#i didn't find a queer flag

[ginger-grimm]

PRIDE EXCHANGE

Ruby Fitzherbert for @come-along-pond

I hope you like it!

[saph-yells-into-the-void]

the amount of DISDAIN I get from some ppl saying that blue flag is written for the straights.

girl I did not stay up til 6am reading this manga, tearing up and crying bc of how much I saw myself in characters like touma and masumi and how painfully relatable their pain/struggles were just for you to say that blue flag is for the straights

be so fr rn

[proustianrevelry]

Listen I'm not going to lie, the TV series pickings are SLIM and the shows that does is gay look pretty dire (Watch Spec Ops: Lioness, a bw/bw love story that's mostly about the women's work as gritty brave dark tortured heroic US spies who are also The Troops, now streaming on Paramount+).

But film! Queer cinema!!!! There is so much good gay art! Some of it isn't even from the imperial core, that's how marginalized the queer voices you'll be hearing from are!

Incomplete List of Heterogeneous Queer Films from 2023:

Strange Way of Life (Latino lead, iconic gay director Pedro Almodovar)

Cassandro (Mexican film, biopic overwhelmingly Latino cast, also look up the real Cassandro and watch some highlights from his matches imo)

Mutt (trans man protagonist played by transmasc actor)

Nyad (old white lesbian swimmers)

Monica (trans woman protagonist played by a trans woman)

Joyland - Pakistani film about a trans woman Biba, her straight suitor Haider, and his wife Mumtaz

Frybread Face and Me - Diné kid who is lowkey shamed/punished for liking ~girl stuff~ too much is sent to live on a reservation with his grandmother and cousin. Instead of becoming "manlier" from the ranch chores he learns to do, he instead finds room to breathe, love and acceptance in Diné culture, whose gender concepts and roles are different enough from settlers' that he isn't bullied or "corrected" when he plays with dolls or talks about Fleetwood Mac or hangs out with his cousin Dawn instead of finding a male best friend or a girlfriend. (Is this queer? I don't know but I'm putting it on here because it's a film about the violence and coercion faced by anybody doing their assigned gender "wrong," and how it starts before sexuality, before puberty, at a point in childhood where "boys" and "girls" are differentiated mainly by their hair, clothes and friend group.)

Nimona (animated film adaptation of the beloved comic about a bitey shapeshifting genderfuck goblin and its new gay dad villainous mentor. Trans author.)

Bottoms (sex comedy starring 2 queer teens played by queer women - Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri)

[giantkillerjack]

The Supernatural fandom is infinitely better to be a part of now that no one in the fandom actually thinks Supernatural is good XD

whenever i see another tiktok girlie talking about how she wishes to have been a fangirl in 2010s i feel like a seasoned veteran overhearing a foolish youngin boasting about wanting to go to war for glory and adventure. you naive little idiot. you know nothing. you understand nothing. you weren't there in the trenches. i have seen things, terrible things. i cannot plug in my phone charger at night without being plagued by the visions of Him

[mr-and-mr-mitchell]

Shows that got cancelled despite being good, popular, and having tonnes of potential to go on to become classics:

Kaos - 1 season - Netflix - Ends with set up for a following season

Shadow and Bone - 2 seasons - Netflix - Season 3 was already mostly written when cancelled

My Lady Jane - 1 season - Amazon Prime - Story not resolved, set up for a second season (in fact the show shows you what's supposed to happen in the second season)

Half-Bad: The Bastard Child and the Devil Himself - 1 Season - Netflix - Main story wrapped up but easily open enough for a second series exploring the world

Star Wars: The Acolyte - 1 season - Disney Plus - First series feels mostly like set up for a second series we'll now never get

Dead Boy Detectives - 1 season - Netflix - Set up for a second series with a minor cliff hanger and an open continuation for the characters

Lockwood and Co - 1 season - Netflix - Potential for a second season

I Am Not Okay With This - 1 season - Netflix - Story not properly resolved, needed a second season

National Treasure: Edge of History - 1 season - Disney Plus - Story concluded, but lots of potential for a second season

