#TELL ME THIS IS NOT THE QUEER JOURNEY

[daisiesonafield-blog]

Ok, FITF and FITFWT is Louis being proud of who he is. No excuses. 😭 "spent my whole life just thinking I had to change", no more. BE LOUD BE PROUD BE YOURSELF 😭🏳️‍🌈 "thank you for accepting me for who I am".

[anne-is-ominous]

Phoenix Reignited 1.09: Aftermath

Happy Saturday everybody! Quiet day here, recovering from some nasty insomnia that wrecked me most of this week. This week, I did manage to put down a few thousand words on book XIII and extended my backlog on Reignited, and did some more polish-up work on ThePhoenixSaga.com. Wrote a new song for Ranko this morning, too!

Yui smiled tentatively. “It’s a damned good thing you fight better than you eat ghosts, kiddo.”

Defensively, Ranma snapped back, recoiling until her backside bumped the joystick of the yellow-and-black arcade cabinet. “Look, I don’t know what she told you, but it’s no big deal. Some guys got a little sassy. I hit ‘em with a stick, and they took off. End of story.”

Hana slipped between the bar counters, emerging from behind Yui and rushing toward Ranma. With all of the adrenaline still coursing through her system, Ranma fought her every instinct to drop into a defensive stance as the leather-clad woman charged toward her with urgency in her eyes. Welp, the jig is up now. They know I’m a fake. Better just go upstairs and get my shit. Fuck. It was fun while it lasted.

Hana reached Ranma’s position, wrapping her arms around the slender redhead’s shoulders tightly. “Are you alright, Ranko? You’re not hurt, are you? C’mere, honey. Let me see you.” She remembered the teen’s black eye from a few days before, concerned she might have sustained further injury.

Wait, Ranma thought, shocked by the turn of events. She’s not… huh? What the hell is even happening right now?

Read more wherever you get your fiction fix! Links below!

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Fanfiction.net

Inkitt

MediaMiner

Neobook

QuoteV

Scribble Hub

SpaceBattles

Sufficient Velocity

Wattpad

WebNovel

[tiredmoonslut]

Someone went through my tag for The 100 and awoke me like a sleeper agent activating so I could say that we were ROBBED of Princess Mechanic. Choosing to make it so Clarke and Raven could never have a truly positive dynamic was a MISTAKE and could have augmented both their story arcs greatly

[bulbabutt]

no offence to people who genuinely enjoyed james somerton and feel cheated but you could kind of tell he didnt give a shit about anything he ever said. there was no passion or personable anecdotes in anything he ever made, and the fact he was constantly posting videos was crazy. like if you watch your more popular video essayists theyre always coming from a point of 1) education in a field 2) passion in a subject and 3) being open about themselves

like , this man hopped on the video essay train because of the popularity of his peers and just tokened himself into "the gay video essayist" as if so many other people werent already doing that? and the lack of care for intersectionality was obvious. i stopped ever watching him after he took it personally that some marvel show was about black exploitation in america and not about two men kissing each other, cuz it became abundantly clear that was the only experience he gave a shit about (his own)

[twistedappletree]

update: IT WENT GREAT & AND SHE UNDERSTANDS ACE/DEMI IDENTITIES & IT WAS NO PRESSURE & EASY AS HELL TO TALK TO EACH OTHER YOOOO

[the-blackdale]

...

[sapphosboy]

Was talking today with a friend about how monumental it was for me as a trans person and a lesbian who was uncomfortably presenting feminine, to meet my butch best friend in college, and how just being friends with them, and hearing about their experience as a butch really allowed me the space to feel comfortable exploring my own gender expression and identity, and how I feel like I’m a more complete person for having known them because they made me feel so incredibly safe in the journey and I now feel so much more comfortable presenting the way I want to and not the way I expect people to want me to, and the friend I was talking to said that I was that for them. So dress as faggy as you fucking want to and be as loud as you want to about it. It’s your god-given right to be DRIPPING with dykery and transgenderism because you never know if you’re going to be that lightbulb moment or safe queer space for someone!

