#fight to save transgender lives

[christinareedy-love]

I'm tired of trans people and kids being used as political pawns in a genocidal war.

This isn't a game.

Trans people aren't going to just die quietly to make conservative nut jobs more comfortable. Trans kids aren't disposable. Infact, neither are trans people. Or kids.

Republikkkans need you uneducated, dumb, & ignorant, so they can keep molesting and murdering your kids.

Protect your kids, family, & friends from nazi/ republikkkans, and protect trans people & kids from the conservative control freaks who only want to suppress you.

Protect your right to vote & vote to protect trans people from genocide.

[garak]

i miss mizuki but i will not miss arguing about mizukis gender it felt like being a danganronpa fan all over again

the wars i used to fight on twitter for these women...

[reasonsforhope]

"Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Wednesday protecting the rights of LGBTQ people from Minnesota and other states to receive gender affirming health care, as he slammed the tide of other states rolling back transgender rights.

“We want every Minnesotan to grow up feeling safe, valued, protected, celebrated, and free to exist as their authentic versions of themselves,” Walz said. “Protecting and supporting access to gender affirming health care is essential to being a welcoming and supportive state.” ...

Walz’s executive order parallels legislation awaiting a floor vote in the state House to make Minnesota a “trans refuge state” by protecting trans people, families and care providers from a range of legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota for gender affirming care, which includes a wide range of social and medical interventions.

While sponsors said they’re optimistic about passage in the coming weeks, the governor said the accelerating trends against trans rights in other states made it urgent for him to impose protections immediately.

The bill is authored by Democratic Rep. Leigh Finke, of St. Paul, Minnesota’s first openly transgender legislator. It would prohibit the state from enforcing court orders or child protection laws from other states if they interfere with a person’s right to seek gender affirming care in Minnesota.

The importance of the governor’s order to LGBTQ people across the nation can’t be overstated, she said.

“The lives of trans and gender expansive people this nation are under attack,” Finke said. “There is a full-scale movement in this nation against trans, nonbinary, two-spirit and gender expansive adults and children that seeks to make our community disappear.”

A separate bill banning so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ children and vulnerable adults won approval in the Minnesota House last month and is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate."

-via PBS Newshour, 3/8/23

[divorcedfiddleford]

stanley pines really is one of the characters of all time. he's a gemini and an identical twin but knowing this is a major spoiler for the show. he punched a pterodactyl in the face. he wore groucho marx glasses to his b'nei mitzvah. he invented imposter syndrome. he's a massive jerk. he's transgender and a misogynist. he scares children for fun and actively seeks out reasons to fight them. he's from new jersey. his adhd and autism are battling to the death. he has a tattoo but he doesn't have a tattoo. he punched his brother in the face. he's been to jail in three different countries. he dropped out of high school only to spend 30 years teaching himself nuclear physics and quantum mechanics. he's divorced. he hired a gamer as a handyman 10 years ago and the gamer is kind of his son now. he lives off of brown meat, soda, liquor, bad puns, and cigars. he's a professional con artist. he's a terrible liar. he banished his brother to the nether realm for decades, but like, it was an accident. his dad kicked him out of home. he regularly commits massive tax fraud. he needs dentures by the age of 60. his niece will tell you he has a heart of gold. his nephew will say it's probably pyrite. he will hold on to a grudge until it kills him. no one can hate him more than he already hates himself. he saved the world by lying. he's bi and no one wants him, but that's okay because he gets sick of them all the morning after anyway. he's living out his dreams on a boat but realistically he's gonna get seasick and want to go home in less than a year. he killed the devil by punching him in the face. he's stealing your wallet right now

[ashleymilesphil]

Honoring Intersex Awareness Day: A Call to Support LGBTIQ Refugees in East Africa 🌍🌈

Today, October 26, we honor Intersex Awareness Day—a day dedicated to recognizing and supporting the intersex community around the world. For many, it's a day of visibility and celebration, but here in East Africa, for those of us living as LGBTIQ refugees, it's a day that highlights the harsh reality of our lives.

