#support our trans brothers & sisters

[shmowder]

just need to vent about the Olympics

[lesbiangummybearmafia]

It will always be lgbTqia+... it's all for one and one for all. If they came after one of us, they come after all of us. Stand tall and fight! We're here, we're not going fuckin anywhere!!

The State department has changed LGBTQ to LGB.

If you claim to care about trans people now is a good time to show genuine ally ship.

[khaire-traveler]

Today is trans remembrance day. For all our fallen trans brothers, sisters, and siblings, we keep going today. Know that you have a place in this world. You belong here because this world is yours just as much as anyone else's. You are wanted, loved, and appreciated, whether it be by your closest friends, or by a stranger online. There is at least one person on this planet who genuinely cares about what happens to you, whether or not you know it. Your life matters, and I'm so proud of you for still being here, despite the countless hardships you've faced. Please, keep going today. I believe in you. I support you. I'm proud of you.

[wonderwomanpleasesteponme]

Dick: so you're Damian's other cousin, Mara's older brother, right?

Danny Fenton: yup, that's me.

Tim: not to be rude or anything but how come Damian's the heir and you're not? You're like a whole five years older than him.

Danny: kinda the same reason my father, Dasun, isn't the heir. I was born with a defect.

Dick: may we ask what defect?

Danny: oh I'm trans, grandfather immediately accepted that I'm a guy now, but he called it a defect that I was born in the wrong body so I'm not the heir.

Jason: that is oddly supportive of him, but still awful of him to say that you're defective of it.

Danny: yeah Grandfather is weird like that, he once said that me being in one of friends' band was foolish but still showed up to one of our bigger concerts.

Dick: why is he a more supportive grandfather to you than he ever was to your sister and Damian?

Danny: oh that's because when Aunt Taila was pregnant with Damian I decided I didn't want to be an assassin and because I'm the child of his least favorite kid I was allowed to go as long as I sent letters every now and then to show that I'm still alive.

[imbiowaresbitch]

Look at that date again. 1995. Why are we still fighting this nearly 30 years later?!

being so fr when I say that transmisogyny has put feminism back like 50 years

[ladyimaginarium]

Happy International Trans Day Of Visibility!

Keep in mind that while this isn't canon, these are both headcanons and our& introjects' identities ( which oftentimes are but aren't always interchangeable ) — this is who they& are and we'd& appreciate if you respected their& identities as you would with a singlet's. This was made for our& constellation / system in mind — as plural people. Please don't treat them& like rp muses. Singlets can reblog but don't clown. Okay to reblog as fandom. Do not reblog this as headcanons, roleplay, aesthetics, kins, F/Os, IRL/Me or D/A's. We& are a mixed, multigenic DID system and we& are not your aesthetic.

[velvetvexations]

I'd like to add something to the topic of forced impregnation / corrective rape of transmascs & men.

One thing I feel like other people tend to believe is that trans people with uteruses / the capability to get pregnant are "extremising" a problem that really only affects a few select trans people, surely not a lot.

What they don't get is that we're not extremising anything. Even just on the topic of forced pregnancy, I know barely a single trans man who hasn't been told that getting pregnant would fix him or that his whole worth as a person with a uterus is measured in how many children he can pop out at best, or being straigh up threatened with it or at worst having someone actually attempt to or fully act on that threat. And the ones who it didn't happen to? They know full well that it's always a "it didn't happen yet". That threat is still there, even without anyone saying it. People don't have to outright say it or threaten us because we just know.

It's not something we made up as a "gotcha" to trans women. In fact, it has nothing to do with most trans women at all, safe for the ones who can get pregnant! It's our lived experience. Our every-day life.

