#online pride 2020

[goldenpinof]

What do you mean dan was abusive towerds us in 2019...? I really didnt feel that way back then(not to mention he was baiscally bearly online back then)

that's the point. he wasn't online to give us content. but he was online to sell us merch. that's one example.

#i'm not recalling the whole mess i'm sorry #no war flashbacks today #answered #artsybitch675 #but you can open archives of like jan-may 2019? #i think it was the hardest time #because after june there was pride parade and then japan #2020 tho... maybe there was some tough time as well. before the book announcement #but phil was thriving when dan wasn't online MY GOD #can they find balance for our sake

[autism-corner]

tranniversary <3

#augh 4 years of knowing im trans........ #=3= #anyway #> its 2020 #> im scrolling through reddit #> sees lgballt post #> read #> oh. #=w=b #(apparently its not 'normal' to wanna be a ken doll sex characteristics wise) #its fun to have a specific point in time i can point my realization to!! yay #especially since its like 4 days after my birthday. #i dont. LOVE my birthday. and have a lot more pride in my tranniversary. #so ive kind of adopted today as my REAL birthday =w=bb #its awesome #sillyposting #its not that i wasnt trans before the realization. i just. did not know. #id been in queer online spaces for a good enough bit but it just never. clicked. #i mean. it did once i think. but then i forgot about it <3 #i literally remember thinking 'oh wait am i a demigirl? yeah im pretty sure thats it' and then didnt think about it for another 2+ years <3 #+ a moment when i was like. 10/12 y/o somewhere around that. #and i was putting different studs in my ears. #and literally went. “ooh ill pick pink on one side and blue on the other!! which means that im between them!! in between girl & boy <3” #this was before i knew about ANYTHING really queer so =w=b #slay. #i love my younger self. #anyway im scheduling this in like. january. #this is a big day for me. way bigger than beating teen pregnancy or whatevs

[neil-gaiman]

Hey I'm sort of curious. I haven't read the book, but I'm a fan of the show and was genuinely disappointed that the phrase "going Native" had an exclusively negative connotation when I watched. Idk if this occurred to you or not, but that's pretty blatant racism. It's especially tone deaf considering this is a show about angels and demons - which have been a tool to commit genocide against us for upwards of 500 years.

Why not just use "human"? It's accurate and doesn't frame an entire demographic as inherently bad or undesireable.

Not trying to garner any ill will, it just rlly bummed me out bc I'm Native and it's an identity I wear with great pride bc ppl have tried countless times to rip it away from me. To see it treated with such disdain was very hurtful.

I understand your concerns, and do not wish to minimise them, or your hurt. Obviously the phrase has colonial roots. However, it's a lower case N, and isn't intended to talk about Native Americans. When the angels talk about Aziraphale "going native", this is the meaning they are using. It may be negative for the grumpy angels, but it's positive for humanity and for Aziraphale and Crowley.

From Mirriam Webster online:

go native

idiom

: to start to behave or live like the local people

After a few weeks, she was comfortable enough to go native and wear shorts to work.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples:

But dogs that go native make bad guards, hunting companions, and friends.—David Grimm, Science | AAAS, 29 Oct. 2020

Let your yard go native: The Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District is offering seven native plant kits for sale that are adapted to the local climate and do not require excess watering or fertilizer once they are established.—Joan Rusek, cleveland, 6 July 2020

[yuzupurpletaro]

Two years ago during lockdown, I spent my time creating Aziraphale's bookshop using cardboard and various other random materials I had lying around, creating this piece which I could slot into my bookshelf (now it sits next to my growing collection of @neil-gaiman works).

In celebration of Good Omens Season 2, I decided to post pictures of the completed project and the process here! It's my first time posting on tumblr, so forgive me if I'm a bit green.

Details and process below!

Before we ever got to see what was on the bookshop's upper floor, I imagined a bedroom, perhaps lived-in. Maybe a certain demon had moved in, along with their plants?

The teeny pride flag in the window is one of the subtle ways I sneak in a celebration of pride into my room, away from homophobic prying eyes.

My favourite details! I printed out both signs on Aziraphale's door, the images of which I believe I got from fans that posted them online.

