i'm sure a lot of you in the states are aware of what's been happening down in florida with Ron DeSantis and his wave of anti-trans bills he's trying to push through. there have been over 400 anti-trans/lgbt bills advanced in the united states in 2023 alone, but the good news is that not all of them are making it through into law.
if you're a florida resident, i implore you to contact your representatives (find them here) and there are various scripts available online if you need help figuring out what to say. if you click through to TransEquality you can submit your information and it will send a message through for you.
Transformations Project is also tracking legislation across the country, at the state & national level, and can help you contact your representatives as well. (they are also on tumblr @transformationsproject)
and if you're able, here are some organizations helping trans people and lgbt youth in florida that you can donate to:
Vox died in the 50s and Valentino died in the 70s. We don't know how old they were or when exactly during their decades that they died but its possible that their lives briefly overlapped.
Anyway, consider tiny baby Val watching the TV while growing up in the 50s and being absolutely glued to the screen because he was blind ass 6 year old and wanted to be able to see his fav newscaster's face(Vox)
sometimes I forget that when I was 7 my house and all of our possessions were destroyed in an accidental house fire that left us homeless for quite a long time. alongside other life changing traumatic events outside of my control that may have had a negative impact on my mental health as a whole. and I feel better because oh yeah there's reasons why I feel insane in the brain half the time. it is, in fact, NOT a punishment from God explicitly for being Not Good Enough. unfortunate Events were even happening after the fire if you could believe it. such is life
“This is a song about how, uh, sometimes you reach a point where you know they’re going to kill you and when you come to that point, for a while, you feel resentful about it, ‘cause you don’t want to die, but then you start to really settle into your role as the person who wants to be killed, and you start to say to yourself, 'When they kill me, I hope my blood gets on them. That’s going to be awesome, to see the gore from my innards spattering their guilty, filthy faces as they destroy me from top to bottom. Man, I wish they would do it today and stop putting it off. They think I don’t know.’” – 2008-10-14 – John Darnielle @ Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI