#hes very secure in his transgender issues

[princeloww]

happy late 20th to this show

[genderkoolaid]

On April 27, 2023, an armed security guard shot and killed a Black trans man named Banko Brown outside of a San Francisco Walgreens. Brown’s killing sparked outrage. But San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins decided not to charge the security guard who shot him, saying that he acted in self-defense. And just last Friday, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office announced that it supported that decision.  This announcement has crushed Banko Brown’s loved ones, including those who say that his killing was an example of the conditions that unhoused transgender people face in San Francisco. KQED reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez sits down with Brown’s chosen family, to discuss life as a homeless queer person in San Francisco, and Banko’s life before his death. [...]

Kazani Kalani Finao: [...] We just had amazing, great conversations. Just always sparring with each other, bouncing back with, like, fun ideas. He uses a bright, outgoing apartment. Conversation was always immaculate, always amazing. Of he was a visionary. The struggle not only brought us together, but like I was able to, like, really build a relation with him based on, like, his gifts. He was very creative, his swag, his drip, like he was a trendsetter to me. He’s definitely inspirational to me to like, you know, him, me younger to me, like I always share with him. Like, bro, you give me so much confidence, you give me so much courage for me to be me. He didn’t even know it. But again, he was just natural at that. Whatever I remember of him is his drips, sauce, smile, hugs, goofiness. [...]

Xavier Davenport: Banko never had a space of his own. Banko had been in and out of shelter, in and out of people’s homes, sometimes even some people’s own [SROs]. So let’s really break down what that really looks like when you are living in a one room space with another individual. You do not have privacy. Nine times out of ten, being a transmasculine identif[ied] person, especially being black, you have to render some type of services to stay there, whether it be sexual, whether it be drugs. So when we talk about black men and being fetishized, Banko dealt with a lot of that. And so those people would be the people to take him in. [...]

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez: And can we talk a little bit about Banko in terms of the safety? You know, obviously Banko went through the least safe thing you could imagine with the most terrible outcome you can imagine. What was Banko experiencing in terms of safety during this whole process? Xavier Davenport: Banko was actually experiencing a lot of issues with violence happening in some of the places that he was trying to stay at. Nobody’s perfect, you know, especially when we’re talking about community, right? People have all kinds of issues and trauma that they are that they’re trying to live through as well. I definitely know that there were a few times where, you know, he was upset from violent experiences that had taken place. And what we all do, right, we get upset, we want to do something about it. So, you know, really trying to calm him down to, like, see a different side of it, for him to just move through the trauma that he was experiencing. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez: Yeah. And I don’t know how much you all followed kind of the public discussion of what happened to Banko afterwards. A lot of what I heard was a kind of a questioning of like, what did [Banko]’s trans identity or black trans identity have to do with the shooting, especially when the security guard themselves was was black. I wonder if you could talk a bit about for people who don’t understand what does [Banko]’s black trans identity have to do with what brought him there that day and what happened? [...] Xavier Davenport: [...] What what that all has to do with is when you are a young, black, transmasculine identified person, people see that he walks in, he’s dark skinned, he has a hat on a t shirt, he has a little bit of a, like a goatee or, you know, something growing in. And as another black man or being another man, there is a fight for power for who is the man. [F]or Banko, you know, the thought process is, you look like a little boy or you’re trying to pretend to be a little boy. Because let’s be clear, Banko had not had, you know, top surgery. He had not been going through that part of of medical transitioning. So you have a masculine person with visible breast coming at you. You are going to now struggle for your manhood. I’m going to show you who’s boss is something that for people that are even lesbians who are more masculine looking, [t]here is a struggle between men and any form of masculinity that they can see to them isn’t necessarily real. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez: So it’s a it’s like a challenge. Xavier Davenport: It is a challenge. It very much is a challenge. I know this first experience. I have dealt with this my entire life. JuJu Pikes-Prince: And if I can just highlight that it’s true. And these are cases that’s not getting covered [...] of Black Trans Men getting killed. [...]

Xavier Davenport: [...] I would say what needs to change is the systems in how they construct homelessness. There needs to be shelters specific for transmasculine folks. There needs to be shelters for trans people, period. But trans men need their own space. There needs to be more black, trans masculine leaders. There’s nobody else that can speak about black transness except for black trans people. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez: And how about the joy? What is your joy look like right now? Xavier Davenport: My joy looks like, you know, the rest of the work that I do. The Bay Area Transmasculine calendar is doing a second premiere of a calendar that we started last year with a group of Transmasculine folks to continue to ensure that Transmasculine folks are seen and can receive joy in seeing and having representation of themselves in all bodies, in all forms of trans masculine bodies, and in all forms of trans masculine and different cultures and ethnicities. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez: That’s beautiful. JuJu Pikes-Prince: [F]iguring out the funding, figuring out where money can go to. I definitely believe that there should be more programs for black trans men, even from our community. My [femme queens, my dolls]. We need to serve our [kings], our [trans kings.] [Sorry], I’m getting emotional. And it’s because I’m thinking about the joy part. [L]iving and finding purpose. Picking up someone else’s purpose when they couldn’t find their purpose. And knowing that I’m here and I can also at least set some type of story for someone [...] and hopefully help another next person, next generation to continue to do this advocacy work.

[walrus150915]

Happy pride, Nimona fandom :3

I gotcha some sketches! Gotta place them in different parts of the post so that you read everything

It's not just drawings I got HEADCANONS for you too!

Off topic but I love Nimona's design SO MUCH it's so AMAZING TO DRAW AGHHH

So

⚧Nimona LGBTQ+ specific headcanons of mine🏳‍🌈

• I've made a conclusion that if queer flags exist in Nimona universe, as well as gay drag bars (so was confirmed in the artbook), then labels DO exist. As well as good old homophobia??? I suppose????

• Nimona doesn't have a specific label because she thinks they are sorta restrictive. Also she just doesn't need one lol, if somebody asked her about her gender she'd say "Nimona"

• She'd wear the heck out of a "protect trans kids" shirt she bought no she ain't feeding into the capitalist machine she stole it

• There was something between Nimona and Gloreth but Nimona can't exactly say what for sure. Not exactly romantic but not strictly platonic. Homegirl had that toxic doomed kindergarten yuri going on😭

• Nimona doesn't look for romantic relationships. She explains it as "romance is for sappy dumb-dumbs" but in reality she just doesn't want to date and romantically love somebody who'll. Eventually die and leave her all by herself again yk (oh this got angsty real fast)

• Maybe one day Ballister tried to help her find her label (because he still tries to put things in boxes) and she just waved it off

Speaking of Ballister

• My man is transgender. Do I even have to explain. Read one of those posts that explain his transness better LMAO

• He started his medical transition as a teenager and had to fit right in not to disrupt the Institute's function. If he's a man then he has to transition QUICKLY so that others don't notice

• Because of that he's a transmedicalist and probably an enbyphobe at the start of the movie, thinking only one type of valid transness exists, and it's the one that is very binary and restrictive

• At the end he realizes the wrong of his ways and works on the internalized transphobia

• He came to terms with his homosexuality a bit easier. "It's always been boys" yk the drill

A couple of words about his boy lol

• Ambrosius is a painfully cisgender gay man. I genuinely apologize to all Transbrosius believers but he gives off STRONG cis vibes can't have a character with this surname dickless

• He's a trans ally but his opinions on trans issues were like. Very closed-minded. He supported but didn't entirely understand. Of course it changed as he went through ✨character development✨

• He was fully supportive of Ballister on his trans journey. Reassured him when Ballister felt like he wasn't enough, tried to make his boyfriend as secure as possible, loving every part of him

There should be a bunch of rather suggestive headcanons but this isn't that type of post LOL

No but think about Ambrosius kissing down Ballister's body and across his chest scars. This is my ultimate dream as a trans man

• Ambrosius also rocks a "protect trans kids" shirt that's for SURE

• He came to terms with his queerness as a teenager and had a whole crisis about it. As a Goldenloin he had the expectations of ✨continuing Gloreth's bloodline✨ thrown at him back in childhood so he sorta internalized that. Then boom, my boy is g a y and oh how gay he is!

• Click here to read about my headcanons on goldenheart when they had only started falling in love :D

• Ambrosius made inoffensive jokes about Ballister's transness. Like yk those goofy puns like "baby you put men in MENstruation", "omg does this make your parents transparent". Ballister smiled at them and rolled his eyes but also silently appreciated his bf's support, although expressed so stupidly

• He also made sure Ballister took proper care of his body because you know Ballister would not bind safely, being a dumb teen

Anyway yeah gay people

Unpopular opinion but we as a fandom should start drawing Bal with a disability queer pride flag

Side characters headcanons, anyone? XD

• Diego came out as nonbinary after the events of the movie. He got that he/they swag going on

• Also Ballister was his queer awakening FIGHT ME ABOUT IT. He had the stupidest, most childish celebrity crush on Bal. Maybe Bal formed Diego's type in men fjfhhx I like to think Diego got a boyfriend whose attitude is similar to Bal's

• Remember those news anchors? (they are so underrated omg) Well Nate Knight has a husband and Alanzapam Davis is a bi queen🙏

• Speaking of queens. Valerin is a straight ally💪💪 I imagine her being quite iconic on the Kingdom's queer side of the internet. They call her "mother" and stuff aajjaj

• the Director is homophobic, need I say more? So is Todd but I actually imagine him being a type of guy to reject his queerness

Haha mailman *winks at yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt*

• Todd had NO idea Ballister was trans. NONE

• The Kingdom has pride events!! Ambrosius and Ballister were very happy and excited to attend those as an official couple once they were out :}

• Nimona attended them every year, ofc she had to hide her true nature but it was fun for her to march along! And it was even more fun when everyone accepted her!!

Anyway yeah this was very fun to make!! Happy pride y'all, lmk what you think ;D

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 7, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 07, 2024

Today the Trump family posed for a post-election photo. Missing from the group was former first lady Melania Trump. Joining the family was billionaire Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s campaign both through his ownership of X, formerly Twitter, and then with $132 million in cash and with apparent giveaways to get voters to give the campaign personal information. 

