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inkskinned · 7 months

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it is totally okay to be hurt and tired and fed up with the american schooling system but i need you to understand that we need to be better about loudly and routinely defending public education.

yes, many teachers suck, many schools utterly suck. i also got bullied and was absolutely not given the right support for my needs. i am not defending public education because it was kind to me. i am defending it because it needs to exist.

right-wing republicans do not want an educated population. they want kids to be homeschooled or in private school. there is a huge religious undertone to this.

the most common argument is that despite high costs, the "result" is not "good" enough. they point to failing schools as proof that public education is just never going to work out. there will be arguments made here that you actually agree with: that teachers can be bullies, that we taught online for 2 years and still charged the same amount of tuition, that we have no recourse for students to actually have agency or a voice, and that schools are now unsafe for kids due to risk of illness and gun violence.

these are all placing the blame in a fraudulent way, one intended to get your parents to homeschool you. the less kids in a school, the less federally-awarded funding for that school, the less any school succeeds. they will not mention the fact it is their legislation that takes away important funding opportunities, that teachers are living at or below the poverty line, that buildings are not kept up to code, that administration is overpaid and forces specific curriculums, that corporations like (my personal enemy) Pearson Education control certain classroom goals because teachers can't afford other options. they pretend to be ignorant of the gun violence and say "oh just get a gun" - but these are the same people who will be sending their child to a private school with a bulletproof backpack. they don't care if your kid dies, though. they "don't believe" in covid, but they did get their kid vaccinated, because of course they did.

it is a closed loop. conservative parents hear the fearmongering and remove children from the system. frequently these parents are also deeply religious. the kids are raised without access to other media & learn to parrot their parents. you have now created a new generation of conservatives. additionally, one of the parents/caregivers must stay home and homeschool the children, usually for free. i will give you 1 guess which parent tends to stay home to homeschool the children. these parents are encouraged to have many, many children. those children are most likely not getting access to safe sex ed.

we might laugh at fox news suggesting teachers are forcing children to use kitty litter but: first of all, there is kitty litter in the classroom. it's part of an emergency kit in case children are locked in due to a shooter. so that's fucking dystopian, and the fact they've completely reimagined the scenario to somehow make the teachers look bad when it's instead a fucking huge symbol of our failure as a country to protect our children.... it feels a little intentional.

secondly: don't just dismiss the situation. because, yeah, obviously, no teacher is encouraging kids to be a catboy. but the actual undertone that fox news is trying to sew is an outright distrust of teachers and of public education. they rely on the dehumanization of trans people as a common touchstone to hide the fact they're pushing two agendas at once. (which is ironic. because the thing they accuse teachers of. is pushing. an agenda.)

whenever someone tells you they want you to read less, you should be suspicious of that. when someone tries to separate you and your education, you should be suspicious of that. i don't even like incel rhetoric nor would i want my kids exposed to it - but i would not take away my child's (age-appropriate) access to the internet. i would just provide more educational materials, not less. the difference here is that i believe we can resolve ignorance with knowledge; whereas conservatives believe that ignorance is bliss.

they misappropriate funding and demonize teachers. they pull the same trick each time - the same thing we are seeing with anti-trans rhetoric. they do not want you to have access to safe sex ed, so they act horrified, claim sex ed teaches you how to thrust deep, claim that we have no idea what "age-appropriate" means. since the mid-nineties, the united states has spent at least 2 billion dollars on abstinence-only education, even though to quote the above link: "a preponderance of studies has found no effect of abstinence education at reducing adolescent pregnancy". conservatives want you to think less of any person struggling with addiction so they can continue their racist "war on drugs", so they spend up to $750 million dollars a year on the DARE program which has absolutely no effect. acting like teachers "must" be "grooming" children is just the same thing - so they can demand that funding either goes to their causes or the funding doesn't "exist" ("i'm not paying for our kids to learn that thing!")

and they want you to feel uncaring about this. they are aware that you will hate some parts of your school experience. pretty much everyone does. they want to lean into the parts that you hate so that you don't put up a fight about it when they take it away for not being "good enough."

i know i maybe sound like a conspiracy theorist. but truly. truly. it is beneficial for conservatives to reduce your faith in the american public schooling system.

one of the explicitly stated campaign promises of the conservative party: to axe the Department of Education in 2024.

i know we are all tired and burnt out and there is so much else wrong with their entire platform. but maybe just - pay attention to this one.

#i can't believe i have to say this #the conservative party is legit like ''is it anything good? okay we hate it.''#''lets kill lgbt people and ummmmm school children shouldnt be able to read they should be at home watching jordan peterson :)"#the fact that it's like all related is. wild.#like it's wild bc if u start being like. actually making it impossible to afford housing is part of how they keep the nuclear family.....#it's just like lines connecting to lines. EXCEPT ITS OBVIOUS?#what's wild to me about most conspiracy theorists is that they're like . ohhhh the govt is hiding shit!!!!!!! they don't want u to know!!!#and im like. this old man literally got up on stage and said he hates public education and will let our kids die before taking away ak-47s #and ppl are like: lol thats just bob's sense of humor he didn't mean it literally uwu

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newdog14 · 6 months

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I want to talk to everyone who's still saying "I know Biden is bad, but Trump is worse, so just vote Blue."

I know that American Politics sucks right now. Everyone is a bad option and every year our options get worse. I get it, and it sucks, but here's the thing: If we keep saying "Vote Blue no matter what!" then the Democratic party is never going to get better. In fact, it'll probably get worse, because if ignoring the voices of their voter base doesn't lose them votes, then why bother listening?

If you want things to get better, if you want politicians that you can vote for without feeling like you've betrayed your ethics, then we need to show that we WILL stop voting for people who we don't agree with. We need to show that the American people have heard Biden's Administration say "There are no red lines for Israel" and we do not agree.

Politicians only care about us for our votes. If supporting genocides demonstrably loses votes, then politicians will take note and change their policies in accordance. But if we vote Biden no matter what, if we vote Blue no matter what, then they aren't going to listen to us when we call and protest and scream.

Now, some of you may be thinking, what about Trump?

There is a chance he won't be able to run after all; he's currently in a legal shit storm that got his ability to do business in New York revoked. And with many of his co-defendants and associates pleading guilty things aren't looking good for him. Even if he can dodge the numerous felony fraud charges he's been hit with, this is going to be an expensive, embarrassing, dragged out process that will severely limit his time and funds for campaigning.

That doesn't mean he won't find his way onto the ballot anyway, but he hasn't won the Republican nomination yet. Even if he does though, sticking by Biden doesn't mean you're putting someone better in the White House. Given the ever climbing death toll that Biden is not just ignoring but enabling, it’s getting increasingly difficult, at least for me, to believe that Trump is actually worse. They’re both bad, and they’re both hurting people, so instead let’s look at why so many are clinging to the democratic party, even in the face of a genocide.

I know the biggest reason so many folks are hesitating to cut support for Biden is that they're worried about what that means for those of us in the United States.

Who will stop the anti-trans bathroom bills that keep popping up? Who will keep abortion bans off the books? Who will prevent censorship in schools?

Well, in point of fact, not your president!

Think about it. Did Biden being president put a stop to Florida's "don't say gay" bill? No. He had zero impact there.

Is he what stands between Virginia and the Abortion Ban currently being proposed for the state? Also no. He's not involved at all.

Has Biden stopped the bans on Drag Shows so many states are trying to implement? No, the Federal Courts have been doing that, including judges who were appointed by Trump.

