#LGBTQIA issues

[angelic-transsexual]

me: *makes a tiktok about how men can get pregnant and how abortion laws affect these men also*

the comments: "SAY TRANS MEN" "PRO LIFE PEOPLE DONT SEE TRANS MEN AS MEN" "YOU NEED TO PUT TRANS MEN INSTEAD OF MEN, SAYING JUST MEN CAN GET PREGNANT AND CAN GET ABORTIONS ALLOWS CIS MEN TO HAVE AN OPINION ON PREGNANCY AND ABORTION"

like oh my god you fucking people are insufferable.

IDGAF WHAT PRO LIFERS THINK AND I DONT NEED TO SAY "TRANS MEN," TRANS MEN ARE MEN.

[yourlocaldisapointment36]

Hey guys, I need y'all's honest opinion and "expertise" on this subject. (Ace's + Aro's ECT)

So, I don't know how to explain my romantic attraction exactly.. Its obsessive and never goes away and I'm a little in love with everyone I meet. I've been going by Aro bc I have NO interest in an official romantic relationship, though I do experience EXTREME romantic attraction.

Is there anything to describe this? And if so does it fall under the category of aromantic?

Edit: thought I should add context. Just in case. What I mean by not being interested in an official romantic relationship is that I simply don't get why they exist if it makes any sense? And the thought of being in a romantic relationship genuinely kind of scares me. Lol I just don't see the appeal of being in a romantic relationship with someone, or doing things that normal "couples" would do

[bitchesgetriches]

NEW POST!

Personal finance--it's not just for medium-ugly straight people anymore! Here are 5 helpful queer money experts from the LGBTQ+ community.

[little-grey-dowitcher]

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but just because you haven’t had a major argument or incident with your toxic relatives doesn’t mean you don’t have a reason to avoid seeing them this holiday season (or at all, for that matter). You don’t need to have had a huge falling out with them to not want to see them.

[southeastasianists]

Kantina Matak, the vibrant presidential cafe serving up 500 free meals a day to neighbourhood kids in Timor Leste’s capital, Dili, is characteristically lively when I sit down for lunch with Bella Galhos. It is a liveliness matched by Galhos, 51 and with an aura that draws you in.

Only three when Indonesia invaded, Galhos was exposed to the violence of the military from an early age, and it was in her teenage years she situated this violence in its broader political context — leading her down a path of activism. A survivor of the Santa Cruz massacre in November 1991, she hatched a plan of escape, and via an exchange program in Canada she relocated — beginning a tireless five-year solidarity building campaign.

In Canada, Bella’s personal experiences served as a testimony emblematic of life under Indonesian occupation in Timor-Leste. A compelling and charismatic speaker, she became a potent symbol within and of the international solidarity movement, connecting and inspiring a wide network.

Amongst her initiatives since returning in 1999, following independence, are the Leubrora Green School in Maubisse that teaches children sustainable agricultural practices and good nutrition, a women’s cooperative farming group and flower garden, and the Kantina Matak where we are sitting, employing and serving as a safe space for LGBT community members. She is serving her second term as presidential advisor, this time to Jose Ramos Horta — a role she loves, and describes as “a bridge between the people and the president”.

Her organisation Arcoiris (Rainbow) Timor-Leste offers shelter for members suffering violent situations, a place that “stands and defends the rights of the LGBT community in Timor-Leste”.

“Not only do they need the shelter, but also they want to feel secure. So, whenever they come to my compound, they feel secure. By giving the people a chance, opportunity and resources without looking at who they are.”

With first-hand experience, Bella is well-situated for this work; “one of my struggles was recognising who I am”.

“When I came out it was a process of being vilified over and over again, falling down on my knees … I was meant to be a minister in the government but because of my sexual orientation I was removed. My own family, my own brothers have tried to kill me … but it hasn’t stopped me.

“Young LGBT that I help care for are struggling to be accepted, loved, cared, protected, or invested in by their own family …They experience hardship, physical abuses, sexual abuses, abandonment, they drop out from school because they cannot handle the bullies, not only by their classmates, but also by their teachers who are not understanding and have no background whatsoever or no knowledge of what LGBT is. I think people really justify their homophobia and action against LGBT people by coming out with their own theory saying: Why you turn yourself to be this? Why can’t you just be a normal woman? Why can’t you just be a normal man? Why are you against God's will?”

Bella identifies the Catholic Church as a powerful institution perpetuating patriarchal ideals, and she makes a point of their hypocrisy.

“Why can’t we talk about priests who abuse children in convents, or uncles, fathers and brothers who ruin their own family? Instead you choose to talk about LGBT.”

In a country that is 98% Catholic, where churches dot the hills and priests hold prominent sway, being an LGBT activist is hard. “I risk a lot for saying what I say and doing what I do. But I always believe that a struggle, any struggle, whatever it is, whatever time it is or where it is, somebody needs to start it.

