Hey, I was wondering of youd share your guy's stance on kit being outed as well as other celebrity's being pressured to share their sexuality/orientation.
I am not for it and now might be a good time to discuss something more personal since we are on the topic. Since starting this project, I have had my identity as a queer person poked and prodded at, and I have chosen not to discuss that in depth. I am going to continue with that decision, but I do want to say something. I have recently come out as transgender, specifically genderfluid, and there was some bitterness tainting what should have been an easy happy decision. Because people have spent their time and their energy attacking and targeting me based on their misunderstanding of my gender identity.
I have been told I don’t have the authority to speak on transgender issues, despite spending a good portion of my life studying queer and trans history. I have been told my stances are less valid because I was not publicly under a particular set of labels. I have been publicly attacked and dismissed.
This discussion of people’s identities does not only affect celebrities. I am just a regular person, doing a job they are passionate about and I have deserved more compassion than I’ve gotten. I haven’t been hurting people, and the things I was most often attacked based on were minor intercommunity squabbles.
This whole mess is just an example of petty infighting that the queer community should be ashamed has been blasted on such a large stage as to affect these young men. Actors, who were simply doing their job are being bullied for no good reason, and outing people is always a disgraceful decision. All of this is based on a simple misapplication of a political framework that has also been proven to be just as ineffective in other communities.
The idea that you need a certain set of identities to even speak on discrimination, or be a part of the discussion, is so silly. That’s how you lose important valuable insights. In real strong community work, people of all experiences are listened to and their voices are valued because of their unique perspectives. Yes, people facing the lived realities of oppression should have their voices amplified, but that truth was never meant to be used as a weapon or a silencer. It was meant to lift up people, not to tear others down.
“Today, the fields of queer and trans history are still in the process of finding ways to talk about gender and sexuality diversity among Native people in a way that is neither appropriative nor exotifying. Here I am trying to tell the story of Ozaawindib’s life, not as a way to show the myriad possibilities of gender and sexuality among “primitive” peoples, as some white queer writers have done. Nor am I telling her story so it can be used as a sort of precursor or opening scene which non-Native queer people can inherit after Native people seemingly vanish from the dominant narrative of history. I am sharing her story simply because it is an apt demonstration of how gender diverse Native people were important actors in North American history. Ozaawindib’s story reveals important historical realities of queer, trans, and/or Two-Spirit experiences in North America, especially relating to the process of colonization and the erasure of people who did not conform to the accepted dominant standards of gender and sexuality.[i] Both her story and its subsequent narrative fracturing are symptomatic of larger trends in the history of North American queer, trans, and Two-Spirit peoples.”
Do you happen to have any resources or tips or advice for transfeminine voice training that you can share online?
Ive been meaning to start that, especially since for the next few years i still wont be able to take a significant amount of hrt, if at all. But frankly i havent done more than just sing indie girl ukulele songs.
if mutuals want help figuring out setting up a Medium account and getting started w it btw, lmk!
I think I might write up a guide specifically aimed at queer ppl coming from writing fanfic who want to transition to writing original fiction
I do NOT make much money from fiction on Medium, usually about $100-$120 a month, do i defo don’t want to tout it as like. a big moneymaker or something
but i would like to build a bigger community of fiction writers and esp trans fiction writers
and esp bc like. the more of us that are able to post there and the more ppl that read there, the more money everyone can make too?
