#toronto trans march 2022

[probablyasocialecologist]

Psychiatrist Meng-Chuan Lai has observed the recent rollout of laws restricting gender-affirming medical care in the United States with concern, he says. Some legislators have justified these bills, at least in part, by pointing to his work: In 2020, Lai co-authored a study that found transgender and other gender-diverse people are three to six times as likely to be autistic as cisgender people are. Lawyer Tom Rawlings, for example, says he read about Lai’s findings in Spectrum. Last spring, Rawlings helped draft Georgia’s Senate Bill 140, which passed in March and cites the overlap between autism and transness as one reason to ban gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy and surgery for minors. An Arkansas law that also passed in March similarly points to an autism diagnosis as grounds to withhold gender-affirming care from minors. And an “emergency rule” issued by Missouri’s attorney general in April — but terminated in May — would have mandated autism screening for anyone seeking gender-affirming care, including adults. Such policies are driven more by personal ideology than by anything his research suggests, says Lai, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto in Canada and a clinician at Toronto’s Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Researchers have known about the link for more than a decade. By one 2022 estimate, about 11 percent of trans people also have an autism diagnosis. “That research is real. We don’t dispute it,” says R. Larkin Taylor-Parker, legal director at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “It’s been going on for years, and it’s been replicated in multiple studies.” What’s new, they say, is that politicians are misusing the link to argue that “autistic people are incapable of making decisions about our own care.” That misuse has some scientists trying to figure out if — and how — they should push back. Anna van der Miesen, a postdoctoral researcher at the VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands who has researched the link between autism and transness, says that if your research data are used to pass laws, and “the actual study had nothing to do with the laws at all,” then it’s time to speak up. “We have a responsibility to communicate what the data says, and what it does not say, to the general public — and also to policymakers,” she says.

[coochiequeens]

Oh Canada! Oh no!

A trans-identified male athlete has taken the top spot in yet another Canadian women’s running competition, adding to the growing list of victories against female athletes he has claimed since transitioning.

Tiffany Newell, 50, has now placed first in the women’s indoor 1500 meter running competition for women aged 50-54, which was held in Toronto, Ontario this past week. This is Newell’s latest victory and has added to his long list of first-place rankings and records in women’s running competitions.

On January 8, Newell took the top spot in the women’s 3000 meter for women aged 45-49 at the Winter Mini Meet, and would rank first in the women’s 5000 meter for women aged 45-49 just days later. 

He then went on to rank first in the 1500 meter for women aged 45-49 on February 5, and, following a birthday which placed him in a new age category, ranked first in the 1500 meter in the category for women aged 50-54 in a competition held from February 23 to February 26 in Toronto.

The news of Newell’s latest victory was announced by the International Consortium on Women’s Sport, a campaign group advocating for sexed categories, prompting anger and disbelief from those concerned with the preservation of women’s sport.

“That is ridiculous and no fan of athletics will view it as any sort of achievement,” wrote Colin Winter in response to the announcement. “It is a farce & everyone knows it but too many are too frit to say so. Frit is no excuse. If one’s job is to protect the integrity of a sport, that is what one has to do. If unable to do so, resign.”

Some have also expressed concern that Newell’s new age classification will result in him now seizing the 5000 meter title from Maria Zambrano, a female athlete with multiple records across the age groups she has competed in.

Last year, Newell set a Canadian record in the 5000 meter indoor running competition for women aged 45-49 held at Toronto’s York University. Newell ran 18:02.30over the distance, besting the previous record by six seconds. His record was ratified by the Canadian Masters Athletics in December, and it became the first time a trans-identified male athlete in Canada broke a national record in track. 

At that same competition, Newell also placed first in the women’s 800 meter race for women aged 45-49.

His victories earned him an “honorable mention” as the Ontario Master’s Athlete of the Month in March of 2022, just one month after snatching the top spots.

In January of 2023, Newell placed first in the women’s 5000 meter for women aged 45-49 once again during the Ontario Master’s Mini Meet held in Toronto.

Previously, Newell won a silver medal at the 2021 Canadian XC Championships in the masters 8K, and also finished second at the 2022 Hamilton Marathon.

Newell began transitioning in 2017, but began competing in women’s sport in 2020 after claiming to have met the recommended testosterone levels as set by the World Athletics guidelines on transgender athletes.

Last June, the global regulator for swimming, diving and water polo issued a ruling barring transgender athleteswho experienced male puberty from swimming and other aquatic sports. FINA opted to create an “open category” instead in order to preserve the fairness of sexed categories. The decision came after international backlash surrounding the success of Lia Thomas, a trans-identified male, in women’s swimming.

In an interview with Running Magazine earlier this year, Newell rejected the concept of an “open category” for transgender athletes in running, and claimed he should be allowed to compete against females as he identified as such.

“The policy makes sense for non-binary athletes, but I don’t feel comfortable racing against men. It categorizes me in the sex I am not identified as,” Newell said. “I am a woman, and I feel most comfortable racing against women or other transgender women. I believe an open category can work if athletes can continue to race against athletes of the same gender.”

Despite protests from trans activists, studies have consistently affirmed that trans-identified male athletes retain a significant edge over their female counterparts, even after starting hormone therapy.

In 2020, a study released in the British Journal of Sport Medicine noted that trans-identified males were able to complete 31% more push-ups and 15% more sit-ups in one minute on average than a female Air Force service member. They also ran 1.5 miles 21% faster.

But even after two years on testosterone suppression treatment, the males were still 12% faster on average than biological females.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Plausible

These are all the rumors and theories that have been resolved as “plausible.” These rumors/theories are ones considered true but there has been no factual evidence yet to substantiate whether they are true or false. 

(And once there is factual evidence that proves or disproves the theory, I’ll strike it from this list and move to Confirmed or Busted.)

 This post will be updated as things happen.

Plausible

Meghan may be an Epstein associate or know someone who was close to Epstein.

Meghan cheated on Trevor with Toronto hockey players.

Sussexes were sidelined during The Queen’s funeral and mourning period because of their behavior while The Queen was dying or ill.

The Sussexes’ treatment at The Queen’s funeral / during mourning was a direct consequence of their behavior during the Platinum Jubilee.

Meghan was never pregnant with Archie and Lili; used a surrogate or a gestational carrier for the pregnancies.

Meghan planned pap walks in Windsor to lay flowers at the memorials while crowds waited for William and Kate, or possibly while the royals were all still in Scotland.

Sussexes had a hand in the Ngozi Fulani/Susan Hessey racism row.

Harry’s military stories as written in Spare were not his experience. He either stole them from others he served with or embellished them.

Meghan offered to leave Harry for multimillion $$ payout from the BRF through PR articles about her net worth.

Meghan abused or mistreated dogs / pets.

Harry leaked details about RAVEC make-up, proceedings, and lawsuit to Russell Myers and royal reporters.

Harry rubbed the Oprah interview in William’s face at Philip’s funeral. (”how’d you like that comment”)

Harry was on drugs/uppers/something at the Diana statue unveiling.

Eugenie feeds stories and details about the royals and KP to the Sussexes.

Sussexes were issued an ultimatum for The Queen’s funeral: behave or be sent home.

Sophie iced Meghan during funeral/royal mourning because of her tantrum causing Sophie to miss being with The Queen before she died.

Meghan faked/made up the Toronto break-in to get Harry to publicly commit to her.

Meghan suspected of leaking about The Queen’s death to CA media before the family was ready to announce, so the family authorized unofficial sources to break the news instead to get ahead of Meghan’s CA contacts.

Meghan favors Archie, doesn’t spend any time with Lili.

Harry and Meghan were ignored by the family during The Queen’s funeral events because of their behavior while The Queen was dying that delayed most of the family and/or prevented Kate from attending/participating in certain events.

Harry and Meghan were both on something their wedding day. 

YMMV

Kate faked HG to get out of engagements / work during her pregnancies.

Meghan, Sam, Tom Sr., and Tom Jr. are all in on the grift together.