I was thirteen, just started my period, when my mother started to try to convince me that my whole worth as a person was making babies, that I needed to make kids the second I'd turn eighteen, that I would otherwise waste my life. And no, she didn't actually think that of all women. My cis sister? Never got to hear any of that. Just me. Because my mother looked at me being masculine and saw something she needed to fix (by only buying me extremely sexualised feminine outfits and telling me the stuff mentioned above, and that it was "only that" makes me one of the lucky ones). It happened to me not just because I was born with a uterus, because then it would've happened to my sister, too. It happened because my mother could tell something was "wrong" with me because I was too masculine. Got a little too exited when people mistook me for my brother. She didn't know what transmasculinity was back then in name, but she absolutely did know that it was "wrong" and needed to be "fixed" - and the way to fix a "broken woman" is to get her pregnant. She, of course, couldn't do that back then, but she could do her best to try to make me do that once I was "old enough" (I'm very glad today that she failed.)

And basically every trans men I've talked with about that topic had their own story like that or much, much worse. Only very rarely has a transmasc/man not experienced something like that, and even then, the threat is so omnipresent that even they tend to know exactly what I'm talking about.

It's a horrifying truth, it's uncomfortable, but it needs to be talked about. Our pain has been ignored and swept under the rug for so long, and people are still continuing to do so. So they can keep telling themselves that we "don't have it that bad" that we're "making a deal out of nothing" that what happens to us is just "individual cases" not something targeted. Because if people don't listen, they don't have to admit to themselves how they're playing into our oppression. Because to this day my mother is still claiming that she supports the trans community, after she did everything in her power to stop her son from existing. She won't listen to what I have to say because it "wasn't that bad", and my sister turned out great, so what do I have to cry about?

Nobody listens to trans men in general because it's never "as bad" as we make it out to be. After all, a cis woman said it wasn't that bad and she'll always be more believable than what ever a trans man or transmasculine person has to say. A trans man could obviously never experience anything a cis woman in his situation wouldn't.

This got longer than I anticipated. Thank you for listening and talking about this topic. I appreciate you, your work here is incredibly important and I'm glad you do this. Take care, and have a nice day!

(Also, this whole assumption about us "extremising" and "making a big thing out of nothing" also sounds a bit like hysteria talk to me, especially given that our conversation is about uterus-related things, but I might be reading to much into it here.)

the issue is that TRFs will take all this as "so you're saying that means trans men have it worse than trans women?"

like noooooooo you invented that sentence! that was nowhere in the original text girliepop!

[dandandanny]

Say it again Elle!!!!!!! Shout it from the roof tops!!

HEARTSTOPPER ⏤ 3.06, “Body”

[drdemonprince]

I am a trans man and I have lots in common with cis men.

I am a Jewish man, and my “ethnic” white features are the ones that trans men meet with fear and revulsion: hairiness, balding, shortness, and carrying weight in my hips and ass. I look like my father, my grandfather, and my brother. I will not apologize for that.

I am a queer man, and I love and defend my queerness. I get de-gendered and they/themmed because I am expressive, I am dynamic, and I am loud. I love drag, I love to queen out, I love gay mens’ history and culture. I love leather, I love kink, and I love seeing other people like me in those spaces. I love to feel, see, hear, touch and connect with other men— cis and trans.

I am a disabled man. I have that in common with cis men too. Men who are afraid they are not manly enough because they are not physically strong, because they cannot endure hard labor, or work out or play sports. Men who are “weak” for being mentally ill, or autistic, or expressing their emotions at inappropriate times. Autistic men who have “childish” interests and are terrified of being mocked for them, or who can only enjoy what they love “ironically”.

I am on HRT. I have that in common with hundreds of men who have naturally lower testosterone, and older men. I wear a binder, which is something I have in common with men with gynecomastia.

The longer I transition, the more the constellation of traits that make me “clockable” or “non passing” as trans shifts, and takes on new meaning. Yes, I have wide hips, a big ass, I am short, I am queer, I am mentally ill. No, I am not like “the average” man. But I see myself reflected in new places all the time.

I am a person who wields the privileges of whiteness and male gender. I am constantly learning how to be humble, how to let others speak, and how to be in mutuality and support instead of “protective”. I see this same struggle in other men in activism, who have been assumed to be leaders, but now need to learn to follow, and learn to listen.

