#ancient greece said LGBT rights

[venusastro152023]

DEBATEHomophobia and lgbtq+, Which is worse?

___

By Jaylyne Thompson

INTRODUCTION

Homophobia vs lgbtq. It has been a debate for as long as there have been gay people. Some people debate that lgbtq+ children and adults are mentally ill, however, people also believe the conservative driven hate crimes put the homophobes in a bad light. Which is worse?

LGBTQ+

Lgbtq people have been around since the times of the romans. In many cultures from the past, it was celebrated, in others it was scrutinized. One of these notable cultures was natives in the US and Canada. They would respect ceremonial and social roles for homosexuals, bisexual, and gender non-comforming individuals in their communities. In these communities, these roles still exist. While each culture has their own name for these individuals, a pan-Indian term that was adopted in the 1990’s is called, two spirits (link 6). While many have adopted this term, some communities dislike it due to there being additional identities to define nonbinary identities. (link 7).

Transgender people have been around since ancient greece. In Ancient Greece, Phrygia, and Rome, there were galli priests that some scholars believe to have been trans women. Nowadays, Some people try to argue against genetics that transgender men and women are real women and men, while others have debunked such with genetics. They try to justify that despite genetics, they are indeed real women and men, many people have debunked such beliefs whether they are republican or democratic (link 3), and some people try to stereotype what they call, “cis” women (link 4). Some people try to justify that nonbinary/gender fluid is a real gender due to the existence of intersex people (people that are born with genetic medical conditions resulting in different chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that according to The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights, “do not fit the typical binary notions of male or female bodies, link 5), while others believe it is a mental illness (link 2).

Homophobic people

Homophobic people believe that same sex relationships are disgusting. Homophobia is a term used to describe a person, or group of people who describe gay, lesbian, and transgender people as distasteful, horrid, against god’s wishes, or mental.

Negative attitudes toward identifiable LGBT groups have similar yet specific names: lesbophobia is a term of homophobia and sexism directed against lesbians, gayphobia is the hatred or dislike of gay men, biphobia targets bisexuality and bisexual people, and transphobia targets transgender and transsexual people and gender role or gender variance nonconformity (link 8).

Crimes against the lgbtq

There has been many acts of hate among the lgbtqi+ community. These are just a few (link-9).

In Argentina, on October 16, 2016, in Bella Vista, Buenos Aires, lesbian football player Eva Analia De Jesus, known by her nickname, “Higui”, was surrounded by a group of what was likely homophobic men who threatened to rape her. Higui pulled out a knife and killed one of them. She was incarcerated for homicide (link 11), causing protests in Argentina. Higui was absolved of the crime on March 17th, 2022.

(link 12) In Australia, George Duncan and Rodger Jones were thrown into a river in 1972, by people they had believed to be police officers, resulting in the tragic death of George Duncan. Roger Jones refused to identify his attacker due to fearing for his life. Two police officers were initially charged for the murder, but acquitted of the charges, the case in question was said to have been a police cover up. In an independent police report, the incident was described as, “a high-spirited frolic’, gone wrong. Because it was still the 70’s I think we can assume it was a cover up.

In Brazil, September 2007, a gay man named Osvan Inacio dos Santos who was 19 years old was assaulted and murdered in September 2007, on a street near a bar where he had just won the local "Miss Gay" competition in the town of Batangas in northeast Brazil. Dos Santos' naked body was discovered on Sunday morning, and forensic examination found his skull had been badly fractured, and had also evidence that indicated sexual assault. Teddy Marques, the president of The Alagos Gay group was quoted to say to EFE news group, “Homophobia is one of the worst problems Brazil faces. It is unacceptable that every other day in our country a homosexual is brutally murdered", (link 13).

On April 7 2013, Wilfred de Bruijn was beaten while walking with his boyfriend in the 18 Arrondissement April 7, 2013. De Bruijn later posted a photograph of his badly injured face on Facebook to make more awareness of homophobic attacks attracting international media attention in the process. The attack was executed by Taieb K. and Abdelmalik M. I wasn't able to see if they were charged. On facebook he was quoted to say on his facebook page, “Sorry to show you this. It's the face of homophobia”, (link 14).

Have gay people attacked homophobic people?

I was unable to find any sort of search results regarding whether gay people have attacked homophobic people as a hate crime. If they did they likely were defending themselves as far as I know. I really tried (link 10).

Conclusion

Looking at all the evidence I have collected whether on www.Youtube.com

 or on www.Wikipedia.com, with my personal opinion, I have come to this conclusion:we all are. Everyone is fucked up. Lgbtqi+ people shouldn't do things for attention, homophobic people should just mind their business. We all need therapy. There are mistakes on all our parts. In the end, nobody will ever be in the right.

Sources

#politics #theories #political debate #blog

[ringo-ichigo]

On that one post, did Greek wedding involve forced marriage? (I hope this makes sense).

It depends on how you want to define "forced." Do you mean in a modern sense? Or how those ancient societies understood it? If you are defining it by every party wanting the marriage, well, I have bad news, but most ancient marriages would have to fall into the forced category because frankly, the woman's opinion (even the mother's) did not matter. You were told "this dude will be your husband" by your father and that was it. By a modern standard, that's forced. But that said, if that is your society's normal, many wouldn't have questioned it. They wouldn't have likely thought they, the women, had a right to an opinion on the marriage. So if you asked the ancient bride, "Do you, as an individual, want this?", she likely would have to stop and really think because she never would have considered her opinion as having any weight in the matter. Even the mother's opinion was more just a "you are hereby notified" and maybe you might be able to raise issue if the potential husband has some obvious 'flaw.' But even that didn't hold a lot of weight when compared to the men's opinion.

Even if we want to talk about "forced" as in taken without consent, kidnapped brides... yes. That was a thing in Ancient Greece and many other civilizations. You can see it in the Iliad in the fact that Agamemnon ticks off Achilles by taking his favorite kidnapped war bride solely because Agamemnon lost his latest bride. They both got those "brides" by conquering the towns where those women lived and taking those women as brides as a form of loot. Nor is that story alone. See what we know of Cassandra's fate after the Trojan war: captured war bride for Agamemnon after being violated in a temple. Do you think any of these women had a choice in their new husbands and were like "You know, you ransacked my city, but dang golly, you're just such a rippling set of muscles that I cannot resist that I don't mind that you likely burned my home to the ground. I need me a hunk of that man flesh." I doubt it. They basically just went "this is the way of the world" and went with it, personal injury or pain set aside for the sake of societal ease.

The idea of a choice in your partner is a relatively modern idea in world history overall. It slowly took root in the Regency era (1810s is when that started) and really came to full bloom in the Victorian era (1840s) with marrying for love becoming more common and acceptable after Queen Victoria did just that. And even that wasn't nearly as ubiquitous as we like to imagine. If we are going to be real blunt: marrying for nothing but love really a thing only in the 1920s at the earliest (you could argue it was more like the 1940s or if you want to account for LGBT+, the damn 2010s). Before then, every marriage had some amount of societal pressure that made it less about "wanting" to get married and more about getting something beneficial societally from it. And that's just focusing on Western European society.

And that's not even getting into the dynamics of consent within a marriage. Because again, that only changed in the past 30 some years on average. Look, marriage is one of those social institutions that has changed DRASTICALLY in the last century or two. So trying to look at ancient marriages and go "was it forced by our standards?" is frankly... stupid because by our modern standards, EVERY MARRIAGE IN ANCIENT TIMES WAS FORCED BECAUSE THE FEMALE OPINION WAS NOT A THING TO ACCOUNT FOR. It's a modern question that won't really help you understand the forces at work within ancient myths beyond being able to go "by our modern sensibilities, this was fucked up." But to understand a story as it was to the culture of the time does mean setting that modern view aside and asking "what did this look like through their eyes? What did they view this as?"

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

Greek Deities of Love

So I’ve seen some very amusing posts circulating asking asexuals, aromantics, & other aspec people what Aphrodite would look like to them since they’re aspec. While that’s amusing, it did make me wonder how the Ancient Greeks actually thought of & structured love & how love kind of works in their deities. What does a god or goddess of love do for them?

This is what I found, for anyone else who’s curious!

-Aphrodite is actually the goddess of love in general, not just sex/romance! So, realistically, an ace-aro could see a friend, a family member, or anyone else that a person can love in a non romantic/nonsexual way! This would probably also include aesthetic attraction, so if there’s an aesthetic you enjoy she may appear that way!

-There are seven winged gods of love & sex called The Erotes or Aphrodite’s Erotes; they are usually agreed upon as the descendants (children & grandchildren) of Aphrodite. Eros/Cupid is the most well-known, because in newer mythos (post Ancient Greece) people smashed all the Erotes into one god since (1) they were known for being mistaken for one another & could pretend to be each other even though they’re not deities of the same thing & (2) some cultures felt like the Ancient Greeks “overcomplicated” love (they had 8+ different words for types of love).

-Eros/Cupid is also the god of love in general, & is the son of Hermes & Aphrodite; he is the deity that all the others got smashed into later on & is still recognised for Valentine’s Day & dates as the god of sexual & romantic love, even though he’s the god of all love like his mother

-Himeros is the god of sexual desire & passion (allosexuality) & was known for creating desire & passion in mortals; this is the deity known for carrying a bow & arrow that Cupid/Eros is later depicted with

-Pothos is Eros/Cupid’s son, & is the god of sexual longing, yearning & desire (allosexuality)

-Hymen/Hymenaios/Hymenaeus (no one agrees on the spelling) is the god of marriage, romantic love, romantic passion, & romantic desire (any non-aromantics (alloromantics?)), & is most powerful during wedding ceremonies. He’s the most powerful influencer of love other than Eros/Cupid & Aphrodite, but he’s weaker if it isn’t during a wedding ceremony.

-Hedylogos is the god of sweet-talk, flattery & flirting (doesn’t require sexual or romantic attraction - this is a god of flirtatiousness but people can flirt without being/feeling in love). Not much is known about him now since he isn’t talked about much & digging up information on him isn’t easy.

-Anteros is generally agreed to be the son of Ares & Aphrodite, and is the god of reciprocal/requited love (his name is literally "love returned" or "counter-love") & avenger of unrequited love (punisher of those who scorn love & the advances of others - love specific karma). He’s known for wielding a golden club with arrows of lead.