Due to poor planning on my part, I started making this flower shop as well before I knew how it would fit in with the bookshop. In the end, they remained separate pieces. There was even a mini chalkboard sign for the flowershop, which I have no idea where it has disappeared to now.

It all started out in August 2020, when I put pencil to paper. Initially I wanted to create a street view, with the bookshop and flower shop on either sides. But honestly my brain was too small to figure out how that worked, so it didn't happen.

The most fun part was folding the tiny paper books. The least fun? Cutting rectangles out of cardboard and painstakingly gluing them down to resemble bricks.

Painting was alright, but on closer examination, the walls were all of different colours due to my inconsistent paint mixing. To ensure that what was essentially a cardboard façade of the bookshop could stand on its own, I created a pavement with added flowering shrubs and a lamp post. The street sign on the lamp post says 'Garden of Eden', which I now know should have been Whickber Street :)

And that's it! I believe I spent ~62 hours working on and off on it, and it certainly kept my lockdown blues at bay.

Can I hear a wahoo?

#good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #good omens fanart #aziracrow

[omgthatdress]

According to legend, Marsha P. Johnson was the one who threw the first shot glass at the Stonewall Riot. Marsha would later say that wasn't true, that she only showed up to the riot hours after it began. While the story may not be true, her impact on lgbt and especially transgender rights is that tremendous.

(Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera)

After Stonewall, Marsha was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and along with close friend and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera, they founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) that advocated for the homeless trans people who were considered to be at the bottom of LGBT society.

In 1974, when "drag queens" were banned from marching in a gay pride parade because of the "bad reputation," she, Rivera, and other trans people marched in front of the parade in protest. When asked why she was there, she told a reporter, "Darling, I want my gay rights now!"

When asked what the P in her name stood for, her answer was "pay it no mind," a philosophy that buoyed her through immensely dark places. She spent much of her life homeless and engaged in sex work to survive. She was arrested over 100 times, and had numerous stints in psychiatric institutions.

(Marsha P. Johnson in a demonstration outside Belleview Psychiatric Hospital)

On top of all her tireless activism, she was a celebrated drag performer with the troupe Hot Peaches.

In 2017 the documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson came out and got mainstream distribution on Netflix. In 2018, The New York times honored Marsha with a much overdue obituary that recognized her for her work. In 2021, Youtuber NikkieTutorials honored Marsha with a look at the Met Gala, bringing in one of the best looks of the night (and one of the few to honor the "In America" theme in an interesting in creative way). In 2020, East River State Park in New York City was re-named Marsha P. Johnson State Park, and in 2023, a floral archway was installed.

I honestly had a really hard time writing about Marsha. I first learned about her when she was honored on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012. Back then, there was little information about her available online, so coming to understand this icon Ru talked about so lovingly was difficult to do. Ever since then, it's been remarkable to see Marsha's name and renown grow.

[nanowrimo]

When Is a Small Press a Good Fit?

When it comes to publishing, many writers will think about big publishers first. However, there are a lot of different publishing options out there to explore. NaNo participant and author, Clara Ward, talks about their experience publishing with a small press and gives you questions to consider while you think through your publishing options!

NaNoWriMo inspired me to write. Signing with a small press gave me the support I needed to publish a book I love. 

I’d published books before—starting with NaNoWriMo sponsor deals in the early days of online publishing—but I never had the right skill set to promote those books. As a result, they never truly found their audience. 

In November of 2020, I poured my heart into a genre-blurring near-future tale of sailing across the Pacific and building a neurodiverse, queer, and possibly magical chosen family. In 2021, I titled it Be the Sea and asked myself: What am I going to do with that?

1. Are you looking for fame or family?

Small presses are as varied as the people who form them. If you read widely, you may already have a treasured book on your shelf from your publisher-to-be. Try asking NaNoWriMo friends who share your interests if they’ve discovered any surprising or emerging sources for great reads. (At the very least, you may find books you’ll love in unexpected places!)

Admittedly, a small press doesn’t have a fortune to spend on paving your path to fame. But I have never felt as seen as when my soon-to-be publisher, E.D.E. Bell at Atthis Arts, wrote back, “I’m really in love with what you are doing and would like to talk about it.” 

