#queer youth assemble

[queeryouthassemble]

[ID: A light red rectangle takes up the top third of a square post, with a heading reading "We, The Youth, Dissent" in large, black, bold lettering. Below it in small black text reads "Queer Youth Assemble is coordinating a nationwide protest of the recent Supreme Court rulings, which have blocked debt relief, prohibited affirmative action, and weakened anti-discrimination protections for queer people nationwide. Join us at a demonstration near you!". The bottom two thirds of the square is taken up by a light pink background. Inside is a light red graphic of a state map of the United States, with location markers in Washington, Idaho, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post, with a large, black, and bold heading that reads "What are we protesting?". Below this is a rounded light red square with smaller black text that reads "The Supreme Court has recently targeted areas of our everyday lives that impact our finances, education, and our freedom of self-expression. With the rulings impacting student debt relief, lgbtqia+ rights, and affirmative action, we have had enough. Queer Youth Assemble has created Youth Dissent as a way to highlight the impact of these recent Supreme Court rulings especially on minority groups within the lgbtqia+ community. The intersectionality of these rulings is too large to ignore and we the youth, dissent." End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post with part of a light red state map of the United States taking up the left third of the post. There are three location markers in different states. The location marker in Massachusetts has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Boston, MA". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "8/4 from 12-3 PM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Boston Common, by Brewer Fountain, near the corner of Park and Tremont Streets". The location marker in Pennsylvania has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Scranton, PA". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "7/29 from 2-4:30 PM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Demonstration beginning at 310 Mifflin Street, ending at 800 Linden Street". The location marker in Washington DC has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "District of Colombia. Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "7/19 from 10-11:30 AM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Outside the Supreme Court of the United States, First Street NE between East Capitol Street and Maryland Avenue". End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post with part of a light red state map of the United States taking up the left third of the post. There is a location marker in Georgia and South Carolina. The location marker in Georgia has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Atlanta, GA". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "8/26 from 10-11:45 AM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Outside the Georgia State Capitol building, Capitol Sq SW, Atlanta, GA 30334". The location marker in South Carolina has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Colombia, SC". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "8/5 from 1 - 2:30 PM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Outside the South Carolina State Capitol, North Ground Steps, 1100 Gervais Street". End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post with part of a light red state map of the United States taking up most of the space. There is a location marker in Illinois, Kentucky, and, Oklahoma. On top of the map is a light pink rounded rectangle. Bold, black, all-caps text reads "Springfield, IL", with smaller bold black text reading "TBA" below it. Below this, bold, black, all-caps text reads "Frankfurt, KY", with smaller bold black text reading "7/29 from 5-7 PM" below it. Below this smaller black text reads "Outside the Kentucky State Capitol building, 700 Capital Ave, Frankfort, KY 40601". Below this, bold, black, all-caps text reads "Oklahoma City, OK", with smaller bold black text reading "7/22 from 2-5 PM" below it. Below this smaller black text reads "Outside the Oklahoma State Capitol Building, 2300 N Lincoln Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK 73105". End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post with part of a light red state map of the United States taking up the right half of the post. There is a location marker in Washington and Idaho. The location marker in Washington has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Seattle, WA". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "TBA", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Volunteer Park Amphitheater, 1139-1157 Volunteer Park Rd, Seattle, WA 98102". The location marker in Idaho has text beside it in bold, all-caps lettering which reads "Boise, ID". Below it, slightly smaller black text reads "7/31 from 12-4 PM", and below that there is smaller black text which reads "Outside the Idaho State Capitol Building, 700 W Jefferson St, Boise, ID 83702". End ID.]

[ID: A light pink square post with a black, all-caps, bold heading which reads "Don't see a protest near you?". Below this is a light red rounded square with smaller black text within it, reading "Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements about protests near you! If you are interested in organizing a demonstration in your state, please feel free to contact us at youthdissent@queeryouthassemble.org We have a complete guide to organizing your own demonstration coming out soon!". End ID.]

[youthdissent]

[ID: A light red square post with a centered, black, bold, all-caps heading at the top that reads "Take action against the Supreme Court with queer and trans youth at a protest near you!" in all caps. In the bottom left corner is a pink text bubble with black body text inside that reads "Swipe to learn about four upcoming We, the Youth, Dissent protests!". To the right are two people. One is tan with brown and blue short curly hair, and the other is pale with a blue curly mullet. They are holding a sign that says "Stand against racism" in all-caps black lettering. End ID.]

[ID: A light red square post with a black, bold, all-caps heading at the top that reads "Join us in San Diego, CA and Colombia, SC". Below this in a centered pink rounded rectangle is smaller black body text that reads "San Diego, CA Waterfront Park/City Hall, 8/5 @ 12-2PM, connorl@queeryouthassemble.org". After a space there is more black body text that reads "Columbia, SC State Capitol - North Grounds, 8/5 @ 1-2:30PM, faithc@queeryouthassemble.org". End ID.]

[ID: A light red square post with a black, bold, all-caps heading at the top that reads "Join us in Atlanta, GA and Austin, TX". Below this in a centered pink rounded rectangle is smaller black body text that reads "Atlanta, GA - State Capitol - 8/26 @ 10:00 AM - faithc@queeryouthassemble.org". After a space there is more black body text that reads "Austin, TX - State Capitol - 9/23@ 6:00 PM - faithc@queeryouthassemble.org". End ID.]

[itgetsbetterproject]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ INTRODUCING: Our LGBTQ+ Youth Voices class of 2024! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

These are some amazinggg LGBTQ+ youth who are already making our world a better place through their activism, art, music, and storytelling.

Some new faces this round plus some familiar ones! Meet them here.

PLUS while we're at it, take a look at everything (like...a mind-blowing amount of things) that last year's class accomplished, like:

Speaking at the rally at NYC Pride

Being guests on podcasts

Speaking on panels and at conferences on behalf of LGBTQ+ youth

Creating art, zines, and music together

Streaming on Twitch and making TikToks

Getting to meet each other in LA!