-Hermaphroditus is the child of Hermes & Aphrodite, & is the intersex genderfluid god/goddess/deity (known for being “partly male and partly female”; they’re usually shown/carved/painted with a female chest & male parts below the waist?)) of hermaphrodites and effeminates (male and female sexuality). They’re essentially the deity of, in modern terms, fluid sexuality & fluid gender, & would be an avid LGBT+ advocate & patron/matron deity.

I don’t know for sure if anyone finds this interesting or useful like I did, but, I’m sharing anyway because why not?

~Nico

#ancient greece #ancient greek mythology #aphrodite #deities #gods #goddesses #love #aromantic #aspec positivity #asexual #acearo #lgbt positivity #ancient greece said LGBT rights #infodump #neurodivergent

[toadscholar]

(Made by @shibasocks)

#i have her permission dont worry #sappho #sappho of lesbos #lesbian #lgbt #gay #queer #sappho of lesbos said gay rights #ancient greece #greece #poetry #history

[gayregis]

1/2 ngl i think many western witcher book fans make the series out to be way more progressive than it actually is. part of it is mistranslation ofc, like for example with the 'man was not made for monogamy' bit where the use of singular man is rlly misleading and it should be "a man" or "men aren't" bc originally it's just dandelion being a sexist cheating dick and not some openminded progressive the way ive seen this interpreted sometimes, But

2/2 there's a lot of plainly bad takes out there that i feel are partially an issue of just worldviews and circumstances. like obv its not some Enormous difference and im not saying that "hurr durr westerners Bad and Stupid" or whatever but in regard to stuff like lgbt issues or coding or feminism ive seen so many bonkers horrible takes that like. with my experience as a closeted polish trans homo are truly fucking concerning in how naive they are

(fucking 3/2 bc i can't count) but like. just from the top of my head the godawful girlboss femdom #feminism shit ppl pull with yennefer bc they cant admit shes not all that well written and that shes borderline abusive at times, people trying to make sapkowski out to be pro-lgbt which is fucking baffling with the blatant homophobic storylines/writing, the "GERALT IS CODED X" shit when hes a blatant cishet whiteman power/oppression fantasy rolled up in one like. idk im really tired and its a lot

(4/2 ok i SWEAR im done im sorry) like. i think what im trying to say is that i feel like theres a lot of like. kinda rose-colored-glasses type of naivety and a lack of understanding of how the general reality of life for women, lgbt people etc. is way different in poland and further east than it is in the states or britain or even fucking germany, so people just take very blatant bigotry and uncritically try to twist it to fit their western uwu pseudofeminism and whatnot

no, LITERALLY THIS. i think [mostly western] progressives on tumblr especially want and long to see  progressive messages or representation where there simply are not any, or where the messages that are there are largely milquetoast centrist and not actually saying anything radical. (this post i made is more specific to an aspect topic but it voices some of my opinions on it)

i think it’s of course fine to have separate interpretations of the characters / rewritten characters in your mind that you appreciate, but in order to do that you need to engage with the source material and acknowledge the reality of what is written on the page (for instance, what you said about yennefer being a #girlboss when in canon she struggles with characterization at times and especially in the short stories comes off poorly, almost abusive, and her and geralt’s relationship is definitely not some kind of #goals). 

i think that there are some redeeming features and it’s not all bad, everything is very grey - for instance, sapkowski wrote yennefer poorly when it came to her first introduction to ciri, but then her training of ciri that immediately follows it is much better. and geralt is a power fantasy in his heterosexuality and protagonist-isms, but spends the saga in turmoil over trying to protect ciri because he’s a good father. everything kind of blends together and does not just mean ONE thing only, because it’s understandable by many people. for instance, geralt being mopey and upset that he’s abnormal can be related to by MANY different types of people. 

i think the issue is when people state that characters are definitely “coded” one way or another (not like, actual canon relationships, like saying ciri is gay because she had relations with mistle... that’s a can of sapkowski-worms for another day... i’m saying, for example, arguing that dandelion is intended to be coded as gay because he wears colorful clothes or something like this). i don’t think it’s very valuable at all to look at the content and say “sapkowski intended THIS,” because i don’t find much value in what mr. centrist sells-the-rights-to-netflix had to say. i find value in what you have to say, personally, and what it means to you. 

sorry to speak about my minor again for like 0.2 seconds (it’s relevant) but it reminds me a lot of posts on here about ancient greece or rome that are like “ancient greeks and romans were GAY, we have ALWAYS BEEN HERE!!” like you really want to claim kinship with the violent imperialists who practice pedastry...? or posts claiming that X female figure, such as sappho, was a feminist. we call it an anachronistic interpretation: it’s a completely different time period, context, culture, and intention than what we understand in a modern sense. you can’t project your modern and western culture onto ancient greece and rome, because they are ancient societies.

similarly, i don’t think that you can take american feminism from 2020 and apply it to a fantasy series written by a polish man in the 1990s. you may reinterpret the characters how you so choose, of course you will have favorite characters and appreciate specific ones for specific things... but you cannot say that sapkowski’s intentions were specifically this or that as you understand them yourself in your own life, and you cannot do this with very many authors unless you are the author yourself. 

specifically for the witcher because as you said, there is a cultural misunderstanding: “[a] type of naivety and a lack of understanding of how the general reality of life for women, lgbt people etc. is way different in poland and further east than it is in the states or britain or even fucking germany.”  

i think in the english-speaking progressive social media circles currently for a few years there has been this very big hyperfocus on good representation for people of color, for women, for lgbt people, and in this quest for representation many are willing to overlook blatant bigotry in hopes of claiming another character ‘for the gays’ or whatever. for example dandelion hating on yennefer in a little sacrifice because she is old - i’m pretty sure sapkowski didn’t write this because he intended it to be like dandelion is gay and jealous of her! you can headcanon that if you like, but don’t claim that’s what it is and nothing else, because you need to acknowledge the misogyny present there.

i think it’s dangerous because you end up parading the original content around like it’s fantasic and progressive when it’s really not. i encourage people to have lgbt headcanons if they choose, but you really shouldn’t be saying it was sapkowski’s 100% intention to make this character X or Y because you really must take the writing into context with the author’s biases, life, culture, setting...

#ask #anon #the witcher #sorry for bolding statements but since this is a long post i wanted to bold what i thought were the most important points

[mediawhorefics]

Hello! for Christmas I got a gift card to buy books and I have to admit I haven't read a lot of books in my life. I read the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games trilogy and a bunch of the classic books teachers made you read for school. But other than that, I've mostly read fics in my life and I'm so used to ao3 tags that now that I have to pick books I don't know where to start or what to choose, does it make sense? Do you have any recommendations for books that you like? thanks in advance.

oh anon, you have come to the right place because i LOVE reccing books and i always rec books with ‘tags’ instead of summaries because i think it’s a great way for people to get a sense of it and what they might like. 

now to everyone else reading, apologies, i’ve most likely recced these books before. but hey, favourites are favourites! 

pride and prejudice (Jane Austen) ➡️historical (regency england) | romance | slow burn | enemies to lovers | it surprised me how much it made me laugh! | pals, the draaaama 

outlander (diana gabaldon) ➡️historical (post wwii & 18th c scotland) | romance | fantasy | time travel | political intrigue | scottish independence | long series but the first one is the best one (i personally stopped in the middle of the 5th one) 

beach read (emily henry) | contemporary | romance/romcom | light enemies to lovers | two novelists exchanging genres as a challenge | writing/literature & grief are two big themes | super fun! i devoured it in one day last summer. def. a beach read! 

cyrano de bergerac (edmond rostand) ➡️theatre | historical (17th c france)| romance | tragedy | the love of words as a central theme | best in its original french but i’ve also enjoyed martin crimp’s english translation & edwin morgan’s scot translation | fav fav fav forever 

frankenstein (mary shelley) ➡️gothic | sci fi (technically) | horror | fantasy | i know i said no sci fi but this is a really solid one. 

the shadow of the wind (carlos ruis zafon) ➡️historical (post civil war barcelona) | mystery | romance/tragic romance | gothic | gorgeous prose | the love of literature/books/words as a central theme | super fav forever !!!! | i have given this book to soooo many people in the decade since i’ve read it and i don’t know a single person who didn’t enjoy it. | i lost my shit visiting barcelona because it felt like walking into my favourite book haha 

atonement (ian mcewan) ➡️historical (1930s/40s england) | romance | don’t bother if you’ve seen the film, the reading experience is ruined (tho the movie is v good) 

all quiet on the western front (erich maria remarque) ➡️history (wwi) | war lit | the first world war experience of a group of young german men | sad but beautifully written

the secret history (donna tartt) ➡️contemporary | mystery | thriller | new england university setting | pretentious students of classics are terrible and pretentious yet somehow it’s extremely compelling | gorgeous prose 

the song of achilles (madeline miller)  ➡️young adult | lgbt 🌈| historical (ancient greece) | fantasy/myths | retelling of the illiad | romance/tragic romance | foreshadowing is both shameless and gut-wrenching 

shades of magic trilogy (v.e. schwab) ➡️fantasy | historical (18th/19th c insp. ??) | magic | parallels worlds | lots of lgbt 🌈 side characters and a very genderfluid lead (though the word isn’t used) | adventures | pirates!! | magic tournaments! | just great stuff really 

captive prince trilogy (c.s. pacat) ➡️historical fantasy (made up world but no magic) | lgbt 🌈| romance | political intrigue | the ! drama !! | enemies to reluctant allies to lovers | very slow burn | slave fic technically but the fucked up dynamic is addressed and it’s a very equal/balanced relationship | many many trigger warnings apply | fav forever 

the watchmaker of filigree street (natasha pulley) ➡️historical (england late victorian) | mystery | clockworkpunk | sherlock holmes vibes | lgbt vibes 🌈| slight magical realism elements that are fucking delightful | gorgeous prose | just.... trust me. ABSOLUTE fav. | i wanted to reread it the SECOND i finished it | | sequel came out last year, i still haven’t read it cos i’m saving it :/ 

the montague siblings series  (mackenzie lee) ➡️young adult | historical (19th c europe) | adventure | mystery | lgbt 🌈(bi characters, gay characters, ace characters) | great female characters !! (esp. in the 2nd one) | so so so fun 

red, white, & royal blue (casey mcquiston) ➡️contemporary | romance/romcom | lgbt 🌈| enemies to friends to friends with benefits to lovers | famous/famous | political intrigue | alternative timeline | themes of queer history & grief | son of us president and a british prince get it ON | not to be thirsty on main but madam president can get it 

aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe (benjamin alire saenz) ➡️young adult | contemporary | coming of age | lgbt 🌈| just... beautiful 

i wish you all the best (mason deaver)  ➡️young adult | contemporary | lgbt 🌈| coming of age | non binary protag | a beautiful story but does deal with a difficult coming out where the mc is thrown out of their house so be careful if that’s something that can be triggering to you x 

only mostly devastated (sophia gonzales) ➡️young adult | contemporary | lgbt 🌈| grease but make it queer! | grief & coming out are big themes 

darius the great is not okay (adib khorram) ➡️young adult | contemporary | coming of age | american iranian mc’s first trip to iran | just... beautiful | talks of depression 

reflection (elizabeth lim) ➡️disney’s mulan au | fantasy | young adult | adventures | retellings | mythology & folkore | shang is the one injured in the mountain fight and mulan has to go to the underworld to save him | the bi captain shang vibes are impeccable 

sadie (courtney summers) ➡️young adult | mystery | thriller | crime | dual narrative | podcast format | missing teenager | trigger warnings apply | haunting but excellent 

call dawn the hawk (maggie stiefvater) ➡️young adult | fantasy | contemporary | magical realism | lgbt 🌈| technically a sequel to the raven cycle series (which i also rec) but i loved this one 10000x more than i love trc (and i loved trc!) 