Gentleman Jack - 2 Seasons - HBO Max/BBC - So much more potential, it had so much real life basis it could have followed

Our Flag Means Death - 2 Seasons - HBO Max - I actually liked the ending we got, but I feel like the show had more potential, particularly with the crew

First Kill - 1 season - Netflix - (Not one I watched, it was on my tbw but it got cancelled and I didn't see the point)

Grease: Rise of The Pink Ladies - 1 season - Disney Plus - So much more potential And Insult to injury they've all but wiped it from the platform

A running theme for these shows are that they have a pretty high amount of LGBT rep, with a lot of these shows centering on queer characters and stories, as well as representation for POC. There are also a lot of fantasy/supernatural shows.

I just find it fascinating that there seems to be a lot of similarities between most of these shows.

[sol-draws-sometimes]

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

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

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

[the-official-legacies-blog]

I know I said I would only be talking about Palestine this week, but I need to talk about this as well.

This is somewhat political and also a personal rant.

I stated on @crystalsandbubbletea (My main for those who are unaware) that I am a minor with ADHD, Autism, and possible anxiety who is part of the LGBTQIA+ community and is also Indigenous American (Ponca Tribe). Why am I mentioning this?

Because of the 'Kids Online Safety Act', AKA 'KOSA'.

If this bill gets passed, I will be unable to post Legacies or gain access to the things that inspire me to work on Legacies. I created Legacies because I wanted people like me to have a series to relate to, I also created Legacies to debunk multiple harmful stereotypes.

Here comes the personal rant part:

When I realized I was part of the LGBTQIA+ community (I was approximately nine years old at the time), I tried so hard to find pieces of media I could relate to, specifically media with queer neurodivergent non-white people. Unfortunately I didn't find that much media that covered those categories.

Fast forward to some time later (Specifically when I was fourteen), I ended up deciding that I can make a series that people like me can relate to. After multiple rough drafts in my brain, and multiple scrapped storylines, I came up with Legacies, a series that starts off as an alternative history of the world and then eventually becomes a piece of fanfiction. I eventually decided the first protagonist would be a nonbinary polyamorous lesbian living in the Ottoman Empire, and after some more time, I decided their name would be 'Alex Adil Emre Yukime'. I then started planning the second protagonist, this protagonist would be Hungarian-Palestinian that's nonbinary, polyamorous, trixic, demisexual and demiromantic (Note: All the arcs Berat is in takes place in the 2500's).

I was ultimately satisfied when I finalized the storyline, and was happy.

(Rant ends here)

Unfortunately that happiness wouldn't last long when I learned about KOSA. If KOSA gets passed, Legacies will be unable to reach it's targeted demographics, and that will mean all my hopes and dreams were for nothing.

I won't be the only one affected, many more people will also be affected, specifically LGBTQIA+ youth. We will be unable to find anything LGBTQIA+ related because it will be flagged as "Not safe for minors". Trans people are already facing censorship (Looking at you, Tumblr staff) and this bill will make it worse.

So please, call and email your representatives, and tell them to not let KOSA pass. This bill is censorship and censorship is a form of facism.

[love-byers]

so as hard as it may be to believe, i was a mileven shipper right up until just before vol 2 of s4 came out. not hardcore twitter mileven, but a shipper nonetheless. i did love will and mike's relationship, maybe even more than mileven, but i never clocked it as romantic. i vividly remember thinking "aww, will and mike would be so cute together but they would never let that happen." and never thought about it again. even when i saw the rain fight and heard "it's not my fault you don't like girls" i was like "ohh wow so will is probably gay" and didn't even think he was in love with mike. i didn't believe that until the s4 trailer said "i think there is someone he likes" and of course, this was because of my own heteronormativity. i dismissed everything i saw and didn't even look for hints because the idea that the writers would allow a gay relationship between two main characters was not even a thought in my head. once i dropped that and started to trust that the writers actually cared and did want queer characters/storylines, everything made sense.

so i went into s4 thinking mileven were gonna be fine and that will was sad and hopelessly in love with mike. i mean fully believing it. so im mindlessly watching s4 e2 and thinking "aww poor will mike is so in love with el he can't pay attention to will" no questions asked.

