#lgbt-advise

[thequeenofthestorm]

Does Anyone Have SRS Advice?

Hey so like how does one go about getting the whole SRS process started? That part of my body gives me insane amounts of dysphoria but I've no idea where to begin or where to ever get the money required for it, as my insurance doesn't cover it. If anyone has any (US-centric) advice I would love to know!

[chollin1]

I know this isn’t really how things work but can someone like diagnose my sexuality or something

I don’t dislike kissing and touching and stuff, well sometimes I do I guess. But if I went my whole rest of my life without kissing someone or having sex I really don’t give a shit. Now I haven’t tried sex yet, I’ve kissed people and in the moment I liked it but sitting here rn I don’t feel a strong desire to.

It could theoretically be that I haven’t found a person I’ve wanted to do that with yet, or..?

Am I ace???? Am I on the ace spectrum??? Am I ace enough to use that label???

Bro idk

I really hate it though when I’m on a date and a guy looks at me and I know he wants to kiss me I hate it so much because I don’t want to do that at least not in that moment like maybe later bro calm down

[undercooked-icicle]

Hey, queer people of Tumblr. Com, hypothetically if you had been hiding the fact that you were trans from your parents for three years, not because they wouldn't support you, but because it would change every dynamic in your family, but now you need to, how would you go about doing that?

[i-am-a-secret-ssshhh]

This girl I haven't seen in nearly 7 years reached out, and why does it kind of feel like she's flirting with me? Am I that bad at reading signals?

I fear as though I am having a gay panic moment, despite not knowing if she's gay or interested, or maybe I'm just lonely?!

Help

[bobzora]

what do i have to do to get more people to play persona 2. you guys would love persona 2 i promise. it's a little annoying to play but it's worth it guys. it's worth it. tatsuya. trust me guys.

[heartstopper-lover123]

Please help!

So my dad and sisters were out of the house and it was just me and my mum. So I asked her if she and I could go to a pride parade in June to which she agreed to but I'm not out to my dad yet and we need to tell him where we are going. We aren't telling him the truth but we don't know where to tell him we are going. If we say the place the parade is, he might guess that it's for pride and I'm not ready to come out to him yet. So if anyone has any ideas of what to say to him, please rb with an answer or message me. Any advise is welcome <33

[uncanny-tranny]

so there's this word <3 that i want to use as a name, but i'm worried that it might be too weird? it doesn't sound weird to /me/ when i imagine someone using it in a classroom or at work, but what if i'm wrong? how can i tell if a word is too 'strange' to be used as a name?

I think a name is only "too strange" to go by if you don't feel it represents you or makes you happy to be represented by, if that makes sense. You can absolutely test run the name out just to see if it would feel odd, but by no means is "having a strange name" a bad thing. It's honestly really cool, as somebody who once had a Strange Name, to have a name that might be considered odd.

[pinkdean]

No but I was explaining the Situation to my friend and she was like "why tf would they (wb) encourage that?" And I had to remind her that any other celebrity coming out and then backtracking to say it was a joke would come across as IMMENSELY homophobic. Like anyone else would have been canceled for that instantly and it only turned out ok/funny because it was misha collins and both he and his fans are insane

[trash-and-trash-accessories]

I write a lot of posts that are like, specifically about my friends. I wrote this literally when I got home from my friend's drag show and constantly people are reblogging it like "What about women? Do you think women like being forced to be feminine?!"

I don't know, this post was about my nonbinary friends. A lot of people who aren't nonbinary related to it and felt like it fit their experience as trans men and trans women and that's amazing!

But there's so many "What about women?! Do you think women enjoy performing femininity?!" comments on here.

I don't know, what about trumpet players? Do you think trumpet players like emptying out their spit valves? No really do you think they enjoy doing that? They do it a lot. The stage is always covered in puddles of saliva. Like so much of it. Do you think they like doing that? Are they getting some kind of sick pleasure out of it? Is that why they're always doing it?

What was I talking about?

I know SEVERAL afab nonbinary people who, as soon as they came out as nonbinary - immediately began dressing in ridiculous hyper-femme outfits they never would have worn before.  A lot of people see this and say shit like “Theyfab” or say they are only nonbinary for attention.  After all, look how femme they are.