Charles to retire The Queen’s cousins (Duke of Kent, Prince Michael, Princess Alexandra, Duke of Gloucester).

No One’s Business

George is gay. (Minor child)

Meghan is actually MTF trans or intersex. (Private matter)

Kate suffered a miscarriage in 2021 around the time of Philip’s funeral. (Private matter)

Kate suffered a miscarriage in March 2022. (Private matter)

William likes to be pegged. (Consenting adults)

Kate tolerates William’s cheating as long as its just sex and not emotional. (Consenting adults)

Harry likes to be pegged. (Consenting adults)

[readingsquotes]

"RG Cravens, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has tracked the Leave Our Kids Alone protests since they began disrupting school board meetings last summer and threw their weight behind a controversial anti-trans statewide ballot measure.

The reason these counter-demonstrators are drawn to protests over the war in the Middle East, he said, was that they see them through the prism of a broader rightwing view that “traditional” societies and families are under threat. “Their animosity towards the campus demonstrations are part of this Christian far-right perspective that LGBTQ folks are threats to Christianity, and so are Palestinians or Muslims,” Cravens said.

The campus demonstrations at one of California’s flagship public education institutions, Cravens said, fed into a ready-made narrative from the extremist group about the fundamental corruption of modern schooling. “Their presence at UCLA is consistent with their anti-inclusive education ideology – they argue that public education institutions are failing and are sources of terror for the Jewish community the same way that trans folks are terrors to schools and children alike.”

The school protests, where several demonstrators have been photographed making Nazi salutes, have served as focal points for disparate elements of the southern California far right, a number of whom have sought out violent confrontations. The attempts to bar districts from teaching LGBTQ+ topics have largely been unsuccessful, but a number of school board candidates running for office around the region have aligned themselves with the movement. Similar tensions in public education are playing out in New York City, Toronto and elsewhere.

Beyond UCLA, a number of far-right actors, including a violent white supremacist charged in connection with January 6, the founder of the Proud Boys, and a former member of the streetfighting Neo-Fascist Rise Above Movement have stood alongside pro-Israel demonstrators confronting Gaza solidarity encampments at universities across the country.

...Aside from the rightwing school protesters, other extremist elements were documented on UCLA’s campus. On the weekend before the raid, photos emerged of a flag featuring the symbol the Jewish Defense League, a virulent Jewish supremacist organization founded by Meir Kahane that has committed “countless terrorist attacks in the US and abroad”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The JDL was formally delisted as a terrorist organization by Joe Biden in 2022, over protests from Palestinian groups.

...Authorities so far have not made any arrests. Meanwhile, southern California’s far right has continued to mobilize alongside pro-Israel demonstrators, with the Christian nationalist Sean Fucht leading a march on 8 May through Los Angeles’s West Adams neighborhood near the University of Southern California’s campus.

Schubiner of the Western States Center expects further clashes like the one at UCLA as the year rolls on, unless there is a concerted effort by law enforcement to hold people accountable for assaults such as the one on 30 April. “The rise of political violence has been part of an effort by the rightwing to shift the window to what is acceptable, and what we saw at UCLA can be attributed to those efforts,” Schubiner said. “When there aren’t legal consequences for known, violent perpetrators involved in bigoted movements, it leads to an atmosphere of impunity, which is incredibly dangerous.”

[thewestmeetingroom]

Hart House Changemakers - Kimahli Powell: LGBTQI+ Individuals & the Search for Home

Recorded October 26, 2022.

Sako:

Welcome to the Changemaker Series presented to you by Hart House Conversations. This is a series of fireside style chats between John Monahan, the Warden of Hart House, and inspiring changemakers whose discontent with the status quo propels them to be the change they want to see in the world.  

This event features a conversation between John and the Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad, Kimahli Powell. The conversation includes discussion of the issues that LGBTQI+ individuals face around the world and how Rainbow Railroad is helping with safe passage through emergency relocation for those escaping persecution.  

We begin with Boran Ojak, a student at the University of Toronto, who shares their personal story of triumph, and the challenges they faced escaping persecution.  

Boran Ocak:

Good evening, and welcome to Hart House at the University of Toronto. I'm Boran, a first-year student of engineering at the University of Toronto. I arrived from Turkey to here in this September. It is my pleasure to welcome those who are joining us in person, and those who are joining us online for this important event. This is our first change-makers of the season.  

The Hart House conversation Changemaker's series consists of fireside-style chats with inspiring folks whose discontent with the status quo propels them to be the change they want to see in this world.

We see change-makers as dedicated individuals who devote their lives to affecting sustainable, and meaningful change in interest of justice and equity. These are people who see a need for change and respond to it. They are leaders by example.

Boran Ocak:

Before we invite John and Kimahli, I would like to first share my personal story, and why this session and the work done by Rainbow Railroad is so important.

I want to talk about the story of my home, my street, the Istiklal Street, which means freedom.

It's a street that was full of pride and joy, and it’s now the epicenter of hate and crime. This summer, on the twenty sixth of June, I look at my mirror as I get ready.

I could see my tears dripping onto my eye shadow palette as I was receiving hundreds of messages from my friends who got arrested just because they were celebrating pride, carrying flags, holding hands, wearing, makeup, walking, breathing, just simply existing.

I drew my eyeliner sharper than ever that day. My lipstick, the brightest rouge. My face didn't reflect the fear and the frustration within me as I was prepared to march to my streets, Istiklal Street.

It's a street where I walked every day, where I found myself where I had my first kiss, where I had my greatest joy and my sorrows.

The place that I called home was no longer welcoming me, and I started to wonder why my home, where more than one hundred thousand people, celebrated pride turn into a place, where a trans woman got raped, killed, and set on fire. Why, the only way to make living in my street for trans people is true, Illegal sex work. Why, they hated us so much, Why, my makeup is hurting them.

Why, why and why? I had to stop and think about all those unanswered questions when I saw a police officer dragging my friend on the ground and torturing him. That day, three hundred and seventy-seven people whom I know got arrested because of who they are. The hate that was created to benefit just a few people took away our freedom, our joy, our clubs, our streets, and finally our homes.

Every day. All around the world people are losing their jobs, their rights, their homes, and even their lives, because of just being themselves.

And I know that it is so hard to leave our homes, but sometimes we have to leave our homes for a better future, for our safety. As difficult as it is. It is also a chance for us to be the change that we wish to see in our world, in our homes. And when I say homes, I don't mean that a few streets, a few clubs or a few designated areas which is safe to queer people.

I want everywhere to belong to us, and I will never stop reclaiming our homes to make them ours again, because I want the whole world, not just the crumbs.

Boran Ocak:

Now it's my honor to introduce our special guest.

Kimahli Powell is the executive director of Rainbow Railroad, which has helped thousands of LGBTQI individuals from around the world escape prosecution. Under his leadership Rainbow Railroad has expanded its international reach. Kimahli was named one of Out Magazine top one hundred LGBTQ influential people in 2018. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Victoria. In addition, he has made appearances on CNN, MSN, NBC, CBC, BBC, and profiled on Sixty Minutes.

Joining Kimahli in conversation this evening, is John Monahan, the Warden of Hart House. John's illustrious career has been law and diplomacy prior to coming to Hart House as a warden. He was the inaugural executive director of the Mosaic Institute. Please join me in welcoming Kimahli Powell and John Monaghan.

John Monahan: Thank you so very much for providing that opening that you did and sharing as you have, and I really appreciate our conversation from earlier as well, when you and Kimahli and I were speaking before this event.  

It is because of stories like Boran that do not necessarily end, as I don't want to say “end”, but do not necessarily result in a brilliant first-year industrial engineering student here at the University of Toronto, standing up in front of you, talking, but rather involved a far more complicated situation.  

People around the world in countries, even more repressive towards LGBTQI people than in Turkey. It's because of people like that, we want very much, to bring Kimahli Powell and the amazing work that you are doing, and your colleagues through Rainbow Railroad into this Changemaker's space to have a conversation about the work that is being done, the work that still needs to be done, and how at a personal level, one becomes a changemaker; how one becomes a  Boran, in a personal capacity, or how one becomes a Kimahli Powell in a professional capacity. So thank you for your generosity of time and wisdom and insight tonight.