As a transgender queer refugee and a member of the broader LGBTIQ community, I’ve seen firsthand the struggles that intersex refugees face. We are often forced to flee our homes, escaping violence and persecution, only to find ourselves living in camps that offer little protection or acceptance. Many of us have endured a lifetime of discrimination, not just for our gender or sexuality, but for the simple fact of being who we are.

We Face Violence, Isolation, and Starvation

Here in the refugee camps, resources are scarce, and discrimination follows us even after we’ve fled our home countries. We lack access to basic needs like food, clean water, medical care, and safe housing. Medical treatment, especially for intersex and transgender individuals, is nearly impossible to get. Our LGBTIQ community faces daily harassment, violence, and the constant threat of starvation. We are isolated and often forgotten—our stories left unheard by the rest of the world.

A Call to the Queer World for Solidarity

On this Intersex Awareness Day, I’m reaching out to the global queer community with a plea: We need your help. As fellow members of the LGBTIQ family, I ask you to stand with us, amplify our voices, and bring awareness to the urgent situation we face. Your support can make a difference—whether it’s sharing our stories, advocating for our rights, or donating to help meet our basic needs.

How You Can Help

1. Amplify Our Stories: Share our struggles on social media, talk about the hardships LGBTIQ refugees face in East Africa, and help break the silence that surrounds us.

2. Donate: If you’re able, please consider contributing to our GoFundMe campaign, where every donation helps us secure food, clean water, medical care, and safer shelter. Every contribution, no matter how small, can save a life.⬇️🙏‼️

3. Advocate: Call for better protection of LGBTIQ refugees worldwide, and urge your local representatives and organizations to offer support and resources to those of us who have been forced to live in exile.

Our journey is a difficult one, and we can't make it through without the support of the queer community worldwide. You can be our lifeline, helping us survive and continue to fight for our right to exist in a world that too often tries to silence us.

Thank You for Standing with Us

We are grateful for every bit of support, solidarity, and care that you can offer. Together, we can ensure that no LGBTIQ refugee is left behind, and that our voices are heard—loud and clear—on this Intersex Awareness Day and beyond.

With deep gratitude,

AshleymilesPhil

[onedeadkitty]

Mizus Gender

He/him they/them she/her pronouns for Mizu

I know the writers of the show wrote blue eye samurai with Mizu as a woman disguised as a man in a way similar ish to Mulan but uh

They accidentally made it deeper than that ??

If you removed like 2 lines of dialogue in episode 5 you could even make an argument for trans masc Mizu. Or at the least gender queer.

Being transgender is not a concept in this time period. But trust. People have always wanted to be other genders, probably for the entirety of human history. And how someone would go about being trans in a world with no true understanding of the concept, might be similar to what Mizu IS DOING RIGHT NOW.

Living as a man. PERMANENTLY. Not temporarily to achieve some near goal like Mulan and the many other stories with this concept. Mizu has lived as a man nearly their entire life and no intention to ever live as a woman in the future.

Mizu admires their freshly binded chest in the mirror as a teen.

When alone Mizu refers to himself as a man.

When alone with Ringo, (someone who knows the secret) Ringo also refers to Mizu as a man.

Mizu threatens to straight kill Ringo at the the very use of the word “girl”.

When, and ONLY when seeing 2 MEN kiss does he think of Taigen.

Not to mention madame Kajis indelicate insinuation of gay sex to Mizu, something I believe wasn’t for no reason. OR Madams iconic line “you are more man than ANY come through my door” (I’m convinced she has an idea of Mizus true sex but doesn’t care to accuse or call them out for it)

They HAD lived as a woman in the past. Only for about a year, and they did it to get married for her mothers sake. To save her from a life of prostitution. She was able to be happy, because it IS POSSIBLE to be happy while not presenting how you like. It’s a strain and some can never be happy doing so but it’s possible and people do it all the time to make their lives easier or to keep the peace with family or for many other reasons.