As an immigrant from South Africa, Musk is barred from the presidency himself by the U.S. Constitution, which requires that a president be born in the U.S. (out of the Framers’ concern that a foreign country could put a puppet in the presidency). But he is now very close to Trump and stands to gain significantly from a Trump presidency, both through deregulation and government contracts, and through Trump’s planned tariffs on Chinese imports that will enable Musk to monopolize the electric vehicle market in the U.S. Musk also would like a victory in the culture wars; he is strongly opposed to transgender rights.

After the election results came out, Musk posted on X, “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” Latin for “New World Order.” 

At Trump’s election party, Trump said: “We have a new star: Elon. He is an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight—you know he spent two weeks in Philadelphia and different parts of Pennsylvania campaigning? He's a character, he's a special guy. He's a super-genius, and we have to protect our geniuses, we don't have that many of them. We have to protect our super-geniuses.”

Trump’s new closeness with Musk presents an issue for the Republican Party. The president-elect is 78 and has shown signs of mental and physical deterioration, making it possible that someone will need to take his place at some point in the next four years. 

The vice president–elect, current Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is constitutionally the next in line for the presidency, but neither Musk nor Vance has Trump’s popular support, making it unclear who will take over the leadership of the party if such a takeover is necessary. Whether either can command Trump’s supporters is also unclear. 

What is clear is that neither of them has much experience in elected office. Vance was elected senator just two years ago, and Musk comes from the business world.

There is another, major problem for the party, as well: Trump won the election in part by promising everything to everyone, but the actual policies of the MAGA party are unpopular, even with many Republican voters. 

Notably, Trump has said he will appoint Musk to head a new government efficiency commission, and Musk has vowed to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. Such cuts would decimate government services, including food programs and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Supplemental nutrition programs disproportionately benefit rural areas, and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are used much more heavily in counties that support Trump than those that don’t. 

That will be a hard circle to square.

So will Trump’s promise to lower consumer costs while also putting tariffs of 10% to 20% on all foreign imports and of 60% on imports from China. Tariffs are borne by consumers, so by definition they will drive prices up. These two promises cannot be reconciled. 

Trump has promised mass deportations, and much of his base is fervently behind them. The Republican National Committee even had signs saying “MASS DEPORTATION NOW” made up for attendees to wave at the party’s convention. 

Priscilla Alvarez and Alayna Treene of CNN reported today that Trump’s allies have been preparing for mass detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, and the stock prices of private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic have soared since Trump’s election. Steven T. Dennis of Bloomberg reported that on an earnings call today, GEO chief executive officer Brian Evans told investors that filling currently empty beds could bring in $400 million a year and that the company can scale up its current surveillance, monitoring, and transportation programs to handle millions of immigrants. “This is to us an unprecedented opportunity,” he said.

But deporting up to 20 million people will be a logistical nightmare and is projected to cost from $88 billion to $315 billion a year. At the same time, much of the U.S. economy depends on undocumented immigrants, and Republican businessmen will certainly object to losing their workers. 

Tom Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump in his first term, backed away from some of the extremes of Trump’s immigration policy when he told CBS last month: “It’s not gonna be—a mass sweep of neighborhoods. It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous…. They’ll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes.” 

Meanwhile, Democratic state lawmakers have been preparing for a potential Trump administration for more than a year, and some are putting down public markers that they will not cooperate with the extreme policies of the Trump administration. 

Trump vowed to begin his mass deportation plan in Aurora, Colorado, where he maintained—contrary to the statements of local Republican officials—that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the city. Aurora is a suburb of Denver, and yesterday the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, told a reporter he would not cooperate with requests that are “immoral or unethical or unfair.” 

California governor Gavin Newsom called an emergency session of the California state legislature to convene on December 2, “to help bolster our legal resources and protect our state against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration.” It will focus on funding lawsuits against any actions that impact civil liberties, reproductive rights, protection for immigrants, and climate initiatives. Newsom said the California lawmakers “will seek to work with the incoming president—but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.” 

California has the fifth largest economy in the world, and its population of 39 million people is more than four times the 9.59 million people in Hungary, the country from which MAGA Republicans are taking much of their ideological vision.  

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, who has been called a “happy warrior,” held a press conference today, telling reporters that he will continue working to keep Illinois “a place of stability and competent governance” and vowing to protect the people of his state no matter what the new administration does. “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” he said. “You come for my people, you come through me.”

Trump has made it clear he intends to have a say in the decisions of the Federal Reserve, which manages interest rates, and during his first term he frequently attacked Fed chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed, for not lowering rates to boost the economy. Trump’s advisors have suggested the president can gain power over the nation’s finances by removing members of the Fed in his next term. 

Today, when reporters asked Powell if he would resign before Trump takes office, he said no. When asked if Trump could fire or demote him or the other Fed governors, Powell was firm: “Not permitted under the law.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[swiftfootedachilles]

hiiii achilles!!!!!!! how are you today? i miss your gallavich hot takes so do you have something in mind? have a good day 🌷

well apparently my big gallavich hot take is them having a jewish wedding 😭

okay. hmmm, actual unpopular hot takes? i gotchu

i want more intersex headcanons (that are well-researched and not fetishizing intersex people!). i want more t4t mlm gallavich. and i DEFINITELY want more t4t trans!mickey nonbinary!ian gallavich. because amab people are just as transgender as anyone else even if they dont take hormones or drastically change their appearance or change their name. nonbinary people arent women lite and men lite, theyre nonbinary. and i think nonbinary!ian is so slay

ian does not enjoy bottoming. even when he consented to doing it with trevor, he didnt actually like it. he simply tolerated it

when staying with the gallaghers, ian and mickey are very brazen about their sex life and dont try to stay quiet or even close their door sometimes, BUT they wont fuck in common areas like the kitchen and living room unless it was on the couch and they were 1000% sure there was NO chance of any of the kids walking in on them. they wouldnt traumatize liam or franny like that (stfu s5 doesnt count bc they knew liam was too young to have memories yet 😭 (speaking of, why does nobody ever talk about the fact that liam was 2 years old for like 3 whole years 😭😭))

their "security" business as it is in the finale isnt very sustainable. it literally started as money laundering, and ian didnt know. i think he eventually finds out by accident thru kev or vee what mickeys original "security business" plan was, and he gets super pissed. but i think they could very easily turn it into a legal business. we see them starting to do that, by working with real dispensaries instead of the shady illegal one kev and vee have in the bar. nevertheless, id like to read more future fics where they grow or adapt the business, and even move on to a new business altogether! theyre not exactly the career-having type. i think change over time actually helps stabilize them

THEY NEED TO PAINT THAT FUCKING AMBULANCE. ITS STOLEN. WHY DONT THEY EVER PAINT IT ALL BLACK OR SOMETHING?? WHERE DID THEY GET THE NEW PLATES. DID THEY EVEN CHANGE THE PLATES?? the s4 writers would never let a scam have so many plot holes 😔 they wouldve SHOWED us mickey and his brothers getting new plates for the truck

ian gets a tattoo for mickey. youre telling me that after the surprise anniversary party, you think ian WOULDNT get mickey somehow immortalized on his body? WRONG. he definitely does. i dont think its his name over his heart. maybe something small on his wrist? or M on his ring finger💜 thats a fav headcanon of mine

they dont start a family until close to 40. the longer theyre married, the more they realize they have to catch up on. learning to live together long-term, paying off debts and bills, moving, vacations, reconnecting with old friends and family, being there for liam where theu couldnt for their other siblings when they were liam's age, watching their nieces and nephews often to gain more caretaking and parenting skills, medical issues, family emergencies. theres just a lot that takes up their time, and they become very comfortable being two before they ever try to become three

they nonseriously say shit like "i want a divorce" but they NEVER mean it. even when one says it as a joke or like in s11e3, the other will ask "did you really mean that? do you really want a divorce? do you think we'll ever get one?" and they end up having a rare super serious heart-to-heart about it. about what they think the future might hold - or at least, what they want it to hold. the longer they are with each other the more stable their relationship becomes. bickering is less common, big fights are less explosive and violent, and they learn to become comfortable with silence

[coochiequeens]

ByYuliah Alma. July 20, 2023

CONTENT NOTICE: This article contains disturbing details regarding the sexual abuse and sexualization of very young children. Reader discretion is appreciated.

A male politician credited with being the first openly transgender representative elected in the United States has now been charged with one count of the sexual exploitation of children, adding to the child pornography charges he had been handed last month.

Stacie Marie Laughton, born Barry Charles Laughton Jr., was described as a “woman” in a press release issued by the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

39-year-old Laughton was formerly a Democratic representative in New Hampshire, first elected to the legislature in 2012. He became known as the first openly transgender individual to hold public office in the United States, but withdrew before taking the role when it was revealed that he had served four months in prison in 2008 on a felony conviction for identity and credit card fraud and falsifying physical evidence. 

A special election was scheduled a few weeks later, and Laughton signed up to run again. But officials barred him from holding public office as, according to state law, he had not completed his sentence.

After the sentence related to the 2008 conviction was exhausted, Laughton was allowed to run for office again in 2019. He was elected selectman in 2011, 2019, and 2021. He was also elected state representative in 2020.

Laughton won his most recent election in November of 2022, but he resigned less than one month after securing the seat following scrutiny for yet another criminal conviction. It was learned that just two months prior to his election, he had been charged with violating a stalking order that had been from an unidentified woman.

Laughton’s most recent criminal charge involves his former partner, Lindsay Groves, 38. Groves is alleged to have used her job in a daycare to take photos of the children’s genitals in a private restroom before sending the abuse material to Laughton. 

Groves had been employed at Creative Minds Early Learning Center in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts since 2017 when she was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child sexual abuse material along with Laughton.

Since the horrifying revelations of the abuse have come to light, the mother of a young boy who had been enrolled at the daycare has filed a civil lawsuit against Creative Minds.

According to the Boston Herald, the complaint, which was filed Monday with Middlesex Superior Court, the plaintiffs argue that the child victim “was caused to suffer, and will continue to suffer, severe and significant physical and emotional injuries; embarrassment, and emotional distress” as a direct result of the daycare’s “negligence and carelessness as well as the invasion of his privacy…” 

The lawsuit has also revealed that the daycare was reportedly informed years ago that Groves had been inappropriate with one of the children, and had been warned yet again last year, but took no action.

