#Celebrant for LGBTQI community

[kerrieboag]

[lgbtiqrefugeesblog]

Stand with Queer Refugees in Africa: Peter's Story

Survival Funds for LGBTIQ'S Refugees

My name is Pablo , and I am an LGBTIQ leader and representative here in an emcampment, where we have faced a great deal of homophobia in this environment, including from fellow refugees.

Unfortunately, UNHCR staff, including medical attendants, are homophobic to us and don’t provide services to us. This has been reported several times to the people responsible but help has been in vain. Thus, seeking support from fellow LGBTIQ organizations and individual well-wishers to attain medication from private hospitals in the camp has been difficult.

Additionally, food provided to us, as distributed at present by the UNHCR, is not enough to sustain us for a month which is in a ratio of 1:2 beans and Rice.

Thus, we are seeking support to overcome scarcity and hunger.

We will be very glad to receive any positive feedback in terms of financial help, advice and advocacy support!

Many thanks.

life at the refugee camp is extremely hard for the LGBTQI community since from 2019 when I fled to 2024 due to rampant HOMOPHOBIA within the camp. This was witnessed through daily attacks by homophobic fellow refugees and the co-host community.

LGBTQI refugees live under great fear whereby we're being targeted by the homophobes; this has resulted in severe injuries where these homophobes ambush when armed with machetes. Over time, property has been also lost and even lives where we lost three of our mates in kakuma before I left there. This was witnessed in the recent attack when two LGBTQI refugees were set on fire where they suffered third degree burns, which resulted in one losing his life while the other is on life support in hospital update.

In addition, sexual harassment has also been witnessed here in refugee camp to the LGBTQI community. Lesbians on several occasions have been raped not once but twice. Beyond any reasonable doubt, this has made the most hostile land for LGBTQI community.

Furthermore, the LGBTQI community lives under great suffering due to the fact we are willing to work to earn a living but fail to get employment opportunities due to our sexual orientation. This has made life so much harder for us minority group, being marginalized amidst these arid areas of camps. We have faced various attacks from homophobes and also illness related to poor standards of living.

Even so, despite all the misery, we try to find some time to kill the stress when celebrating official LGBTIQ days and festivals. Below is when we celebrated the Pride Day and also had some couples officially get married while maintaining a low profile.

Please help and support us to overcome our starvations, get good medications and shelters because as we are now we daily face the same obstacles while sleeping out side😭.

Yours only our hopes.

[f1ghtsoftly]

All The Women’s News You Missed This Week

2/3/25-2/10/25

The world braces for the end of USAID funding, which will have particularly devastating consequences for women and LGBT people. Gov. Hochul, of New York, moves to protect doctors who prescribe abortion pills out of state. Rugby director fired in Fiji over homophobic comments about female players. Trump bans transgender women from female sports, NCAA changes policy in response. A Saudi graduate student is released after being jailed for tweets supporting Women’s Rights. In a horrific incident of male violence, prisoners in the Congo broke free from jail to commit mass atrocities against their female inmates.  

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Action Steps: 

PETITION: Decriminalise Abortion  (UK) 

CONTACT: Congressman Robert B. Aderholt (AL-04) introduced the Protect Funding for Women’s Health Care Act in the House of Representatives Wednesday.  

You can contact Robert here and share your thoughts, especially if you live in Alabama’s 4th District (northwest AL.) 

BOYCOTT:  We cannot cheer on Afghanistan’s cricket team when Afghan women are being silenced (UK) 

Reproductive Rights: 

WATCH: New York Gov. Hochul signs bill shielding doctors who prescribe abortion pills 

Rape crisis centers see funding delays amid Trump administration spending upheaval

Trump Reinforces the Hyde Amendment, Making Reproductive Rights More Precarious  

Lawmakers debate new constitutional amendment banning abortion in Missouri 

Women’s Rights: 

How USAID freeze could be the most catastrophic for women and girls 

Christian Nationalist Wesley Todd Doesn't Want Pregnant Women Serving In Office : "That's Stupid"

Taliban raids and suspends Afghanistan’s only nationwide women’s radio station

 Cuny graduate school rolls back pregnant students’ protections after Trump letter

NASA Ordered to Remove Anything About ‘Women in Leadership’ From Its Websites: Report

LGBTQ: 