[tumbloggingattheendofitall]

... Having some Feelings, and I can't entirely even blame the shitty sleep I've been getting this week lol

[basicallyahedgehog]

29th May 2022

Dear Rowan,

You don’t know that name yet, but you will. Oh, you will. Right now all it means is the echos of a childhood classmate. In a year’s time it will feel like a warm blanket, like slipping into soft sheets after a long day.

I know you’re scared. I know you feel lost and confused and terrified beyond belief. This thing that you’ve been told your whole life is wrong now applies to you. Has maybe always applied to you. Right now your brain is a swirling mess of words and labels and pronouns and just sheer, plain confusion.

That’s okay.

You’re going to learn that over and over this year. It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to be confused, to try on labels and pronouns and names like you try on clothes at the store. It’s okay to not have it all figured out.

In a month or two you’ll be worried that you don’t have it all sorted yet, and then someone you know and trust will metaphorically look you in the eyes over the internet and say “oh you’re really new” and it will become one of the most validating things you’ve ever heard.

But Rowan, amongst all the confusion and dysphoria - something you will come to know intimately - and the awful comments from people you once trusted. Amongst all of that (please don’t be too scared yet), Rowan you are going to have one of the best years of your life.

Rowan, the people you will meet. Don’t be afraid, join that discord, send that message, follow that person on tumblr. You are going to meet the most incredible people, and find yourself part of the most wonderful community - more than you could ever have imagined. These people will open their hearts to you and make you feel so loved, so validated, so you. They will take your pronouns and your name and use them to make you feel the best you’ve ever felt in your life.

Rowan, what a ride you are getting on. It’s not all ups - some really terrible downs are coming and I wish, I wish I could protect you from them. But for every down there are so many more ups. Hold onto them all, tuck them away in that new place in your heart that is just opening up.

Every time you come out to someone and they immediately switch their language. When your coworkers buy pronoun pins or put their pronouns in their email signatures to show you you aren’t alone. Every “Ro”, “them”, “bro”. Store them up, take them out on the bad days to remind you that it gets better.

It will get better. I promise. Every time you get misgendered or someone makes a crass joke or your brain turns on you. It WILL get better.

Part of me wishes I could take away the hard stuff. Tell you right now all the answers, save you the angst and confusion. But I won’t. Because through it all, you will come out so much stronger. You will know yourself so much better, and for the first time in your life you will truly, honestly, love yourself. All your parts, all your flaws, all your strengths and weaknesses.

But I’ll tell you one little secret:

You are here, you are queer, and that is the best thing ever.

Ro 🦔

[olymphianblood]

ok guys its not funny anymore when is d&p hard lauching im starting to getting anxious /hj

[lucidicer]

.

[morimyth]

as a nonbinary trans person who lives largely in a blue state that's technically red outside any major city, i would really appreciate the ability to come out to people i choose, rather than having my "well meaning" friends outing me to strangers behind my back bc they think they're being progressive or whatever

[citrineghost]

I think about this a lot...

I just want you all to know, even if you don't see any people in your area with pronoun pins or bright, queer clothing, or with clockable traits, there's a very good chance you're surrounded by queer people who are blending in with the cishets. You're not alone.

Ever since I've started passing, I've had this repeated thought... I'll be in a public place and I'll see someone who's almost definitely queer, and it makes my day, but then I wonder, do they see me? Do they know I'm here? Do they understand that I'm one of them?

To be passing is what a lot of trans people see as the end goal, but, if you're not trying to be stealth but simply not going out of your way to display that you're queer, it can come with a profound sense of sudden exclusion - like you're too passing to count anymore, or like you'll be unrecognizable to your queer siblings

So, for everyone's benefit, I just want to say, remember that there are those of us who don't stand out. Don't assume every person that you don't clock as trans is cis. Don't assume every person that you don't clock as gay is straight. We speak out against cisheteronormativity, but to protect ourselves and remain in the safe bubble of those we expect to be safe for ourselves, we are often times perpetuating it

[renthony]

Discussions of what "counts" as "canon" queer representation fall apart the second you start talking about media older than about five years or so. If your only metric for "canon queerness" is a character looking directly into the camera and explaining their identity in specific, modern, US-American-English terminology, you're not going to get a good picture of what queer media looks like. If your barometer for what counts as "canon" requires two characters of the same gender to kiss on-screen, you're not going to get a good picture of what queer media looks like.