the will darling series (kj charles) ➡️adult romance | historical (post wwi england) | mystery | lgbt 🌈| i just finished those two and it’s a fun relatively lighthearted adventure! exactly what i needed to start the year | there’s is talks of a weaponized disease/pandemic in the first one which can be triggering rn 

rat queens ➡️comics | high fantasy | lgbt 🌈| lotr except they’re women and they can say ‘fuck’ | just... SO good | highly recced if you like comics

check please ( ngozi ukazu) ➡️comics | contemporary | romance | lgbt 🌈| college | light enemies to friends to lovers | famous/non-famous | soft soft soft soft | no YOU’RE crying about a bi-coded french canadian with anxiety as a love interest.... (THE rep !!!!!!!) 

fabulosa! the story of polari, britain’s secret gay language (paul baker) ➡️non-fiction | lgbt 🌈| queer history | linguistics | everyone who salivated over louis wearing polari merch should read this book its fascinating !!!! 

coming out under the fire (allan berube) ➡️ non-fiction | lgbt 🌈| queer history (wwii) | testimonies of men and women in the us military during wwii 

the letters of vincent van gogh (vincent van gogh) ➡️non-fiction | i don’t have anything clever to say about this book except that i sobbed for 500 pages and my copy is annotated to hell; i truly read it when i needed it and i can’t rec it enough. | absolute absolute FAV 

alright i’m going to stop now because i’m getting tired but here are a few of my favs. i was cheeky and put a bit of non-fiction even though you didn’t really ask for it because i love non-fiction...

#Anonymous #about me #books #book rec #i know this list is painfully white and that's one of my goals this year to read less Anglo Background authors #if you have ANY RECS im super super interested ! esp. fantasy <3 #my to read list is full of them but i could ALWAYS use more x

[lgbtplusstuffs]

LGBT+ Facts

Trigger Warning: text below mentions negative stigmas on the queer community as a whole, as well as specific identities and orientations. Some words might be uncomfortable or painful to some readers. There are also mentions of sex and genitalia, though not anything vivid or explicit.

The queer community is just like any other community; there are good people and bad people. The bad people do not represent our community, just as Hitler does not represent the caucasian or German communities.

Queer folk are not perverts, fetishists, pedophiles, predators, rapists, attention-seekers, trenders, or mentally ill.

Being LGBT+ is not a new thing. Ancient civilizations all across the world show proof of this. (See Judaism, Pacifica, Philippines, Greece, etc.)

Sex and gender are related, but not the same thing. Sex refers to an individual's genitalia, hormones, chromosomes, and other biological identifiers, while gender, by definition, is "either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female." Hence, gender is a social construct and can have millions of different interpretations.

Asexuals can feel sexual desire and can enjoy sexual activity. It is different for every individual.

Singular they/them pronouns are, in fact, grammatically correct.

AFABs can dress and present themselves however they wish. Feminine-dressing trans males are just as valid and normal as masculine-dressing trans males.

AMABs can dress and present themselves however they wish. Masculine-dressing trans females are just as valid and normal as feminine-dressing trans females.

The above two points apply to every sex and gender, such as intersex folk.

It is not okay to modify your intersex infant's genitalia--that is, unless it is completely necessary (i.e. their urethra is blocked).

Bi/pan/omni/poly/etc. folk are not more likely to cheat on their partners. They are not greedy, indecisive, or fake.

Genderqueer folk that go by their assigned name and pronouns are just as valid as those who do not. Going by multiple names and pronouns is perfectly okay, too.

Heterosexuals/heteroromantics can be romantically and/or sexually attracted to those of the same sex/gender. It might not exactly be common, but it is possible, and those people are just as valid, though still not part of the LGBT+ community (unless they are part of the community in relation to gender/sex, of course).

Toddlers and children are fully capable of understanding and comprehending LGBT+ topics/concepts. Our community is not adult content by any means. They are also very much capable of knowing whether or not they are cisgender.

Transgender and other genderqueer folk do not have to experience dysphoria, nor do they have to transition socially or physically in order to be what and who they are.

It is okay to question and experiment with different names, pronouns, labels, clothing, makeup, etc. It is okay to change these things at a later time. It is also okay to not feel comfortable with certain labels, or to not go by any specific labels, or any labels at all.

Cisgender folk and heterosexuals are allowed to dress and present themselves however they want. Clothing has no gender, and they are just as valid as we are.

Having queer parental/authority figures do not effect whether or not a child turns out queer. No one can "turn a kid gay."

People of any ethnicity/race, nationality, background, religion, and upbringing can be queer.

Polyamorous people can and are allowed to feel jealousy.

Polyamorous relationships can be, but are not always open relationships. They can be just as closed and committed as couples.

The term "nonbinary" does not mean "genderless." It's an umbrella term to represent a person that does not identify as the traditional constructs of male or female. Though certain nonbinary folk might identify as genderless, and might use other terms such as "agender." A nonbinary individual might also be another gender that is not male or female, or even mulitgendered.

A male that enjoys makeup and skirts and Barbies is no less a male. A female that enjoys sports and monster trucks and video games is no less a female. Interests/hobbies/occupations/etc. do not have any affect on or represent that someone is queer.

Queer people of any form are just as capable in the military as cishet people.

Homosexuality and sex-changing behavior has been found all over the animal kingdom, it is not unique to humans.

Humans are humans, and we all deserve rights. Asking for basic human rights and decency is not asking for too much.

Being queer isn't a lifestyle or a choice, it's just part of who a person is.

Every orientation, identity, and gender is dropped on a spectrum, and every small part of said spectrums are valid. Scarlet, maroon, and crimson are all shades of red--they're very different hues, but red all the same. We're all human, and we are extraordinarily varied. All just different versions of the same thing. Queer or not, we, as a species, are a rainbow. Some of us are six-feet-tall, some of us are blonde-haired, some of us are brown-skinned, some of us are gay, some of us are American, some of us are hindi, some of us are blind, some of us are male, some of us are right-handed... and some of us aren't. Life is far too short to waste it on hate and anger. Share some love!

#love #lgbt #lgbt+ #we are all human #love is love #facts #transgender #gay #science #nonbinary #polyamorous #asexual #cisgender #heterosexual #bisexual #pansexual #romanticism #sexuality #gender #queer #queer positivity #human rainbow #no hate #terfs not welcome #antis not welcome #hate not welcome

[investingreatersuccess-blog]

Five Signs of a Successful Life

Anyone can see that we live in a materialistic society. In a society that glorifies a consumerist lifestyle, the most common standard of success is purchasing power. However, not everyone is fulfilled with the meaningless accumulation of private property. Some people value their health over the size of their income. Some people measure their success based on what they contribute to society, and not based on which products they can afford.

The truth is that there is no objective standard for a successful life. A life of success doesn't necessarily have to involve money. Financial wealth is only one factor in the life of a successful person. Each person has his or her own concept of success. In fact, here are some concepts of success that some people have:

1. A successful life is inspiring.

Some people's concept of success is to live a life that inspires other people. Every bookstore in the world has biographies of famous people. The reason why people purchase these books is because the fascinating lives of these people inspire them to do well in their own lives. A successful person has the power to inspire. A successful existence has positively influenced other lives. You know you're successful when other people want to follow you and your personal vision.

2. A successful life leaves a legacy.

Many music maestros from Mozart to Beethoven have died without having once experienced financial freedom. The artist Vincent van Gogh was poor all his life. The great, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was a chronic gambler and an alcoholic. None of these people were financially successful. But would you dare say that they didn't live successful lives? They've been gone for years and they still remain relevant today. An artist's concept of success is to be able to build a legacy that lasts longer than his own lifespan.

3. A successful life is stable.

In order to gain wealth, certain risks have to be taken. In order to gain fame, you might earn some unwanted attention as well. In one's pursuit of power, one will gain enemies along the way. Some people are just not willing to pay the price of fame, power or fortune. Some people just want to be safe. There is nothing wrong with this concept of success; in fact, the ancient philosophers of Greece praised such a lifestyle of stability, moderation and contentment as one of the best ways to live.

4. A successful life is exciting.

When the philosopher Fried rich Nietzsche said that "one should live dangerously," this was probably what he had in mind. Some people crave excitement. While other people are looking for big paydays, these people are looking for an Adrenalin rush. These people don't collect property; they collect interesting experiences. This concept of success may not result in financial freedom or great wealth, but to the people who live this type of lifestyle, financial matters are not as important as unique experiences.

5. A successful life is dedicated to a cause.

Some people feel that living a life dedicated to a meaningful goal is a successful existence. This concept of success is held by social activists, advocates and ambassadors. There are so many important causes in the world that one could crusade for - LGBT rights, Women's Rights, HIV Awareness and Environmental Protection are only a few examples of causes that are really worth fighting for. A life lived for the purpose of fighting for what's right is certainly a life that should be considered successful.

Success can be found in different sectors of society. However, success manifests itself differently in every situation. Success in business may be measured in financial wealth, but measuring the success of a doctor or an educator may require a different standard. At the end of the day only you can decide whether or not you've had a successful life based on your own concept of success.