2. Do you have the bandwidth for working with others?

Even with the most supportive small press, you may have to push outside your comfort zone. I know authors who love the absolute control and freedom of self-publishing. For a time, I felt very comfortable just posting my NaNoWriMo fanfiction novels on Archive of Our Own. At most, I had one or two beta readers to offer feedback on those works. Whereas E.D.E. told me in one of our earliest conversations that in addition to our three rounds of editing we’d need “a good number of betas” to cover the range of topics we were working on together.

I was delighted! I knew what I’d written was ambitious, and I welcomed all the feedback I could get. But it turns out, each extra person in a process adds new challenges and delays. I had to stretch my empathy as well as my publishing timeline because, to quote E.D.E. again: “It’s a lot of emotion (as well as brain cycles) to go through...” Outside perspectives will only improve your writing if you are willing to work with them, to truly listen and learn.

3. Can you handle the two-way commitment?

No form of publishing is easy. The myth that authors write while others handle business and promotion is not true at the top, and certainly not with small presses. In my experience, working with Atthis Arts was like joining a team or chosen family. Beyond certain paid tasks, such as editing and sensitivity reading, I discovered a community of authors who freely offered coaching before my first public reading, social media boosting, tips for author webpages, and an extra pair of eyes on letters requesting bookshop readings or other events. While not all small presses work the same way, this supportive culture proved to be an excellent fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to give back whenever possible.

Small presses can only succeed with community. This month, as I promote the launch of Be the Sea at bookshops in Mountain View, Davis, and Sacramento, I will be introducing many Californians to my Michigan-based small publisher, Atthis Arts. When I stand up as a panelist at Norwescon in Washington state or at various science, library, or Pride events later in the year, I’ll be promoting more than Be the Sea by Clara Ward. I’ll give back by sharing my appreciation for small presses, the supportive and inclusive practices they can normalize, and the opportunities they open up for future writers and readers. 

Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, Small Wonders, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. More of their words along with crafted creations can be found at: https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

#nanowrimo #now what #writing #publishing #small press publishing #by nano guest #clara ward

[rthko]

A pervasive logic I see in online queer discourse, or any online discourse really, is "let me select (or invent) an oppressed person who agrees with me and a privileged person who disagrees." This has been apparent in the "sex wars" of the past few years. By the miracle of liberal privilege discourse, the same gut-level revulsions shared by your parents and local politicians can now be reframed as radical critique. Sex is not only gross--it is a trivial issue that only "privileged cis white gays" would care about. Non-normative queer sexuality is in some circles now associated with white gay men with money to burn on travel, party tickets, designer drugs and personal trainers. This image is at most conditionally true. More precisely, it is a testament to the damage wrought by the policing of sexuality and who bears the brunt of it, resulting in their erasure from public life.

I recall in 2020, when no in-person pride events were even occurring, the internet was nevertheless ablaze with arguments about hypothetical gay men violating the eyes of hypothetical spectators with their displays of sexuality. An acquaintance of mine posted: "kink at pride is an example of cis white gays turning what used to be a protest into a party." It's not untrue that many tap into only the fun sides of queerness while ignoring the political. However, this stance that pleasure seekers and rabble-rousers are ruining it for the serious activists comes across more as "Mattachine" than it does "Stonewall." Frankly, I find it more concerning that pride has become an advertising campaign. Despite the identity politics and the framing of "punching up," we know in hindsight that this line of thinking inevitably led to the further persecution of trans people, whose very existence is considered fetishistic. This is a reality that online queers need to grapple with: sometimes punching up trickles down.

Sex discourse was never just about moral "policing" but literal policing, with material consequences. One reason that these conversations have been especially rotten in the past few years is that sex workers have been systemically driven off of the internet and out of public life. No wonder young queers whose only exposure to overt queer sexuality is through this internet may think only "privileged" people participate in it; nothing in their personal lives or real life queer community (if they have one) contradicts this myth. But it is frustrating, to say the least, to see many adopt a self-styled radicalism that is functionally indistinguishable from a gay middle class politics of respectability. As long as the foil of the "bitchy circuit queen" exists, they are more than willing to accept the sex worker or the homeless park cruiser as collateral damage in their crusade against sex. Even before Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, that app performed a near-daily collective ritual of "can't look away" revulsion at some instance of queer sexuality. Probably still does. Any pretense of "calling out privilege" was set dressing.