Impact of Executive Order Pausing U.S. Foreign Aid on LGBTQI+ People

Trump signs order banning transgender women from female sports

NCAA changes transgender athletes policy after Trump ban

Uganda’s LGBTQ community faces anxiety and uncertainty after U.S. aid freeze

Fiji rugby director fired for women's team 'gay problem' remarks

Rejected elsewhere, these LGBTQ Jews find love and acceptance in the Connecticut woods

The transgender care fight targets more adults as Georgia and other states weigh laws

Argentina’s president bans gender-affirming care for people under age 18

Women in the News: 

WATCH: Protesters torch ex-Bangladesh PM's home 

Doctor accused of criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine is convicted and given over 5 years in prison

I will not stop working, Anna Wintour tells King

 Rebuilding my home in Gaza as Trump wants me to leave

Seven women among Seanad Éireann nominees

Search of house for missing woman ends

Philippines feud escalates as lawmakers vote to impeach vice-president 

Male Violence: 

More than 100 women raped and burned alive in DR Congo jailbreak, UN says

Woman's deepfake betrayal by close friend: 'Every moment turned into porn'

Black women face high domestic violence rates, but stigma keeps many silent, support groups say

In Bangladesh, Islamists Are Stepping up Actions Against Women

New allegations Diddy sexually assaulted minor in nightclub

When is Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial and what is he charged with?

Sexual violence against children in Haiti rises by 1,000%, UN says

Man furious over dating app rejection breaks into Pennsylvania home steals woman’s pug and kills it in a rage 

Anglican Church in South Africa admits failures in handling of sexual abuse claims

Celebrity butt-lift injector who left women with sepsis exposed by BBC 

Mumsnet targeted with child sexual abuse images

'His hands were everywhere' - women accuse surviving Fayed brother of sexual assault 

Play-fight claim dad jailed for murdering daughter

Five sentenced to death in Nigeria over 'witchcraft' murder

Neil Gaiman's ex-wife denies trafficking allegations

Women Getting Justice??

MoJ apologises for prisoner early release letter

Senator opens inquiry into US Center for SafeSport’s hiring of investigator charged with sex crimes

Southport families 'try to find light in the dark'

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawyers spar during first court hearing 

S Africa church apologises over exposing children to risk from abuser

Historic book of town's witch trials to be displayed 

Arts and Culture: 

Why was Taylor Swift booed at the Super Bowl?

Memoir by former prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, to come out in November

Serena Williams crip walks at surprise Super Bowl appearance 

Movie Review: ‘Kinda Pregnant’ is kinda good

Christie Brinkley has a memoir out in April. Yes, it’s called ‘Uptown Girl’

‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo is feted as Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

Anora star Mikey Madison: Oscar talk is 'overwhelming and amazing'

Apple Cider Vinegar: How Instagram wellness guru Belle Gibson faked cancer – and caused a scandal

'She thought of herself as the Queen of America': Why Mary Todd Lincoln became the US's most vilified First Lady

EMMY to represent Ireland at Eurovision

Women Fighting Back: 

Who is Luisa González? The leftist politician who is again vying for Ecuador’s presidency

 ‘Woman, life, freedom’: the Syrian feminists who forged a new world in a land of war

Don’t Want To “Bury My Child”: Mass Support For Mom Who Burst Into School To Threaten Bully

Meta veteran who spent 15 years at the firm is suing it over a ‘toxic pattern’ of silencing women: ‘I can show what happens when we want more masculine workplaces.’

Saudi authorities free doctoral student initially sentenced to 34 years for tweets, activists say

A mother pleads for Britain’s help in freeing son from Egyptian prison, one day of hunger at a time

Feminist Wins: 

South Africa mourns pioneering female nuclear scientist

Time limit for child sex abuse claims to be removed (UK) 

Feel Good Stories: 

WATCH: Stranded astronaut calls extended stay 'opportunity' to share space life 

'Music is the secret to reaching 105' 

Opinion: 

Why Even a Few Women At The Top Feels Like ‘Too Many'

Sorry, Lily Collins, but when people outsource childbirth, their motives really count

Why I Stopped Using They/Them Pronouns After 13 Years

As always, this is global and domestic news from a US perspective covering feminist issues and women in the news more generally. As of right now, I do not cover Women’s Sports. Published each Monday.

[interactyouth]

Intersex people exist under the LGBTQI+ umbrella because our lives are marked by the same goal: for our existences to be celebrated, and our differences respected.