See all of their accomplishments here! Truly gives ya hope that youth are making things better. :')

Can't wait to see what the new class has in storeee.

[faithsactivism]

HEY YALL!!!!!!

I’m causing some ✨chaos✨ behind the scenes rn with @queeryouthassemble so I’ll keep you posted on when you can get involved :)) should be within the next few days

Follow @youthdissent for more updates too!!!

[itsapmseymour]

Spread it, join it, walk in it, do whatever you feel comfortable doing, but, we are standing together 

[the-cimmerians]

a storytime story. Not my story, it's my friend's, but she doesn't go here so I'm sharing for her. We'll call her Mara. Mara is a high-femme, lovely queer girl from a wealthy family in the southern US, but when I met her she'd been living in California for many years, chugging through her postgraduate education in Women's Studies. She rarely went home, because being at home was always a bit of a fraught experience: not unendurable (because to most heteronormative casual viewers the radiant queerness of a high-femme is pretty much indistinguishable from a quirky beauty queen waiting for the right football quarterback to sweep her off her feet), but still--not the most fun. Yet every once in a while, Mara would have a fit of 'dutiful daughter'-itis, and go home to mend some fences and keep some peace.

Mara's mother had often asked her to come with her to philanthropic events, but Mara had always said no. On this trip, however, Mara's mother had purchased a full table as an event sponsor, and she cajoled Mara into going with her. For those of you who haven't ever attended such an event, they are all different, and yet terrifyingly all the same (and I say this not as an attendee, but as an event-runner for various nonprofits; an event-runner who, fair warning, hates everything about these events, and this part of nonprofit work). There is some form of lower-calorie food (chicken or fish on greens with a very light citrus-fruit dressing is de rigeur, along with some sort of fruit-based airy parfait served in the smallest and most elegant glasses imaginable for dessert), usually an emcee (occasionally entertaining, but always inoffensive to the assembled guests), sometimes speakers (high-profile or famous women on a local or national level depending on the 'get' of the organization in question, or extremely well-spoken young people or teens for youth-serving organizations--with the youth in question being very carefully coached), and an 'ask'--the fundraising portion of the event, where the wealthy attendees compete with the rest of their friends and enemies in the social scene to be the most gracious and beneficent person in the room.

And there is gossip. So much gossip.

Poor Mara knew enough to expect some of this (mostly due to listening to me complain bitterly about how awful these events are), but there were aspects for which she was completely unprepared. Her mother had filled her sponsorship table with all of her closest friends, and the 'social hour' before the event started in earnest was a haze of white wine and a constant stream of excessively perfumed women dressed in full southern socialite chic, coming by the table to air-kiss cheeks and say how it's been ages since they've seen each other and what a darling ensemble, where on earth did you get it? and who does your hair now?--you must tell me, it's simply scrumptious--you look incredible, we really must do lunch some time soon--

...and the moment the woman or women in question moved on, the table, as a whole, in excited, urgent-whispered voices, would drag the everloving fuck out of every single lady they'd just been gushing over.

"Did you see how botched her last lift was? I hardly recognized her--I'm surprised she recognized me, with her eyes yanked back like that--" "so terrible, but she did go to the cheapest surgeon in town--husband has money troubles, you know--"

"Didn't expect to see her here, but I suppose you have to go somewhere to show off that large a collection of paste jewels--" "oh, stop, you wicked girl! But you're right, of course--and she gives herself such airs, like we don't all know--"

"Poor dear looks exhausted--apparently keeping up with her pool boy isn't easy at her age--" "Can't say that I blame her; that Carlos, have you seen him? Of course, she's hardly his only client. I've been dying for a pool, but my Henry just won't--"

"Quite a plucky little attitude for someone whose husband just left her for his twenty-two year old secretary--" "And after she put him through college and law school--I heard she's not even going to get to keep the house. She really should have sprung for a better lawyer--"

"I can't believe she still thinks she can fit into that dress, with all the weight she's packed on--" "Truly grotesque--just ghastly! Seems like last summer at the fat farm didn't do her as much good as one would have hoped--"

::giggle:: ::giggle:: ::giggle::

Mara was horrified, sitting there with a bland, polite smile frozen on her face, with her white gloves and vintage pillbox hat and charming little clutch bag, her seamed stockings and her kitten heels and her classic red lipstick and pin-curls (because in true unquenchable femme spirit, she had taken this occasion as an opportunity for dress-up, an opportunity for fun and play and sexy whimsy--a Gene-Tierney-does-pin-up-girl kind of vibe), utterly unable to see how to extricate herself from this terrible situation.

Another woman glided away from the table, coyly waving heavily-beringed fingers. "Yes, Darling," Mara's mother said, coyly waving back. "See you soon! Kiss-kiss! Love to Laurent!" She sat down and hissed to the cabal at the table: "Ha! Her husband just gave her an STD."

The woman to Mara's left leaned forward excitedly. "Really? Two-door or four-door?--wait, if it was the latest Aston Martin, I'm going to literally perish of envy--"

And that was the tipping point--Mara fled. Walked until she found a suitably divey coffee shop. Had a coffee and a slice of peach pie, and flirted with a soft Butch waitress until the world seemed less dire.

[just-a-queer-fanboy]

Petition against KOSA.

More information under the cut.

This bill hides behind the facade of protecting children on the internet. However, the way it intends to do so is through censoring content such as queer resources, sex education, and with how our government is going, may censor activist content about what is going on in places like Palestine or Congo.

Learn more:

One idea proposed is making it required for most websites to require government ID (ex: drivers license) to make an account. Combined with the many bills framing drag, trans rights, or queer resources as child sexual abuse, queer people online could be wrongfully prosecuted under the basis of being child predators.

Not only is this bill harmful and immoral, it is straight up unconstitutional.

The first amendment of the US constitution grants all citizens the freedom of speech, freedom to petition, freedom of the press, and freedom to assembly. It also grants freedom of religious practice, but that doesn't appear to be affected by this bill from what I know.