I am a man, straightforwardly. Other men are my brothers, and I love them. Women are my sisters, and I care for them and want them to walk freely in the world. No person is not my kin, and I want them to be liberated. All our fights are entwined.

Thanks for making the space to share this.

An absolutely beautiful message, thank you.

[abdalrahmanamjed]

🆘 🆘 An urgent Tumblr call to provide assistance to my father so that he can save our lives and take us to a safe place 🚨🇵🇸🍉

they have been verified on @/el-shab-hussein's and @/nabulsi's list of vetted fundraisers here (#250, line 254)

https://gofund.me/c1047514

@2spirit-0spoons @appsa @buttercuparry @turian @timetravellingkitty @schoolhatergirl @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness-blog @malcriada @jezior0 @trans-titan @brutaliakhoa @furiousfinnstan @paparoach @magnusandalec @neptunerings @neptunerings @brokenbackmountain @khanger @determinate-negation @transmutationisms @sylvianritual @imjustheretotrytohelp @bryo-zoan @maaszeltov @heliopixels @zigcarnivorous @armysurplusjacket @princesselise @executing @venus-is-in-bloom @lesbianmaxevans @brutaliakhoa @furiousfinnstan @paparoach @celadonwanderer @girlinafairytale @forgetfulrecord @lesbianmaxevans @fading-event-608 @repulsion @gusherbug @autisticmudkip @tiredguyswag @briarhips @three-croissants @bilal-salah0 @creatordisc @scribbling-waffle @hjartasalt @thatsonehellofabird

[genderkoolaid]

Examples of transandrophobia: i've seen sections of Leslie Feinberg's piece "Sisterhood: Make it Real" passed around this site for literally years, and TODAY was the first time that I saw the whole thing and learned that ze called out cisfeminists in it for getting rid of trans men the second they started transitioning. Like I always thought it was a good piece but I had literally NO IDEA that it talked about trans men because that part was never included in posts about it, even when those posts were calling out cisfeminism for being transphobic. I'm just gobsmacked tbh

This is a great point!

Honestly more people need to read that full chapter. There's a lot of really good points.

Amongst other things, Leslie talks about how "women good men bad" is poor feminism:

Of course, as a result of the oppression women face growing up in such a violently anti-woman environment, some women draw a line between women as allies and men as enemies. While it’s understandable that an individual might do so out of fear, this approach fails as theory. It lumps John Brown and John D. Rockefeller together as enemies and Sojourner Truth and Margaret Thatcher together as allies. This view of who to trust and who to dread will not keep women safe or keep the movement on course.

How feminine men are victims of gender oppression:

The oppression of feminine men is an important one to me, since I consider drag queens to be my sisters. I’ve heard women criticize drag queens for “mocking women’s oppression” by imitating femininity to an extreme, just as I’ve been told that I am imitating men. Feminists are justifiably angry at women’s oppression - so am I! I believe, however, that those who denounce drag queens aim their criticism at the wrong people. This misunderstanding doesn’t take gender oppression into account. For instance, to criticize male-to-female drag performers, but leave out a discussion of gender oppression, lumps drag queen RuPaul together with men like actor John Wayne! RuPaul is a victim of gender oppression, as well as of racism.

How masculine women are assumed to know less about gender oppression:

But I grew up very masculine, so the complex and powerful set of skills that feminine girls developed to walk safely through the world were useless to me. I had to learn a very different set of skills, many of them martial. While we both grew up as girls, our experiences were dissimilar because our gender expressions were very different. Masculine girls and women face terrible condemnation and brutality including sexual violence - for crossing the boundary of what is “acceptable” female expression. But masculine women are not assumed to have a very high consciousness about fighting women’s oppression, since we are thought to be imitating men.

