#queer education is suicide prevention

[thedelusionreaderbitch]

say it with me people

trans kids deserve to live, gender affirming health care saves lives, leave us trans people alone you dickwads, queer education is suicide prevention

[fucktoyfelix]

This is actually a useful thing to understand how to spell out. What exactly is wrong with puritanical attitudes towards sexuality? TW: Discusses body image issues, suicide, STIs, sexual assault etc

1. It fosters fear, disgust and loathing of our bodies. By hiding the human body as soon as we are born, and treating it as an object of inherent shame: THAT creates trauma. Shame is one of the primary sources of trauma, its the fuel and lets trauma burn. Those raised in nudist societies, and children raised in households where nudity is treated in a neutral and non-sexual tend to have a much more positive relationship with their bodies as adults. This makes complete sense when you think about it. Going through puberty not knowing if your body is "normal" terrifies children in ways that stick with them for life. In fact, most cultures outside of the Unites States aren't as strange about non-sexual nudity actually...and are healthier for it. We can't have body positivity as long as we are literally criminalized for having an uncovered body. 2. It creates fear, shame and disgust about sex. Most people have sex at some point in their lives. No one would be here at all without it. Most people have sexual desires which lie outside their control. When people are ashamed of those desires, it leads to self hatred, and depression and anxiety. This shame is just as traumatic as bodily shame. When sex is normalized, and treated with the same candor as any other hobby: it becomes less apt to traumatize people.

3. Puritanical attitudes towards sex limit sex education. When people are too ashamed to talk about sex, people don't learn about pregnancy, stis, or consent. All of these things can and do kill people when they aren't addressed with an open dialogue.

Sexual shame leads to people too ashamed to buy condoms, to talk to their doctor about birth control, to ask their partner to use protection, to get tested...the negative health impacts of sexual puritanism have a massive negative effect on society.

4. Sexual shame leads to poorer communication in relationships. Ohh if I had a dime for every person i knew who ruined their relationship because they felt too guilty to talk to their partner about their sexual feelings...Not just that, but the general body shame that comes with puritanism blocks people from connecting to one another too. Have you ever avoided getting close to someone because you were ashamed of your body? If not, I guarantee you know someone who has.

5. Misogyny! Puritanical sexual believes hold that women are not capable of sexual agency. That only men should initiate sex. That women should only ever want babies and not pleasure from sex. All of this rolls right into the next one:

6. Victim blaming in sexual assault. When women are the gatekeepers of sex, its easy to blame them when they 'fail' to protect their chastity when someone violates their trust. This isn't something that just effects women: as the same attitudes hold that men are not capable of experiencing sexual assault. The lack of education and discussion about sex in a sex-negative world inherently prevent the open dialogues necessary for creating and maintaining consent culture.

7. Suppression and marginalization of the queer community. If we're too ashamed to talk about sex, we'll be too ashamed to talk about sexuality. Puritans can't accept any deviation from gender norms either. Anything other than sex between a cis man and a cis woman for the purpose of making a baby is a deviant kink, a mental illness, and needs to be wiped out. Its important to point out that many queer people hold puritanical values about sex: believing that they can achieve sex negativity and queer liberation at the same time. However, sex negative movements always rise with censorship and discrimination of queer people...because queer people are inherently considered deviant by the vast majority of sex negative "allies". It's very dangerous to forget this.

8. Censorship of art. Who decides what is sexual and what is not? Its easy to agree that sex needs to be hidden...but it never takes long before the definition of what is "sexual" expands. Even women's breasts are considered sexual in the United States. Its so normal for Americans to think of them that way that women can't feed their children in public. Drag queens face violence for reading at libraries. Books get taken off the shelves. Artists are bullied offline.

9. Censorship of scientific exploration. Scientific research into reproductive health, sexual behavior, gender identity and more are often hindered due to the "moral objections" of puritans, delaying progress and understanding. That's just off the top of my head. I think its time for people to take how problematic 'puritanism' is more seriously. As we see fascism rear its ugly head all over the world, we're going to see a lot more talk about 'degenerates'...and we know where that kind of talk leads.

[mryaoii]

Take it from a trans person. I do not want to see ANY suicides here.

DO NOT LET DEFEATISM TAKE YOU.

We have to survive. Revolutions were not formed by silencing ourselves. I've never been so disgusted by the actions of people in this country.

YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE for every single trans person, queer person, POC, disabled person, and woman out there. We have existed forever. This will not be the end of us.

Hell! Survive for that special someone in your life! Maybe it's your lover(s), maybe it's your friends, maybe it's your family- hell, maybe it's just your tumblr mutuals. THEY WANT US TO DIE AND GIVE UP

THINGS CAN CHANGE. I know it looks like the worth possible fucking hypothetical. (I'm a physically and mentally disabled puerto rican gay transgender man. i get it) but there is ALWAYS a work-around.