This bill completely violates our granted right to the freedom of speech, petition, press, and assembly. This is a thinly veiled censorship bill under the guise of protecting children.

As this bill coincides with the suppression of free palestine protests and activism, anti boycott laws, anti queer bills and laws, and the introduction of project 2025, the United Statres continues to descend into censorship and white supremacy.

US CITIZENS: CALL YOUR LAWMAKERS AND TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE KOSA. FOR SOME OF US, IT IS OUR ONLY FORM OF ACTIVISM.

I know I typically don't make my own posts on large political issues, but as I live in the US, I am closer to the issue and can do more.

[grison-in-space]

Via a conversation on Metafilter about the state of Florida's decision to crush its public institutions, a person I think is particularly wise left a comment about the state of the legislature on higher education in Wisconsin.

The situation in Florida is atrocious, but it's important to be aware of how widespread this movement on the part of MAGA politicians to ban all academic and support programs related to gender, race/ethnicity, and sexuality is. I'm a professor in the Wisconsin state university system, where, in addition to my regular fulltime work in my home department I direct the LGBTQ+ Studies Program (a more-than-halftime job I have done for many years in return for zero additional salary, or summer funds, or course buyout, or any other compensation...).

This summer, the Wisconsin state legislature, gerrymandered into permanent Republican control, voted to ban all DEI programs in the state university system, and cut $32 million from the university budget, which it stated was amount of "taxpayer money being wasted on divisive indoctrination efforts" (to paraphrase Assembly Speaker Robin Vos). This comes after years of successive budget cuts and a ten-year tuition freeze and years of faculty and staff taking pay cuts in the form of "furloughs" through which we were expected to just keep working. The situation is now somewhat improved in that Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed the DEI ban, but he cannot restore the funding. Anyway: a few days after the legislative vote to ban DEI , I was giving a talk about the range of state bills attacking trans youth and adults, and there was a Democratic state legislator on the panel. When we were introducing ourselves and I told her I directed the LGBTQ+ Studies Program, she said, "Oh, but that's no longer legal. Well, unless Evers vetoes the ban; we'll see."

After doing some blinking, I responded by explaining the difference between DEI programs and academic programs. DEI programs provide student support services, which is deemed administrative work, in contrast to academic programs. The LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the LGBTQ+ Studies Program at my university are both vital and important. But the resource center organizes support groups and social activities for students, while the academic program teaches classes and sponsors academic talks. Academic programs are not part of the DEI system--and the very same legislature that voted for the DEI ban had spent years prior threatening sanctions against students and faculty for supposedly not sufficiently respecting the absolute value of free speech in academia. Legislators presented instructors as censorious ideologues, students as snowflakes in love with a victim narrative, and the legislature as the champion of teaching and discussing all ideas freely.

The image of DEI programs presented by Republican legislators is some kind of kink fantasy, in which cis straight white men are forced to prostrate themselves, declare themselves to be bad and deserving of punishment, and lick the boots of students who are trans and queer, of color and feminist. The reality is that university DEI programs are providing mental health services and tutoring and social support to college students, at a time when their levels of mental health challenges are very high. They have zero to do with the kink humiliation fantasy, they really are about inclusion, and it is ludicrous and cruel to cut social support to marginalized college students.

But even if the state ban were not vetoed, a DEI ban does not dismantle programs like Gender Studies or African and African Diaspora Studies or LGBTQ+ Studies, because they are academic programs, I explained to the Democratic legislator. But from her response, it was clear that not only did Republican Wisconsin legislators think they'd banned all academic programs examining race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and who knows what else (disability studies? Jewish studies and Islamic studies?), but that the Democratic legislators seemed to believe so as well.

The flip from "we are the party of free speech!" to "we are the party that bans books and entire academic disciplines!" happened with dizzying speed. But take it from me as a trans person--these legislative attacks can burst across the country in the space of months, shifting the landscape radically. The thing about the MAGA movement is that it is made up of people who believe that the situation is desperate, the American project is on the verge of failure, and the time has come to destroy or be destroyed. Most Americans, including non-MAGA Republicans, want to see the culture war cool down and Americans get along, but MAGA-sorts want it to go hot. And I have to admit some despair about what to do about this, because of the unpersuadability of this group. Take a look at Question 39 from this CBS/YouGov poll of Iowa voters last week, and what percentage of Republican voters there believe they are being lied to by various parties. The percentage of MAGA voters who said they said they believed they were being told the truth by Trump was 71%, in comparison to 63% for friends and family, 56% for conservative news sources, and 42% for religious leaders. Only 32% of Iowa Republicans generally believed they were told the truth by medical scientists. (The figures for Joe Biden and "liberal media" were 10% and 8% respectively.)

It is hard to persuade people with facts and logic and calls for empathy when they think you are a liar attacking their great leader with whom 99% say they identify. What we have to do is persuade others to stand up. And I don't want to be doomy, but my experience with resisting transphobic legislation and action causes me a lot of concern. It's not just "the face-eating leopards won't eat my face" problem. The fact is, frankly, that a lot of institutions and people are craven. This past year I was in a working group with medical and social scientists advising the HHS about creating guidelines for research with intersex and transgender populations, and then Libs of TikTok spread lies about hospitals supposedly performing "sex changes" on little kids, and several children's hospitals received bomb threats--and suddenly most of the medical researchers working with trans youth were pulled from the working group by the hospitals they were affiliated with. Hospital administrators are shutting down research on trans youth and clinics serving trans youth, rather than having the backs of threatened doctors and patients, handing a victory to the face-eating leopards who growled at them.

My conclusion is that we need to focus energy on teaching people who have not dealt with serious bullying before how to stand up to bullies. For people like concerned parents considering attending school board meetings to oppose book bans, we could teach basic mutual aid strategies, like forming a supportive group to attend together. But what we are to do about people like college administrators and corporate executives who would like to do the right thing for students and employees, but not as much as they'd like to avoid offending a wealthy donor or receiving negative conservative media attention. . . that's a big question to me.