See, the President of the United States is all about the big picture. Their opinions matter, and they can set a tone for their party, but they don’t control everything. Their impacts on the governing of states come from the people they appoint, like judges, but even then, most people will still do their jobs over pleasing the person who got them that job. Especially so because federal judges are actually really difficult to remove, and that only really happens if they’re so bad at following the rules that congress gets rid of them.

I’m not sure if Biden can’t stop states from making laws or if he just wouldn’t, but either way he’s not protecting us.

The President honestly can’t do a hell of a lot to the American people, especially not in just four years. That’s why we survived Trump’s first presidency, and it’s why we as a whole would survive it if he got a second term.

The place where a President’s influence is immediately and drastically felt, however, is in the international sphere. The American people are protected, the citizens of the world are not, and with that fun little “well we’re not declaring war” workaround, the President, aka the Commander in Chief of the US Military, can do a hell of a lot of damage.

The people of Palestine may not survive another four years of Biden’s presidency. If things carry on like they are, they may not survive the remaining one year of his term.

So we the American people need to show that we will not stand by a president that endorses genocide. We need to show that we will not stand by a party that endorses genocide. We need to start talking, and loudly, about how we will not be voting for Biden next year. We need it to be clear that it is specifically his foreign policy that has lost his support, and that we will not be willing to just switch him out for a newer model who reminds me of no one so much as a modern day Aaron Burr.

There are a lot of things that we can do to express our displeasure for Biden, and for Israel, and there are a lot of people who can help you call for change, plan boycotts, organize marches, and determine where to aim direct action to have the greatest impact. But all of that needs to be done while putting our votes where our voices are, or else all of that rage will burn out and nothing will really change, just like it has in the Black Lives Matter movement.

In this case, as we do not currently have a better option, the place to put our presidential votes is with no one.

It’s not an ideal solution, I know. After all the years we’ve spent saying, “Vote! Vote no matter what! Vote or else you can’t complain about what happens!”, not voting feels like one of the most counterproductive moves to make. The reason we have to do it though, is because voting in the same sort of people and hoping they’ll make things better isn’t working, and we’re never going to get new options if we keep supporting the old ones. Cutting support for Biden, for Democrats on the national level, without a viable alternative isn't an easy choice to make. It's scary and I admit that it's kind of a gamble. No one has ever tried it before, not the way I'm hoping you all will.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” It’s time for us to break. No more unconditional blue votes.

We have to force the Democratic party to recognize that their voting base will not just mindlessly support them, and that the candidates they put forth will be expected to hold up a certain moral standard. Our democracy is skewed to favor the opinions of corporations and the mega rich, but politicians do still need the masses to vote them into office, just like companies need us to buy things so that they can make money in the first place, and voting margins are tight enough that just like in the Speaker of the House vote, it won’t actually take that many of us to throw a wrench in the party’s bottom line.

We might not be able to win, but we can make sure that they lose until they shape up and start making meaningful changes.

And you may be thinking, won’t that just leave us in the hands of Republicans?

I want you to scroll back up. Look at all the bills I brought up that Biden didn’t stop. We are already in Republican hands, and the majority of Democrats are not willing to actually stand up to them.

That said, not voting across the board isn’t what I’m asking you to do.

Our choices for President may be shot to hell, but there will be other people on that ballot in 2024. Local people, who will very directly affect your hometown and not much outside of it. Vote for your local sheriff, for your school board members, for your mayor and your state delegates.

These are the people who control whether or not your senator can pass a drag show ban. These are the people who enable or block bills that hurt LGBTQ+ students. These are the folks who vote on whether or not to pass abortion bans. And in local elections? Your vote really, truly counts in a way that it just can’t on a national level.

And it’s not just people who wind up on your ballots. Local initiatives for conservation, funding for infrastructure, redistricting drives, and changes to your state’s constitution appear on your ballots too, and those are things that you’re going to want to have a say in.

There’s more to this mess than just voting or not voting, of course. There is always going to be more than one step we have to take to force change. That's why we cannot and do not vote inside a vacuum. We still have to make calls, and go to protests, and put our money where our morals are. Change isn't easy, and when you're fighting a decades old machine it's not quick either. But the longer we drag our feet about pushing back, the longer we keep betting on the lesser evil to change, the worse our options will get.

It might feel hopeless right now. Like our voices don't matter, and that we're screaming our lungs out alone. We can't give up though. We can't give into despair, and we can’t let up the pressure before new voices step forward, even if it takes time, and even if it takes more effort then checking a box or sharing a post.

One step will never be enough on its own, but every step we take adds up, and when we take those steps together we magnify our voices into something that cannot be ignored.

This is how we force our politicians to change: consequences and losses. If we start up early enough we might even get better options who could actually win the presidency, but we can't balk if we don't.

I know you might be scared to lose this election. As I write this, it feels counterintuitive, and it's something I never could have imagined saying years ago. But we can't change our political options unless we force politicians to change, and that only happens if they can't get elected as they are.

So don't elect them, and make sure they know that you're doing it on purpose and for a reason.

#american politics #us politics #political #vote #free palestine #palestine

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atsualek · 2 months

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i know this probably isnt very relevant to most tumblr users, but if could take a bit of time to read this, id really appreciate it... i know portugal is a very small country in europe, but i just wanted to call awareness to the fact that two days ago, fifty fascists were elected to represent us in the parlament.

They belong to a party led by an openly transphobic, racist, xenophobic and misogynist guy. this on the 50th anniversary of our revolution agaisnt a fascist dictatorship, more than one milion people voted for the same thing again. the lider of the party (CHEGA) literally reused the motto of the old fascist leader, just added the word "work" to it. (its god, homeland, family and work) they want to "erase woke ideology from schools" they want to review our abortion laws, the laws in support of the queer community, review immigration laws, and are openly xenophobic and racist. they have stated they want to "fight" gender ideology, and are vehemently agaisnt trans people using the right bathrooms. there are multiple videos of them doing the nazi salute. its true, portugal is in very bad political state rn and the people want extreme changes, and thats why we now have a rightwing majority on our parlament. but its fucking terrifying. most CHEGA voters dont even know what they are voting for, but we still need to hold them accountable for this.

most of my friends are queer. its so deeply disheartening to watch your own country vote against you, against your right to exist. we dont feel safe anymore, and we know that in the next few years we will watch the already short list of laws that protected us be erased. they claim to want to build a "better future" for the young generations, but if we are queer, it seems that we dont belong in it.

#politics #awareness #chega #portugal #fascism #voting #democracy

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cptapathy · 4 months

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My takeaway for the new UK guidance on gender transitioning in schools

Please, everyone, respond to the guidance and call it out as how shit it is, don't just accept this shit.

Here is the link to respond to this attack on trans youth

https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/

1. If you are under 18, are doubting/exploring your gender and wish to involve the teaching staff but not your parents, then explicitly say to them, "if my parents find out they will beat me"

This is the only way to prevent the teacher from having a legal duty to inform your parents

2. The guidance is rife with "G3nder Cri1ical" terminology, but what do you expect from the equality minister for Britain?