And as you said, how trans men deserve access to women's and lesbian's spaces without having their transmasculinity ignored or seen as being butch-in-denial:

And our female-to-male transsexual brothers have a right to feel welcome at women’s movement events or lesbian bars. However, that shouldn’t feed into to misconception that all female-to-male transsexuals were butches who just couldn’t deal with their oppression as lesbians. If that were true, then why does a large percentage of post-transition transsexual men identify as gay and bisexual, which may have placed them in a heterosexual or bisexual status before their transition? There are transsexual men who did help build the women’s and lesbian communities, and still have a large base of friends there. They should enjoy the support of women on their journey. Doesn’t everyone want their friends around them at a time of great change? And women could learn a great deal about what it means to be a man or a woman from sharing the lessons of transition.

Not that "trans women belong in feminism" wouldn't be a good point on its own, but people's selectivity with which parts of that chapter they share definitely warrant scrutiny.

[charlotttte-427]

As much as people claim that transmisogny and other internal prejudices are just the domain of the terminally online, the reality is just so much worse. As a poor trans woman, nothing will radicalise you more than going to university and seeing how tme people treat tma people when they have no community to protect them.

I've seen trans women be abused and socially annihilated by trans guys on a whim, because even if a trans guy doesn't pass well enough to access male privilege he can always leverage the instability of a trans woman's womanhood to paint her as a monster, no matter the circumstances. A trans woman is the only type of woman you can easily sexually abuse and then smear as a rapist when she speaks out about it.

The idea that trans women hold any amount of power over trans men is infuriating precisely because it flies in the very face of everything you can see happening to your sisters day by day. I've tried discussing materialist transfeminist theory with a trans guy -- the same one who abused and alienated that women -- and he undermined me at every turn, determined to keep gender as this ineffable essence precisely because it benefits people like him if it's kept that way.

I came to university expecting revolutionary action and what I got was a bunch of misogynists rebranding ancient sexist tropes to me and dismissing my every attempt to organise. The reality is that privileged queer people will fight you at every turn when you do anything which upsets the power balance that allows them to exploit those beneath them without consequences.

Yet, despite how self-evident this all is, I still see people online making the insane argument that transmisogny isn't real or that it's equal to "transandrobrobia" or "transmisandry". Maybe it's uncharitable, but I see no difference between this male exceptionalism and any other attempt to elevate the comparatively minor inconveniences that men suffer from Patriarchy to the very real and deadly violence that women suffer from it.

Trans guys will degrade themselves by invoking some essence of womanly victimhood in order to undermine and revoke the womanhood of trans women. This isn't internalised transphobia, it's a deliberate act of violence. They do it because they know that being a woman is better than being a freak and by pretending to be the former they can force trans women into the latter, thus exposing them to much worse violence.

Trans women are women, that means they are the intended targets of misogyny. Nothing about it is accidental. Trans men are men, that means they are just as capable of wielding Patriarchy against women. This includes trans women.

I've lost sisters in my community. They were good women who never hurt anyone and they were systemically torn apart limb by limb from every possible support system. All they had left was quiet communities. Communities which these men weaponised against them. These brothers betrayed their sisters and became accomplices in their systemic social murder.

Despite my anger and grief, I still love trans men. Just as I love men in general, no matter how naive it may feel at times. But I will always be afraid of what they can do to my sisters and I. We will never be safe in our own community unless trans men learn to listen to us and call out this behaviour when it happens.

Because like it or not, trans men are the men of trans people and they do have power over trans women. If you want our trust then you have to earn it. We want to trust our brothers, we really do. So, don't be another reason why we don't.

[jake-is-still-drunk]

A break from my regular scheduled programming because I have over sixteen thousand followers here and would be remiss not to use this platform to speak up.

In the United States, attacks on trans rights are escalating at a dizzying speed. Trans people make up around 1% of the population (even less depending on the source) and yet, with less than two weeks in office, the Trump administration has already issued four executive orders in regards to trans people as well as several other attacks.