So Kimahli, for those that don't know, could you tell folks, what's the elevator pitch of Rainbow Railroad?

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Boran, for your really powerful story. Hi. I literally got off a plane from Europe like three hours ago. So, I hope you guys are really attentive and asked lots of questions.

My name is KImahli Powell, and I use he/his pronouns. I am the executive director at Rainbow Railroad, and, you know, Rainbow Railroad's mission is pretty simple. We help LGBTQI+ people find safety. And we do this work in a context where around the world, people are being persecuted just because of who they are or who they love. And we do three simple things. We receive requests from around the world for people who are imminent risk or a danger. Our wonderful team, my colleague, Adrian, who is here, amongst others, do really incredible work on verifying, understanding their story and identifying how we can help. Once we actually identify how we could help, we actually do the work in relocating them through international borders to a country like Canada or many others, where they could live their authentic selves.

John Monahan:

Now, I understand that Rainbow Railroad began back in 2006. Is that right? 2006? And when it began, it began urgently, in order to address a real concern that a few people in Toronto had seen around the world. It didn't have a whole lot of structure around. It didn't have its charitable designation and all of those things. It was just people that saw a need and responded. And we're working to bring about the change that they thought needed to be done in that moment. Tell us a little bit about the growth of Rainbow Railroad since then, 2006, the same year, my God, my daughter was born sixteen years ago. Tell us about what's happened to the organization since then.

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah, so, Rainbow Railroad’s story is an interesting one. In 2006, for those of you who will remember, is just one year after Canada became the third country to make same-sex marriage legal. And I think... Can you think that's been almost twenty years? It's been almost twenty years. I'm not old enough to remember, but some of you might be.  

John Monahan:

My parents have told me about it.  

Kimahli Powell:

And you know there's a funny story about that, because I think Canada actually wanted to be the first country, and there's a whole other conversation. But I think there is a lot of outward seeking from civil society, and just to be super clear, as we witness just conversion therapy just being banned this past year. There's a lot of work to be done nationally on protecting people who are still at risk, indigenous folks, people of color, etc. But I think there is also a interest because of persecution abroad to look outwardly. And so, a group of citizens and activists and leaders got together to say, how can we help one, and it was literally one person at risk. They kind of adopted like, if you've heard about Canada's private sponsorship scheme, which i'll probably talk about later. Individuals gathered together to provide support for one individual, and they chugged along, doing that cobbling resources to help one person at one country, one destination, starting in the Caribbean, because there's not UN protections for people to claim refugee status, and there was a high degree of homosexual violence happening in the country. By 2013, they were realizing they were at a moment where they needed to either aim big or maybe shut down. You know they were slowly moving along. They had gotten some degree of resources, but very little. At the time I was actually working at a legal policy organization at the HIV Legal Network watching Rainbow Railroad develop. It also had a framing that needed to be rethought. You know, I think the slogan at the time was, “we save rainbow lives”, which is, while catchy, inherently problematic right from just like a Canadian Global North neo-colonial point of view. And so enter the decision to get charitable status in 2014, I was not the first executive director or founder. I was not interested in setting up the bank account for Rainbow Railroad or doing all the things with a company with no money had to do, so very thankful to my good friend Justin Taylor, who did all that work for me, and he was there for a year, really just getting the organization set up. He left and then I took on the role going on almost seven years.

At that point, seven years ago, I think we had seventy thousand dollars in the bank, and a pledge for three hundred thousand dollars from our foundation, and that was that was it. We had an understanding that we had a unique opportunity to do something huge, that we can actually, you know, manipulate the right to asylum, which is guaranteed under the 1951 Convention. But governments challenge or make it hard for people to claim asylum in the country, and if we could kind of manipulate legal pathways to get people into the country, then we could help people. And they were doing it by 2016, they were helping, you know, fifteen, twenty people, and I was fascinated by this opportunity to operationalize that model, find new ways to innovate and scale. So we went from seven years ago, helping around twenty people a year to this year, we will have helped over three hundred people in 2022. We've helped over fifteen hundred people in the past seven years, and now we are operating on a budget of ten million.

John Monahan:

That's an amazing growth. And yet you've also shared in our earlier conversations that with the growth and the success of the organization, the growth and the demand, it continues to outpace the organization. In other words, there is a lot of persecution of LGBTQI2S+ people around the world, and success begets more inquiries and more desperate text messages, etc. I think your website says you're anticipating something like ten thousand requests, for instance this year. I don't know if that number is still accurate, or if it's gone up or down, but even if it's ten thousand on the dot, that's a lot of inquiries. A lot of people that need help. How do you triage? You've got ten thousand people at least that are reaching you, how do you triage?

Kimahli Powell:

So before we answer that, let's just take a step back and understand why we're at this point. And I think our growth is because we are trying to solve a very unique problem for a unique population, at the intersection of two big challenges. One is, there are still seventy countries that criminalize same-sex intimacy, so there is 155 or so UN Member States before India decriminalized a few years ago. More than sixty percent of the world's population was under criminalized context. So that's a huge factor that displaces individuals. And the journey of [the LGBTQI2S+ community], just for the record, the government now uses the word 2S LGBTQI+ to represent the community. We say LGBTQI2S+, and I’m going to use queer for most of the time, just because I'm jet lag, we're not going to use LGBTQI2S+. it's not rolling off the tongue as much today. So I hope you forgive me for that. And so queer people are displaced in their country, and the journey for an individual who's part of the community is different than a family that is fleeing war where they are actually supported by a community, whereas individuals, if they're persecuted in their country, they're actually sometimes being targeted by their families. A very lonely, isolating journey, with very little options. The UN system, or the United Nations High Commission refugees is designed to allow one person to flee war or flee torture and go to another country and wait. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, and in many other countries you're literally asking people to flee one country where they're being persecuted because of criminalization of same-sex intimacy to another, right? So someone's going from Uganda, where they're being persecuted, to Kenya, where they're being persecuted. So that's one part of the problem.  

The second part of the problem is that there are one hundred million people displaced around the world now, that is the highest number since the second World War. People call this the global refugee crisis. It's really important to clarify that it's a crisis of government's failure to act. And so we have the highest number of displaced people at the time where government resettlement is at its lowest. People are fleeing to countries, like Turkey, who is actually receiving most of the world's refugees, and other countries are receiving refugees in precarious circumstances.  

So in the middle of those two situations are the people who reach out to us for help, and I think the number on our website is around eighty-five to nine hundred and nine thousand. So it'll get to ten thousand before the end of the year. That makes, to answer your question, vulnerability, assessment, and triaging more challenging. We've been on an interesting journey at Rainbow Railroad, you know, when I started, we knew we had expertise in helping an individual at risk. Six months after I started the crisis in Chechnya happened, and then we realized, okay, we can actually help a couple of hundred people at once. The situation in the past year with Afghanistan, and now Ukraine, correlates to your question around triaging, and because we went from two thousand requests for help to ten thousand. That's a unique challenge for us. We can't hire. We're hiring more people at a rapid rate. But we can't hire your way through that many requests. And so we have to be really kind of, you know, I really kind of empower the team, and everyone at Rainbow Railroad to really think about our work from the the perspective of the person reaching out for us to help and trying to be as honest as possible about what we can or cannot do. And then really looking at, it's a mixture of, looking at their vulnerability, their locations. Some locations, there is just no option. Sometimes, where they are within the LGBTQI2S+ community, is a factor. So a trans person in a context of a certain country, all of a sudden becomes high risk. It really is a complex web that we take triaging very seriously.

John Monahan:

I wonder if you could talk us through the process of the triaging from the other end. So a queer person in a country where their rights are not recognized or respected, where their very life, certainly their livelihood is threatened because of who they are, and they do reach you. What does the process look like from that end? If someone reaches you, and you do an initial assessment. You look at those contextual factors, and you determine that this is someone that you would like to get more information about, because there is a real and pressing need, if possible, to bring that person to safety. What does that experience entail for the person who has reached out to you?  