[devonpink]

The Great Swap: Trevor (Written by themousefromfantasyland. Revamped by me)

It all started when Ivan Hills turned straight.

As with everything in life, it started slowly, gradually, then all at once. The billion-subscriber beauty guru started changing his content around the summer of 2017. All his videos on YouTube suddenly became about training, sports cars, and pranking his newfound bros. His clothes went from pink and glittery to dark and gray. His profile pic changed from a winking boy in full makeup to a furious young man with a sports cap turned upwards. Then, in April 2019, he announced his long-time fag hag was now his official girlfriend and that he identified as straight. Subsequently, the internet went into a frenzy. However, those who had followed the case since the beginning were unsurprised since the brutish frat bro of 2019 was a far cry from the soft and delicate boy from 2014.

But that was not the end of it. Around the second half of 2019, several big gay and queer influencers, actors, and even politicians came out as straight. From defiers of gender roles and social expectations, these people became the most avid defenders of heteronormativity and tradition.

Then, around the end of 2019, the opposite started occurring.

Gavin Taylor, a late twenty-something commentator on the "Right Voice," a popular YouTube far-right show, came out as gay after leaving the channel. His channel changed from videos about the importance of Christian values and the nuclear family to videos about queer history, Atheism, and dating. The rude, often short-tempered young man was now a friendly, happy ball of gay fun. In early 2020, he married his boyfriend, and they now share an apartment and a cat in San Francisco.

Several key figures in far-right culture woke up gay one morning as if they had broken away from a terrible spell.

Not as bi, bi-curious, or pansexual, but as flaming homosexuals with immense bravery and pride in their queerness.

People joked about the homophobes being closeted gays, but when hundreds of them started coming out from their closets with a completely inversed worldview, it perplexed everyone. At first, this phenomenon was called "The Great Swap" as a joke. Still, as each gay big name became straight, and each raging heterosexual bigot became a fierce homosexual, the joke became a weird social contagion that scholars tried to understand at all costs.

Trevor Spencer is a notable example.

Trevor hosted the Anti-Woke Legion, a YouTube channel about fighting the infestation of woke ideology in pop culture. His detractors called his channel an example of a Far-Right gateway to young boys, a statement that filled him with pride.

It was 11 at night when the change began��

"Fuckin queers," Trevor muttered to himself, scrolling through Gavin Taylor's channel.

Gavin Taylor was his friend. His best friend. He was the only person in the world that made Trevor laugh and feel less lonely. But that was years ago. The new "progressive" Taylor called out his sexism and homophobia every chance he got, and they hadn't shared a beer in years. His faithful friend had "died" years ago, and now he was all alone.

As a tall, fat, hairy dude, Trevor felt he was fated to be completely alone. A fire of anti-woman hate eternally burned inside him, assured that no woman would ever truly love him. Even worse, everyone online constantly poked fun at his weight and disheveled appearance, looking no different from stereotypical trailer park trash.

He was miserable, and he would give anything to change his image.

Then, as if by divine intervention, his wish was granted.

He felt a sudden sharp pain throughout his body, making him scream like a frightened animal. A burning sensation quickly spread, causing his body hair to shed. His gigantic fat belly instantly deflated and morphed into shredded abs. He couldn't believe what was happening, horrified yet elated, desperate for more. His chest tightened as two pieces of solid muscle swelled and became pecs, making his midsection look as if it was carved out of marble. All the fat of his arms morphed into pure muscle, making him now look like a jacked mother fucker. His legs swelled to muscle perfection, and his feet grew. Lastly, his long, shaggy hair receded to a clean military cut.

When the pain eased, Trevor rushed to the bathroom and stared at his new face—an innocent and manly face, carefully shaved, with a jawline that could cut glass.

"What the fuck!?" He now had the body and face of a god—full of strength and youth. He couldn't help but pose and fawn over himself, grinning from ear to ear like a cocky douche.

Instantly, he had a great idea: the night was still early, and he needed to celebrate. He grabbed his wallet and hopped into his beat-up truck, heading for the all-night clothing store. He got himself some new duds, the kind he always wished to fit into, and next drove in a horny frenzy to the first club he could find downtown.

