Pride history posts on here seem almost exclusively to revolve around Stonewall which can leave the impression that America is the only place where anything important ever happened and obviously is not true so I have compiled a few links where you can learn about LGBTQ history in other countries! Feel free to add
A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump ruled late Friday night that Tennessee’s Adult Entertainment Act (AEA), which would restrict drag performances in the state and threaten performers who violate the law with felony criminal penalties, is unconstitutional.
“The Tennessee General Assembly can certainly use its mandate to pass laws that their communities demand,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker wrote. “But that mandate as to speech is limited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which commands that laws infringing on the Freedom of Speech must be narrow and well-defined. The AEA is neither.”
Parker, appointed to the bench in 2017, found after a two-day trial that the law — criminalizing “adult cabaret entertainment” performances anywhere “where the adult cabaret entertainment could be viewed by a person who is not an adult” — is unconstitutional on several grounds.
Parker did not shy away from the underlying issues, either.
“The word ‘drag’ never appears in the text of the AEA,” Parker wrote. “But the Court cannot escape that ‘drag’ was the one common thread in all three specific examples of conduct that was considered ‘harmful to minors,’ in the legislative transcript.”
After detailing that legislative history, as shown in four transcripts reviewed by the court, Parker found that “the legislative transcript strongly suggests that the AEA was passed for an impermissible purpose.”
That “impermissible purpose,” Parker found, was “chilling constitutionally-protected speech.”
-via Law Dork, 6/3/23
Practical tip for those dealing with wildfire smoke now: you can make a very effective air filter for a reasonable amount of money using a box fan & one of those filters meant for your furnace.
Also, I've managed to pick up 2 of the box fans for very cheap/free from yard sales. Make sure you get a filter rated for wildfire smoke, I think this one cost about $20.
These make a huge difference in the indoor air quality.
Posting again because of the fire situation up in Canada and resulting smoke. If you're dealing with wildfire smoke, these are surprisingly effective and relatively cheap.
Just tape the filter to the fan, making sure the air can't sneak around the edges. I used painter's tape, but I'm sure duct tape or similar would work just as well.
Guys I’ve been trying to figure out ALL DAY why my little weather thingie on my computer has been saying “Haze” and “poor air quality.” Like I don’t check these things very often but we usually have nice air quality in this portion of Ohio.
Then I finally put the pieces together.
It’s smoke. From Canada. Enough to cause noticeable haze and polluted air warnings in southern Ohio.
I had no idea it was that bad up there. Praying for you guys, please stay safe!!!
The studies that identify the outrageous costs to clean up fossil fuels (spills, capping wells, reducing air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, etc.) all just show that these fossil fuels were never even economically viable to begin with.
They were cheap - because they were stolen in foreign lands, or subsidized by our own governments, with the costs born by our taxes, or the health of the poorest among us.
All to make a few corporations and a handful of people richer, while the planet burns and people die due to pollution and poverty.
Oh look, it’s more of what I mean when I say that “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” is not just shorthand for “I want people to die for being poor instead of being gay.”
This shit has costs.
“That’s what autistic people have been saying for decades…But we’re not believed. We’re not seen as credible agents of knowledge about our own lives.”
Local resources for trans Floridians looking to leave the state or find a new HRT provider
Most trans folks here have now learned about SB 254, which has effectively ground gender affirming care to a halt for both youth and adults. You can see my last post here.
1) If you need to request resources, including financial aid, try Southern Equality. Right now, they have mini grants of $500 for people looking to leave the state.
https://southernequality.org/flresources/
2) If you are going to be staying in Florida, but need help finding a new in-state provider that can provide HRT, try the Umbrella Guide. Do note that HRT state-wide seems to be paused while we waiting for the state to create the new informed consent form. I am now hearing this could be as late as July.
Feel free to tack on other local resources.