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah, that's a great question. You know it's... I say this often, and I believe everyone who's part of our team really believes this, is that we are facilitators of the journey of the individual who is making a remarkable, brave journey to their own freedom. You know people have been fleeing persecution for centuries, right? We've seen many movements. Our name is from the Underground Railroad. There are many movements, whether it's the Underground Railroad or Jews during World War II, or people fleeing. An individual doing that is a very brave and unimaginable situation, unless you are a person that has gone through that journey, and often it's legal. Often people do whatever it takes to find the resources to do it. They're abandoning their family. They sometimes have little on their person, and they're making a decision to go. Because so often it's such a lonely and risky journey, we go from the lens of how can we make it as safe as possible for that individual? What that means for someone who reaches out to us for help is, we really do need to make them part of the process. Every single case is different. So, if someone reaches out to us, we try to respond right away. But then there will be a wait. There will be a wait for our case workers to determine if we're in a situation to help. We have really good “gaydar” at our Rainbow Railroad, so we could point a queer person out really quickly. So, I could tell in this room who's queer or not. No, I’m joking. And so, we ask a lot of questions. We try to understand their situation or context, and then it's a dialogue around helping them advance their case forward, and maybe not advance their case forward. You can be working on a case and that person doesn't have their basic identification, right? Or they are all of a sudden trapped in their home by their spouse, right? There's a whole bunch of factors. And so it's a really intensive process where case workers work with those individuals on a regular basis until they make it to their final destination.  

John Monahan:

So, is that individual encouraged to look for a Canadian High Commission or a Canadian embassy, and make some humanitarian claim in person? Are they encouraged to reach out to a UN HCR office, or does the advice vary and depend on all sorts of circumstances?

Kimahli Powell:

Yes it varies. I’m trying to decide what I can tell you John, and it varies from case to case. It really does depend on the situation and the context. Just a fun fact, the majority of people who we help don't come to Canada. It's one of those things people just assume, but it's not true, because it's really hard to claim asylum in Canada. Canada has a private sponsorship program which is the model for the world and we're really proud of that program, but if you've, has anyone here ever been part of a sponsor group before. You have, right? So you know it's a rewarding experience, but it's a difficult one.

John Monahan:

It’s a big time commitment.  

Kimahli Powell:

It's a huge commitment. Find volunteers, in the city of Toronto. And basically you're committing legally to provide support for an individual for one year. There's a long wait to do it. The people who usually are under those circumstances, have a little bit more resources to stay safe, and they register for the UN. That's one tool, but it can't be the only tool, and unfortunately that's the Government's position. So in some instances, working with the UN is possible, but many times, honestly, we are essentially utilizing the right to asylum in countries where you don't necessarily need a visa or a requirement to entry, and allowing people to safely claim asylum.

John Monahan:

You talked a little bit about in 2013, making the decision to get charitable status, around the time of the Chechnya crisis, the original Chechnya crisis, or maybe not the original, but the one that people have come to closely associate with your organization because of the tremendous work that you've done, but also the harrowing circumstances that your work has helped to shine light on in places like Chechnya. And the government of Canada, and, in fact, the current deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, was very publicly supportive of your efforts, and the government of Canada has been very publicly supportive of some of your efforts, which I think is terrific, because you're you know as a changemaker, you started by changing individual lives. but you're now working to change systems, which I think is, you know, laudable. You also said, though, that your organization has such high demand, you can't just hire more and more and more people. You don't want to let our government or any other government of a so-called democracy, off the hook from their responsibilities to actually fulfill, you know, bring bona fide refugees to their shores. So how do you do that dance? If there is a dance required when you're working with the government, you know they're watching you. They're watching you with some admiration, because you're achieving stuff. But you don't want to give a pass to governments from doing the work that they need to do to actually change the system. And there was a, you know, a kind of related point. There was a, the Environics Institute released data yesterday, that shows that Canadians are more supportive now of immigration than they have ever been. So we, as a country in contrast to many other countries around the world, case in point, UK, US, for instance, are very supportive of immigration. And anyway, so you understand my question, I think. What do you do and what does the government do, and how do you not let them off the hook?

Kimahli Powell:

So, my advocacy journey with the Canadian Government has been a very long one. And it's kind of, and it's been primarily with one government, the current government. When you all say change-makers, and you invited me to come, I always kind of remiss and be like, I don't know if that's how I would define myself, and then you remind me of Chechnya, and I still remember the day where I was, I think I flew from San Francisco to Moscow with a Russian interpreter stopping in Toronto, trying to read up precedence that I didn't know existed in order to have a conversation with officials in the mission. And I guess in hindsight, that's how change is possible, and at the same time we were making the case directly to the government that we had a unique possibility to help in an international crisis. We had a partner on the ground that we had established safe houses within Moscow, who was directly helping people through Chechnya. There was a great film called Welcome the Chechnya, by the way, if you want to know more about the intervention.

At the same time, I think one of the most frustrating things about having to advocate for us, is that literally I had to be on TV trying to convince the government to do this while actually trying to work on the ground. And that's a unique position that Rainbow Railroad sits on. It’s that we are advocating while doing the work. It's because our immigration system is a dinosaur, and I can say that because I said it to the Minister of Immigration in the last in July. It is not necessarily equipped to face the challenges we have. Our policy on immigration is reactive, rather than proactive, which is why you can see two vastly different responses to the situation in Afghanistan vis-a-vis the situation in Ukraine. Two widely different approaches to how you would resettle people who are in a conflict situation. So that makes our advocacy work really difficult. I think you know; I had a heartening talk with the minister, and again, being at the table with the Minister of Immigration is a sign of success. I met with him twice now, where we've made the case, that queer refugees in asylum seekers are at risk. And yet at the same time, if you go to our website, or if you go to safewayout.ca, which you could take out your phones with you right now. No, seriously. Go take out your phones. Safewayout.ca. Should I pause while you take out your phones? We are actually advocating for the government of Canada to help more Afghan refugees at the same time, because we have to go case by case, crisis by crisis. What we actually want is a referring partnership with the government, where we can identify X hundreds of people, which would save the government a lot of time and effort to work it, and save us a lot of resources, and it'll help the individual much more. Yet, we cannot get that North Star yet with the government, because the system is not currently designed to have any other partners other than the United Nations High Commission for refugees.

John Monahan:

Are you working to establish a partnership with governments in other countries as well?  

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah, so Rainbow Railroad is a US and Canadian based organization. We successfully referred. I'm going to say something to you, and you're going to not understand it because it doesn't make sense. But just try to follow along. Through a remarkable, so I think if you heard about Afghanistan, Canada promised twenty thousand, then grew to forty thousand Afghans resettle. They allowed the United States to refer five thousand people. So, the US government is referring people from around the world to go to Canada. Following that?  Sounds strange right? It's strange. So, if you're not understanding it's because it's convoluted, because if you saw the images of people at the Abbey Gate, or rushing to the airport or hangars, you could tell that in the withdrawal people were going everywhere. So, the US government would stop bringing people into the country. So, they're basically leveraging other countries. We manage to get a deal with the US government to refer two hundred Afghans to come to Canada. So, we managed to get people in Canada as a US-based organization, with a deal with the US government to help LGBTQI people to enter Canada.  Is your head hurt?  Following that, right? So, it's great. We managed to get like two hundred people. It’s huge. Within the United States government, I've met with the Biden administration. I've met with officials. I met President Biden himself, and it's remarkable that I haven't actually met the Prime Minister of Canada, actually.  

John Monahan:

Can anyone in the room help with that?

Kimahli Powell:

Prime Minister, I've been waiting for seven years, no. But it's a sign and actually I think us, demonstrating that we can refer that many people strengthen our relationship with the Canadian government as well.

