#transgender representation

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The first openly transgender state representative in Montana history is facing either censure or outright expulsion, after she said Republicans would have “blood on their hands” for passing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Rep. Zooey Zephyr was sworn in just three months ago after winning a Missoula-based seat in November. GOP leaders have refused to recognize her in floor debates until she apologizes for the comment. On Monday, supporters rallied on the steps of the state Capitol, and chants of “Let her speak!” shut down proceedings in the House for nearly a half-hour, as Zephyr hoisted her microphone above her head.

On Tuesday, Zephyr tweeted a letter she received from leaders in the Republican-controlled chamber declaring their intention to bring a motion “with respect to the conduct of Representative Zooey Zephyr.”

The House will “determine if [Zephyr]’s conduct on the Floor of the House on April 24, 2023 violated the rules, collective rights, safety, dignity, integrity, or decorum of the House of Representatives, and if so, whether to impose disciplinary consequences for those actions,” according to the letter sent to Zephyr. The House will meet Wednesday afternoon.

“I have been informed that during tomorrow’s floor session there will be a motion to either censure or expel me,” Zephyr said in a Tuesday tweet. “I’ve also been told I’ll get a chance to speak. I will do as I have always done—rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community, & for democracy itself.”

Zephyr’s clash with the GOP began last week when she made the comment during a floor debate on the transition care ban. Since then, Republicans have refused to let her participate in floor debates entirely, even when she’s requested to speak last week, the far-right Montana Freedom Caucus demanded Zephyr’s immediate censure while misgendering her in their statement.

The move to silence Zephyr has been met with fierce protests. On Monday, supporters rallied on the steps of the state Capitol, and chants of “Let her speak!” shut down proceedings in the House for nearly a half-hour, as Zephyr hoisted her microphone above her head.

Riot cops who were called to the chamber arrested seven protesters. Republicans claimed that the protests had turned violent, though the protesters were charged only with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. In the letter, Republican leaders said the House gallery, where Montana citizens are able to watch proceedings, will be closed Wednesday during the debate on whether to punish Zephyr.

“It’s not enough for them to get the harmful bills through,” Zephyr told reporters Monday. “When someone stands up and calls out their bills for the harm they cause, for the deaths they cause, they want silence. And we will not be complicit in our eradication.”

Montana House Speaker Matt Regier said in a statement Tuesday that “the choice not to follow House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made.”

“The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied,” Regier said.

Tensions have escalated in state legislatures such as Montana’s this year, as Republicans across the country have used simple rules violations as a pretext to crack down on dissent.

Earlier this month, the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two young Black lawmakers, Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis and Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, and nearly expelled a third white lawmaker from Knoxville, after the trio protested for gun law reforms in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March.

The move, however, backfired spectacularly. Pearson and Jones became national figures overnight, they were quickly re-appointed to the seats they’d been expelled from, and both are expected to run in special elections to determine a replacement for, well, themselves. They met with President Joe Biden at the White House earlier this week.

Tennessee Republicans have also drawn increased scrutiny to themselves, after expelling Jones and Pearson for bringing “disorder and dishonor” to the legislature; a member of the leadership abruptly resigned last week after a complaint that he’d sexually harassed an intern became public, and the Speaker of the Tennessee House, Cameron Sexton, has faced new questions about whether he really resides in his district.

On Tuesday, Pearson offered his support to Zephyr in a tweet.

“Voices across the country continue to rise for justice and expose the anti-democratic behavior of people in Republican led states,” Pearson said. “We will not let our democracy die without fighting for every voice. We are in this fight from Memphis to Montana!”

[badger-with-a-boa]

A little fun & sweet moment that happened my girlfriend (she/they) recently & I really want to share it <3

I introduced my girlfriend to New Mutants not too long ago, and she really likes it now, and they also grew to like Shela. And just recently, they found out Shela was a trans woman. She was absolutely over the moon excited. (& it was very cute & heartwarming to say the least.) From what I recall, that was her first time seeing a trans mutant, and she was so excited to with that representation (as a trans woman themself)

I just want to thank @charliejaneanders for honestly making such an impact, and making my girlfriend feel so happy & noticed. Seeing someone so thrilled by feeling seen & in something they love so much really truly shows the importance of characters such as Shela.

