baroquepopcorn

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Youth have no rights in the U.S. - and that puts them most at risk from the Far-Right.

TL;DR: Kids can be legally tortured in the U.S. or forced out of their homes to escape this (which puts them at direct risk of sex trafficking, LGBT youth are one of the most trafficked groups for this exact reason) so protect queer and trans youth. If a minor asks you to use different pronouns than their parents use for them or expresses a crush on a kid of the same gender, no they didn’t or if they did it was a joke. If you’re directly told by a minor they are queer or trans in a forced outting state, you didn’t understand what they were talking about, you’re just an old person who doesn’t understand the youths’ slang. But make sure you do inform that minor about the law before they tell anyone else and tell them you’re there for them if they need someone. Also, be aware youth aren’t the only ones at risk. Adults can now be discriminated against in housing, employment, etc. and hate crimes including cyber-crimes are rising so if you have social media under your legal name or with your face on it, going private on those is something to consider if you’re higher risk.

The treatment of queer and trans youth highlights the underlying childism in our society. Before the age of 18, people are viewed as property rather than people. They are the only group that are legally allowed to be intentionally physically hurt by someone else for reasons other than self-defense, and they have no legal recourse to fight back or escape this unless another person over 18 deems their suffering to be “too far” (they don’t get to decide for themselves as the sufferer). There is a multi-billion dollar industry to kidnap, incarcerate, and psychologically, and often also physically, torture youth at the behest of their parents or guardians. Anyone else can only be incarcerated against their will if they commit a crime or are deemed medically to be a danger to themselves or others, but youth can be sentenced with the unilateral power of one person.

And these kids have even less freedoms and oversights for their safety than prisoners do and far less than patients in actual psychiatric facilities do. Prisoners are (generally) allowed to contact their loved ones and the outside world at will or at least regularly and can report abuse and have an outside person look into it. People in psychiatric hospitals are the same and the people overseeing them are accountable to licensing boards, are all mandated reporters, etc. Kids in Troubled Teen Industry facilities don’t even have any of that recourse, the people incarcerating them are accountable to no one and they have no uncontrolled contact to the outside world. (No, I’m not saying prisons or psychiatric facilities are perfect and abuse free, I’m just highlighting how much worse youth are treated and how much they have literally no rights, not even the bare minimum ones the least free people in our society have, if their parent decides they don’t).

And a large part of why we have these problems because Far-Right Fundamentalist Christian Extremists have been systematically infiltrating our government (locally to federally) and undermining the rule of the majority for decades behind the scenes. We are finally seeing it and fighting back. They’ve been lowering statutes of limitations on child sexual abuse, lowering protections for children, etc. “Protect the children” has always meant “protect our property rights to isolate, indoctrinate, and torture our children with no interference”. Do you know what The Convention On The Rights Of The Child is? You probably don’t but it’s the most widely and quickly ratified international treaty in the world, even more than The Geneva Convention. It lays out children’s fundamental rights to safety, education, access to resources, treated with dignity, all that. And we were going to sign it, but Far-Right Christian Fundamentalist groups including “Focus On The Family” lobbied hard against it. And the main reason they cited was their “religious freedom” to beat children… Yeah, it’s disgusting. They literally admitted they are a child abuse cult. Also, many of those Troubled Teen Industry facilities are run by Mormons and other fundie cults, especially in Utah.

And now they are targeting LGBTQIA+ youth even more publicly than they have been. This is terrifying because it’s already established in the U.S. that minors can be forced into incarceration and torture conditions with no recourse. Conversion “Therapy” is condemned as a debunked non-science and as torture by every credible human rights, psychological, and medical association in the world. And, yet, these people are fighting for youth to be forcibly taken to these facilities and when that happens, even if they escape the cops will bring them back because they don’t have the human right to freedom. They don’t even have the human right to avoid torture. We are seeing laws to make this happen, to keep or reinstate conversion therapy and to forcibly out queer youth to their parents regardless of their safety because they aren’t seen as having a right to privacy, their parent is the one with the right to know what their property is saying, feeling, and doing. These kids could not only be sent to be tortured or kicked out to be sex trafficked, some could be murdered in honor or hate killings. So, if you know a kid is queer or trans, no you fucking don’t and no one can prove you do (make sure they can’t).

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watching children successfully and compassionately self-mediate conflict and wondering if it's possible to pinpoint where exactly it all goes wrong for us

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please share ur current fav picture of paul!! the people need it

milliee <3 you get four because ily (and not because i'm indecisive)

toilet paul

cat paul

cosy paul

beautiful woman paul

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Huge thanks to Richard of the Order of the Blade for throwing me around!

(If you’re in the UK, consider checking them out! The order are a combat school with a really fun and welcoming ethos)

And as always, more bows, swords, and nonesense on Patreon

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reminders for today:

if you or someone you know might need it in the next few years, purchase plan b. the shelf life of plan b is 4 years, and we might not be able to access it as easily as we can now in the days ahead.

if you are larger/plus size: go online and purchase ella instead of plan b. plan b is less effective if you aren’t under 160 pounds.

if you can, purchase books that project 2025 is looking to ban.

mass deportations are starting. if you see ice vehicles or agents, yell ice raid and la migra as loud as you can.

if someone asks who you voted for, keep your mouth shut. they’re fishing for traitors.

if anyone, anyone at all asks about your neighbors or their legal status in the us, you know nothing. don’t be the reason that their family is separated.

if anyone asks about your religion or lack thereof, keep it vague. this administration will look for any excuse to persecute you.

your friends are trans or queer? for the next four years they’re not. don’t expose anyone’s status as a trans or queer person to anyone else, even if you think you can trust them.

did someone you know get an abortion? no, they didn’t. they were never pregnant.

in short, don’t be a snitch, and keep to yourself these next four years. we’ll make it through this even if it seems hopeless at times.

we can survive this. we’ve survived before, and we’ll survive again.

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borders between countries aren't real btw we just made them up. there's no such thing as an "immigrant" we're all just people moving around on the same planet that we've always moved around on

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elon isn't bad because he's ugly or cringe or "moves like an alien mimicking human behaviors" or whatever he's bad because he's a fucking fascist. can we focus please.

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New patch :)

Almost ran out of floss while sewing it but I think it turned out well

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Fake claimers are a much bigger threat to disabled people than fakers ever will be.

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The continuing popularity of Marcus Aurelius and Roman aristocratic stoicism is so funny to me. Yes, accepting one's fate and the natural order of things is a novel and brave message from the masters of a continent-spanning slave empire. No wonder it's nectar to all the grifters of the world.

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Yes, do it, close the gap between Zionism and Nazism

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Look don't test me I'll block and turn off reblogs with a hair trigger if you all can't be normal about this but I do feel like it needs to be said that "do you think abortion should be allowed if the mother's reason for wanting it is—" the only acceptable answer to that question is Yes no matter what the end of that sentence is going to be. I do not care if someone wants an abortion for selfish reasons or bigoted reasons or cruel reasons or any other hypothetical strawman you can think of, there is no circumstance where someone should be denied the right to opt out of a forced pregnancy and birth. First of all, who's in charge of interrogating everyone seeking an abortion to make sure they're doing it for reasons Pure Of Heart? Second, why do you think Forced Birth is an appropriate punishment to inflict on anyone? If your answer to "should abortion be allowed when the motivation is—" is anything but an unequivocal "yes, and I don't care about the motivation" then you are not pro-choice

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Gee

Thank You Abortion!!!

*aborted little brother voice* it would be my turn on the xbox...if i existed...

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