But to me, this makes perfect sense.  When you are forced into the category of “woman” against your will, femininity is a chore.  It’s a job that you have.  As soon as you say no, I’m not a woman, suddenly femininity isn’t your job anymore.  It’s not a requirement.  It’s just a fun hobby you can get into.  Or a little treat sometimes.

[glitched-galaxy-collective]

Sometimes, life can be very exhausting and scary

Just take a moment to breathe

Put on some kind of media that makes you happy (music, videos, movies)

Think about all the good things you've experience. Remember the bad you've somehow managed to live through

Remember, you are still alive

If someone is getting in the way of you taking time for yourself, they don't have your best interest in mind

Sometimes, self care looks, and maybe even feels, selfish. But it's not. I promise it never is

Taking breaks to better yourself are good

You deserve it

Sincerely and lovingly, your friend Xhaos🤘

Have a wonderful day guys

[beltaine8dryad]

Story idea but don't know what to do with it.

I have a short story idea. that could develop into an entire chonky novel but to be fair. i like the simplicity of it.

It's about a soap maker who while foraging in the nearby woods. discovers a garden and starts plugging from there thinking the place is abandoned Obviously, it isn't, there is a witch that has been living there for ages but can't move as much as when she was young. The main character's grandmother has lowkey beef with this witch(I ship them) and it's just this soap maker helping the witch to keep her garden and getting arcane knowledge from her. I could make an illustrate something about this but my digital art skills are not as amazing. I don't know if this should be a kid's book because I did think about heavy shit for it and lesbian tension too so... Yes the witch and the grandma! I kind of want to tell people about it. It's such juicy gossip. I NEED FRIENDS! WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS SHIT I HAVE IN MY GOOGLE SHEETS??

[azuremist]

I’m seeing a lot of stress from Americans about AO3 being down! If that’s the case for you, gentle reader, then may I advise you to take action against KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act)?

This act threatens to allow the government to censor what they decide what they deem “obscene content” online. Given Rupublicans’ very recent history of deeming all LGBT+ content of any type “too obscene for kids”, this can very possibly result in restricting access to any sort of queer resources and queer content online, for the sake of ‘protecting kids’. Which includes your favorite gay fanfics!

For more information, and a very easy way to contact your representatives, click HERE!

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

For some people, just reading facts is less educational than actively engaging with them - so here’s a little pop quiz on HIV transmission! 

I’ll tell you some scenarios and you can try to answer if you think you could get HIV that way or not. You’ll find the correct answers under the cut! 

You go swimming with some friends. You later learn that one of them is HIV-positive. You were in the water at the same time. 

You had sex without a condom. It was with your long-term partner and it’s a closed relationship (neither of you has sex with others). You both got tested early on in the relationship, both were negative, but it has been some years since then. 

You got so drunk at a party that you don’t fully remember what happened. You believe you may have had sex with someone there but, for the life of you, you just can’t remember who it was or if you used protection. 

You had to pee really really bad while out and about, so you ended up using a public restroom that was pretty gross and dirty. 

You went on a couple dates with someone. You kissed a few times but didn’t go any further. They just contacted you and told you they tested positive for HIV. 

You live with a roommate. They had some friends over and you just realized one of them apparently used some of the body lotion you were storing in the bathroom. 

You had casual sex with someone. You used a condom but they later on told you that it slipped off during the act and that they didn’t say anything to not ruin the mood. 

One of your friends is HIV-positive. You often hug them or you snuggle while watching tv together. Sometimes you even share a drink (from the same cup). 

You used what you believed to be your own lip balm. You feel grossed out when you realize it’s not yours: your coworker accidentally put theirs in your coat pocket. 

You are in a long term relationship and are regularly sexually active without a condom. You just learned your partner cheated on you multiple times. 

Correct answers below the cut: 

1.No risk. HIV cannot survive in water and is not transmitted through casual contact.

2.No risk (if everyone is honest). If neither of you has had any other partners since the tests, and you haven’t been exposed to HIV through other means, there’s no risk. (However, if there is any uncertainty (you worry they may lie about not sleeping with anyone else etc.), it’s a good idea to get retested!) 

3. Potential risk. Unprotected sex can transmit HIV, so it’s recommended to get tested if you’re uncertain about protection use or the partner’s status.