Groves revealed to investigators that she would direct the victims to pull their shirts towards their heads so “their vision would be obscured” while their pants were down at their ankles. While their vision was obscured, she used her iPhone to capture images of their genitalia. She would then send these photos to Laughton.

The photos were taken during bathroom breaks or routine diaper changes before the children took naps. 

The most recent court filings reveal that several disturbing text conversations regarding the victimized children took place between Laughton and Groves from May to June of this year.

On June 13, just days before their initial arrest, Groves sent Laughton a photo of a three-year-old boy with his genitals exposed and a second photo of a three-year-old girl with her genitals exposed. 

Groves said, “I took these for you today so I’m horny.” 

Laughton responded, “I like that I would like to see more of the pussy but I like that it[’s] fucking hot,” and asked, “Is that one of the girls we get to play with[?]”

Groves boasted neither of the child victims “gave her an issue.” 

Laughton continued: “That girl looks sweet … Do you think she would like sucking me and me rubbing my dick on her?” To which Groves responded, “Yeah.”

Laughton added, “It’s just a bummer she wont let me put my dick inside of her,” and Groves answered, “She’s not even 3 yet.”

The next morning, Laughton wrote to Groves in a lengthy, nervous message: “And I’m sorry I talk so much but the other thing I think about is do you think God is OK with us being bad girls[?]”

He continued, “…[some people] say having sex with kids is a bad thing and God never addresses sex with children in the Bible and God never really condemns say different sexual lifestyles but what do you think? Do you think we still have a place in heaven? Do you think God would still be OK with me being a minister[?]”

As previously revealed by Reduxx, Laughton became an ordained Minister and delivered his first sermon on YouTube earlier this year. According to GetOrdained, Laughton affiliated himself with Buddhism, Methodism, New Age, Oneness Pentecostalism, Pentecostalism, Protestantism, Rastafarianism, Spiritualism, Tibetan Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and the Universal Life Church.

Groves replied to Laughton’s concerns about his spirituality, writing: “Yes, God is ok with it and we will still go to heaven and he thinks you be a great minister.” 

Later that same day, Groves sent Laughton another photo of another three-year-old boy.

Laughton responded, “…I mean yes that picture was hot of that little boy but you probably have gotten the picture by now that I prefer a little girls, but he is cute. I’d like to see you put your hand around his penis.” 

Homeland Security Agents have confirmed with the children’s parents that the children victimized in the photographs were all only three years old. 

On June 15, another text message exchange included Laughton instructing Groves on how to take more photos of the children.

“If you take one or 2 [pictures] today can you hold the dick or put your finger in the girl,” he asked. “Do you think you can do any kissing their dick or kiss the pussy or someplace[?]”

Groves answered: “I’ll do my best.”

The US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced that Laughton will be formally charged in the John Joseph Moakley federal courthouse in Boston, but no appearance date has yet been set. Laughton was referred to with “she/her�� pronouns by the Attorney’s Office.

Groves is also being held in custody with no set date for her next court appearance.

Sentences for sexual exploitation of children are a minimum of 15 years and maximum of 30 years in prison. Upon release, a minimum of five years supervision is required but a maximum of a lifetime supervision is possible. Fines go up to $250,000.

Multiple media outlets reporting on Laughton’s case have referred to him as a “woman,” or by using feminine pronouns to describe him.

[mightyflamethrower]

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, in which he secured the popular vote on top of an Electoral College landslide, Democrats have been hosting tough conversations about the future of the party in its relations to transgender issues, specifically transgenders operating in women’s spaces, including bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletics. While Democrats like Bill Maher, Ben Dreyfuss, and others have called for Democrats to move away from transgender advocacy, others like John Oliver have argued they should move even further left.

“The Harris campaign failed to formulate a response, especially when it’s pretty easy to do,” Oliver said in a recent segment on his show. “There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere, even if there were more, trans kids like all kids vary in terms of athletic ability, and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness.”

Author J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter series) publicly called the comedian’s arguments “bullshit” and cited a plethora of anecdotes to support her case. She also made clear that her criticism of John Oliver stemmed from nothing personal.

“Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video’s for you. An undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute bullshit to support something he wants to be true, but isn’t,” she said in a post on X.

“According to the UN, female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans-identified men competing against them in women’s sporting categories. Girls have been ousted from teams to make way for boys. Women have suffered serious injury playing against trans-identified men,” she added.

J.K. Rowling cited the case of Payton McNabb, who suffered a severe head injury after a transgender athlete spiked a volleyball into her face during a high school match.

“Again and again I’ve come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points. With a straight face, the ‘believe the science’ guys will say ‘actually, we don’t yet have enough data to say whether men and boys are stronger and faster than women and girls’. The ‘be kind’ crew can’t see what the issue is. ‘Why are you bothered, it only affects a tiny minority of females?'” argued Rowling.

“To prove to their progressive credentials – and (coincidentally, I’m sure) indemnify themselves against repercussions from cultural elites in the media, academia and publishing who’ve showed themselves more than ready to kick people to the kerb for failing to mouth the approved mantras – people with a lot to lose are currently prepared to make idiots of themselves,” she continued. “They’ll stare unabashedly into a camera and insist that their audiences’ eyeballs are incapable of seeing what’s plain as day, and that there’s something wrong with the great unwashed for believing that girls are being robbed of opportunities and put at physical risk.”

Rowling concluded her post by calling on those like John Oliver to at least be intellectually honest by admitting that women will be hurt through the initiative of transgender inclusion.

“If you want to tell the world you’re happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation and the loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world’s population, fair enough; you’re allowed your opinion,” she concluded. “But if you’ve just told girls they don’t deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your ‘edgy’ closing joke.”

Sara Higdon, who identifies as transgender, thanked J.K Rowling for her insight.

“I’m trans, and a high performing former athlete, including 7.5 years in the army. Been on HRT for 5.5 years, and I can still prove that if I competed against women in sports, I still have an advantage. I was on path to prove it by breaking the female squat record until an old Army injury sidelined me. But I still perform in the 80th percentile on a spin bike after never riding before 2020,” said Higdon. 

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson 11.7.24

Today the Trump family posed for a post-election photo. Missing from the group was former first lady Melania Trump. Joining the family was billionaire Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s campaign both through his ownership of X, formerly Twitter, and then with $132 million in cash and with apparent giveaways to get voters to give the campaign personal information. 

As an immigrant from South Africa, Musk is barred from the presidency himself by the U.S. Constitution, which requires that a president be born in the U.S. (out of the Framers’ concern that a foreign country could put a puppet in the presidency). But he is now very close to Trump and stands to gain significantly from a Trump presidency, both through deregulation and government contracts, and through Trump’s planned tariffs on Chinese imports that will enable Musk to monopolize the electric vehicle market in the U.S. Musk also would like a victory in the culture wars; he is strongly opposed to transgender rights.

After the election results came out, Musk posted on X, “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” Latin for “New World Order.” 

At Trump’s election party, Trump said: “We have a new star: Elon. He is an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight—you know he spent two weeks in Philadelphia and different parts of Pennsylvania campaigning? He's a character, he's a special guy. He's a super-genius, and we have to protect our geniuses, we don't have that many of them. We have to protect our super-geniuses.”

Trump’s new closeness with Musk presents an issue for the Republican Party. The president-elect is 78 and has shown signs of mental and physical deterioration, making it possible that someone will need to take his place at some point in the next four years. 

The vice president–elect, current Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is constitutionally the next in line for the presidency, but neither Musk nor Vance has Trump’s popular support, making it unclear who will take over the leadership of the party if such a takeover is necessary. Whether either can command Trump’s supporters is also unclear. 

What is clear is that neither of them has much experience in elected office. Vance was elected senator just two years ago, and Musk comes from the business world.

There is another, major problem for the party, as well: Trump won the election in part by promising everything to everyone, but the actual policies of the MAGA party are unpopular, even with many Republican voters. 

Notably, Trump has said he will appoint Musk to head a new government efficiency commission, and Musk has vowed to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. Such cuts would decimate government services, including food programs and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Supplemental nutrition programs disproportionately benefit rural areas, and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are used much more heavily in counties that support Trump than those that don’t. 

That will be a hard circle to square.

So will Trump’s promise to lower consumer costs while also putting tariffs of 10% to 20% on all foreign imports and of 60% on imports from China. Tariffs are borne by consumers, so by definition they will drive prices up. These two promises cannot be reconciled. 

Trump has promised mass deportations, and much of his base is fervently behind them. The Republican National Committee even had signs saying “MASS DEPORTATION NOW” made up for attendees to wave at the party’s convention. 

Priscilla Alvarez and Alayna Treene of CNN reported today that Trump’s allies have been preparing for mass detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, and the stock prices of private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic have soared since Trump’s election. Steven T. Dennis of Bloomberg reported that on an earnings call today, GEO chief executive officer Brian Evans told investors that filling currently empty beds could bring in $400 million a year and that the company can scale up its current surveillance, monitoring, and transportation programs to handle millions of immigrants. “This is to us an unprecedented opportunity,” he said.

But deporting up to 20 million people will be a logistical nightmare and is projected to cost from $88 billion to $315 billion a year. At the same time, much of the U.S. economy depends on undocumented immigrants, and Republican businessmen will certainly object to losing their workers. 

Tom Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump in his first term, backed away from some of the extremes of Trump’s immigration policy when he told CBS last month: “It’s not gonna be—a mass sweep of neighborhoods. It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous…. They’ll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes.” 

Meanwhile, Democratic state lawmakers have been preparing for a potential Trump administration for more than a year, and some are putting down public markers that they will not cooperate with the extreme policies of the Trump administration. 

Trump vowed to begin his mass deportation plan in Aurora, Colorado, where he maintained—contrary to the statements of local Republican officials—that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the city. Aurora is a suburb of Denver, and yesterday the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, told a reporter he would not cooperate with requests that are “immoral or unethical or unfair.” 

California governor Gavin Newsom called an emergency session of the California state legislature to convene on December 2, “to help bolster our legal resources and protect our state against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration.” It will focus on funding lawsuits against any actions that impact civil liberties, reproductive rights, protection for immigrants, and climate initiatives. Newsom said the California lawmakers “will seek to work with the incoming president—but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.” 