“Being an activist is a privilege, and it is my responsibility of speaking out for others.”

Inevitably, this has drawn the ire of the church, Bella tells me. “One time there was a huge public letter coming out from the Church about me because they know I was the one that was the voice of dissent. They claimed [in the letter] that [they] supported the LGBT community, [and] are only against [people choosing their] sexual orientation.”

There is a challenge in the tension; both staunch public activist and sensitive individual, caring deeply about others.

“The way people look at you, [you] already know that you do not belong there … I am always ready to be crushed and screened out … I fight my way forward even though sometimes it’s hard.”

Laughter comes easy around Bella, and her answers are splashed with colourful anecdotes and allegories. Asked what progress has been made 24 years on from the vote for independence, she likens the government to getting ready for a party where “you don't know which clothes to put on first. If you want to put your pants on first or your underwear. So I think that's what we need to be putting in place, things in sequences, you know, we should not go to the sky first, start with the earth.

“We cannot keep on using the excuse ‘new country’ as a way of saying it's okay to make mistakes … We cannot keep running the country by just turning on our Petroleum Fund. That is for me very worrying.”

“More than 20 years putting money into all these key sectors but we have not seen the results, we need to see the result and if the result is not seen it means that we are wrong in how we are investing it … we are already getting at least two or three generations that almost have no future to hold on to and most of them are already taking off and the younger ones are also hoping to get out and that's not a good sense of staying in the country to feel and to see what is going on here.”

The valorisation of veterans in a country where resistance leaders are constitutionally enshrined as “national heroes” often comes at the cost of everyday people in the sharing of power.

“Today we are still talking about veterans, all about veterans. Basically the country's owned by the veterans and the veterans are putting all the money into the older people and we forgot to bring money to the younger people, the future of the country, the future leaders of the country, and that’s worrying.”

It’s a dynamic that means the same faces have been in power since independence, and Bella references corruption as a feature of this ruling elite. Timor-Leste rated, in 2022, as having the highest hunger and malnutrition in Southeast Asia, according the global hunger index — a statistic that sits oddly with the US$19 billion sitting in Timor’s Petroleum Fund.

“Development is going at a snail’s pace because the government is too busy distributing power among people who actually don’t have the ability to work or serve the public. These people claim, ‘I did this, I did that, I lost my family, I was with you, I suffered the most, so I deserve to be a minister.’ It’s still like that.

“We are still pleasing each other by providing each other jobs — you know, to make people happy, make followers happy. And the majority of people are suffering because this is not what they were promised when campaigning is taking place.”

Bella believes a possible pathway forward would allow the mixing of “the younger generation into the process of developing the country”.

“Over 60% [of the population] is young. They should be prioritised. They should be dignified. By giving them space, their voice should be heard, should be counted.”

This sort of people-driven participatory philosophy underpins Bella’s outlook: “The priority, the centre of all development should be people, people, people and people means you don't see the classes that you don't see the categories; it’s the people. And first you have to get them involved, not just use them when you need the vote but [so that] their voices can actually be heard and counted in the program.”

What next for Bella? Energetic, with a life loaded with experiences, maybe a presidential run? “Winning or not, I don’t care. I just want to challenge the norms.”

[xenomorphzoid]

[hard--headed--woman]

i don't care at all if you want to call yourself queer or if you want to reclaim that slur, what i am saying is just that :

1) it isn't an identity. your only "label" can't be "queer". if no other word fits your identity than this one, then you aren't part of the community, and you are searching for a place in the wrong area. your identity is lesbian, gay, bisexual... not just "queer". always. queer just can't be the only word that describes your experience.

2) it IS a slur. i don't care if you use it or if you want to reclaim it or if you think it's a cool word and want to write it everywhere, it IS a slur, it was always a slur, it will always be a slur. erasing that and trying to lie about it is erasing our culture and history. people have been insulted with this word. this word was used in homophobic slogans. no tears for queers! see. it IS a slur. just look at what it means.

3) if you say "queer people", "queer rep", "queer books", "queer community", it is a problem. this term shouldn't be used to describe the whole community. it shouldn't be an umbrella term. it shouldn't be used to talk about us as a community. or to talk about someone in particular. us it to talk about yourself if you want, and that's all. don't use it to talk about the community in general. or to describe someone else's identity.

4) het people should absolutely never use this word. corps shouldn't use this word. medias shouldn't use this word. the way it is now the norm to use this word to talk about the community is problematic. use the acronym. they should use the acronym.

imagine if we started to use the b or c slur, the n word, the r slur, the g slur, to talk about the groups, communities, people they were made to insult. that would be problematic right ? same with queer.