then the fight happened. when mike blew up and said "you were! you were! you were rolling your eyes, you were moping, you were barely talking you basically sabotaged the whole day" i was like " how do you know that" but still, i dismissed it and barely thought about it.

then it happened. "we're friends! we're. friends." all the alarm bells went off. red flags flew up. my eyebrows furrowed. "ummm what mike? he didn't say you were more than friends. why is he viewing this romantically and why is he being so defensive???"

i was so deep into believing the writers would never let the gay romance happen, but that just couldn't get past me. there's no other way that line can be interpreted. that's a trope that means one thing and one thing only.

my next thought was "ok, this is gonna be like the rain fight. will is gonna be really hurt by this and go silent."

but nope, will claps back with "well we used to be best friends!" and i was stunned. utterly stunned. what is going on here? what is this dynamic? and why is mike more worried about this than finding el? why did he care enough to completely stop walking so he couple blow up at will for not talking?? but still, i was somehow able to let this go. because the writers just wouldn't do that. would they?

the mileven fight happens and i've never wanted to backhand a teenager more in my entire life. i'm reminded of stancy and their whole "i love you" thing

then THIS happened, and i was thinking more and more that mike doesn't love el romantically. look at his face when will says "whatever you didn't say you can say it to her then". will starts talking but the camera stays focused on mike and will remains blurred. we're supposed to be taking in mikes reaction. he says yes, but frowns and blinks rapidly. will was trying to reassure him, but mike has not been reassured. i don't know how to describe the emotion on his face. it's like you just had a chance to clear up your lie, but you still didn't, and now you're back to thinking about the moment your lie will blow up in your face. it's like his face is saying, "no, i can't just say it to her then because i don't want to."

the scene where they talk on top of the car is what started to make me think mike doesn't love el romantically. his reaction to will saying "it's scary, to say how you really feel. especially to people you care about the most. because..what if they don't like the truth?" he nodded. he felt seen. i remember thinking "ooooh. he doesn't love her and he knows she won't like that" everything made sense. if we apply mike's monologue logic to this, it makes no sense. whatever it is that mike is feeling, he thinks el won't like it. then he supposedly decides that the moment to tell her that is when she's dying?

mike is lying. he was holding back saying how he feels because he knows el won't like it. then when she's dying, he suddenly thinks his feelings are what she wants enough that it'll save her life? whatever he was feeling on top of the car and what he tells her in the monologue are not the same. you don't tell someone something they won't like when they're dying.

and 2 years ago i came to this conclusion without an ounce me believing byler could be canon.

[libraford]

My Abuela didn't know who Marsha P Johnson was and very politely asked me on the meme I reblogged on faceboon who the pretty lady was. I was then able to explain to my almost 90 year old grandmother who this woman was and then some random guy who I think is friends with my Abuela went on a rant on how 'We', the gays, didn't need to ram Pride down his throat.

Like bro, I'm a bisexual, queer gender LGBT+ activist in my community. All I do on my Facebook is be a vocal fuck. You came into my house and complain? Blocked.

My poor Abuela apologized on his behalf. Nah Abuela, you don't apologize on behalf of stupid. You're good.

The 'ramming it down everyone's throat' phrase is so old and tired that wakes up with a backache in the morning.

When I first worked at parks, they put me in a car with a loudmouth. I make no secrets about my sexuality, but unless you get me talking about it the most people see is that I have a rainbow bag and I talk about my girlfriend.

The loudmouth brought Pride up first. He saw the bag and he started talking about Pride and how 'it used to be just a fun party but now its all political.'

I chose not to correct him.

And 'he's not homophobic- his sister is a lesbian.'

I chose not to say anything.

And 'he doesn't mind anyone being gay, but why does everyone gotta know?'

And so I told him:

"The reason that I come out to people on first meeting, and the reason why I make it known, and the reason I'm unapologetic about it- is because I have been fired before for my sexuality. And I would rather say it out loud and have people know and they can be quick about their decision rather than have to keep it a secret and risk losing a good job when they eventually find out."