4. No risk. HIV is not transmitted through surfaces, including toilets, regardless of cleanliness.

5. No (to extremely low) risk. HIV is not transmitted through saliva, so kissing does not pose a risk. (The only risk would be if both of you had sores or bleeding gums and blood from the HIV-positive partner gets into the bloodstream of the HIV-negative partner. This is extremely unlikely.)

6. No risk. HIV does not survive well outside the human body and is not transmitted through sharing personal care items like lotion.

7. Potential risk. If the condom slipped off, there may have been some exposure to bodily fluids, which could transmit HIV. Testing is advised. (Side note: Consent is only true consent if everyone is informed on what’s going on. In this scenario, you did not consent to having sex without a condom! Regardless of them not wanting to “ruin the mood”: That’s a form of sexual assault.) 

8. No risk. HIV is not transmitted through casual skin contact like hugging or snuggling. HIV is also not spread through saliva (drinking from the same cup). 

9. No risk. HIV cannot survive well outside the body and is not transmitted via shared lip balm.

10. Potential risk. If your partner has had other partners, there is a risk of exposure. Testing is recommended. 

How many did you get right? 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[enigma2meagain]

🚨🚨 URGENT! Congress trying to pass anti-LGBT bill under the guise of “child safety”!

UPDATE 09/05/2023:

Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of her bigotry

So Marsha Blackburn, in her infinite wisdom, decided to admit in an interview with the bigoted Family Policy Alliance that the Kids Online Safety Act is a GIANT anti-transgender bill (or at the least, it’s so poorly written that it makes targeting transgender people easier). Naturally, after this blunder, she and Blumenthal are trying to do damage control. But WE have the videos, and people’s responses to this open confession in the links below:

Alejandro Caraballo’s Tweet with the Video.

Erin Reed’s followup article

Attempts at damage control commented on by Ari Drennen

PinkNews’ article about it.

Beacon Broadside Article

Mashable Article

So with all that in mind, please make way to the Bad Internet Bills website to tell your Senators that you STRONGLY advise them to drop their support/refuse to support this awful bill in light of this, or that their re-election chances will drop considerably.

-----

UPDATE 02/14/2023: Richard Blumenthal is a lying snake who’s trying to get both KOSA and EARN IT Act back into law.

He persistently continues to ignore all of the backlash against these bills, the criticisms and highlighting the serious flaws of the bill by numerous human rights and LGBTQ organizations, and it’s telling that there seems to be no one who opposed the bill at the hearings today.

Fortunately, there are those are speaking up against it, such as Evan Greer from Fight For The Future.

Keep your eyes and ears open. We will be hearing more about these bills as time goes on.

----

UPDATE 01/30/2023: Well, Chuck Schumer has chosen to backstab human rights and pro- LGBTQ communities, as well as the internet by trying to fast-track KOSA. The time table is as follows:

REINTRODUCTION OF THE BILL IN FEBRUARY

HOLDING MARKUPS IN MARCH

And holding a floor vote in JUNE

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1620088145554579456

KEEP IN MIND, this was the man who blocked legitimately good anti-Big Tech bills like AICOA on the pretense they would be “too much”, but was perfectly fine with the travesty of KOSA.

This man is in Big Tech’s pockets, because only they can afford to pay the fines that such a restrictive pro-censorship bill would enforce. The only people this bill helps are the exact people it claims to stop, while LGBTQ people have to pay the price for the greed of the corrupt congressmen and women.

All of the relevant links are still below, but I will be updated this as we go.

---

UPDATE 01/17/2023: Nothing has happened yet, but there have been rumblings of our “favorite” Senator Blumenthal talking about trying to push KOSA in again. I’ll mostly be keeping an eye on things for now, and you guys should too on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media and news outlets.

---

UPDATE 12/20/2022: KOSA BILL HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED IN THE FINAL OMNIBUS BILL! WE DID IT!

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1605261800479547392

That being said, this is very much a reprieve, since Blumenthal and Blackburn, and their cohorts have made it clear they intend to get this bill back into Congress next year. But WE DID IT. We managed to get this bill stopped from being added in the omnibus bill.

I want to thank all of you who helped to reblog this post, signed the various petitions and the open letter, and especially if you went and called your Senators. Without your effort, this might have turned out VERY differently!

Thank you all, and I hope the rest of this year is a pleasant one!

