#Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends

[queersatanic]

(Answer only if this question is welcome and you're up for posting about it rn but) since y'all tend to be very politically/socially active, what are your thoughts on voting in the disparaging 2024 presidential election? Any useful insight for voters stuck with 2 bad options?

"Vote or don't vote, but don't mistake it as the most important political activity or even efficacious at all."

We've written a bit about that frankly quite moderate stance over the years, but the third example linked got us blocked by a friend who seemed especially incensed over the idea that not enthusiastically demanding everyone else participate in electoralism was somehow unforgivable.

Again, as anarchist, "vote if you want to, just keep in perspective what you're doing and be doing other more important things as well, regardless" seems like the most milquetoast take to possibly offer. But there it is.

If you want to vote for Joe Biden, sure, whatever. It doesn't make you a bad person just like it doesn't make you a good person. And if all you do is write in "Free Palestine" or stay home entirely, this isn't a significant action of protest or "harm reduction" or anything. Because, like signing a petition, voting isn't really anything. (But for this reason, trying to run a "third party" campaign, particularly for president, also is not laudable or a good use of resources.)

If you don't have an answer to the "Or what?" that someone will inevitably ask, then your politics are just a prayer to a non-existent referee you think is keeping score of all the hypocrisy, cheating, etc. And your politics should be about doing things every other day of the year and season so that the answer to people who despise you asking, "Or what?" can be, "Something you would not like very much at all, you swine."

[brightlotusmoon]

Via Evergreen Memes For Queer Satanic Fiends:

"...the straights are willing to make temporary alliances all the time - supporting "trans people" against "crossdressers", truscum against non-gender dysphorics, "passing" against "clockable", cis LGBs versus trans, lesbians and gays versus bisexuals, lesbians versus gays

even allosexuals or monogamous-relationship people against asexuals or polyamorous people

and by picking off whoever they think is the weakest in that particular community—the ones who aren't *really* queer and aren't *really* discriminated against—it's the community of queer people as a whole that are harmed

because eradication is the goal, but because the eradication is *always* the goal, it can never be finished, just move to the next one, now more vulnerable than it was before

Moreover, we're still being sued by The Satanic Temple in federal court. Check the pinned post for more.

h/t Anarchist Meme Collective Backup"

https://www.facebook.com/548696112226258/posts/pfbid02LfcHEyiDQc6D6DeVcCufJjEZAkanLWsm6o64cNfthnE8Wx7iVVUYKfG47Ry7uuRul/

[grandmotherweb]

TL;DR - The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit against four former members in the Washington State chapter is ongoing. In order to match the wealth and resources they have to use against us, we need your help. They can’t be allowed to use their power to intimidate others, so we must stop them now to ensure this never happens again. [...]

The world continues to fall apart, or at least the existing brokenness continues to be revealed more fully to more people. Yet, The Satanic Temple's lawsuit against four of its former members continues, even after TST got Facebook to give them control of a page they promptly wiped of all criticism against them. [...]

Make no mistake: TST doesn’t want you to know that this lawsuit even exists. Their latest newsletter, a progress report of its ongoing legal battles, conveniently neglects to acknowledge its existence while making sure there are multiple links prominently redirecting you to its official merchandise. (https://app.omnisend.com/view/5ee6ec3c4c7fa42a8aaf112d/0) You would think that a religion whose tenets purport to uphold the freedom of others, the importance of one’s beliefs matching the available evidence, and how great it is for actions to be inspired by compassion and nobility, would put a higher value on the informed consent of the people who support it. [...]

No one should ever be victimized by The Satanic Temple this way again. No one should be afraid of pointing out their history of bad behavior, coziness with right-wing figures, or examples of venality and ineptitude.'

[queersatanic]

hi, i miss your presence on facebook. will you be returning?

We're still on Facebook:

Anarchist Dreams with Queer Satanic Themes

Satanic Antifascism

At the moment, Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends is on pause, tho, because after more than two and a half years, The Satanic Temple filed a preliminary injunction against it.

On the advice of our lawyers, we're just not doing anything with the page while we wait for the judge to rule on their motion, which we've replied to.