I have left my own longer comment in the wider thread.

(If you also like longform, thoughtful text conversation, this is my regular plug for Metafilter as a platform. If you DM me an email address, I can send you an invitation link for a free account.)

[queeryouthautonomy]

Ways to get involved with the movement:

Attend your local March for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy on 3/31 (find your nearest march here)

Donate—visit our website or find us on Venmo/Paypal/Cashapp (@queeryouthassemble); we are fundraising for poster and first aid supplies, to pay speakers/interpreters, and transportation costs :)

If you can directly donate services or materials, please reach out to march@queeryouthassemble.org!

Be a marshal in DC—apply here!

Organize a walkout at your school

[queeryouthassemble]

Join QYA's Let Trans Athletes Play Movement!

Send us an ask or see our website for more information :)

[ID: Six illustrated people stand over a beige box. Blue and pink words in large all-caps text inside thee box read "Let Trans Athletes Play" with smaller white all-caps text reading "Visit queeryouthassemble.org to learn more." People are of diverse heights, races, and clothing. One is using a wheelchair, and one holds a progress pride flag, others hold sports equipment. The background has various sports balls and pucks. End ID.]

[ID: Four illustrated people stand facing one another at the bottom-center of the page. They are of diverse heights, races, and clothing, and some hold different sports equipment. Three people are standing, and one is using a wheelchair. Three lines of all-caps text above the people read "This is a nationwide movement to end transgender sports bans by playing sports." End ID.]

[ID: Black text fills the page, reading "As transgender athletes, we have been forced into silence over an issue that affects us personally: our participation in sports. There are some who believe that simply being transgender creates an unfair advantage, others who say that is not the case, and many who do not know what to think. While opinions are divided, what is a fact is that transgender athletes are being unfairly discriminated against through these bills. That is why throughout the summer, we are inviting everyone, regardless of your identity, to play sports with us at Let Trans Athletes Play events across the country." In the bottom right corner, a small illustrated femme person sits with a skateboard in their lap. End ID.]

[ID: Black all-caps text covers the top half of the page. It is a quote from QYA volunteer and athlete Xander Grey, who uses he/him pronouns. Text reads "I've been told I can't compete because I refuse to wear a female swimsuit. It would be amazing to be a part of a community that celebrates and uplifts me rather than refuses to let me compete. I've been so many firsts in my community and I hate having all that pressure put on me. For once, I'd like to be a part of a bigger first." In the bottom left corner, three people of varying heights, races, and clothing face each other. One is using a wheelchair, while the other two stand. Two people hold sports equipment. End ID.]

[ID: Large white all-caps text at the top of the page reads "LTAP Overview." Below, there are four quadrants, each with an illustration. In the top-left, three people of varying heights, races, and clothing face each other. One is using a wheelchair, while the other two stand. Two people hold sports equipment. Below them is the word "sports." In the bottom-left there is a person with blue hair holding a sign that says "I love being trans." Below them is the word "protests." In the top-right, a person with purple hair holds some toys. Below them says "games." In the bottom-right, a person with red hair holds a pamphlet that has a trans flag and binder drawing on it. Below them says "learning." End ID.]

[ID: Large all-caps white text at top of page reads "get involved." Two smaller white all-caps subtitled read "host an event" and "attend an event." Smaller black text below "host an event" reads "We're looking for organizers and organizations to host Let Trans Athletes Play events across the country this summer! Visit our website (queeryouthassemble.org) to learn how," and text below "attend an event" reads "Regardless of if you're an athlete, non-athlete, transgender, or cisgender, we encourage you to attend an event near you. There's something for everyone, regardless of athletic ability!" End ID.]

[ID: Black all-caps text covers the top half of the page. It is a quote from QYA art consultant and former athlete Jesse Young-Paulson, who uses they/he pronouns. Text reads "Even considering the competitive nature of the games, being able to see other people like me on the field was a moment of radical inclusion and visibility—the type of visibility where you don’t feel hypervisible, but seen for yourself and part of a queer sports community." At the bottom of the page are five people, of diverse heights, races, and clothing. One person has visible top surgery scars, and holds a ball. Another person holds a progress pride flag. End ID.]

[youthdissent]

[ID: A yellow square post with a light yellow rounded rectangle taking up the top two thirds, with large, black, bold, all-caps text that reads "California! join queer and trans youth in protesting the Supreme Court". In the bottom right corner there is smaller bold black text that reads "Join us in San Diego, CA." Non-bold black text below this reads "at the San Diego Waterfront Park/City Hall on August 9th from 12:00-2:00PM PST!". In the bottom left corner is a drawing of a person with light tan skin and mid-length green curly hair using a wheelchair and holding a progress flag. End ID.]

[ID: A yellow square post with a light yellow rounded square in the middle that takes up most of the post. Inside there is a heading in all-caps, bold, black text that reads "We, The Youth, Dissent". Below this is smaller black text which reads "The Supreme Court has recently targeted areas of our everyday lives that impact our finances, education, and our freedom of self-expression. With the rulings impacting student debt relief, lgbtqia+ rights, and affirmative action, we have had enough. Queer Youth Assemble has created Youth Dissent as a way to highlight the impact of these recent Supreme Court rulings especially on minority groups within the lgbtqia+ community. The intersectionality of these rulings is too large to ignore and we the youth, dissent." End ID.]

[ID: A yellow square post with a light yellow rounded square in the middle that takes up most of the post. Inside there is a heading in all-caps, bold, black text that reads "What should I bring?". Below this is smaller black text which reads "Here's a quick list of things you might want to bring with you to your upcoming demonstration. Keep an eye out for our resource guides on organizing and protesting coming out this week!" Below this there is a list of checkboxes in slightly smaller text whose items include, "Necessary medications, Water & Small snacks, State ID, cash & coins, Fully charged cell phone, Hand sanitizer & a mask, Hat & sunscreen, Our printable "Know Your Rights" & "In Case of Emergency" cards*, A sign". Below this is smaller text which reads "*These are available on our site alongside printable pages to cut and distribute at your demonstration!" End ID.]