[sweetbitterpdf]

4, 11 & 46 for the writers’ asks?? ✨✨

nat my love!! hello hello!! 💖

( asks for fanfic writers !!! )

4. name three authors that were influential to your work and tell why

recently, madeline miller, absolutely. this isn’t just in the context of my ancient greece AU, her writing is just… breathtaking, constantly. i’ve read and re-read the song of achilles and i’ve read some of circe, and her characters are so complicated and so incredibly written. (i just read your answer to my ask and you included her too??? OUR MINDS)

i also really love benjamin alire saenz. i read aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe a few years ago, and as stupid as it sounds now, i read it and was like… oh! two boys being in love! that can be a thing that exists in a story! and it doesn’t have to be like oh look at these two gay boys in love also did i mention they are GAY GAY GAY, you know? it was the first solidly written and characterized LGBT YA book i read and it was super refreshing!

the last one is anne carson— but also, modern/contemporary poets as a whole. when i was going through elementary and junior high school i abided really vehemently to the traditional rules of grammar and formatting and stuff like that. but i’ve read so much poetry that doesn’t have those things and still managed to deliver such a punch, and that made me feel so deeply. her stuff and poetry like it helped me to explore formatting, pauses in the middle of a sentence, line breaks on line breaks, stuff like that.

i already answered 11 here !!

46. share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet

here’s the opening scene from the prologue of the other AU i’ve been working on!!

It rains on his first day. 

Checking his phone, Eliott sees that he’s ten minutes early. Perfect. He stands outside the door and stares up at the old wooden sign that hangs on the building, Duchamp & Co. New, Used, and Rare Books carved in and coloured with old, flaking paint. Even with the less than ideal weather, the bookstore looks charming, and so he steps in.

There are shelves upon shelves upon shelves, with books sticking out in all different directions. There’s an organized sort of mess to them, labels taped to the bottoms of shelves marking the different genres. He can see dust floating through the air in front of the lamps dotting the walls. As he turns the corner, he sees a couple of worn chairs— most of which are occupied. He smiles pleasantly at the people sat in the chairs as he passes by, and makes his way to the cash register. 

The man stood there is tall, his limbs long and a bit scrawny. He’s reading a book— an appropriate place, he thinks to himself— and he doesn’t notice Eliott until he’s standing right in front of him, starting slightly.

“Oh, goodness, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you!” He says, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses back up his long nose. 

“No, no, I’m sorry for startling you!” Eliott says, equally sympathetic. He can’t help but laugh, a little embarrassed. “I’m Eliott, I got hired here recently, today’s supposed to be my first day.. I’m assuming you’re Monsieur Duchamp?” The man’s brown eyes light up from behind his glasses.

“Oh! Eliott! You’re early!” He comes quickly around the counter to shake Eliott’s hand firmly. “So we finally meet!” Eliott shakes his hand back as best as he can. “And please, call me Martin, there’s no need to be so formal.”

“Oh okay,” Eliott says, nodding, “Well, Martin, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise! Now, did you receive that paperwork I sent you properly?”

“I did, yes! I also filled it out.” He pulls out a few sheets of paper from his bag and hands them over to Martin. “I got a void cheque, as well— should be the last sheet.”

“Oh, lovely. You’re so efficient.”

“I try.”

“Alright, well, I’ll take care of this later. As agreed on the phone, you’ll be paid eleven euros per hour. Payment every other Thursday, starting next week, and the periods end on the Sunday before payday.” Eliott nods along with Martin’s explanations. “The cash register is nothing out of the ordinary— you said you had cash experience?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Excellent. We receive new shipment on Wednesdays, so if possible, I’d like you to come in an hour early.”

“I can do that.”

“Typically receiving doesn’t take nearly that long— we rarely get more than a box or two— but better safe than sorry, as they say. And to compensate, you’ll get off an hour early on Wednesdays.”

“Oh, awesome!”

“I’ll show you the process for receiving shipment. Just come around here with me.” Martin gestures toward himself, and Eliott turns, but before he can take a step, his foot catches on something.

“Théodore! No tripping new friends!” Martin tuts at the black ball of fluff on the floor of the bookstore. Green eyes blink up at him.

“Mrow!” Théodore responds, weaving around Eliott’s legs before wandering off along the shelves. 

“Sorry,” Martin says, “he has a habit of getting under peoples’ feet while they walk.” Martin’s eyes widen. “Oh, you’re not allergic, are you?”

“No, not at all. Just a bit startled.” Eliott laughs. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for him from now on.”

#asks; #again; as with the other WIP AU this one's still a bit messy!! #i miss talking to you too!!

[theoi-crow]

Hello! If youre not comfortable answering this please just delete it! ❌Tw: transphobia, self harm.❌ My fiance is a trans woman and we unfortunately live with her transphobic parents. Theyve made her mental health decline to the point that shes started self harming again. We're trying desperately to get out but in the meantime do you know any gods that we can pray to for protection/guidance in this situation? Possibly any specific prayers I/we can say? Thank you in advance either way.💖

I’m so sorry you and your fiance are going through this…

Reading this made my heart ache so I will do the best in order to give as much information as possible: Also, this turned into a:

Greek Gods and The Trans community master post

Please do what you can to get out of that situation and cut ties with them; I know people say things like “blood is thicker than water” when trying to convince others to stay with their toxic relatives but the full quote is:

“the blood of the coven is thicker than the water of the womb.” Which means that if people are being abusive, cut them off, even if they are family because your chosen family will understand better.

Because you are currently unable to get out of that situation, please do everything you can to support your fiance by creating a safe environment within your room (Try to keep her parents from coming into the room if you can.) Also, try to have your fiance have as little contact with her parents as possible but if she has to please, have her prepare herself by breathing deeply and mentally saying to herself:

“they are misinformed and projecting. I am protected and loved. I love myself.” Have her mentally say it every time she is around her parents and make sure to also whisper it to her whenever you can: “They are projecting. They are wrong. You are so beautiful. I love you.” It will help.

You also want to surround your partner with trans positive things. Here is a few things that can help:

-This is the Trans Lifeline: This organization can help provide direct service, material support, advocacy, and education. (LINK)  

-Susan’s place: This is a transgender resource place that has a chatroom which I think is important for support because it’s easy to feel alone. (LINK) 

-Susan’s resources: (LINK) 

-GLAAD transgender resources: (LINK) 

-Meetup is a site where you meet with groups near you. This could be nice for meeting others in your area who can further support you and your fiance. Please be careful if you live in a country or state that is very religious and does not support trans rights. (LINK) 

Other things that can help:

-Look up the LGBT center near you or find a place that provide trans support like groups of those who might be in a similar situation and can provide understanding.

-Look up trans women positive videos on YouTube. There is a whole community who use YouTube as a medium for support and finding friendships.

-Tumblr tags for Trans positivity.

-Gather trans women success stories and print them. Put them around your room. If the parents are allowed to come in the room (which I strongly advocate against this) hide them behind something and pull them out when it’s just you two.

There is a lot more information to find but the goal here is to show her that she is NOT ALONE, she IS LOVED, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH HER, she is SUPPORTED and THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHERS WHO WANT HER TO BE HEALTHY AND STOP CUTTING. 

————–

The gods love her and there are plenty that immediately came to mind when I wondered who can help. 5 gods came to mind and it feels like they want to be a support group for her. All five can help and you can offer prayers as thanks too.

Here is a link on how you can share food with the gods without having to put it on an altar or spending extra money on food for them if you can’t (LINK)

There are a lot of gods you can pray to but here are the ones who immediate came to mind. Aphrodite, Hermes, Hermaphroditus, Eros and Ares.

Before I continue I want to point something out. A lot of people in the trans community are uncomfortable with the name Hermaphroditus because it sounds like Hermaphrodite. 

The word Hermaphrodite has been used to insult the Trans community which is a shame because Hermaphroditus is the protector of the trans and gender-fluid/neutral community. He identifies as male but has a gender non-conforming body. He will often hide behind Eros and send Eros to the ones he protects because he’s also timid but will kick ass.

Here is the story of Hermaphroditus and why Aphrodite, Hermes and Eros are gods you can immediately pray to:

-Hermaphroditus: (LINK): Hermaphroditus was born from Hermes and Aphrodite (which is why his name is split between theirs.) He was so beautiful and looked like a male version of his mom (please keep this in mind because it will become a key point when I’m talking about why Aphrodite is a protector of the trans community as well.) 

One day he was bathing in a spring when he caught the eye of a naiad nymph named Salmakis. She was hitting on him but he wasn’t interested. She got so desperate that she clung to him and begged for a god to answer her prayers (no one knows who answered, but some guess it was Zeus). She begged to be forever united with Hermaphroditus which is exactly what happened when they merged into one. When he got out of the spring his body had more feminine thighs, breasts and long hair. He was so upset he started crying to which Aphrodite and Hermes ran to his aid (because they are AMAZING parents).

Because Aphrodite wanted him to forever feel loved, he became one of the Erotes (so she can also keep an eye on him and mess up whoever dared harass, threaten or insult him (she is such a mama bear).

Hermes on the other hand, did not want him to feel alone, so he enchanted the spring and made it so anyone who bathed in it would have extra features from the opposite gender. This was in Ancient Greece but over time Hermaphroditus saw how gender problems caused dysphoria and he decided to protect those who experienced it.

He is drawn to those who are in the transitioning stages of their life, are having problems with society accepting their gender (or non-gender), are still getting used to life in their new gender, etc. But he does not do it alone. That is his myth but as an actual god, Hermaphroditus is a boss when it comes to kicking dysphoria’s ass. 

He KNOWS what that feels like, he has lived it. So praying to Hermaphroditus or imagining him hugging your fiance can help. He sends his followers ideas on how they can calm dysphoria or get rid of it. 

He will often send his brother Eros for a number of reasons. 1. Eros is the leader of the Erotes and will often act on their behalf. 2. Hermaphroditus is very shy and prefers to have Eros, who is very vocal, speak on his behalf. 3. A lot of people confuse Hermaphroditus with Psyche because they look very similar so he often prefers sending Eros. 4. Hermaphroditus is the reincarnation (kind of) of Aphrodite’s male version which I will talk about in more detail in a bit.