And he got real quiet.

And then back in the breakroom he told everyone that I was 'ramming it down his throat.'

And I think about the language usage. It evokes sexual violence. That's what it is to them, I think. 'I can't look at a rainbow flag without thinking about sex.'

Well.

That's its own problem.

[fixing-bad-posts]

Thank you so much for explaining about the kink at pride thing! I’ve never actually been to pride, I live with a conservative family and don’t have a driver’s license or car of my own, but I hope to go sometime in the future. I definitely feel better about it knowing nothing explicit is shown, and while some kink stuff does make me uncomfortable yeah I can just look away and kids get told ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’ all the time. I’ll try to find more people on the subject and I’ll get firsthand experience of what it’s like when I finally attend pride, and I do agree with other stuff where stuff (like social media) shouldn’t be sanitized and rather spaces without inappropriate should just be created for kids and others who just don’t want it, so logically the same should be applied here. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain without getting mad I was really scared about sending an ask!

(context)

my pleasure, anon! definitely talk to people who have been to your local pride celebrations before if you're worried about anything, and have a happy pride month 🌈

i also wanted to say that although i may seem confidently sex & kink positive at this point in my life, it wasn't always like that.

confessionally, when i saw kink at my first pride (it was leather pups), i was definitely uncomfortable and looked away. i even thought it didn't make sense of them to be there, and wondered why they were included. but those feelings didn't overshadow the fun i had that day, and the joy i experienced being around people who were unashamed to love themselves and were queer like me. one of my friends asked me what exactly my identity was and for the first time i put a name to myself and chose a flag. it was euphoria. these days when i go to pride and see kink-celebration, i cheer as loud as i can because of the self-acceptance and resilient queer history they represent for me <3

[genderqueerdykes]

i understand they're not for everyone, but i do think a lot of people who are primarily exposed to queerness through online discourse would benefit from going to a queer bar and experiencing other queers having fun with each other in a distinctly queer way. i had been looking to attend a kink night at a queer bar for a while, and I finally got to go to one last night, and i'm very glad that i did. I was fortunate that the bar I went to had CBD drinks, so I could enjoy myself despite not being able to drink alcohol

there was an old woman with a rollator who set up at a table right next to the stage with free candy and snacks for everyone, but especially for the drag performers. I found that a lot of people there ended up calling her mom. she gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me to get home safe as I was leaving. she told me she'd see me next weekend, see was there every week.

there were adults of all ages there it was an underwear & animal play night, and the house was busy. drag queens and kings, bears, pups, bunnies, cats, leather people and all kinds of vanilla folks showed up. people in collars and harnesses, in jockstraps and leather briefs, on leashes, being lead around on their hands and knees. there were drag performances all throughout the nights and some of the queens included BDSM elements into their performances

i spent the night dancing with the leather puppy boys including an FTM pup who became my friend, some extremely cute old men with white hair and glittery shorts, a middle aged asian man in tiny black undies who really got into the music, an older man who looked like Freddie Mercury who was wearing tiny undies with pink straps and tall pink pumps, a lesbian couple who were fiercely making out most of the night, and a very tall person wearing a shirt that said "stay queer as fuck" with glittery rhinestoned shoes.

i saw a lot of people who were unafraid to be themselves. a lot of people who were willing to show this small slice of the world who they are, their authentic self, no matter what that meant. no one did anything that invaded my boundaries by being their authentic selves. others being loud and proud about themselves didn't drown me out. i felt more like it was okay to be who i was, too. dancing with the pups helped me realize that i'm ready to get into pup play, after questioning if it was for me for years. the exposure was healthy, it's hard to know certain things for sure until you actually put yourself out there

it's not an environment for everyone, i get that. but in whatever ways you can find it exposure to other queers in person is lifesaving, especially when you are having fun. sitting and meeting with each other and discussing what it means to be queer is important, but having fun together in a queer way is literally vital to our health and well being. just talking about being queer all the time won't nourish your soul. experiencing queer fun is necessary, especially when it comes to adults. we're need to and are allowed to have fun with each other in a distinctly queer way. it's important to embrace it when and where possible, in whatever ways make sense for you.

you'll feel a lot less self conscious when you see other people happily flying their freak flag, too

[mean-vampyre]

In the Riverdale Pride episode, a prominent gay leader of the community appears to have been murdered by strangulation with a flag the day before the parade.