And fun fact, she and I want to cosplay Martha & Shela together. Bring the ship to life! We're very excited 🤍

[roseredsnow]

Hi welcome to a post however potentially I can be bothered about High Republic characters because there is so much rep you're sleeping on and I want people to know.

First up Tep Tep (She/her)

Tep tep is an Alcedian youngling who so far only appearance is in "Escape from Valo" by Daniel José Older (He/him) and Alyssa Wong (They/them).

It's revealed about mid book that Tep tep is a trans girl in a few short sentences during a flashback that refer to how much happier she's looked since growing out her hair, changing her name, and changing dormitories.

She also has a love for animals.

[starzzach]

making something you hate for a person you aren't vs making something you love for a person you are. the difference is THERE and it's showing.

[mygenderenvyromance]

so killjoys comics right? i’ve had California for about a year. it’s wonderful. amazing images and story telling and everything. i got National Anthem this past year for Christmas. read it yesterday in one go. it’s wonderful. amazing images and story telling and everything.

i’ve seen that majority of people far prefer California, and have to read National Anthem several times to somewhat understand it. idk why, it’s probably autism-related, but i understood it perfectly on my first read. i probably prefer it to California.

i don’t really get how it’s hard to understand? i mean i sort of do with the way it’s layed out and each chapter being sort of different perspectives but also not? but i loved the story and the concept behind it.

i really admired the character backstory and development behind Mike Milligram and the way BL/I wiped them so they had little to no memory of being killjoys.

also trans Kara makes me so unbelievably happy. the fact that they all catch on instantly. they don’t give a shit that she’s trans, they just want her to come back to them. to keep rebelling. that’s what i adore about Gerard’s writing.

i don’t know if it classifies as a ‘coming out scene’ but i found quite a few correlations with that and Viktor’s coming out in season 3 of Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’.

it made me really interested to see that possibly that scene was based of Gerard’s previous writing in National Anthem. i know Gerard isn’t too involved in the actual producing of the show, but they obviously have some input since they wrote the comics the show, primarily the first season, are based on.

this may be far-fetched but i love the thought that Steve Blackman or anyone else working behind scenes in the show possibly had a look at, or had already read, Gerard’s previous works, and incorporated a part of that into the show.

also, rehashing the Viktor transition thing. as a transgender person myself, i absolutely love and admire the way the transition and coming out was represented in the show. and i know that some people were a little shocked to see how quickly the producers worked it in to the season.

but really?

nothing written by, or based off something written by Gerard Way would ever do a transition scene wrongly.

that is all, thank you.

[also, credits to the other creators of The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and The Umbrella Academy comics:

Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Becky Cloonan, Nate Piekos, Dan Jackson, Sierra Hahn - Leonardo Romero, Jordie Bellaire - Gabriel Bá, Dave Stewart - Nick Filardi - Ian Culbard]

[yonderghostshistories]

Hello Trans/Queer/LGBTQ+ Monty Python fans out there on this website, I am genuinely curious, what do you personally think about the LGBTQ+ representation/queer representation in Monty Python's Flying Circus and the Monty Python movies in your opinions? I love to hear y'all thoughts on this topic! Please leave your thoughts in the tags/comment section of this post!

[heymrsamerica]

I, personally, would LOVE if this happened.

[anthony-ant-14]

I love this line of dialogue 😭 (also that because Albion and Dismas are trans their deadnames are all glitched out that’s so real)

[midnights-dragon]

Y’all... this scene. As a trans guy myself, I have never seen myself represented on screen in such a raw, open way before. After watching this scene, I cried so hard. I cried because I see myself in Barney. I cried because I wish I had a magic demon gym to escape to. I cried because I know that if 12-year-old me had seen Barney, so unapologetically transgender, maybe I could’ve been able to see myself, and be happy with myself, a lot sooner. 

Still working on that last part, but I’m getting there. I’m so grateful for the Dead End team for making Barney, and for making Norma and Logs and Badyah and everyone else in the show who represents so many different types of people. And for just making a freaking AMAZING show. It’s all so perfect, it feels like a dream. 