More on all that here:

[queersatanic]

Introduction

Part A<-You are here

Part B

Part C

Part D

Part E

Part F

Part G

Part G cont.

In Closing

A)

TST has attempted to prolong the suit at our (and possibly their donors’) expense, not by outlining any real harm or damages done, but by spackling over those holes with allegations about as rigorously supported as Fox News conspiracy theories.

Here’s my favorite example:

So it shouldn’t be a controversial statement, but Facebook owns Facebook pages, and they have a much better ability to detect “hacking” or “cyberpiracy” if it had actually occurred.

We argued that in court, and both FB and the judge agreed with us.

(From TST’s complaint and the judge’s dismissal, respectively)

As explained above, the statute defines the term “domain name,” and the case law provides further clarification. The Satanic Temple’s claim fails under both. In reverse order, cases in this circuit explain that there are two parts to a domain name, a top-level and a second-level. Post-domain paths are not included in that combination"

But TST spent however much money paying a lawyer to argue that they somehow know better, that TST owns whichever Facebook page it puts its name on, and that this issue can’t be resolved just by submitting a ticket to FB corporate (which they ultimately did anyway).

Similarly, using that FB page to draw attention to preexisting press releases, local journalism, and the lived experiences of ex-members around the country is not suddenly “defamation,” as TST also tried and failed to argue; more on that later.

In the initial complaint, TST repeatedly alleges—with no evidence, just assertion—that we colluded to build up a “competitor organization”

In itself, the concept of a religion reacting to a schism by spending 000s in federal court is absurd. Not even Baptists would stoop so low.

Now, this is bullshit spun out of whole cloth; they include no evidence besides the accusation itself

b/c there is none

Moreover, there are probably dozens of Satanist groups around the US. AFAIK none of them have ever been sued for being founded or sustained by ex-TST members

Anyway, I’d been scratching my head for a year trying to figure out how they thought they could substantiate the allegation of a “rival organization” in a legal document. I finally found out this last March.

As part of their amended complaint, one of their exhibits is my own FB post trying to process my removal as I understood it

b/c from my end, I had just had my religious community of 6 years ripped away without warning, notice, or any real chance to speak on my behalf within it

And I can’t overstate how darkly amusing it is to see a “religious organization” voluntarily include a post where I accuse it of repeatedly mishandling sexual abuse reports at the local level, reports that I only discovered in the aftermath, by other ex-members coming forward…

I've been fielding messages from the general membership for the last day or so, asking what the fuck is going on. ...There are multiple people who have since come forward, telling me about reports they've made of sexual harassment within TST-WA. They didn't report them to me, a glorified middle-manager, and that is absolutely both their right and the right decision. They entrusted it directly to the top leadership, leadership who is empowered by our national coordinators to act quickly and unilaterally in a crisis...who sat by as the perpetrators continued to attend meetings in, as far as the rest of us knew, good standing. ... These people WERE members in good standing – up until the point they realized their reports would never be taken seriously, at which point they became former members to whom TST-WA defaults to owing nothing: not the empathy in the First Tenet, not the struggle for justice of the Second, nor the nobility of action and thought of the Seventh.

Just so TST can focus on this exchange to support their allegation of a rival organization - again, in an actual federal court document:

TST talks a lot about how it values beliefs being informed by available evidence, but that comment is the SOLE basis for the idea that “TST 2: Electric Boogaloo” actually exists and harms them:

a throwaway comment by someone 1400 miles away and who isn’t even a defendant.

87. Defendants were aware that the social media accounts had an economic value to TST. The social media accounts were the primary means for TST to communicate with the general public and TST’s supporters and Defendants personally used those social media accounts for the purpose of assisting TST in creating the kind of communications that help to foster the kind of relationship which results in charitable donations to support TST’s organizational purposes. By depriving TST of its social media accounts, Defendants intended to diminish those donations and divert donations to their competitor organization, provisionally named “The Satanic Temple 2: Electric Boogaloo.” Exhibit 5 at p. 4.

If anything makes it clear that this is a SLAPP suit where merits don’t matter, it should be a religion claiming to be threatened by a nigh-40-year-old movie reference.