Episode 5 gave HUGE VIBES of going back into the closet when living with your parents or just visiting. And Mizu looked SO uncomfortable and awkward in woman’s clothing and doing “wife things” (partly cause they have never done that before) and maybe it was my own projecting but I felt so uncomfortable FOR Mizu.

These things don’t necessarily mean being a transgender man specifically. Gender is actually really complicated and has ALOT to do with what society deems it.

Mizu is a masculine person. Being what Japan wants women to be isn’t in line with what Mizu is. A violent, practical, stoic, cold, masculine, confident and capable warrior.

dressing up as a woman with the makeup ONLY to try and make her husband happy. She didn’t WANT to. “To soften her husbands heart, the bride… danced” performed femininity FOR HIM. Only for Mikio to betray her for, in his eyes, being more masculine than him, by beating him in a physical fight.

Mizu is both the ronin and the bride. Mizu will be whatever they need to in order to achieve their owed deaths. They HAVE to be a man to get their revenge but that doesn’t mean Mizu WANTS to be a woman. (To be fair who WOULD in that time but I digress) and it doesn’t mean they WANT to be a man. They WANT their revenge. Everything is secondary to that.

Mizu is so different from other characters…

I grew up in a kinda misogynistic place and my mom really didn’t let me “do boy stuff” or dress masculine in any sense until my late teens. I my self don’t know if I can even call myself Trans. But I’m masculine, I like looking like a man and dressing as one but I don’t WANT to be a man necessarily. But I don’t WANT to be a woman. I feel like we as a society put to much distinction between the two and the people who don’t fit either side get left out at times.

Mizu is such a relatable character to me, like no other characters complicated feelings about their own sex and gender have ever come close.

They are for those who don’t have a strong sense of their own gender. Especially those who are biologically female and hesitant to lean into their sex because of the societal baggage.

Once people realize that how you dress, how you act, and what you do in reality have nothing to do with your bio sex and everything with what society has forced people to do based on factors out of our control is the day we can finally stop having these conversations.

Do what you want, gender is fake.

But Mizu is forever 🫶

[talisidekick]

Print out little signs, or draw them by hand and leave them places. Just tape up some place, or leave little folded standing signs with messages like

"Trans Lives Matter",

"Trans Rights are Human Rights",

"We Don't Deserve Erasure",

"Protect Trans Kids",

"I should be allowed to exist in public!",

"A trans person sat here and no one got hurt"

and anything else that you can positively stick the trans flag behind.

Avoid using stickers because those can get you in trouble if they're hard to remove, ie, don't slap them on business windows because that can be seen as vandalism. We don't want to anger people or remove a business owners consent to put something like that up themselves.

But like ... maybe if you have a cafe or pet store or book store you like visiting that has like ... a pride flag, bring buttons by if you can afford it and ask if they'll put them out for others to take for free. Buy pink, blue, and white post-it notes or origami paper and make little hearts or things to stick places.

The end goal is

Be Seen.

Don't let people think the issues they see on TV end on TV. Show that we're there, that we need their help. If you want to go as far as to make flash cards with trans positivity or slogans like "We need allies like you!" or "Stop the hate." anything at all to get people interested and involved. Heck: "Your voice matters to us." is a powerful statement that puts ownership on the reader, they now matter!

Better yet, make your own little cards through Staples or another Business Card printing shop.

Just put a trans flag in the background, maybe a heart or the transgender symbol on it, and just ... leave them places. Write little facts on the back, transgender history, anything. I mean, link them to the Gender Dysphoria Bible or even like ... helpful tips for internet safety, or cool easy DIY tips. It doesn't have to just be about trans positivity on the cards, it could just be you as a trans person or an ally being helpful on our behalf. If you reach out to help people, they'll stop and think twice. Little helpful tip info cards "from a trans ally" or "from your local trans <gender>" are going to turn heads because you're doing something nice without asking for anything in return.