We are all affected by beliefs about how we are allowed to love, and who we are allowed to be based on narrow-minded standards of what “men” and “women” should be.

interACT Comms Director Maddie wrote a blog post for the Human Rights Campaign about intersex inclusion in LGBTQI+ rights!

[heartofbusan]

Creative recreation. 

Conversations that were initiated years and years ago suddenly appear tanglible and real, like out of nowhere. That imagined future version of you suddenly becomes tangible.

What does the future hold?

As their discharge date comes closer, so must the anticipation for what's next for BTS and Jikook. And, If BTS are good at anything, it's at dreaming. Even better, they are good at making choices in order to achieve those dreams, to make them a reality.

Trust me, not many people dare to dream big and then actually make choices to support them. It takes guts and daring.

They definitely have that going for them.

And, just as we ponder and parse all of the possible ways in which certain scenarios can play out, so must Jimin and Jungkook think about these things. Their late night 'shower talks' about songs and future tours, Jimin's Weverse letter hinted at 'bigger things' about the future that are waiting to be revealed. Jikook must have spent this past year talking and fantasizing about how they want certain things to play out for themselves after MS.

And, as much as I want them to be able to live as they please, freely and without scrutiny, I think the witch hunt that happened after Yoongi made (and freely admitted to) a misstep, might have put a damper on things. And let me be clear in saying that I do not blame Yoongi for any of it.

Yoongi was the one that when asked if they're worried about backlash if any of the members were to date publicly, said ARMYs are all different, and it's wrong to assume everyone would react the same. "... ARMY is a diverse group. In this hypothetical situation, some may accept it, some may not. Whether it’s dating or something else, they’re all individuals, and they will understand things differently,". That, to me, was such a clear warning to all who may oppose their choices. Yoongi a sentry willing to stand up for his members as well as himself in order to fight for a sliver of normalcy in their hectic lives. That read as a 'we'll live our lives regardless of the criticism'.

Yet, this was far from saying they will be making public announcements regarding private matters. Right?

What might exacerbate the issue is the fact that, in Jikook's case, their relationship is not only a private matter but moreover a group matter. They're both members of BTS, and that might make it more complicated. Not to mention the elephant in the closet, the whole SK is not tolerant when it comes to LGBTQI issues thing 😮‍💨. Should have mentioned that first, but we all know it's the dark cloud hovering over this issue. 

Inviting the scrutiny of the public once any of them open that can of worms just seems like insanity to me. And to what benefit? 

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention @hon3ymo0n had a beautiful piece about this 'benefit'.., highlighting Sir Ian McKellan's perspective on coming out while having lived under the cover of the public eye. A must-read, imho. 

Yet here we are, fast forward to 2025 and celebrities are more public than ever. I can't speak on how easy or difficult it is for celebrities in SK to live private lives while in the public eye. I think the guys must have been dating somewhat privately all these years, keeping it very close to the vest, but going public is another thing altogether. And with how wildly diverse and sometimes insane BTS fans can be, I think coming out would put their biggest dream, the whole dominating the music industry while living out my dream of being an all around entertainer thing, under intense pressure.

When it comes to Jikook, are they willing to put their relationship on the line in order to be the vanguard of a community that actually does thrive in privacy? 

I can't wait for them to be released, but I won't expect anything in regards to their personal lives just yet. I think going back to their core, being musicians, will take center stage. Whatever happens on the fringes of that, I'll take it as it comes. For them, I hope at least once the uncertainty of enlistment is fully behind them, once that imagined time has been lived through and is over with, that it gives them space to think about how to live as freely as possible without surrendering personal peace. Being together is what's most important, after all.

[mariacallous]

Thailand to be first Southeast Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage

BANGKOK, June 18 (Reuters) - Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex couples.

The bill, the culmination of more than two decades of effort by activists, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the upper house.

The law, which needs royal approval, will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette, meaning the first same sex weddings could take place later this year.

"Today we celebrate another significant milestone in the journey of our Equal Marriage Bill," Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a post on X.

"We will continue our fight for social rights for all people regardless of their status."

LGBT advocates called the move a "monumental step forward," as Thailand would be the first nation in Southeast Asia to enact marriage equality legislation and the third in Asia, after Nepal and Taiwan.

"We are very proud to make history," said Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, member of a parliamentary committee on same-sex marriage.