Archie: Guys, Riverdale will never be safe until we find the homophobic killer who is trying to sabotage the parade with hate crimes.

Veronica: Archiekins, I agree that we cannot let Riverdale's first and best pride parade be ruined - God knows this town needs a little rainbow -, but we cannot assume that the killer is homophobic. He or she could be queer.

Betty: Yeah, Arch, Veronica is right. Girls, gays, and thems can be killers too. We cannot assume this is a hate crime. There have been plenty of gay killers in this town. It could be one of them.

Jughead: Classic serial killer narrative. The white picket fenced American dream is threatened by the gay man, so he turns into a killer to overcome his own phobias and conform to the ideal of toxic masculinity.

Veronica: Umm, Jughead, check your misogyny. This crime could have been committed by a lesbian.

Cheryl: I disagree. A lesbian would never make such a slanderous act of ill taste. It is far too overt to slay him with his own flag.

Toni: For all we know, the killer could be someone who wants to send a message. My bet is on Hiram. He is angry the LGBTQ+ association of Riverdale didn't let him sponsor the parade because palladium mines are funding his juvenile prison complex that incarcerates a lot of the serpent queer kids.

Veronica: My daddykins has done a lot of bad things, but he has yet to become a bigot. He is an ally and supports trans kids. In fact, he has been trying to get into the pharmaceutical business to develop his own line of hrt that would be far cheaper than what the current big pharma ghouls are selling.

Archie: Okay, fine. Let's assume the killer is a nonbinary biromantic asexual masc-presenting person. But why would they kill someone the day before the parade?

Tabitha: Wait, maybe this crime is related to a drug deal gone bad. Haven't there been a few of those in Riverdale in the past years?

Archie: Like Jason Blossom?

Betty: Yeah, exactly. This could be related to Jason.

Reggie: So you're saying they killed Jason because he was gay?

Betty: Reggie, aren't you listening? The fact that Jason Blossom was gay has nothing to do with the fact that he was killed. The killer had other motives.

Jughead: But the killer could be trying to recreate that murder. See, I don't think the question is who did it or why, but how much of the darkness of Riverdale is hiding in plain sight, waiting to corrupt all the good things that people are trying to make happen.

Gay Kevin: I'm gay.

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Queer League of Legends Champions (with explanations) - Part II

Check out Part I

Confirmed Pansexuals – Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate was always speculated to be part of the LGBTQ+ community due to his, uh, flamboyancy. The sentiment that he felt something more for Graves was always there, portrayed in their stories through regret, friendship, and loyalty. The Boys and Bombolini color story officially confirmed him as queer, making TFGraves the faces of Pride 2022. This year, he was also seen with the pansexual flag in official pride art, with Riot finally labeling him. It's worth noticing a cute detail (that I doubt was intentional) where his card deck's colors form the colors of his flag!

Confirmed Queers – Ahri, Ekko, Evelynn, Ezreal, Kayn, Nidalee, Renata Glasc, Samira, Taric, Udyr

Ok, this is a long category. Here we have every champion we know for sure is queer, either through external confirmation (Ekko, Ezreal, Kayn, Renata Glasc, Taric), in-game dialogue (Nidalee, Samira, Udyr), or basic lore (Ahri, Evelynn). Let's start with the first group.

Throughout the first half of 2020, Riot released multiple chapters of a Pulsifire color story focused on Ezreal. It explored his relationships with numerous champions of the universe, but especially Ekko. The subtext was strong in this one, and the writer later took to Twitter to talk about how tough it was to have queer stories be censored when working for IPs, not so subtly mentioning Ezreal and Ekko after doing so. Even though Riot might not have agreed with making the Ezko relationship undeniably romantic, their love for one another is still an important part of the story, not to mention that it was the creator's intended vision to begin with. 