Here is my prayer to Hermaphroditus:

“Hermaphroditus, god of gender and beauty, who understands this dysphoria better than anyone else. Send me love, comfort and allies. Send me peace and confidence. I am beautiful, loved and unstoppable.”  

——————————–

-Eros: Eros is the leader of the Erotes, messenger of Aphrodite and god of love.

While Hermaphroditus has a quieter timid nature, Eros inherits his ferocity from his father, Ares the god of war. As the leader of the Erotes, many people confuse his brothers for Eros himself, this is because Eros’ energy encompasses ALL of the erotes. Hermaphroditus will often ask Eros to send messages to the people he watches over.

STORY TIME: My wife (they/them, hates it when I call them “Spouse.” They asked if I could keep calling them “wife” but prefer gender neutral terms for everything else.) was having massive dysphoria for weeks. I grew up with dysphoria and was lucky enough to go to an after school program for LGBT youth where they gave us so much information on everything LGBT related including dysphoria and how to spot it and ways you can lessen it, so we sat down and figured out they were gender-neutral. Before realizing they were gender neutral, my wife kept seeing Eros everywhere. They finally connected with him and learned that it was actually Hermaphroditus trying to connect with them. This made sense because after learning about their gender-neutral nature, they could no longer accept male or female pronouns. Hermaphroditus wanted to help them get ready for a world with a “you gotta be a guy or a girl” mentality. So Eros will often act as a messenger for Hermaphroditus, especially because Hermaphroditus knows they are not 100% comfortable with his name.   

My prayer to Eros:

“Eros, god of love, passion, confidence and self assurance, help me love myself, give me confidence, and fire. The fire of self-assurance to incinerate my fears. I am everything I want to be.”

———————————————————

Aphrodite: The goddess of Love, Beauty and a lot more. 

Remember when I said “Hermaphroditus looks like a male version of Aphrodite”? And then I mentioned “Hermaphroditus is the reincarnation (kind of) of Aphrodite’s male version”? Well Aphrodite is a fierce protector of the trans community because in one of her earlier forms she had a male version named Aphroditus who was gender-non-conforming who eventually turned into Hermaphroditus (LINK). 

During his celebrations, men and women would switch genders and clothes in Aphroditus’ honor. (LINK)

I want to mention this first because I know there are a lot of TERFs who use her as a hate symbol for their twisted agenda but it couldn’t be further from the truth! (LINK). 

Aphrodite not only promotes romantic love but self love and love within the family. I would have your fiance focus on the self love and healing aspects of Aphrodite. As cliche as this sounds, her parents are probably reacting out of fear (I’m not excusing their actions, I’m just saying that fear makes people do horrible things and love can help counteract it.)

Aphrodite might also help foster a more loving environment and send inspirational pictures, stories and quotes from trans women who have also had problems with their family. She will also help in getting rid of loneliness and find friends who are/have been in a similar situation. Aphrodite will help you and your fiance find her community so she does not have to do this alone.

My prayer to Aphrodite:

“Aphrodite, goddess of love, laughter and a loving home. Bring me comfort in my time of need. Hug and kiss me with reassurance that I am loved. I will love myself because I am worthy of love. Protect me from those who are blinded by fear. I am loved, loved, loved!”

————————————————–

Hermes: As I mentioned earlier, Hermes is the father of Hermaphroditus and a damn good father who takes care of his kids. In fact, he is such a good dad that he takes care of other people’s kids too like helping raise Dionysus and saving him on various occasions or adopting Pan when no one wanted him for being too ugly (depending on the myth). He is cunning and smooth, able to outwit the gods in order to save humans or just for fun.

Not only does Hermes have a soft spot for the trans community (since his child helps them) but he also takes in those who are having problems with their parents, those who need help or anything else really. (LINK) 

Hermes is the god to call when you are having bad communication problems with your family (or anyone else).

Her parents are not respecting her so I would ask Hermes to please assist you and her whenever either of  you are talking to her parents. Hermes is also the god of being cunning and since you can’t separate from her parents right now, I encourage you to ask Hermes to give you ideas on how to better the situation in order to outsmart her parents or how to better avoid them.

He is also the king of comedy and I believe comedy heals the heart so honoring both Hermes and Aphrodite can help since one produces laughter and the other one is laughter loving.

Here is the prayer for Hermes:

“Hermes, god of comedy, communication and luck, help me communicate with my parents. Help them see my point of view and teach them to be better parents. Bring laughter into my life and help ease the tension. Help us reach an understanding.”

——————————————————-

Ares: He may be the god of war, but he is first and foremost a defender.

Ares is the protector of marginalized groups, whether they are facing, racism, sexism, homophobia or trans-phobia. He also helps with trauma, past aches, fear and more. 

I am clinically diagnosed with PTSD and use to have intense attacks. Ares has helped me learn how to ground myself.

Ares deals with deep pain and betrayal, especially when it comes from family. Zeus and Hera hated him in myths even though he is shown to work hard to impress them. Here is another person talking about how Ares has helped them. (LINK) 

Despite the bad reputation of being bloodthirsty, Ares only declares war when his loved ones are in danger. Here is an ask I responded to that I would like to quote:

“He reveals himself to victim’s and turns them into warriors. He defends the weak and teaches them to find their strength. He teaches them to look within themselves and find that fighter that will not let their abusers get to them… Ares has made Spartans and Amazons… Ares is the god of emotional turmoil and he will help you ease yours. He will lend you his spear and shield whenever you need them and will teach you how to move in the middle of a panic attack so you reach a safe place.”(LINK) 

My prayer to Ares:

“Ares god of self-defense, power and protection, protect me from the turmoil in my life. Remove the fear holding my parents. Lend me your shield. I am a warrior and this is my life.”

—————————————-

Here are other posts I’ve written that can further help: 

-How to write a prayer: The original question was for Aphrodite but this can count for anyone. (LINK)

-How to connect with the gods via Journaling: (LINK)

-The gods will send a lot of signs here is a post about how you might get those signs: (LINK)

In order to recognize the signs, I highly suggest you become familiar with what is sacred to the gods, I highly suggest using Theoi (LINK). 

I know it was a really long post and I hope this helps but ultimately have your fiance do what is most comfortable for her.

If my prayers resonate with her, that’s great! If they don’t, I encourage her to rewrite them in a way that feel most powerful to her because she will need them to touch her soul in order for them to truly work.

Support her as much as you can and remind her that she is not alone. There are plenty of amazing people here on Tumblr alone who understand and will help (And if you are reading this and are one, I encourage you to show your support in the comments!) 

I hope this helps!

May the gods watch over you both, ease your home and bring in the light of love with warm hugs.

#trigger warning #rosegoldtunic asks #masterpost #self harm

[amphitritie]

MYTHOLOGY MASTERPOST

In response to an ask, I’ve compiled this masterpost of mythology resources. It’s by no means comprehensive, as myth is an extremely broad subject, and I’ve mainly focused on Greco-Roman mythology. I’ve tried to include a range of websites alongside books and original sources, so you can get by without spending anything. The upside to Classics being a kinda dusty subject is you can find so many texts online for free!

THE ESSENTIALS

If you’re just starting to get interested in mythology then it can be pretty daunting & it’s hard to know where to start. So, to help, here’s some recommendations for websites/texts that lay out the information without assuming any previous knowledge

theoi.com is an absolutely brilliant resource for anyone interested in mythology. It is stunningly comprehensive, with information on every god, goddess, nymph, monster and hero appearing in Greek mythology! Every entry has so much well researched information about the god and stories they appear in, and even includes excerpts from the original sources.

There are, of course, countless books dedicated to telling, or retelling, myths, and everyone seems to have their favourite. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton is a popular one, and is really good at telling the stories without dumbing them down, and I really like the way Hamilton writes too. It also has some bonus Norse mythology at the end! 

Alternatively, Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths is also really good, and very comprehensive, although fairly hefty at about 800 pages. 

Stephen Fry recently released his own retelling of the myths, entitled Mythos, which I really need to get around to reading. It’s a bit of a random selection of myths, but includes quite a few of the LGBT ones from what I’ve seen. You can also pick up an audiobook of him reading it – if you grew up listening to him narrate the Harry Potter books, I would definitely recommend this.

INTERMEDIATE

If you enjoyed those, and want to learn more about ancient mythology, I would really recommend then starting to delve into the original source material.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a pretty good place to start. It’s a collection of over 250 stories from creation to Julius Caesar, all linked by the theme of transformation, but it’s fairly easy to dip in and out of – think of it kind of like a short story anthology. Here is the entire work online for free, and I also found another site here which is Dryden’s translation - a little more old fashioned but closer to the poetic style, so it just depends what you prefer. If you wanted to buy

Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca is another great ancient compendium of myths. It covers the gods taking over from the titans, Hercules’ labours, and finishes at the Trojan War. Which brings me to…

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. With 24 books each, Homer’s epic poems can look pretty intimidating. But I would really, really recommend reading them. There are a myriad of different translations, which I will get into later, but to start off I would suggest either Fagles or Lattimore. I found full texts of both online, here and here although I'm not sure what translations they are.

EXTRA RECOMMENDATIONS

At this point I got a bit carried away. If you’re scrolling through this thinking you’ve already read a lot of these, here’s some extras.

I love the Homeric Hymns. Anddd I found a website here which has all the hymns – and displays with the original Ancient Greek and English translation side by side, which is really handy if you, like me, are attempting to learn Ancient Greece.

If you feel like you’re used to all the weirdness of Greek myths, boy have I got news for you. Ancient Egyptian myths make Pasiphae look tame. Try reading a very serious story about a god jizzing into a rival god’s salad in order to become king. If that sounds interesting: get help! Just kidding, read this book: The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Richard Wilkinson. It’s very comprehensive, and also has lots of fantastic illustrations.

If you want an original source to read for the Egyptian myths, I’d suggest The Egyptian Book of the Dead, translated by Raymond Faulkner and Ogden Goelet

Kevin Crossley-Holland’s The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings is another good introductory book to another set of myths, this time Norse. He’s a novelist in his own right (anyone else read The Seeing Stone?) and this comes across clearly in the ways he tells the stories.

TRANSLATIONS

Please bear in mind that there are lots of different translations of ancient texts. I am not an authority in which one is best, and there isn’t a simple answer in any case, but I made my above suggestions based on either what I’ve personally read, or a translation I’ve heard good things about. That said, if you are interested in translation theory pls send me a message and we can yell about it together then here’s a few more recommendations.