[imgonnagetkilledbynutstink]

Now every time I think of Jonny having been in Baddiel's Syndrome I get this sense of dread. Dudes he was so young, and at a point in his life where he was literally figuring things out about his own sexuality, and knew so little about what it actually meant that he even thought it was just something everyone felt until he expressed it and was pretty quickly proven wrong. He was playing a character that was pushing a narrative against what would end up being his own community and was too young to even understand it.

[yagikidd57]

[angeloftheodd]

Nothing pisses me off more than when a man finds out I’m friends with other queer women and femmes, then acts disappointed when I’m not sexual with them or pursuing them. They literally act like I’m doing my friendships wrong because I’m not fucking all of my friends, simply because that’s what HE thinks is hot. In my experience, most of the time, these men aren’t actually friends with any women or femmes because they see us as a set of holes rather than as whole people in our own right.

The #NotAllMen crowd better shut the hell up because only men have ever done this to me.

[angelic-transsexual]

"i support queer people but i just find it annoying when they make it their whole personality."

if you think this way then you do not support queer people lmao. i'm gonna be loud as fuck i do not give a shit. if you have an issue then you can argue with the wall. i'm gonna be a loud transsexual-fag whether you like it or not.

i spent my whole life in shame and feeling disgust for being a gay transsexual man. i'm not here to please anyone. i grew up with no trans joy so i decided to create it for MYSELF and for any trans person who needs it.

if you think the queer community will be accepted if we are quiet about our queerness, then you are absolutely wrong lmao. also being nice doesn't get people their rights. :))

[i-eat-lip-gloss]

Hello, I’m Ameera a 23 years old Muslim lesbian who is trying to come out, I’ve been in the closet with my girlfriend for way too long, because of how dangerous and hard it is to come out as a lesbian to a religious Muslim family, but me and my girlfriend have decided to do whatever it takes and risk it all to come out, do you mind supporting and encouraging us?, we have the plan to go away which is why I have my donation campaign pinned on my profile, if I raise at least that goal I can start the process with my savings, I can’t come out until I’d gotten my apartment and I’m away from family, so please support by donating if you can and help reblog though I know we all have what we dealing with, so I’m not imposing we just need all the support and encouragement we can get, check my pinned post for more information on how you can support, if you are a Muslim queer and you are out, please help with tips on how to make it less complicated, any word of advice is also really needed, we really wanna come out but we need y’all 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ pride please come through for us, I believe pride is for all

hellooo

first, if what i say right now is unhelpful and/or full of typos, forgive me, my brain has not been working right these past 2 months

i completely understand that need, wanting to just love with no restrictions, hence me and my girlfriend.

although, since i am just 12, i cant do much, but i am amazing at support (at least i consider myself to be)

i have only come out to my family because my dad went thru my tumblr, and my mom saw my bisexual pin one day. and i'm still in the closet with being agender, i tried to come out to my dad, but he just said i'm a tomboy.

but anyways, i can help spread.

also, i'm not too great at this, (since i'm agnostic) but maybe start off with hinting towards that you're gay? like maybe when describing crushes (can be completely made up) use a she, or doodle a pride flag and leave it out somewhere.

i'm sorry i can't do much, but i really do hope you can come out soon.

[lostillusionstuffs]

I mean is it only me who feels a kind of feeling for few days or rather few months and then it's over... ?

I mean as if you were in a trance and after that period is over... you feel like shit? You feel guilty for making those vague promises because now you actually can't even relate to it?

Idk... is something wrong with me? Or is it natural... and what do you exactly call this? A sign of madness? Xd

[bitchesgetriches]

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It was our absolute honor and privilege to chat with John and David of the Queer Money podcast about our new Burnout Workshop! John and David are incredible humans and #couplegoals. We've been fans of theirs since their blogging days, and if you're not following the Queer Money Podcast yet... you absolutely should. We know our Tumblrinas appreciate a gay as hell perspective!

Listen to the episode here!

[sweaterkittensahoy]

From this non-binary bitch who only realized it like, two to three years ago (I'm 40): You call yourself whatever you want, fellow queers. Anyone who tries to get in your business about it is a fucking cop.

i just wanted to say as someone who came out as genderqueer in 2011, you are in no way obligated to switch from using "older" other gender terms to newer ones like nonbinary. it's okay if you like the term nonbinary, but it's also okay if you'd rather stick with something else instead, like neutrois, genderqueer, genderless, boygirl, multigender, or whatever else your preferred term may be. use what suits you

[southeastasianists]

This op/ed was written by Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of Justice for Sisters, a grassroots campaign that aims to raise public awareness about issues surrounding violence and persecution against the Mak Nyah (trans women) community in Malaysia.

Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that liberalism, LGBT and secularism will never be recognised by the unity government has to be unpacked in a nuanced way. The statement was made during an interview with Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) in its ‘Naratif Khas Bersama Perdana Menteri’ on 6 January 2022.