Maybe he gets impeached. Maybe he dies. Hell, maybe he gets plain old assassinated. We don't know! Preferably whatever happened wouldn't put JD Vance into power. But the world is always changing. We are living through a major historical event. SHITS GOTTA GO SOMEWHERE FROM HERE.

But i'm telling you to live. No matter how long it takes. I've never wanted to kill myself more but WE HAVE TO FUCKING LIVE. NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE I LOVE YOU.

This might not be the most informed or well educated post I ever make. But if you're going to take anything away from this, LIVE.

US RESOURCES

national suicide prevention

national domestic violence hotline

national sexual abuse hotline

trans lifeline and resources

INTERNATIONAL

list of suicide hotlines by country

domestic violence hotlines and resources by country

sexual (+ domestic) abuse agencies by country

international trans resources

[damnfandomproblems]

respond to a reply on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/758279107941466112/fandom-problem-5461-cishet-being-used-to?source=share

"are you seriously equating making fun of a marginalized group to making fun of like, idk gender reveal parties or whatever people in your fandom make fun of cishets for doing? Like I don't mock people based on their sexuality but tell me that you do understand the difference between someone making fun of a marginalized group with a high suicide rate and someone poking fun at straight people.(Also, for the folks making racism comparisons: I'm white and when people make white people jokes about like, white people love avocado toast! White people love yoga and saying buddy! or whatever, 1) I don't mind 2) that's much different than a white person making fun of say, Black people.)"

As a poc, and specifically a queer (cisbi) native american (tlingit) who grew up around cishet white people, when it comes to online and fannish spaces I have noticed that people tend to cross the line from making harmless fun to just straight up expressing and encouraging hatred

While this is definitely a minority of people who believe and act out on these beliefs, there is a problem of people truly believing that cishet white people are all genuinely evil and inherently evil at that, and that the only way to "fix" (cleanse) the world of all problems would to be committed genocide in fandom spaces. They immediately assume the worse and dehumanize and rejected similarities they may share with cishet white people. It's absolutely prejudice and need to not only be called out, but utterly tossed in the bin

I get feeling uncomfortable or even wary of people who appart of the same kind of people who have oppressed you because you are not sure if they too have been indoctrinated into the bigotry, but we live in the modern era, more often then not you'll find that most cishet white people just don't care about poc and queer stuff

Cishet whites aren't responsible for crimes they weren't even alive for, that their ancestors committed. They are far more often ignorant because the education system is shit and has a lot racism/ableism/etc baked into foundation ontop of not really being how to do own research, then they are intentionally malicious and bigoted, and the best way to prevent them from being indoctrinated into bigotry is to just, expose them queers and poc who are chill with them and are willing to educate. Insulting them and assuming they want to hurt minorities just because they're cishet whites is the best way to push them into radical hands that will instead pain queers and poc as the ones who just want to hurt others for being cishet whites, because "obviously" why else would they immediately assume you want hurt them unless they want to hurt you?

Hating anyone for things they cannot control (race, gender, sexuality, etcetera) only breeds more hate. Yeah, don't tolerating bigots, but if genuinely can't stand a certain demographic of people ignore them rather then going out of your way to hate them. Educate if you can, or shut up when talking to people who haven't don't anything to you beyond offend your sensibly for committing the crime of being born a certain way, because otherwise you're just feeding into the genuinely malicious and bigoted peoples hands and making it easier for them to take the ignorant and make them malicious too

Hatred at the end of the day is hatred, sure, it might not be the racist or homophobic flavor of hatred, but it's still hatered. And no one should hate anyone, at least not for the things they can't control (because fuck pedos/rape-philies in general and murders and genuine racists of course, they can all go get shot, don't get me wrong and twist my words like I know some of y'all are just dying to do)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[fascistsarefreefood]

It's always a good sign when a government starts deciding not to teach stuff related to being queer in classrooms. It always goes down so well and the people who make those decisions are remembered so fondly in history/s

Ok so here's the latest on UK trans politics schools are being told not to teach about gender identity here's some stuff from the UK gov website I wanted to talk about

"Following multiple reports of disturbing materials being used in Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) lessons"

-Off to a great start, they don't specifically say gender identity but we all know what they're talking about. Being transgender is not disturbing and here it described like this is truly heartbreaking.

"Parents will have the right to see the resources that are being used to teach their children about relationships, health and sex in all circumstances"

-While we're at it what are we all thinking about the marketisation of education.