3. Unsupportive teachers will be able to justify their prejudice as "watchful waiting" as laid out in the guidance as step 1

Just to clarify, if a 16yo comes to ask to be referred to by a different name or pronouns step 1‽ is to not honour those requedts for an indeterminate period of time to "make sure." This will be standard across an entire country

4. A direct quote

"Does the child feel pressured to identify differently because they simply do not align with stereotypes associated with their sex? This is relevant as some people think gender identity reinforces stereotypes about men and women"

They need to spend some time on tumblr, ain't nothing about you freaks that reinforces gender stereotypes

5. Another quote

Schools "should not unilaterally adopt any changes, including using a new name or new pronouns, unless or until this has been agreed by the school or college in accordance with the proper procedures and... parental consent"

So, any time a child considers their gender identity, there must be a school meeting about accepting it. They then go on to talk about "contested views"

But if anyone has contrary views, those are protected and "must be respected," not period of denial, and informing the parent to then hold a meeting of if those views are necessary for the school to honour.

6. "Agreeing to a child’s request to have others use different pronouns about them is a significant decision."

No it fucking isn't

7. Children under the age of 11 are not allowed to have different pronouns. It's just an outright blanket ban on using gender affirming pronouns for Under 11s.

8. Over 11 well, now we have to decide if using they/them is a large enough benefit to you that it "outweighs the impact on the school community."

Idiots the lot of them

8. But if we do accept a pronoun change, you will still be referred to as "girls" or "boys" collectively, and we won't stop teachers or other students from not using your pronouns. Did you think this was to enforce your pronoun use? No, no, no, this is just to allow YOU to use those pronouns, god forbid a student decide for themselves how they want to be referred to!

9. Literally just explicit transphobia

"Schools and colleges should exhaust all other options, such as using first names, to avoid requiring other individuals having to use preferred pronouns"

10. The first and only mention of bullying, in full

"In all cases, bullying of any child must not be tolerated. No child should be sanctioned for honest mistakes when adapting to a new way of interacting with another pupil"

Why does that feel like they're defending transphobes from bullying? Oh, right, because that's what they are doing.

11. Did anyone expect anything different to this?

"Responding to a request to support any degree of social transition must not include allowing access to these spaces"

So, it will be a legal requirement for teachers in England to prevent trans people from going to a toilet or changing room designated for their gender.

12. This one is not a legal requirement but rather a "should" statement, which is trans children "should" be held to the same uniform status as other children of their AGAB.

I'm running out of commentary here

13. No one is surprised that trans people are once again banned in sports

The full doc for anyone willing to go through it

https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/supporting_documents/Gender%20Questioning%20Children%20%20nonstatutory%20guidance.pdf

Boys, girls, and the genders we aren't allowed to mention, that is my summary of the UK government proposed guidance on trans students.

Please help stop them.

#uk politics #uk #trans rights #transphobia #trans #transgender #transpride #trans pride #trans youth #uk trans #trans uk

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blowjobhorseman · 10 months

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❤️ please take a moment to read ❤️

My husband and I are currently doing everything we can to get our 3 children out of Ohio as soon as we can. We are in an area that has gotten more hostile towards our trans child as time has passed, and we fear with the legislature being pushed forward in other red states that things are headed for the worst here. We are desperately trying to avoid our son having to detransition due to the laws being pushed forward (especially as we enter into an election year), as well as moving from the hatred he has had to face from the school system and social atmosphere of our area. My parents currently live in Vermont and have been kind enough to offer to let us stay with them so that we can get out of Ohio before things get any worse, but we are facing some financial barriers keeping us from being able to make the move. Vermont has protections in place for trans children in school that keep teachers from outing them and they are required to use his chosen name. Despite working around the clock to be able to make this move happen, the skyrocketing cost of living has made it near impossible to save. We need to be able to pay the out of pocket costs associated with hormone therapy and daily medications when we lose insurance between jobs, and our family vehicle needs maintenance to be able to make the 11 hour move to a new state. If we are able to meet our donation goal, we can cover the moving costs, medication and repairs necessary to be able to get our family to a better place. If we were fortunate enough to exceed that goal, all extra funds would be put towards supporting our son in the next step to his transition (top surgery and legal name change). I am so grateful to anyone that has read this far and for any donations to our family. We are doing everything we can to support our children through this social and political uncertainty and any outside support (financial and emotional) is so meaningful to our family.

I completely understand that things are financially difficult for a lot of people and families right now and that this is a lot of money. Even if you are able to just able to reblog this it would be so helpful!

🌈✨ seriously thank you so much if you read through all of that, please reblog if you can ✨🌈

#me #protect trans kids #gofundme

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crossdreamers · 1 year

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It is time to step up the defense of transgender people in Britain

What The Trans has published an urgent call for action in a thread over at twitter. We are taking the liberty of republishing it here so that it can reach as many as possible.

Here’s the thread:

//A lot has been written and said about the nightmarish situations facing trans people in the United States. The UK situation has become almost as terrifying. Here is a thread breaking it down Please read, please share. Many aren't aware of this. Change that!

The government seems to be removing protections for trans people

Just under a year ago Rishi Sunak promised to review the equality act in regards to trans people. He was vague, but over the last few months the direction of travel appears to be removing protections for trans people from the equality act.

What this means in practice is defining sex purely as 'biological' with the goal of allowing service providers the option to lawfully bar trans people from single sex spaces.

How would that play out? It would mean that a trans woman could be barred from using the women's toilet if she is out with her friends at a bowling alley it means a trans man could be barred from using the men's toilet at the pub.

Many trans people already struggle to access these spaces. Either they use the one's that align with who they are, and risk being clocked as trans and shouted at...or they go to the wrong ones and get told they are in the wrong one and get clocked as trans.

If you need to understand more how this would effect someones life, ask yourself... ...have you ever worked at a place, not from home, and not used your workplaces toilets at all during the day? Could you do that?

The UK government is considering gutting the equality act to allow places to essentially make it potentially impossible for trans people to leave their homes for longer than their bladders can hold out. That is the reality.

Forced outing of trans kids

2. Education guidance is incoming (and it doesn't sound good) For months the department of education has been promising to issue guidance on how schools deal with trans pupils.

The government are currently briefing the press the following: That schools will be forced to tell parents if their child has come out as transgender That trans students will be forced to participate in sports activitys of the wrong gender.

If you don't understand why the first would be bad, a report by @JustLikeUsUK revealed that almost half of young LGBT adults are estranged from their families. AKT has reported that 77% of LGBT young people said their homelessness was caused by family rejection and familial abuse.

If a child was to reveal to their teacher that they are trans, the government is briefing the press right now that they want to force teachers to out the kid to their parents. Looking at the situation now, it is clear how dangerous this could be to the child.

When it comes to sports, this policy risks excluding and marginalising students who already face significant levels of bullying and ostracisation from their peers. This proposed guidance risks making trans lives so much harder for our youngest.

Biggest rollback of rights ever

The UK's transgender community is facing the biggest rollback of their fundamental human rights, ever. For centuries we didn't have any rights at all. Since the 1970's the trans community has won many battles to get to this point of protections that aren't exactly perfect.

The government are contemplating making our lives unliveable outside of our homes, and potentially unlivable inside our homes if we happen to be children.

This is monstrous and the result of 7 years of anti-trans moral panic by the media giving the impression that there is something for politicians to gain from being absolutely horrific to the UK trans community. You must show them otherwise.

You must write to your MP, email them, call them, go see them, do all of these repeatedly. Form queues outside their constituency offices, fill up their mail bags, crash their email servers with the sheer number of messages, showing that these policies will cost them.

You must organise and attend protests. Radical, disruptive, marches, static, as many as possible, as frequently as possible with as many people as you can gather. Make them loud. Make them constant. Be as annoying as possible.