The loud music reverberated on every wall as the insane crowd danced in electrifying horny lust. People didn't take long to start checking out Trevor, eyeing him like a delicious piece of meat. He was finally the center of attention, stiffening his cock in pride. His giant pecs were squeezed by dozens of horny ladies, some with bodies only found in porn, but something was off. Something was different. Then, a handsome stranger grouped Trevor, and sparks flew, startling him.

"You like what you see?" The handsome stranger lustfully asked Trevor, pulling up his tight, sweaty shirt to show off his shredded abs.

Trevor was horrified at how horny he suddenly got. That couldn't be happening. Not with him. Not with another man. He instantly fled out of fear, disappearing into the crowd and heading for the exit, but before he could escape, the handsome stranger pulled him into the Men's bathroom.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I just really wanted to dance with you, is all!" The blond, blue-eyed man explained with a half-grin, leaving Trevor thoroughly aroused.

"Take your hands off me, you're—" Trevor retorted, cut off by the handsome stranger's sudden laughter.

The handsome stranger backed up, heading for the exit. "Okay, okay! I know when I'm not wanted!"

But before leaving, Trevor stopped him; something new inside him made him do it. "Wait! It's not you! It's me… this is just… this is all just new to me…" His heart raced, getting lost in the man's beautiful eyes and kissable lips. He was getting hornier, in dire need of the handsome stranger's touch. "I used to think I was against this… but now…"

"You're from a conservative upbringing, aren't you?" the man asked, knowing the answer full well.

"Yeah," Trevor nervously responded, sweating profusely.

"I'm only here because my straight friend didn't want to go here alone," the handsome stranger explained, stepping closer to Trevor. "But some friends and I plan on going to a gay club after this… you want to come?" The handsome stranger stepped closer, inches from Trevor's quivering face. He arched his head and lustfully whispered in Trevor's trembling ear: "I'm positive you and I will have a lot of fun together."

Without hesitation, Trevor grabbed the handsome stranger's face and kissed him hard, taken fully by his lust. Trevor felt alive for the first time in his life as their tongues thrashed and their hands thoroughly explored each other's bodies. After French kissing for a good five minutes, they finally unlocked their horny lips and gently pressed their foreheads together, smiling. They returned to the crowd with their fingers intertwined like lovers, both feeling as if hit by the lightning bolt of pure love and lust. By that moment, Trevor felt free. Something had changed inside him, and he accepted it wholeheartedly. Trevor was dragged by gayness, engulfed by it, and soon, his Internet persona was going to be much more fabulous.

Three months have passed since Trevor's transformation, and his life has completely changed—for the better, he'd happily say. Will, the handsome stranger Trevor met at the club, was now his boyfriend, and the two couldn't be happier together. He had a completely new online presence, full of gay joy and pride, and an audience even bigger than the last. He finally knew what it was like to be happy, to love others, and most importantly, to love himself.

#gay to straight #straight to gay #transformation #male transformation #male tf story #tf story

[suzannahnatters]

A hot take for you this morning:

The conviction has been growing upon me for several years that whole segments of Western media are steadily losing the ability to write for & about women. Female characters, female-led stories, and romantic literacy are all getting worse.

I grew up largely free of TV/movies, and for a long time prided myself on reading no book younger than 50 years old (yeah, I was insufferable). I've since sought to change that. That's why I believe I have the authority to say this: I see a really stark contrast between how it is now and how it used to be.

Compared to today, male authors like Shakespeare, Trollope, and even Tolkien had active empathy & respect for their female characters. They centred whole narratives around believable women. And they wrote unabashed romances.

That's largely gone now.

Compare western media to kdrama. Kdrama usually centres male protagonists in a way it doesn't centre female characters. But it also centres romance - HIGHLY sophisticated & detailed romance.

Watching kdrama cemented my suspicions, because it feels like the first storytelling I've found since the 1800s to treat romance with dignity and respect, & above all as something worthy of male attention. That is SO RARE these days.

I don't think something needs to get male attention in order to be worthy, but as any woman will tell you, if something DOESN'T get male attention, it's viewed as trivial and contemptible if its existence is noted at all.

It's true that more women than ever are writing stories about women, including romances. The problem is, this seems to have resulted in women's stories getting shoved into a ghetto; either YA or romance or the dreaded "chick flick"

As this genre divide developed between stories for men and stories for women, it seems like too many male storytellers took it as a license to care even less about writing for & about women.