They put this on the federal record, right next to their tenets about how great they think reason and evidence are.

111. Defendants’ competitor organization, which was provisionally entitled “The Satanic Temple 2: Electric Boogaloo” and “Satanic Washington – Archived Temple Chapter” had a likelihood of impairing the distinctiveness of TST as a famous mark. To-wit:

(1) “The Satanic Temple 2: Electric Boogaloo” directly copies “The Satanic Temple;” and “Satanic Washington – Archived Temple Chapter” (emphasis added) directly suggests that the Washington Chapter has been replaced by Defendants’ competitor organization.

(2) TST has an inherently distinctive mark because there is only one “The Satanic Temple,” Plaintiff, which has acquired distinctiveness as a mark through years of effort.

(3) There is only one “The Satanic Temple” because TST jealously guards its intellectual property rights

BTW, keep that last clause in mind — their claim that there is “only one The Satanic Temple” — b/c it’s not really true. And I’m going to come back to why towards the end.

United Federation of Churches LLC v. Johnson et al

The Satanic Temple, an allegedly progressive religion that claims to fight religious overreach, is secretly spending tens of thousands in litigation to target former members after TST's owners were criticized on FB for a pattern of failing to live up to their own professed tenets

It’s not clear how much money TST has spent on the suit so far, where that money has come from, or what membership—if any—was consulted in deciding to devote so many resources to this SLAPP action, but it's lasted more than a year, including re-filing after a judge's dismissal

Tomorrow (June 8), the defendants will submit another, hopefully final, motion to dismiss the case for good.

I’m one of those defendants. Let’s talk about it. This is an extremely long thread, but I have receipts for everything.

Now, the suit is still going, so I can’t go into *everything* wrong with the complaint.

But I CAN point out it exists, that TST has deliberately kept it going despite the judge dismissing the original complaints back in Feb, and repeat/quote what the court documents say so far.

Mostly I want to focus on the most egregious aspects of this suit, but in case you feel like following along in greater detail, one of the other defendants has uploaded the court documents here to get around paywalls

Public record is fair game too. That’s important b/c TST’s betrayal of its own values (via this suit’s existence) makes more sense given how they’re legally structured and how they work to obfuscate this.

This suit is a window, legally, into what they really are.

Other members & even whole chapters have left, both before and after us, taking all their social media pages with them. None were ever sued on strained accusations of “hacking.”

But we were, and TST threw in a bundle of even flimsier complaints just to draw it out longer.

We can’t read minds, but we think why this may be is based on the fact that we didn’t just leave quietly, but also talked publicly about some of the other corporations TST’s owners have, and what names are on official documents for them, according to the already-public record.

We’ll come back to this - for now, just keep in mind that TST’s two founders have apparently been willing to sign both their legal names AND their pseudonyms on the same legal document, while also using the same name for a for-profit corp as they do their nonprofit “church”

The fact that we can publicly quote court documents is especially cool b/c TST thoughtfully included our statements & so-called “manifestos” as supporting evidence, even though they expose some gaping holes in their argument and raise serious questions about how TST treats people.

[queersatanic]

Once again, Satan is the logical and compassionate choice

Order came in from QueerSatanic flag and swag giveaway and portions went to help out comrades Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends in their ongoing legal battles for standing their ground and calling out hypocrisy, fascist rhetoric and racist comments from TST leadership as well as their alt-right ties. Support your local antifascist troops and get some righteous ass shit at the same time. Hail Satan and Hail Antifascists.

Damask - Hail Satan (Black & Red default). Design donated by agenderblob

The stickers actually came via Hail Arizona this time, but it's true that we are sending some more that way as part of the Flag and Swag Giveaway. Everyone who donates at least $5 gets a sticker mailed to them, then five people get the big flags and gift boxes.

Also, if you ever order a fucking fire satanic dress and your children tell you to do a photoshoot in it, you should definitely listen to them (and share the pictures)

[queersatanic]

Queer Satanic: No Hierarchies – Only Vibes

'… we’d love to hear more about y’all … as a meme page and a quasi-group? collective? whatever y’all wanna say. In your ideology what are some more positive aspects of y’all? Because from what Tyler said, from what y’all had to say, … y’all sound great?' 'Don’t take this the wrong way, but y’all seem like the chillest anarchists I’ve ever met.'