Renata Glasc was confirmed as sapphic by one of her creators when sharing concept art of her design. Checking the link to the original post, they seem to have deleted the excerpt that mentions it, but people took screenshots before they edited it, most likely because of Riot. Taric, on the other hand, has been speculated to be queer since forever, although the motives are not that pure. Many people saw this hairless, beautiful man that likes jewels and was like, "Huh, that sounds kinda gay," which was the common dudebro mentality of the fandom at the time of his release that caused a lot of homophobia within the player base (more than usual). They weren't wrong, seeing as Riot did include Taric in official 2023 pride art, but he was not seen wearing or holding any flags. After all, it would make sense that he likes everything—and everyone—beautiful. But either way, both Taric and Renata are non-specified queers.

Shieda Kayn is a weirder case. I thought a lot about whether I should even include him in this category at all. There are many accounts of people affirming one of Kayn's writers pictured him as having fluid sexuality, but since then, wherever it was posted, it's gone now. I do believe it since we can still find Reddit threads on the subject, but the original source is nowhere to be found. I still decided to put him here, but take it with a grain of salt.

Moving on to our next category, we have Nidalee, Samira, and Udyr. Samira flirts more than once with Elegant Edge in Legends of Runeterra, and her attraction for her is not subtle. As far as I'm aware, she's never expressed interest in men, but we can't say for sure whether she's bi, pan, or gay. Nidalee and Udyr have had speculated romantic interests in other champions for a while now. Nidalee with Neeko, Udyr with Lee Sin. Nidalee and Neeko's story was first portrayed as one-sided, with Neeko rejected by her friend, prompting them to part ways. On the other hand, the addition of both champions to Legends of Runeterra explored their relationship once again, with the two reuniting and Nidalee finally realizing she did love Neeko and simply didn't know how to deal with it all those years ago. A love song, Shine On, even accompanied the update, which narrates their story beautifully. They have many romantic voice lines now, both in LoR and League.

With Udyr's rework, people started realizing he digs Lee Sin through voice lines expressing how he misses his "old friend" and that he's "loved twice, left twice" (which applies to his relationship with Lee Sin). Besides, his design includes memorabilia he exchanged with Lee Sin when they parted ways. It is also important to mention he's had a wife before, so he swings both ways. I think the context gives more than enough clues for us to safely say Udyr is queer. 

Ahri and Evelynn are spirits/demons that prey on their victims (regardless of gender) through charm and seduction. Ahri is essentially a succubus, and Evelynn is the Demon of Agony, with desire and lust being important parts of their characters. It is also worth noting that Evelynn is genderfluid/agender, taking the form of anyone (or anything) that might lure her victims. So their lore essentially confirms them as not straight and not cis (on Evelynn's case, at least).

[dragonlands]

There's so much negativity around Izzy's death so I wanted to address some of the points I keep seeing thrown around.

"Izzy's death was pointless"

No, he just had his big speech about how basically they can kill him but they cannot kill the movement. That is a clear paraller to a lot of real life protestors of unjustice. He died protecting the community, he died so the community could go on.

"Izzy's death made his healing pointless"

No it didn't. Healing is always good, feeling happiness and belonging are ALWAYS worth it. We never know how long we've got, doesn't mean we gotta stop trying to be better or happier. His healing was still real. It still mattered.

"Izzy's character arc was left unfinished, it's bad writing"

Oh my god. If you open any writing guide about how to write impactful deaths, and the first thing that comes up is to leave some part of their arc unfinished. And his arc did go through quite a beautiful line, sure there could've been more but his story didn't end like, mid arc. As a writer, of course you want to make the audience sad when a character dies. It's good storytelling. Good stories are supposed to make us feel.

"Izzy died on the arms of his abuser"

Where the hell did this idea come from? Ed and Izzy have been in a toxic codependent relationship way before this show started. You could argue that Izzy was Ed's abuser, but that is not the argument I want to make here. Yes, we saw Ed driven to madness shoot Izzy on screen, but we know Izzy's the one that forced him to be Blackbeart when he didn't want it anymore. There's turmoil all around them. But the final moment is them finally meeting as people, not as components of Blackbeard.

