LGBTQ+

I recall a few of us at a vigil for Christian Paige, on a freezing Chicago morning, right by the Picasso statue at City Hall. We started leafletting but were practically invisible. Then they drifted in, in twos and threes, and suddenly there was a crowd of trans people, and for that one morning everyone going into or out of Chicago City Hall knew the name “Christian Paige” and that she had been killed in their city.

Fast forward two decades. I was reading CNN when I came across a photo that stopped me cold: A nationwide rally had been called to protest the murders of Black trans women like Debbie and Christian, and in New York City alone thousands of people showed up, all in white t-shirts.

I stared at that picture for a long time. It still gives me chills.

Our protests today show that we won’t take the assaults on our lives lying down. They show we will stand up on our hind legs and fight back. We don’t need cisgender acceptance, but we do demand our basic human rights.

Just had an interaction that reminded me of this.

I was a daycare teacher for 3 years, and I'm a cishet dude. My daycare had a policy in their contract that men were not allowed in the infant room. This had gone unchallenged since the 90s, when it was written. I apparently was the first man to challenge it, and it was entirely by accident. All I did was offer to sub for an infant teacher, not knowing the contract, and this triggered a whole beurocraric thing that resulted in the contract being rewritten.

I know I'm far from the first man to work there. Did every other man who worked there think they were unqualified to change a diaper? To pat a baby to sleep? To feed a little one in a high chair?

And this isn't even touching on how I got stuck with the 4s because my boss expected me to be scary because I'm a man. I don't have an aggressive bone in my body. Thankfully they learned that fast.

I also had to deal with plenty of parents who seemed unable to comprehend a man who actually want to be a caregiver. Clearly Mr. Teacher must have ulterior motives! I must be a gay who is trying to corrupt the youth! I must want to abduct children! I have had so many parents try to accuse me of the worst things because they can't imagine a man who actually likes children.

And so much of this was from the dads. Sir, you have a child! Are you telling you that you don't want to be around your child? That you are so repulsed by your child that you can't imagine other men thinking they are pretty neat?

I am not looking forward to seeing other people react to me parenting my own children. I hate how the patriarchy makes men beat down other men. Men should be allowed to want to be dads.

I am neuro-divergent. I struggle with remembering minutia that aren't, coincidentally, just luckily the minutia that I glimpse, once, and never forget. I state this not as an excuse but as a statement of fact and I am terrible at remembering people's pronouns. I cannot even remember people's names. When I see people I know, I can remember who they are, what we have done together, where we have been, what we have seen and even the tone of voice they might use to exclaim at an occurrence or upon some eventuality but – yet – I often cannot remember their names. Pronouns are like parts of their names.

And, so, I tend to address everyone with "they" / "them".

In my limited experience, this only tends to annoy the anti-woke conservative types who renounce the very concept of pronouns and believe that one should only ever be addressed as "he" / "him" – assuming that a penis hangs between their thighs – or "she" / "her" otherwise. (A musing: How do they know? Also, what if it's cold? Or they're upside down? Quandaries within quandaries!)

BUT... I am open minded and I can believe that others, too, might be offended by my cop-out, including open-minded, non-mysoginist, non-bigots who do understand why people elect to be addressed under non-Victorian pronouns.

I have recently had reason to pause and wonder about this. I struggle with pronouns but I do try my best and so, I'm asking: for which reasons might someone object? Tell me, LGBTQ+ community.

The laws targeting queer and trans people that are proliferating across the United States are a symptom of a much deeper and more insidious reaction, the inevitable outgrowth of a deeply repressive and hierarchical society confronting the possibility of collapse. Today’s gender fascism is not confined to the policies of a single political party. It takes different forms across the political spectrum, bringing together essentialist narratives about identity, a resurgent patriarchal mythos, and the persisting power of the state.

This is not the first time that a reactionary society has sought scapegoats. Like our predecessors in the early twentieth century, if we hope to survive, we have to combat these forces on every level, using a wide range of strategies and tools.

In the following ecstatic history, our comrades revisit queer resistance to the Nazis, seeking tactics and inspiration for our own troubled times.

Today, The New York Times Editorial Board published an opinion piece decrying the state of transgender rights under the Trump administration.

...