Dixieland of the Proletariat, Episode 66 “Hail Satan” w/Queer Satanic Heretics (Timestamp 1:12:55)

'Just gotta find myself a good community similar ...' 'I just want a fun Satanic group that isn’t garbage filled with manipulative leaders.' 'How do I join you?' 'Why don’t you start an organization?'

Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends Facebook page comments

From the very moment we committed our story to written word—what The Satanic Temple calls our “manifestos” and very graciously included copies of in their federal court filings against us (please see Exhibit 5 – Document #1, Attachment #5, and Exhibit 5 – Document #26, Attachment #5)—we have received commentary like this.

Even in the latter (Exhibit 5, Document #26, Attachment #5), there is a similar comment from a third-party that TST uses as the basis for one of their newer throw-spaghetti-on-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks claims against us.

Queer Satanic has never been and was never intended to be an organization or official “group.” We have no organization, no members, and no hierarchy. Even the name “Queer Satanic” stemmed from the original meme page, "Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends" and handle @QueerSatanicMemes, which we then shortened and used across social media platforms in order to spread the word of TST’s SLAPP suit against us. That's a lawsuit that – regardless of any personal feelings – bound us together (so far indefinitely) into a group called “defendants.”

"Queer Satanic" was a moniker that fit us, that reflected the values that led to our ousting as heretics, and the principles that we wished to embrace in our lives. To put it shortly:

Queer Satanic is not an organization. Queer Satanic is vibes.

While we have remained in touch with folks who were also kicked out or who left of their own accord, those relationships are loose, purely social, and do not form any sort of official group or organization.

We’d strongly encourage you to listen to our response to Dixieland of the Proletariat’s question in the podcast quoted above, or read some of our answers to similar questions on Tumblr over the years (1) (2), but since we still get these questions, we are more than happy to send out a few words of encouragement.

Don’t wait for someone else to make the perfect group for you. Make your own collective.

You don’t have to be a leader, and we’d personally advise against hierarchies altogether. Our experiences and the experiences of others who support us across the nation (or world, perhaps?) show that if you are asking for such a group, there are assuredly folks near you who would also appreciate such a group. The ideal collectives are not worldwide, not nationwide, not even statewide. They are localized communities without hierarchies who share values, serve a need, and agree on a course of action. Preferably, direct action.

Don’t look to us or anyone else to serve your needs; surely we will disappoint you. Instead, create the group that you need. Know that once the group has completely fulfilled that need, it may very well dissipate. But that’s OK – that’s the lifecycle of groups. The camaraderie you form with your fellow members may extend into another group that forms another purpose later; it may last a lifetime. Or it may only be appropriate for and last for that moment. Who can say.

There’s plenty of reading that can be done on the subject by people much more qualified than we are and with more experience than we have, if you need some inspiration or a deeper basis to draw on. We’ll link a few below to get you started, but please understand people are fallible, and so are these resources.

The driving force behind creating your own group and becoming an adversary to your most pressing tyrannies has to come from you.

We can’t wait to see what amazing things you do.

Remember: No hierarchies. Only vibes.

How to Form an Affinity Group – CrimethInc

Relative to their small size, affinity groups can achieve a disproportionately powerful impact. In contrast to traditional top-down structures, they are free to adapt to any situation, they need not pass their decisions through a complicated process of ratification, and all the participants can act and react instantly without waiting for orders—yet with a clear idea of what to expect from one another. ... Most important of all, affinity groups are motivated by shared desire and loyalty, rather than profit, duty, or any other compensation or abstraction.

Organizing Communities – Tom Knoche

People get involved with groups because they present an opportunity for them to gain something they want. It may be tangible or intangible, but the motivation to get involved comes with an expectation of relatively short-term gratification. The job of community organizations is to facilitate a process where groups of people with similar needs or problems learn to work together for the benefit of all. Through this process, people learn to work cooperatively and learn that their informal association can usually solve problems more effectively and quickly than established organizations.