California has the fifth largest economy in the world, and its population of 39 million people is more than four times the 9.59 million people in Hungary, the country from which MAGA Republicans are taking much of their ideological vision.  

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, who has been called a “happy warrior,” held a press conference today, telling reporters that he will continue working to keep Illinois “a place of stability and competent governance” and vowing to protect the people of his state no matter what the new administration does. “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” he said. “You come for my people, you come through me.”

Trump has made it clear he intends to have a say in the decisions of the Federal Reserve, which manages interest rates, and during his first term he frequently attacked Fed chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed, for not lowering rates to boost the economy. Trump’s advisors have suggested the president can gain power over the nation’s finances by removing members of the Fed in his next term. 

Today, when reporters asked Powell if he would resign before Trump takes office, he said no. When asked if Trump could fire or demote him or the other Fed governors, Powell was firm: “Not permitted under the law.”

[wonderfultheatre]

Vox

Fandom.

Hazbin Hotel

statistics.

Alias: Hal Name: Vox Pronouns: He/Him Height: 6'8" Gender: Transgendered Male Age: Died in his 40s Died: 1950s Species: Sinner Demon Orientation: Bisexual Occupation: Media Demon Overlord Contracted: No Owns Souls: Yes MBTI: ENTJ Enneagram: 3w4 Alignment: Lawful Evil

biography.

Vox is an egotistical, charismatic showman who loves attention. He's created a surveillance hypertech state in hell and if it happens in hell he knows. He presents himself as a savvy forward businessman, he's loved by the public, he's mellowed out for the most part, and is less power-hungry than he was before. He's been an overlord longer for at least 20-something years and he's very secure in his position. He prides himself on having strong relationships with other overlords even the ones that don't quite like him. He has a good public persona and is overall well-liked and has no intentions of changing that.

He often times suffers from being highly irrational and tends to make quick judgments but it's not hard to reel him back to reality before he makes a fool of himself. He's very social enjoys talking to people and surprisingly positive outlook on things.

However, I have no issues with writing him in different settings.

powers.

Immortality

Electrokinesis

Electrokinetic transformation

Technokinesis

Spark generation

Technological head

Bioluminescence

Scrying

Hypnosis

Self-duplication

Acoustokinesis

Strength

Cable creation

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

While elections have certainly been heating up in the United States over transgender issues, candidates desiring an early look into how such issues might fare may look no further than Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick. The candidate, who has served as premier of New Brunswick for the last six years, saw his party lose in a crushing defeat to the Liberals. The premier lost his own race as well. The candidate made waves as the first premier to implement anti-trans policies in schools, stating at the time that he would not back down, reportedly calling the idea “an election winner”. Blaine Higgs, in an interview with the Canadian Press, defended his record as the first Canadian premier to unilaterally implement anti-trans policies in schools, stating that he “would not change anything” and calling the idea an election winner. His revisions to what is collectively known as Policy 713 required that transgender youth under the age of 16 be forcibly outed to their parents. The policy also mandated that teachers misgender and deadname trans students if they did not have parental consent or were not out to their parents.

At the time, Helen Kennedy, executive director of the LGBTQ+ organization Egale Canada, said, "I think other provinces are obviously watching very closely to see what the potential fallout will be." On Tuesday, it became clear that the Progressive Conservative party, the right-leaning party in the province, faced a decisive defeat. In 2020, the party won 27 seats compared to the Liberals' 17, but this year, the Liberals secured 31 seats to the PCs' 16. Not only did Blaine Higgs' party lose power, but the premier also lost his own “safe” seat in Quispamsis, the most conservative district in 2020.

Higgs will be replaced as premier by Susan Holt, who will become the first woman to lead New Brunswick. Holt has indicated she will reverse Higgs' anti-trans forced outing policies in schools. Earlier this year, she participated in protests supporting transgender students, posting on her Twitter account, "Great to join the crowd today at the rally in support of trans youth. I was honoured to share our support for the protection of trans people in our province & country." Advocates for transgender people celebrated in New Brunswick and across Canada following Higgs's loss. Fae Johnstone, Canadian organizer and spokesperson for Queer Momentum, blamed his loss on his anti-trans policies, stating, “That single decision marked the beginning of the end. It sparked a revolt in his own caucus divided his party and mobilized parents, queer people, teachers and workers across the province against him.”

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs (PC) found out the hard way that attacking trans people is an election loser, as his party lost in this week’s provincial parliamentary elections.

[theclaravita]

DESTINY OC LORE: Adri-8

I tried doing this earlier and this website decided to delete my post mid-way through. So here we GO AGAIN.

NOTE: This is my personal head-canon. Timelines are funky, especially in active-service games like Destiny. I make sweeping decisions about dates and events that DEFINITELY don't fit with the recognized official canon. I don't care; this is my headcanon. Be advised; My Name Is Byf has no power here. lol

CONTENT WARNINGS spoilers | mental illness | death | identity crises | self-harm

STATS

NAME: Adri-8 AGE: 216 - (Just before The Great Disaster) GENDER: Female CLASS: Warlock SPEC: Dawnblade GHOST: Nix

LOADOUT

KINETIC: Lumina - Catalyzed ENERGY: Judgement of Kelgorath - New Age Black Armory POWER: Hezen Vengeance - New Age Black Armory HELMET: Prodigal Hood - Rustberry GLOVES: Starfarer's Gloves - Whispered Sheen ROBES: High-Minded Complex - Monochromatic BOOTS: Boots of the Assembler - Whispered Sheen BOND: Streetscholar Bond - Golden Trace

EQUIPMENT

SHELL: No Love Lost - Amethyst Veil - Stasis Projection SPARROW: Archangel's Refit - Default Shader SHIP: Spirit of the Warmind - Default Shader - Stasis Transmat FX FINISHER: Security Breach EMOTE: Tripwire Dodge EMBLEM: Eclipsed Sunset - Crucible K/D Tracker

BACKGROUND

BIRTH --------

Adrian Perry was born to two Braytech researchers living in Eventide on Europa. He was schooled from a very early age in the same fields that his parents worked. However, as he neared puberty, it became increasingly obvious that he did not mesh well with his inborn body. Being of a very protected and secluded upbringing, it wasn't until he was in his mid-30s that he discovered that he was transgender. He researched the topic thoroughly in his free time, eventually approaching his parents about the subject. Due to the rampant mental health issues that he suffered throughout his childhood and early adulthood, his parents were eager to finally find some route to a solution for Adrian's condition; naming the problem was a large step forward for him. And so, he began identifying as female and changed her name to Adriana with support from her parents.

Despite the shift in her identity and her expression as who she felt she truly was, Adriana still suffered greatly with self-image issues. She reported feeling itchy in her own skin, and had a great aversion to mirrors, saying that they would never truly reflect her true self. She had many psychotic episodes, injuring herself on multiple occasions. Her parents were avoidant of returning to civilization for their daughter's treatment and instead began medicating her, taking away her independence in their fear. Eventually, Adriana escaped and stumbled out of Eventide into the cold wastes.

DEATH --------

Adriana was recovered by a scouting team on their way back to Braytech Exoscience. She was nearly dead, only her most basic biological functions still operable. She was convalesced under the watchful eye of Nero Nix, a scientist working on the Exomind project under Clovis Bray I.

When she awoke, Adriana was noncommunicative, either unwilling or unable to speak. Her body was severely damaged by exposure and most of her arms and legs had been amputated. She was fitted with Exo prosthetics. However, she kept injuring herself with them, seemingly at random. It was quickly discerned that she was knowingly self-harming, clearly angry at her own malformed body. She was put forward as a candidate for the Exomind project without delay.

Due to Adriana's lack of communication, as well as her lack of any identification on her person when she was found, her preferences were not taken into account when she was eventually transferred to an Exo body. She was referred to as male, and given the name Nix, after her caretaker. However, the wiping of her memory seemed to have suppressed her self-harmful behavior.

Adriana ceased to exist as Nix settled into his new body.

A wild success for the Exomind project, Nix-1 was immediately trained as a Seraph operative and deployed on hundreds of missions before the Collapse came.

As the system fell to chaos around him, Nix worked with other operatives to protect and evacuate Eventide's population. During this mission, he encountered his parents. A spark of recognition sounded deep within him, causing a fatal moment of hesitation... A dark beast claimed him, granting the others around him a moment to escape.

As darkness fell around him and his Exo eyes grew dark, he heard the faintest whisper of a name, and knew that he was remembering a girl, trapped in the wrong body, treated the wrong way, screaming to be let out...

Adri--

REBIRTH --------

The Exo woman awoke to the chittering and whirring of a Ghost. When it spoke, it reminded her of an Exo... But she couldn't place why she thought that or what an Exo actually was. The Ghost urged her to find shelter, to find a ship, to go to The Last City... But she had an itch at the back of her mind. Something she was forgetting... All of it? The Ghost told her that this was normal. That she'd get over it.

All she remembered were those four letters: A-D-R-I.

Her... Name? Must've been the last thing she thought before she died.

She... Did die, right?

Adri spent a long time wandering Eventide's ruins, getting occasional pangs of recognition, investigating, finding nothing... Until one day, an idle security system came alive and scanned her. It welcomed her: "Operative Nix". Her Ghost was excited: the systems knew her! Maybe they could find a ship now!

Adri explored the derelict labs that opened up before her. It was so scary to her: clearly there had been a massacre here, but there were no corpses, not even skeletons... So much time had passed that nothing remained but the blasted out shell of a building.

After days of searching, trying to find any other systems that were still online, Adri found a personal terminal in one of the quarters. She was able to log in with her biometrics and accessed personnel logs. She searched for "Nix" and found her own file. But it was off on many details she herself knew to be true: it was marked male, named Nix, and marked currently active... She'd died, hadn't she? And... Male? That seemed wrong somehow. But then she realized that she had a male Exo body. Strange, but this whole situation was strange.

Adri pushed through the notes and logs of various missions, her Ghost chiding her, telling her it wasn't okay, that she shouldn't look for her old self... But then she saw a note: "lost woman from Eventide; maybe Nix?" She found details about a missing person: Adriana Perry. She knew it was her old self. She had found enough to calm the itch.