John Monahan:

I find that really fascinating, because, as I said a minute ago, support for immigration at large, is very high in Canada, as high or higher than ever before, and that's all categories of immigration. I don't know that everyone understands the nuances and differences between economic migrants and asylum seekers and family class, etc. But nonetheless immigration writ large, huge support in Canada, almost unquestioning, almost unquestioning. Not the case in many of our ally, our closest allied countries, and the political culture in much of the United States has antipathy towards migrants in many cases, and yet you've been able to achieve what you have systemically with the US government and not here in Canada. So, my question, I guess, is, what is the role of the general public, the citizens, that support the governments in their countries? What is the role of citizens in urging and egging their governments on, to be more responsive to the migration needs of queer people. And what in particular, let's bring it close to home, so it’s great that Canadians love immigration, but you're not able to do what you're not able to address the need, that you know needs to be addressed, because there are barriers to that happening. And, by the way, Boran, and this is another job for an industrial engineer.

Kimahli Powell:

The United States is not the only country we are pursuing relations with. We are also looking at European governments as well. But the difference between Canada and the United States specifically, is that, when we formed our 501(c)(3) non-profit status in the United States. We had low expectations, and when I started looking at the US. I was thinking of President Hillary Clinton, and that didn't happen, and all of a sudden, we had a different situation, a different President, and at the same time Chechnya was happening. There was a Muslim ban. Remember that? And yet I was still able to bring… I brought a Chechen refugee to the White House under President Trump. We met with the Chief of staff and members of his team, and they were still willing to… It's fascinating because we are still able to have conversation with multiple governments around vulnerability for LGBTQI+ people separate from refugees.

I don't know how they work that out, but, hey, if it works, it works. So, one of the first governments that we made a deal with Afghanistan, was the UK government, with Boris Johnson's government, which I think is like three Prime Ministers ago, and they were the first who came up with a pretty innovative policy to allow the first Afghans we were able to reach governments. And that worked because we worked with leading LGBTQI+ organization on the ground, Stonewall, and they put the pressure on the government and the public was behind them.

When the Chechnya happened, it’s kind of similar. It was great that Minister Freeland was highly engaged in Russia and Ukraine. If you know Minister Freeland, you know why she would be passionate about that region, and many LGBTQI+ leaders came to me. I was a new ED who is in many circles, being like, how can we help? How do we put pressure on? I knew there were a lot of silent discussions that helped push that forward.

The machinery part's important because since the Biden Administration came out, the Biden Administration basically listed a memorandum, as part of the executive orders, basically saying we are going to have a policy on LGBTQI+ rights, and it's going to involve refugees. And all of a sudden, we were plucked out of obscurity, because that's us. And when the new administration comes in, if you don't know US politics, their whole policy team comes in, right? The apparatus comes in, and that's how policy is changed. It's not the same in Canada. So a new minister comes in… I've worked with three ministers of immigration. The Minister of Immigration is new, but the bureaucracy is the same. They're seniors. They're incredible public servants who've been doing this work for a long time and have preexisting ideas around refugee policy. And the biggest challenge that we have, which frustrates me to no end, is that there are still people who claim fairness within their bureaucracy when it comes to LGBTQI+ refugees that they do not understand how a queer refugee is uniquely vulnerable, so a referring partnership won't be fair to all the other vulnerable groups who are out there.

John Monahan:

Who don't have the good fortune to not be born queer.

Kimahli Powell:

Exactly. It's a maddening argument, but it's still an argument. I do think, though, that individuals like everyone in this room, does have a role to play. Our Safe Way Out Campaign was the first time we actually asked people to reach out to their Member of Parliament and say, do more on this issue. I think there's still opportunities to, and we'll be addressing this in the months to come, where Canadians can actually talk to their member of the parliament and say that we believe that Afghanistan's refugees are uniquely vulnerable and people like Rainbow Railroad should have stronger ties with government to help people find safety.

John Monahan:

I recall, too, that 501(c)(3) organizations in the States, their charitable organizations, that they don't have the same restrictions on them in terms of advocacy as charitable organizations do in Canada. Maybe to go with our fabled politeness. The Canadian charities are just supposed to go along to get along, but in the United States you can be a charity, and also advocate quite strongly and sometimes stridently, for political change and systemic change in ways that we don't appear to be officially comfortable with, but maybe that has to… That itself has to change.

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah, I’m a lobbyist now, I didn't think I'd go into this job being a lobbyist, but I I am actually one.

John Monahan:

If you want to make change, changemaker.

Kimahli Powell:

I get whiplash because I have to conduct myself differently in Canada and the United States. There's midterms happening in the United States. There may be an LGBTQI+ group who's voting Republican, I mean, maybe some of the Log Cabin Republicans are out there, but it's like the entire progressive apparatus is supposed to be voting for one party, who is advancing X amount of policies. It's a very specific position, and Rainbow Railroad doesn't see itself as an impart in any way. But I think if you're following refugee policy in the United States, there's really two options you could go with. In Canada's a little different. Particularly because in Canada, it's a little more nuanced when it comes to refugees. I would say that the Conservative Government actually has some pretty progressive items around LGBTQI+ refugees in their party platform, which I think that makes Canada a great place, where I think I actually believe it's one issue where there can be alignment in all three, four, six, six parties? It makes advocacy a little different, because I can't…  We have to be a little bit more nuanced and polite around how we engage in the advocacy. It also means that you know our approach with this current government is around just highlighting the vulnerable people who are at risk.

We're advocating for real people who are facing life and death situations, who are stuck in countries where they have no options, and for government and a country that says that they are leaders in this space, that they are leaders on refugees and how to help these people. We're just signaling out that, that can't be true until you help these people who are at risk.

John Monahan:

So, Kimahli, if I may, I'd like to turn the conversation in a slightly more personal direction. Nothing intrusive, but part of the impetus for the Changemakers series was that we had students of the University that are engaged here at Hart House say to us that they wanted to better understand how they could be part of making change, and the idea of bringing in people such as yourself that are actually going about the business of making that change or working to make that change every day, was appealing to them because they really are looking for role models and examples, although everyone's got their own path. You were a student at University of Ottawa. Is that right? Political science? When you were there, did you already envision yourself as a future changemaker around the sorts of issues that you've been working on for your career, or how did this happen for you as a pathway?

Kimahli Powell:

Yeah. So, I mean my mother sent me to University of Ottawa, and I mean I sent myself, but I was supposed to go to Ottawa to be Prime Minister of Canada, right? Like that was…

John Monahan:

Life is long, Kimahli.

Kimahli Powell:

Not at all going to happen, not that long.  So when I went to Ottawa with a huge interest in government, with a huge interest in how the Canadian Politics works.  I'm the youngest of the seven, and the only one in the family born in Canada. So growing up… And because of the way the immigration scheme worked, and the choice of my family my mother made, I had siblings who came at different phases of my childhood, which was an interesting experience for me, and but I also recognize that my privilege as a Canadian born person was different than my own siblings. I held that close to heart, and my mom was a big fan of Trudeau Senior, and this idea of Canada as a humanitarian actor internationally, was something that was really compelling to me. So I went to Ottawa to really look at how I can… I thought working within government, I didn't know how, was the answer. I realized very quickly that I did not want to work in the government, which made my time in Ottawa really interesting, because I thought I was on a path, and I needed to understand what was next for me. And the next for me was falling in love and having my first partner, who was a dancer. And then I was like, Maybe I'm going to just stop working in… I'm not going to work for the government. I’m going to work in arts and culture. And I did that for a little while, and I really didn't want to do that, either. I had a phase where I realized that I knew… I mean the through line of my career is, I understood strategy, I understood how to lead. I was passionate about social justice, but how I was planning on getting there was unique, which I guess, if you're a young changemaker, means that don't let anyone tell you the path you're trying to take is wrong. Take whatever… Can I curse? Take whatever fucking path you want, right? Because the way…

John Monahan:

I just want to stress that's a European word that Kimahli learned on his recent trip.