I see very few people talking about it. You may be unaware, so here is some of what is going on:

- the state department’s website reduced all mentions of ”LGBT+” to “LGB”

- the CDC scrubbing its website of all information regarding trans people and gender identity, among other things

- social security administration no longer processing any changes to people’s sex markers on documents

- executive order barring trans people from military service, uses language that implies that being trans is inherent dishonest, selfish, and arrogant

- medical providers who receive federal funds no longer allowed to provide gender affirming care to trans “minors” including 18 and 19 year olds

- k-12 schools can be penalized for even allowing students to socially transition (which is to say, simply identify/present as a gender other than their assigned sex at birth)

- passports must reflect assigned sex at birth regardless of if your other documents have been updated to reflect your gender

- trump administration moving so that incarcerated trans people have to go to prisons according to their assigned sex at birth

I see very few media outlets talking about these attacks, and even when they do- they are failing to read between the lines. These measures outline an extremely obvious and clear intention- the government is trying to use policy to completely eradicate the existence of trans people in this country.

There are already reports of trans people trying to renew their passports and having their documents withheld. Rendering trans people without documentation increases the likelihood of detention/arrest. I’ve already shared that the administration has prioritized putting trans people in the prisons aligned with their assigned sex. This is effectively a death sentence for so many. They are setting up the perfect circumstances for sending trans people into environments where they will be raped, beaten, killed, and forcibly de-transitioned.

Because trans people make up such a small percentage of the population, it is up to us as allies to amplify their voices and advocate for them.

Be vocal in your support of trans people, do not comply with transphobic policies and legislation, show up and show out for our trans brothers and sisters.

Also, you may be wondering why the right has such a fixation on trans people when they make up such a small percentage of the population. Manufactured culture wars and division based on inconsequential identity politics are a tool the ruling class uses to prevent class solidarity- their biggest threat. By convincing working class people that their neighbors are their enemy, we can never unite and overthrow them. I promise you, the trans person checking you out at the grocery store is not a threat to your safety and comfort. The billionaire cozying up the president and spoon feeding you transphobic and racist rhetoric is the enemy. Wake up!

And if you don’t believe that trans people are valid in their identities, unfollow me right the fuck now.

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: Queer horror, part 1

We all like a good horror story, right? You know what's even better? A queer horror story!

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean “guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending”, but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/ace spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don’t always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of “gay best friend” or a blink and you’ll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle*

Rose, like her parents, believes strongly that homosexuality is a sin, and holds great pride that her home town hosts Camp Damascus, a successful conversion camp for young teens. But Rose is also experiencing strange and terrifying things: memories of a beautiful girl, a demonic figure that shows up if her thoughts stray, flies crawling out her mouth. Something has happened in Rose's past that her parents won't speak of and that she herself can't remember, and Camp Damascus is at the center of it all. Sapphic, autistic main character, as well as a really cool take on demonic lore that is both inspired by and a subversion of christianity.

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland*

Young adult. Something happened to Iris Hollow and her two older sisters when they were little; after having gone missing, they were all returned with no memory of what happened and identical scars on their throats. Years have passed since then, and though seen as strange the girls still lead mostly normal lives - that is, until the oldest, Grey, goes missing, leaving strange clues in her path. As Iris searches for her, a strange man with horns starts stalking her and memories start to rise to the forefront in her mind. To save Grey, Iris will have to find out the truth of what happened all those years ago. Features wonderfully morally grey characters. Bisexual lead, but little to no romance.

Winter Tide (The Innsmouth Legacy) by Ruthanna Emrys*

Aphra and her brother are the only survivors after the government raided their home, Innsmouth. Their only living family are the amphibian people of the deep, whom they will one day join, but until then they are bound to land where they struggle to build new lives for themselves after the great loss of their home and loved ones. Then rumors start to spread of a russian agent seeking dangerous and ancient magic, forcing Aphra to involve herself as they try to stop it. Does contain horror elements but is generally a much more optimistic look on cosmic horror than most lovecraftian stories, told from the perspective of one of his monsters. Lots of focus on found family and rebuilding of community. Asexual main character (however I don’t think that becomes in-text confirmed until the sequel) and multiple queer characters in the supporting cast.

