide rates are much higher than heterosexuals due to shame and depression caused from fighting against their own biological standards, as outlined in a litany of resources on The Trevor Project.

Already addressed this but these studies are being manipulated to oversimplify things or even go AGAINST what they are meant to do.

Nevertheless, we’re seeing the promotion of LGBTQIA+ content more and more in kids media, with companies attempting to force people to believe it’s “normal behavior”, despite the fact that gays and lesbians only make up 1.6% of the U.S., population, as reported by Time Magazine. That means it’s not “normal” behavior, it’s aberrant behavior.

Cool.

Most living creatures on planet earth do not think or act like human beings. Therefore, we are aberrant behavior As was the freedom of slaves, the equality of women and the rights of the people over the king. Aberrant means ‘deviantion from an accepted standard’ you dumbass: it does not mean anything negative,

Even rappers noticed the abundance of gay material in cartoons and kid shows, as discussed in the clip below from Vlad TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6oxBLXtkU

And a certain youtuber noted that women tend to be ‘trophies’ for women, what’s your point other than ‘eat my bias’?

So why is such a small portion of the demographic gaining so much attention?

Cultural shift due to equal rights.

To normalize the behavior. To force acceptance of said behavior, lest you be castigated by the Craphole Communists that control social media.

Doesn’t Twitter have a fuckton of Nazis on it’s platform?

Also, what is your opposition? Replace ‘Craphole Communists that control social media’ to ‘Craphole Neanderthals who wish they control social media’: you’re both the same damn movement, just with tiny differences.

They use cultivation theory to continually pepper people with iconography (i.e., flags in games like A Hat In Time) and social inculcation (i.e., LGBTQIA+ references in games like Animal Crossing), and censorship for anyone who speaks out against it (viz., behavioral control via Big Tech, which is what happened to Meghan Murphy, as reported by The Federalist).

Yeah, unlike you, someone who has lied repeatedly and tried to trick people into gobbling up biased sources.

The idea is forced normalization, and more and more people are being brainwashed into accepting it.

While your idea is forced demonization, trying to play to people’s fears and worries to brainwash them.

You’re just pissy you lack the power to censor people.

There is some hope, though.

When Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon tried convincing parents that the lifestyle was a-okay for kids via social media posts, parents fired back and criticized both companies for trying to foist sexual content onto kids.

Thank god I’m drinking beer for these shots.

Expect the Centrists™ to run to the defense of said propaganda, as they always do. Just like a decade or two from now you’ll see them condemning anyone who isn’t okay with MAPs and legalized pedophilia.

You say as I bet if I were to bring up the Catholic Church’s protection of pedophiles, you’d go into a fit because you perceive the church as ‘on your side.’

You have no identity or purpose outside of opposing a certain group. And when that happens, you basically BECOME that group because you have no morals or standards other than ‘Oppose X’.

Fuck off, you’re making the COmmunists look right.

[kkglinka]

One of the wild parts about being both a bees and mono fan is how differently the two sub-fandoms characterize Blake. Like, I love the variety but some contrasts are stunning.

I've lurked since the beginning and started out on the mono train full speed ahead for the simple reason that the fics were more to my taste. (Early bees fics were very dumbass party girl + mousy nerd). At the time, none of us expected more than subtext or bait from the bumbleby side, so mono was fair game. But wait! Why did I find the fics preferable?

Because mono fandom picked up on Blake's NB and GNC cues way ahead of the bee's crowd. See, I read the character herself as strongly femme, which is a murky combination of behavioral cues, and should not be confused with feminine. (A man can be femme, etc). But girl's been cross-dressing since day one (and still is, judging by her Ghira 2.0 cossack). We eventually saw some prominent trans and NB headcanon's pop up as fans explored their own identities, preferences and the very blurry lines that exist between overlapping concepts.

On the downside, I guess because Weiss is pretty damn femme and feminine, some folks consciously or subconsciously slotted them into the butch/femme couple stereotype. Which every queer fandom in existence inevitably does and gets on my nerves because radfems stomped all over the butch and femme communities to such a degree, spreading their propaganda about those separate identity spectrums being a linear gender binary that can be summed up by fashion choices...

I digress. Though, what I said is relevant.

I go into bee's fandom and it's like getting whiplash because they flip the B/F stereotype. That sub-fandom tends to put more emphasis on Blake's femme traits, often to the point of making her overtly feminine (especially in AU's). Then I'm picking up the browser window and checking underneath to see if I can find her formal menswear but it's gone! Maybe a Grimm ate it; I dunno. (I'm being facetious because we're back in the realm of this fic is not for me and that's okay!)