[ID: A dark yellow square post with a light yellow rounded square in the middle that takes up most of the post. Inside there is a heading in all-caps, bold, black text that reads "Find a protest near you". Below this is smaller black text that reads "Please reach out to us at connorl@queeryouthassemble.org if you have any questions! Organizing and Protesting resource guides available in our bio now! Check out our page and website to stay up to date on our latest demonstration announcements.". Below this is smaller, centered text that reads "Currently featuring.... Atlanta, San Diego, Seattle, and much more!" End ID.]

[firealder2005]

hey all - I don't normally do this but if you want to stop this bill this is an easy way to sign the petition. the current next goal is 35,000 signatures and they are currently at 29,887.

Real quick and easy to do, I promise! I've been skimming the news about this for a bit and finally gotten around to signing.

What I put down as my comment if you're unsure what to talk about:

As a content creator, KOSA is my enemy. As a teenager, KOSA is my enemy. As an older sister, KOSA is my enemy. As a queer citizen, KOSA is my enemy.

I have Zero desire for my sister to have to give out her own personal information just to use the internet. That SHOULD NOT be happening, let alone CONSIDERED.

We. Deserve. Privacy. Should I say it louder?

WE DESERVE PRIVACY! What we do on the internet is OUR business, no one else's - and certainly not the government's! You have no business knowing what sites I frequent, the people I communicate and connect with!

You have no right to censor our voices. That is a DIRECT VIOLATION of the Constitution. It is a DIRECT VIOLATION of the VERY FIRST AMENDMENT!

Do I need to cite it for you?

"The First Amendment…protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/#:~:text=The%20First%20Amendment%20provides%20that,the%20right%20to%20bear%20arms.)

Taken directly from the White House website^

Communication is how we connect with others! In-person and online! I only have one close friend in-person, but I have many online friends who I converse with on the daily because of our shared interests! Because of the content we create!

KOSA will DENY US this connection! KOSA will DEPRIVE US of forming these relationships! It's BECAUSE of these people that I create content! KOSA will prevent me from doing what I love!

Censorship is NEVER the answer. Censor ONLY HURTS US. Doesn't matter WHO we are - queer, POC, ect - we all have a RIGHT to privacy, and this bill will INFRINGE on that right!

If you REALLY care about us, the youth, the next generation? You wouldn't vote for KOSA.

It's as simple as that.

-------

Mention the things that mean a lot to you. Mention how KOSA will endanger queer youth. Talk about how it will prevent you from creating and sharing the content you've been making.

[faithsactivism]

When in doubt, I’m causing some shit somewhere 🥰

@youthdissent is in full swing!!!!

[commiepinkofag]

ACAB: Gender Police

A first-in-the-nation law banning forced outings in state public schools goes into effect immediately in California. The SAFETY Act [Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today’s Youth] passed the state Assembly in June by a vote of 60-15. Forced outing policies have proliferated in California since 2023, with more than a dozen school districts implementing rules to notify parents and guardians of students who identify as trans or a gender different from the one listed on their birth certificate. “The very personal decision for a student to come out should be on their own terms to whoever they choose to share that information with when they are ready,” said the bill’s author San Diego Assemblyman Chris Ward (D) in a statement. “Teachers should not be the gender police.”

[ruibaozha]

Li Nezha, Protector of the Queer Youth in Taiwan. Part 1.

Hello Tumblr!

I have been hard at work assembling the first few posts for this blog, but I would like to start with something relatively lighthearted. Our topic for today is modern depictions of Li Nezha, or most specifically, Nezha as a queer icon in Taiwan.

In the interest of maintiaining a somewhat steady flow of posts, the original form of this post has been broken up. The following posts will expand on the points made here and additionally will discuss the impact of Nezha in the Taiwanese Queer Film scene and it's possible influence on Nezha (2019).

This is an unexpected angle, but one I dearly want to share. Please continue under 'keep reading' if this also interests you.

Before reading a handful of discomforting topics arise. There is mention of suicide in relation to the original myth, the concept of filial cannibalism in relation to the original myth, and discussion of the AIDS crisis.

I would first like to state that the cultural differences between Taiwan and Mainland China are not many, in several aspects they are the same - barring current geopolitical factors. Many fled Mainland China during 1949, a great deal settling in Taiwan. Naturally they brought their culture and worshipped deities with them, Nezha among the wide range of gods brought.

In more recent times the widespread popularity of Nezha in Taiwan is fascinating, though he may not have as many statues or dedicated temples, his ability to excite the younger generations is unmatched by the rest of his pantheon. Overall, Nezha ranks seventh most popular when measured by publicly available shrines or temples (1). But if we are to measure popularity based on the amount of statues that exist Nezha is only outnumbered by the earth-deity Tudi Gong (2). Thus it is understandable Nezha himself became a reflection of the interests of the youth, especially if one considers his image to be of someone unafraid to challenge authority and those that oppress you.

The idea of a queer Nezha is a fairly novel thing though. 1971 saw the publishing of 'Nezha in the Investiture of the Gods' or Fengshenbang li de Nezha (封神榜裡的哪吒) by Xi Song which served almost to fill in numerous gaps in his personality as well as add a more psychological aspect to his rebellion against his father. The novel introduces the father as extremely strict, his brothers envious of him, and a mother who loves but cannot understand him; our result is a deeply melancholic Nezha who frequently ponders the meanining of his own life (3).

Any semblance of homosexual tendency is largely absent until the end of the novel which coincides with the killing of Ao Bing in the original Canonization of the Gods. Nezha is bathing in the river here as well, except he sees Ao Bing through the water's surface. Nezha wants to reach through the water and hold him, and the two play together for a while before Nezha accidentally kills Ao Bing (4). Rather than be demanded to repent, the Nezha here punishes himself for the accident.