Ahem, Popular Urban Fantasy Author Who Lists His Female Characters' Bust Size Without Fail.

Please note, I know many good and sincere men who want to do better. I see you and I'm so grateful for your efforts. But if you've mostly been reading "blokey" stories - and I know the appeal of stories about & for oneself - you haven't been given the tools you need.

The final straw seems to be the rise of vocal, self-consciously chauvinist online fandoms which rubbish media they see as being too feminine and loudly demand increasingly chauvinist storytelling. These people DO have an impact. Shows they bless get renewed season after season. Media they curse is lucky to survive. I mention no names. But we've all seen them shape public discourse.

What it all adds up to is this: if I want believable writing about women, in a lot of ways I'm better off reading a man from 1850 than a man from 2020. And that's pretty messed up.

How is this going to change? On a cultural level, I don't know. But I want to shout out to the fellow author who read my mixed review of his book, reached out to me for a detailed critique, and listened for an hour as I talked. You, sir, are one of the real ones.

#writing #kdrama #asian drama #writing romance #romance #female characters #male authors

[shedontlovehuhself]

Yeah, it sucks that Bobo and Misha were not given the space to talk about the confession scene in the same way Oliver and the 911 peeps are doing with Buckley right now. Cas' coming out and his "I love you" to Dean should have gotten a bigger celebration than just Misha speaking about it on his own. Hell, Ruthie and other cast members tried to show support online and got shut down by haters and antis. Misha should not have been the only one out there in 2020 and 2021 talking about it. But he was. And yes, prior to 15x18 he went from safely playfully supporting Destiel to full on doing so right after the confession scene. Even without backup from his costar. Just like he was the only one to actively advocate for HIS character's canon queerness. Where was EW for Misha back in 2020? They definitely spoke to Jensen about it. And no, chaos machine had nothing to do with Misha talking about queer Castiel. The way certain Jensen fans try to give credit where it isn't earned and using Misha to do so should be studied.

And I'll add that yes, Jensen has grown over the years. He's more accepting of fans canon of bi Dean and has always happily signed and praised destiel fan art. He's proud of what Misha did with Cas and has said that Dean and Cas should have a conversation about what happened. But he still hasn't said the words Cas is queer. He still can't say destiel. He also has said in so many ways he doesn't see Dean as queer and even has stated Cas' confession can be open for interpretation. So while I'm proud of his obvious growth, y'all not bout to give him credit for what Misha was out here doing on his own.

I remember when everyone was saying Jensen has no power at CE cons. So now that the narrative calls for it, y'all are now saying he has power at CE. Suggesting that he made changes with said power that coincides with Misha talking more openly about queer at CE is truly a reach.

- Momento con in 2021(non CE con) where Misha happily talked about queer castiel and cas and Dean wanting to bang each other.

- German con in 2021 when Misha again talked about queer Castiel, Destiel, and had a positive reaction to a fan's "Dean is bi" t-shirt that had the audience cheering, meanwhile Jensen stans were crying on twitter that Jensen should be doing more euro cons (this was during Jensen's silent era, mind you).

- Misha's cameos where he had destiel trending and also talked about queer Castiel. He also talked about when Cas fell in love with Dean. Also the Cameo where he jokingly said "Cas, you can do better" about being in love with Dean.

- his virtual interviews in late 2020. And his pride posts each June. his interview when at a French con where he talked about Cas being a queer icon(y'all got mad at him for that one, too).

#(not) sorry for my rant but chiiiiile when i saw what I saw i couldn't hold my tongue #I'll lose some of my ten followers and get blocked #and gonna be labelled a Jensen hater but y'all not bout to play in castiel and misha's face like that #misha collins #castiel #spn #supernatural #destiel #jensen ackles #dean winchester #this fandom truly.... #911 abc #happy for Oliver and bi Buck

[bluedelliquanti]

Looking for more queer comics to read this Pride Month?

My webcomic O Human Star (scifi! robots! family! grappling with your identity!) is complete and has an 8 year long archive. Available to read online or buy in print.

My 2022 graphic novel Across a Field of Starlight (space opera! young adult! post-scarcity society! interstellar warfare!) is available in libraries and bookstores all over.

My most recent finished work Adversary (messy relationship! set in 2020! adults only!) is available online and in print.