It gets us noticed, gets people thinking. That's the point: let them see the other side of the issue and make their own opinions. We're not trying to convert, just draw attention and let people decide for themselves.

I had a friend come to me today and ask me, "How do I fight against the genocide" (of trans people)

And it made me realize that I didn't know. Because sure, we're all pissed and scared, but fighting something this big seems impossible.

So I guess the only answer I have is

Where you can.

Find a way, ANY way, to resist.

Make little signs to leave in places to educate the masses about what we are facing

Find a local protest

Tell everyone you know. Don't you EVER shut up about it, because freedom will die in silence.

This is how you fight a fascist, not in the streets or on the internet, but in the minds of the people they need to convince that you are the enemy.

Do not let them into the heads of your friends, your family, your coworkers. Do not give them an inch.

Make sure everyone knows what they are. They are pure fucking evil, and the enemy of anyone who claims to be a supporter of any human rights at all.

Do not let them keep you quiet.

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - October 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles on Patreon!

1. Arctic ozone reaches record high in positive step for climate

“Above-average ozone levels continued to persist through September 2024. This is significant as, previously, spring has been associated with ozone depletion[….] The March 2024 ozone average peaked at 477 Dobson units (DU), which is 6 DU higher than the previous record in March 1979 and 60 DU higher than the average for the study period (1979 to 2023).”

2. Why Massachusetts loves Nibi the beaver and [won the fight] to keep her out of the wild

“Nibi, now 2 years old, is roughly the age when wild beavers embark on their journey to find a mate and build a home. [… But] if Nibi is released in October, she would be ill-prepared for the winter[…. The governor has] issued a permit for Nibi to remain at a wildlife rescue as an educational beaver and inspire folks to protect our natural world."”

3. In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars

“Residents of the villages around Lambokely manage the nursery and market garden crops. “Local communities receive training in agroecology and agroforestry, benefit from improved soil fertility, and earn additional income from intercropping in the agroforestry plots. In addition, community members are incentivized to participate in tree-planting activities.””

4. Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana Breaks Ground on $6.4 Million Affordable Housing Project

“The project’s first phase will create three-bedroom homes designed for multiple purposes, including elderly housing, emergency shelter, and support for displaced and low-income Tribal citizens. These homes will be built to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, ensuring accessibility for all.”

5. Scientists say painting roofs this colour could save lives: How does it keep cities cool?

“[Researchers] found that cool, light-coloured roofs installed across all of London’s roofs could have cooled the city by around 0.8C [in 2018]. [… Solar panels] could have cooled the city by around 0.3C, preventing the deaths of 96 people [… while generating] more than half the energy [used by] London during the entire year of 2018.”

6. Travis County [TX] opens center to help keep people experiencing a mental health crisis out of jail

“The walk-in urgent care facility is open 24/7 and provides immediate support for people experiencing mental health crises. From there, some patients may be referred to a residential facility[… where] patients will be able to stay for up to 90 days[….] Jailed individuals may also work with their legal teams to coordinate admission to the facility.”

7. Spain’s first transgender soccer team makes debut in regional men’s league

“A soccer team consisting entirely of transgender men has[…] become the first all-trans squad to achieve federated status in Europe. […] Spain passed a pioneering trans rights bill last year designed to make it easier to change a person’s legal gender identity. […] Players may also choose to use a name that’s different from their legal one[….]”

8. Green Status of Species: Pushing Conservation Ambitions Beyond Preventing Extinction

“[… T]he Green Status of Species [is] a new part of Red List assessments that helps tell “a species’ full conservation story.” […] In addition to quantifying species recovery, the Green Status of Species […] will help to better inform future conservation actions by shedding light on which past actions have contributed most to species recovery.”