"will learn about legally ‘protected’ characteristics, such as sexual orientation and gender reassignment, but the updated guidance is clear that schools should not teach about the concept of gender identity."

-ok not sure what's with the word protected being in quotation marks, little bit ominous

-theres no way this education will be accurate if they teach about what transitioning is without describing why someone would do it, this guidance is lining teachers up to create a stigmatising view in children that trans people are just confused and messing with their bodies for fun

-of course removing information about queer people from the curriculum has always gone so well in the past, Margaret Thatcher who?

"In light of the Cass Review, it is important that schools take a cautious approach to teaching about this sensitive topic, and do not use any materials that present contested views as fact, including the view that gender is a spectrum"

-if you're going to teach that being trans isn't real at least have the balls to say that

-how is it that one report was enough to change our entire world view of trans people

"The guidance also now includes additional content on suicide prevention in the secondary health and wellbeing section"

-ok this bit is pretty cool but you know what group of people are at additional risk of suicide? Trans people. Trans people who are directly harmed by this bullshit guidance

"Following reports of schools seeing rising levels of harmful misogynistic behaviour, the guidance now includes a dedicated section on sexual harassment and sexual violence, which covers some specific types of abusive behaviour that were not explicitly discussed previously, such as stalking, as well as advice for teachers about how to address misogynistic online influencers. "

-ok it's also good to hear sexual violence is being tackled by the curriculum at least

"follows a thorough review by the government in response to disturbing reports that inappropriate material is being taught in some schools."

-amd again we have the phrase "disturbing reports" with no real context about what was so disturbing I think it's interesting how they are repeating that phrase to drum up fear but can't tell us anything about the reports

[mercifullymad]

It’s frustrating and disappointing to see nominally social justice-focused eating disorder organizations (like Project Heal and the Alliance for Eating Disorders) support the passing of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). KOSA is opposed by more than 90 civil rights and digital rights groups, including GLAAD, GLSEN, the ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the American Library Association, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. KOSA also contradicts the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children should not be subjected to “unlawful interference with [their] privacy.” One of KOSA's main premises — the belief that increased parental surveillance of children’s Internet use will protect children’s mental health — is inherently flawed, and it is of paramount importance for abused and marginalized children that mental health organizations don’t buy into this belief.

This open letter signed by several organizations details the many dangerous implications of KOSA’s overreach. While KOSA aims to protect minors under 16 from the negative effects of social media use (such as ��addictive” design features and content that “promotes” eating disorders, self-harm, or substance use), its vague language enables increased surveillance of children’s Internet use, increased data collection on both children and adults alike, and the power for parents and state government officials to decide what content is “appropriate” for children. With some states increasingly legalizing the idea that any kind of content that acknowledges the existence of queer people or the U.S.’s legacy of racism is inherently “inappropriate” for children (by banning books and preventing school curriculums from mentioning these realities), KOSA has the potential to prevent children from accessing these topics online, too.

KOSA is particularly dangerous to marginalized and abused children because of the level of inescapable parental surveillance it enables. Passing KOSA might prevent a 15-year-old from looking up how to report his abusive parents or where to seek help. It might prevent a 14-year-old whose parents will disown her if she’s pregnant from looking up sex education or abortion care. It might prevent a 13-year-old living in a homophobic household from connecting with accepting peers. It might prevent 12-year-olds who are already self-harming or eating unintuitively from looking up harm reduction techniques that could keep them alive. KOSA would not keep children safe or improve their mental health — it would make the most at-risk children even more unsafe, and it would worsen the mental health of anyone living in an unsafe household or state.

I presume that eating disorder organizations are campaigning for KOSA because they believe the unrealistic, fatphobic, and eurocentric beauty standards proliferating on social media are causing and/or exacerbating eating disorders, and they are desperate for any recourse to curtail these harms. But KOSA is premised on flawed understandings of media effects, and it is a dangerous piece of legislation that wouldn’t adequately address the very real harms of social media. Multiple studies have shown that similar content bans and increased parental control have not been effective, and have even made harmful content easier to find. Whatever good intentions eating disorder organizations might have by endorsing KOSA, it is important to note that all evidence points to KOSA harming children, not helping them. 

KOSA aims to make social media companies accountable for preventing children from seeing content that “promotes” eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, and substance use. The problem is, social media algorithms are incapable of distinguishing between content that promotes these behaviors and content that discusses these behaviors in a neutral manner or provides harm reduction techniques for making these behaviors less dangerous. As the EFF notes, “there is no way a platform can make case-by-case decisions about which content exacerbates, for example, an eating disorder, compared to content which provides necessary health information and advice about the topic.” We’ve already seen Instagram repeatedly fail at distinguishing between fresh self-harm and years-old scars, censoring and removing pictures of people simply living in bodies that are scarred. If KOSA passes, any mention of the aforementioned behaviors is liable to be censored and removed from social media platforms, which may have the paradoxical effect of pushing children who want community support, neutral information, or harm reduction techniques into more harmful corners of the Internet, such as specifically pro-ED sites. 