Kimahli Powell:

It's important, because I think students, especially now, are spending so much money on tuition, to be told that there's one way forward, and I'm an example that there wasn't. When I decided… I am aged myself. When I decided fifteen years later to really refocus on international development again, I actually think my time being creative has actually helped how I solve problems. It's also, I think, why we are able to do advocacy at the same time as doing direct work. And so, I've kind of come full circle to…  I guess I knew then that this was the work I wanted to be doing, and I think I was a little disillusioned when I was in Ottawa about how I would get there, and am really thankful that I just trusted the path I was in.

John Monahan:

I don't suppose that you can fake commitment to a cause, right? If you are doing work that that is so important and so all-encompassing and so physically and mentally exhausting. My assumption is that you really need to feel in your bones, of why it's important. Is that the case for you and the mandate of Rainbow Railroad helping queer people around the world.? And if so, where does that impetus? Where does that commitment or drive come from for you, if I may ask?

Kimahli Powell:

I have my favorite story that I could describe, that signifies the work for me involves my mother. So I've been very fortunate, and I think what drives the work I do is that I was privileged to be born in Canada. I was also privileged as a black, gay male, cisgender gay male from the Caribbean diaspora to have a family that was pretty accepting in a context where many people would not have the same benefit. And I think that kind of drives the work that I do. And Jamaica is so… My parents are Caribbean. My mom was Jamaican, my dad's Cuban Jamaican and my mom holidays in Jamaica every year. You know, Jamaica is fascinating because it is it is a beautiful island. It's a small island that's had such an impact on our culture, and it is also a very violent country, and has queer people who face a lot of homophobic and transphobic violence. How all that within an island of four million people is a complex situation. So it could be a paradise for some people, and it could be dangerously violent for many others. And so my mom holiday there every year, and I encourage her to do it. And one year, when she was there, it was early days of Rainbow Railroad, and we were helping to organize a pride in Jamaica. The story of pride in Jamaica is very different than in other contexts, you know there's no corporate floats with TD and people running. We were literally kind of like racing from a vehicle going to another site. We go out, do demonstrations. Some people had masks on to hide their identities, and you kind of demonstrated until people grab their attention. Then you kind of scoot off to another location before a crowd gets too big. That was kind of what demonstrated looks like. At the same time my mom was on holiday, and we were being hosted by people who had a nice hotel in a safe space, and so I invited my mom because it was a really nice hotel. We could never afford it, but they gave us a really good rate. I brought my mom, my aunt, and a friend, and a couple of supporters to lunch, and my mom has, like abstract notions of the work we do. She still sometimes says, like, how's your business? Or just like really vague platitudes of our work. And this is the first time she actually had to sit down and hear that experience and hear with her girlfriends this conversation about what it is like to have acid doused on you for being queer.

I was nervous about how she was receiving all this information, and my mom is a very pensive person, and so she was just digesting. And she says, Kimahli, I realize, if I didn't make the decision to move to Canada when I did, you could have been one of the people who you're helping. And I was like, yes, jackpot!  Like ding, ding, dingy, ding! You got it, right! It was like one of those powerful moments when you know you hope your folks just accept the work you do, right?  But also, she's right. Right? I think I work with some really talented people who I think we all collectively… I'm looking at you, Adrian. Because I think we all believe it, that we understand the privilege that we have doing this work in a context where we can be safe in the city of Toronto and being able to help people abroad. And I think that's kind of what drives me. And that story kind of signifies why the work is important.

Sako:

Thank you for listening and taking the time to be a part of this wonderful learning experience.  

A special Thank you to Kimahli Powell and John Monahan for this conversation. You can follow Rainbow Railroad on Instagram at @rainbowrailroad  

This Changemakers conversation was produced and supported by the team at Hart House; The podcast was edited by Janine AlHadidi.

Hart House is part of the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. To learn more about the Changemaker Series and other opportunities at Hart House, please visit harthouse.ca or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube or Facebook.  

[electroniccherryblossomcreator]

Light Broadens On-demand Cannabis Shipment Service With Ios Application

A member of the National Marijuana Roundtable, the government bipartisan lobbying initiative to improve marijuana plan nationwide, American Weed Co is the very first marijuana business in the country concentrated on legislating cannabis for every Expert. American Weed Firm introduced on Veterans Day eve with a private launch event headlined by professional legalisation symbols Rebelution, the event included an acoustic established by the legend Matisyahu and also was kicked off by the band Cydeways. This has in turn led to rising problems over long expiration dates, the possible ingredients in these items conveying these along with the potential long-lasting health impacts, according to leading starch firm text Group. The Philippines federal government has revealed a ban on all prepackaged refined foods containing high trans-fats levels as part of its purpose to completely remove their visibility by 2023. We would love to give thanks to the veterinary and husbandry team at ONPRC who provided exceptional care for the pets used in this study, in particular Dr. Lauren Drew Martin, Dr. Heather Sidener, Travis Hodge, Mike Reusz, and Trent Crowley. Furthermore, we want to give thanks to the Integrated Genomics Lab as well as Genetics Profiling Shared Resource, as well as the Bioanalytical Shared Resource/Pharmacokinetics Core at OHSU.

How to get weed delivered to your door – DU Clarion - DU Clarion

How to get weed delivered to your door – DU Clarion.

Posted: Sat, 11 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

National Institute of Substance Abuse Medication Supply Program. & Hansen, A. M. Enhancement of developmental toxicity impacts of chemicals by gestational stress. & Smith, C. Results of delta 9-THC, the major psychoactive component of marijuana, during pregnancy in the rhesus monkey. Novel detection of placental insufficiency by magnetic resonance imaging in the nonhuman primate. Practical imaging of the nonhuman primate placenta with endogenous blood oxygen level-dependent contrast. Maternal marijuana usage in pregnancy as well as youngster neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Weed Wacked: Florida Man Busted For Growing Virtually 1,000 Cannabis Plants In Colorado

Skendaj claims Eva prepares to bring its shipment solution to the United States as well as is in conversations with dispensaries in California. It's increasing $30 million to go into the US market, where simply four states permit house delivery or marijuana; California, Michigan, Massachusetts and Arizona, according to Leafly. Recreational use marijuana was legislated in Canada in 2018, and there are no such curbs on weed shipment elsewhere in Canada, experts claim. Alberta and also Ontario have allowed home distribution since March. Customers in Toronto and also Ontario are obtaining their weed in under a hr, according to Leafly, the cannabis firm collaborating with Uber. The NCV Wire Service by New Cannabis Ventures intends to curate premium quality material and info about leading marijuana firms to aid our viewers filter out the sound and also to remain on top of one of the most important cannabis organization information.

Many More Marijuana Stores Could Soon Pop Up in Red Bank – Here's Why - TAPinto.net

Many More Marijuana Stores Could Soon Pop Up in Red Bank – Here's Why.

Posted: Mon, 28 Nov 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Trimming agents are used to water down medications and also are less costly than the medicine itself. These enhance revenues for the vendor as they market a more affordable product marketed as a high-grade one. You might want to utilize weed for leisure functions, medical purposes, or leisure. Whatever the function is, you will certainly need various products for each and every; for instance, delta-8 oils are one of the most fit for medical requirements.

My Solutions

So exactly how did we choose 3 specific organizations out of a huge range? There are lots of factors we took into consideration while making our checklist. Hollyweed not only has a few of the best items on the market, but they are also really transparent about just how they run their company. Therefore, consumers understand exactly how the items they are purchasing are made and also just how organic they are. You can find all the info on the resources of their components on Hollyweed's website. Exhale Wellness has actually obtained positive views online for weed and all its hemp-based products.

Skendaj claims that clients have not griped regarding the 90-minute guideline in Quebec because previously the most effective on offer had actually been next-day distribution.

While there are, naturally, heavyweights in the space like Weedmaps and also Eaze, boutique delivery services are beginning to crop up also, geared for the new age of fashionable consumers who have actually advanced with the marketplace, and also now, recognize their crap.

The iOS system enables consumers to promptly accessibility and go shopping the business's marketplace with their mobile platform at their convenience.

Available in Extra Solid, Ultra Strong, and also Regular strengths, these instilled treats send a tingle over your body and also a rush with your head.

[ace-aro-pride-toronto]

Details for Toronto Pride Parade & Trans March-- RSVP please!