9. Hell froze over in Texas – the state will connect to the US grid for the first time via a fed grant

“[The projects will] boost grid reliability, lower energy costs, and support the clean energy transition. […] They’ll also generate nearly 9,000 jobs, supporting local economies[…. In particular, the Texas portion is] designed to prevent outages like the ones during Winter Storm Uri that hit Texas hard in 2021.”

10. Pine martens released to be reintroduced to Devon

“Work to release 15 pine martens into woods across Dartmoor has been completed[….] The eight females and seven males have all been fitted with a radio collars to allow their movements to be tracked. […] They were kept in soft-release pens for three days to get them used to their surroundings before being allowed to run wild, staff said.”

September 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[mementomoriwithacherryontop]

This article about Dead Boy Detectives and Netflix's stewardship of LGBTQ+ shows is my Roman Empire

I'm linking the article below, and it's one of the best analysis' out there about both the significance of Dead Boy Detectives' being cancelled, but also the bigger picture of why this is so significant to both fans and the LGBTQ+ community at large. Please read (and share!) the article, Why we need more queer art, not less-the case of Dead Boy Detectives, written by Karla Elliott.

A damning excerpt, and article linked below:

"Netflix has long tried to market itself to audiences just like this as an alternative to more traditional media companies. Yet its cancellation of Dead Boy Detectives is another in a long line of queer shows and shows with queer storylines – such as Sense8, Julie and the Phantoms, and Shadow and Bone – to be axed by the company before their time.

The showrunner of Warrior Nun, another of Netflix’s prematurely cancelled shows, even revealed that Netflix pushed back against the writers developing a queer romance for the show’s second season.

Meanwhile, the streaming service continues to platform performers such as Dave Chappelle, who used his latest Netflix special (his seventh on the streaming service) to double down on jokes made about the queer community, particularly targeting transgender folk.

It seems, then, that companies such as Netflix are still largely only interested in token queer representation, and only if and when it aligns with ever-shifting profit goalposts."

She goes on to talk about the crew and fans rallying around Dead Boy Detectives and taking a grassroots approach to save this show. She links IG and Twitter posts (it'll always be Twitter, to me), and she includes The Petition in her article.

She also accurately addresses the NG elephant in the room, pointing to his limited involvement in the show and how Dead Boy Detective fans have "resolutely condemned his alleged actions and stood with the women speaking out against him. Their outrage perfectly aligns with the core lessons of the show, which counters harmful gendered stereotypes and advocates for men to take responsibility for their actions, hold one another accountable, process anger, and open up to feelings like love and empathy."

She concludes, and I must admit, this brought a tear to my jaded 'lil heart, that "[t]hrough its community-building, energy, and activism, the fanbase is proving to be the living embodiment of the lessons Dead Boy Detectives has to teach us about solidarity, love and care."

So, go us. Keep at it. Don't loose hope. And please check out this article. I gave you a sneak peak, but it's chalk full of really good information and I promise you'll be glad you read it.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - March 13, 2023

🐝 - Did you hear about the honeybee vaccine? It's creating quite the buzz! But seriously, it's a major breakthrough in the fight against American foulbrood and could save billions of bees.

1. Transgender health care is now protected in Minnesota

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order protecting and supporting access to gender-affirming health care for LGBTQ people in the state, amidst Republican-backed efforts across the country to limit transgender health care. The order upholds the essential values of One Minnesota where all people, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community, are safe, celebrated, and able to live lives full of dignity and joy.

Numerous medical organizations have said that access to gender-affirming care is essential to the health and wellness of gender diverse people, while states like Tennessee, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Florida have passed policies or laws restricting transgender health care.

2. First vaccine for honeybees could save billions

The US government has approved the world's first honeybee vaccine to fight against American foulbrood, a bacterial disease that destroys bee colonies vital for crop pollination.

Developed by biotech company Dalan Animal Health, the vaccine integrates some of the foulbrood bacteria into royal jelly, which is then fed to the queen by the worker bees, resulting in the growing bee larvae developing immunity to foulbrood. The vaccine aims to limit the damage caused by the infectious disease, for which there is currently no cure, and promote the development of vaccines for other diseases affecting bees.