As always, the best way to help trans Floridians is to give them money -- please consider donating to the many GoFundMes out there.
figured id share this update here for those wanting to keep up with the bandcamp union Bandcamp United and how their efforts have been going
Source: twitter.com
Through the support of a team of translators, we are happy that Welcome to the Autistic Community is now available in Spanish: https://autisticadvocacy.org/book/bienvenidos-a-la-comunidad-autista/
babe wake up first usa stripper union jus won !!!!!!
one of the things that makes autism a disability (and why some of us choose to label it as such rather than an “alternate neurotype”) is the stress.
part of autism is just being incredibly stressed. overstimulation? stress. holding a conversation? stress. something happening to our schedule? stress. people talk about how often autism is recognized and diagnosed via our stress responses (like meltdowns) because it is just so common to see autistic people stressed because of lack of accommodations to how our brains work.
and this matters because stress kills. stress causes a lot of health issues, or it can trigger pre-existing ones by making certain chronic conditions flare up. i once had a psychiatrist very unhelpfully tell me i “just need to manage my stress” when the stress i was describing was things i could not avoid in neurotypical society and can’t “just get over”. i can do “self care” all i like but i cannot at the very base level change the way my brain inputs information and reacts accordingly.
i only learned this year that loud noises aren’t physically painful for other people. i have lived 34 years in a world in which my friends and family regularly physically hurt me at random just by shouting, and i thought everyone else just thought i was kind of a wimp for not dealing with the pain as well as they did.
like. loud noises physically hurt. it’s like a static shock from my ears to my spine that doesn’t stop until the volume goes back down. i thought we all agreed that ‘that’s too loud!’ and covering our ears meant ‘ouch!’. turns out i’ve been dealing with a stressor almost no one else has, my whole life, alone.
autistic people have to keep functioning through debilitating levels of stress that no one else in their life acknowledges or helps them with. it’s no wonder that their most visible ‘tells’ are breakdowns.
Good news, Missouri has terminated its ban on gender affirming care for adults due to the fact that they did not feel confident they could defend it in court. I think that's a pretty good sign.
The youth ban is still in effect, but as Erin Reed says in this tweet now attorneys don't have to split their resources and just tackle the youth ban.
This is your reminder that telling rural queers to move to bigger cities or different countries because they are often more "queer friendly" is not a solution. There will always be queer people in rural towns, and not all of us want to leave our small towns. Those who do are probably stuck financially because, in case some of you don't know: relocating to a different city or country is fucking expensive.
Not to mention that for disabled people like me moving to another country is so much harder. I can't work and most countries require you to show proof of income to move there. My partner and I are looking into moving to Europe and I wouldn't be able to move to most of the countries we've looked into.
Add needing to rebuild my medical support system from the ground up and all the money that would be required to move on top of that and moving just isn't really possible unless we can seek asylum.
many countries also explicitly exclude disabled people from immigration. either directly, eg an autism or HIV diagnosis excludes you from some countries, or indirectly via a cap on medical costs you may incur.
I think a lot of people spent their childhoods being very deliberately forced out of their comfort zones by parents / teachers / whomever in a way that was just deeply unpleasant and degrading and so, when they reach young adulthood and are finally allowed real control over their lives, become set on only doing things they know they're comfortable with forever. that's a really important thing to be able to do, especially if you're so used to having your boundaries routinely ignored that you aren't even certain what you like vs what you can bear, so I absolutely see why a person would have a negative reaction to being told that discomfort is good: it can very easily sound like being told that all that work they've been doing to prioritze their needs for the first time ever is Bad and Selfish, actually. and to that I will say two things:
one: as long as you aren't hurting or, like, being a dick to anyone, just staying in your comfort zone isn't an immoral action. if you just want to read one type of book (or just fanfiction), or just eat one type of food, or just watch one type of movie, or not go to new types of social events, you aren't being a bad person for that, and if people say that, they are soundly wrong and just trying to get a self-righteousness kick.
two: trying new things because you want to expand yourself feels a hell of a lot different than trying new things because you're being forced to. you'll feel better about trying new foods if you know you have a back up familiar one in case you can't stomach the new one, it's easier to read new books if you can experiment with audio versions or reading it in little five-page chunks by yourself, you can breathe a lot easier going somewhere new if you aren't chained there for three hours because your parent is your ride home, etc.
tl;dr: new things are good. I get why you might not want to try new things, and that's fine, but it's also more comfortable to try new things as an adult with your own agency so, yeah, what have you got to lose by trying a weird old art film?