The Intersections of Anarchism And Community Organizing – Dave

Organizing is not about telling people what to do, nor should organizers go into a community with solutions to problems one identifies as an outsider. Community organizing is a bottom-up process which focuses on solutions to issues established by people who live in the community. One does not have to live in the same place as one organizes, nor does one have to fill the exact same social categories as those you are organizing with (though it definitley would help). The strength of any organizing drive is the potency of the political relationships its participants have with each other and how those relationships move the participants toward challenging relations of power.

[queersatanic]

@QueerSatanic social media

As the year ends, a little wrap-up of what we've been up to and where:

Facebook Satanic Antifascism: For now, this is mainly in-depth articles and some historical essays that are valuable as information but hated by the algorithm. At some point, we'd like to have the free time to go much more into the political Satanism of the 19th century which was associated with anarchism and socialism, and how these things are inherently opposed to the essentialism, stratification, and hierarchies of fascism.

Facebook Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends: Your friendly neighborhood queer satanic meme page. We'd hoped we might end the year with 18K followers, but it doesn't look like we'll quite get there. Still, this is quite the come-up since the start of the pandemic in the USA when it had less than 500 followers. As it's the one being used as an excuse to try to continue a SLAPP suit against us, we try to confine most of our talk about The Satanic Temple here as well.

Facebook Anarchist Dreams With Queer Satanic Themes: Our backup queer satanic meme page. It mostly fills the same lane as "Evergreen" and we do a lot of crossposting but try not to outright duplicate everything. We also post a little less about TST over there.

Instagram @QueerSatanic: Primarily original content memes.

Twitter @QueerSatanic: A potpourri of 1.) absolute shitposting, 2.) quick OC memes for screenshots, 3.) retweets of very smart people you should be listening to (particularly on disability rights; Indigenous, Black, Brown, and Asian antiracism; antifascism; anticapitalism; and queerness), and 4.) Tweet threads about what latest awful thing we've discovered that The Satanic Temple and/or its leaders have done. A great place to publicly correct us if you see us make a factual error, btw (sincerely).

Reddit u/QueerSatanic: A little bit of shitposting. Some Satanism discourse but branching out into political and religious conversations more generally. The Satanic Temple's defenders really hate us over there, and the LaVeyan Satanists tolerate us except when we criticize Stinky Tony and his bad ideas.

Tumblr @queersatanic (hi): Not just discourse but ~d i s c o u r s e~, as well as some slightly more polished versions of those Twitter threads

Medium @QueerSatanic: This is the final version of those Twitter threads, written to be worthy of citation by other people or as resources for people looking for information directly. Relies heavily on work from collaborative project "The.Satanic.Wiki"

TikTok @QueerSatanic: This exists, but we have a lot to do already and videos are hard, so there's nothing there right now. Speaking of which

Patreon /QueerSatanic: We're working on what exactly it makes sense to paywall since we basically just want everyone to know everything we know as soon as we know it. But maybe making some video content with feedback from interested supporters would be worthwhile? We do have a YouTube channel and would like to do some readings of older texts so people have the option of ear-reading to them as well as eye-reading.

Redbubble people/QueerSatanic: We have designs donated by artist Hate Kill and tattooist/artist Vox Dombek (@AgenderBlob). If you ever send us a picture of you with our stuff, we love to re-post it because it makes us feel good.

And that's it? We think that's it. Except—

Moreover, we're still being sued by The Satanic Temple in federal court. Check the pinned post for more.

[queersatanic]

Newsweek wrote about the situation with the Facebook page Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends and The Satanic Temple's ongoing SLAPP suit against us last week.

Can you defame a religion? The answer to that question could cost four former members of The Satanic Temple (TST) more than $140,000 in damages, including "reputation losses," in a civil lawsuit that has dragged on for more than a year and a half.

But also see this follow-up with some footnotes and clarifications:

“Can you defame a religion? A federal judge has ruled that the First Amendment says no, but The Satanic Temple still argues yes,” is a lot less dramatic of a place to begin an article like this, but given what has happened in the case so far, it would be the more accurate characterization.

Regardless, we appreciate the coverage from Newsweek getting our situation out there to more people.