Using the data she'd found in her file, she decided on a new name for herself: Adri-8. As Nix, she'd been rebooted seven times, and she counted her resurrection in the Light as the eighth. She named her Ghost Nix, so as to never forget her past. (Her Ghost wasn't too thrilled, but went along with it because he didn't actually care that much.) With her security clearance, she accessed the hangars, found her old Warmind-styled ship and sparrow, and left for the Last Safe City.

RISE --------

It was a hot, still day up on the Tower. Adri and Nix sat in the Courtyard, waiting. TWO new Guardians were arriving! The Twin Ghosts, Apollo and Artemis, had finally finished their centuries-long mission: to raise a pair of twins for themselves. It was a momentous day for the Twins, to finally find their other halves.

What was also a big deal was that these new Guardians, fresh out of the grave, had beaten an Archon Priest on their own. With scavenged weapons and their blazing Light. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they activated the old Skywatch array, reconnecting the City's networks to old Golden Age outposts on Venus, Mars, and even the Moon... Nobody had been to the Moon since The Great Disaster some 100 years back, so it was a major event to finally have eyes up there again.

Adri was incredibly excited to meet these New Lights; they seemed like they were very strong and could finally be her ticket back out into the field. Guardians weren't allowed to just fly off into the system unaccompanied except on very rare occasions, so she'd been urged by Ikora to find a fireteam. Nobody seemed willing or able to go exploring with her, so she'd been stuck on guard duty for over 50 years since Twilight Gap. She wanted action, adventure, and most importantly... Loot! She could learn so much about Golden Age humanity from the strange knick-knacks found throughout the system. And the number one best things were OBVIOUSLY the crazy weapons!

As the Arcadia-class jumpship maneuvered toward the Tower's landing area, Adri's mechanical heart galloped under her chestplate. What would they look like? Would they be in scraps like she'd been? Would they still be in the armor that'd failed them as warriors in their past lives?

Two bursts of transmat energy and there they stood: twin Awoken, a man and a woman, blazing red hair, pale skin glinting in the late-summer sun, radiant red eyes shining even in the daylight as they took in their surroundings. Across their bodies they bore the violet armor of Awoken Pathfinders, muddy and battlescarred.

Adri jumped up, startling Nix; it was uncommon for her to show this much energy. She waved enthusiastically and approached the two Awoken, their Ghosts bobbing excitedly in greeting.

"Eyes up, Guardians! Welcome to the Tower!" Adri held her arms wide, almost as if to hug the two newcomers. "I know you've been through a lot and you prolly just wanna put your feet up for a bit, but I just KNOW the honchos downstairs wanna meet you!" She turned on her heel, her Ghost whipping out of the way as she almost knocked him out of the air. "I'll take you to them! Then I'll take you to the best ramen shop in the City!"

The two scarlet-haired Awoken mutely followed Adri across the Courtyard and down the stairs into the Vanguard Headquarters. There, the man met with Cayde-6 and the woman with Zavala; a Hunter and a Titan! Perfect for filling out Adri's dream fireteam! The pair were given their first tasks as new Guardians: learn their abilities, grow stronger in the Light.

Ikora smiled as Adri bounced on her heels in the background.

"I'm sure Adri would love to assist you." Ikora murmured softly. Adri's eyes literally lit up with joy. "She is one of our brightest, and I've never seen her this excited..." Ikora smiled wider, glancing sideways at her protégé. "...you must have truly made an impression on her with your exploits."

Cayde grunted a chuckle. "Never seen a Warlock so antsy for fieldwork. You sure she's not one o' mine, Ikora?"

"She may have wanderlust, but her discipline is unmatched... Especially not by any of your ruffians, Cayde."

"Ooh! Ach! You wound me, Spymaster! Say, we should have another round of cross-training in the Crucible. I'm still stinging a bit from that loss and think your order could REALLY use a humbling..."

Adri pulled up beside the new Hunter and Titan. "We should leave them to it. The last time they got heated like this, it ended with Cayde's Ghost on standby..."

With a nod of her head, Adri led her new friends back out to the Courtyard. They followed silently until they could no longer hear the squabbling Vanguard leaders behind them. It was the female twin that broke the silence.

"I don't like that robot guy."

Adri's gaze snapped to her for a moment, then she burst out laughing. The Hunter laughed too. When he spoke, it was with a voice that made Adri double-take; for an Awoken, he was very laid back.

"He DOES seem like an acquired taste! I'm sure I'll get along with him fine... YOU--" He shouldered the Titan, who grunted and took a half-hearted swing at him. "--can have glum and serious Awoken man all to yourself."

The Titan grumbled something that sounded like "not into dudes" before clearing her throat and looking up to meet Adri's gaze. The Titan's eyes were somehow much more striking than her brother's, like she was seeing more than just the physical...

Adri recovered quickly. "Well, I'm sure you heard, but my name's Adri. I'm happy to be your guide. And if we hit it off well enough, we can form a proper fireteam and go exploring! I hear you guys opened up some avenues for new horizons for us..." She gasped suddenly. "I'm sorry! I didn't even think... What are your guys' names? Did you pick new ones, or...?"

The Hunter chuckled. "We had dogtags... Kinda? Little coins on the inside of our armor. Mine said 'Claros Vita'. So I guess that's my name?"

The Titan shrugged. "Clara."

Adri clapped her hands. "Alright! Clara, Claros. Let me show you to the Speaker's chamber, then we'll get you off those tired feet and fill you up with some of the most primo ramen you'll ever have..."

--------

From that day on, the three were inseparable. They traveled to the Moon, Venus, and Mars. They treated with the Queen of the Awoken. They cracked open a Vex Gate Lord. They silenced the Black Garden's Heart... Their first adventure solidified their Legend. They would go on to make their own fates in the Vault of Glass, defeat the Kell of Kells, become Crota's End, bring about the Kingsfall, become Young Wolves, and destroy the Archon Prime... Their Legend grew with every triumph.

Even when the Tower fell, the Traveler was caged, and the City was lost, they stuck together. Clara reclaimed her Light. She led the charge to retake the City, to destroy Ghaul and the Red Legion. They reclaimed their Light, and a new age began. They rescued the future and the past from Panoptes. They helped secure the Warmind and destroyed Xol...

And when the unthinkable happened... When the Hunter Vanguard was slain... The fireteam stood together. They sieged the Tangled Shore, hunted the Scorn Barons, and together with Petra Venj... Killed Uldren Sov...

But nothing lasts forever.

When Adri delves into the Scarlet Keep alone, without her fireteam, and discovers the Pyramid Ship deep within...

The Darkness reaches out to Adri and touches something in her very soul.

Adri's curiosity is piqued, and Nix is all for another excursion.

Claros and Clara try to reach out to Adri, but she does not respond.

Adri eventually communes with the Pyramid... and is forever changed.

Adri reforges Dredgen Yor's Thorn. She wields it with pride, despite the taboo it invites. Clara and Claros are outraged, appalled... Hurt. Such a weapon belongs in a pit, somewhere dark and forgotten. Not in the hands of a Guardian. Adri doubles down: the Light is not all there is; there is something deeper, and just as powerful.

Adri's fireteam appeal to Ikora, warn her that the brightest Light is turning to Darkness... But Ikora trusts in Adri, believes that she won't fall.

Claros and Clara leave the City, abandon their fireteam. Adri doesn't know where they went, but she doesn't care: she must learn more about the Darkness. And if her fireteam would stand against her, then it's best that they not be there at all.

Adri learns more about the Darkness. Communes with it multiple times with help from Eris Morn. And when the Traveler heals itself and the Black Fleet arrives, Adri is not in the Tower.

Adri heads for Europa.

Adri heads for home.

DRIFT --------

Adri sits crosslegged on the ice by Elizabeth Bray's campfire on Europa. Her Thorn rests before her, but her hands are busy with the fine parts she holds up to the fire's light. Elsie stands nearby, pondering the Pyramid in the distance. Drifter and Eris Morn lounge a bit away in silence.

After an extended period, Drifter stands straight and cracks his back loudly. One could almost hear it echo off the icy cliffs around them.

"Is somethin gon happen, or can I just bail?" His voice drips with sarcasm.

"Your presence is never required, Rat." Eris doesn't move even an inch when she speaks, making her voice seem colder than the ice around them. "You are free to do as you wish."

"Tch." Drifter clicks his tongue, but doesn't retort; he's learned that the Hive-touched Hunter is impossible to argue with. Instead, he casually saunters over to Adri and squats next to her, observing her work. "Whatcha workin on there, Stardust?"

Adri doesn't speak. Instead, she rolls the object into the palm of her hand, calling Nix to realspace. She holds the device up to him. He considers it for a moment, then his shell flashes away. He slips into the shell in Adri's hand, rolling the separate parts around to see how they feel. A mechanical whirring sounds off before he shunts it back into her hand and reforms his original shell.

"Still too rigid. Everything else is monumentally better."

Adri smirks, then goes back to tinkering with the vacant shell. Drifter whistles through his teeth.

"Makin a shell yer Ghost'll like can't be easy. I think we stopped carin what we wore a loooong time ago..." He grins suddenly. "Not like anyone's gonna be actually SEEIN my Ghost. I don't make it a habit o gettin shot!"

Adri shakes her head, but doesn't respond. Drifter stays squatting next to her for a long minute before grunting and standing up.

"Ain't none of ye got more interestin things to talk about than yer crafts and tellin me to shut the hell up?" He sends a steely glare at Eris, who returns it unblinking. Elsie sighs, clearly annoyed.

"Have you forgotten? We're waiting for the energy to line up. So Adri can focus her next shard." Elsie doesn't turn from the Pyramid on the horizon, but her target is clear. "Squawking away while I'm trying to focus isn't helping."

"Well EXCUUUUUUSE ME, princess!" Drifter puts his hands up in false surrender before dropping them dramatically to his sides. "Just tryin to lighten th mood, is all. Y'all are so serious all the damn time... I thought ye'd be a bit more swashbucklin, bein the rebellious Darkness tamers y'are!" He kicks his boots, feigning dejectedness. He stops suddenly and points at Elsie. "An I don't squawk. My voice is the purr of a newborn kitt--"

A pulse of energy rolls across the icy plain. Elsie nods, clearly having expected it. "Time to train, Addie."