"Today love triumphed prejudice ... after fighting for more than 20 years, today we can say that this country has marriage equality."

Lawmakers and activists were seen celebrating in Thailand's parliament, waving rainbow flags and smiling, with some raising their fists in solidarity with the LGBT community.

In Thailand's northern Chiang Mai province, human rights activist Matcha Phornin, her wife Veerawan Wanna and their adopted daughter were glued to their television screen as they watched the senate proceedings.

"We have support from the parliament, from the senators who passed this law. That means we are protected by law," said Matcha, after they cheered and hugged each other when the bill passed.

"And she will be legally adopted after this," Matcha said, referring to their daughter.

Thailand, one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations, is already known for its vibrant LGBT culture and tolerance.

At the start of June, thousands of revellers and activists paraded through the streets of Bangkok and were joined by Prime Minister Srettha, who wore a rainbow shirt to celebrate Pride Month.

"This would underscore Thailand's leadership in the region in promoting human rights and gender equality," the Civil Society Commission of marriage equality, activists and LGBTQI couples said in a statement.

[hyumjim]

According to the screenshots provided by [German researcher & historian Henrik Schönemann]⁩, the list includes (all of the following are direct quotes): 

$78,000 to Palestinian activist group whose chairman was photographed attending an anniversary event celebrating the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Palestine terrorist group

$1 Million for foreign DEI programs, including ‘indigenous language technology’ in Guatemala, per non-public funding docs reviewed by WFB

$5 million for effort to treat eating disorders by “affirming” LGBTQIA+ patients’ sexual orientation and gender claims

Up to $3 million to defund the police advocacy group to pursue “climate justice” for convicts

Funded performances of play “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” in which God is bisexual and communists are good, in North Macedonia

Disbursed $15,000 to “queer” Muslim writers in India

Shelled out tens of thousands to create army of 2,500 LGBTQI+ allies

Up to $10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to al Qaeda-linked terrorist group the Nusra Front

$500,000 to group that “empowers women” in attempt to solve sectarian violence in Israel just ten days before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks

$4.67 million to EcoHealth Alliance – one of the key NGOs funding bat virus research at Wuhan Institute of Virology — in late 2021. Later refused to answer key questions about the funding.

$7.9 million to a project that would teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid “binary-gendered language”

$1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers

$1.5 million for “art for inclusion of people with disabilities”

$2 million to promote “LGBT equality through entrepreneurship…in developing Latin American countries.”

Education Week: “Biden Administration Cites 1619 Project as Inspiration in History Grant Proposal”

VA took at least a dozen actions aimed at bolstering DEI during the Biden-Harris administration while the number of homeless veterans increased and the amount of claims in the VA’s backlog grew from ~211,000 to ~378,000

NASA has allocated roughly $10 million to grants advancing DEI and “environmental justice” since 2020

Following President Trump’s executive order on DEI at federal agencies, the ATF “quietly changing the job title of its former diversity officer… to ‘senior executive’ with the ATF.

The Department of Labor requested additional funding in 2023 for “The Chief Evaluation Office for a new rigorous interagency evaluation of actions aimed at improving Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility across the federal workforce,” more than $6.5 million “to restore employee benefits programs that will advance equity by specifically addressing how opportunities can be expanded for underserved communities and vulnerable populations,” and $5 million “to evaluate actions aimed at improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) within the federal workforce.”

Fox Business: “FOX Business’ ‘Trouble in the Skies,’ a six month investigation of the FAA’s new hiring practices, uncovered changes that may put the nation’s flying public at risk as well as allegations that the newest air traffic control recruits had access to answers on a key test that helped them gain jobs with the FAA…Also uncovered was an FAA effort to promote diversity that discarded 3000 qualified college graduates with degrees in air traffic control despite their following FAA procedure and obtaining FAA accredited degrees.”

Schönemann⁩ told 404 Media he wanted to share a sentiment alongside his find: “People all around the world care, you are not alone. And: #TransRights.”

Earlier this week, we reported that the Trump administration had set up a website called waste.gov, which was live on the internet with a sample page from a default WordPress template. Both DEI.gov and waste.gov were created at the same time, according to Reuters, and DEI.gov was recently set up to redirect to waste.gov. After our reporting, both websites were put behind a password wall.