bc medium works by, you get a portion of people’s subscription fee of $5/m, and its based on how much they read
Earlier I talked about people who don’t neatly fit within a cis/nonbinary/trans paradigm. It’s an expensive, sensitive topic a lot of academics and activists are already talking about. Here’s an inconclusive list of people to whom this may apply:
-Lesbians with no particular affinity to womanhood beyond being lesbians
-Same but for gay men
-Same as the first two points but with a big emphasis on butch lesbians and drag queens
-Cis people who have trauma, even dysphoria, with their AGAB, but can’t find another gender or label they’d like any better
-Cis people of color who are excluded from eurocentric norms of what it means to look, act, and be cisgender
-Immigrants who had different gender norms in their country or origin who no longer fit in
-Neurodivedvent people for whom gender is just another set of confusing social cues
-Nonbinary people who refer to themselves as their AGAB as shorthand in day to day interaction (similar to choosing a “Starbucks name”)
-Nonbinary people who partially identify with their AGAB
-People who view their gender, not as something essential to them, but as imperfect language to refer to a complex range of expressions and experiences
-People who change labels over time but have overlying experiences that transcend these changes
-People who grew up before nonbinary identity really proliferated and still use the nomenclature theyre used to (even if they’re not considered cis by contemporary standards)
-People questioning their identity
-People who don’t relate to western philosophical notions of “the self.”
-People for whom their gender is, well, kind of hard to explain.
Cis is still an important term when denoting power dynamics, especially on a broad sociological level. But on a personal level, this category very often falls apart. Language can only do so much. Anyway, there’s a lot I still don’t know but I just listened to an excellent episode of the Gender Reveal podcast with trans historian Jules Gill-Peterson where they discuss they question what it means to be cis (and how it applies to institutions vs individuals), along with so many other topics that I found fascinating. Give them a listen!
happy tdov we are going through the fuckin ringer lately. you will survive you will get to live as the you you want to be and god damn anyone who tries to stop us straight to hell. have a good day if you can swing it.
please please tell me people realize that you can be straight and still be queer. trans and nonbinary people [who are straight], ace/aro/aroace folks [who are straight], there’s literally so many ways someone can be queer. it’s not “impossible” or any other shit. we are living, breathing queer people that deserve to be included in things like anyone else.
Happy Trans Day of Visibility to you all, trans people have always existed and will always exist, you’re valid and loved and completely accepted with me and I support and love you to the moon and back and beyond.
This is discussing specifically how the term “trans masc” relates to my experience alone. Others may use this term for very different reasons and I celebrate that <3
My mental voice has always felt masculine to me. Growing up, I’d prepare jokes in my head, excited to share and relate with my dad and brother, but it never came out or was received the same. When I was among groups of cishet women, my opinion never felt like it came from the same place as theirs. And I still feel that way today.
But when I tried to do all of the things I’ve seen binary trans men do, I felt foreign to myself. Masculine makeup makes me feel off-center. I don’t want a packer. I don’t want to be jacked or grow a beard. I don’t want to be a masculine man because that is not me.
It sent me into a gender crisis to think… How can I feel that I’m masculine but not want to BE a manly man? This is what Trans men should want. This is what Trans men should do, right? The goal is to be cis and hetero normative… Right?
Wrong!
That is not my goal! That is not me! Look around at all of the beautiful, wonderful, feminine men in the world! I DON’T have to be the daughter my mother always wanted! I DON’T have to be the macho man I pressured myself to be! I can be the soft, androgynous or even feminine presenting, person with a masculine core that I always have been. My identity is complex, but not convoluted and I CAN be me!
I am trans masc, and that does not stop me from having feminine aspects. My center is masculine, even if my outside doesn’t seem like it. I’m a nonbinary trans masculine person. I use they/them pronouns, and one day I might transition. I want top surgery. I might want hrt. I want to wear makeup and I speak in a feminine way. So I guess as my friends say, I’m the gay boy of your dreams XD
Elder’s descriptions of their genders from Kate Bornstein’s My Gender Workbook, found here.
Don’t let exclusionists, tone policers, gate keepers, queer-is-a-slur, TERFs, and other fascists control the terms you use, tell you that you’re using too many words, convince you that you only need one simplistic and perfect word to sum up the messy human experience, or that your identity is a dirty slur that needs abandoned.
Be as ugly, messy, weird, queer, fucked up, and human as you are. That is your right in existing.