Above, I recommended Lattimore or Fagles as a good starting point for Homer. If you don’t know which to pick, as a very broad generalisation Lattimore’s is more like poetry, and Fagles’ reads more like prose. (I may get people who disagree. Everyone has an opinion on translations.) Lattimore stuck to the original daxylyctic hexameter of the Ancient Greek text and, perhaps most impressively, stuck to the same line count as Homer. Fagles is more readable, but perhaps loses something in this. I honestly haven’t decided which I prefer yet. But for a first read of Homer, I would definitelty recommend one of these two – it just depends whether you are reading more for the poetry or for the story.* Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of the Iliad is also very popular, although it’s far looser a translation than the above two. This makes it kind of easier to read, but I personally think it’s a bit too loose to be perfectly honest.

Alexander Pope’s translation is a much earlier translation, published in 1720, and the language shows. However his translation is brilliant at conveying the drama and grandeur of Homer’s work.

There was a lot of excitement on Tumblr at announcement of Emily Wilson becoming the first woman to translate Homer’s Odyssey into English. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (and I want to so badd) but from the excerpts I’ve seen and all the interviews and articles I’ve read it looks absolutely stunning. Please read this.

There is a super handy Wikipedia page which shows the first few lines of the Iliad/Odyssey as translated by every English translator ever. It makes for super interesting reading, but can also help you choose one to read that appeals to you!

For other texts: I’m currently studying The Aeneid using David West’s translation, Medea and Hippolytus as translated by Edith Hall, and Bernard Knox’s translation of Oedipus the King and Antigone. I’ve been enjoying all of these. If you’ve been following me a while, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Anne Carson. She translated Sappho, and some tragedies as well. Her translations focus more on conveying the poetry or feelings behind the words rather than an exact translation of the words themselves, which makes for electrifying reading if you’re used to perhaps more staid translations. Antigonick was a particular favourite of mine, probably because I knew the play so well so I was able to really appreciate the changes and decisions she made, although it was more an intepretation than a translation. This difference, as brilliant as it is, is why I would, however, suggest you read other translations first before attempting Carson.

I hope this was helpful! A second masterpost focusing on more general Classics resources will be coming soon.

#tagamemnon #masterpost #mythology #Greek Mythology #classics #tsoa #hellenism #yall this took me so long #but now i need sleep #mine #soz for dumping this in the tsoa tag ill take it out later i want Recognition

[arcticdementor]

Hello all, from Siena, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I’m spending the night here before heading out tomorrow with a friend to make a pilgrimage, more on which tomorrow. Meanwhile, Ross Douthat’s column today makes for extremely sobering reading. He writes that America looks like a declining empire (an observation that I have heard again and again over the last eight days from worried European conservatives):

…

Are we Rome? I have had that question front to mind for at least twenty years, I guess. Sixteen years ago, when I first started writing about the idea that became my book The Benedict Option, the concept of America as an exhausted imperial power seemed kind of insane. We were the globe’s hyperpower, and though we had walked into a buzzsaw in Iraq, most people would not have taken seriously the late Imperial Rome comparison. To refresh your memory, what gave me the Benedict Option concept was philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre’s comparison of our time to the last days of the Roman West, and his claim that people of virtue today – those who want to hold on to the old traditions of the West – should make an exit of this dying civilization and form communities within which those virtues can be lived out.

When he said that we await a new and doubtless very different St. Benedict, he meant that we need a figure like Benedict of Nursia, who can respond creatively to the crisis of our time, and forge a new way of living fruitfully under these circumstances. My own claim is that all of us faithful small-o orthodox Christians must be Benedicts of the 21st century. This dying empire is not going to be saved, so the best we can do is figure out concrete ways to keep the Christian faith alive through this new dark age, preserving the light for the rebirth we pray will come, though surely long after we pass from this earth.

My project received what I counted as a tremendous vote of confidence in 2015 when, visiting the Benedictine monastery in Norcia (the saint’s hometown), the then-prior, Father Cassian Folsom, heard me out, then said that any Christian family who expects to endure through the coming storm will have to follow some version of the Benedict Option.

I published the book in 2017, as you know, and it engendered immediate controversy. I expected that, and some of the debate was good. After all, I could be wrong, and if so, I want to know it. But most of the griping was from people who had not read the book, and were sure that I was simply saying to head for the hills and pull up the drawbridge. As I made clear in the book itself, I don’t believe that there is any real head-for-the-hills escape available to us, but we must nevertheless figure out ways to live with a disciplined faith even as we remain embedded within society.

The example I point to is Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, the three young Hebrew men from the Book of Daniel, who were so embedded within Babylonian society that they were advisers to the king. But when that king ordered them to worship an idol, they all chose the prospect of martyrdom before apostasy. For us, the Benedict Option lesson is to figure out how those faithful Hebrew men lived in Babylon without letting Babylon live in them. If we can master that, we have a chance.

…

In 2021, the late Roman metaphor is a lot less extreme than it seemed in 2005, or even in 2017. Again, read the Douthat column. I fully agree with him that the US had to withdraw from Afghanistan, but that the withdrawal, and the hubris that led America to attempt nation-building in the first place, reveals us to be a nation in imperial decline. One can be grateful that we are moving away from empire – I certainly am – while also recognizing that such a decline will have seriously bad consequences, or at least is closely associated with seriously bad consequences.

It seems increasingly clear that this century belongs to China. I don’t like this at all. China has figured out what neither Mao nor Stalin knew: how to be rich and totalitarian. The Chinese also seem to be figuring out from watching us how to avoid some of the things that are leading to our own disintegration. Did you notice that the Chinese have now banned young people from playing video games for more than three hours a week during the school week? When I read that, I thought about my physician friend telling me a couple of years ago that he is starting to see in his office a parade of young men from good middle class families who are failing to thrive. All they want to do is play video games and smoke pot. The Chinese also have taken a harder line against LGBT thought and expression, banning LGBT accounts from the WeChat service.

…

One worries about this behavior because that sort of instability makes it harder to form stable families, which are necessary for the continuation of civilization. But that’s not all of it. The Hungarian woman told me her son and all his friends say that they don’t want to have children. They are all terrified of climate catastrophe. Imagine that: this boy’s grandparents and great-grandparents endured World War II; his grandparents and parents endured Communism. He was born into a free Hungary, one that was growing more prosperous than the previous two generations could have dreamed, and yet he, and his generation, are losing the will to live, and dissipating themselves in hedonistic chaos and despair.

…

China is facing a population crash. Its leaders understand that the future of their country depends on its people being willing to produce future generations. They do not want to encourage Western ideologies that make that task more difficult.

In 1947, Carle C. Zimmerman, head of Harvard’s sociology department, published his book Family And Civilization, which deserves to be rediscovered. In it, he traces in history the connection between family structures and civilizational thriving and decline. Zimmerman found that the strongest family form is what he called the “domestic” family: one that offers more freedom to the individual than its predecessor, the “trustee” family (i.e., the clan), and one that is stronger than its successor, the “nuclear” family. In studying ancient Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages, Zimmerman found that family structure goes in cycles: trustee à domestic à nuclear. Then there is civilizational collapse, after which the cycle begins again. Zimmerman writes of our own time:

There is little left now within the family or the moral code to hold this family together. Mankind [by which he meant Western man] has consumed not only the crop, but the seed for the next planting as well. Whatever may be our Pollyanna inclination, this fact cannot be avoided. Under any assumptions, the implications will be far reaching for the future not only of the family but of our civilization as well. The question is no longer a moral one; it is social. It is no longer familistic; it is cultural. The very continuation of our culture seems to be inextricably associated with this nihilism in family behavior.

…

Zimmerman wrote this in 1947. He missed the Baby Boom, but otherwise he is right on target. Moreover, as I wrote last year, David Brooks authored an essay pointing out that we are living through the most rapid change in family structure in human history. Brooks quotes academic experts who observe that in America (and I would say the West generally), people see marriage now in terms of adult self-fulfillment, not primarily about raising children.

…

Ours is a culture that wants to die.

Similarly, I am always struck when I visit Europe by how passive most Europeans are in the face of waves of migration washing over their continent – waves that are going to turn into a tsunami in this century, given the African birth rate. We saw this in ancient Rome too, with the barbarian invasions. Romans lost the capacity and the will to prevent other peoples from taking their lands. Central European peoples – Hungarians and Poles, in particular – seem to be the only ones who are willing to fight for their own existence as a people.

Three years ago, in a speech to university students, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said:

A situation can arise in one country or another whereby ten percent or more of the total population is Muslim. We can be sure that they will never vote for a Christian party. And when we add to this Muslim population those of European origin who are abandoning their Christian traditions, then it will no longer be possible to win elections on the basis of Christian foundations. Those groups preserving Christian traditions will be forced out of politics, and decisions about the future of Europe will be made without them. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the situation, this is the goal, and this is how close we are to seeing it happen.

I’m telling you, Viktor Orban is perhaps the only Western leader who has such a clear vision about the crisis of our time. It is not just a political crisis. It is an existential crisis for Western civilization. The fact that Orban understands what so many of the rest of our leaders do not, or will not, and the fact that he has the courage to say these things in public, tells you why I think that the future of the West, if we have one, depends on Hungary more than we know. Americans who don’t know a thing about Hungary repeat the moronic allegation that it’s a “fascist” country — something even Orban’s Hungarian critics don’t do.

Unlike Orban, who is not ashamed of his culture, Western European elites – and American ones too – can only describe Western civilization as a catalogue of horrors leaving suicide as the only honorable option available to Westerners. For example, I learned just the other day that Cambridge University, one of the oldest and most venerable in the West, is on its way towards “decolonizing” its Classics department.

If the Soviets or the Nazis had invaded Britain and forced this on Cambridge, we would know exactly what we were seeing: an attempt to subjugate the United Kingdom for a totalitarian ideology by erasing its historical memory. This is happening now – and it is being done by people inside Britain – by a thoroughly corrupt elite that seeks to destroy the foundations of their own civilization in the name of utopia.

For civilizations, patricide is suicide. We know this. We are watching it happen. We execrate the fast and abandon the future. We have concluded that ours is not a civilization worth defending, and propagandize our young to believe the same thing.

I will not defend a social and cultural order that despises the Christian faith, despises the traditional family, despises our common civilizational heritage, and that is working to punish, even persecute, those who will not take a knee before its idols. I will not fight for this culture of death. Will you? Should you? How can we defend America, our home, as patriots, without defending what decadent America has become? Is it possible?