It's really important to recognize that the negative reaction you might have to being forced into something new might make your reaction much worse than if you had the no-pressure option to explore it on your own. I always try new foods when no one is around, or only some few close friends I trust on that level, because I feel judged for being a picky eater - even if people aren't *actually* judging me, I feel judged anyways and the pressure makes the whole experience unpleasant and I'm less likely to enjoy the food
It's also important to recognize that sometimes, newness, in and of itself, can trigger a disgust reaction. For this reason, when i'm genuinely trying some new food/drink, I take a small bite/sip or two to get over the initial "this is new and new is bad ew ew ew" reaction, and then take the next bite/sip to actually evaluate how I feel about the flavor/texture/etc. Even when i don't end up liking the food, this often takes a food I'd be super grossed out by and moves it closer to the "eh i simply don't like it" category.
huge part of being autistic (and why that is Literally Traumatizing) is that your comfort levels and sensory experiences are so out of touch with everyone else's that you're just routinely subjected to awful, terrifying, torturous stuff as a kid and you are told "no one likes this, everyone is scared sometimes, but you just have to do it"
because the adults in your life think you're experiencing a normal, bearable level of discomfort? because that's what they themselves would experience, in your situation?
And you have never experienced being another person, so you think you are experiencing a normal, bearable level of discomfort, and just over-reacting to it.
The part that really digs itself into your psyche is the certainty that you can't expect the world to be kind to you. That suffering so much is just and even necessary. The feeling that the whole world will see you in excruciating distress and think it's unnecessary to help you, just, scars some deep primal part of your brain
WGA on strike….DGA and SAG rumored to follow soon….let’s fucking GOOOOOOOOOO
speaking as an under-the-line crew member affected by this, it’s great to publicize and speak out. send messages of solidarity. threaten to cancel your subscriptions.
but also know that this will lead to significant working-class strain in major cities, namely new york, los angeles, atlanta, chicago, and albuquerque. it’s unavoidable, and it’s imperfect — the people fucked over the most will be the most financially vulnerable, such as PAs, other assists and day-rate workers.
if you live in one of the cities mentioned, this is a great time to get familiar with, and volunteer for, your local mutual aid organizations. you can also reach out to your local teamsters or IATSE chapter — these two have a reciprocal mutual aid pact, and can likely funnel you to relevant resources. monetary assistance is great, but if you can’t donate food banks or even picketing supports will need hands and time as well.
stay safe, stay well, and hold the line!!
If you need help in NYC or would like to donate to an NYC mutual fund: https://mutualaid.nyc/mutual-aid-groups/
There are pickets scheduled for next week in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
tone indicators
I reblogged this post without adding any commentary bc queue and not a lot of computer time lately but like okay here's the thing about tone indicators:
they're yet another in-group set of coded speech. like an inside joke, or a meme, or a conlang. if you are in a group that uses them, they're great and perfectly comprehensible.
but if you don't happen to have come from inside a group that uses them, they are exactly as exclusionary as any other heavy jargon or inside joke or acronym. I mean have you ever listened to soldiers talk? The US Army communicates in heavily jargon-ified speech, liberally laden with acronyms, so much so that it's a self-referential joke to make up obscene or deliberately-obfuscated ones to slip into official reports since the sorts of people who'd kick up a fuss about obscene language won't understand them.
It is exactly the same thing. Except that's exclusionary on purpose, and tone indicators are exclusionary in effect but tout themselves as inclusionary.
So if I, an outsider to this, am reading along, and after a sentence, there's a / and then between one and three letters, that is not enough information for me to use to look it up.
This is absolutely inaccessible if you are not alreadhy in the group that uses it.
I wouldn't mind if the people who used them were just like 'oh ha sorry jargon, i'll try to explain if it's not clear, sorry i forget you guys don't know them' just like any other inside joke or meme or whatever.