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Young adult. One year ago, Sara's sister went missing. Since then, Sara has drifted away from her friends, but when she receives a mysterious text inviting her to "play the game" - the same game that supposedly stole her sister away - Sara and her estranged friends all come back together to find her. Together they set off on a path that legend says appears only once a year, leading them toward the ghost Lucy Gallows and, hopefully, Sara's sister. Bisexual main character, told in a faux documentary style.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

A young pregnant woman flees a cult that left her body strange and changing in terrifying ways. Hiding from both a world wanting to oppress her and the cult seeking to force her back, she does her best to raise her children while trying to find out the truth of the cult and being pursued by a hunter in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Bleak and scary, Sorrowland is a book that will creep under your skin with horrors both fantastical and very, very real.

Otherside Picnic (Otherside Picninc lightnovel series) by Iori Miyazawa

Sapphic light novel with a surreal and episodic horror vibe. Following the directions of an urban legend, university student Sorawo finds her way to a reality populated by horrifying creatures from ghost stories and modern urban legends (of which I’m sure you’ll recognize many). Here she teams up with fellow explorer Toriko, both to find out more about this strange world and to help Toriko find a missing loved one. Also available as a manga and (one season of) an anime. Sapphic.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Amrfield

Miri thought she lost her wife Leah when her deep-sea mission ended in a catastrophe. But Leah was miraculously returned to her - or so it seems. Because something happened down there, deep in the ocean, and whatever it was, Leah has brought it back with her. Surreal and strange, Our Wives Under the Sea will not answer all your questions, but it will give you a unique experience.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Novella. Alex Easton, retired soldier, travels to visit their childhood friends, siblings Madeline and Roderick Usher, after finding out that Madeline is dying. In the siblings’ rural, ancestral home, Madeline walks in her sleep and looks to be fading away, while around it wildlife seems to be possessed by a strange force. With the help of a mycologist and an American doctor, Alex attempts to save Madeline and reveal the truth of her illness. Nonbinary main character.

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

Young adult. Twin sisters Olivia and Viola’s parents are both xenobiologists, bringing them all over the galaxy. Most recently they’ve settled on a new colony world to study its wildlife, but it proves more dangerous than they could’ve ever imagined. Under attack from alien monsters, the sisters must keep each other alive while also coming to terms with a dark family secret. Sapphic horror. Part of the Alien franchise but stands well on its own.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant*

A research vessel heads towards the Mariana Trench in search of answers of what happened to a ship which mysteriously lost all its crew some time earlier. In the deep dark, something intelligent and hungry awaits them. Very much mermaids of the horror variety. Sequel to a novella, can be read as a standalone. Also contains a sapphic romance, however that is a pretty small part of the plot as a whole.

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

Based on the podcast by the same name. Keisha Taylor thought she had lost her wife. She even held a funeral and attempted to move on with her life. But then Alice started to appear, all over America, in the background of every single major tragedy in the country. To find her missing wife, Keisha gets a job as a trucker and sets out on a roadtrip, not knowing what horrors awaits her.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Young adult. Over a year ago, the Raxter School for Girls was hit by the Tox, a strange disease that killed off many and left the survivors’ bodies slowly changing in terrifying ways. The island the school is on has been in quarantine since then, and the girls dare not leave the school grounds lest they become victims of wild animals changed by the Tox. But as they wait for the promised cure, one of the girls goes missing, and her friends are willing to do anything to find her. Unsettling, spooky, and sapphic, this is a unique read featuring body horror and messy, dangerous girls.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Once, Andy, Kerri, Nate, Peter and their faithful dog were known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club, until they hit their fateful final case in 1977. Now, the year is 1990, and the group hasn't gathered in years. Tomboy Andy is wanted in at least two states; Kerri, former kid genius, is tending bar; and horror nerd Nate is in a mental institution in Arkham. At least he still has the company of jock-turned-movie star Peter - except Peter has been dead for years. Now they must all come together to find out the truth of what happened all those years ago. Lovecraftian horror with a sometimes absurdist vibe and adult scooby do inspiration. Sapphic romance.