[pimosworld]

My name is Priscilla but you can call me P,Pimo,Miss Priss or any variation of your fav nickname for me. My blog is 18+, and I mostly write fluff and smut. I’ve made a lot of friends here and I’m open to write for anyone. This community has helped me heal in ways I can’t describe so I hope you enjoy my writing. 🤍

Please turn on notifications if you would like to stay up to date on my posts.

Link to my kofi if you’re feeling so inclined to donate to my writing efforts

My ask box is always open

AO3

700 Follower Celebration

Read it again

Masterlist by pimo

I started out writing for Moon knight and that quickly evolved into other characters so I will say that I’m open to write for anyone.

I don’t have a lot of rules but I generally won’t describe my reader to stay inclusive as a poc and this is a safe space for the lgbtqi community so no ignorance will be tolerated.

Im open to requests (angst,fluff,smut…any character) but I work a full time job so please be patient with them as well as my wips.

Triple Frontier

Frankie Morales

Joel Miller

Santiago Garcia

Dave York

Moonknight

Javier Peña

Blue Jones

Miguel O’Hara

[josephquinnswhore]

Don’t Listen - pedro pascal x bisexual! female reader

Summary: you receive hate from Pedro's fans because they think you're lying about your sexuality.

Word Count: 0.9k

Content Warning: bullying, online harassment, self doubt.

Note: I know it’s not pride month yet but IM PROUD TO BE APART OF THE COMMUNITY EVERY MONTH. Love you all so much 🏳️‍🌈. In Australia we recently just celebrated Mardi Gras - it inspired me to write something as a bisexual woman.

Pedro loved this time of the year, he supported the lgbtqi+ community loud and proud, using his platform, he became a public voice for people in the community to support them. You had reposted Pedro’s own tweet and made your own, being apart of the community as a bisexual woman, you wanted you extend your support and acknowledge the struggles the community has faced and face to this day, while admiring how far things had come in the past few decades.

Pedro’s ‘fans’ decided this was outrageous and they simply couldn’t accept it, Twitter users in general were blasting you, because you posted the pride flag and the bisexual flag, owning the hurdles and self doubt you’d felt with over the years coming to terms with your sexuality. Your brain kept repeating the words you read.

“Bisexual? She’s definitely cheated on pedro.” No. I would never.

“It’s any wonder she could attract one gender let alone two.” Everyone is beautiful.

“Fakeclaiming being apart of the lgbtqi community isn’t cute girl. Check yourself!!!!” I would never lie about something so important.

“Fucking dirty slut. Leave pedro and save yourself the embarrassment.” Why are do people say such horrible things.

“How can pedro be with someone like this?” He loves me, right?

Pedro hadn’t been oblivious to the fact that you’d received hate comments over the years as a result of being his girlfriend, it was expected, and usually you handled things great. Communicated with Pedro and your skin grew thicker over time, their comments about you held no weight, your kindness became power for you, disgregarding them like water off a ducks back.

This however, triggered you immensely and sent your mind spiraling, your brain searching for the memories that had traumatised you as a teenager growing up in a strict and homophobic household. It was the one and only thing you truly struggled with in your life, and thought you overcame.

Pedro has never seen a moment where you doubted yourself or a decision you seemed confident making. He had never been in the position where he has seen you so broken down as you are now;

Pacing the lounge room, tears streaming down your cheeks, red and swollen under eyes, and body trembling, the culprit of your broken demeanour coming from your phone, your eyes encaptured in a trance, unable to stop reading.

Pedro rushed forward and pulled you into his body, your arms in an awkward position press against your chests folded inward. You leaned your head on his shoulder, the softness of his sweater inviting you into him, adding to the comfort he provided. His hand caressed the back of your head, stroking your hair, his fingertips lingering on your scalp causing a ticklish tingle that send a shiver down your neck.

“Shhh, I’ve got you.” His hushed voice whispering in your ear made you weak, your heart soaring and overflowing with love as he swaddles you in his arms, protecting you.

“Look at me baby.” You comply, your lip is in a small pout as it wobbles, your eyes shining with a gloss that made your eye colour more enticing as they’re full of emotion, a redness covered your cheeks and top of your nose that begged to be kissed to relieve their anguish.

“No one knows your struggle. You are an incredible, brave and intelligent woman and I am so proud to call you my girlfriend.” Tears fall from your lash line and tickle your red cheeks momentarily before Pedro wipes the tear away with his thumb.