I also have a whole backlog of short stories published in the last 10 years available as PDFs if you back me on Patreon.

#comics #queer comics #lgbtq comics #o human star #across a field of starlight #adversary #webcomics

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Everyone's talking about "How Refreshing 'Sex Repulsed' Striker Is" and I'm just thinking about The Parallels between this:

Like it is very refreshing to see Medrano flip queer fan service tropes usually reserved for cartoon women in early 2000s children's cartoons right back onto the openly queer cartoon men in her 2020's Adult Cartoons and allowing all that juicy queer subtext to just be freaking text because the kind of things that helped us come to terms with our queerness in the 2000s and early 2010s are now considered "too mature" for kids today.

i.e that bullshit 30minute long video essay about "The Over Sexualization of Kim Possible", Samurai Jack Reboot being an adult swim original, and other terminally online dipshits claiming that every kids cartoon with a bit of sauce and violence "Isn't actually for kids!"

Oh yeah and this specific kind of Turbo Virgin Garbage:

This kind of person calls the cops after seeing someone in a Leather Harness at Pride I'm done.

Stop saying "Gay Panic", too.

#Helluva Boss #Striker #Moxxie #media comprehension #media literacy #hazbin hypocritical #moxxie helluva boss #striker helluva boss #helluva boss striker #helluva boss moxxie #I don't even know what to say about That Video ... #You weren't 'groomed' you were given a sense of good taste and then squandered it by being Like That ... #I can't anymore man ... #I know that person would accuse me of misgendering just for that tag lmao ... #tenderqueers #untranscribed #undescribed #fyi: I know my Kim/Shego screencaps are flipped but you get my point...

[imnotevenusin]

The Astrology of : Donald J. Trump

Arguably the most hated man in America, Donald Trump was born on June 14th, 1946 in Queens, New York. He got his start by working for his Father—Fred Trump—and later, inherited some money from the Family business. Over time, he was seen as a wealthy public figure, even making cameos in Movies and dabbling in TV shows, the most notable one being his starring role on The Celebrity Apprentice. Trump infamously began his Presidential Campaign in 2015 and won the 2016 Election—which is when he became Public Enemy #1.

Surprisingly, I found a picture of his birth certificate online, so we finally have a definite chart.

🦁Trump is a Leo Rising 29°, which makes the Sun his Chart Ruler. Leo Risings are known to express themselves in a “big” way. This can also explain the amount of pride he has. The rising sign can also show us what we look like physically, so I think its funny that he’s known for having Orange skin and Blonde hair, as it kind of resembles a Lion—and Lions are the symbols for Leo.

☀️Chart Ruler in the 10H : The Sun is what we are interested in and what we like to revolve our personalities around, and the 10H is our achievements and career milestones. He likes to take pride in everything he’s done and accomplished.

💵Midheaven in Taurus : The Midheaven is the highest point in our charts, and it represents what role we play on a public scale, so what sign its under shows us the characteristics we’ll have publicly. Taurus is the sign/energy of values, wealth, sensual pleasures, and physical rewards. Trump is known for what he has and how wealthy he is.

🤬MC square Mars : Mars is the action, defense, and anger we have; it can show our competitive side. So, when it squares the Midheaven, we see somebody who is overly competitive. In both 2016 and 2020 elections, he would call other candidates nicknames : Sleepy Joe, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary, etc. I also think this adds to his bad reputation in the public.

👊Mars in 12H conjunct the ASC : The afflicted Mars conjuncts his Ascendant, so he expresses himself with a lot of passion; something about his energy is too competitive, which adds to the overall public dislike.

☄️Sun sextile Mars : This placement indicates pure confidence and charisma.

Pluto in the 12H : The 12H is what separates us from the collective, so I think powerful 12H placements could indicate royalty or extreme fame.

😶‍🌫️Neptune in the 2nd house : Neptune can indicate delusions, creativity, physical detachment, etc. The 2nd House is what we equip ourselves with and what we value (so it mainly rules money). Obviously, Trump likes to brag about his riches, yet the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 Billion for criminal tax fraud.

👨‍⚖️Saturn sextile MC : Saturn cuts out what is unnecessary and also indicates where we have responsibility, so you can expect people to be laser-focused on their goals. His MC is supported by Saturn, so in the public he has a somewhat serious role (being the President). Especially since Saturns sits in the 11th, we have someone who can offer something serious to society. This aspect is generally good for anybody who wants to be a public official.

