Might actually cry a little bit (in a good way) - the new bill that just passed here in Minnesota granting paid medical leave to people caring for sick family members has such an intentionally expansive definition of "family" that biological and/or legal ties are not actually a prerequisite to qualify for the program. In fact, there's a portion of the bill that specifies anyone designated as family by the incapacitated party can receive the benefits.
Apparently this was done in part to make the policy as inclusive as possible of queer family structures and I am absolutely floored; as someone with a seriously chronically ill queerplatonic partner I worry a lot about my options as a primary caretaker, seeing as the fact that we are not legal partners bars us from so many other benefits, but the fact that this particular one would be inclusive of us (and poly partners, and single queer people with no ties to their biological family but close friends willing to help them out, etc) has given me more hope that may change someday than I think anything ever has.
This is how you do policy that benefits the entire queer community, including poly, ace, and aro folks for whom same-sex marriage has never offered the same legal rights (and plenty of other folks besides, like disabled people or people with terrible biological families -- you don't have to be LGBTQA+ for it to be a seriously important option). This is genuinely incredible. I was excited to see this pass even without knowing it would potentially apply to me, too, but now I'm a total grateful, emotional mess.
When the Toymaker was recapping the sort of deaths of the Moffat era companions, I realize in hindsight they must have been very careful about how they phrased what happened to Bill, because Tennant could not have said "She survived. Her life was saved by her omnipotent lesbian space oil puddle crush" with a straight face. (Just to be clear I mean that as a compliment to the lesbian puddle. I appreciate plot points that seem earnest and heartfelt in the moment but sound ridiculous when you put them into words. That's what Doctor Who is all about).
Instead of the Weasleys' going 'Harry don't break Ginny's heart if you do we will break you' in a threatening tone it's the Weasleys going 'Ginny we like this boy more than we like you so please dont hurt him we know your badass but he deserves a rest. ' in a desperate tone and i think that's beautiful.
Lawmakers can and will use this to censor information about Palestine let's be clear. This will harm queer kids
Also look up Fax Zero to fax your Representatives. If you have ideas for an Anti KOSA demonstration. Please let me know. And please forward it to @omarsbigsister on TikTok. Again she's done so much amazing work regarding this bill.
Also shout out to BypassCensorship.org for providing resource sin restrictive areas for people to BypassCensorship. Again if you have other anti censorship resources please forward them to me. Also look up Fax Zero to fax your Representatives. Thank you
After Tuesday's Judiciary hearing, Blumenthal and Hawley promised to try their best to bring KOSA to the floor. Cantwell has promised to sneak KOSA to the floor on a voice vote, like with what Hawley tried with the Restrict Act this past spring if you remember. We just need ONE senator to speak out. So right now, DON'T PANIC, SPEAK OUT.
As always, you can use https://www.badinternetbills.com/ to easily place your calls to everyone influential with a call script.
Civil rights and free speech groups will be pushing to stop the legislation. But nothing matters like constituents calls — especially as we approach an election year.
Ok but Fleur Delacour once said about Bill Weasley:
"What do I care how 'e looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk!
All these scars show is zat my husband is brave!"
And that applies beautifully to Elucien, both Bill and Lucien being redhead certified hotties that got scarred fighting against evil, and I need Elain defending Lucien's scars in a similar way.
PS: Let's not forget that Feyre, Hybern and Amren had called Lucien beautiful/handsome.
i’ve seen relationship therapists and psychologists analyse hermione and ron’s relationship and conclude that they wouldn’t work out in the long run. they’ve argued for hermione to be with harry, krum, even DRACO (don’t understand how a counsellor can vow for canon dramione but alright) as an alternative partner for hermione since ron is “too insecure” to be with her and match her intelligent prowess or what have you.
i seriously don’t understand this sentiment. ron and hermione genuinely seem (almost) perfect to me, maybe not in the movies (a common denominator of people who don’t like romione is that they always cite evidence from the movies, since the films took a lot away from ron’s character and his growth), but definitely in the books.
looking at ron’s insecurities, a lot of people dredge his inferiority complex up to toxic masculinity primarily, when it was more explored how it was an effect of his home life (not gonna argue toxic masculinity wasn’t a factor, they’re teenagers in the 90s written by a pretty misogynistic woman so…). he was the youngest son out of how many children? all of his older brothers were brilliant in some way. bill was an extremely gifted spellcaster, charlie was gifted with magical beasts, percy’s academic score was unmatched, and fred and george (despite their trouble) were entrepreneurial inventor-geniuses. ron, on the other hand, was quite literally born a disappointment to his mother, who conceived him specifically because she wanted a daughter, whilst ginny was born her favourite (though, even then, ginny was gifted at quidditch). ron was mediocre in every sense of the word, and his two best friends were harry (one of the most famous wizards) and hermione (the smartest witch of her age yada yada). and i’ve seen people argue that harry was more welcomed by molly into the weasley household than ron ever was. this isn’t even mentioning the amount of bullshit he copped for being poor (people always downplay the blow to confidence being in poverty can have on a person who is constantly surrounded by people who not only have more, but look down on him for simply being unlucky as to not have what they do).