"Izzy's death was unnecessarily awful"

His death was sad, yes, but it was quite beautiful as far as deaths go. He was surrounded by family who cared for him. He was loved, and accepted as he is. He knew his legacy will be carried on.

"They killed off the only character that showed us healing is never too late"

Did we watch the same show? That begins with then unhappy 40+ year old Stede deciding it's finally time to reach for his dreams? Where we see Blackbeard slowly gaining back his humanity? Where Black Pete starts off as toxically masculine dude but ends up in a soft gay marriage? Where most of the crew wanted to mutiny but then they realized being soft is good, actually. Jim's whole purpose in life being revenge but them learning to let that go and instead concentrate on love and fun and family. And so on. Izzy's arc is beautiful, but he's not the only person healing who thought it was too late already.

"Izzy's death was bury your gays trope"

No, what, no. In a pirate show where everyobody is queer some queer people will die. Bury your gays is about only having one or few queer characters and killing them off while the straights get their happily ever afters. This is so far from that.

Also, I want people to be aware of the phenomenon, where creators of diverse shows are subjected to more critism than those of non diverse shows. If this intrests you, Sarah Z on Youtube made a great video on it called Double standards and diverse media. Our flag means death has given us so much, queer love story with a happily ever after, finding community, nonbinary character. And the creators have always been so kind to fans, so let's show them tht kindness back. Because critizicing this one aspect can easily turn to seeming like the whole story is just unwanted. That stories like Ed and Stede's aren't worth telling. And I'm so aftraid that will happen, when just now for the first time in years we are finally getting queer stories.

Also, I understand people are sad. I am sad too - Izzy was an amazing character and his death was sad but that's just. Good writing. You can grieve, but trying to turn it into a moral or dramaturgy issue is just not a good look. And attacking the creators of this wonderful show is just horrible.

Remember - this fandom is a safe space ship 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

[friend-of-a-cat]

So... I'm doing research for a piece of creative non-fiction (a personal essay) I'm writing for one of my uni assignments about the fact that I'm asexual and demiromantic and think that we, as a wider society, have gotten the concepts of love and attraction all wrong, and I've been researching more into the split attraction model because, well, I see it as something that's important and relevant, and this came up in my Google search:

The initial red flag of this article is the fact that it's on BetterHelp. I didn't see this at first, and did a double take.

Anyway, the first thing I would like to ask is: what are these 'cons'? As far as I'm concerned, there are none. I understand that, for many people, romantic and sexual attraction are intrinsically linked, but, for many, they're not, and the split attraction model existing doesn't harm the former - it helps the latter. The latter includes people who are on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrums, as well as people who are, for example, heteromantic and bisexual, panromantic and homosexual, biromantic and heterosexual, etc. - basically anyone whose experiences differ between their romantic and sexual attraction.

I do find it a bit annoying that, when many people talk about both of these kinds of attraction, they lump them into one 'label', which is mostly [something]sexual (e.g. heterosexual, homosexual, etc.). But, for them, the two are linked, so referring to themselves as [something]sexual to cover both seems fine and dandy. Which... it is. However, I find it wild that people don't realise that, despite the fact that the two may seem linked to them, they are actually two different experiences. People who are both alloromantic and allosexual should be able to see this, right? They can think someone is sexually attractive yet not be romantically attracted to or want to date them. That is a thing that can happen.

Anyway, I decided to read through the article. It isn't bad, per se - much of the information is useful, and it seemed to be quite positive. Until I got to the 'cons':

Now, I'm not really into the discourse surrounding the split attraction model - in fact, I didn't realise there was discourse surrounding it. This is because I tend to, either accidently or on purpose, avoid discourse in general. But... 'oversexualisation'? In what context? If anything, not using the split attraction model would be considered 'oversexualisation' (even though I don't think that that is, either - I honestly don't know why this word has been brought up here) due to the fact that many people focus on sexual attraction over any kind of attraction and use it to cover romantic attraction, too, when they talk about it. I genuinely have no idea what they are referring to here.