[desdasiwrites]

Happy tdov! 🏳️‍⚧️

Here's a few books recs for the occasion

[captain-grumpy-pants]

Hello Trans and GNC comic fans!

I am writing a thesis paper about trans and gnc representation in comics and manga and I am gathering some statistics! If you have the time to fill out this completely anonymous form it would be of great help to me! It's just 5 short answer questions and 1 multiple choice question

[redheadedfailgirl]

God it would be so nice to see lazy trans girls in media 🥺

[marvelmaster69]

Just some random headcanons for Tony, Peter, and Bruce, revolving around their mental health and sexual/gender orientation.

TW: Mentions of self-harm in Tony and Bruce's parts.

Tony definitely has ADHD along with PTSD, anxiety, and crippling depression. Because of his ADHD, he often hyper fixates on his projects in the lab. When he does get hyper fixated, he won't leave his lab unless it's to use the bathroom or get something to eat, and even then, it's a very delayed process. The only people who can get him out of his lab when he gets like that is Pepper, Bruce, Natasha, Happy, Rhodey, Morgan, and Peter. He's also Pansexual. During his teenage years, he self-harmed quite frequently. He usually used a blade, cutting his arms but sometimes cutting his thighs and stomach instead if there was the looming threat of someone finding out. He only started his playboy persona after all the scars had faded a bit, so when he was around twenty-two or so.

Peter is a transgender man and openly bisexual. He came out to his Aunt May a few months before he came out as trans, so when he was twelve or thirteen. Tony helped pay for his top surgery and scouted out the best surgeons he could for Peter, and because of his extra fast regeneration, he healed extremely quickly and didn't even scar afterwards. He was so glad not to have to wear a binder during patrol anymore, as it was causing great damage to his ribs and lungs. Even years later, he still randomly gets heartburn, chest pains, and shortness of breath. He doesn't feel like he needs bottom surgery because packers and strap-ons seem to work well enough for him, and MJ doesn't very well care what he does with his privates. He also has ADHD, anxiety, and mild depression. MJ always makes sure to set alarms for him, create a detailed electronic and physical color-coded calendar for him, and send him reminder texts to help with his horrible time blindness. For the most part, lots of reassurance from Tony, Aunt May, MJ, and Ned is enough to kind of help him with his depression enough for him to continue on with his normal day-to-day life without any major interference. To convince Aunt May to put Peter on puberty blockers when he was twelve, he worked together with Ned to create a PowerPoint with the pros and cons and alternatives for puberty blockers.

Bruce is demisexual and asexual, and he's only ever been in three or four relationships in his adult life (as he had a middle school girlfriend that he doesn't really count as 'dating'). He has crippling anxiety, severe depression, and once checked himself into a mental hospital because he felt like he'd end up hurting himself or others around him. He's also very private about his issues, he's one of those people whose thought process is 'well, this could be worse, there are always people out there that have it worse than me'. This is totally random, too, but he hates the color green, it reminds him too much of The Other Guy. He hasn't relapsed in years, but he used to cut almost every week. Tony was actually the one to help him stop, as Tony himself has a history of self-harm and understood everything Bruce was going through, or at least tried to understand, unlike a lot of other people in Bruce's life, which he appreciates more than Tony will ever understand He doesn't have any scars on his arms, though, as he would often works closely with children and didn't want to taint their innocence, so he usually stuck to his stomach and thighs.

Sadly, that's all I have time to write but I'll definitely be back sometime within the next few days with another one of these with some other characters. I want to eventually do all The Avengers in a series of sorts. By the way, how are we liking the colored text?

[kyri45]

It’s TRANS AWARENESS WEEK EVERYBODY! Help us raise funds for Trans Organizations HERE!

The Tees4Trans project is here! For the rest of this year Trans Awareness Month, you can get a special collection of clothes with some of the designs I created for this campaign! 100% of the funds will be equally distributed to different organizations. The campaign ends the 30th of November! I really hope all will appreciate also the other designs coming up in the next days!

[woomycritiques543]

My current thoughts on the Sallie Mae situation.