At the end of the day, it's mostly fun watching fans parse femme in a suit and seeing what conclusions they draw. I may not agree with some conclusions, but that doesn't actually matter because I'm just glad the gender presentation rubix cube exists. Blake's all about duality, guys. I love it.

[jackmfvegas777]

What Being Trans Is Like; A Guide For Allies

Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Atom Yorke. I am a 16-year-old transgender and pansexual man, and you should probably get some popcorn ready because I've got a lot to say.

I'll split this up into categories so you can go page by page.

DEFINITION Now to begin this, if you're not sure what transgender means, transgender people are people whose brain does not match their body in gender. For example, I am a man. However I was born in a body most would call "female". I am a transgender man. This may be a radically new concept for some of you, but the truth is that we've been around since the dawn of humanity. Our history has been heavily modified and erased. In fact, any history that's not white, christian, heterosexual & cisgender has been shoved down to the darkest confines of information, where people have to look to find it. The truth is even ancient cultures have records of trans people, of nonbinary people, and of other LGBTQ concepts. This was one of the things they most heavily tried to erase during the ruthless colonization of Christianity.

You may be surprised to learn that yes, you yourself have met a trans person! Chances are you've met a lot of them, actually.

The reason why we're never seen is because until a little ways back, we would be imprisoned, killed or worse just for being out.   Now that we finally have a voice, we're speaking loud. But still, some trans people do not wish to be that way, and they will stay quiet their whole lives and blend in with the rest of society. Because of many people living in hiding, surveys are skewed and we have no real way to quantify just how many transgender people there are in the world. But there are a lot. And we matter, just like you.

MISCONCEPTIONS First off, there are a LOT, and I mean A LOT of misconceptions about transgender people. And it's not an accident. The lack of information and the stereotypes that have been given have been due to not only ignorance, but intentional covering up of the truth of who we are, and blatant propaganda against us. Many people think trans people are "out to get them" like they're some kind of "cross-dressing predators looking to peep in on the other gender". I can assure you, we are nothing of the sort. This falsehood would be laughable, if it didn't hurt so many people. Nearly 60% of trans people in America are outright TERRIFIED to go to the bathroom, (or go anywhere, really) due to them being harassed, assaulted, and worse inside. We are the ones being attacked in bathrooms, not you. We are the ones being attacked out in the streets, not you. We are not predators, we are quite literally the prey for the real predators. And this has to change. And the way it changes is through spread of information, and actual facts.

A trans woman is a woman. She is not a "man in a dress". A trans man is a man. He is not a "woman in disguise". A trans person is a person. They are not "confused".

There have been multiple scientific studies done on transgender people's brains, and they have revealed, every time, that your brain will match your gender, even if your genitalia does not. The reason for this is due to how you develop in the womb. In utero, the brains form one way, and the genitalia develops another way. Most of the time they match, creating what is known as a cisgender person, aka a person who is not trans.   Occasionally, the brain will develop in one gender and the sexual organs will develop in a different way due to an influx of different hormones during pregnancy, causing a trans person to be born.

To restate that; A trans person's brain matches their gender, not their genitalia. It has been scientifically proven. To argue that trans people "do not exist", are "confused", are "pretending" or anything else of the sort is foolish, and a rejection of science and reason altogether.

TERMINOLOGY Also, before you say "Well, if they existed forever, where are all these new terms coming from and why are we only now seeing trans people?" The reason being is you have seen trans people. You haven't seen these words because they are helpful labels we have only created recently for concepts that are ancient. The reason for all this new influx in trans activity is due to the internet and the spread of its information, which causes so many people to feel much safer and begin to come out. Now, let's take a look at the vocabulary of trans people, so you have an easier time understanding the lingo!

