#and we have a PRIDE FLAG and a COMMUNITY?

[kitschycritter]

Howdy, my name is Critter. Have y'all heard of this lil thing called Craftivism? Here are 5 types of Punk/DIY Crafts I think we need to embrace, sooner rather than later!

Crochet/Knitting

Yarn and crochet/knitting supplies are relatively easy and inexpensive to get your hands on, and learning to crochet/knit is relatively easy with video tutorials. Once you learn the basics, you can create patches and clothing items that support certain causes. You can also do yarn-bombing (essentially graffiti using crochet/knitting) as a way to spread awareness about certain issues. Here are the patterns I listed above:

LGBTQ Pride Keychains

BLM Patch

Palestine Flag Heart

LGBTQ Pole Wrap

Womens March Hat

Pins

All you need is something hard and sturdy to act as the base for your pin (bottle caps work best), soda tabs + a safety pin, and some glue to secure everything. Paint or decorate them however you please. Let people know who you are and what you stand for. 

Kandi

While Kandi can be a way to express yourself and your identities, it is also a way to make community. Kandi-trading is huge in the EDM scene, and it is a huge part of why that community is so tight. You don’t need to make anything elaborate, especially to start out - just get some cheap pony beads from the dollar store, some letters, make some pretty bracelets. Keep them, trade them, give them away. 

Embroidery

Embroidery is a very fun and useful skill to develop, as you can basically put whatever you like wherever you want. Mend your socks, personalize your jacket, make some patches. Stop buying those shitty embroidered clothes from temu or shein and make your own one-of-a-kind pieces. Learning embroidery is pretty easy, just get some fabric, some thread, a needle, and go ham.

Zines

Zines are not only a way to spread awareness about certain issues, but they are a way to express yourself and talk about your personal experiences. I’ve included instructions on how to fold a zine, as well as some examples of zines. If you would like to learn more about zines & their history, I recommend @/decolonizationcoven on Tiktok. If you would like more examples of zines, check about any social media platform, but especially Pinterest. Lastly, if you would like inspiration for zines, Canva has lots of templates of zine layouts that are easy to replicate.

[genderqueerdykes]

I recently saw a post comparing the progress pride flag to the american one, essentially saying it was gaudy and over representative so all the symbols were just noise.

Like listen, I get that statement of the OG pride flag "encompasses all" but I feel it just completely missed the point of what it stood for.

Is it that bad that our trans and intersex peers wish to be seen? Is it that bad that we show respect to our BIPOC peers and remember they are among us especially when frontline queer voices and representation in media is overwhelmingly white?

Like idk maybe I'm overreacting but as someone part of those communities the progress pride flag shows it made me want to scream. Is it too much to want to be seen when queer people have and will turn a blind eye to us?

I'm NOT saying this flag needs to be everywhere. It'd be nice but it's unrealistic but hell, with the amount of stupid infighting and dangerous ideologies spreading within the queer community, it sure is a sight for sore eyes when I see it.

We're still here, we're still queer, and you cannot separate us from that.

Sorry for the rant I think I'm just tired of people getting hung up on "inclusivity politics" as if acknowleding people existing is some great pain and we're "ruining" their pride flag.

you're 100% right in pointing this out and i'm tired of this behavior. thank you so much for taking the time to send this ask, because this is something i'm actually also very deeply bothered by.

i've seen that post too and i've tried to figure it out and i just can't parse what the hell kind of point they're trying to make. that post makes no sense they thought they made a point and they didn't. just because the design is visually complex doesn't make it like the flag of the United States. there's chevrons on the left hand side of the flag and stripes on the right- that doesn't make it a copy of or homage to or some kind of subliminal messaging that calls back to the flag of the USA. this website has some of the lamest conspiracy theories i've ever seen that are just cooked up to make other people feel like shit.

some people are so hateful and bitter that they view inclusion as a bad thing. i'm calling it for what it is. some people are so goddamn miserable and up their own asses that they literally HATE it when people are included into what they think are their little cliques and groups. some people see like, any attempt from another group of people to be inclusive and inviting as an insult and an attack because they're just "pandering" or sucking up to us or trying to look progressive or whatever. like people will write this shit off every time no matter how good the intentions are. i'm sorry that you're being forcefully made aware that trans and intersex people and queers of color need a platform to speak on and a community to stay in, but you're the one causing a problem here if that bothers you. i'm sorry that people of color in specific need to feel safe in queer spaces, but you're the reason that we don't.