Adri shoves the shell into her robes and picks up Thorn. She looks at the gun for a long moment, thoughts racing through her simulated synapses. Else clears her throat. No time to complain. There's power to be seized.

Adri summons her sparrow and races off toward the Ziggurat, ready to dive deeper into the Darkness.

--------

Adri spent most of her time after defeating Eramis training. She heard of her old fireteam defeating other enemies of humanity, encountering Uldren Sov as a Risen, making pacts with the Cabal... But Adri had to focus. She did a lot of introspective meditation and came to realize that she could NOT succeed against the forces of Darkness alone. She might be able to wield Stasis, and had tamed a Weapon of Sorrow, but it meant nothing if their missions as sources of power didn't change.

She had turned Stasis into a weapon of good. It came from her enemy, but she had turned it against them.

Now...

...Thorn.

A weapon made to sunder the Light from those who bore it.

Thorn had no place in a future of good. So Adri set about cleansing it. Restoring it and turning its power to the Light.

Lumina was born.

A weapon made to bolster the Light in those who bore it.

With her new weapon in-hand, she returned to the City. She discovered that her fireteam had joined with Mara Sov and was working to collect the lost Techeuns from the Ascendant Plane. They planned on enacting a ritual to cleanse Savathun of her worm familiar.

Adri offered Lumina to Claros and Clara as a gift of good faith. That she would fight for them and with them, until all days were gone. Having seen the duality of the universe, having been taught the unbias of paracausal forces, the twins accepted.

Fireteam Vitalia thus reunited, they saved Osiris, cleansed Savathun of her worm, raided the Throne World and uncovered the truths that even the Witch Queen herself didn't know...

But after the climb, there comes the...

FALL --------

Adri looked up from her ramen as Ikora wisped through the Bazaar. Her face was a mask of worry and determination. Not far behind her strode a white-robed human female, carrying a wrapped bundle that was longer than she herself was tall. Adri and the package bearer locked eyes for a moment and Adri saw her counterpart hesitate for a moment before jogging around the corner to catch up with Ikora.

Slightly perturbed by the visitor's obvious recognition of her, Adri returned to her ramen. Most likely one of Ikora's agents. She thought to herself. Who knows what kinds of freaks the Hidden could be...

But as she turned her chopsticks through the noodles before her, an itch began at the back of Adri's mind. She looked up slightly, out across the Bazaar. There was a slight shimmer in the air where the robed woman had walked... Pyramid resonance? As soon as she recognized it for what it was, her Deepsight triggered. She saw a ghostly visage of the robed woman walking the same path she just had... Except the package she bore was starkly different.

Unlike the wispy visual echoes that Deepsight usually revealed, the huge single-edged blade that rested within the specter of the package was completely solid. Adri could see the Pyramid alloy, etched with runes of various types; some Hive runes, some Pyramid symbols, and even some old Earth characters that had once been used by...

The Order.

Adri leapt to her feet, heart racing, teeth chattering suddenly in excitement. An Order artifact! Here! In the Tower! And the white robes with gold trim... Was that woman a member of the long-dead Order of Orbis Vitae?!

The Warlock stumbled toward Ikora's office, her Ghost pinging the leader of Fireteam Lucid to join her as soon as possible.

----

Anna Vita and Ikora Rey pondered the readings from the Tower's systems in silence. Using advanced scanners and a hefty amount of shielding, Ikora had been able to get a look through the sheath that Destin Tsurugi had said must never come off. The Sol Blade lay bare in digital form before them as a hologram, the physical object laying on the table beneath.

The body of the blade was very obviously forged from Pyramid alloys. It reeked of dark resonance, warping the space around it with its psychic energy. However, the edge of the blade seemed to be a sharpened piece of the Traveler, its Light shining visibly in the office's gloom. The Hive, Pyramid, and Human runes etched into the blade pulsed with green, orange, and blue light, seeming to flow from one to the next in a cycle. The hilt was wrapped with fine thread, tied into complex knots that would never come undone; a familiar design from ancient Japan, used by nearly all the City's manufactured swords. The Sol Blade was a thing of great beauty... And incredible power, barely contained within its sheath.

"Destin was right about one thing for sure." Ikora broke the silence with a pensive murmur. "Unsheathing this blade would have catastrophic effects."

Anna looked sideways at the Warlock Vanguard. "But... Not system-destroying effects, right?"

Ikora was silent for a very long time. The ticking of an antique clock in the corner seemed to slow to a near standstill as Anna waited her answer.

"...yes and no." Ikora strode around the hologram. "It would absolutely render the immediate area inhospitable to life." A few more steps around the table. "It would also resonate with every object in the system tied to Pyramid technology." Two steps further and she stopped, just to Anna's right. "And possibly disrupt the Light within any Risen closer than a few hundred million kilometers." Anna's eyes went wide as Ikora continued. "It would likely destroy any unprotected Ghosts within the planetary system upon which it was unleashed."

The silence bled back in around them, each tick of the clock feeling like a thunder crash to Anna, whose blood pounded deafeningly in her ears. Destin had been holding onto this insanely dangerous object, right within sightlines of the Traveler and the bulk majority of humanity... For multiple hundreds of years. If he'd chosen it, he could've ended all of civilization and possibly slain the Traveler in one single act as simple as drawing the blade...

Anna jumped violently at the gentle knocking at the door. Ikora looked toward it, squinted slightly, then sighed.

"Come in, Adri, Nero."

The door slid open with a hiss and two Warlocks strode into the dim office, out of the nearly blinding light of the hallway behind them. Anna recognized the Exo from the Bazaar earlier the same day; she'd sensed Darkness energy from her as she'd gone by. The other Exo was unknown to her, but with Ikora naming the pair she knew that these were the leaders of Fireteams Vitalia and Lucid: the pathfinders and researchers who'd ushered in the Age of Legends. Fatebreakers. Kingslayers. Iron Lords. Nobody alive hadn't heard of these famous Guardians.

The door eased closed behind them as Nero stepped toward the Sol Blade and reached for it. Anna nearly reached out to stop him, but Ikora placed a hand on her shoulder; it was safe, they knew what they were doing.

Nero shuddered as he grasped the heavy hilt and felt the energies coming from within the sheath. Adri murmured something to him that Anna couldn't hear and he nodded. They looked toward Ikora, who nodded slowly.

What happened next was unclear to Anna. The pair seemed to fade at the edges, their hard boundaries with the shadows around them softening to nearly nothing. An icy radiance came from Nero's hands and a verdant glow came from Adri's. When the lights faded and the pair had returned to normal space, the Sol Blade was out of its sheath, the runes upon its blade dark and dormant.

Anna's breath caught in her throat. What had they done?! But Ikora surprised her by... Chuckling?

"Naturally." The Warlock Vanguard stepped forward and took the blade from Nero's hands. "This will prove invaluable in our efforts to understand the weapons used by the Witness's armies."

Ikora laid the sword back onto the table and Nero placed its sheath next to it. Adri turned toward Anna, clearly unaware of Anna's panicked state.

"Yo! I'm Adri. And I hate to be so forward, but... Are you a member of the Order of Orbis Vitae?"

Anna recoiled as if she'd been struck. "E-excuse me? How do you even know about that?"

Adri chuckled slightly. "I study stuff. I have access to Tyra Karn's entire archive, and she me--" Anna interrupted her.

"TYRA KARN IS ALIVE?!"

The outburst faded to silence once more. Adri shuffled her feet and looked to Ikora, then back to Anna. "...yes?"

Anna let out a low whistle. "I'd thought the whole lot of the Iron Lords had been wiped out. But then I learned that Saladin Forge is not only still alive but a VALUS for the Cabal Empire?! Then I learned that Efrideet had run some competition a while back right here in the City. And NOW I find out that Tyra Karn is kicking around still! I know a lot of them died, but how many do you need left to say the entire group wasn't 'wiped out'?"

Nero raised his hand slightly. "And uh... Shiro-4 is still somewhere out in the system."

Anna threw up her hands in exasperation. Ikora interjected before the Lightshaper could continue her ranting.

"I believe we should return to the task at hand: discerning the origin of this weapon. Learning how to combine the strengths of the Pyramids with the Traveler's Light would behoove us quite a lot, I think."

"Right..." Anna took a deep breath. "Yes. Right." She turned toward Adri. "To answer your question, I am the last survivor of the Order of Orbis Vitae. Anna Vita, Lightshaper Cleric Guildmaster. Though I have reason to believe that the Grandmaster might yet live..."

"A mystery for another time." Ikora prompted. "Adri. Nero. What can you tell us about this artifact?"

--------

STATUS: studying the Sol Blade with Ikora Rey, Anna Vita, and Nero Nix

[bllsbailey]

Trump to Newsmax: Dems 'Abusing Country' on Border Security

Former President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax's Chris Salcedo, said when it comes to illegal immigration, our country has never been "abused like it is being abused now."

The 2024 Republican presidential nominee told Salcedo, host of Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show," that the border during his time as president was "peanuts" compared to the its current state.

"There's never been a border so bad as this, and this is all self-inflicted. What they've done to our country is not even believable.

"Allowing murderers and drug dealers and everybody just — they don't even know who they are. All they know is they're murderers, drug dealers. They don't even know," he said.

"They don't know where they are, who they are. They're all over the place. They came into our country totally unvetted, totally unchecked.

"And it turned out we had 13,099 murderers. We had many drug dealers, many terrorists. We had a year," Trump said. "There's never been a time like this."

Trump said the solution is quite simple: Close the border.

"We cannot do this to our country. We've gone through four years of this with people that are incompetent, and we can't do this," he said.

Trump then pivoted to the issue of transgender women competing in women's sports.

"Who would do this?" he questioned of the biologically male volleyball player who transitioned and subsequently is playing on a women's volleyball team.

"Did you see this shot? That was not a woman hitting that. The woman, the girl that got hit on the head said, 'I've never seen any... I've been playing for my whole life,'" he said.

Trump said this policy is very bad for women and "demeans women really terribly."