You must show up whenever political leaders show up in your area for campaigning or anything else. Ask them difficult questions, shame them, make it very uncomfortable and tell them what this is and how it would hurt trans people.

This is a red alert for the trans community in the UK. This is a fight we cannot lose.//

Women’s Institute express strong support for trans people

Let us add an example of what can be done:

The Women’s Institute will continue to “celebrate” the lives of the transgender women enriching its membership, the head of the organisation said on Tuesday, following reports that it was facing a bid to overturn inclusive policy.

Good!

What The Trans homepage.

Illustration by Midjourney.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtqa #queer #transphobia #UK #politics

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hyumjim · 2 months

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Oh yeah I have been thinking about this for a while re: overzealous callouts typically targeting trans women. Basically I shudder to think what any of you people would do with even an ounce of institutional power. I have one of those jobs where I’m a mandated reporter of child abuse. And for my job I spend time in people’s homes. And I’ve been doing this job for seven years. If I have good reason to suspect that a child is being abused then I need to call child protective services. You know how many times I have done this over seven years? Twice. And both times it was because a child asked me directly to do it. And I sat with both kids and we called CPS together. In one case this resulted in the cops coming to their house and in the other case, nothing happened. In both cases I stayed with them for as long as I could.

Now, over the years of course I’ve heard a number of questionable things. I’ve thought, yeah, this person is probably hitting their kid. I mean, it happens a lot, and some degree of corporal punishment is still normalized in many homes. I don’t condone that, and I’ve had a lot of conversations with parents about it and suggested many alternatives. But the bottom line is that I cannot be trigger-happy when it comes to calling CPS. CPS is a deeply flawed system. Many of the people I work with are extremely used to having CPS called on them. Truancy from school on its own is enough to open a CPS case and criminalize parents. Abuse absolutely happens and needs to be addressed when it does, but so often, police involvement, system involvement is not the answer. Kids get removed from homes and placed with foster families who can be more abusive, less closely monitored, and don’t even have the relational bond that acts as a protective factor. Parents receive the message that they are unfit to care for their children, which makes them worse as parents, and the cycle continues, etc.

So whenever something that’s questionable comes up, I always speak to my supervisor about it and we discuss whether or not I need to take it to CPS. But the answer is almost always ‘no.’ It’s a last resort, only to be used when absolutely necessary. And even in cases where it’s absolutely a necessity, like the one I mentioned where the cops came? That call resulted in me being cut off from the young person entirely. Because his abusive mother knew that I made the report, and forbade me from ever speaking with him again. Which she can do, because he’s her child. For all I know, nothing came of the investigation and his parents retaliated against him more harshly than before. So do you think I made the right call?

Mind you, I’ve seen all sorts of really fucked-up family dynamics, all kind of patterns of emotional turmoil between families, a lot of parents saying terrible things that I think nobody should say to a child, and vice versa. It’s my job to sit with these things and try to help. Not to call someone to come and take away the problematic person.

The point is that I’ve had to sit and think deeply about when to report abuse, as part of my job, for years and years of my life now. And I see the ease and eagerness with which people on here will smear a trans woman as a pedophile with the flimsiest of evidence (i.e. agreed with another user who turned out to be an abuser; has kinks that are triggering to me personally; has innocuous sfw art on her blog of a teen anime character). And I think wow, if you guys had a job like mine you would be ruining people’s lives frequently. Just something to think about.

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bthemistake · 4 months

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I want to tell you a story.

When I was in Primary school, I went to an afterschool club and it was there I met a good friend. At the time, he wasn't called Dan nor did he go by he/him pronouns. I knew Dan for a year, in which we became close friends and shared our love of theatre. At the age of nine, I thought myself quite the writer and created a short play (if it could be called that lol) called 'Shining Stars'. A few pages actually managed to survive my childhood and are carefully tucked away in my room.

Dan, of course, was a part of the play and asked for their character to be male. At such a young age, I was oblivious and thought nothing of it, writing the character 'Rob' at my friends request. I believe he may have even picked the name himself.

Due to being a year older than me, Dan moved up to Secondary school without me and another year would pass before I saw him again. When I met him for the first time as 'Dan', I happily accepted him and was only a little sad that we weren't as close as before.

Unfortunately, that school was far from accepting. I myself would later be outed twice with nasty rumours gossiping about my sexuality while other queer students were picked on by teachers, but nothing would compare to the harassment Dan faced.

The last time I saw Dan, he was crying into the arms of a friend in the middle of a hallway. I remember hugging him too and growing close to tears myself. After that, Dan vanished and I assumed he moved schools, taking his sibling with him, and perhaps towns too because I haven't seen any of them in nine years.

I can only hope that he's still alive and safe, especially from the current culture war against Trans people being used by the Tory government and media here in the UK.

Transphobia isn't something that just got bad recently, it's been around for a long time and it wont get better until everyday people do something. If you are a parent/legal guardian, you have a responsibility to keep your child from discriminating against others. If you are a student and you hear a classmate or friend being an ass, you have to call them out.

Hateful opinions and attitudes flourish when they go uncontested. Sure, donating to charities and engaging in fundraiser are all good things and help, but you can make one hell of a difference by supporting even one queer person in your life. Fuck knows they need it right now.

Build a community, it saves a life.

[Image Description: Coloured in the gradient of the Transgender flag, a trans male (ftm) is reaching up to grasp at a smooth fabric that wafts around him, covering his waist, which is a Trans-pride flag. He had tattoos, one of which being the Transgender symbol and another being my artists tag (lol I snuck that in there), and is proudly shirtless with his top-surgery scars on display. He looks a little worried, cradling his body with his other arm, in a protective manner, but doesn't push away his flag or his identity.]

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jesses-life-updates · 5 months

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people tend to think trans people are special snowflakes who get pampered by society so here's being trans from the perspective of a transgender 14-year-old who has no adult support in his life. please boost this message to transphobes, it might not change their minds but it could at least make them consider the real children they're hurting.

• when I came out at 13 I was yelled at by my parents until I cried

• according to transphobes it's somehow my fault that I was born with a female body

• people at school ask me what my pronouns are as an insult and call me slurs and nobody does anything about it, not even teachers care

• I came out to these people I thought I could trust and their response was to push me out of their circle of friends and harass me, constantly calling me a lesbian even though I'm not even a girl

• life seems to have lost its colour and I can't remember the last time I felt actual strong emotions

• actual grown ass adults complain about trans people on the internet just for clout and argue with each other about whether or not we deserve rights, as if that isn't the most dehumanising shit

• I've been told that my feelings don't matter by a teacher at my school because "people in countries at war have it worse"

• the prime minister of my country was on national television spreading hate speech about my people and everyone is acting like he's a saint for it, completely ignoring the other bad things he's done for this country because "he hates trans people and that's good"

• I have to stand idly by while trans people my age are committing suicide and I am so scared I will end up adding to that statistic

• there's bad apples in every group of people and just because I'm trans I have to be grouped in with every bigoted/hateful trans person when I'm just trying to keep myself alive and I'm not bothering anyone

• I am too scared to bring up my queer identity around anyone because I don't want them to think I'm shoving it in their face, it might as well be a secret even though I've been out for over a year

• i sometimes forget that I'm not physically a boy but then it hits me again when I see how much taller/deep voiced my male peers are

• I had to resocialise myself as male and change so many things about my behaviour that it's constantly at the forefront of my mind