In regard to the second point: what? Attraction is complex. That's the whole thing. The split attraction model makes it less complex for many people. It allows people to figure out who they are and have the terminology to be able to voice it. Attraction is a spectrum and so is gender. Of course both of them are going to be complex. Society made both of them rigid in the first place, so breaking out of those rigidities is going to be confusing for everyone. The split attraction model helps people understand themselves, and I would like to think it helps them understand others. Everyone benefits.

I don't know if I can speak much on the third point, as I'm not familiar with the discourse, as I previously mentioned, and don't really know what it entails. Though, in saying this... what do they mean? When has asexuality - or aromanticism, for that matter - ever been prioritised over other queer identities? There's a severe lack of discussion and education surrounding both of them. That's just a fact. People who are asexual and/or aromantic are oftentimes even shunned by the wider queer community they are a part of. I don't really have much more to add on this point because I'm so confused by it. By the way, this article barely talks about aromanticism, despite the fact that it's an important part of this model, too.

The last point is just a rehash of the second point. If I was told about any of this stuff growing up, I would have realised I was ace and demiromantic from the start. Instead, I realised I was ace a few years ago after watching Jaiden Animations' video about the fact that she's aroace (I don't want to use the term 'coming out' here because, frankly, I hate it - I'll save that rant for another time). I only realised I was demiromantic in the past month after... realising that people getting romantic crushes on and/or falling in love with someone when they barely know them is actually a thing that happens and isn't fake. These two terms fit me best at the moment, and explain everything. If I had've known these terms as a teenager, that would have been great. The split attraction model helped me so much in breaking down myself and my identity, and offered me the foundation I needed to ask myself questions. Yeah, attraction and gender are confusing - I said it before, and I'll say it again. But why would you cast something so helpful aside? That will only hinder people - both those who are struggling with their own identity and those who are trying to understand the identities of others. Education surrounding the complexities and spectrums of attraction and gender are so important, and this model will help people teach other people about attraction.

I also read a bunch of hate comments, as one does whenever they go on Reddit or Twitter or literally any social media platform ever, regarding the split attraction model. This didn't surprise me. These specific people seem to hate this model because... well, I don't really know. They were mostly spewing aphobia. I don't think a single one had a constructive point. Also, most of the search results for 'split attraction model' on Google are actually critiques of it, or articles talking about critiques of it and being on the fence. Come on, people. Do better.

Anyway, the split attraction model is important. Education is important. Allowing people to figure out who they are and express it is important. This should all go without saying.

That is all.

[totallyboatless]

It's been a very, very long time since I cared about a piece of media enough that it ending prematurely makes me cry.

Our Flag Means Death made me feel seen in a way that I desperately needed. My first couple of years of fully understanding and admitting to myself that I'm a man were full of pain. I spent more time grieving the past and all of the time I lost than reveling in the joy of knowing who I am now. I didn't know how to let go of the grief that my 20s (what so many people call their "best years") were behind me and I spent all of them as a girl.

I knew I was a man but still waved away the idea of going on testosterone. "What's the point?" I said when my therapist asked me if I was considering it. Start testosterone at 32? And then what? Maybe look like the man I want to be in my 40s? When I'm middle aged???

That's legitimately so funny to me now. But I'm not joking, I was so stuck in the idea that there was no point in me taking steps to become happy in my own body because my life would be half-over.

I'd like to think that I would have come around eventually no matter what. But I didn't have to find out, because this unhinged, wonderful, gay-ass pirate show came into my life at just the right time. It showed me what it looks like to have older queers not in pain from self-discovery but so fucking full of joy because of it. There's not a single moment of this show where Ed or Stede goes "man, I wasted my life, what's even the point of letting myself change now? What's the point of loving now?"

Because it's now.

I'm being so fucking literal when I say that this show changed the trajectory my entire life. I'm devastated that it's over. But I'll always be so goddamn grateful to @davidjenks (yeah, I'm tagging, fuck it) and every illustrious, remarkable, industry-shaking person who worked on this show.