These questions are going to come rushing to the fore domestically as American power recedes. In Italy these past few days, and again in Hungary this weekend, I have heard the same refrain from Catholics: the belief that Netflix in particular and American popular culture in general is corrupting their children. They grew up admiring America, and what we stood for; now they see us as an agent of their own destruction. How are they wrong? The culture producers who are doing this to the Europeans are doing it to us Americans too, and doing it to the whole world. Two years ago, at a Benedict Option conference in Massachusetts, I heard a Nigerian Anglican bishop talk about why his country needs the Benedict Option. I found this hard to understand, but he explained that the influence of US popular culture, pumping its morals into the heads of Nigerian youth through their smartphones, was alienating the next generation from the Christian faith, and Christian morality.

I want to say one more thing about Viktor Orban, drawing on that 2018 speech I cite above. When I tell you that the American media lie constantly about what Orban is, this is what I mean. They say he’s a fascist. Tell me, does this sound like a fascist to you?

…

You can say this is illiberal – and Orban would agree with you. But “fascist”? Give me a break.

You see maybe why I think that with the possible exception of the Poles – I don’t know enough to say one way or the other – Viktor Orban is the only Western leader who reads the signs of the times, and is prepared to fight against the dying of the light. American conservatives ought to stand with him, and with Hungary. The alternative is the decadence and dissolution we see around us – and that is also coming to Hungary, borne by pervasive Anglo-American pop culture. Maybe Hungary too will capitulate. But it’s not going down without a fight.

Part of that fight has to include the formation of Benedict Option-style communities, as places of spiritual and cultural regeneration. To that end, I was thrilled to see that PM Orban recommended the Hungarian translation of The Benedict Option to his people. That’s it, second from top:

…

MacIntyre is not telling us to created these little communities for the sake of shoring up the imperium. He is saying that the crisis is too deep for that. Read in light of Sherrard’s lines, we see that to save what we can, we have to begin with our own repentance, our own turning away from the wicked city of the plain that is in the process of destroying itself.

#rod dreher #the american conservative

[dragon-zena]

even More OC group chat shenanigans

HUGHES: Madena oh my god

ZI: jdndjdjdjjd madena you did NOT

MADENA: I TOTALLY DID IM SVDBDBHD

HUGHES: I hate this Madena wh

HUGHES: “considering that I am a gay,,,” LIKE

ZI: “half of us,,,are immigrants,,,and children and grandchildren of immigrants,,,,end it” like has your best friend ever

HUGHES: YEAH MY BEST FRIEND HAS EVER THEY DID IT TODAY YOU WERE THERE

MADENA: im sorry but like what did she expect complaining about gay people and immigrants to a nb bisexual with two parents from two different continents...like? Ok

ZI: let's debate sexuality when it's obvious that half the class are LGBT and the other half are bigots!!!

ZI: let's talk about “illegal” immigration when almost EVERYONE IN THE ROOM has a close family member that immigrated here!

HUGHES: RIGHT AND TBIS IS AP POLISCI NOT AP “DISCUSS HUMAN RIGHTS” LET'S N O T

MADENA: this is both the greatest and worst day of my life why did I SAY that dbdbdn

ZI: what u said was true and you should say it

MADENA: mnmerrg

ZI: mads ur literally iconic there are literally people talking about u being their hero I'm???

HUGHES: I can't believe the evil was thoroughly defeated in our third hour class today.

MADENA: theevilisdefeated.png

CAMILLA: Narla!

NARLA: Yeah?

CAMILLA: Friendly reminder that we have a game today uwu……….do u have what u need? You dint have ur knee pads last time

NARLA: Fuck, I honestly forgot my stuff. I'm probably gonna drive home and get them.

NARLA: And never say “friendly reminder” or use uwu ever again in my presence.

CAMILLA: You should let Zi bring you uwu

NARLA: Perish, you bitch. You bully. You scoundrel.

CAMILLA: ;^)

NARLA: Hey, Zi. Are you busy after school? I was hoping that I could get a ride home, today. I have to get my vball gear for tonight.

ZI: oh! Yeah! I'll be waiting in the car after school. Can i

ZI: uh

NARLA: ?

ZI: can I come watch you, tonight?

NARLA: I'm blushing so hard she asked to come watch us tonight.

CAMILLA: HELL YEA we need the support

CAMILLA: Not that we gonna lose but your biggest fan being there is gonna make u go into overdrive.........ur gonna beast out........

CAMILLA: ion know if the other team is gonna stand a chance

NARLA: PERISH, ASSHOLE.

NARLA: Of course you can come! :)!

ZI: !!!

CAMILLA: WELCOM TO MY F U CK HO US E

MADENA: we have banini...and avocaidi…

HUGHES: Perish

ZI: perish

NARLA: Perish.

MADENA: Oh worm? Permission granted?

ZI: MADS NO

HUGHES: N O

ZI: mmmmmMMMAAAAAAAAAAA

STEPHANI: God, same.

HUGHES: What's going on in Louisiana? ):

NARLA: They keep raising the prom fee as though we're made of money. Lmao.

JUSTINE: I mean, Narla will be fine, she’s actually made of money,,, but like, not many other people will be.

ZI: LMAO.

MADENA: Zi ):

ZI: im sorry im sorry I just

NARLA: I'll pay for you to go. I'll pay for any of you, if you need it. It's not like we're using it for much, at home.

CAMILLA: ,,, Narla,,, ur mom

NARLA: Irrelevant.

MADENA: godiwishthatwereme.png

CAMILLA: aight……………………..

ZI: id die for Narla but whatever

HUGHES: You're at her game, aren't u

ZI: …no

HUGHES: …

ZI: …yes

ZI: Hughes her thighs...her calves….me gay

MADENA: I heard gay what's goin on

MADENA: oh its just z nvm

ZI: thighs.mp4

ZI: look at her go!

CAMILLA: ive come from the court to tell u that you are Definitely in the wrong chat

MADENA: ho-o-oly shit

CAMILLA: i got her phone lmao y'all secrets safe w me

CAMILLA: just deleted those messages have fun in pineville bye

HUGHES: Isn't that actually a place in Louisiana

HUGHES: Cami?

ZI: she's back on the court but yeah it is

ZI: holy shit I owe Camilla my entire life im going to the T3 Group Chat

HUGHES: real paranoia hours

HUGHES: if u up alone at 3:10 in the morning

HUGHES: hearing things, seeing things, and overthinking ur relationships

HUGHES: slam that mf like

HUGHES: this is so stupid like wow I love. feeling this way. Fave. 10 out of fuckign 10 i lobe iy

HUGHES: I need tk pee but im svared tk adn no ones up i catn

CAMILLA: oh shit

CAMILLA: ok okay im up right now, I'm here right now, I need you to take deep breaths for me

HUGHES: catn’

CAMILLA: can I call u

HUGHES: yehh

ZI: oh no

NARLA: Hughes, are you okay, now? I'm sorry that I wasn't awake when you needed someone. ):

CAMILLA: they asleep rn but I think they r ok for rn

CAMILLA: has this happened before zi

ZI: not to this extent

ZI: sometimes he does focus extensively on everything around him and it makes him anxious

NARLA: Maybe this should wait until Hughes says that we have his permission to talk about this.

CAMILLA: yeah

HUGHES: last night was a shit show

HUGHES: my bad

MADENA: Are u ok now?

ZI: ^

NARLA: ^

CAMILLA: ^

JUSTINE: ^

STEPHANI: ^

HUGHES: Yeah thanks

HUGHES: Camilla made me take sleep medicine and i pretty much passed out soon after lmao

CAMILLA: Sleep > Being Awake lmao

MADENA: mood

ZI: ......everybody wants to be a cat.....

HUGHES: oh my god not again

ZI: aS quare witha horn makes u wish u werent born evertime he plays

MADENA: Oh A Rinky Tinky Tinky!

ZI: with a square in the act! u can set musci back! to the caveman days!

NARLA: Oh, a rinky tinky tinyk!

HUGHES: This is torture you’re all doing ths knowing it was my fave song to play in jazz band end me

MADENA:  👀 👀 👀

Narla: RIP...It was my fault, I wanted to watch The Aristocats.........

HUGHES: Perish, Narla Miaro.

NARLA: Fuck you, Hughes.

STEPHANI: atthepool.png

STEPHANI: shes so fuckgin beautiful shes wearng this bikini and shes like fuckign aphrodite or sme shit

JUSTINE: END THIS

JUSTINE: prety.png

JUSTINE: LOOK AT MY GIRLFRIEND SHE DESERVES THE WORLD SHES GIGGLIN

NARLA: God, can you imagine if I had let the two of you pine any longer than you did?

ZI: this is so gay and cute

MADENA: Justine where do u find ur swimsuits and Steph u look gorgeous end me please

JUSTINE: blush.png

JUSTINE: shes blushing ths is so cute

JUSTINE: Also i just got them at waly worl

MADENA: bless ur photogenic souls for telling me

CAMILLA: U do it for he

NARLA: And you would do it, again.

CAMILLA: You do it for she and now u say

NARLA: You do it for he.

HUGHES: One day is all I ask

HUGHES: Sometimes I forget that the moment Euthymia left the house for college, she changed from a subtle gay to a vindictive gay.

MADENA: God my sister is so fucking iconic mom was like “i dont support that in my house” AS THOUGH I DONT EXIST IN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE HOME BUT ANYWAY Euthymia shruges and is like “im not in your house so lmao watch this” AND KISSES AGATHA RIGHT IN F R O N T OF HER hhfkrk

ZI: im lauhing

HUGHES: Shes not at her mom’s house rn she came to bring something to me for Mads and she’s sporting an undercut and a lot of lgbt pride pins AND a lot of really clever enamel pins too i envy her

HUGHES: She??? Also has??? A scar on her eyebrow???

HUGHES: I ASKED WHY AND SHE SAID “YOU SHOULD SEE THE OTHER GUY”

MADENA: TELL HR TO STAY PUT IM C O M I N G I GOTTA SEE THIS

ZI: send a pic when u get there i wanna see

EUTHYMIA: inspiring my lgacy to be vindictive gays lmao

AGATHA: im lauhfing Zi just texted me and told me that Hughes called you a vindictive gay

EUTHYMIA: im so happy that im able to be ths way

EUTHYMIA: but i want them to wait until they’re super safe until they even think about following the near vicinity of my footsteps

AGATHA: you aren’t even super safe but i get wht ur sayin

AGATHA: I love you, Euthymia Nadine.