• my chest constantly feels tight, I can't breathe deeply, my breathing is shaky and I get random rib pains every few hours

• I'm told that my gender is a "protected characteristic" but adults are doing a piss poor job at protecting me, I feel like I'm in danger because of being queer

• people at school harassed me so much for being trans that I practically forced myself back into the closet by telling them I don't care what they refer to me as (I most definitely do care)

• my identity is so normal to me but it's not normal for anyone else, I'll be talking about a girl crush I have thinking what I'm saying is normal but someone chimes in with "oh are you a lesbian?" and it brings me back to the harsh reality that being queer isn't normal

• I used to feel so much pride as a queer kid but now I just hate everything about being queer and I wish so badly that I could be just like everyone else

• more and more laws are being put in place against my people and one day I might not even be able to get gender affirming treatment

• the chemical imbalance in my brain is considered a political stance rather than just a rare condition a group of people have that shouldn't be a big deal

• I, a 14 year old boy, am more mature about gender than ACTUAL GROWN ADULTS who go on PUBLIC TELEVISION TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME WHEN I AM JUST TRYING TO EXIST IN PEACE

• I keep being hit with the realisation that I still need to wait four years just for the chance of merely beginning to transition, which will cost me thousands of pounds and probably take more than ten years to fully transition, whereas my peers are just handed it at birth

• trans people are seen by society as "annoying" and "shoving it down people's throats" and "looking for an excuse to be special" for some fucking reason

• I have to juggle all this shit with trying hard in school and balancing life, all while my brain is not even fully developed yet. my cognitive and emotional processing skills aren't even close to being developed but i have to deal with suicidal thoughts, media pushing the idea that I'm mentally ill, internalised transphobia, constant harassment, transphobia from almost every single person in my life, feeling like a fucking freak for a chemical imbalance in my brain, and yet I STILL have to deal with normal teenage things like feeling ugly or struggling in school, and further yet I CANT TALK TO A SINGLE ADULT ABOUT MY SITUATION BECAUSE NOBODY BELIEVES ME OR SUPPORTS ME

• the cherry on top: there is absolutely nothing I can do about my situation until I turn 18, my only option is to suck it up and deal with it until either get actual help or end up killing myself

if you're an adult who thinks trans people are groomers/snowflakes/annoying/criminal, think about how your actions are impacting youth who are just trying to stay alive. you are not protecting children by making us wait longer for treatment or shielding us from supportive outlets. grow the fuck up. you're an adult, act like it. find something else to do with your life than attack an astronomically small minority of people.

#transgender #transgender youth #lgbtq #lgbtqia #serious post

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 2 days

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Andrew Doyle: So the Gay Men's Network official response to the Cass review is now live, it is subtitled "Towards a Vision of Post-Gender Gay Rights," and it describes the Cass review as a devastating account of an unprecedented homophobic medical scandal in the NHS and private health sphere. And here to discuss it, I'm joined by Dennis Kavanagh, the lawyer and director of the Gay Men's Network. Welcome Dennis.

So, let's start with your report from the Gay Men's Network. What is your response, in a nutshell, to the Cass review?

Dennis Kavanagh: Our response is basically this. That this is a sad day for the gay rights movement. Cass is a reality check and it's shown us that for decades now, homosexuality has in effect been medicalized at the NHS. You and I've spoken before about the fact that 90% of the kids at the Tavistock were same sex attracted.

Doyle: Which has been confirmed by the Cass review.

Kavanagh: Precisely that. So, we say this. We say this is a shocking indictment of gay politics and of the gay rights movement generally. Particularly in view of the fact that the very people who should have been protecting gay youth, principally Stonewall, weren't just abandoned, didn't just abandon their post, they joined the opposition forces, when they should have been standing up for these kids.

Doyle: And what do you think their response will be now? I know Stonewell put out a kind of unclear statement, sort of saying we accept the findings of the Cass review. But it wasn't that clear, was it?

Kavanagh: They've had two statements. They put out a tweet saying that they accepted the Cass review. Their own supporters then turned on them fairly viciously to express their displeasure with it. They've now released a longer statement in which they're scrabbling around in the Cass review for crumbs of hope, saying, well it's not a blanket ban on puberty blockers because there're still a possibility of a clinical trial, for example.

But Stonewall need to get real on this. This is over now. Dr. Cass has called time on this homophobic medical scandal. The sitting Secretary of State, the shadow Secretary of State for Health have accepted Cass. It's time for Stonewall to do the same, actually show some leadership and some concern for gay youth.

I would make this point if I may, Andrew. That statement from Stonewall, it didn't have the word gay or lesbian in it once. That's a powerful indication there.

Doyle: Okay, well it might be worth just reading out what Stonewall said they said, "Dr. Cass has not called for adolescents to have their right to their Identity or autonomy removed. Nor did Dr. Cass recommend the blanket ban on social transitioning for children of any age. Most significantly, Dr. Cass did not support unilateral 'outing' of trans young people by schools. There are clear gaps between recommendations and practical policy, and we're already hearing early reports of Dr Cass's analysis of - and recommendations about - social transitioning being used to challenge trans people's right to Identity."

But it's interesting as you say, Dennis, they don't mention the key issue here, which is their failure to stand up for gay and lesbian youth.

Kavanagh: Yeah, and what a gloss on the Cass report that is. If you look at what the Cass report actually says that social transitioning, says where this occurs, there should be reference to a clinician almost immediately because it's not a neutral act. You won't find that in the Stonewall response, because Stonewall don't seem to care about concretizing cross-sex ideation, predominantly among homosexual young population.

Doyle: But they have bought into this idea that everyone is born with a gender identity and that that might be misaligned to the body. So, this is a belief system that is now so embedded in Stonewall, isn't it time that Stonewall was just no longer taken seriously?

Kavanagh: I entirely agree. In 2015, Stonewall added the T to the LGB under the leadership of Ruth Hunt, who promised everyone she wasn't going to do that but performed a vault fast. Which is why she's now facing, in the wake of this medical scandal, she's now facing a petition started by the author Simon Edge, which is coming up on, I think, 16,000-odd signatures, a petition to remove her from the House of Lords.

Doyle: I know you say that it's time's up now thanks to Cass, but isn't it going to be tough? And the reason I say that is there are still so many prominent gay and lesbian celebrities and groups and politicians, who are saying that they're standing up for Stonewall, who are standing up for the idea that kids may have a misaligned soul and body. And actually, given the prominence of those people, maybe voices like yours are the minority here.

Kavanagh: Well, that may or may not be the case, but what matters here is not the weight of numbers. What matters here is who is right about safeguarding these children. And if I'm one voice in 100, I don't care, if I'm right. I do think Stonewall are losing purchase in the public sphere, though. I do think politicians are beginning to realize that something has gone very, very seriously wrong here. It is heartening to see a cross-party consensus of serious politicians from the main, the larger parties embracing Cass and saying that a post-Cass NHS should effectively entirely rid itself of this poisonous ideology.

Doyle: And will it be taken up by the politicians? I mean, I know Alicia Kearns was adding an amendment to the criminal justice bill to try and ban what she calls "trans conversion therapy," but actually Cass specifically refers to this, saying that actually, this should not be mistaken, this should not be confused in the way that she's doing. She doesn't name Alicia Kearns, but she says that it is a common confusion.