----

So, this is a particularly long post, but it’s an absolutely IMPORTANT ONE. PLEASE REBLOG! LIKING IS USELESS!

UPDATE 12/14/2022: Two weeks ago, 90+ human rights, LGBT, and tech orgs signed onto an open letter telling Senators NOT to pass this bill. in response, over 230 orgs led by the American Psychological Association signed a letter urging senators to push this bill forward.

An updated version of the bill has been pushed forward by Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, who claim to have changed the bill in response to feedback, but insight by the likes of Evan Greer and Ari Cohn have made it clear that the changes are superficial at best, and arguably fail to properly address the problems of the original bill.

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1603139423071309825

We got blindsided by this, and we REALLY need your help!

Further explanation HERE: https://www.tumblr.com/fullhalalalchemist/703545300138262528/urgent

POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. about your opposition to this! The more voices speaking out the better, and we can’t do this alone!

The Hashtags are:

#KOSA

 #STOPKOSA

 #KidsOnlineSafetyAct

“Kids Online Safety Act” (no hashtag and quotes, just the regular words)

And PLEASE call your Senators at (202-224-3121).

ESPECIALLY CALL THESE THREE, SINCE THEY ARE THE MAJOR PEOPLE WHO COULD END UP PUTTING THE BILL INTO THE OMNIBUS/MUST PASS SPENDING BILL:

Maria Cantwell (202) 224-3441

Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542

Nancy Pelosi (202) 225-4965

LINKTREE WITH ALL INFO HERE: https://linktr.ee/stopkosa

----

ORIGINAL POST:

In a particularly scummy move, the Kids Online Safety Act is going to be put into the must pass end of year spending bill: www.axios.com/…

The two laws best positioned to get rolled into big year-end legislative packages, according to advocates and lawmakers, are:

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would require platforms to guard kids from harmful content using new features and safeguards and to make privacy settings "on" by default for children. The law also mandates privacy audits and  more transparency about privacy policies.

At first glance, the bill doesn’t sound bad, since it’s about helping “protect children” online. But like every “protect the children” type law, this would censor the internet of anything “harmful” to children aka any LGBT, NSFW, or whatever the Right doesn’t like, force everyone to upload their govt ID’s to even access anything online, and surveil everyone else. Gutting everyone’s privacy in an era where we see massive state violence and encroaching fascism globally. This is not only pushed by the same people (Senator Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn) who created the awful EARN IT Act, but also has many of the same flaws, such as pro-censorship, anti LGBT resources and content, and pro-mass surveillance.

But the biggest problem, as Mike Stabile has pointed out, is HOW the mechanism to which this works: The State Attorney General.

This addition would allow states like Texas and Florida to sue companies for having LGBTQ+ content, along with sex education resources, incentivizing these platforms to ban that content. To be more specific, the bill allows the state attorney general to sue if they believe that platforms do not protect minors from a list of harms that includes politicized terms like "grooming" which, as we've seen can include any sort of LGBTQ information, entertainment or literature.

RuPaul on TikTok?

A clip on transgender youth on Facebook?

A gay character in a Disney movie?

Suicide hotlines for gay youth?

Cue a suit from Texas or Florida targeting the entire web.

And the problem is that given the current political climate and the cruel behavior of a number of GOP aligned political groups in positions of power, this only ends up making things RIPE for abuse and mass censorship (since companies will probably end up choosing to acquiesce to their demands rather than risk being subject to liability) not to mention the damage this would cause to children who might need resources regarding LGBT or sex education.

Furthermore, the definition of “sexually exploitative material”, “grooming”, and “child porn” has been used in the past year to target transgender people, drag queens, and the wider LGBTQ+ community by likening their very existence as sexually violent. Yet another way this bill’s language will be used to target a community that is already facing violence. Every night, Fox News blasts a story on “sexualization of children '' to fear-monger around the LGBT community. One needs to not look any further than the right-wing ecosystem to see how KOSA would easily be weaponized.

This article by Mike Masnick on Techdirt also goes further into KOSA and its adjacent bills.

To make matters even worse, on top of the usual suspects of NCOSE ( They used to be called Morality in Media, and are a far right group disguised as an anti sex trafficking org infamous for being religious assholes who HATE anything to do with sex or LGBT) supporting this travesty of a bill, it’s been revealed that the Senate leader is claiming there’s no opposition.