Many films concerning Nezha to this point focused more on martial arts spectacles rather than his temperament and personality. However 1992 saw the release of the film 'Rebels of the Neon God' by Tsai Mingliang, though not adapted from the Nezha origin story, concerns the problem of self-indulgent youth in modern society. Interestingly the Chinese title Qingshaonian Nezha (青少年哪吒), can be read two ways: Young Nezha or The Youth as Nezha.

His (Nezha's) name is mentioned three times over the course of the film. The first instance is when one of the youthful protagonist's (Xiaokang) mother is explaining to her husband their son is so misbehaved because he is the reincarnation of Nezha. The second is when two of the protagonists (Xiaokang and Ah Ze) enter a dispute, one of their motorbikes defaced with the phrase "Nezha was here". The final time is when these same protagonists are lamenting their poor luck and are instructed to worship Nezha.

Being a gay man himself it isn't surprising that the homoeroticism portrayed by Xiaokang is later elaborated upon in Mingliang's 'Vive l'amour' (1994) where the quiet Xiaokang is attracted hopelessly to the rowdy playboy character of Ah Rong, so much so that Xiaokang kisses Ah Rong without his knowledge. It concludes with Xiaokang and his father participating together in a dubious homoerotic setting together before recognizing each other in 'The River' (1997).

These films were released surrounding Tsai Mingliang's 1995 documentary about how the AIDS crisis was wracking Taiwan, and against the director's wishes, Mingliang focused heavily on the gay men the disease was affecting most in an attempt to dispel the misinformation about the disease itself and the gay men it was affecting. The previously mentioned 'Rebels of the Neon God' (1992) only featured one explicit mention of the AIDS crisis, Xiaokang vandalizes the side of Ah Ze's motorcycle in bright yellow paint "AIDS". This action is arguably an allegory of Xiaokang's repressed homosexual desires towards Ah Ze (5), the use of the HIV virus synonymous with homosexual engagement - despite it being well known in 1990's Taiwan that there were multiple modes of transmission.

Of course other interpretations of this scene exist, but for our purposes today, it is not only Xiaokang's projection of his own desires but a very literal representation of the idea of a 'contagion' - or the circumstances that draw previously unrelated individuals together. The vandalism of the motorcycle may also be seen in this light (6).

Is it worth drawing comparisons in assuming Xiaokang and all of his homoerotic tendencies is meant to be a stand-in for Nezha himself? I think so. The film (Rebels of the Neon God) presents numerous cases that enforce this idea if you are not yet convinced.

As previously mentioned Xiaokang's mother states that he is a reincarnation of Nezha, a conclusion she reached after seeing a fortune-teller and told as much. It is important to state that the original myth features a Nezha slicing his flesh open to return to his mother, and removed his bones to return them to his father. At first glance it appears to be a case of filial cannibalism (a post topic I am drafting) meant to strengthen the bond between parent and child - but the purpose within the myth is to sever that relationship completely. It can be argued this very literal severing helped bring Nezha into the hearts of the youth who were alienated.

Xiaokang's mother explains this to her husband upon arriving home, telling her husband that Nezha was said to hate his father Li Jing more than anything else, briefly mentions his surname to also be Li, and outright blames Nezha for Xiaokang's poor relationship with him. Upon overhearing this, Xiaokang pretends to be posessed by Nezha before his father launches a rice bowl at his head. The ambivalence of Nezha 'returning his flesh' seems to almost mirror the animosity Xiaokang and his father have throughout the film.

Even the English title 'Rebels of the Neon God' can be read as sharing homophonic resemblance to the name Nezha. 'Neon God' can be a rereading of 'Nezha' in that the first character of his name can also be pronounced as '-nai' which becomes an exact homophone for the Chinese term for neon, while the second character '-zha' is a suffix that plainly suggests deification.

To wrap up this post I would like to thank you for joining me on this foray of a more modern take on Nezha's significance, his overwhelming modernity carrying numerous modes of importance depending on where you are looking. He has not shed his origin myth, rather it informs how he is percieved more than ever - his severing of paternal ties no longer a case of an unfilial child but of someone standing up for themselves in the face of oppression. And it is perhaps this that makes him so attractive to both the young and old of Taiwan, all subjected to the terror and violence of the Chinese Communist Party.

Thank you once more, and I hope to see you again in part 2.

Citations:

(1) Li Fengmao, “Cong Nezha taizi dao Zhongtan yuanshuai: zhongyang-sifang siwei xiade hujing xiangzheng,” 41–43.

(2) Tsai Wentin, “Taitzu, the Child God,” 53–55.

(3) Xi Song, “Fengshenbang li de Nezha,” 209. A translated portion of Nezha's monologue here is as follows "Oh, Master, my birth is a mistake with no reason at all. Since my childhood, I have understood that I am reared by an overbearing mother and a father with much too high expectations. They seem to have never cared about my actual existence, but intenselyrestrain me with the correct direction of their thinking."

(4) Xi Song, “Fengshenbang li de Nezha,” 217.

(5) Ji Dawei, "Wo kan gu wo zai: chengzhang dianying yu shenfen rentong," 95-105. Dawei's 1996 examination is as follows. "Perhaps Xiaokang resents the fact that Ah Ze is sleeping with a woman, or perhaps he is cursing Ah Ze as homosexual, and thereby taking the identity he himself dislikes, and displacing it onto the figure of the Other. Xiaokang is not sexually active, and therefore he despises those who are and struggles to reject sex altogether. He is terrified he might become a homosexual, and therefore he first verbally attacks others, and then projects onto them the suspicion of homosexuality."

(6) Carlos Rojas, "Nezha Was Here": Structures of Dis/placement in Tsai Ming-liang's "Rebels of the Neon God", 76.

If timestamps for cinematic moments mentioned through this post are requested, I am happy to provide them.