“Every single day is a risk to these children and the people involved,” Walz said. “And while we’re waiting for the process to work its way through the Legislature, we’re making sure that we put up … the protections that we can offer now.” ~Gov. Tim Waltz
“You can believe whatever you want. I’m not trying to infringe on your rights,” Finke told reporters at the order signing. “Just acknowledge that your belief about me should not in any way interfere with my ability or anyone’s ability to access our care.” ~Rep. Leigh Finke
“All she wants is to be protected, all she wants is to be loved, all she wants is to be cared for,” Nguyen said. “All she wants is not to have to be woken up in the morning by her parents to say … it’s come to Minnesota.” ~Ramsey County Attorney Hao Nguyen
LGBTQ+ organizations and allies are celebrating Michigan for becoming the first state in three years to pass comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation, which now heads to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to be signed into law, finally passed after decades of court battles and hold-ups from Republican legislators.
The bill passed in a 64-45 vote in the Democrat-led House on Wednesday. It amends the state’s 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to include LGBTQ+ people among its protected groups. The law forbids discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation within businesses, government buildings, and educational facilities on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, marital status — and now, LGBTQ+ identity.
Democrats had tried introducing various LGBTQ+ non-discrimination measures over the last 40 years, according to the bill’s gay sponsor Sen. Jeremy Moss (D). However, the attempts were repeatedly voted down by Republican-led legislatures. Last January, Democrats took control of the full legislature for the first time in nearly 40 years, finally giving them the chance to pass the protections.
When the House voted to pass the historic bill on Wednesday, a crowd in the House gallery broke into applause, Bridge Michigan reported. Republican House members had tried adding amendments that would’ve carved out exceptions for religious people to continue discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. None of these amendments passed into the final bill.
Gov. [Whitmer] has signaled that she will soon sign the bill into law. In a Wednesday tweet, she noted the observation of International Women’s Day and wrote, “I’m celebrating trans women who have continuously led the way, despite constant threats to their lives and liberty. I’m proud that we’re finally in a position to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect LGBTQ+ Michiganders. Let’s get it done!”
-via LGBTQ Nation, 3/9/23
Note: If it’s not clear from the language, this is basically a done deal–the bill signing IS ABSOLUTELY GOING TO HAPPEN.
As scary as things are right now, there are so many of us fighting to protect ourselves, our communities, and the queer and trans people around us.
This goes out to all the Xenogenderers, “cringy” nonbinaries, genderfluid, -fucked and otherwise genderweird people. Everyone who can’t really cleanly explain their identity and aren’t binary enough to feel truly trans or be taken seriously. By cishets or other queer people. This goes out to you all, who can’t really transition, maybe bc you don’t know how to/what that would look like for you, or because you’d be perceived and mocked as a freak, or maybe the exact treatments or helps you want n need aren’t available, realistic, possible or even don’t exist. Who aren’t sure how you’d even go about affirming your gender or correcting misgendering. Maybe bc it’d take too much effort or not make sense to most people. Or just out of fear or inconvenience. Those who are often left out of trans conversations, for being too unusual or not seen as valid.
This or that, I’m here to say I see you. You are trans enough. You are exactly the gender(s) you are. I hope you find euphoric things in your life fuken STAT, and if you’re still questioning I wish you all the best in your self discovery and it’s okay to take time and experiment, you’re absolutely never a nuisance for asking to have your identity respected and accommodated for, and no matter how temporary or a “phase” any nuances of your identity are, they still are worthy of respect when they’re true for you. If you identify as one thing now, you deserve to be recognized as that now and for as long as you identify as such. Even if that changes tomorrow. Even if you turn out to be mistaken.
seeing other trans people be happy and enjoy being trans is not a threat to you. to doubt their transness because they’re (perceived as to be) not as miserable as you is, however, a threat to them. - transmonstera
[IMAGE ID: “to measure the validity of other transsexuals by their misery is to hold the cissexual narrative higher than your own right to joy” in bold white text. the background is a number of yellow measuring tapes and rulers. the base of the measuring tapes has a sad face sticker on the side. the background is solid black. END]
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