This is literally giving the fascists a dangerous tool to abuse, all for the sake of political brownie points against ‘Big Tech’. A tool that far right groups like the Heritage Foundation have OPENLY stated will abuse to silence LGBTQ+ or sex-ed content for youth everywhere if it passes.

The ONLY way this works is by making sure who is and isn’t a minor is to have some form of age-verification scheme. And the only way to do that is through a third party like ID.me which has recently come under scrutiny for, you guessed it, data leaks. So everyone who accesses anything online will be forced to upload their govt IDs. How is this protecting anyone’s privacy?

With all that said, what can we do?

Well, the same thing we did for the EARN IT Act; we make a LOT of noise, and get the word out.

If you have read all of the above and want to fight this, sign this open letter against KOSA.

And PLEASE call your Senators at (202-224-3121).

ESPECIALLY CALL THESE THREE, SINCE THEY ARE THE MAJOR PEOPLE WHO COULD END UP PUTTING THE BILL INTO THE }OMNIBUS:

Maria Cantwell (202) 224-3441

Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542

Nancy Pelosi (202) 225-4965

There is a call script with phone numbers here.

Fax them, email them. Tell them they MUST oppose this bill. CONTACT any major human rights, LGBT, and cybersecurity related organizations aligned and let them know about this bill, and the harm it can cause to LGBT rights and children! If you need more information on KOSA, we have a LINKTREE HERE.

EMPHASIZE THE HARM TO CHILDREN WHEN YOU CONTACT PEOPLE, SINCE THEY’RE TRYING TO CLAIM THAT THIS WILL HELP PROTECT CHILDREN’S PRIVACY, WHEN IT DOES THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

There’s also a Petition by the Electronic Frontier Foundation  and from Fight For the Future.

[uncanny-tranny]

I’m traveling home for midterm break (got here a few days ago) and realized I’d forgotten my birth control which I take for period dysphoria as I wait to qualify for HRT. Jesus ducking Christ how do other trans guys deal with these I forgot how badly they sucked, any tips for getting through a period?

Oh no that sucks! I hope you're doing alright.

My general advice would be:

1. Drink lots of water, but pace yourself. You don't need to guzzle water like your life depends on it, but hydration can make pain management a whole lot easier. Try drinking a bottle (or, 17 fl. oz.) an hour, if you can.

2. Whatever pain management medication works best for you, take it. I was always an acetaminophen kind of guy, but honestly, take whatever makes your pain manageable

3. Some people say that exercise helps them with pain. If you're willing to try that, don't be afraid to! Again, pace yourself, you don't need to be an Olympian. Just do whatever movement (e.g. walking, running, lifting, yoga) helps you. Another thing some people do for pain is heat, like a heat pad. As long as you follow instructions for use, heat pads can be great.

4. Aside from physical pain, do whatever you need to for mental pain. It sucks having a cycle, much more for if that cycle is a source of dysphoria. In this time, be patient with yourself. Be kind to yourself, take life slower. It's okay for you to not be okay.

5. If it helps, do what makes you feel gender euphoric. If there's a scent you like, if there's an outfit you like, if there is anything that you know helps you feel like your best self, do it. You deserve to feel even a little better.

I know it sucks, and I think what helped me personally was to realize this wasn't going to be forever. Whatever helps you during this time is something you can consider doing, and I really do hope it helps you. If anybody has their own advice, feel free to share it, I know we all have our little tricks to making life a bit easier

[black-rose-irl]

The box is labeled: "kneecaps of the entire People's party".

"Lidovci" is a short name for the party "Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party" or KDU-ČSL. As the name suggests, they're a Christian party and due to unfortunate political situation, they're one party in the ruling coalition. And they're kinda (understatement of the year) homophobic.

Yesterday, our equal marriage law was in the first reading, as was the law making it so that gay marriage is unconstitutional (yeah, both of those are up for debate at the same time, because this is Czech republic and we can't have nice things). Obviously, KDU voted the homophobic way both times, even though they had previously made statements that they would not fight it.

I did not have the balls to watch the debate yet, but apparently it was juicy and head-desk worthy.

So, yeah, kneecap those fuckers.

pacifismus blablabla zdravý ovládání vzteku žblžblžbl morální nadřazenost hdkhkaidszjgx jasný, ale vyslyšte mě