Hello people,

Here is the info for the Trans March (Friday June 24, 2022, meetup by 7:45pm) and the Pride Parade (Sunday June 26th, 1pm meetup)-- friends/allies welcome!  

Please RSVP  (toronto.ace.aro.pride@gmail.com)-- Pride Toronto has set things up differently this year, so RSVPs are necessary for the Pride Parade and helpful for the Trans March.

Please make sure to read both the specific Trans March & Pride Parade info as well as the General Info below, as there is some new stuff this year-- like no plastic bags!, a new Parade line-up process (and masks encouraged). And please let us know what signs to bring for you.

1) Trans March: Friday, June 24th, 2022-- check in by 7:45pm

meet up at south-east corner of Church & Hayden, ideally check in with the Group Leaders sometime between 6:30-7:45pm (picture-- similar to previous years, just south side of street)

the rally starts at 7pm and the march is at 8pm

(One of the speakers happens also to be part of the Toronto Aces & Aros community, and will apparently be speaking about the importance of police/prison abolitionist queer/trans politics)

2) Pride Parade: Sunday, June 26th, 2022

meet near the check-in tent at 1pm (#B26) at Charles St. E and Ted Rogers Way / Jarvis street (which is south of Bloor) -- NEW LOCATION THIS YEAR (it's a somewhat awkward intersection)

it's actually a little closer to the Sherbourne subway station than the Bloor/Younge station and there will be WAY fewer people at Sherbourne (and it looks like they now have elevators)

Note: The way they are doing things this year will make it harder for any late-comers to join us-- which is why RSVPs are necessary (so we know who we’re waiting for, etc.)

***  We continue to invite (non-ace/non-arospec) queer/trans community members who don't have other groups to march with (also by RSVP), especially bi/pan and/or trans/non-binary folks, particularly those with more radical politics (i.e., anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-ableist; police/prison abolitionist politics,etc-- all messages generally consistent with Toronto Aces & Aros Respect Guidelines).***

We will be including some police/prison abolitionist messaging in our group. We are also mindful that we are a politically diverse group: if there is anyone who is more comfortable with more standard ace/aro "we exist"-type messaging, we will make sure to organise our group physically with that at the front so it is clear our group is politically diverse.

General Info details about both marches below

Please dress for the weather and consider sunscreen. The events are rain or shine. The Pride Parade especially will involve waiting around on the street for a long time before marching.

Pride Toronto this year is taking a very strong "anti-litter" stance. They also have banned all plastic bags and want to minimise/eliminate single-use plastics, especially at the Parade. 

Please bring whatever water and snacks you might want-- just make sure you also bring a reusable bag to keep any "litter" with you.

Note that Pride Toronto does not allow any group names or logos on signs or clothing other than for the "registered" group. They also don't want unredacted swear words like "fuck", etc. (common asterisk work-arounds, e.g., "f*ck" are allowed)

While the events are outside and there are no mask requirements, due to the crowds, masks are encouraged.

Because we are expecting smaller groups than in past years, we are not bringing all the signs. When you RSVP, please let us know if there are any pride signs you'd particularly like us to bring for you (in addition to the large banner and both ace and aro pride flags)!

[squishy-teeth]

Copia went to the trans pride march with me yesterday ((:

[linuxgamenews]

Psychroma psychedelic horror coming to Linux

Psychroma a non-binary horror side scroller game for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Due to the creative efforts of developer Rocket Adrift. Working to make its way onto Steam in 2023. Rocket Adrift shows off their new psychedelic horror side scroller, Psychroma. This story driven pixel art side scroller has already won second place in the Big Digital Indie Pitch. With an honorable mention in the Ubisoft Indie Series Presented by National Bank. Psychroma is a story driven psychological horror game. Where you play as a digital Medium who awakens in a haunted cyberpunk commune. While you take on haunts from the ghosts of the past residents. And at the same time, searching for an escape by exploring space and time. In Psychroma you will use a set of digital tarot cards with the memories of the ghosts. Then search the house and unlock trying new details about what happened there. As you play as a Non-binary, mixed race hero. Doing so as you uncover the bond between a trans woman and her disabled lesbian partner.

Psychroma Premier Trailer

The third game from Rocket Adrift's titles is an exercise in exploring. As you work through non-linear time, queerness, and empathy through horror. Psychroma will be Rocket Adrift's third game. In 2021, the three person Toronto-based team released their second game Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance on Steam and Itch.io. Following a nomination for Best Art Direction and Best Animation for the 2022 Canadian Indie Game Awards. In 2019, Rocket Adrift developed Order A Pizza: A Visual Novel. Doing so for Itch.io's Nan0Ren0 game jam within the month of March. It now stands at over 7,000 downloads and was a part of the Racial Justice and Equality bundle. The largest Itch.io bundle in history. Psychroma non-binary horror side scroller game is due to release in Q4 2023. Along with support for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Which is also available to Wishlist on Steam.

[transformativeworksandcultures]

CFP: Trans Fandom (3/15/23; 1/1/22)

Since its inception as a field, fan studies has been obsessed with gender, yet discussions of gender have tended to focus on binary genders, with other gender expressions often pushed to the margins, enclosed in parentheses, mentioned but not engaged, or highlighted as areas of future research. Although fan scholars have acknowledged the existence of trans fans and emphasized the importance of gender nonnormativity in many aspects of fandom, and although queer and trans theories have been utilized in analyses of fans’ transformative works and fan behaviors, surprisingly little work has focused on trans fans, trans ways of doing fandom, and depictions of trans bodies within fan works. Only recently have serious considerations of what fandom might mean for trans individuals and trans considerations of fandom emerged.

This special issue seeks to widen our knowledge of trans fandom. We invite submissions that engage with trans theory as a lens for analyzing fandom, case studies of trans fans’ experiences of fandom, considerations of trans bodies in fan fiction, trans theorizations of cosplay cross-dressing, and so on. In particular, we seek work that centers trans people—that is, individuals who express their gender identities in a variety of ways, including but not limited to transgender, transsexual, nonbinary, gender fluid, genderqueer, agender, intersex, or otherwise gender nonnormative.

We welcome both longer conceptual pieces (6,000–8,000 words), case studies (5,000–7,000 words), and shorter symposium pieces (1,500–2,500 words), which might include editorials, reflections, commentaries, synopses of relevant earlier research, and so forth.

Potential topics include but are not limited to: * Trans bodies in fan fiction, fan art, and other transformative works. * Using trans theory as a lens for considering cosplay, fan art, reader response/audience reception, etc. * Trans fans' experiences of fandom. * Trans genealogies of fandom. * Intersectional and decolonized considerations of trans fans and fandom. * Teaching trans studies with/through fandom. * Demographic and generational changes in fandom.

Submission Guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures(TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international, peer-reviewed,online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and to promote dialogue between the academic community and the fan community. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review.6,000–8,000 words. Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review. 5,000–7,000 words. Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review. 1,500–2,500 words.

Please visit TWC's Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org).

Contact—Contact guest editors Jennifer Duggan (University of South-Eastern Norway) and Angie Fazekas (University of Toronto) with any questions before or after the due date at trans.fandom@ outlook.com.

Due date— January 1, 2022, for March 2023 publication.

[prismmarketingco]

A day after Foota Hype rebuked some Jamaican female entertainers whom he said were using their platform to promote same-sex activities, Canadian LGBTQ group Pride Toronto has announced that Dancehall diva Spice will be the headline act for their Pride 2022 Festival celebrations in June next year. According to the LGBTQ group, “the long-awaited return” of the event, will include all “signature favourites” including the annual Trans March, Dyke March, Bi+ Pride Programming, Blockorama by Blackness Yes, Pride Parade, StreetFair, and “multiple stages featuring over 300 2SLGBTQ+ artists”. “It just got a lot more spicier in here!  The Queen of Dancehall and recent @moboawards nominee, @spiceofficial will be headlining #Pride2022! Visit PrideToronto.com/2022 for more info! What will you be wearing?” the organization posted on its Instagram page on Wednesday, alongside a photo of the Cool It artist.On the organization’s website, Spice was hailed as the artist who would get the celebration’s ball a-rolling with her performance.This will be the first in-person staging of the event in two years. “Pride Toronto will kick off Festival Weekend with Jamaican-born dancehall recording artist, singer and songwriter Grace Hamilton, AKA Spice. Known as the “Queen of Dancehall”, Spice is recognized to be one of the biggest dancehall artists in the world….,” Pride Toronto noted in its description of the St. Catherine High School old girl. (at Kingston, Jamaica) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWZScQ3LrxL/?utm_medium=tumblr

[marinaandtheradfems]

You're right I'm a terf, it's almost Luke it's in my name. Here's my out-of-context works cited pages so far.