Trump said President Joe Biden is a "grossly incompetent person," specifically referring to his response efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

"They got hit with a very bad hurricane, especially North Carolina, and spent parts of Georgia. But North Carolina really got hit.

"I'll tell you what, those people should never vote for a Democrat because they held back aid," he said, before outlining the coordinated effort he undertook with Elon Musk to provide Starlink to the storm-ravaged Carolina towns.

"They said, 'Well, we need Starlink.' I said, 'What's Starlink?' And basically, it's a communication system, a great one.

"So, I called Elon, I got the system done. And when they were bringing it, they were stopped. Did you hear that? They were stopped. They couldn't bring it," he said.

"They desperately needed because all there was, they had no communication to anyplace. You know, they were actually cut off by water.

"It's like it's like they were cut off and they desperately and, you know, they stopped them from — it took them two days to get it in. He was going to have it there immediately. So something is strange going on," he said.

Trump said anyone from North Carolina should not vote for a Democrat after this "because what they did is disgusting."

"I think now Biden thinks they're doing wonderful, but he doesn't know what wonderful is. You know, he's run a terrible country and he thinks everything's wonderful. He just wants to, you know, go to sleep at 4 p.m.," Trump quipped.

As for his canceled interview with "60 Minutes," Trump said the network owes him an apology and that CBS committed "election interference."

More broadly, he said the mainstream media "played it down," referring to the assassination attempt on his life during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this year. He further questioned why the FBI has not been able to access three potentially foreign-based apps of gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

[tenaciouspostfun]



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Yellow Face.

Hwang Goes in Many Directions.



By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).Published 7 minutes ago • 3 min read



Robert M. Massimi.

"Yellow Face" at the Todd Haimes Theatre is a difficult play to review in many ways. David Henry Hwang has made himself the lead actor, and he fills the story this semi-autobiographical story with lots of real life people that were involved in the "Miss Saigon" musical ruckus. Even though Hwang is detailed about the occurrences that shrouded the 1991 Tony Award Musical, the play's bad guy is made up and the writer doesn't reveal this until the show's end. First produced in 2007 at The Public Theater, the play focuses more on the laughs than it did back at The Public.

In "Yellow Face", Hwang (Daniel Dae Kim) is writing "Face Value" in response to the yellow-face casting of Johnathan Pryce in his first Broadway debut of "Miss Saigon". Being the first Asian American to have a play produced on Broadway, Hwang had some clout in getting Cameron Mackintosh to cancel the production. Hwang was an important voice, until he wasn't any longer. The show opened and proceeded to win multiple Tony's.

In the audition for "Face Value", Hwang wants to cast Marcus. G. Dahlman (Ryan Eggold), but others think that he does not look Asian. To Hwang's dismay, he calls racist to "Stereotype" Asians as having a certain look and build. Where this scene was more serious at The Public, it plays here for pure laughs.

The play's best- written scenes take place between Hwang and his father (Francis Jue). Jue is delightful in his role as a successful banker in Los Angeles who prizes his success and the American dream above all else. As the founder of Far East National Bank, he came to America and worked pressing laundry. To himself, he is the quintessential American dream; he quotes both American actors as well as American singers (Sinatra and Jimmy Stewart are two of his favorites).

Director Leigh Silverman works well with the talented cast; the actors for the most part keep us entertained for the one hour forty five minutes. Silverman did a better job here than when she directed this show at The Public.Where The Public had an intermission, this show does not. Anita Yavich are very plain and uninspiring. Lap Chi Chu's lighting design ran from glam to edgy. Arnulfo Maldonado's sets were creative and the blending of the sets with the scene's melded well. For the most part, "Yellow Face" was a good play for the most part. (at the 55 minute mark till the hour-five minute point the show slowed up quite a bit).

Taken on its face value, Hwang makes some resonate points about typecasting and how things are done in the theater world. Hwang, however, omits many factual points in his body of work: while he quotes yahoo Republican Congressman verbatim, he leaves out that Mr. Hwang hired Tom Bradley, then the mayor of Los Angeles, as a consultant. Mr. Bradley had also received a loan from the bank and at the same time secured $2 million in city funds. Hwang tells the audience that America killed his fathers dream and virtually killed him; that he ended up cursing the country that made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.

When reporter Greg Keller asks Hwang pointed questions, he comes off like a villain... he portrays the reporter as having a distorted idea of Asian Americans. Like so many liberal-minded writers, Hwang turned the reporter in a antagonist. He paints the white male reporter as a hater, as does so many plays that lean into the PC today on Broadway.

Hwang borders on hypocrisy when dealing with the "Miss Saigon" issue. In M.Butterfly he casted a cis gender to play the spy and not a transgender. He also never credited the real writer of "M.Butterfly", NY Times writer Joyce Wadler who reported the actual affair. The 1993 nonfiction book "Liaison" was used a source material for M.Butterfly and Wadler was never credited in the show's Playbill.

Broadway, Tony awards, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Roommate, McNeal, M.Butterfly, Sunset Boulevard, Romeo and Juliet, The Outsiders.

Critique

About the Creator



Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).

I have been writing on theater since 1982. A graduate from Manhattan College B.S. A member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, which recognizes excellence in both English and Science. I have produced 14 shows on and off Broadway. I've seen over700 shows

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Mc Neal

"McNeal" Illusion vs Reality. What is the best play in this very early fall theater season, "McNeal" at Lincoln Center, has Robert Downey Jr, playing Jacob McNeal. Mr. Downey was custom made for this role; his firebrand, rapid fire style as the Nobel Laureate for Literature keeps the pace flowing for the one hour- forty five minute intermission-less play.

RMM(BB

ByRobert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).3 days ago in Art



Art Inspires: a challenge

What kind of feelings does the above artwork evoke in you? Can you express them in words? If you are viewing this page as a Vocal creator, then the answer to this question ought to be an emphatic YES, even if the picture does not appeal to you. If you are a reader of stories such as this, and don't think of yourself as a story-writer or poet, then perhaps now is a good time to think again.

RGT

ByRaymond G. Taylor10 days ago in Art



Unveiling the Radiance of Synthetic Diamonds Jewelry

Synthetic diamonds jewelry has gained immense popularity in recent years due to its affordability, ethical production, and stunning brilliance. Unlike natural diamonds, synthetic diamonds are created in a controlled environment using advanced technology, yet they possess the same physical and chemical properties as mined diamonds. As the demand for sustainable and exquisite alternatives rises, synthetic diamonds jewelry offers a perfect blend of luxury and environmental consciousness.

S

Byshreshtha day ago in Art



Circumstances Beyond Control

I am not a historically or politically savvy individual.I am the average Josephine, or Joe, who reads and listens to the news when it comes to me. Often someone points out an issue that makes me curious.

KDG

ByKatherine D. Graham5 days ago in Psyche

Written by Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).

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[dankusner]

Transphobic Dress Code Prompted Turmoil in Agriculture Department, Emails Show

For over a year, employees of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) have been subject to a dress code that is transphobic and potentially illegal.

The policy has caused turmoil within the agency, emails obtained by the Texas Observer and interviews reveal, along with contributing to a chilling atmosphere for LGBTQ+ workers.

Last April, the Observer broke the news that the TDA had implemented a new dress code which required employees to dress “in a manner consistent with their biological gender”—an apparent attempt to restrict how transgender and nonbinary employees express themselves.

Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, defended the policy in media appearances and on social media.

Since then, the nonprofit American Oversight obtained a cache of emails pertaining to the policy through a public information request and provided those emails to the Observer.

The emails show that senior agency staff were aware TDA was wading into legally dubious waters and that a number of employees objected to its implementation and felt personally discriminated against.

Austin Kaplan, an employment attorney in Austin, told the Observer he was “surprised” that no one has yet sued TDA over the policy.

“It certainly seems like an issue that could be ripe for litigation because it’s right on its face discriminating against people for sexual orientation or transgender status.”

In a landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, justices ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination for their gender or sexual identity.

In the emails, the question of whether that ruling applies to the proposed dress code is discussed by senior staff at the TDA.

“I do not feel the same level of safety that I did in previous state jobs.”

On April 18, 2023, TDA Policy Analyst Carter Page, shared a chart comparing interpretations of the law under the Obama and Trump administrations, commenting:

“This table below offers a very good summary, regarding how volatile these controversial related policy / legal questions have remained over the last decade or so.”

This email was to multiple recipients including TDA General Counsel Tim Kleinschmidt and Terry Keel, Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture for Enforcement, Consumer Protection, and Border Security.

On April 24, 2023, Page shared news of Ken Paxton supporting a lawsuit over transgender athletes led by Tennessee, including Paxton’s legal arguments about both Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

The email was sent to Miller and other top TDA officials.

“The records that we have received demonstrate that senior TDA officials were well aware of the potentially unlawful nature of their policy,” said Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director at American Oversight, a nonprofit that aims to use public records law to combat corruption. “[TDA officials] were taking precautions to try and defend something that is otherwise indefensible in light of Title VII.”

According to Kaplan, “It was made abundantly clear by the Supreme Court that LGBTQ+ rights are protected by federal statute and employers are not permitted to discriminate. The conservative politicians might not like it, the conservative elected agency heads might not like it, but they don’t really have a choice.”

Though the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled specifically on dress codes for transgender employees, Kaplan noted that courts have begun to make important rulings based on Bostock.

For example, in March, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a transgender male prison guard who sued after being repeatedly harassed over his gender identity by coworkers.

TDA did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its dress code or other topics revealed in the emails.

The emails also show that some employees revolted against the policy.

On April 30, 2023, Lena Wilson, assistant commissioner for food and nutrition, gave her employees a warning.

“Please remember that political discussions need to occur outside the office,” she wrote. “I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to voice your concerns with your leadership chain or HR.”

About two weeks later, an employee whose name was redacted wrote that “The email on 4/30/2023 made me unsure about how to express my concern about the new dress code policy since discussing political or sensitive subjects appeared to be discouraged. … The audacity and impact of this policy has garnered national attention, damaging the reputation of the agency and our division,” the employee continued.

“How can we as a division mandate that our program participants comply with civil rights policy when our own leadership does not?”