Dr. Septimus Pretorius (portrayed by Ernest Thesiger in 1935's Bride of Frankenstein) was never going to look directly into the camera and explain his sexuality in 2024 terms, but he remains an icon in queer media history. You cannot look at that character (blatantly queer-coded in the manner of the time, played by a queer man in a film directed by another queer man) and tell me that he isn't a part of queer media history.

To be honest, even when discussing modern queer media, I would argue that the popular idea of what "counts" as "canon" is very narrow and flawed. I've seen multiple posts in the past few days that say the Nimona movie is "implied" trans representation, and I just...no, y'all, it's not "implied," it's an allegory. The entire damn movie is about transgender struggle, and the original comic is deeply tied into N.D. Stevenson's own queer journey. It isn't subtle. You cannot look at that movie and pretend that it isn't about trans struggle. It's blatant, and to say that Nimona "isn't canonically trans" is a take that misses the story's entire message, and the blatant queerphobia that almost kept the movie from happening. (I wrote a five thousand word essay about the topic.)

Queer themes, queer coding, queer exploration, and queer representation can all exist in a piece of media that doesn't seem to have "canon queer characters" on the surface. Most queer characters are never going to be able to explicitly state their specific identity labels, be it due to censorship or just due to the fact that scenes like that don't fit in some narratives. Some stories aren't conducive to a big "so what's your identity?" scene.

Explicit, undeniable, "this is my identity in no uncertain terms" scenes are very important and radical, and I'm not saying they shouldn't ever exist. I am saying that you can't consider those scenes the only way for queerness in a piece of media to be "canon."

[tobeornottotc]

They probably refused to say it was a romance or bl because it isn’t. it won’t have a happy ending and that’s what an actual romance requires and how Gmmtv views the criteria of a bl. with this new plot twist clearly they won’t end up being with each other but more like help each other grow and find peace and move on from their guilt unfortunately that a romance does not make. It’s very Parbdee to take something tragic and make it semi romantic but have it not a true romance because they are separated by death and the afterlife sigh it’s their ammo only time we got lucky was Be my favorite because it had to fulfill the bl criteria lmao. Parbdee strikes again and I’m not surprised…

Ugh! Peaceful Property! You wanted a cross-class romance!? How about we actually dive into the full-on physical and spiritual oppression that produces those classes?? How about we actually depict capitalist systems as literally horrific?? But let's not stop there!! How about we show the wealthy protagonist as directly complicit in those horrors?? Not enough?? How about we make him literally kill the poorer romantic lead?? How about we actually explore what it would mean for someone whose wealth is built on nepotism and a history of exploited labor to recognize what that means about their relationships to other people in the world?? What kinds of compassion do the wealthy need to ask for and what practices and mindsets do they need to change before those they've hurt can even begin to live life unafraid of financial ruin, let alone actually caring for the wealthy love-interest?? What ghosts haunt a cross-class romance and how can we truly exorcise them????

[makingqueerhistory]

I’m actually serious about this, if at all possible, right now is a very good time to request queer books from your local library. Whether they get them or not is not in your control, but it is so important to show that there is a desire for queer books. I will also say getting more queer books in libraries and supporting queer authors are pretty fantastic byproducts of any action.

This isn’t something everyone can do, but please do see if you are one of the people who has the privilege to engage in this form of activism, and if you are, leverage that privilege for all you’re worth.

For anyone who can’t think of a queer book to request, here is a little list of some queer books that I think are underrated and might not be in circulation even at larger libraries:

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco     

Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals by William Wright    

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley   

God Themselves by Jae Nichelle

IRL by Tommy Pico        

The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World's Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages             

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom          

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow              

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

Queer Magic: Lgbt+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World by Tomás Prower            

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam   

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon 

Hi Honey, I'm Homo! by Matt Baume      

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw  

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman 

Kapaemahu by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Sacrament of Bodies by Romeo Oriogun     

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods 

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt    

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman    

Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist           

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi             

Peaches and Honey by Imogen Markwell-Tweed      

Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color by Christopher Soto