Kavanagh: Yeah, and we've drawn this to Alicia Kearns's attention. We actually produced a briefing notes at Gay Men's Network on that amendment to the criminal justice bill. We've drawn Dr. Cass's comments to her attention. So far, we've heard absolutely nothing. Miss Kearns seems to think it's fine to speak over and speak for gay men, when gay men are telling her, look there's a problem with this piece of legislation and it has the capacity to harm gay boys.

Doyle: What I don't understand is so many of these people, they all agree that Section 28 was this terrible thing and the idea of the so-called promotion of homosexuality in schools, it should never have happened. And here they are presiding over something which is arguably even worse.

Kavanagh: Yeah, I agree it is an absurd situation and it is Orwellian, frankly, for them to be introducing such homophobic legislation and then telling us that it's a gay conversion ban. As we've discussed before, that is precisely the opposite of what it is. What it is, is state sanctioned conversion by gender and criminal penalties for doctors that don't go along with it. We call upon Alicia Kearns to withdraw this silly homophobic amendment, and we call on the Scottish government to scrap their proposed piece of legislation, which is even worse than the Kearns amendment.

Doyle: Is it time to divide LGB and T?

Kavanagh: Yes. Our interests have been demonstrated now to be entirely contrary to each other. And look, we are different protected characteristics, right. The those who have the gender reassignment characteristic under the Equality Act, good luck to them, and they of course should have rights in law. No one's opposed to that. But this force-teaming, this marriage cannot work, and it's become an abusive relationship.

Doyle: I don't understand because I saw Jeremy Corbyn speak this week, saying that there is no LGB without the T. How can it be the case that gay people who want to organize in their own interests should be connected automatically to the belief in a gender identity, which is a completely separate thing to sexual orientation? Does he not, has he not even talked to people about this, or attempted to understand?

Kavanagh: It's just another straight man telling us how to organize. How dare? How dare he stand up and say, you gays, you can't organize unless you force-team with a bunch of other people that I, a straight man, have chosen for you? Jeremy Corbyn has no right to say that to us. He doesn't understand this issue. He doesn't understand that our interests are sometimes contradictory, as is demonstrated by this global homophobic medical scandal.

Doyle: Now I wanted to ask you about an open letter that has been put together by James Esses, who's a campaigner, and this is a letter which has a number of signatories including yourself, and I should say for complete transparency, including myself. And this is calling on the government to have a full investigation into the impact of gender identity ideology in all aspects of public life. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Kavanagh: Sure, I can tell you I'm one of the three directors of Gay Men's Network, all three of us have signed this and we support James's efforts here. We also call for a public inquiry in our consultation response. We invite ministers to consider their powers under Section One of the 2005 Inquiries Act, which is established to deal with areas of public concern. Well, what more could be of public concern than a medical scandal where the harm is disproportionately visited on defenceless children? If that's not a matter of public concern, I don't know what is. We need to get gender ideology out of the public sphere. We've got an NHS calling, insulting women by calling them uterus-havers. We've got the BBC teaching kids there's 100 genders. We've got the CPS introducing-- or proposing, two-tier prosecution standards in the case of sex by deception, which we've discussed in the past. We got Kemi Badenoch saying, across the floor of the Commons, I was told by my officials, her civil servants, that I shouldn't meet with Keira Bell, and we know that that meeting had a fundamental effect on that minister.

Doyle: That's a detransitioner.

Kavanagh: That's right. Keira Bell, who heroically and courageously brought the case of Bell and Tavistock a judicial review. So, we support James's call for there to be a public inquiry. This ideology has run riot. None of us voted for it. None of us got a say in this. And yet, it seems to have infested all areas of public life. We're sick of it because, as we can see with Cass, this is not an academic debate, right. It's not the Judith Butlers and the gendercrats and, you know, the Stonewall's CEOs at their black-tie dinners who pay the price for this. Who pays the price? Vulnerable kids. Autistic kids. Kids that are looked after. This is not okay. We need to deal with this.

Doyle: And you make the point about it not being democratic. It is in both parties. You know, this is the-- we can't vote this out. There's no way. So, is it likely that a public consultation or investigation will happen?

Kavanagh: Well, we shall see. We're making the case for it, that's all we can do for the time being. James has amassed a very impressive list of signatories from all sides of the House. We've got to get real about this. This is a medical scandal without equal. This was gay conversion 2.0 at the Tavistock. Lives have been ruined by this. Evidence from the Mayo Clinic in America just last week suggests that boys given puberty blockers have testicular atrophy, so the tissue in the testicles is degrading, and an increased cancer risk. That's where "gender" has led us to. There's going to-- heaven forbid, but it does seem likely that we're going to end up with some boy walking around now, probably in America going to end up with cancer in his testicles because of these clowns and what they unleashed on defenceless children.

Doyle: Finally, Dennis, could you tell us where we can read your full response to the Cass review?

Kavanagh: Sure. The full response is available at www.gaymensnetwork.com under Letters and Resources.

Doyle: Dennis Kavanagh, thanks ever so much for joining me.

#Andrew Doyle #Free Speech Nation #Dennis Kavanagh #Gay Men's Network #Cass review #Cass report #Dr. Hilary Cass #Hilary Cass #medical scandal #medical corruption #medical malpractice #medical mutilation #gender identity ideology #gender ideology #Tavistock #queer theory #intersectional feminism

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yet-another-autism-blog · 12 days

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Okay I think I need some advice because I'm not really sure where to go from here

Last fall, things with my roommate started to fall apart. I started noticing things that seemed harmless, maybe weren't, especially as they became patterns. What started as a joke about me, as the extrovert friend, helping him be more social, became him getting upset anytime I left the house without inviting him or assuring him I wasn't doing anything fun. And if I did invite him but he couldn't go, I wasn't allowed to go either. He would find things wrong with any friend of mine that he did meet, reasons I shouldn't be friends with them anymore. He got especially upset when he found out I'd gone on 2 dates with a guy and didn't tell him or let him meet the guy.

The last straw for him was that I went to a movie with my sister and we didn't invite him. I didn't know it was such an issue for him because he never said anything at the time, it wasn't until months later that he told me that I had traumatized him by excluding him.

I only found this out because a friend of mine told me that my roommate was on Twitter, claiming that I was abusing my dog. When I asked him about it, he confirmed that he knew it was a lie, but he it was justified because I had traumatized him by excluding him from the movie.

In this tweet, he was also seeking advice and financial support in kicking me out and taking my dog. So obviously I couldn't safely stay there anymore and the house we were living in was owned by his father so I had no lease protection. So I had to find somewhere else to live quickly.

The only place I had was to move back in with my mothers who had since moved out of state.

I lost everything because of this. My friends, my community, a job I enjoyed, the chance to finish my degree and pursue my dreams, I was only one year away from graduating. On top of that, my mothers aren't okay with me being trans, alternating between believing I was brainwashed and that I'm choosing to be trans to make them look bad.

I have until the end of summer to decide what I'm going to do next. I can either move back to the city I'm from or get an apartment here.

If I go back I'll need at least one roommate and at least 2 jobs to get by. But I have a support system there. There's opportunities for me to meet people and make friends. Or even just things to do in my free time.

If I stay here, I can get an apartment by myself with just the one job I have now. But I have no support system. There are no opportunities to meet people. And I won't be able to continue progressing in my transition (name change, top surgery, etc).

It's unlikely that I can go back to school no matter what I do, and I can probably say goodbye to the idea that I'll ever be able to become an actor.

I know I struggle to work one full-time job, so needing 2 jobs will be very straining but having no friends, or community, and nothing to do in my free time is also incredibly damaging to my mental health.