What the piece conveniently omits, however, is the Times’ own complicity. No other major paper has done more to legitimize the very arguments fueling these attacks than The New York Times itself.

some criticism from trans journalist Katelyn Burns along the same lines: The NYT Editorial Board's Shameless Pro-Trans Stance

There's just one problem. The Times itself, through both the news and opinion sections, have been advocating for these policies for years. The Times' negative coverage of gender-affirming care for trans youths has been well documented. NYT lead health reporter Azeen Ghorayshi was accused in 2023 of "betraying" parents of St. Louis area trans kids after she wrote a glowing profile of debunked "whistleblower"-turned anti-trans social media personality Jamie Reed.

and an archive link to the NYT op-ed, if you want to read the piece they're criticizing without boosting their ad revenue or readership metrics.

trigger warning obvs

Death in Bangor: Report from Boston in 1984 about the death of Charlie Howard and a look at anti gay politics

It's wild how much today's anti trans hate and politics mirrors this. :(

As Twin Cities Pride continues to fill the financial gap left by uninviting Target from its 2025 events, six Twin Cities co-ops are stepping up.

The co-ops — Eastside, Lakewinds, Mississippi Market, Seward, Valley Natural, and Wedge — have pledged a $28,700 donation to the Twin Cities Pride safety fund.

The co-ops announced the donation on social media, and confirmed to Bring Me The News that they'll be delivering the donation this week.

"As community-owned cooperative grocers, we've always been spaces where every member of our vibrant neighborhoods can find a sense of belonging, friendship, safety, and, of course, delicious local food," the co-ops wrote in a statement.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/21465211

A wonderful video about positive asexual, aromantic and aroace representation both confirmed and somewhat confirmed also some headcanon.

While the book [A History of Transgender Medicine in the United States] focuses on transgender medical advances in the United States, it starts by tracing transgender communities globally across early civilizations, illustrating that transgender and gender-diverse people have flourished in every part of the world. The book argues that in many cultures, transgender people were celebrated and revered, until those cultures came into contact with Western influence.

While medical transition has often been painted as a new phenomenon, the authors cite examples of early gender-affirming surgeries, cross-dressing in ancient times and ceremonial participation of gender-nonconforming people.

“There are a number of references to early time and that people have been trying to take care of themselves and their gender with nonmedical ways, or medical ways,” Wolf-Gould said.

Hey all,

I'm on the last few months of my contract, in higher ed. While I try to find work that's more permanent, I do count myself lucky to be in a better position to offer help with little worry of reprucussions. In brief, I am trying to do whatever I can to support my LGBTQ+ students who are terrified. I'm a tough person, like I've seen some shit (war) but its breaking my soul feeling powerless here in the States.

Any suggestions, organizations, or other ideas I could have at the ready if a student needs help? I just want to be the best ally and empathetic human I can from my position, while I can.

I'm also being cautious since its getting harder to know who and what to trust, but ideas on exercising greater caution when offering help are welcome too. Sad I have to even convey that...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/21384758

A great video about how fandom really doesn't know how to handle asexual characters in media and likes to sexualise them regardless. There is nothing wrong with this in the sense of exploring identity etc in fan fiction inherently as long as they don't pretend that it's ever going to happen in canon or shout down asexuals who would like some characters that are canonically like them for once.

Since November 2023, when Russia’s Supreme Court designated the non-existent “international LGBT social movement” as an “extremist organization,” police departments across the country have executed a full-scale crackdown on the queer community. Officers have raided clubs and parties and placed LGBTQ+ people under surveillance while bigots harass queer community members and try to expose them to employers and parents. Wherever the authorities go, they collect evidence that facilitates monitoring, from video footage and business records to fingerprints and even mouth swabs. Meduza special correspondent Lilia Yapparova has learned that Russian officials are also discussing overhauling the country’s data-collection practices to create a single electronic registry for monitoring LGBTQ+ individuals — a database that would make blackmailing and persecuting queer people vastly easier.

Just preliminary reports, but after efforts to rush it through before any reaction were delayed, legal backlash may have forced inmates to be returned to the right gen pop.

No guarantee it holds, be ready and organized to move if you live in a few hours drive from Fort Worth, legal funds are still going to need help, etc… but for now they might be safe.