As someone who used to be mentally unwell for the past few years, I find that my past posts were written in a rush. I find that my past self wasn’t actually upset about the Sallie Mae situation, but rather how Erin Frost was being treated, the people that wronged her, and the fandom’s behavior towards the character and Ignis to be nothing short of disrespectful of the trans identity and not at all being done out of respect, but rather to have Sallie’s _____ define how they see her. Which is what concerned me and why I put that into the video in the first place. So to address the situation, I believe that it should be addresses according to the participants and what each of us should have done. So with that said:

Ignis.

1. Now that I am diagnosed, I believe that Ignis was actually someone both of good and bad faith, that she actually loved Sallie Mae and wanted to have good representation. But that after she said that “I did this for what the fans want.” I researched what those fans “wanted” and found nothing more than disrespectful presentations of the character that I ended up putting into my now deleted “Vivziepop Archive Extravaganza.” video. But that in itself just shows that the fandom was the one who wanted to be bad faith with Sallie Mae.

2. The reason why Ignis emphasized _____ now that I look back on it was because she wanted to make a point about transgender representation. Which now that I have space in my brain to better think things through, I think that this in itself is fine, it was just executed poorly due to the way that the other characters were drawn causing this to be emphasized in a way that was drawn differently from the other characters in a way that caused this to he executed as ___tishization. Even if the good intentions were there. So with Sallie Mae and both her and Sallie’s representation, Ignis was in good faith. I just wish that she was honest about Erin Frost’s posts, the merch that she was proud of instead of hiding behind non-__xual merchandising, and addressed the sitiation with Finn, Sallie’s brother, instead of ignoring the transgender community’s concerns and using the fact that she was a voice actress to avoid accountability for supporting Vivziepop despite what happened with Finn.

Erin Frost.

1. What I believe that Erin should have done differently is that she shouldn’t have just left her statement about Sallie Mae vague but instead should have made an explanation as to why she felt that what Vivziepop was doing with Sallie was _____tization. The issue being the difference between how Sallie was drawn compared to the other characters within the merchandising, and how that ended up causing the execution of a otherwise good faith decision to be done poorly.

Jayman.

1. Oh boy…. Jayman. What could I say about Jayman except that they purposely took Erin’s post out of context to make outlandish claims that used Erin’s vague wording to make her look “bad”, the dishonesty in how he presented his views on pretty much everything, what he ended up doing to other fans, how he treated me. Jayman was just an awful person overall, and im glad that he left the internet before he could have done what he had done to me to anyone else.

Myself.

1. For me, I feel like I should have further looked into the situation and explained myself better. But couldn’t have at the time due to my brain feeling cluttered because I didn’t have proper medical treatment. I should have kept the accountability for the fandom’s actions and Spindlehorse’s actions separate instead of grouping them together the way that I did.

I was too accusatory, I should’ve said that “Though Sallie’s brother situation isn’t your fault, that doesn’t mean that you should keep supporting someone you know wants to erase much needed representation of gnc.” but couldn’t say this at the time due to my past mental state being much less coherent.

2. I’ve realized why the past when it comes to this situation caused me so much pa^n. It was the fact that people kept taking Erin Frost’s word at face value instead of trying to dig into why she said what she said and trying to analyze the screenshots more than just face value. I was actually up^et about Erin Frost, not Sallie Mae. -and because of how I was at the time my thoughts were jumbled together so I took out my emotions about Erin out on Ignis, when I should have again, kept my thoughts about Sallie’s brother, Ignis, and Erin Frost separate.

The problem?

I couldn’t do it at the time. My brain functioned in a way that grouped things together into disorganized mush.

-and now that I know that I am mentally ill, it effects me even more that Jayman was such an able^st person and that Ignis let him get away with treating me the way that he did and let Vivziepop get away with everything else.

In all, I wish that I could do more.

I wish that I could make a proper video on Vivziepop like I had planned to, it’s just that due to personal and technical reasons such a video would be physically impossible to do.

So take this as a “My current thoughts” sort of thing since a proper video on either subject matter, or any more videos for that matter, wouldn’t be possible to do in my current state.

-and with that said, I wish you all a goodnight.

Take care. -RaySquid.