But I was in a discussion with someone on a Discord and when I was puzzled about them including these weird slash-acronyms after their statements they were like oh how nice for you that you're not neurodivergent and don't need to use these.
Uh no. The opposite actually. I'm the kind of neurodivergent that needs context. I handle being excluded from conversations very poorly. And that's where I get pissed off, that people seem to be holding these up as the new be-all end-all of Finally Solving The Problem Of Ambiguous Tones In Social Interaction. The hell you are, kids. They're just another layer, and I'd say the worst one yet, out of many many many attempts to solve this exact problem. They are fundamentally inaccessible. Don't mistake the fact that you learned them (somewhere, in some context inaccessible to me) for them actually being universal.
Considered against the many different solutions that have been offered since text-only speech was invented, tone indicators stack up as among the very least-accessible of the lot, since they contain so little context in and of themselves-- if a key is not provided then they're totally inaccessible, and are exceptionally difficult for non-native English speakers, and in general require so much memorization or cross-referencing as to be prohibitively hostile to outsiders.
And that's fine, if what your'e doing is just meant for talking to your friends. But don't come into my conversations and berate me for not having memorized whatever incomprehensible set of acronyms you've newly-decided are the new universal truth. And what drives me the most insane is how many of these acronyms someone has now decided to assign a whole new meaning to are acronyms that are well-known and already existed and are in heavy use. So if you try to look them up guess what you get! is it gonna be the newly-created version or the one that's been in use for fifty to seventy-five years??
For one, P.O.S. has had a specific meaning in written and spoken English for a really damn long time and if you call me a piece of shit in the actual language I speak I am absolutely not going to interpret your conlang as having intended something nice. (YES REALLY THEY'RE USING THAT ONE TRY TO GUESS WHAT IT MEANS. NO. NO! I know. Fuck! That's wild. Absolutely the fuck not.)
Abortion providers and advocates in many states have been challenging state abortion bans contending that the bans violate the state constitution or a law. Follow ongoing litigation with KFF’s State and Federal Reproductive Rights Litigation Tracker: https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/report/state-and-federal-reproductive-rights-litigation-tracker/
This kicks ass. Disabled activists are protesting for their rights in South Korea by literally just riding the train during rush hour.
I mean, if you have so few accommodations that a wheelchair user can seriously affect train schedules just by using the train, then I think they’ve got a problem.
Well done, Korean disability activists, for making your point clearly and bravely.
I'm saying this as a fan, but also as somebody who worked their arse off writing screenplays at film school, don't hate on the writers when they go on strike.
Writers control the story of the show, there is so much detail and fine tuning done in the scripts. Everything an actor or a director adds, is adapted from the script. There is no show without the script, but still screenwriters are horrendously underappreciated and underpaid.
Director, actors and producers usually end up with most of the credit.
Writers deserve to be seen. If your favorite show is delayed because of the upcoming strikes, don't be surprised and please don't be angry at the writers. They are fighting for their art to be appreciated.
Some of your shows are gonna get cancelled.
Some will come back but lose their momentum and you'll wish they'd been cancelled.
This isn't the fault of writers. This is the fault of the studios.
The Writers' Guild has made a list of demands that will cost $500 million a year across the ENTIRE industry. Every studio, every streaming service, every film, every show, every writer: total cost $500 million. One streaming alone could foot the entire bill and still be in comfortable profit. Its half of what Amazon spent on Rings of Power alone. A little more than what Netflix spent on The Gray Man.
The studios can easily afford this. They're just being assholes about it.
Don't blame the writers.
a quick word about the writers guild strike, for those of you who currently AREN'T guild members but would like to be one day: the WGA has always strongly enforced its right to ban from future membership any non-member who crosses the picket line and engages in scab writing, aka writing for any of the struck companies during the WGA strike.
so if you're seeing job openings for screenwriters at places like netflix, amazon, paramount, etc and you're thinking "hey, maybe i'll apply and get my foot in the door," just know that you WILL be scabbing and you WILL be barred from ever obtaining WGA membership. permanently.
learn more about the strike on the WGA contract site.