first of all, as an intersex trans person of color, i literally teared up the first time i saw the version of the progress pride flag that included the intersex pride flag. like. that's literally the FIRST TIME IN QUEER HISTORY THAT WE'VE SEEN WIDESPREAD USAGE OF THE INTERSEX FLAG!!!!!!!! THAT'S FUCKING HUGE. THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT FOR US! we NEED that visibility on such a grand fucking scale!!! we NEED TO BE SEEN LIKE THAT. i don't really care if jaded bitter assholes are like "it's pandering" "its ugly" fuck OFF it's NOT! i don't care how disconnected from your feelings you are, but the first time i saw an intersex flag in PUBLIC, i cried. it was on a progress pride flag. i was in an airport. and then i saw another in a grocery store. and then i started seeing them all over town.

second of all, i am so sick of queer people focusing on aesthetics over function. this attitude has gotten out of hand and honestly it feels like its a lot of white queers who don't understand how important flags are for representation and signaling safety and solidarity and how they're not just a bunch of pretty colors to look at. each part has meaning. this is just the "tooth paste gay flag" discourse bullshit all over again. the stone cold truth is that some people literally fucking HATE it when they see people they don't like gain visibility. these are people who fucking hate intersex and trans people and queer people of color and are so fucking angry that we're daring to occupy space, and making their precious flag 'gaudy' and 'ugly'. also white queers love to bitch about how the brown and black stripes are "UGLY", do i really have to say anything here?

the philadelphia pride flag is a flag made by queers of color living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a historically largely black city, to be explicitly inclusive of black, brown and all queers of color. black queers in philly were the first ones to add black and brown stripes to the traditional rainbow flag. the creator of the progress pride flag took notes from this and decided to honor that and carry it over, as they felt leaving out those stripes would be a slap in the face. and they're right, it would be a slap in the face- it IS a slap in the face! the philly pride flag wasn't made so what white and racist queers can sit here and bitch about how it's "pandering" or "trying to include too many people". this shit was made by and for people of color. this behavior is so fucking disrespectful and racist

stop fucking fighting over flags. queer flags aren't here to be "aesthetic" or "pretty"- they're here to serve a purpose. to give people a banner to unite under to find community, love, partnership, friendship, safety, and a space to talk and organize. it's so that you can easily recognize that someone else is part of the same family as you. it's not there to be pretty, it's there to be visually striking, and to instantly convey a message. the progress pride flag WORKS because it contains several pride flags and grabs your attention. maybe you're intersex but have never seen other pride flags before. maybe you've never seen the intersex flag before but have seen the trans and rainbow flags before. it will convey the same message, but now with a greater message which is to explicitly say "we want to include everyone".

if you don't like the progress pride flag:

it was not made for you, and you don't have to use it.

thanks for taking the time to send this i really appreciate your thoughts. people have got to stop manufacturing discourse because they want to sound smart. i have no way to put it other than some people literally just cannot form or articulate a point. and that's fine. that's okay. but some will still try anyway and the argument just falls flat. if you encounter talk like that where they don't really have a lot of ground to dislike it other than personal opinion, it's all hot air and has nothing to do with the matter at hand, but rather, their feelings.

[our-aspec-experience]

being asensual is a funny thing. whole time i thought i was romance-repulsed because for many alloros, sensual attraction goes along with romantic attraction- kissing, cuddling, embracing, touching- and that was a lot of romantic content i saw. like, in fanarts, i often see people kissing or cuddling. i found it all repulsive, and so i then thought i was romance-repulsed for a while because romantic content always came with sensual content as well. turned out i did like romantic content. i liked it when my ships were in a romantic relationship and they went on dates and loved each other. i just hated the idea of sensual stuff.

and then i actually considered the idea that Hmm. I might be on the asensual spectrum. What a surprise.

[dreamythism]

┈ ┈ ✦ O1 : IMPURNALCRAVEIC⠀┈⠀A Gender that is related to yearning for impurity & unholiness, like a being who wishes to be cruel & infernal.

┈ ┈⠀OO⠀:⠀Coined by Comet · · 🌙💤

┈⠀✦ for @lovesse 's { coining event. }

┈⠀✦ no spoons for IDs, providing them would be appreciated.

[PT: impurnalcraveic, a gender that is related to yearning for impurity and unholiness, like a being who wishes to be cruel and infernal. coined by comet and made for lovesse's coining event. end PT]

[vivalaems]

Bats as a species have some of the highest rates of homosexuality compared to other mammals

This could be why vampires are gay as fuck

In other words

[chemicalarospec]

Some intersex people genuinely don't want to be included but the majority of us want to be. It's actually really difficult to be in queer spaces that consistently enforce sex binaries, never use the updated progress flag with us, and never have intersex flags.

Often the idea that we don't want to be included comes from intersexists who want us to remain as "disorders of sexual development" (outdated offensive term). It's unfortunate that this idea permeates the queer community so much.

You can see photos from this intersex organization using the pride flag, if you need more than an anon's word. https://interactadvocates.org/#

Thanks for the information!

