I'd love to disinter the Atwood-influenced memo suggesting to shift the fight from "anti-gay" to "protecting your kids."
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 February 2023 21:57 (one year ago) link
Yeah, and that's always been the rallying cry going back to Anita Bryant's Save Our Children. It just became politically difficult to sell as more and more people knew more and more gay people. But reframing from "gays are pedos" to "trans people and drag queens are pedos" has more currency because fewer people know trans people or have even seen a drag show.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:01 (one year ago) link
they've found a way to recycle all the old pedophile/coming-for-your-kids gay-bashing that had become harder to sell.
this is how I see it and why it seems so absurd because I remember it the first time around ... but it's also scary af because it's happening again
― sarahell, Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:04 (one year ago) link
There’s a long list of stuff the right has tried to protect your kids from over the decades:
DrugsRock lyricsMixed race pregnanciesDemonic possessionLiberal professorsRainbow partiesChoosing to be gayMask wearingOnline schoolingThe Knockout GameWhite slavery at IkeaPronouns
Must be hard to remain ever vigilant
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:15 (one year ago) link
there’s also the LGB Alliance/Gays Against Groomers bullshit to try to sell the idea that reasonable gay people understand that trans rights are totally different from gay rights, and it’s just a weird coincidence that you can do find-and-replace for the scare tactics of 30 years ago.
― JoeStork, Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:16 (one year ago) link
Also of course anyone who knows any actual teenagers in the 2020s knows that they are far and away the most queer-accepting age group on the planet. Both of my kids have many classmates in their Tennessee public schools who are gay, trans or nonbinary (and fwiw my own oldest kid identifies as asexual, which he's found a lot of reassurance in as a guy on the autism spectrum). So the idea that these are the kids being "protected" by a bunch of pearl-clutching Baptists is as funny as it is infuriating.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:23 (one year ago) link
It does give hope that being said!
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:28 (one year ago) link
When I told my younger son, who was in middle school at the time, about the Florida "Don't Say Gay" bill for elementary schoolers, he snorted and said, "Well those kids are gonna be confused when they get to middle school and a quarter of the kids are gay or trans." (I think he was exaggerating the number, but it showed his sense of things.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:33 (one year ago) link
I hoped for one day without thinking about Don't Say Gay
(Not your fault, tips! Florida sucks)
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:43 (one year ago) link
Yeah tipsy every teenager I know is essentially saying "thanks but no thanks about all this alleged 'protection,' and also shut the fuck up about swimming, because no actual young person gives a single shit about your sudden valiant efforts to use the intEgriTy of sPoRts as a Trojan horse for toxic bullshit."
― nat king cole slaw (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:44 (one year ago) link
Sorry Aflred! We're not far behind you, our governor totally wants to be DeSantis' bff.
And yeah, on the State of the Teens, a lot of this is anecdotal but I've heard from friends who have exposure to evangelical culture that even there there's a movement of younger Christians against the culture war stuff. But I'm sure there are still plenty of true believers being molded out there.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 19 February 2023 22:48 (one year ago) link
https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-s-exclusive-interview-with-j-k-rowling-1850141221
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 17:16 (one year ago) link
They’re pulling zero punches and it’s great.
― better than whoever you are (gyac), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 17:24 (one year ago) link
White slavery at Ikea
i missed this one
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 17:36 (one year ago) link
This is doomy, per Tannehill's norm (her Twitter bio literally says "Harbinger of doom"). But even if she's hyperbolic, she's not wrong about what's going on. Trans hate is the point of the spear.
Something that is missing from the discussion of all of this is that MTGs rationale for why there should be a "national divorce" is "sick and disgusting woke culture issues." 1/n https://t.co/Q6TwlLBVOG— Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) February 23, 2023
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 24 February 2023 14:19 (one year ago) link
Okay so kinda weird story, but I'm not kidding about this and I am kinda embarrassed 1/?https://t.co/zZmqcwV6zv— Sophie ✨ From ✨Mars (@sophie_frm_mars) February 27, 2023
― symsymsym, Monday, 27 February 2023 16:12 (one year ago) link
Ugh. I love how the offended lady is all self-congratulatory about how well she handled things right up until she thought somebody said the word "penis." Like, "Here I am being all open-minded but the trans weirdo just couldn't help throwing their dick in my face!"