Moreover, KOSA and the eating disorder organizations supporting it buy into the same harmful narratives of social contagion that anti-queer and anti-trans groups promote so fiercely. The narrative that children uncritically adopt any behavior or identity they see online is egregious and clearly false (especially when it comes to teens, as opposed to 8-year-olds), but of course it is easier to blame social media alone rather than thoroughly examine the systems of injustice, oppression, and abuse that contribute to children’s poor mental health. While online content that promotes self-destructive behaviors is a real harm to children that should be addressed, the way to address this harm is not by mandating governmental and parental surveillance of children’s internet use. It is to equip children with better media literacy, trustworthy adult figures they can turn to for help, and tools for critically evaluating digital content. 

Platforms certainly do need greater regulation, and children do need greater protection from social media companies, which don’t care about their mental health as long as they can profit off them. But children need real protection, not KOSA, which is just increased surveillance for everyone under the thin veneer of child protection. I encourage you to read some of the many, many articles detailing the harmful effects KOSA would have. We must demand better for children than surveillance under the guise of “care,” and we must prioritize the children who are already hurting when considering who this legislation would harm the most. 

[dies-in-bi]

OKAY PEOPLE!!!!! This is VERY important! I have reblogged a post explaining this in more detail and please have a look!

Here is a link to the petition.

https://chng.it/L8FQ6pMtNQ

More info under read more.

Youth Internet users, millennials, and Gen Z advocates, we must band together to prevent the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), preserving our free and open Internet! Stand with the ACLU and Fight for the Future against a bill that jeopardizes our online privacy and legitimizes targeted censorship.

In 2022, senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn introduced an alarmingly repressive new internet censorship bill – the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which presents a direct threat to the plethora of helpful online resources for minors. KOSA, or S.3663, would grant the federal government an immense breadth of control to censor websites containing content that officials deem “inappropriate.” As evidenced by the continuous attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, queer visibility, and discrimination education, crucial havens on the Internet could be subject to complete censorship. Senator Blackburn herself has continuously condemned education about racism as “dangerous for kids.” KOSA’s restrictions would be entirely at the jurisdiction of state attorney generals, many of whom could impose personal political beliefs upon the Internet at large. In order to prevent unfettered homophobic, transphobic, or racist censorship, we must urge our senators to oppose this bill in Congress!

The Internet provides essential tools for minors’ entertainment and education. KOSA would force platforms to filter content heavily, which would likely fall upon crucial LGBTQ+ support sites, suicide prevention pages, and abuse awareness. While such sites contain adult themes, they often aid in the necessary education and safety of minors utilizing the Internet. KOSA increases the use of age verification and parental monitor tools. Most platforms rely on self-selected age confirmation, and there is no accurate system without entirely jeopardizing individual privacy. Pushing the Internet to somehow accurately censor information for minors alone is an impossible task. Instead, we would see widespread censorship for both minor and adult users.

For many millennials and Gen Z, media and fandom spaces provide us with a special community, cultivating a safe environment with fanfiction, edits, or conversations. A National Library of Medicine study found that many LGBTQ+ youth primarily find mental health resources online. However, right-wing politicians are determined to condemn any LGBTQ+ messaging as predatory and harmful to children, even as queer minors largely benefit from digital solidarity and creativity. Even beloved sites such as ArchiveOfOurOwn (AO3), Wattpad, Tumblr, and Twitter could be heavily restricted or taken down. But we as Gen Z are not a monolith, and neither are the incoming generations. Censorship that is safe for one child may be life-threateningly restrictive for another. Pushing for constant age verification and filtration of messaging will invade children’s Internet privacy, resulting in far more harm than good.

KOSA claims to solve the uptick in the youth crisis regarding mental health issues, but instead gives the government unparalleled control over the Internet. According to the Pew Research Center, 81% of American teenagers use social media. Social media is one of many reasons that we – as younger generations – suffer from stress, depression, and other disorders. However, overwhelming Internet surveillance and censorship of essential resources will not aid children’s mental health. Rather, we need to provide funding for public mental health care, focus on creating better federal privacy laws for all Internet users, and allow for the free dissemination of online resources. Social media is here to stay, but there are far more ethical ways to protect children than blatant censorship.

We must take action together! Join us in:

Urging senators Blumenthal and Blackburn to wholly rescind their support for the Kids Online Safety Act and redirect their attention to a comprehensive federal Internet privacy bill instead.

Raising awareness to gain the attention of our state senators (calling, emailing, signing this petition), thus compelling them to oppose KOSA on the Senate floor.

Aiding the ACLU, Fight for Future, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in lobbying against KOSA through digital, offline, and financial support.

Protecting our free and fair Internet, so that all users can find essential information without government censorship!

KOSA will not achieve widespread safety for kids. Instead, it will threaten our right to privacy and prevent the dissemination of essential safety resources for various youth groups. Unite with us to sign this petition and put an end to unclear, repressive Internet censorship laws like KOSA

[that-one-empty-skull]

Ressource Hub

good links to click

be cool

edit 12/01/24: Now updated with Pokémon ressources

Free Palestine

BuildPalestine.com - list of organizations that offer humanitarian aid to Palestine

eSims for Gaza - purchase eSims for people within Gaza to reliably connect to the outside world

PalestineAction.org - stopping Israel's arms trade in Britain and supporting arrested activists

Sea-Eye - civil sea rescue nonprofit, organizes rescue missions in the Mediterranean

Sex Ed & Bodily Autonomy

Scarleteen - queer inclusive ressources on sexuality, sex and sexual health

Women on Waves - nonprofit, brings abortion services and education to people in countries with restrictive abortion laws

-> Women on Waves Find Your Abortion - tool to research safe abortion options globally

-> Women on Waves Sex Ed - ressources on safe sex, contraceptives, and abortion

Mental Health

Findahelpline.com - tool to find crisis and suicide prevention helplines in you country (global effort, 50+ countries covered)

Prison Abolition

The Bail Project - providing free bail to those in need, US based

Are Prisons Obsolete by Angela Y. Davis - pdf

Abolition Democracy by Angela Y. Davis - pdf

Free Media

r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH - extensive piracy wiki

Internet Archive - tons of free archived media

Velvet's guide to piracy - how to safely get into torrenting

Gutenberg Project - free ebooks, world literature

Ocean of Pdfs - free books, mostly ficiton, search by language/genre/author/title

Library Genesis - free books and scientific articles, fiction and nonfiction

DnD

DnD ressource stash (@tadfools) - Google Drive with 200+ DnD pdfs plus BG3 art book

Pokémon

My ressource stash - emulators, roms, fangames, tools, etc

Art and Drawing

TBA

Misc

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg - pdf

Violence by Slavoj Žižek - pdf

------

If anyone knows good free (English language) ressources especially on kink and sex feel free to message me so I can add them

[thecodywanzine]

ZINE CHARITY SPOTLIGHT

We wanted to take a minute to share about our zine's chosen charity, The Trevor Project. All net proceeds from sales will be donated directly to the organization.

The Trevor Project is an American non-profit focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ+ youth. The organization also offers guidance and resources to parents and educators in order to foster safe, accepting, and inclusive environments for all youth, at home, schools, and colleges.

In today's political climate LGBTQ+ rights, especially transgender youth rights, are under constant attack by conservative groups and US state legislatures. The mod team of New Beginnings: A Codywan Zine decided it was imperative that our proceeds be given to an organization that is devoted to providing relief to LGBTQ+ youth.

At its inner core, the romantic relationship between Obi-Wan and Commander Cody is queer love and connection. With this in mind, we believe that an LGBTQ+ organization would be the perfect fit to donate the proceeds from the sales of the Codywan zine.

To learn more about The Trevor Project click here.

Click here to head over to our website. Preorders are open until March 24th, 2023!!

All The Best,

The Mod Team

[i-dont-know-what-im-doing-2024]

Trans Resources

I wanted to make a little post with some of the resources I’ve found that have helped me so far in getting some of the things I need. These might apply more to transmasc situations but some should work for everyone!

1. https://www.thetrevorproject.org

I haven’t used this one yet but I am planning to, they have counselors available that you can talk to or text which sounds really great. If anyone has used them feel free to reblog so people can hear about your experience, if not I’ll update when I’ve used it.

2. https://strandsfortrans.org

This is a website where local businesses that are LGBTQ+ friendly can register so you can look through trans affirming salons and barbers in your area. I was surprised that there were a few options near me and it made it less scary to try and book an appointment.

I didn’t want to wait for my usual hair stylist to have an opening and a trans creator I like made a good point that if someone has always cut your hair and doesn’t know you’re trans or nonbinary they might naturally make the style more feminine (in my case) which is why I wanted someone new. At the same time walking into a traditional barbershop when I still have long hair and don’t even have a binder yet would’ve been way too anxiety inducing so this definitely has helped me.