I didn't know "disorders of sex development" was considered outdated and offensive, I thought it was actually a modern (more formal?) alternative to "intersex". Unless that was "differences of sex development"? (I almost tagged it on the original post but I wasn't sure what the term was.) Ah, I found more information on the link (x). Thanks for the website, very helpful!

This subpage is a great source on intersex people wanting to be included! It's a bit more ambivalent than I expected - combined with this anon's word and my previous impressions it seems like there are still a significant amount of intersex people who don't want to be a part of the queer community, but the ones who do want to be included would much prefer the queer community open its arms. So it seems to me the best course is to do so and the intersex people who want to can individually distance themselves (my impression is most people of that group more want to be personally distanced than think 'I' should never be a part of 'LGBTQA') and only partake in intersex communities.

We recommend adding intersex to your organization’s LGBTQIA+ acronym only once you have intersex leadership, consultation and/or resources. Intersex people have very specific needs, just like each letter of the acronym.

This line in particular stood out to me because they only provide guidance for what organizations should do... I feel like most times when the decision is being made whether or not to use the intersex progress flag, it's individuals and small groups like my GSA making posts, selling merch, decorating a space, etc. that aren't serving any needs besides community for anyone... I guess I already came to the conclusion to include by default though? (Honestly this page feels just barely strong enough for me to send to anyone if this question comes up in the future, so if anyone has any more sources do send in more anons!)

Honestly I was hoping for something like "our survey of as many intersex forums/organizations/people as possible found that 80% of intersex people want to be included in 'LGBTQIA', pride events/orgs, and the progress pride flag" --that this had been "laid to rest" and I could just tell my friend straight "no, intersex people want to be included now"-- , but of course I shouldn't expect things to be too simple haha, people & groups are nuanced and nuance comes in the form of caveats. At least I feel much more informed now!

[arcadequeerz]

I just do not give a single shit about lg-bt-q disc-ourse anymore.

[scobbe]

I just read an article yesterday about “nones” - people who claim no religious affiliation on demographic surveys - and how they are also, for the most part, those in most need of community with the fewest resources for finding and building community (less higher education, lower wages, etc.) One such ‘none’ was interviewed for the article and said they would be interested in a church community but couldn’t find one that was truly welcoming and inclusive of LGBT people.

And the problem is, most of the churches who are truly welcoming and inclusive of LGBT people are also extremely paranoid about promoting themselves because they do not want to be seen as evangelical — you know, those churches who do NOT welcome LGBT people. And who try to “convert” anyone who passes by.

It’s a terrible catch-22. Someone is more likely to find a welcoming community at their grandmother’s quiet little hometown Presbyterian or Episcopal church than the youthful noise and vigor of the praise-band-advertising mega church just established off the highway. And the sweet little welcoming churches are fading away. Because everyone is either going to the mega churches or thinking they are the face of Christianity and out to get them when most of the time their theology is so bad it shouldn’t even be allowed.

Like not to go all Spanish Inquisition but just the rejection of certain people or condemning certain people to hell is bad theology. Not to mention the whole converting people thing. Converting people is God’s work, not ours.

[simplydnp]

fuck

[nintendont2502]

Keep seeing videos of all the big cons over East and like... man. Why did I have to live in the state that has fucking nothing

Don't get me wrong I *love* the small local cons we have here they're so well run, they're really in touch with the local community (*especially* the creative- they're all focused mainly on the artists and local performers and idols and game devs (which could be me soon - id kill to show a game at a local con) and shit which is great) and they arent overcrowded but. God the vibes of PaxAus or Oz Comic Con (the over east versions, not WAs (aka one of the worst cons we get here)) or the fur cons over there is just,,, it's something I *need* to see. There's so many people! It's so fucking huge and the vibes are *incredible* and god I need to move over east or ill die. Actually.

[autismking]

if you use the fucking toothpaste mlm flag im going to punch you in the nads use the fucking rainbow flag. the rainbow flag is for fags. jesus christ

[lgbtqstuff-va4]

When pride events will literally have flag merch for allies instead of anything for aromantics 😐

[sol-draws-sometimes]

No because the way it baffles me when I see TERF Lesbians or Binary Trans people shitting on non-binary/gnc trans people, or gay people shitting on aspec people. That’s not even getting into ALL the discourse that happens around labels, and their meanings, who gets to use them, etc. Yes, these identities are their own separate things, but, there is so much overlap in between ALL the identities, and lgbtphobic people DON’T CARE. Even if they call you “one of the good ones” right now, they WILL turn their backs on you later. When other queer people attack different identities, they don’t see how they’ll hurt themselves in confusion down the line. Stop licking the boots of your own oppressor just because it provides the illusion of safety from them, because once they're done dealing with the people you blamed as “the ones that make us look bad,” they’ll turn their eyes RIGHT BACK TO YOU.