LGBTQ - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer. Refers to the community. FTM - Female to Male. A trans man. MTF - Male to Female. A trans woman. T - Testosterone E - Estrogen HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy. The medical procedure of hormone replacement to look more like your actual gender. Binder - A form of undergarment that is like a very tight sports bra that binds the chest of trans men & sometimes nonbinary people so they can appear flat-chested. Packer - A fake penis (or sometimes a rolled up sock, etc.) used to make trans men look like they have a bulge. Tucking - A technique trans women use to make them look like they have no bulge. Top surgery - Surgery on your chest to correct it to your gender. Bottom surgery - Surgery on your genitalia to correct them to your gender. Coming out of the closet - Telling the world and everyone openly that you are LGBTQ, or in this case transgender. Stealth - A term referring to trans people who go completely "undercover", and keep the fact that they're trans hidden so they can just enjoy a normal life. Gender dysphoria - A feeling of heartwrenching, guttwisting wrongness in a trans person's soul when someone calls them by the gender they are not, or sometimes when reminded of their body. Gender euphoria - A feeling of either complete contentedness, or giddy joyful excitement when their gender is affirmed.

HOW IT FEELS; A WATERED DOWN VERSION Now that we got all that out of the way, I wrote a short summary of what it feels like to be trans, from my perspective.

Imagine you're in the womb. It's a clean slate, nothing but peace. Then from the moment you're born, you're immediately categorized by your sexual organs and colour-coded. "It's a girl!" They say. They wrap you in a pink blanket. Your whole life you're told to be a girl, and so that's what you are. It was the first thing someone decided that you are. But the whole time you live in this fake life you feel... empty. Every time you use the girl's bathroom, there's a gnawing part of you that says you shouldn't be there. When kids around you are playing on a bouncy slide, playing a game of boys vs. girls, you always feel like you belong on the other side, for some nagging reason. Your grandmother keeps buying you skirts, bras, dresses, because you ask for them. You think that's what it takes for you to feel normal. You never wear them. "Maybe I'm not girly enough." So you try to be even more of what you are not. And every time, you feel this pit, this twisting gnawing void that aches and only aches more as you grow older. You don't know what it is. It gets worse every time someone says the word "She". "Girl." "Have a nice day, ladies." You tear through your room, looking for anything that doesn't look like the dresses your grandmother buys you. You cry and cry like you've never cried before, and you don't know why you're crying. What is it that's wrong with me? And after a while you decide you want your hair cut. Maybe that's what it is. Then you think, "Maybe it's because I eat a lot. Girls are supposed to be self-conscious of their weight, right?" So you blame your weight. Until you realize that's not the issue at all. Because one day you wake up. It hits you. And you put the pieces together. I'm not what they forced me to be all my life. There was a reason I was always uncomfortable. I'm not a girl... That was an option? That was even an option? I'm not forced to stay in this cell? There's actually NOT something wrong with me?

All I felt was profound relief at first, but soon enough the relief turned to paralyzing fear. This was the beginning, and also the end of my life, and I was only thirteen. But some people don't find out until they're adults, sometimes even until they're in their old age. It doesn't make anyone any less who they are. But man, does it uproot your whole life to fix things. If you realize at a young age it's easier because then you don't have as much paperwork to deal with, but you still no matter what have to deal with it, and people make it as hard as they possibly can for you, because of petty ignorance. I've had multiple cases of people straight-up refusing to give me my legal documents back (such as my insurance card which I need for my literally life-saving medication) because of ignorance or malicious transphobia. I had to actually argue with people to put my insurance card through, something that was common sense, that I had all the legal documentation for, that could be typed in at the push of a button, and costs nothing for them. But they had "never came across this situation before" so they argued with me for a good while about doing it until they finally gave in.

I've had cases of family members, family friends turning on me and calling me "tranny", a "confused girl", I've been told that there was "no masculinity in my eyes" when they looked at me. I was yelled at, screamed at in front of family and friends that I would never be a man. I've been insulted in front of people, I've been ridiculed and humiliated. But I will stand tall. You know why? Because it is A MILLION times better dealing with all this than dealing with not being who I truly am. I'm myself, and if anyone's got a problem with that, they can take it up with me.

The sad truth is, if you're trans, you unfortunately are going to experience horrible, horrible things like this. It's an inescapable reality. But that does not mean it's without hope. Every person can be educated, even if it may not seem so at first. Don't give up hope, because there is so much more beauty than you're seeing right now, and wouldn't you like to get to see it?

If you're an ally, you're here to make sure this feeling they have happens less. So, here is how to treat a trans person, written from the perspective of a trans person.

HOW TO HELP TRANSGENDER PEOPLE (from the perspective of a trans person)

1. Treat them with basic human respect. Aka refer to them how they want to be referred, you know, by their ACTUAL name and pronouns, not the ones you're clinging to desperately. You may think "What's the big deal?" about being misgendered, because as a cis person you've never been forced to live in a body that's not your own. You have ZERO frame of reference for how a trans person feels, or experiences their life, and so the very least you could do, even if you may not understand, is treat them with basic human decency. It literally costs you nothing to just be a civil human being.