3. Teens rescued after days stranded in California snowstorm: "We were already convinced we were going to die"

The recent snowstorms in California have resulted in dangerous conditions for hikers and residents in mountain communities. Two teenage hikers were rescued by the San Bernardino County sheriff's department after getting lost in the mountains for 10 days.

The boys were well-prepared for the hike but were not prepared for the massive amounts of snow that followed. They were lucky to survive, suffering from hypothermia and having to huddle together for three nights to stay warm.

Yosemite National Park has had to be closed indefinitely due to the excessive snowfall.

4. La Niña, which worsens Atlantic hurricanes and Western droughts, is gone

The La Nina weather phenomenon, which increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought, has ended after three years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's usually good news for the United States and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said.

The globe is now in what's considered a "neutral" condition.

5. Where there's gender equality, people tend to live longer

Both women and men are likely to live longer when a country makes strides towards gender equality, according to a new global study that authors believe to be the first of its kind.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health this week. It adds to a growing body of research showing that advances in women's rights benefit everyone. "Globally, greater gender equality is associated with longer [life expectancy] for both women and men and a widening of the gender gap in [life expectancy]," they conclude.

6. New data shows 1 in 7 cars sold globally is an EV, and combustion engine car sales have decreased by 25% since 2017

Electric vehicles are the key technology to decarbonise road transport, a sector that accounts for 16% of global emissions. Compared with 2020, sales nearly doubled to 6.6 million (a sales share of nearly 9%), bringing the total number of electric cars on the road to 16.5 million.

Sales were highest in China, where they tripled relative to 2020 to 3.3 million after several years of relative stagnation, and in Europe, where they increased by two-thirds year-on-year to 2.3 million. Together, China and Europe accounted for more than 85% of global electric car sales in 2021

7. Lastly, watch this touching moment as rescued puppy gains trust in her new owners

By the way, this is my newly started YouTube channel. Subscribe for more wholesome videos :D

---

That's it for this week. If you liked this post you can support this newsletter with a small kofi donation:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Let's carry the positivity into next week and keep spreading the good news!

[transbookoftheday]

Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan

The last night of Claire Ryland's old life in the closet was pretty normal, aside from the alley fight with interdimensional monsters. Fortunately, the drummer of her favorite local band transformed into a magical girl and saved her.

Then Claire became a magical girl as well. Things got a little complicated after that.

Now Claire is juggling two new lives: living as a girl and as a member of Portland's super-secret supernatural defense squad, the hard-rocking magical girls known as … Magica Riot!

The story of a young transgender woman who's discovering herself at the same time she's learning how to be a magical girl, Magica Riot is an action-filled musical adventure inspired by classic magical girl anime, tokusatsu shows, and the vibe of the American Pacific Northwest. Featuring a cast of LGBTQ+ magical girls, mysterious monsters, and villains that are more than they appear to be, Magica Riot shows that finding your true self is the first step toward saving the world.

The debut work in the Maidensong Magica universe of magical girl stories!

[christinareedy-love]

Thank you for covering this. This is a big deal & we need to stop this trans genocide from succeeding. We need to protect & save trans lives.

💙💖🤍💖💙 🏳️‍⚧️

[oro-junestar]