“Repeat it with me baby.” The sincerity in his voice has your chest constricting.

“I am incredible.” His brown eyes watch you as you repeat him.

“I am brave.” Your lips mimic the words and he cracks a small smile.

“I am intelligent.” Your lip stops wobbling through the last affirmation, your eyes drying, tear stains on your cheeks crusting.

“You deserve me, I deserve you.” Your voice repeats his words solidly, believing his reassurance.

“Take some breaths with me now baby okay? Just follow my lead.” Pedro inhales deeply, you inhale, your lungs expanding and holding the air for a few seconds before releasing the exhaling with him. Repeating the process, your mind becomes clear with clarity, the overwhelming anxiety dissipating as your usual levelness settles in your brain like a freshly dried blanket providing some comfort.

You open your eyes to Pedro staring down at you, observing you. His eyebrows are raised upward baring concern, lines in his forehead creasing at the action. “Thank you for bringing me back.” Your whisper barely reached his ears, your fingers tickling his face as you traced shapes along his patchy beard. “I’m always going to be here baby. You handled it incredibly, I’m so proud of you.” He leans his head down to press a gentle kiss to your forehead that lingers for a few seconds before parting. Brown eyes scanning your face, admiring the beauty of you, even after you had a breakdown. Pedro took you all, the good the bad, the fucking terrible. He would do it everyday if he had to. You were his girl, he would move mountains for you.

“I’m so lucky to have you. I love you Pedrito.” His nose comes down to nuzzle your own, foreheads pressed together lovingly in an effort of Pedro creating a safe space for you. “I love you baby, happy pride month.”

[mysteriouslynoisyshark]

Today, I stand before you to shed light on the extreme hostility faced by the LGBTQI community in Uganda. In Uganda , individuals are persecuted simply for who they are and whom they love. This persecution takes many forms, from discriminatory laws and social stigma to violent attacks and even death penalties.

In the area where I’m based,LGBTQIA individuals are denied basic human rights, including access to healthcare, education, and employment . People like me face daily threats to their safety and well-being, often living in fear of being attacked. This hostility is not just a violation of human rights; it is a moral failing that we must address.

We must stand together to challenge hatred and promote acceptance. Every person deserves to live with dignity and respect, free from fear and discrimination. Let us work towards a world where love and identity are celebrated, not condemned.

#SAYNOTOHOMOPHOBIA #SayNoToOnlineGBV #REPEALAHA2023 #STANDUP4HUMANRIGHTS

#STILLGAY #UGANDA

#RepealTheAntiHomosexualityAct #LGBTQIRightsAreHumanRights #StandWithUgandan refugees in camp

[justforbooks]

Brokeback Mountain at 20: the ‘gay cowboy flick’ now rightly regarded as a tragic masterpiece

Ang Lee’s remarkable movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as star-crossed lovers, was controversial and lost best picture at the Oscars – but remains a beautiful film

Some films accumulate an emotional residue over time; rather than diminishing, their impact deepens and intensifies with each screening. When I first saw Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain in 2005 – a movie I’d been anticipating since a “gay cowboy” project was announced – my response was subdued. I remember telling a friend who’d asked what I thought that it was beautiful in the way a landscape painting is beautiful: lush and precisely detailed but emotionally spare. These days I can’t hear the opening strains of Gustavo Santaolalla’s poignant score without weeping.

Beautiful landscape is, of course, a central feature of the film, tantalising and talismanic. The quietly stunning Wyoming countryside is not only where our cowboys fall in love – mercurial and passionate Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and taciturn and self-loathing Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) – it represents the kind of emotional freedom and acceptance they can’t find in the prosaic interiors of their upbringing. Brokeback Mountain (a fictional location invented by the author Annie Proulx in the award-winning short story on which the film is based) releases something in the men, then mocks them for not living up to its Edenic promise.

It’s highly significant that the film opens in 1963 and spans a 20-year period of marriages, kids and divorce before ending in secrecy and heartbreak. This was a time of enormous progress for gay men in the US who’d fought for and won legal protections across the country. But for Jack and Ennis – who can’t even conceive of a world that tolerates, let alone actively celebrates, their love – this progress might as well be happening on the moon. It’s a salient reminder that what we think of as an LGBTQI+ community is largely a metropolitan, middle-class construct.

