Getting in shape for Pride!
I finally told Riley, my trans coworker, that I’m trans. I slipped her a note in the middle of our shift. She smiled and told me she already knew. Later we talked about things we were writing, and tattoos we wanted to get. Can’t wait to see her again!
Just learned that my health insurance won’t cover laser hair removal or electrolysis, so I’m gonna have to pay out of pocket. Help me by donating here! https://www.youcaring.com/jessicab-1095421
You look so good!! 💖
My meeting with HR went very well. I told her I was trans, and that I planned to transition in the next few months. She promised she would be a good ally. She even invited me to a seminar explaining the benefits the company provides to LGBT folk.
Feels good!
So great to hear, Jess!! You look so beautiful! 💖
what the fuck is the joke here
Lmfaoo
oh
I knew them before reblogging I have issues 😂😂😂
I worked with a very cute trans girl today. We didn’t talk much, but it was exciting and inspiring to work across from her. I wish I could have told her that I was trans, too! I can’t wait until I can be myself at work.
Help me get there sooner by donating to my laser hair removal fund. It will be the first permanent step I take towards transitioning. I appreciate all of the donations so far. I really hope I can raise enough for six rounds of treatment!
‘dont say gay if youre bi’ lmao lets all leave the house! lets all go outside and get a big gulp of fresh air is what im thinking
every trans girl deserves a free nintendo switch reblog if you agree
Reblog in 30 seconds for good luck
Those people usually can’t take honesty themselves. Also, being lovingly honest is a thing! Friends who are lovingly honest with you are the best
Me walking past a straight person
Just came out to my closest guy friend on the phone. After I told him, he paused for a minute and said “I feel bad for complaining to you about work. You’ve got way more shit to deal with than me!” And then he mentioned he’s dated trans girls before.
Hmm.
I’m close to getting a job, fingers crossed. Don’t forget to donate to my laser hair removal fund so I don’t have to buy a bunch of razors and bright orange concealer, and waste time everyday shaving and cleaning the sink/shower!
Gay men have been going missing in Toronto’s gay village since 2010. Last month, an arrest was made by Toronto police and Bruce McArthur has since been charged with 5 counts of first-degree murder. Today, police announced that six bodies were discovered on his property.
In June, I went to Toronto for the Gay Pride Parade. I spent a lot of time in the Gay Village. The first afternoon I was there, a friend took me aside and told me to be careful because people were going missing from the Village.
“Okay,” I agreed. No questions, no surprise. I went to Pride. My friend and I had a great time. We went out. We stayed out. And we were careful.
I was in Toronto visiting friends over Christmas. On New Year’s Eve, my girlfriend at the time and I decided to head to the Village with some friends and hang out at a drag bar.
When we made plans, we were all keenly aware of the fact that there were rumors of a serial killer operating in Toronto’s gay village. We knew because we are queer, and we have queer friends, and we spend time in queer spaces.
In other words, we knew because we had to know.
It took me an afternoon of Googling to piece together how many people had gone missing in Toronto. The articles I did find generally came from the families of some of those who had gone missing, desperately searching for information, or from queer voices out of the Village, wondering why no one had bothered to take notice of a serial killer targeting a specific demographic of Toronto.
It was a rhetorical question. We all know why.
To make matters worse, a strong element of racial bias undergirds the entire investigation. The outcry from Toronto’s LGBTQ community details a sickening degree of racism and willful ignorance.
I should disclose that I live fulltime in Montreal. But my best friend lives in Toronto. I had a girlfriend there for several months. Two of my closest friends visit their parents in the city regularly. I made it my business to know when my friends were headed to the Village, and to make sure they checked in with me at the end of the night. There are some things that you don’t, as friends, always acknowledge openly. As a gang of queers in our early twenties, we tacitly agreed to keep an eye on another as best we could. Certainly no one else does. We knew that, too.
Toronto had a particularly intense cold snap at the end of December, and the city was offering free public transit for New Year’s Eve, so we gladly avoided walking when we could— we stayed warm, and, I thought, avoided ridiculous Uber fares.
“I wouldn’t want to take an Uber anyways,” one of the local girls remarked as I expressed fascination at the efficiency of Toronto’s streetcar system.
“Why not?” As someone who grew up in a small town with minimal public transit, and pitiful taxi service, I couldn’t imagine not taking advantage of [carpooling services].
“Well, they think the guy abducting people from the village has been posing as an Uber driver,” my friend told me nervously. “So I don’t really want to take an Uber to the Village and back. Just in case.”
By this point, 7 people had gone missing from the village since 2010. The latest victim had disappeared only a month prior, on November 25th, 2017.
On New Year’s Eve, I smoked a joint on Bloor and paraded my drunken self up and down the street with no problem. I did not see a single police car or officer.
Toronto’s police force has been under fire for months for abandoning previous investigative projects regarding the missing men. Despite outcry from the LGBTQ community, Toronto police declared last year that there was no evidence of a serial killer at work in the Village.
Between 1975 and 1978, 14 gay men went missing from the Village. Police suspected a serial killer at the time, but half the cases—in which 7 gay men were brutally and violently murdered—remain unsolved today. McArthur was in his mid-twenties at the time.
It took me a fair amount of research and time and reaching out to put together enough information to realize the scale of silence and avoidance on behalf of media across Canada and the Toronto police department. I don’t wonder why. Dead queers are not headline news. Especially if they aren’t White. Or they’re queer women. I suppose, in the end, a serial killer is only as interesting as his victims.
And so this is Toronto—Canada’s largest city, where the crosswalks are painted in rainbow colors. And this is homophobia. This is transphobia. This is racism. And this is Montreal. New York. Every small town, big city, or backwater village in North America. Rainbow flags in storefront windows do not mean a damn thing when we are being picked off and abandoned. We cannot be quiet. I will not be quiet and pretend like this is not happening merely because it is happening to people condemned to expendability by virtue of their sexuality, ethnicity, or gender.
I’m done hearing things about living in a “post-gay” moment. I’m sick of listening to people whine about tolerance and inclusivity and bathroom policies. “It’s 2018,” people sigh at me. “No one cares about this stuff anymore.”
I’m going to start telling people that they’re right. No one does care about this stuff anymore.
I’m just not sure they ever did.
(source)
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I wish all the victims and all those affected by the atrocities in Toronto–friends, families, fellow queers, and LGBTQ folks alike—peace, wellness, and justice. Don’t sleep on this. We cannot be silent.
RIP.
@allthecanadianpolitics do you know anything about this?
I’ve posted a LOT about this.
You can find all I’ve posted about this disturbing story under the following hashtags: #Bruce McArthur, #Toronto, #LGBTQ, #Serial Killer, and #Homophobia.
Tonight I posted a new disturbing development in this story:
Accurate @sometimesimjessica 😄