3. https://www.pointofpride.org/binding

This page from point of pride has a lot of helpful resources about binding including how to do it safely and different brands where you can purchase a binder. I’ve also heard good things from some online creators about Spectrum Outfitters and UNTAG for people with larger chests. I don’t own a binder yet so I don’t have a personal opinion but hopefully this gives people a starting point with a few brands they can look into.

This website also has a free binder program as do many others but unfortunately the waiting times are usually months to years. I still applied just to be on the list and I’m hoping to find another way to get a binder in the meantime.

4. https://pflag.org

This is just the National PFLAG home page but I recommend looking at local branches if there are any near you as they offer support groups, scholarships, and might be able to point you towards services that help in your area.

5. Local Resources

I’m not putting a link for the ones I’ve used because I don’t want people to know where I live but I can say some of the services near me I had no idea about but seem like they’ll be really helpful. Now I had the advantage of already knowing a few organizations in my area to look up but generally a lot of the LGBTQ+ organizations also have resource pages pointing to other local and national organizations that might be helpful.

Personally I found a mini grant for $100 where the organization has you fill out a survey and put links for 1-3 items up to $100 of gender affirming products. I put down a binder and a masc shirt and jacket off Amazon. I don’t know what the waiting list is for this but I was excited it included clothes since almost everything I own is excessively feminine. Local organizations might have shorter waiting lists if they serve a smaller population though they also have less funding so it could be a toss up.

Another local service that I would say is probably the most helpful for me so far (although I haven’t had my appointment yet, just booked it) was a clothing exchange. This place provides totally free gender affirming clothes to queer people which is incredible because I’m an unemployed college student and have been feeling uncomfortable with my wardrobe for a while but can’t afford anything else. They didn’t require me to donate anything either so if you still like your old clothes or need them for safety reasons you can still get help. I was also able to book the appointment with the name and pronouns I’m considering which is cool because I might be able to actually get a feel for them? I can definitely say that getting the confirmation email to Conor for the first time gave me big feelings.

Anyway that’s all my advice/resources for now, although I’ll probably make a second post or add to this one if I find more things that help. I’m definitely someone who processes through serial researching so there could be more coming your way in the future. Also please reblog with anything else that has helped you or your experiences with the above services for other people to find ☺️

[rapeculturerealities]

As House Panel Prepares to Consider Bill to Ban Trans Kids From School Sports, Human Rights Campaign Asks: Why Aren’t They Focused on Real Issues in Schools? - Human Rights Campaign

On Wednesday, March 8, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce will hold a markup of the discriminatory and harmful H.R. 734, legislation that would prevent transgender youth from taking part in school sports activities on teams that match their gender identity. At their very first markup of the new Congress, the House Committee on Education and Workforce is clearly signaling that preventing transgender and non-binary youth from playing sports with their friends is their number one education priority, despite nationwide teacher shortages, gun violence in schools, and slumping test scores, to name a few educational issues.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — criticized the majority on the committee for prioritizing this discriminatory legislation that benefits no one and only harms children, while ignoring more pressing matters.

“As our nation’s children are facing an epidemic of gun violence in our schools, a shortage of quality teachers, and unacceptably high levels of suicide and suicide ideation, House Republicans are pursuing their political agenda over helping our kids who are in crisis. These extremist, anti-equality politicians seem to have a limitless appetite for attacking trans kids, and this federal legislation to prevent kids from taking part in school sports activities is an escalation of these dishonest, transparently political attacks,” said David Stacy, Human Rights Campaign Government Affairs Director. “Transgender kids, like all kids, deserve a chance to take part in the important development opportunities that come along with playing school sports. It’s a chance to learn sportsmanship, self-discipline, teamwork, and more. This legislation would make it impossible for youth to be their authentic selves, to build a sense of belonging with their peers and just enjoy being part of a team.��

[nothorses]

education can be this really beautiful radical thing. i went to private school from elementary to middle school and it did provide me with a really good education. but it was also a misogynistic Islamic religious academy, couldn’t offer my baby brother help so he went to public school who COULD give him additional assistance, and their mental health services were SHIT. One of my suicidal trans friends attempted and when the principal called him to her office, they said “Jusg pray to god.” That school gave a good education in the sense they taught 1 year ahead in the curriculum making my friends struggle and feel like dumbasses. They had no resources for people who needed basic extra help, let alone disabled people. Public school has plenty of its flaws but I was exposed to diversity, clubs, and saw queer people IRL.