Contagion by Erin Bowman*

Young adult. After receiving an SOS, a small crew is sent on a standard search-and-rescue mission. But what they find are not survivors awaiting help, but an abandoned site, full of dead bodies and crawling with something… monstrous. No romance, but features one sapphic co-lead and one who can easily be read as demisexual (however this doesn’t show up until book two, which has more romance).

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand*

Young adult. The isolated island of Sawkill Rock has secrets. It hosts the legend of a local monster, and the very stark reality of decades of girls going missing, never to be found again. Now, three girls stand at the center of the horrific mystery - if only they can come together, perhaps they can save future generations of girls from a monster that may very well be real. Asexual and sapphic main characters, including a sapphic romance.

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her family of outcasts hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but one of the main characters is gay.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling*

Possibly one of the most unstintingly claustrophobic books I’ve ever read, and definitely the most claustrophobic. Gyre, a caver on an alien planet, ventures into the dark and dangerous underground, guided only by a woman who has no compunctions on using and manipulating Gyre as she sees fit to obtain her secretive goals down in the caves. Sapphic in the most messy of ways.

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir*

Gideon, raised as a swordswoman by unfriendly nuns, would rather run away and make her own life, but her services are needed. The Reverend Daughter, Gideon’s childhood nemesis, has been invited to a trial to win a place as an immortal by the Emperor’s side, and she’s in need of a bodyguard. Listen, if you’re on tumblr I probably don’t need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it’s exactly as good as people claim. Humorous and spooky but also absolutely gut wrenching and clever with a lot of political commentary. There are also, indeed, lesbian necromancers in space.

Family Business by Jonathan Sims

By the author behind the Magnus Archives. When Diya's childhood best friend and roommate unexpectedly passes away, Diya falls apart and, among other things, loses her job. When she's offered a position at Slough & Sons to clean up after the deceased, she sees no other recourse but to accept. Her new job is grisly but important, and Diya starts to get back on her feet - until strange visions of a terrifying man and the dead's last moments start to haunt her. Slough & Sons are hiding something, and it's up to Diya to find out the truth. No romance, bisexual main character and trans woman side character.

Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn

Starla didn't want to return to her childhood home of Crystal Beach, Canada, but growing debt has forced her to move back in with her mother, despite the trauma hidden in her old home. But Starla is haunted by more than trauma; she is, in fact, literally haunted, by a ghost that may understand her, but may also consume her. Not overly scary, but handles dark subjects such as childhood sexual assault. Lesbian main character and romance.

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson*

In a world where the rich drink blood to preserve their health, Marion applies to a position as bloodmaid in a notorious noble house far from home. Suddenly showered with luxuries and debauchery, Marion soon gains the interest and favor of Lisavet, countess of the house. A fresh take on the idea of vampires and deliciously dark sapphic romance inspired by the horrific real-life Elisabet Báthory.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Dracula inspired novella, following Constanta, who’s turned from a medieval peasant to an undead bride. As time passes the relationship between Dracula and Constanta grows all the more strained and potentially dangerous. Teaming up with his two other consorts, she seeks to unravel her husband’s secrets. Sapphic and polyamorous.

Dread Nation (Dread Nation duology) by Justina Ireland

Young adult, alternate history. In this world, the war between the American states is interrupted when the dead start walking the earth and hunting the living. Jane McKeene has been trained at Miss Preston’s School of Combat to become an attendant, skilled in combat as well as etiquette to protect the wealthy. But Jane wants a different life, and in her search for it stumbles headfirst into a conspiracy. Bisexual main character, aroace side character (who becomes a POV character in the sequel).

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

In a future where those with high testosterone are afflicted by a zombie-like disease, bloodthirsty men have become the enemy. Trans women Beth and Fran and trans man Robbie do their best to survive in this brutal world, where TERF movements seek to exterminate them and monstrous men hunt in the wilds. VERY gruesome and bleak, but also very timely in the present political climate.