Those long opening scenes on Brokeback – where the men herd sheep, wash clothes in the river and make love in a tent – unfold languorously, as if taking their cue from the natural world; the pacing here is stately, deliberate. But as the men return to their separate lives and deep dive into the deception of heterosexuality, time seems to quicken. No sooner do we see Ennis marrying Alma (Michelle Williams) in a pokey Riverton chapel than the couple are drowning under the domestic weight of kids, bills and dead-end jobs. Jack’s furtive “romance” with Lureen (Anne Hathaway, all angles and eye rolls) also proceeds at a pace, as if keen to paper over cracks. Lee does this often in the film, telescoping time whenever the men are away from the mountain; the effect is of whole lives slipping through the protagonists’ fingers.

One of the things that strikes me rewatching the film is how specific and tactile the worlds Lee brings to life are (aided enormously by the production designer Judy Becker); from the shoddy trailers and rusted pick-ups of Ennis’s existence to the depressing austerity of Jack’s family home. Lee has always been a master of mise en scène; he uses it not just to locate and excavate character but to suggest elaborate and highly charged social milieux. This is vital in a film like Brokeback Mountain, where societal conventions are as immutable and constrictive as gravity. What we now understand as toxic masculinity, its stultifying narrowness and self-inflicting misery, pervades every frame; rigid constructs surrounding gender are as scrupulously upheld as anything in Edith Wharton or Henry James.

The cast are superb, the whole film littered with performances of astonishing depth and suppleness. I’d forgotten Kate Mara’s emergent, wide-eyed Alma Jr, wondering what exactly it is that keeps her father at arm’s length. David Harbour and Anna Faris as hopelessly entrapped married couple Randall and Lashawn Malone. Williams is heartbreaking, doe-eyed and desperate and Hathaway is terrific, her insouciance hardening to steel in the face of her husband’s vast unknowability.

Straight actors playing gay characters might have become more controversial since the film’s release (although it’s hardly in abeyance) but this never bothered me much because I could always feel the abiding respect and compassion coming from the entire creative team. Gyllenhaal and Ledger don’t “play gay” at all; the boys’ sexuality isn’t an identity to them, but something akin to a topographical detail, as inscrutable as a mountain.

Gyllenhaal is brilliant as the tortured and tenacious Jack, allowing hints of another, freer self to shine through the increasing bitterness and despair. When Brokeback was released, the US film critic Gene Shalit called Jack “a sexual predator” – which highlights the straight world’s willingness to see criminality in gay desire – but he’s really a lover in the high romantic sense, chivalric and steadfast. Ledger’s Ennis is an inversion of Jack, his chivalry petrified into stoicism and self-denial. He mumbles and shuffles, hemmed and corralled like one of the sheep, his jaw locked and his gaze shifting. It’s a remarkable portrait of a young man disappearing into himself.

Brokeback Mountain was nominated for eight Oscars and won three, but – in a move most of us at the time interpreted as a deliberate snub – lost best picture to the tediously didactic and self-congratulatory Crash. That decision looks downright silly now, as Lee’s film has taken its rightful place among cinema’s masterpieces, entering the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2018 for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. It seems that love only grows stronger with time.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[miiju86]

United Women for Women’s Rights Campaign - An Open Letter to UN Women

*** SIGN & SHARE THE LETTER ***

UN Women has abandoned their mission to advocate for girls’ and women’s rights and equality. Join our United Women for Women’s Rights campaign: sign on to our open letter and let UN Women know that vilifying women who know that men are not women is incompatible with protecting girls’ and women’s rights.

We demand that UN Women reinstate its original mission: “the UN organization delivering programmes, policies and standards that uphold women’s human rights and ensure that every woman and girl lives up to her full potential.”

Key Points:

=> The ideological notion of “gender identity” is antithetical to diversity. It cements harmful and misogynistic stereotypes for women and men, girls and boys, that women’s rights organizations have been fighting for decades. Gender identity ideology celebrates men for ‘performing’ womanhood, an insult to women globally. Gender identity ideology pushes lesbian and gay teenagers to attempt “sex-change” surgeries, rather than celebrating their sexual orientation. This is the opposite of a human rights stance.

=> LGBTQI force-teams lesbians and gays with a group who are not gay. Gender identity ideology erases lesbians by pushing them to accept men as sexual partners. There is no ‘community’ in forcing people to accept heterosexuals who want to pretend to be someone they aren’t.