That’s why I fucking hate those saying we should tear it down! Yeah is it capitalistic and austerity? Yes, but everything in this country is, and it’s not teachers fault. That’s why we need to fight. Conservatives keep putting money into private schools with waivers and kneecapping public schools leading to underfunding and overwork. School isn’t inherently capitalistic and hierachal, it’s just reflecting wider society. And as we work to change wider society we can change public school too

God yes, exactly this. Folks truly do not realize that teachers specifically tend to be a lot more progressive than the general population- not uniformly, but like. Educators generally are not the ones preventing change from happening.

[monriatitans]

June 2023 Cause of the Month: The Trevor Project

During the month of June, Pride Month quotes, and quotes regarding the LGBT+ community, were shared, along with a resource to learn more; The Trevor Project, "Our Mission: To end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer 
& questioning young people. Our Vision: A world where all LGBTQ young 
people see a bright future 
for themselves."

Join the movement!

Below are the links to the Instagram posts.

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Quote 1

Quote 2

Quote 3

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Quote 4

Quote 5

Quote 6

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Quote 7

Quote 8

Quote 9

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

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MonriaTitans started The Weekend Game Show (WGS) with the mission to educate on and discuss different aspects of game development, and to show why video games can take years to make, with the goal of preventing another Cyberpunk 2077 scenario. Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch and YouTube! Please consider supporting by buying MonriaTitans & WGS a Ko-fi!

In addition, what began as a fun activity has become a mission; Artist Shout-Outs are provided with the goal of supporting human artists to combat AI compilations and their parasitic developers. To be clear, she does not have an issue with the AI themselves, only with how they are being constructed. Want to learn more about the Artist Shout-Outs? Click here! The Artists Shout-Out posts can be seen on Instagram, Tumblr, Discord, and more!

[midnightdaises]

literally all form of censorship in this country is being used to attack queer and POC youth. it has never been about “protecting the children” it’s about controlling them. KOSA is not only going to be actively used to limit queer stories, content, etc but also educational content such as sex ed, suicide prevention, gender affirming healthcare, etc. these are all things that could save minors lives!!! DO NOT LET KOSA PASS!

internet censorship bill about to pass congress:

ao3 is facing a ddos attack from an overseas right-wing anonymous group because it contains "degeneracy and disgusting things like LGBT and NSFW".

they're not the only right-wing group that is attacking fanfiction sites because of queer & nsfw content. the Heritage foundation, the US right wing think tank that writes laws for republicans, wrote an article about how "big tech turns kids trans" in which they're advocating for the Kid's Online Safety Act to pass because it will give state attorney generals power to sue websites for "potentially harmful content towards minors". in this article they point out websites like wattpad, tumblr, tiktok, twitter as sites that GOP attorney generals can and will target for censorship if this bill passes. all places where fandom, that's mostly queer, hangs out.

if you think this bill has no chance of passing because of all the red flags it poses, think again. it currently has 38 cosponsors in the senate, and is being pushed by the democrats as a "protecting the children!!" type bill.

there are left-aligned orgs in congress rn lobbying for this bill to pass. july is extremely decisive, because if KOSA goes through to markup it'll be bundled with the Earn It act, Restrict, and all the other bad internet bills and passed as a package, completely censoring the internet forever.

if you want to learn more about the bill, go here. also sign the open letter against it here

it's ESSENTIAL that you call your members of congress, specifically Maria Cantwell (you can call from out of state) and tell them DO NOT PASS KOSA. this site here connects you to your members of congress and gives you a short simple script to read off of! super easy and doesn't take much out of your day! please do this now!!

[epacer]

K-12 Education

California bans schools from forcing teachers to ‘out’ LGBTQ students

Amid a flurry of recent school board policies aimed at the rights of transgender students, California passed a new law in July that prevents schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as LGBTQ.

The new law, AB 1955, came in response to a handful of school boards adopting policies that require teachers and other school staff to notify parents if a student identifies as a gender other than what’s on their school records.

“Teachers can still talk to their parents,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Monday in which he touted a new plan to improve career opportunities for adults. “What they can’t do is fire a teacher for not being a snitch. I don’t think teachers should be gender police.”

LGBTQ advocates said that “forced outing” policies, such as those adopted in Chino, Temecula, and a dozen other districts, infringe on students’ privacy and could potentially harm students whose parents disapprove of their identity.

The state sued to stop Chino’s policy, and most districts either scrapped their policies, tweaked the language or put them on hold.

This act “could not be more timely or necessary, and LGBTQ+ students across California can breathe a sigh of relief,” Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, wrote. “LGBTQ+ youth can now have these important family conversations when they are ready and in ways that strengthen the relationship between parent and child, not as a result of extremist politicians intruding into the parent-child relationship.”

‘The battle continues’

Opponents of the new law said that parental notification policies actually strengthen ties between students and parents, and schools should not withhold information on such important matters. Even though a parental notification measure that would have applied to all schools failed to qualify for the ballot, opponents vowed to keep fighting.