so yeah, ron was an envious kid, but he was that way not because he was an evil patriarchal conception but because he was lowkey neglected. and even then he was overall an extremely devoted and loyal friend to both harry and hermione, because he did genuinely love them.
there were many moments of ron standing up for hermione that was cut from the films, not as a guy who was romantically interested in her, but as a friend. ron arguing with snape for making hermione cry is one of my fav scenes in the books ru kidding me, and in the movies he AGREED with snape RU KIDDING ME. not to mention how ron was a sobbing violent mess when hermione was getting tortured in the last book, whereas he wasn’t nearly as bothered in the films. and the films cut out harry being a dick to ron about his familial concerns (in dh), so when ron left it seemed like a random dickish move over his jealousy towards harry and hermione’s relationship.
there’s also a million moments where they minimised ron’s usefulness in the books for comedic purposes (forbidden forest with aragog, troll scene, devils snare scene) so ron seems dumber than he is. like, he’s actually smart and a really good spellcaster…. in the books.
so simply by stating this most of the arguments against romione become void. “he’s too stupid/weak for her” simply not true. “he’s a terrible friend who doesn’t stand up for her” also not true. “he’s too insecure to have made a move on her,” yes, but given the context i don’t think people would freak on about ron’s upbringing, i think many would be more understanding, especially considering his growth. even if he wasn’t insecure, hermione is beyond incredible and is bound to make anyone nervous when pursuing her (not an excuse for ron to act like a dick, but it does explain a lot where the movies don’t). “they argue too much” they bump heads, none of the arguments they have are actually super damning, with the exception of ron leaving in deathly hallows.
maybe i’ve covered everything (excluding the abhorrent amount of classism that clouds people’s judgments around how they view ron when harping about how hermione deserves better? hopefully).
now, i know people won’t like me mentioning the cursed child, but i’m going to considering we actually get an insight of their life as a longterm married couple there. a lot of ron stans hated how ron was the only character that wasn’t doing something incredible. harry was head of the aurors, ginny was a famous quidditch player retired to a famous journalist, neville was a hogwarts professor, hermione was quite literally minister on magic. and ron…. ran the joke shop with george.
and i think this was almost the perfect route to go down for ron. because he was average, and was perfectly fine with just being average. hello?? that speaks leagues of growth for his character. he’s supportive of hermione’s work, he grounds her when she gets too caught up in being the literal president of wizarding society, and he still viciously defends her, minister or not. in fact, he’s proud to simply be known as hermione’s husband because he doesn’t feel the need to prove to anyone else his worth. the people he loves most know his worth, hermione never downplays or underestimates him, they are complete equals in the relationship in every single way that matters. they kept ron’s best qualities whilst making him seem more of a healed person. they work so well as a married couple without it seeming like mischaracterisation (not to mention the cursed child literally shows how those two are in love in every reality, so there quite literally can’t be a better partner for hermione or ron according to canon).
so i really don’t understand how professional relationship counsellors can go online and denounce it. probs because they only watched the movies, but it’s 2023 and ron stans should not STILL be fighting for their lives trying to defend him from people who simply don’t consume media with as much depth (which is fine, but one should clarify if they’re talking about the movies because i’ve seen people state they’re talking about the hp BOOKS when it’s simply just…. the films). anyways. romione on top, thanks to coming to my ted talk.
You can fairly critique Moffat's female Doctor Who companions in some ways, but I quite strongly disagree with the idea they are one dimensional characters. I don't think it's true of Amy and Bill, but particularly not Clara. Clara in the Capaldi era is probably the most psychologically complex new who companion (and quite likely the most complex companion in all of Doctor Who but I haven't watched all of the classic series). I am actively baffled as to how anyone could consider her one dimensional.
So the anti KOSA discord I'm apart of is doing a large anti KOSA call in tomorrow. Where we call our Representatives and tell them to say no to KOSA. You can call through badinternetbills.com. This bill concerns everyone online and may lead to the dissolving of all of your favorite spaces online if you don't speak up and out against it
i have a counter argument to the 'only one person can boop bill' thing, mabel. she's the type of person to slap stickers on people, she would definitely be the type to also boop others occasionally and bill would be no exception. she probably doesn't do it to annoy bill like dipper would, but maybe as a form of a friendly gesture, kind of like those people who will lightly punch friends in the arm when they hang out.
You know what? Good point. Mabel would get away with more than most, as a fun-loving lady! Bill understands those impulses, and being a touchy person! He indulges in similar ones himself.
Though when Bill's not in the mood to be playful and gets booped anyway? The 'sister-in-law' status grants her considerable grace.