[jbaileyfansite]

Jonathan Bailey's interview with Gay Times (2023)

From his work in regency-era dramedy Bridgerton to groundbreaking period piece Fellow Travelers, as well as an upcoming role in the movie adaptation of classic musical Wicked, Jonathan Bailey is blazing a trail as one of the world’s most prominent out gay actors – and activists. This year’s GAY TIMES Honours sees the star succeed 2022’s recipient of the Changemaker Award, Tom Daley, as a result of his new partnership with the official LGBTQIA+ young people’s charity Just Like Us, a collaboration he describes as “critical and crucial”: “LGBTQIA+ issues don’t speak for themselves, and you need people to step forward. It’s important for me to be able to do that.”

Three days after his infectious, frenetic energy made its mark on the GAY TIMES set, a freshly bronzed Bailey is preparing for yet another shoot in Marrakech, Morocco. Speaking from Zoom, he laughs (slash glows): “I’ve been sent out early just to get a tan.” After reminiscing on his “spiritual” on-set discourse about zodiac signs with our fashion and creative director, the aforementioned frenetic energy is back on display as he immediately dives into his Just Like Us partnership. “I’ve worked with Albert Kennedy Trust before, and there’s so many different charities that I look forward to working with,” he says. “Just Like Us really hit something that I felt was important. One thing is, how can people describe what they’re feeling and experiencing if they don’t have the vocabulary and tools to do so?”

Since Just Like Us was founded in 2016, the charity has collaborated with primary schools, secondary schools and colleges across the UK to improve the lives of queer youth. Their annual, UK-wide celebration of LGBTQIA+ awareness, School Diversity Week, sees thousands of schools take part with student talks and assemblies led by their Ambassador Programme, which trains LGBTQIA+ people aged 18-25 to speak about allyship and their own personal experiences with sexuality and/or gender identity. Bailey tells us that the partnership comes after an “extraordinary shift of years of opportunities and possibilities” via his various projects, from Netflix’s smasher Bridgerton to Showtime’s new LGBTQIA+ series Fellow Travelers and his upcoming role as Fiyero in Wicked, which will also star Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. “I now have a platform by which I can help guide people towards different narratives and causes.”

Laura Mackay, CEO of Just Like Us, praises the star’s activism in the following statement to GAY TIMES: “It speaks volumes about the calibre of our programmes that Jonathan Bailey has decided to join us as a patron. When we met with him to discuss the vital work we do, Jonathan spoke with vigour and sincerity of his unwavering commitment to improving the lives of LGBTQIA+ young people. I am so impressed with our Just Like Us team for creating this partnership and engaging such a wonderful role model. Jonathan oozes panache and gravitas, Just Like Us.”

First visiting the charity at their headquarters in July, Bailey was “blown away” by the team and their ambassadors. Praising their “assuredness, confidence and eloquence” in what they aim to achieve in schools, Bailey admits that he would “never have been able to speak” on LGBTQIA+ issues like that at their age. “There’s so much for me to learn,” he shares. “There’s just something that happens when people speak authentically about their identity in a way that is generous, because they want to connect and tell their story. I was there with my jaw slightly on the floor. I thought, ‘If I had met either of these two people when I was younger, I would’ve been so starstruck’ because they had such ownership of who they are. They had such charisma without shying away from the unsurprising vulnerabilities and obstacles they’ve had to overcome.”

Describing Just Like Us as a “supernova ball of energy” due to their united front in transforming the way in which schools across the UK discuss LGBTQIA+ matters, Bailey lauds the diverse and “enriching” stories that have been told via their ambassadors. Over the past four years, GAY TIMES has partnered with the charity on numerous occasions, with their ambassadors sharing their unique upbringings and experiences with oppression, resistance and hope. A selection of stories featured this year include: ‘As a Brown, Asian, Muslim LGBTQIA+ person, Middlesex Pride felt like home’; ‘Films taught me that LGBTQIA+ and faith identities couldn’t co-exist – but that wasn’t true’; and ‘How Loveless by Alice Oseman helped me discover my aromanticism’.

“I was particularly struck by the fact that there seems to be a knock-on effect of how many people linked to the ambassadors and their friends then jump on board because they see how beneficial it can be,” explains Bailey. “Not just for the people in the schools who are receiving those speeches and interactive sessions, but also for the ambassadors themselves.” Just Like Us is notable for their Pride Groups programme, where they help secondary schools set up and run lunchtime clubs for LGBTQIA+ pupils and their allies to learn, make friends and have a place in school that is free from homophobia and transphobia. Additionally, Just Like Us launched their landmark Positive Futures report earlier this year. Surveying 3,695 people aged 18 to 25 from across the UK, including 1,736 LGBTQIA+ young adults, the report identifies a link between lack of LGBTQIA+ support in childhood and poorer outcomes for mental health, wellbeing and career prospects in adulthood.

“It’s interesting hearing about Positive Futures and the difference between queer youth either being surrounded or in a nourished environment where people freely talk about identity and labels, versus kids that don’t,” he says. “The opportunities it gives them in young adulthood, as well as the increase and decrease in anxiety and panic attacks and depression; purely on the basis of their identities being acknowledged at a younger age. It’s huge. The correlation between conversation and the vocabulary that comes with that leading to a happier life is just… It’s undeniable.”

Clear communication about LGBTQIA+ issues was scarce – rather, non-existent – when Bailey was at school. The partnership forced him to reflect on his “own upbringing, what has changed and, more crucially, what hasn’t changed. One of those things for me was about education, schools, and growing up and my own youth.” For a recent Fellow Travelers campaign, Bailey returned to his home village in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, a place where anyone who was “other” was “deemed not acceptable”. “That’s how I felt growing up, purely on the basis that I wasn’t aware of any gay people around me,” he says, criticising mainstream media’s archaic portrayal of LGBTQIA+ people at the time. “The media spun stories that were so negative towards the plight of the gay experience, so I didn’t really have access to anything that made me feel welcome or like I was going to be okay, and I was someone who was very aware of who I was. I talked about it from the age of eleven. I wonder what my life would’ve been like, had there been the vocabulary and ambassadors coming into my school. It would’ve definitely helped me feel more secure and to blossom quicker. For me, that sort of confidence in myself has come later on in life because of not having that.”