Leech by Hiron Ennes*

Unbeknownst to humanity, a sentient hive mind has taken over the entire medical profession to ensure the health of their host species. One of their doctors is sent off to an isolated location where they’re cut off from the rest of the hive mind, only to realize they’re faced with a rivaling parasitic entity. Leech hands you only just enough information to get by, and whether its historical fantasy, an alternate timeline, or futuristic post apocalypse is hard to determine. It’s spooky and a bit weird and wildly creative, and does some neat things with gender.

The Outside by Ada Hoffman*

AKA the book the put me in an existential crisis. Souls are real, and they are used to feed AI gods in this lovecraftian inspired sci-fi where reality is warped and artificial gods stand against real, unfathomable ones. Autistic scientist Yasira is accused of heresy and, to save her eternal soul, is recruited by cybernetic ‘angels’ to help hunt down her own former mentor, who is threatening to tear reality itself apart. Sapphic main character.

The Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne

Nix Marr is a soldier and damned good at it, but that doesn’t prepare her for her next mission: bodyguard for Subarch Kessandra, beloved royal and Nix’s bitter ex. The two venture toward the underwater city of Fall to seek the cause of a bloody murder spree and a possible deadly contagion. But Kessandra has enemies, the answers she seeks marking her as a possible threat for the nation’s rulers. On their way in an isolated and enclosed underwater ship toward Fall, the contagion catches up, and Nix will have to put her hurt feelings aside if the two are to arrive alive. Sci-fi with flavors of horror and the supernatural and a sapphic romance.

[dykehot]

hello 🩷🏳️‍⚧️

my sibling is gathering mutual aid to help our trans little brother move out of Tennessee, where he currently lives with our very abusive father + other abusive relatives, to my sister’s place in Oregon.

his situation is bad enough already, with our extremely bigoted family and the abuse that comes with it, but we are trying to get him out before things get really really bad for queer folks in the southern states when Trump takes office.

all funds will go toward moving him in with our sister, buying him a mattress, and covering first month’s bills. I know there are a lot of important causes to donate to right now, but if you have the means, please consider donating or sharing 🖤.

we are less than 1/3 to our goal of $1,500‼️

thank you ✨

[translovetransjoy]

Hey, if you're reading this I'm asking you to stay alive.

Things are scary right now, and while at the time I'm posting this it isn't a done deal, things look bad. But we will survive. As a community, we will survive. It will be hard, it will be frightening, and we may lose people along the way. And when we do we'll mourn them and say that they were known to us, our brothers and sisters and siblings and friends. But all of us, as a united community, in one way or another, will survive.

We've survived centuries in hiding in times gone by and in countries where things are already more hostile than they are here. We've survived the AIDS crisis, and those who fell we remember them and we fight even now to carry them with us in our hearts. But as a community, we survived. We survived the last time this idiot got power. We can do it again.

The people who hate us want us to despair. They want us to lie down and let it consume our hope, to just lie down to die. I'm asking you, begging you, not to give that to them. You deserve more than to let this break you.

Reach out to your support networks. If you don't have one, reach out now- there are so many grasping hands right now that you will find someone to hold onto. If you can, organize close to home, make the world better in the ways you tangibly can. We can weather this storm together, just like we always have.

You just need to stay alive.

The sun will rise on the next day, we will pick ourselves back up, tend our wounded, mourn our lost and carry them with us. And then the sun will rise. Again and again. There will be an after to this. There still is a future for you. But you have to be there to see it. I need you to be there.

I focus on sharing our joyful moments, the love between trans people of all kinds. We need more love and more joy. We need to share those things more than ever now. There will still be joy, still be love, still be singing. There will still be art and community and transition and growth. No matter how bad things get, how heavy and dark, these things will be there. I just need you to be alive to see it.

We will survive. One day it will be okay. But we need to do it together.