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 27 February 2023 16:32 (one year ago) link
Sorry but anyone who becomes a Tory councillor at age 22 is the biggest weirdo in any story. To be honest though, my main thought on reading that story was why are there so many pubs called The Marquis of Granby?
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 27 February 2023 17:58 (one year ago) link
... mind you, I've only just read the tweet and wtf?!?!?
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 27 February 2023 18:26 (one year ago) link
I’m glad if young tories tell u
― giant bat fucker (gyac), Monday, 27 February 2023 18:37 (one year ago) link
I feel like there is something missing in the story she's telling
― young sussy (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 27 February 2023 18:46 (one year ago) link
You mean like how appearing in the Daily Mail as a victim of the culture wars will get her noticed and help her political career?
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:01 (one year ago) link
yeah I looked at her twitter for a while and the zeal with which she's pursuing this (e.g., @ing JKR) is not surprising but awfully telling
― rob, Monday, 27 February 2023 19:13 (one year ago) link
These are the transphobic women calling cis female trans allies handmaids and “pick-me’s” if I’m not mistaken?
― steely flan (suzy), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:15 (one year ago) link
lol at the idea that she misheard "wipe my hands on my pants" as "wipe my hands on my penis"
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:15 (one year ago) link
It was apparently "wipe my hands on my jeans," so maybe easier to mis-hear, but COME ON.
It's just so telling of the phobic obsession with trans people's body parts. As if it's trans people walking around thinking about their genitalia all day instead of bigots. (And a direct descendant of the age-old homophobic obsession with how gay and lesbian sexual mechanics. "I don't even know what goes where!" "Who's the man?" etc etc)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:25 (one year ago) link
Saying you were going to wipe your hands on your pants would elicit some funny looks in the UK!
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:27 (one year ago) link
Even if she had said "wipe my hands on my penis", that's a very weird thing to say but honestly not a very threatening one. Trying to imagine a burly man saying it while indicating his cock and seeing if I would be intimidated, but I keep giggling instead.
― emil.y, Monday, 27 February 2023 19:30 (one year ago) link
The whole thing is so pearls-clutchingly prudish as well. The word "penis" must not be uttered in a women's toilet, ever. IT IS SACRED WOMAN'S SPACE, NO PEEN ALLOWED.
― emil.y, Monday, 27 February 2023 19:32 (one year ago) link
Yeah I always wonder wtf these people do in bathrooms, becz ime it's basically just get in, do your natural excretory business (which is p much the same regardless of your genitals), wash your hands (ideally), and gtfo. Also, as a guy who uses guy bathrooms, guys in bathrooms do not just, like, walk around with their dicks hanging out. That's not a thing. We also don't talk about our dicks. We don't talk much at all in the toilet!
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:44 (one year ago) link
Also, I've been in men's rooms in clubs etc where women were using the toilets. It's not really that big a deal.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:45 (one year ago) link
At my local Starbucks patrons use the bathrooms indiscriminately, even the MAGA ones.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:48 (one year ago) link
even the MAGA bathrooms!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:51 (one year ago) link
I'm going to wipe my hands on my Grande
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Monday, 27 February 2023 19:52 (one year ago) link
yeah lots of restaurants and bars in Montreal have non-gendered bathrooms, usually with stalls and a communal sink area: inclusive and saves space for the establishment, is obviously the future, would happily never use another stall-less urinal in my life
and emily. otm, the way UK transphobes fixate on bathrooms and prisons is almost parodically Victorian (no surprise in the US they're trying to make headway with sports)
― rob, Monday, 27 February 2023 19:52 (one year ago) link
I mean, if anyone had a penis that was made of fluffy terry cloth...I still wouldn't expect them to use it to dry their hands.
― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Monday, 27 February 2023 20:20 (one year ago) link
grats to suzy eddie izzard on her new name
― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 8 March 2023 17:15 (one year ago) link
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2023/03/17/52722/graham_linehan_turned_down_%C2%A3200k_to_take_his_name_off_the_father_ted_musical
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Saturday, 18 March 2023 14:59 (one year ago) link
the 2nd part of that Chortle piece where they speak to him is actually insane; has anyone ever had less self-awareness than GL? He deserves 1000 x more shit than he has already had.