Works Cited

Anjum, Samaya. “For the first time, transgender candidates will run for seats in Bangladesh's National Parliament.” Global Voices, 7 February 2019, https://globalvoices.org/2019/02/07/for-the-first-time-transgender-candidates-will-run-for-seats-in-bangladeshs-national-parliament/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Anonymous User. “Neurogender.” Nonbinary Wiki, Nonbinary Wiki, 12 August 2022, https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Neurogender#Gendervague. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Bertolotti, Michel. “Electoral parity with fake trans women in Mexico: number of LGBT candidacies is unprecedented.” Mexicanist, 17 May 2021, https://www.mexicanist.com/l/trans-women-in-mexico/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Drescher, Jack, et al. “Psychiatry.org - Expert Q&A: Gender Dysphoria.” American Psychiatric Association, psychiatry.org, 2022, https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/expert-q-and-a. Accessed 2 September 2022.

The Economist. “Why Iran is a hub for sex-reassignment surgery.” The Economist, 4 April 2019, https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/04/04/why-iran-is-a-hub-for-sex-reassignment-surgery. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Freedman, Rosa, et al. Evidence and Data on Trans Women’s Offending Rates. committees.parliament.uk, 2021, https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/18973/pdf/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Freeman, Hadley. “Why I'm suing Survivors' Network.” UnHerd, 14 July 2022, https://unherd.com/2022/07/why-im-suing-survivors-network/. Accessed 3 September 2022.

Herman, Jody L., et al. “Age of Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in the United States.” The Williams Institute, 2017, pp. 1-13. Williams Institute, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Age-Trans-Individuals-Jan-2017.pdf. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Hopper, Tristin. “Canada's oldest rape crisis centre stripped of city funding for refusing to accept trans women.” National Post, 18 March 2019, https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadas-oldest-rape-crisis-centre-stripped-of-city-funding-for-refusing-to-accept-trans-women. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Joyce, Helen. Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. Oneworld Publications, 2021. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Kaltiala-Heino, Riittakerttu, et al. “Two years of gender identity service for minors: overrepresentation of natal girls with severe problems in adolescent development.” PubMed, 9 April 2015, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25873995/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

LGB Alliance. “About.” LGB Alliance, https://lgballiance.org.uk/about/. Accessed 3 September 2022.

Masterson, Matt. “Lawsuit: Female Prisoner Says She Was Raped by Transgender Inmate.” WTTW News, 19 February 2020, https://news.wttw.com/2020/02/19/lawsuit-female-prisoner-says-she-was-raped-transgender-inmate. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Oxford English Dictionary. “sing. α. 1–5 wifman, 2–3 -mon, 2–4 wimman, (3 wim(m)on, wyman), 3–4 wymman, 3– 5 wymmon (4 wyfman). β. 3 wummon, 3–5 wumman. δ. 3–5 womman, wommon, 4–6 voman, 5 vomman, woman(n)e, 5–6 wommane, 7 whoman, (also 9 dial.) wooman, 3 ...” Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/oed2/00286737. Accessed 3 September 2022.

Parveen, Nazia. “Transgender prisoner who sexually assaulted inmates jailed for life.” The Guardian, 11 October 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/11/transgender-prisoner-who-sexually-assaulted-inmates-jailed-for-life. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Pazzano, Sam. “A sex predator's sick deception.” Toronto Sun, 15 February 2014, https://torontosun.com/2014/02/15/a-sex-predators-sick-deception. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Reilly, Patrick. “Transgender Rikers inmate sentenced to 7 years for raping female prisoner.” New York Post, 25 April 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/04/25/transgender-rikers-inmate-gets-7-years-for-raping-female-prisoner/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Rieger, Gerulf, et al. “Sexual Orientation and Childhood Gender Nonconformity: Evidence From Home Videos.” Developmental Psychology, vol. 44, no. 1, 2008, pp. 46-58. PubMed, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18194004/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Sexton, Lori, et al. “Where the Margins Meet: A Demographic Assessment of Transgender Inmates in Men's Prisons.” Department of Justice, 2009, pp. 1-48. Office of Justice Programs, https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/where-margins-meet-demographic-assessment-transgender-inmates-0. Accessed 2 September 2022.

“Shame and Narcissistic Rage in Autogynephilic Transsexualism.” Arch Sex Behav, no. 37, 2008, pp. 457-461.

Slatz, Anna. “EXCLUSIVE: 15-year-old alleged victim of Jessica Yaniv speaks out.” The Post Millennial, 23 July 2019, https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-15-year-old-alleged-victim-of-jessica-yaniv-speaks-out/. Accessed 3 September 2022.

u/Lordhyperion7070. “Is it weird that I'm aroused when I look at myself in the mirror?” Reddit, r/MtF, 31 December 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/rsql7u/is_it_weird_that_im_aroused_when_i_look_at_myself/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

University of Northern Iowa. “Gender Identity Terminology | Gender & Sexuality Services.” Gender & Sexuality Services, https://lgbt.uni.edu/gender-identities. Accessed 3 September 2022.

u/VeryConfused150. “Why do I get turned on by the idea of being trans?” Reddit, r/MtF, 7 May 2020, https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/gfl5zy/why_do_i_get_turned_on_by_the_idea_of_being_trans/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Vancouver Rape Relief. “What We do and Who We Serve.” Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter, https://rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/who-we-serve-and-what-we-do/. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Vasey, Paul L., et al. “Is Gender Identity Disorder in Children a Mental Disorder?” Sex Roles, vol. 43, no. 11/12, 2000, pp. 753-785. Accessed 2 September 2022.

Ward, Myah. “Blackburn to Jackson: Can you define 'the word woman'?” Politico, 22 March 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/22/blackburn-jackson-define-the-word-woman-00019543. Accessed 3 September 2022.

Watson, Steve, et al. “Stonewall 1979: The Drag of Politics.” The Village Voice, 4 June 2019, https://www.villagevoice.com/2019/06/04/stonewall-1979-the-drag-of-politics/. Accessed 3 September 2022.

What Are Women? Written by Lily Alexandre, YouTube, 2022. YouTube, https://youtu.be/i6m3CzzYSOs. Accessed 2 September 2022.

I'm writing an essay on the shortcomings and impropriety of the trans movement and I need ideas for topics.

I have written about the following:

Dysphoria caused by gender roles

Transition not only way to solve the issue

Dysphoric vs non dysphoric trans people

Men taking advantage of trans laws

Amount of trans prisoners that are sex offenders

Women being usurped in politics, sports, media, tech, women's shelters, and language

Autogynephilia

Autism rates among trans people

Gnc kids and adults

Gnc kids rates of growing up gay

Iran conversion therapy transition

Pedophiles (Jonathan Yaniv)

Narcissism rates in TiMs

Invasion of lgb spaces — AGPs, het trans people, redirected resources

Marsha P. Johnson not trans

Lgb alliance

Gender roles reinforced — MtF, FtM, and nonbinary making more restrictive roles

That's ab it. I need help finding resources for women being usurped in tech positions.

I need more ideas for the whole of the essay, more points to make.

I also need more of the dehumanizing terms y'all have seen women called such as 'menstruator' as I am including a complete list of those.

Message me if you have any sources to help or if you want to read the essay, I'm not comfortable posting the link publicly.

Thank you!