you have to understand that there is an overlap between drag queens and trans women and between trans women and cis lesbians and between lesbians and drag kings and between drag kings and trans men and between trans men and cis gay men and between gay men and drag queens and between lesbians and bisexual women and between gay men and bisexual men and between lesbians and asexual women and between gay men and asexual men and between all sexualities and nonbinary people and between butches and transmascs and between binary trans people and genserqueer people.

basically what I'm saying is that we're all family. there aren't clear divides or walls that separate us. and that's the point. being easily separated into perfect neat little boxes is exactly what queerphobic people want. don't let your oppressers trick you into thinking your family is your enemy.

[blurred-cat]

my friend made a very good point. the 2SLBGBTQAI+ community has a lot of artists in it. lots of creative people. lots of designers of things. but all of our flags are some combination of Colored Bars. no extra symbols for the most part. no extra designs. just. bars. some bars. what the fuck?

[babybluebanshee]

So I finally got my water heater replaced after more than half a year of it leaking and nearly destroying my floor, but that's not the story. The story is of the handyman that installed it.

Dude's name is Chris, and he's your typically midwestern schlub - friendly, apologizes too much, really likes the Cardinals, maybe a little younger than my parents. Hella nice tho, gets the heater installed quickly, and even offers to fix the floorboards it warped (after nearly tripping over the hump it made in the floor twice). Overall, a stress-free experience.

Then, as he's gathering up his tools - "So, I noticed your, uh, banner. Over your bed."*

*(The closet where my water heater is is located in my bedroom because I live in a mobile home, dude wasn't just wandering creepily into my bedroom)

He's referring to a giant pride flag that's hanging over my bed, with the words "Sounds gay, I'm in"

My anxiety spikes instantaneously, thinking oh christ I'm about to get hatecrimed or at least microaggressioned.

But then he says "Yeah, my daughter is gay, and I was wondering, like...where do you guys, ya know, meet up?"

What.

"Because she met her most recent girlfriend when she was in jail, and I keep asking why she doesn't just find a nice lesbian librarian or something and she said 'dad I know they're out there, I just don't know where'. So...like...where do you?"

So I ended up confessing to this nice man who installed my water heater that I don't know of any real gay culture in our mostly Baptist Missouri town of about 18,000 that routinely freaks out over pride displays in the library (I'm sure it exists but I'm lazy and haven't gone looking for it). My girlfriend lives in an area with a rather bustling gay community (we just did a face painting booth for their pride festival a few weeks ago), so maybe have her go out there with some friends, and also a lot of queers I know play dnd so maybe find a nice group of them and network. I then apologized that I wasn't more helpful in getting his daughter settled with a nice, wholesome dyke.

On the plus side, he was not deterred at all, and seemed to be very interested in the fact dnd was so popular amongst the el gee bee tees. I told him the names of some dms I know and told him to go to town. I do not know if the names will be given to his daughter or hoarded for himself so he can join a group and play like he did when he was a teenager and not be called satanic for it.

He's coming to fix my floor next week.

[eowyn-igneelcheshire]

Reblog this, spread the word

For anyone who is unaware, MAP means "minor attracted person" though this is nothing but a false name Pedophiles use in attempt to weasel their way into the Queer community. If you see anyone using this flag, block them and report them if you can.

Edit: I've seen a lot of people mention this so I'd like to state it here as well so more people can see it. 1) DO NOT REFER TO PEDOPHILES AS "MAPS". The only reason I used it here was to make people aware of what it means in this context. Children are unfortunately extremely likely to run into pedophiles on the internet (I myself was contacted by several back when I was still a minor, some before I even knew what "map" flags were). Some- not all, but some- are very open about being pedophiles, and of the ones who are open about it, most hide themselves behind the title "Minor Attracted Person" and use the "pride" flags they and 4chan users create. I have also run into these kinds of pedophiles on the internet and I only knew that they weren't safe and I needed to block them because I knew about the "map" thing and I recognized some of their flags. Actually using it when talking about pedophiles does nothing but help them hide and it also hurts the animation community. Which brings me to point 2) the term "MAP" in animation is an acronym for "Multi Animator Project". If you see an animation video with MAP in the title it simply means that the video was made in a collaboration between several animators, it is in no way related to pedophiles or pedophilia. We need to stop calling pedophiles MAPs both to stop giving them an "innocent" sounding title and to stop hurting the animators who are simply trying to keep their titles short and simple.

(where I got this image: https://pin.it/6SgjdcX)

@sanityshorror @sobertober6969 thought you two would want to share this with your followers