― stirmonster, Saturday, 18 March 2023 17:01 (one year ago) link
He said: ‘I thought this would be over in a few months and someone would step in. I really did think as soon as people heard what’s been happening to children, all my friends, satirists, comedians, progressives, people who marched against the Iraq war, lesbians, gay men, they’d all come rushing to my aid.‘And no one turned up. Just no one turned up. All I got was dirty looks, people ghosting me.‘I have met people, people I’ve worked with — big names — and begged them to become involved. Begged them. Please just say, "Graham Linehan is right," or "Graham Linehan has some important contributions to make on this," anything that makes it sound as though I’m doing this for anything other than recreational cruelty.‘That’s how I’m portrayed. Like a recreational sadist. And none of them will stand up for me.’
‘And no one turned up. Just no one turned up. All I got was dirty looks, people ghosting me.
‘I have met people, people I’ve worked with — big names — and begged them to become involved. Begged them. Please just say, "Graham Linehan is right," or "Graham Linehan has some important contributions to make on this," anything that makes it sound as though I’m doing this for anything other than recreational cruelty.
‘That’s how I’m portrayed. Like a recreational sadist. And none of them will stand up for me.’
i love it when people _almost_ seem to be self-aware
― Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 18 March 2023 21:39 (one year ago) link
Probably took offense at being considered merely "recreational."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 18 March 2023 22:07 (one year ago) link
I'm sure I could Google and find objectionable things about Gov. Tim Walz, but this is good to see and hear.
MN Gov. @Tim_Walz: "The trans community is as terrified as they've ever been. [...] We have to be much more aggressive about making sure that folks are protected." https://t.co/B2cEJIipof pic.twitter.com/C97QWWclK1— The Hill (@thehill) March 18, 2023
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 19 March 2023 14:19 (one year ago) link
what minnesota is doing is a Very Good Thing. it's a real frustration for me that more people aren't recognizing what trans people are going through... there _are_ trans refugees right now, a _lot_ of trans refugees. trans people are facing genocide, and one of the things that concerns me the most is that most cis people don't seem to be taking it _seriously_. no one gives a thought to having their professional conference in texas or florida, taking a vacation there, _moving_ there. people who, like, have _children_. i mean, what the fuck are they thinking? do they really believe that it couldn't be _their_ child?
every week i see someone new up here in pdx, and a lot of times they're living on the street, because living on the street here is safer than living _anywhere_ in texas or florida or kentucky or... and then i see my co-workers complaining about all the homeless people, about how they don't feel "safe". _they_ don't feel safe? they have the fucking _gall_ to tell me that, to my _face_?
i don't know the practical effect of minnesota's law, but gov. walz's action makes me feel... that at least some cis people fucking _understand_ what we're going through, what the transphobes are _doing_ to us. because i'll tell you i don't get that feeling a lot from democratic party leaders.
― Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 19 March 2023 14:43 (one year ago) link
Oh that is lovely. Often I don't even open this thread when I see it's been bumped because it's just too grim but it's so nice to see a cis person standing up for us lot like that. Ofc it's depressing that a politician treating us like human beings is very much the exception and noteworthy. Still warms the cockles though
― paolo, Monday, 20 March 2023 09:41 (one year ago) link
Wouldn't it be great if a politician in the UK was to speak about trans people like that??? It would be amazing, can you imagine??
― paolo, Monday, 20 March 2023 09:42 (one year ago) link
feeling hard for you paolo :(
― Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 20 March 2023 13:03 (one year ago) link
Erin Reed has been documenting on twitter the arguments put forth with the various bills going through state legislatures in the US restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth (or in some cases even adults, which is the next goal for them) or denying health care coverage, even private health care, as in Florida today. Her threads have been very moving to read, and it’s all so shocking.
― Dan S, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 22:47 (one year ago) link
I take back what I said on 77 - Ohio is now as bad as Tennessee et al. : https://thebuckeyeflame.com/2023/03/20/an-ohio-republican-rep-just-introduced-legislation-to-designate-a-new-lgbtq-related-day-and-yes-of-course-its-bad/
― Bruce Hornsby–Big Stick 3:15 (Eliza D.), Thursday, 23 March 2023 17:28 (one year ago) link
^ fuck.
FL also hearing a bill which just added an amendment which would gradually discontinue care to any minor who is already receiving transition drugs
No idea if it passes, and will be challenged in court even so, might even get blocked, but it doesn't matter. The cruelty is the point. Always is and always will be.
All these politicians should receive daily harassment for the rest of their lives
― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 March 2023 17:40 (one year ago) link
Also I'm so very sorry Eliza :(