Obviously, this is a choice I have to make for myself, I'm just having trouble telling if the instinct to stay here is just an act of self sabotage. Or if there is something to the fact that this whole thing cost me everything and him nothing, call it karma or whatever you want, but maybe he's right. Maybe I'm harming the people around me in a way I can't even comprehend, and it's better for everyone if I stay here where I'm isolated and can't hurt anyone.

#not autism #long post #personal

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itssideria · 3 months

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Sorry to bring politics into your inbox but genuinely please do not vote red. If you don’t vote then sure!! Why not. Please do consider voting blue though because I promise you that biden’s shit, yes, and the usa’s voting system with basically only two parties is also shit but trump will be worse. Republicans will be worse. There’s been a plan for taking away queer (especially trans people) rights and Biden is supporting genocide in Palestine and the republicans will be even worse about it. Just because there’s shit things happening doesn’t mean one needs to, like, make things worse where they are.

alright, anon. i took some time after reading your ask so i wouldn't immediately respond in anger or reaction. remember that. i am actively taking the effort to be empathetic and kind and civil.

i want you to reread what you've sent me. what you, presumably an american who is not affiliated with palestine/the middle east, has sent to me, an egyptian who grew up with syrians and iraqis and palestinians and iranians who have the devastation of their homelands immortalised in their history, in their blood. whose homelands were devastated at the insistence of your nation. whose homelands are being devastated right fucking now, gleefully, skillfully, at the hands of that disgusting coloniser you insist deserves a second chance.

i want you to think about it. i want you to fucking think about it. i want you to imagine your home, decimated. your school or university, flattened. your future, crushed. your family, slaughtered. there are no trees or flowers left. there is nothing to farm. the air is thick with dust and it settles on your face and it itches so fucking bad and you don't have any water to wash it off. i want you to think, anon.

and i want to ask you, genuinely, no double-meaning: this is really all you have to say to my anger? i'm not palestinian. what if i was, though? would you have said this to the palestinians i've grown up with and known? would this really be all you have to say?

it's always the "republicans will be worse" with you lot. biden has killed thirty thousand people. that is not me being sensational. he used your taxes to send those bombs. he bypassed lawmakers to do it. he broke your sacred fucking constitution to bomb the only country doing anything to protect the dead. he flouts your laws, your congress, your people. he ignores the 70% majority that wants a ceasefire. he does nothing when reproductive rights are taken. he stands by as several states pass anti-lgbt bills. he actively signs for a project that will make global warming worse for us all.

what do you even have left to protect?

i never once advocated for trump. as far as i'm concerned, trump can choke. i don't know what the solution is with your country. i don't know how to respond to you in any way that doesn't devolve into me screaming the vilest insults i can come up with, because i am so tired of americans and i am so tired of white americans and i am so tired of white queer americans who don't even have the shame to cast their pro-genocider vote in silence. at least back home, we take the action, even if it does nothing, even if it's only symbolic.

do what you want. there are no good options, and it's not like i can stop you. just stop pretending any of it is moral. stop pretending that you're advocating for something that isn't inherently sick. if biden wins, that's the signal that genocide is a-ok with you all. if biden wins, i only hope your country takes it willingly when the rest of the global south never wants to have anything to do with it ever again.

my only faith is in Allah, now.

please think before you send your asks.

#asks #anon #palestine #israel #gaza strip #free palestine #and let it be known i have never received so many asks to do with palestine before i posted about my anger.#NEVER.#you guys only come out of the woodwork when you're threatened by a non-american living thousands of miles away.

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ordonianhero · 10 months

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Story time

Cw: mention of harassment

When I was in high school around early 2000s I joined “gay straight alliance”. During that time I studied the numbers of those apart of the lgbtq+ were discriminated against in schools when identifying as lgbtq+ and how schools felt with that. It grabbed the attention to our local news paper asking me to make a commentary piece in it. Mind you I was a junior in high school.

I wrote the piece with facts and proof how it was still on going. How schools need to change their policy on “S.H.” To included those apart of the lgbtq+ community. We brought a visual with desks that showed what daily life was like for those who are lgbtq and stories of people murdered based on their sexual and gender identity.

That summer school changed their policy, adding sexuality and identity of lgbtq+ being included based on things I said and did. In my senior year. I was saved by said policy. And here is how. I was in a class where I helped with disabled teens (since I couldn’t do p.e. For my health) there was a student who I friended and who begin reporting false reports I was making advanced on her. This was only when she found out I was a trans. Every day I was pulled out of class for false reports.

On Halloween i was nearly kicked from school till my parents slept in and explained what was going on since apparently nobody else would listen to me. I was was having panic attacks over this. Like imagine this. You’re in a class and being pulled out of it by a police officer to tell you to quit making advances on someone who you weren’t making advances towards. Yeah. That!

The school then finally recognized I was the true victim. Sadly their way of dealing with it was locking me in a class room for my safety I stead of dealing with the student making the false reports. My friends (bless them) took me side and went after the person and called them out on their behavior once they knew what happened.

The person left our school. This person used their religious belief to S.H. Me and make false reports because they thought they could get away with it. So…….

With all that going on in the Linked universe with this server. And then publicly posting (we got recites idiots) of their true behavior and such. Reminds me of this all over again. So no! I Will not let this happen again. NO WHERE IN YOUR RELIGION GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TARGET US IN THIS FANDOM. YOUR VIEW IS FAKE NEWS! (Also don’t quote the Bible, cause Bible was written like a fanfiction by people who had no connection to god/goddesses.)

So this my personal experience on this issue. Do I hate religion. No. I think religion is good in helping people better themselves in a spiritual side. However nowhere does religion excuse the amount of judgment a person makes. God/Goddesses love you no matter who you are. If your lgbtq+ they love you. If you believe differently (region wise) they love you. Racially different, you were loved.

Along the line of schools showing porn to children, people who have been found to be false. In elementary all we learned in separate gender classes about what to expect from our body changes. Middle school to high school was about being smart and using protection and about sexual transmitted disease. Nothing bout sexuality. Which was hardly touched on. Nothing pornagraphic! Doubt they are doing that even now! Your proof and reports are in fake reports. So hi. We are calling you out because you’re the reason majority of those who identify as lgbtq+ and such are the target of misinformation and people with dangerous ideology. Ones where many may ender their life due to your comments. To lot worst. So don’t “@“ me. I won’t respond, but will expose you, so people know who not to trust.

I am here to protect my fellow people. You didn’t need to say what you said, because now we all know in a app and fandom surrounded by people of all walks of life. Who we know not to trust. Don’t want to make it politics, well fuck. That was on you when you publicly announced the server. “Don’t like pride on a political commercial” guess what. Many died to make pride to happen. That ain’t political or commercial. That was wanting equality rights. To be allowed to love who they love and not be thrown in jail over it. Gay marriage, I can’t tell you how sad it is that people are so stuck thinking gay marriage ruins those who are straight. It harms no one. You’re the one worrying how it impacts you.

Gender affirming surgery is necessary. I know each state delt with that differently and yes a small percentage detransition. However Majora is medically necessary. Many doctors refuse to do surgery on those who are of teenage, unless parental okay and a clinical counselor signs off it is needed so this person gets ontop of hormone therapy. You facts are incorrect and done by people who have been found incredible.

So go on, play like we don’t know or seen your true shit. Your facts are false. Your language is harmful and we ain’t throwing an tantrum. We are calling you out. Your views are false views based of fake documents. And if your religion truely telling you to discriminated a whole community of folks based of how they are. That ain’t a religion.