Immediately after Bailey completed his A-Levels in 2006 – the day of, actually – he moved to London to replace Andrew Garfield in a stage adaptation of the cult queer rom-com Beautiful Thing. As an 18-year-old from a rural village, the multicultural hub of London allowed him to “accrue information and experiences” that weren’t previously accessible to him. “It was meeting amazing people. I wasn’t anywhere near the point where I was going to come out to people I didn’t know, but I already had conversations with my friends,” he remembers. “So, moving to London was sort of a patient and nerdy acquisition of facts and experiences, which emboldened me to the point where I could finally talk to my family [about my sexuality], particularly my parents.” Assimilating to the inclusiveness of London made Bailey project his own growth onto his school, assuming that it would have been transformed into a “multicultural hub with clear access to education or information to anyone who wasn’t a white straight kid”. However, as he discovered: “It wasn’t, actually. What was true is that the same tree of Christianity and faith, with the same laminate piece of paper from when I was there, is still on the wall. Of course, I’ve got no judgement on any of that, other than it’s a reminder of the work that needs to be done for those who are trying to survive. How do you inspire people to understand things outside of their own experience, if they don’t need to or it doesn’t suit them or challenge them?”

Fellow Travelers ties in with his Just Like Us partnership, he says, as it has allowed Bailey to look at the “underside of the queer experience”. Airing on Paramount Plus in the UK, the series is based on Thomas Mallon’s acclaimed novel of the same name and follows the toxic romance between Bailey’s character Tim Laughlin and Matt Bomer’s Hawkins Fuller in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington. Created by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner, Fellow Travelers chronicles their romance over the course of four decades whilst exploring the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the “drug-fueled disco hedonism” of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. His first major LGBTQIA+ project, Bailey says “you can’t get more queer than Fellow Travelers” and adds that “it’s the gayest show I could find.”

Quite correct; the first episode introduces the sub-dom dynamic between Tim and Hawk with a now-infamous foot-fetish sequence which, unsurprisingly, spawned a plethora of horny headlines (yes, we’re guilty of this) and went viral on social media. The remainder of the season continues to depict gay sex with authenticity which is, sadly, still a surprise in 2023. When we spoke with Nyswaner, he told GAY TIMES that it was important for him to “embrace” sex in the show as a result of his own personal experiences. “When I came out in the 1970s, those were the celebratory days of the gay experience. It was pre-AIDS and we were released. Sex is the way that we expressed our community,” he explained. “That connection that I got to have with other gay men, whether it was one night or a little bit longer, was very powerful to me and gave me joy.”

Bailey says Fellow Travelers came “at the right time”. “Someone asked me after Bridgerton, ‘What do you want to do next?’ and that is an amazing position to be in, having worked for so long to suddenly have real choice in what you do. I knew that I wanted to do a sweeping gay love story because I hadn’t seen it, especially one that’s detailed over eight hours.” While Bailey admits he doesn’t respond to fans on Instagram – with over three million followers, we’ll let him off – he’s read “extraordinary” messages from people who have connected to Fellow Travelers’ story. “People have messaged saying, ‘I’m closeted but watching this is helping me in a way that you might not understand.’ Someone else said it made them come out, and these are people in their 40s and 50s. There’s these lost generations that Fellow Travelers is highlighting, people who are more scared than ever to feel invalidated if they were to finally come out and speak their truth. I’m mindful of the fact that there are people of every age who are striving to live authentically.”

With this in mind, Bailey continues: “It’s funny, people look at the 1950s setting for Fellow Travelers and say, ‘God, how awful must it have been back then?’ We’re incredibly privileged in the west. Fifties America is pretty much everywhere else in the world, and still can be. There’s so many places where people are experiencing that level of oppression and so I’m really proud of Ron’s work because it presents 40 years of an incredible celebration of progression.” In October, Bailey attended the Human Rights Campaign’s 2023 dinner, where he presented Bomer with the Impact Award, which recognises members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are dedicated to championing and advocating queer issues. Bailey’s Bridgerton co-star Golda Rosheuvel also introduced Shonda Rhimes, the recipient of the National Equality Award. His first political gala, Bailey describes the event – a room of over three thousands queer icons, allies and activists – as “enthralling, energised and inspiring” and was another pivotal moment of self-reflection for him. “I was like, ‘Blimey, if you think about the 12-year-old boy who knew something about himself, knew 100 per cent that he was not like other people, to then be in a room where he feels completely galvanised and inspired…’ That sort of joy, ferocity and forward-thinking is so intoxicating and important for people to feel because there’s also so much residue. The vitriol and hate is always bubbling under, so you need organisations like Just Like Us who are going to be going into schools to culture students at a young age and make them think outside of their own narratives they get given at home by their parents or films and stories that aren’t helpful. It’s a better landscape for us all, really.”

With the “cobwebs of old archaic belief systems about what a gay man can and can’t do as an actor,” Bailey is proud to be accepting the Changemaker Award, describing it as a “fully realised vocation to make change”. He’s humble, of course, as he takes the time to acknowledge the internal, grassroots operation at Just Like Us and their objective to revolutionise the experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth. “Once you’ve done the work as an actor in this way, all you have to do it turn up and be there,” he says. “The real work comes from the people who are working at Just Like Us, the charities and support groups who have to constantly chug away to get the funds and be noticed. There’s a glimmer in me that knows the work is done elsewhere. But my God, I’m thrilled that I can use my platform to raise the volume on so many other people’s brilliant policies.” Bailey credits his role as straight lead Anthony in Bridgerton with his power to incite change within the LGBTQIA+ community. "As one of the world’s most streamed and acclaimed dramas, Bridgerton’s impact is undeniable. You get a fanbase and it’s almost like a conga line, where you can then lead those people to other stories which feel really important to you. To be able to go from that to Fellow Travelers and Just Like Us is something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life.”

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