EUTHYMIA: I love you, too, Alaris

AGATHA: oooh my last name hot

EUTHYMIA: end it

HUGHES: That freshman is going to get in a fight this afternoon

MADENA: ?

HUGHES: sorry the thought just came to me

MADENA: Hughes,,,

HUGHES: I was right,,,,,,what the fc

ZI: oh thats like when Madena said something about ancient greec andt he teacher was like “nuh uh” but when he searched it up it was true

ZI: but Madena didnt know how they got it right it just randomyl popped up in their mind

CAMILLA: Physics can suck my asshole

HUGHES: Oh?

MADENA: *Hughes voice* oh, you haven’t heard?

CAMILLA: i die

HUGHES: I tutor in physics

MADENA: hes not gonna ask you to pay which is why u should

CAMILLA: I DONT CARE AS LONG AS I PASSED THESE FINALS WHATS YOUR FUCING PAYPAL

HUGHES: meet me in the PMs

MADENA: this is so fucking funny hey @Narla d o u need help with physics

NARLA: No.

MADENA: god i wish that were me

ZI: god i wish that were me

ZI: :0!

MADENA: O: twinsies

#oc #narla #madena #hughes #camilla #justine #stephani #sea serpent #oracle duo #robocop #my writing

[helloitsthecynincalaesthete-blog]

Opinion Series

Lydia Cole

English 2010

Opinion Series

Dec. 3, 2019

 History is Gay, My Dudes

I was scrolling through Tumblr the other day when I saw an LGBTQ history post. It was just a quick little snippet about how olive oil gained its popularity because of gay relationships in Ancient Greece. Tumblr user thefingerf***ingfemalefury replied to the post with one hell of a line: “History is infinitely gayer than a lot of people want to admit.” It inspired me to start looking up LGBT+ history and it’s true! There are tons of examples of gay and lesbian relationships, and cross dressing/third genders throughout history.

To the left is a picture of a lesbian wedding that took place somewhere in the US between the 1900s-1930s. You read that correctly. Gay marriage wasn’t even legalized then! Weddings like these took place in secret and the girls could happily live together because everyone just assumed that they were close friends or roommates. There are few countries that passed laws against female relationships because people thought that it just wasn’t really a thing!

I kept looking and I found an article about Bayard Rustin. He was a trusted friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and played a key part in the Civil Rights movement, which paved the way for the LGBT+ rights movement in the 1960s and ‘70s. Rustin was the one who taught MLK about Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance. He helped organize the March on Washington. He’s done a ton of amazing things, but you’ve probably never even heard his name. That’s because Bayard Rustin was an openly gay black man. When opposing parties found out about Rustin, they threatened to spread lies that Rustin and MLK were in a relationship. Others that were helping with the movement were concerned that this rumor would hinder or stop their progress. Rustin stepped out of the public eye to protect MLK and the Civil Rights Movement.

I found a really cool article that was called ‘16 Historical Figures Who Were Transgender’, most of whom I’d never heard of. The story about Albert Cashier, an Irish immigrant, caught my eye so I tried to find out more. Albert Cashier was a brave Union solder during the American Civil War. He fought in over 40 battles. He once escaped a Confederate soldier that had taken him prisoner. After the war ended, Albert went back to a normal, happy life. This happiness was short lived because an accident revealed that Albert was actually a woman. His birth name was Jennie Hodgers. When Jennie was sixteen, she immigrated to New York in 1859. Jennie arrived in America as Albert, having adopted a new name and a new gender.

After Albert’s secret was found out, he had to fight in court to keep his rightfully earned army pension. He won the case but was then committed to a mental asylum. The asylum forced Albert to live and dress like a woman. Albert hated it and would use safety pins to fashion his skirts into pants. He remained in the asylum until his death in 1915.

That small Tumblr post led me down a rabbit hole full of a new and exciting, and often tragic, side of history that I definitely didn’t’ learn about in school. It’s so amazing to hear about these different people! The lives they lived, the sacrifices that they made seem kind of insignificant on their own but all of these amazing people pushing against social norms is what has gotten us to where we are today; gay marriage legalized and the Equality Act on the Congress floor. thefingerf***ingfemalefury was right! History is super, duper gay! Or bi. Or transgender. Whatever you want it to be. Don’t let anyone fool you. We have made our marks on history and continue to change the future as new laws are passed and the fight to change legislation continues. We cannot be silenced! We will not be silenced. Never again.

Joan of Arc: The Transgender Catholic Saint

It’s not really a secret that the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church don’t really get along. Catholic protesters are often spotted at pride parades and can be found sharing their opposition to The Equality Act being passed. But looking through their own history brings up some interesting questions. Like, why was the Catholic church fine with having gay priests and bishops, etc. before the Renaissance? And why do they celebrate and worship Joan of Arc, who was most likely transgender?

Here’s a quick rundown if you don’t already know the story. Joan of Arc was born in France in the 1400s. She grew up a simple peasant girl who was in charge of her family’s cattle. One day, Joan claimed to have head voices from different saints, like St. Michael. They told her to seek out Prince Charles and help him ascend the throne as France’s king. The English and the French had been at war for years by this point. Joan cut her hair short and dressed as a man to protect herself as she traveled to find Charles. Charles trusted Joan and soon she was leading French troops into battle. She was even gifted a custom suit of armor from Charles to protect her. The English captured Joan, and after spending time in prison, she was brought to trial on charges of witchcraft and heresy. After being cross examined and tortured, Joan was found guilty of heresy and cross dressing. The Bishop who examined her told her that dressing like man was a thing ‘contrary to divine law and abominable in God’s eyes’. Joan kept insisting that God had commanded her to dress as a man.

The church offered a plea deal wherein Joan had to stop talking about her so called ‘visions’ and stop dressing like a man. Joan signed a written agreement with these terms but a few days later was once again found dressed as a man and talking about her divine destiny. The church judges dubbed this a relapse into heresy and sentenced her to death. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 at the age of 19. 25 years later, she was retried, and her conviction overturned. About 600 years after her trial, Joan was canonized a Saint by the very church that prosecuted and burned her.

The cross-dressing part of the story seems to be downplayed, and her miraculous visions and commands take the spotlight. Why does such an important detail often take the back seat? It’s a critical part of Joan’s life, her story. I’ll tell you why. The LGBTQ community has adopted Joan as an iconic figure in their history because it would make sense that Joan was transgender. It was her idea to dress like man; she risked her life and her freedom to keep doing so. Many will say it was the call of God. But there are tons of examples of transgender people who have risked life and limb to keep dressing as the gender they identify with. People who are transgender are often mistaken for having mental illness by a lot of religious types; Catholics being a prime example. And yet, these same Catholics who crash Pride Parades with nasty signs and bash people’s lifestyles online are out celebrating a peasant girl who became a martyr for the very thing they’re so strongly against. Sounds a bit hypocritical, don’t you agree? Just some food for thought.

   Joan of Arc: A Beloved Martyr Turned Saint

Even if you don’t know her story, you probably at least recognize the name Joan of Arc. Joan was born in 1412 in France to a peasant family. Those who lived around Joan saw her to be a quiet, pious girl. She was often seen at church, knelt in silent prayer. The French and English had been at war for years and years. Prince Charles was scared to claim his throne for fear of retribution.

One day, Joan heard a voice; it was St. Michael telling her that she needed to seek out Prince Charles and help him ascend the French throne. Joan decided to travel to find the prince; she cut her hair into short bob and donned men’s clothing to protect herself and her virtue. When she arrived to where Prince Charles was staying, she instantly identified him amongst the 300 or so courtiers. Charles promised to give her what she needed to be successful. She asked for a sword that she said had been buried for some time behind the alter at the church of Saint Catherine. It was exactly where she said it would be! Joan, along with a few men at arms, traveled to the battlefield to fight on behalf of France. Joan lead armies into battle in armor gifted to her by Charles himself. Joan succeeded in that which was commanded of her and Charles ascended the throne.

During one battle, the English captured Joan and she was thrown in jail. After a spending a few months there, Joan was put on trial for charges of witchcraft and heresy. She was questioned for days, even tortured but she never waivered in her stance. God had commanded her to do all these things. Joan was found guilty and burned at the stake as a cross dressing heretic.

Joan of Arc was, is, a noble hero, a beloved Catholic Saint. So, it disgusts me to hear that gay people want are pushing their beliefs onto her, tarnishing her image. They think she’s a tranny or a lesbian. Seriously??

Joan was a woman called of God; it was He that commanded her to dress as a man to protect herself and her virtue! It was illegal to cross dress during that time, a sin that went against divine nature.  Why else would Joan have risked her life to do so if not for God’s command? It would have been inherently dangerous for a woman to travel with so many men. When she and her party were traveling, Joan would choose to sleep with the woman in the houses they stayed at instead of sleeping with her men. There are people claiming that she had sex with these women! Why else would she choose to stay with them?

Why else? Because Joan was a woman! Of course, it makes sense that she stayed with the women. Why would she risk her life and her virtue by staying with the men when she didn’t need to? She was examined twice by church leaders who confirmed that Joan was a virgin maid. If you’re doubting that God spoke to her or claim that she lied just because she wanted to dress as a man, let me remind you of something. Joan knew the exact location of the buried sword that she would later carry into battle. That’s nothing something that she could have just guessed. She was a peasant, with no education to speak of. She knew where the sword was through revelation from God. This is proof that God spoke to her and that He commanded her to dress like a man. There was no other reason.

     BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Cherry, Kittredge. Joan of Arc: Cross-Dressing Warrior-Saint and LGBTQ Role Model. QSpirit, 30 May 2019, http://qspirit.net/joan-of-arc-cross-dressing-lgbtq/.

Gates, Henry Louis. “Bayard Rustin, the Gay Civil Rights Leader Who Organized the March on Washington.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 19 Sept. 2013, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/.

“Joan of Arc Bibliography.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, https://www.sparknotes.com/biography/joanofarc/section9/.

Kennedy, Lesley. “Why Was Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Apr. 2019, https://www.history.com/news/joan-arc-burned-stake.

Robson, Ruthann. Lesbianism in Anglo-American Legal History. CUNY School of Law, 1990, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=cl_pubs.