To all my trans friends

To all my trans friends who are feeling hopeless... To all my trans friends who have been beaten, ridiculed, and forced back into the closet... To all my trans friends who have been told to 41% themselves... To all my trans friends who have grown popular and faced inevitable death threats, bomb threats, and harassment... To all my trans friends who don't pass and are frequently misgendered... To all my trans friends who DO pass and are frequently misgendered... To all my trans friends who are intersex, whose parents and doctors assigned them the wrong sex and tried to "fix" them... To all my trans friends who have been called "trans-trenders"... To all my trans friends who have been attacked by gatekeepers because they "aren't trans enough", or "are making a mockery of real issues"... To all my trans friends who don't have the resources or support to transition... To all my trans friends who have been legislated away by their home states or countries... To all my trans friends who have been told your gender doesn't exist and is entirely delusion... To all my trans friends whose families and communities have disowned them... To all my trans friends who are often given dirty looks and snarky remarks... To all my trans friends who have been told they're not allowed in their rightful space... To all my trans friends who have been filmed and photographed without their consent... To all my trans friends who have been used as a tool to spread right-wing lies... To all my trans friends who have been denied life-saving medical treatment... To all my trans friends who feel ashamed, unsafe, and isolated in their own community... To all my trans friends who are living relatively comfortably but who often hear about the suffering of other trans friends... To all my trans friends who have been impacted by the harm done to or death of another trans friend... To all my trans friends who have cis friends or family who just don't understand... To all my trans friends whose struggle is so bad, it makes them feel physically ill... To all my trans friends who feel unwanted, who are sick of life and want to escape it all... To all my trans friends who have been denied their dreams... To all my trans friends whose feelings are hard to put into words... To all my trans friends who feel a cold, heavy weight in their heart... To all my trans friends everywhere around the world... You are not alone. Keep speaking your voice; someone, somewhere, will hear you. Keep fighting for your rights, and I will be right there fighting by your side. I would give my own life if it meant all of you could live safely and happily. It's not that easy, though, so I will keep living to shine as a beacon of hope. Our right to exist peacefully is backed by history, scientific and academic consensus, the ever-changing field of culture and linguistics, by our self-evident rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and by God's love for all humans equally. According to every philosophy they try to weaponize against us, we are correct. We are on the side of truth, no matter how many hypocrites call us delusional or selfish. Love wins. Love always wins. Love is the fundamental value of the transgender journey; loving yourself, loving your community, and loving everything that is dear to you drives you to listen to your heart and achieve your true self. And I love you for that, so much. You are much braver, stronger, and more beautiful than you realize. You've been through so much, fought so hard, and I'm so proud of you. Keep being you, always.

[d3nt4l-d4m4g3]

The issue is not with people who believe themselves to be transgender. Who are given the choices that they believe will free them from various constant, chronic miseries. 

The issue is that some choices should not exist. This has been demonstrated again and again in our history. Once the decision to lobotomize one’s free-spirited daughter was a sensible and accessible one; once it was sensible to dose a colicky baby with whiskey; once it was common to take heroin for a cough, laudanum for a high-strung temperament, cocaine for depression. 

At least two patients not long ago, afflicted only by the mighty conviction they should have been born without a limb, were graciously permitted to have these heathy appendages surgically removed. 

And let me remind you that these patients were grateful, and may go to their graves grateful for the disabilities they asked for and received. 

Such choices summon an ill-humored genie, grab greedy fingers round the monkey’s paw. Such choices disguise the cost of a reckless wish, often forever to the wisher in their lifetime. Such choices come with a binding understanding on the condition that one be willfully opaque to, a fact which if one were to choose to accept and humble oneself before it, would bring the most awful of consequences.

To admit you were wrong would ruin you.

The people who believe they are transgender have every stake in this fight. If they accept that their choices were wrong, immoral, unjust, psychologically and mentally damaging, at cost of truth, genuity, sense, self, health, and life, their proceeding state would naturally be one of great shame and despair. At the harm they have caused and the lies they have told to themselves and others. Of the crushing farce of their lives, now shortened by unnecessary, gruesome, barbaric surgical and chemical altercations. Of the enormous sum of their own poisonous self-hatred, and the hatred of whatever differences they may possess by the world.

Those who perform these altercations: the genies, the sharp-toothed yellow-nailed monkeys, who offer the choices grandly and gluttonously, sleep well at night with bodies strong enough and hands deft enough to ruin all the bodies they touch. The victims smile, believing themselves saved. The monkeys smile, large sums on paper glowing in their rancid heads.  Many of these doctors, surgeons, so-called scientists believe themselves to be doing good in the world (Though some certainly only have a taste for power, money, and mutilation. The do-gooder has a secondhand sour unspoken knowledge, which is that if he is wrong he is a modern Mengele. What else do you call someone who meddles with the bodies of children, with the mentally compromised, with the most utterly desperate, who says goodnight to a whole person and good morning to a mutilated one with a smile? With a smile, with a smile.

Victims are annoying. They are. You don't want to look at them. They are self-involved, destructive, unreasonable as a long-caged animal. They are unnattractively pitiable because they cling to their sickness with the grip of someone hanging off a cliff. They are fickle, flaky, flagrantly inconsiderate of the families, friends and lovers they have alienated with the choices they have made. It is all too tempting to kick such a pathetic creature while it’s down, mocking it shivering in a cage of its own creation.

  But their choices should not have existed, their self-imposed cage should never have been imposed concretely by simpering false sympathizers. It is cruel and unproductive to blame a person who has been alienated, marked and mutilated by the esteemed healers of this savage society. A victim, victimized, naturally appears gnarled and unattractive, unpersonable because she has not been treated like a person; the perpetrator, clean-handed, immaculately white-coated, appears godlike. But don’t let that distract you from the true enemy. The enemy is not the choice maker, but the choice giver. 

[steel-type-connie]

Hi everyone. I’m Constance, a 31-year-old transgender American.

To all my friends and loved ones who reached out to me over the phone or gave me a hug at work today: thank you. 💜 it really meant the world to me.

I left work early today and spent most of the afternoon crying and sleeping. Now I’m ready to share some thoughts.

I’m not going to lie, I’m terrified. Terrified for the future of our country and the free world, for Ukraine and Gaza. Terrified of losing access to healthcare that IS ACTIVELY saving my life, terrified of becoming the victim of a hate crime in an increasingly violent and bigoted America, or of being made to choose between being forced back into the closet or being prosecuted as a sex offender for using the ladies’ room or wearing one of my famous dresses.

I’m also furious. Furious at the feckless, cowardly politicians who have enabled his malfeasance and corruption time and again. Furious at the millions of Democrats who stayed home or voted third-party in swing states. Furious at the millions of cruel, ignorant Americans who support him, and that we all have to deal with the ramifications of a new Trump regime for years, possibly an eternity. Furious that, god damn it, I’m a productive member of society just trying to better myself and live a normal goddamn life, and I shouldn’t have to worry about the federal fucking government coming after me.

But I’m still here.

I’m promising myself I’m not giving up, even when it’s really hard to keep going on.

I’ll close with this quote from Sam Gamgee:

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something… That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

[ninellecantpaint]

LISTEN. Listen.

I was born in Russia, a country whose democracy was virtually eliminated, not in 4 years, not in 5, but by gradually, slowly stripping people of their rights to speak out and leaving every institution rotten and corrupted. The entire time I've been alive, Putin has been in power. 24 years. I'm 18. Me and my mother wouldn't be able to escape now if she didn't have enough foresight to leave the country before things went to shit completely. Many times I've wondered what would I be had we stayed. "I'd probably kill myself, haha", that's what I often said. But now, I'm thinking of all the young people, of all the queer people, of all the good people who have to wake up to a hopeless landscape of fascism in front of them. How they still live. Live, though they can't speak out, not even on internet. Live, even though they can go to jail for wearing a rainbow bracelet. How I never thought about them enough, because "oh, it's not my country anymore!".Please. Promise me to be loud. Promise you'll fight like your life depends on this. Russians allowed this to happen because they had zero political consciousness after almost a century spent under soviet oppression. But you are supposed to be a country of freedom. Try to live up to the title. Bite and scratch if you have to in order to defend it. Because maybe one of these days some transgender kid from Novosibirsk will look at you and feel hope. Hope that some things in this world can be saved after all.