=> The false appeal to health care, with references to the reproductive health of women and people with differences in sexual development (“intersex”), actually covers up the violation of the ethics of care, the promotion of hatred towards one’s own body, the submission to physical alterations carried out by a pharmaceutical and medical industry guided by profit and a lack of commitment to well-being and self-acceptance.

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Please sign and share the letter to help make a change.

Thank you so much! 💜

[hldailyupdate]

Over the last few years, we have had the immeasurable pleasure of watching our Harry become one of the world’s biggest artists, win awards, and tour the world; all while spreading love everywhere he goes. He has invited us into his house, and let us make it a home, and 169 shows of Love On Tour later, we have come to the end of a truly iconic era.

The legacy of Love On Tour will be a lasting one and it takes a truly special person to create an environment where people are able to connect not just across oceans, but across sexualities and genders, faiths, and values. In a sea of pride flags, and nightly speeches where Harry empowered us to be whoever we want to be, the very biggest thing we’d like to be is exactly what he’s always been to us: kind.

While Harry may be taking some much deserved time to rest and recuperate, we would like to continue spreading love and treating people with kindness. It is for this reason we have chosen to celebrate the end of Love On Tour with a fundraiser.

The charity we have chosen is one that is close to our hearts and resonates deeply with us. It is one that we believe aligns with Harry’s constant and unwavering message of love and kindness, no matter what.

GiveOut is a charity that has been working with over 37 LGBTQI organisations across the world to eliminate discriminatory laws, and create safe places for LGBTQI people to exist. Their grant funding is provided in locations where key resources are needed, where important rights for the LGBTQI community are lacking, and where support and change is needed. GiveOut values everything we believe the world needs more of: solidarity, equity, ambition, stewardship and respect.

Every single issue that is being fought for requires funds to fuel it, to draw attention to the campaigns and truly make a difference. Thats why we have chosen to keep spreading love, and ask that you help us celebrate the end of Love On Tour by helping fight not just for equality, but a world where love can truly win.

Harry tells us to be lovers, to choose love and give love. To love everyone, always. Choosing love means choosing it for everyone. GiveOut are dedicating their time to making sure that can happen, so that everyone can love equally, honestly, openly and safely. Please consider donating to help them in their initiative. Thank You!

Read more and donate HERE. 🏳️‍🌈

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Notes from the #bachproject • Melbourne, Australia, November 2019 // "Here I am at the Coming Back Out Ball! The fabulous All the Queens Men host this regular celebration for LGBTQI elders, to combat loneliness and unite the community across generations. It was so much fun playing movements from Bach’s suites as dances (which they were originally) and my first ever cover of “I Will Survive…”

[Yo-Yo Ma]

* * * *

“I think the least of people’s worries is a man in a dress.”

-Divine

[transbookoftheday]

Girl, Transcending by AJ Clementine

Real-world life lessons about acknowledging and celebrating all the things that make you unique, from TikTok sensation, model and LGBTQI+ advocate, AJ Clementine.

AJ Clementine always knew she was a girl. The problem was, she'd been born in a magical shell that looked, on the outside, like a perfect little boy. In her teens, this conflict between her outer and inner selves exploded, igniting years of anxiety and panic attacks. Now fast becoming one of the world's most visible transgender spokespeople, AJ's journey to accept and live as her true self has captivated hundreds of thousands of people on TikTok, Youtube and Instagram, where she has shared her gender transition, what it was like to grow up Wasian in a blended family, and her transformation into a model, influencer and trans advocate.

In Girl, Transcending, AJ weaves her experiences, advice, reflections and snippets of inspiration into a powerful tool to help us understand and celebrate what makes each of us unique, not only those in the LGBTQI+ community but anyone finding their way in the world. Honest, positive and empowering, AJ shines a light on her path to self-love and acceptance - the hardest bits, the parts we rarely see - in the hopes of a brighter, more inclusive future for all.

[mankaicharity]

💌 New mail: from Tenma! 🍰 “Sorry for being late, was celebrating pride with some friends. Hope you all had a great month, and here are some tools for you to donate to your LGBTQ+ community too. 🌻 https://give.thetrevorproject.org/give/583757/ 🌻 https://www.rainbowmigration.org.uk/news/how-to-support-lgbtqi-palestinians/ ” 🐝🌷