“This (law) doesn’t clarify anything. And nothing prevents individual teachers from bringing the issue up with parents,” said Roseville school board member Jonathan Zachreson, an organizer of the failed ballot measure and whose district was among those that passed parental notification policies. “So the battle continues.”

The new law also requires the state Department of Education to update its LGBTQ resourcesand encourage school districts to offer counseling, support groups, clubs, anti-bullying policies and other measures to support LGBTQ students and their families. Schools would have to pay for those services with their existing funding.

“I don’t think teachers should be gender police.” -- Governor Gavin Newsom

LGBTQ young people are particularly vulnerable on school campuses. In a recent survey of 18,000 LGBTQ young people nationwide, nearly half said they had been bullied in the past year, and 10% said they had attempted suicide. Those whose schools supported LGBTQ rights were less likely to suffer from mental health challenges.

Even if the new law sparks a backlash in more conservative areas of the state, California was right to move forward with it, especially as some states push ahead with their own parental notification policies, said USC education professor Morgan Polikoff.

“Will everyone like this law? Certainly not.Will it lead to conflict? There is no doubt,” Polikoff said. “But I am hopeful this will be good for the queer kids in California’s schools and will point the way toward similar efforts in other states.”  Reposted article from Cal Matters by Carolyn Jones on December 23, 2024

[riverdamien]

Painful Conflict

Pride Month!

June 2, 2024

A Painful Conflict!

Mark 2:23-3:6

The love of God and the Church I discovered when I was younger was wild and boundless. But as I grew up and grew into my queerness, I had to reckon with some heavy questions. As I entered into preaching the gospel, and stuffed myself farther and farther into the closet, finding a religion that proclaimed the love of all to be so willing to vilify those who were not "straight", making them "intrinsically evil," having a District Superintend say, "Anyone that is gay is out of here.", with such a mean, angry and vindictive voiced. When a queer kid came to see me needing help and sought it out, I was lambasted and told "We do not help such people," and he committed suicide after I turned him away.

From that moment on I could not live with myself and the spiritual tradition that nurtured my early years of life and service, could not be a part of the very same entity that so recklessly brought devastation upon young people questioning their sexuality, the very essence of their being! And so the Church  finally came for me as I found in the words of Sebastion Moor, "Living your life to meet the expectations of others is a sin!"

As a teenager, I longed to see the face of Christ with my own eyes, I spent many, many hours in prayer and meditation, desperate to catch a glimpse of my beloved God. That longing has changed. For now, I have seen the face of the crucified Christ, over and over again. I saw Christ when I held in my arms a young gay kid dying; And when I looked into the stunned, grief-stricken eyes of Jim, Jay, Cindy, and so many other young people as they told me how they felt about being abandoned by family, their church, their friends and sleep on the streets.

I was angry for a long time at the Church, but now no anger is left.  Thomas Merton wrote of the conflict, that Jesus presents in our gospel when he and his disciples violate the Sabbath law, by plucking kernels of corn on the sabbath and healing the man with the withered hand.--a conflict between those who become self-righteous and judgmental of the sins of others, becoming self-righteous over the sexual orientations that people are born with, and those who learn to walk humbly, accept their essential unity, and repent of the terrible harm done to queer people.

For the better part of my life, I have looked upon the broken Christ, the Christ of the persecuted, the Christ bound to us in desolation. Now my deepest yearning is to see the healing of their wounds, the binding up of what was broken, the wiping  away of every tear, "the making of all things well," and in the words of Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard I will continue:

"To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life does not make sense if God did not exist"!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

"For LGBTQ+ young people, having an affirming community makes all the difference. Your participation and fundraising efforts help The Trevor Project continue to provide free, secure 24/7 suicide prevention and crisis services. This effort will also support Trevor’s ongoing public education, advocacy, and research initiatives, all in hopes of building a world where LGBTQ+ young people are safe and free to be themselves.

I am sacrificing a meal a day to donate! Join Me!

"Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Dr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

Post Office Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

paypal.com

415-305-2124Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counseling Certificate

Certificate in Spiritual Direction

Certificate In Religious Trauma

(30th Anniversary Celebration!)

October 5, 2024

5:00 p.m.

Victor's Pizza

(Where Bought Youth First Pizza!)

Prayer of St. Brendan!

"Help me to journey beyond the familiar

and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries I trust in You to be stronger than each storm within me.

I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hands.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,

and somehow, make my obedience count for You"

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(Temenos and Dr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!

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"The people I love the best jump into work head-first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls.

- Marge Piercy, from “To Be of Use”