Any ways. Enjoy your life. Must be hard to spend so much you life hating people based on fake shit.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #queer them into oblivion #educate yourself #ordonian rants #ordonian speaks

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crossdreamers · 1 year

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Report from a young Ugandan lesbian refugee in Kenya.

Nakafeero Swabulah is an activist leader of lesbians advocating for support for vulnerable lesbians and children. Nakafeero is currently living in the Kenya Kakuma refugee camp. We present her story and some of the political and cultural context.

The Kenya Kakuma refugee camp

The camp, which is located in the north-west corner of Kenya, consists of four parts (Kakuma I-IV), and is managed by the Kenyan government and the Kenyan Department of Refugee Affairs in collaboration with the UNHCR.

New arrivals normally receive one piece of reinforced plastic 4 by 5 meters with which to construct their shelter. As Nakafeero will explain below, this is not a safe environment.

Escaping from the homophobia in Uganda

Nakafeero has escaped from Uganda, a country where the government is doing everything in its power to scapegoat and persecute LGBTQ people.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, even if a 2016 court ruling found the 2014 Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act invalid on procedural grounds.

Ugandan Members of Parliament have recently reintroduced an anti-LGBTQ bill. Homosexuality is described a “cancer”.

The parliament is currently investigating what it calls “the festering of homosexual activities” in schools. This is a classic example of homophobic and transphobic hysteria, where the culture stigmatizes queer people, leading people to try to “protect” kids from gay people, leading to more oppression.

The idea is that kids are lured into becoming queer, arguments similar to the ones presented by right wing extremists and TERFs in Europe and North America. This vicious circle is particularly strong in a country like Uganda, partly because the family structure plays such an important role in peoples’ lives.

Ironically, the anti-LGBTQ activists in Uganda claim that the acceptance of gay and trans people is a “foreign” Western idea. The fact is that it is the homophobia and transphobia that has been imported from the colonial powers of the past. Homosexual relations were accepted and commonplace in pre-colonial Ugandan society.

Nakafeero Swabulah has sent us the following report from the Kenya Kakuma refugee camp:

Living as a lesbian refugee in a camp in Kenya

By Nakafeero Swabulah

Kenya Kakuma refugee camp it's located in Kenya North Western Tulucana county. It has over 2000 LGBTQ refugees passing through, due to the homophobic situation and the many challenges found here and in nearby countries.

I would like to tell you about my situation and experience.

As a young lesbian I moved from my mother country Uganda because I was facing a lot of invalidation. Some even wanted to slaughter me like a goat because am a lesbian.

I am not willing to change what and who I am, even if that had been possible (which it is not).

The Ugandan president does not accept lesbians, gays or transgender people. My mother and my sister were both killed in our home by local people because they thought that was inside the house. In Uganda lesbians are seen as devils right now. I have no one who can help me, so I decided to come to Kenya.

People from Uganda are still looking for me and others like me. I thought that I would be safe in Kenya, but the situation right now is not good. This is why I want to seek asylum elsewhere.

This photo shows you where we sleep in the camp. The authorities have not provided shelters where we can at least sleep safely.

At night we have been attacked by homophobic people. There are dangerous insects such as snakes and scorpions.

In the camp we are given one kilogram of millet, one of sorghum, one kilogram of maize and one cup of cookies oil per month. This isn’t enough for a week.

Kakuma is not a safe place for LGBTQ people. We need help.

Nakafeero Swabulah and Giulia Sarro (photo above) are organising a fundraiser campaign to pay for food and sanitary pads for the lesbian refugees in the camp.

You can support them here!

You can follow Nakafeero on twitter.

Photos provided by Nakafeero.

#lesbian #queer #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #homophobia #transphobia #politics #culture #uganda #kenya #africa

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justinspoliticalcorner · 5 days

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Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

Yesterday, during a meeting with the Young Conservatives of Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott stated that trans and gender nonconforming (GNC) teachers must be "ended" in the state. This statement follows crackdowns on transgender teachers in various Republican-controlled states in the United States. Book bans, "Don't Say Gay" legislation, and anti-drag laws have increasingly been weaponized against all transgender and GNC individuals, especially within educational settings. In Texas, many of these laws have been blocked due to being likely unconstitutional; however, this has not prevented the governor from making one of his strongest statements yet in support of overt discrimination toward transgender people. The statement, first reported by journalist Steven Monacelli, addresses a teacher in a small town in Texas. Abbott, who repeatedly refers to the teacher as a "man dressed as a woman," states that the teacher's mere presence "normalizes the concept" of being transgender or GNC—a concept Gov. Abbott then asserts the state should try to prohibit. He states, "This kind of behavior is something we need to end in the state of Texas." You can listen to the answer here and read the following transcript:

[“Up the street from where we are right now is Lewisville, Texas. In Lewisville, Texas, in the high school, recently, as in just a month ago, they had a high school teacher who was a man who would go to school dressed as a woman in a dress, high heels, and makeup. Now, what do you think is going through the mind of the students that's in that classroom? Are they focusing on the subject that this person is trying to teach? I don't know. What I do know are these two things. One is this person, a man, dressing as a woman, in a public high school in the state of Texas, he's trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is okay. This type of behavior is not okay. And this is the type of behavior that we wanna make sure we end in the state of Texas.”]

Within hours, multiple GOP officials in Texas signed onto Abbott’s call to ban trans and GNC teachers from teaching. These include Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi and multiple Texas State legislators and candidates such as Briscoe Cain and Brent Money. Their reaction to Abbott’s comments are in line with the Texas GOP platform passed in 2022 that call extensive restrictions on trans and GNC individuals in schools. It is important to note that federal law prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the workplace. A Supreme Court decision, Bostock vs. Clayton County, specifically stated that Title VII protections around nondiscrimination in the workplace apply to trans and GNC people. That court decision is currently being used to overturn anti-trans laws in Title IX cases in schools as well as bathroom bans, sports bans, and more.

[...]

It remains to be seen whether Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican Party of Texas will lean into anti-trans politics going into the 2024 elections. The willingness of some influential Texas Republicans to endorse Gov. Abbott’s position in the video suggests that they might. If so, there is evidence that this could harm candidates who are in tight races in the state and espouse such positions. For instance, in 2023, candidates running on anti-trans issues experienced significant defeats nationwide, including the defeat of 70% of all Moms For Liberty candidates in school boards. Regardless of electoral consequences, the state has become harsher for transgender people in recent years. Attorney General Ken Paxton has continued to subpoena medical records of transgender individuals who cross state lines to obtain care. He has also attempted to obtain lists of PFLAG members, including addresses and phone numbers. Gov. Greg Abbott has not been much better: under his leadership, transgender families across the state were investigated under the premise that providing medical care for their transgender youth amounted to child abuse.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R)'s call to end trans and gender-nonconforming teachers teaching in Texas schools during a speech in front of the Young Conservatives of Texas on Saturday is pure transphobia and big government fascism. Abbott has aided and abetted, with the aid of AG Ken Paxton (R), attacks on the existence of trans people in the Lone Star State.

#Greg Abbott #Teachers #Schools #Anti Trans Extremism #Transgender #Texas #Young Conservatives of Texas #LGBTQ+#Transgender In The Schools #Gender Nonconforming #Matt Rinaldi #Briscoe Cain #Bostock v. Clayton County Georgia

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