Another employee with a redacted name wrote:

“Within the past six months, several trans, queer, and/or gender-nonconforming staff have been hired by the TDA. This timing could lead one to conclude that this policy is a direct result of trans visibility in the workplace. By implementing discriminatory policies, TDA forces compliance with behaviors that contradict our identities, or makes the workplace uncomfortable enough that we are forced to leave.”

This May, the Observer spoke with a current employee in TDA’s food and nutrition division, who confirmed that the dress code remains in place.

“I was disgusted while reading through all of the agency operating procedures during my first few days of work,” said the employee, who is queer and requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from TDA.

Previously, the employee worked elsewhere in state government.

“Although I am open about my queerness, I do not feel the same level of safety that I did in previous state jobs.”

Natalie Rougeux, an employment lawyer in New Braunfels who represents employers and has provided employment law training for TDA, told the Observer she’d strongly advise her clients against adopting similar policies to the TDA dress code.

“Let’s just say, hypothetically, an employee is terminated from employment, and they feel that it’s due to their transgender status. That policy could certainly be used as circumstantial evidence of an animus toward individuals who are transgender.”

Rougeux noted that the Supreme Court, in its Bostock decision on gender identity, had not ruled on issues like attire, which it deliberately left for future cases.

“I don’t want one of my clients to be that future case.”

An email from Rougeux was included in the documents provided by American Oversight.

In it, Rougeux responded to an apparent complaint (not included in the records) from a TDA human resources employee about a training Rougeux had provided.

“I removed the issue of bathroom choice and attire from my training in light of the Texas and Tennessee cases and your commissioner’s stance on the issue, but I feel that deliberately deadnaming an individual could still be harassment. … My apologies if I did anything upsetting. However, I do stand by my training,” Rougeux wrote in the June 12, 2023, message.

“Deadnaming” means calling a transgender person by a former or incorrect name.

In the email, Rougeux referenced 2022 court rulings in Texas and Tennessee that struck down federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The EEOC has since issued revised guidelines, which Texas and other states are once again challenging.

But, the bottom line, according to Rougeux, is that nothing prevents “employees from filing claims if they felt they were being mistreated in the workplace due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.”

Kaplan agreed with Rougeux.

“If you’re deadnaming someone, you may well be harassing them on the basis of their sexual orientation.”

A transphobic meme suggesting that teachers, rather than children themselves, are responsible for young people coming out as trans or queer.

Sid Miller took to social media to share a transphobic meme last April. (Screenshot/Twitter)

TDA’s dress code has drawn continued fire from advocates. Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the national pro-LGBTQ+ group GLAAD, condemned the policy in a written statement to the Observer.

“LGBTQ people farm, work and live in Texas,” she wrote.

“Commissioner Miller works for them too. All Texans deserve a public servant who serves all in public, and at minimum doesn’t waste time and money targeting people for who they are or how they dress.”

Miller has continued to publicly defend the dress code on social media as recently as April.

In response to the Observer reposting its original story about the TDA policy on X, Miller responded: “Men are men. Women are women, and the @TexasObserver is a clown show.”

According to Chukwu, this kind of public behavior along with the emails themselves show Miller’s priorities are out of alignment with his job.

“The commissioner, who was one of the policy’s architects, was more concerned with appeasing the anti-trans and anti-nonbinary sentiments of certain officials than with creating a comfortable and inclusive work environment for all employees.”

[zealsoughtsequesterustanxiedemon]

On last RB

reminds me of the cis male version of that. Brain used to get so weird about trans fans of those characters that would claim that they were trans.

Was very stuck in the mindset of like "Okay they aren't definitionally transgender" (whatever that means). Most people saying it probably mean they're more, like, thematically transgender or just very relatable to trans people. Or they're just unaware of how cis people could relate to it. I've actually seen my fair share of comments from trans women on GB/CD manga going, "I don't know understand what cis people get out of this". They make me laugh.

Regardless I'm not very bothered by it nowadays unless it's accompanied by complaints about people gendering the character as male. Or just shitting on the author for "not understanding that trans people exist." The latter def still annoys me, like this character couldn't be an honest exploration of gender or that the author actually wanted to make a trans character and got told no by publishers. But my brains better now about just muting/blocking and moving on.

Cause I do understand the frustration. There's not a lot of trans characters out there in anime/manga, at least not in the mainstream. These are characters they really relate to and see themselves in. I at least feel being disappointed when a character you thought was trans has the story opt out of making them trans. I've definitely had those with gender bending stories before, even had one that did the opt-out right at the end and left me crying and angry and feeling like shit. I get wanting to see your gender identity reflected there. And for them talking about it they basically get harassed. Even if they can still be an asshole about it sometimes, it's such a minor issue to me now. Again, if it really bothers me, I can always mute/block and move on.

Really we should have plenty of trans and cis gnc characters to pick from. Personally speaking, I definitely need the latter and want more of the former that I don't just see as the latter. Cis people, at least a decent portion of us are always gonna need cis characters that fly in the face of gender norms. It's always weird when people call that kind of behavior "not very cis", when like, to some of us it's kinda intrinsic to being cis. Struggling with gender was actually always a cis experience thing to me; like, not a struggle about which gender you are but like how good at gender you are. Feeling like less or like more of a man. I saw that type of insecurity everywhere growing up, not all equivalent, but definitely there in some amount. Seeing this kind of exaggeratedly "feminine" traits being carried by a man who's often very secure in his masculinity feels so freeing. Even when those characters are insecure, I can see someone who feels a lot like me. It validates my "feminine" interests, lets me feel okay to want to be cuter, wear different clothes, etc.

Its nice seeing that trans people, especially my friends, love these characters too. I love that there's people like me out there, connecting to the same characters, even if we're just a little different (or a lot different). I think part of my original insecurity with these characters being called trans was, like, I figured these were people who'd understand exactly how I'd feel about these characters, but instead, from my understanding at the time, they were denying me. Saying that I shouldn't relate to that character or that if I did I'm probably not what I think I am. The cis side of the conversation is often v surface level ("He's just a guy who likes cute things" or pointing at snapshot-able gender confirmations). So glad I've got plenty of trans friends now who make me feel cool about this stuff and can talk more substantively on characters like this. I love em and wouldn't trade em for any amount of transphobic assholes that'd call these characters men purely because of their AGAB. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[coochiequeens]

A violent man leads other violent men to vandalize a place of cultural significance because he was told to leave the women's restroom. After the cinema apologized and the security guards were fired. This became just an excuse to vandalize and steal.

By Nuria Muíña García. September 22, 2023

A trans-identified male led a gang of activists to ransack the concession of a culturally significant cinematheque in Mexico last week in protest of his removal from the women’s washroom.

On September 12, a man calling himself “Laura Glover” took to social media to complain that he had been physically removed from the women’s washroom at the National Cinematheque in Mexico City, the nation’s most culturally significant film archive and theatre.

Following his removal, Glover went to lodge a complaint against the guards at one of the cinema’s offices, where an employee asked him to calm down and referred to him as “sir,” which, in his own words, “invalidated his gender identity.”

Glover was then recorded by his friend confronting security outside of the cinema, screaming at a male guard for the behavior of the female officer who had initially asked him to leave the women’s facilities.

“This is an act of discrimination by the National Cinematheque of Mexico,” Glover exclaimed in the video. “We women are tired. This bitch beat at my door and she hit it very hard and this happened at the National Cinematheque of Mexico.”

Towards the end of the short clip, initially uploaded to Instagram, Glover was seen verbally attacking the female guard, calling her sexist slurs and attempting to stalk her across the entrance path as she tried to keep her distance from him.

Within hours of the clip going viral on social media, the Cinematheque issued a statement apologizing to Glover and reaffirming its commitment to “non-discrimination.”

In the apology, uploaded to the Cinematheque’s official X account, the cultural site goes on to state it was committing to the re-education of its employees, and would be sending staff to “training, awareness and professionalization courses on human rights, the right to non-discrimination and the right to equality.”

But despite receiving an official apology and the termination of the security guards involved in the incident, Glover called for a protest at the Cinematheque on September 16, demanding the resignation of the cultural heritage site’s managing director, Alejandro Pelayo.

According to Excélsior, the protest was attended by approximately “500 members of the trans and non-binary community, as well as LGBT+ dissidents.” Glover used a loudspeaker to call the Cinematheque transphobic, and was later seen encouraging members of his gang to ransack and steal from the cinema’s concession stand.

During the protest, Glover presented a petition calling for both the resignation of Cinematheque manager Pelayo and a 30% employment quota for people who claim to be trans.

Outside the Cinematheque, trans activists vandalized screens and walls, spray painting slogans such as “Let us shit, Cineteca NaZional.”

Glover has threatened another protest at the Cinematheque this coming Saturday, complaining that his demands have not yet been met by Cinematheque administrators.

Trans activists in Mexico are known for being particularly violent and staging aggressive or hostile demonstrations against those they disagree with.

Earlier this year, trans activists violently attempted to siege Mexico City’s Congress after an initiative was introduced to ban minors from accessing “gender affirming” surgery. In disturbing footage circulated on X from both inside and outside of the House of Congress, a hoard of screaming trans activists were seen smashing their way into the historic building by beating and breaking the glass window panels open.

In July of 2022, a transgender politician violently disrupted a government conference aimed at tackling human trafficking after becoming offended at the implications abolitionist policies would have on trans “sex workers.”

Maria Clemente, a trans-identified male politician elected to Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies last year, called the suggestion that the sex trade be abolished for the protection of women and children “hate speech.” To a critic, Clemente said: “I am a woman, and I am a whore!  It’s my job and and how my family eats! I love it!”

Clemente was later exposed for having allegedly lied about being in the sex trade after his ex-husband issued a scathing rebuttal of his public persona in a public letter he posted in an effort to demand Clemente finalize their divorce. 

Months later, trans activists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico staged a “coup” of one of the women’s washrooms on the campus in apparent retaliation for a lesbian pride mural having been painted nearby.

The activists claimed the mural made them feel “unsafe” and demanded another gender neutral washroom be established near the Samuel Ramos Library. Less than 24 hours later, the activists took over the largest women’s restroom in the building, littering the walls with threatening vandalism directed at women who are critical of gender ideology.