Firstly, it is important to recognize that Anwar Ibrahim is a Malay Muslim man who has continued to be plagued by multiple charges under Section 377A and B, in a context where conservatism and sentiments against LGBT people and liberalism are escalating to alarming heights. Malay Muslim persons generally find it challenging to publicly voice their support for LGBT people in the context of Malaysia; those who do face severe backlash.

Regardless of whether the charges against Anwar were politically motivated, Section 377A and B is in violation of international human rights law, rule of law and, most importantly, the rights safeguarded under the Federal Constitution, especially the right to equality and non-discrimination, privacy, and right to live with dignity.

In the interview, Anwar said both he and Pakatan Harapan were closely linked to communism, liberalism and LGBT people or issues in the recent GE15. PAS claimed that Anwar and Pakatan Harapan would legalise ‘same-sex marriage’. An old interview with Anwar Ibrahim on Section 377 A and B was used as a propaganda tool to discredit him and fed the rise of, among other things, increasing LGBTphobia and panic surrounding the repeal of Section 377A and B should Pakatan Harapan come into power. Pejuang (the Homeland Fighter’s Party) via Twitter called for Anwar Ibrahim to denounce LGBT people.

Such anti-LGBT sentiments, coupled with scapegoating for political expediency and survival, are dangerous. It has effectively increased LGBT-related misinformation and bias. Other than Anwar, a number of politicians, especially from Pakatan Harapan, were also labelled as ‘pro-LGBT’. Some have suffered severe political costs, namely loss of seats and support from their constituents and party members alike.

In this context, some politicians can feel cornered and pressured to distance themselves from anything that could be interpreted as them being ‘pro-LGBT’. Politicians who lack evidence- and rights-based lenses to inform policymaking end up taking defensive and problematic positions that have harmful effects on LGBTQ and gender-diverse people, and society as a whole.

This is what we have seen in the past—for example, Anwar Ibrahim saying in 2018 that people should oppose LGBT people and ‘super liberals’—and are currently observing from Pakatan Harapan politicians. Their strategy is to preemptively and aggressively disassociate themselves from LGBTQ issues and claims that they are ‘pro-LGBT.’ Case in point, Pakatan Harapan mounted several legal challenges against PAS for claiming that they are ‘pro-LGBT.’

Unfortunately, these short-sighted and reactionary positions and strategies do not address the root issues of prejudice and discrimination against LGBTQ people and, in fact, exacerbate the exclusion of and intolerance towards LGBTQ persons in Malaysia. The conflation of LGBTphobia and liberalism also has repercussions on other human rights defenders and rights groups that tackle other human rights violations, contributing to a shrinking civic space.

A Justice for Sisters’ survey with 220 LGBTQ and gender-diverse people shows that 124 respondents (56.4%) stated that anti-LGBT statements by politicians caused them increased stress. 33.6% said that they experienced discrimination, and only 22 respondents (10%) said that they experienced no impact.

LGBTphobia in Malaysia is increasing at an alarming state. The Centre for Independent Journalism’s GE15 monitoring shows offensive posts relating to gender and LGBT were 3 times higher than race- and religion-related offensive posts, and 8 times higher than royalty-related or discriminatory posts.

In this context of rising discrimination, access to justice remains low. In the same survey by Justice for Sisters, at least 59% of 220 respondents were uncomfortable with reporting cases of discrimination and violence to government agencies. 39% said that they have thought of migrating or seeking asylum because of the increasingly hostile environment in Malaysia. These findings demonstrate a high level of trust deficit in the government.

As Anwar Ibrahim has repeatedly mentioned, he is not just the PM for those who voted for him or participated in the election, but he also represents the interests of all and diverse people, including people of various ethnicities, religions, geographical backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities. As he mentioned as well, it is important for him and state agencies and actors to be evidence-based in implementing policies, rather than contribute to the discrimination of LGBTQ persons.

Anwar’s statement was widely reported in many media outlets in Malaysia, and also in Indonesia, where anti-LGBT sentiments are also high.This raises concerns over the continuation of discrimination with impunity against LGBT people around the region.

As the head of state, Anwar Ibrahim must show leadership and innovation in addressing the weaponisation of anti-LGBT and anti-liberal sentiments, and its impact on already marginalised groups, including LGBT people, human rights defenders, and progressive Muslims. It is important to note that by failing to address these issues tactfully and effectively, and appeasing only the most vocal conservatives, Anwar Ibrahim may continue to marginalise these populations.

We recommend that Anwar Ibrahim and his administration adopt democratic processes by engaging civil society in addressing the weaponisation of anti-LGBT and anti-liberal sentiments to break the stranglehold that anti-rights actors have in determining and controlling the narrative within the political landscape.