2. Ask questions! (to a point. Don't be creepy or disrespectful.) If you are concerned you are not treating a trans person completely right due to not knowing, or you have something you're curious about, or you just don't understand us at all--ask! Please ask! We love it when you consider our needs, it makes us feel more appreciated. And asking questions opens important communication pathways, that lead to higher understanding, empathy, and acceptance of each other, which can only lead to higher growth for everyone involved. However, if you start getting really nosy about it by asking us weird questions when you barely know us like "Have you had the surgery yet? What do your genitalia look like?" Or the much dreaded "What's your original name?" Then you know you've gone too far. I mean, come on, you wouldn't ask a regular person that question, so why would you ask us?!

3. Speak up for them when they have no voice. This is probably by far the most huge thing you can do for a transgender person. A minor example; If they're in a very uncomfortable situation, like say for example they are getting misgendered by the cashier over and over at the grocery store and you can see they're too nervous to correct them, or even if they have corrected them themselves multiple times but the person will not give them that basic respect, the best thing you can do in that moment is step in and correct them for them.  I've had someone do it for me, and it makes me feel euphoric that someone actually stood up for me. Just back us up when we need back up, cause we very rarely have that support. A lot of trans people have no support whatsoever. Any support you can show a transgender person will help them exponentially more than you know. Some allies will post LGBTQ positive things on their social media pages, meanwhile some others take this to extremes by becoming huge supporters of LGBTQ communities, and standing up and giving a voice everywhere for them through words, art, many different forms of media, pride parades & riots.

4. Physical Support If you are very close to a trans person yourself, such as one of your children, your spouse, etc. or even if you just want to go above and beyond by supporting trans people everywhere, giving a roof over their heads, a warm meal, and some kind words would change people's lives. Consider donating to a charity (a charity you research before donating into, a lot of them are fake and will collect the money) that goes towards help for transgender people, or LGBTQ people in general! We really need it, especially in the days of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named as our president.

5. Don't out them if they're not ready! This goes for all LGBTQ people, but please, if someone is closeted due to safety reasons or even just because they're not ready, do not under any circumstance out them for who they are. This could potentially throw them into massive danger, or it could just throw a massive wrench into their lives in some way. Please ask first.

6. Give positive, gender-affirming actions toward them! I absolutely LOVE IT when people do this. I have a friend who not only does bro-fistbumps with me, the two-pat hug thing, highfives me, but also always uses gender-affirming language such as calling me "man", "dude", "bro", etc. and it just always makes me feel so good to be around him! It creates a pleasant, safe space for us to be ourselves when you treat us for who we are, and it honestly makes us more happy than you know. So next time you see a really fabulous trans woman, tell her she looks lovely and classy today! When you see a trans man on top of his game, mention that he's handsome. And mention the things you know they feel insecure about in a positive way! It gives us majour gender euphoria. I know I've always been so ashamed of my round baby face due to it being the main reason I don't pass, but my friends on a call once had started all ooh-ing and ah-ing about how nice my cheekbones and jawline were and all that day I was ecstatic! A simple compliment that you might not even remember giving could change someone's life. And that goes for all people, not just trans people.

Now, you might have heard a lot of negative things that happened to me because of my being transgender, but I'm here to tell you there is so much hope. Cut forward to 2019. I've been out and proud for three years, and by God, I am so, SO SO much happier than I was. I am proud to say I was lucky, I have an amazing support system in my mom, dad, siblings & grandmother that have helped me so much through this. I'm about to start T soon, and I am so unbelievably excited. The person who had yelled at me in front of family members? They are now supportive, and make an effort around me. The person who called me a tranny? They apologized profusely and learnt from that experience.

So to fellow trans people out there--Things do get better. And they get better soon. You just have to hold out for a little while longer.

And for the allies who want to do better by trans and LGBTQ people everywhere, thank you. Thank you for showing your support, and thank you for your willingness to learn about those different from you. That shows extreme emotional maturity. On behalf of all LGBTQ people, thank you.

- Atom T. L. Yorke

Atom T. L. Yorke is a visual artist, cosplayer, writer, musician, and comedian that has also dedicated his life to helping LGBTQ people in need, especially the transgender community.