📈📉Uranus in the 10H : Uranus represents sudden changes, shocking events, and “breakthroughs”, if you will. An individual with this placements will go through many ups and downs in his career, and we can see this with Trump : to becoming president, to being impeached, and to becoming the first president to be indicted.

#astro observations #astrology #donald trump #trump mugshot #celebrity birth chart #astro community #astro placements #astrology observations #astro notes #zodiac #zodiac side of tumblr #birth chart #natal chart #zodic signs #gemini

[elvenbeard]

2069

"Is this all there is to this life? Should be recognizin' myself in the mirror better each day, but instead I feel more and more like I'm lookin' at a stranger..."

Vince ran away from home in 2067, aided by Jackie Welles whom he'd met the same year through a fateful coincidence. Jackie and his connections helped him gain independence from his family, and opened doors into a world Vince had so far only seen from far above and far away.

From one environment of buzzing neon lights into the next, although a much less polished one, he ended up in Kabuki. There he stayed for the next two years to come. Drifting from one dissatisfying odd job to the next he tried to build a new life from scratch. In some ways it was a very freeing experience. On file, his birthday was a different one now, aging him up just enough to get his mother off his back. He started HRT, got tattoos he'd always dreamed of, dressed more how he liked without fearing repercussions. He even felt comfortable growing his hair out, dyeing it darker... And soon he began to only introduce himself as "V" to new acquaintances, a nickname and advice given to him by Jackie when they first met.

In other ways though he felt just as out of place in Kabuki as he did in Charter Hill, if not more.

He knew little about life on the streets, was overqualified for what his employers asked of him, and unhappy, underwhelmed with his living situation as a whole. He'd never had to survive on a budget, struggled to make ends meet, or worried about food and rent before. Even Jackie had no solution to these problems - and merc work would never be Vince's style, even if it meant easy money. "Easy" always comes at a price later on...

Eventually, he ended up helping out at a niche tech store with ties to the Tyger Claws. It became the longest job he managed to hold before his pride got the better of him. After many heated arguments with the owner he decided to quit on the spot without much of a Plan B left. He had always done his best to stay away from trouble, gangs in particular, especially after a very unpleasant encounter with the Valentinos two years prior.

Despite his careful attempts to conceal his tracks though, keeping a low profile, and trying to make this new life work out for him somehow, his past began to catch up with him as the Unification War started to threaten Night City itself...

Vince through the years (2/9)

Welcome to more behind the scenes rambles! XD Today: Vince's cyberware and tattoos, of which many were part of him as of 2069 already.

Not too much intense editing required for this set, the lighting in that street is really nice as is with all the neon and stuff! Just off of Kabuki roundabout, where the tech store Vince worked at for the better part of a year was situated.

I did have some fun playing around with some filters for the glitch effect - it's not quite where I want it yet, but I was going for the kind of look V has on surveillance cameras in game, with his identity obscured and such!

During his time in Kabuki he didn't quite have the means that would have allowed for something similar. But still, he was keeping a low profile and taking a lot of not-quite-legal measures to obscure his whereabouts and identity as best as he could to get away from his mother.

Also, this is full headcanon territory and I'm not sure how compatible it is with Cyberpunk lore (I tried to find something online, stumbled upon an extensive cyberware listing from the 2020 rulebook and such)... but my personal headcanon for his piece of neck cyberware is that it's fashionware on the outside, but under the surface it's doing some hormone synthesizing and regulation for his transition. Y'know, a convenient alternative for the array of options we have in our time and age with creams and gels or injections. A one time solution installed in your body that from day one will just do its thing for the rest of your life, basically (with some checkups and upgrades throughout the years obviously).

Also, Viktor got it for him, installed and all, and while they were at it Vince was like "Vik, do you do tattoos, too? I have an idea for something..." and that's basically how he got his demonic grin neck tattoo on the same day xD

Also around that time he would have gotten the wings on his back done:

Very symbolic and a little cliché, but he doesn't give a damn (and he doesn't know it at the time yet, but Kerry will love it xD). The whole "setting himself free" that year in all meanings of the word was very important to him. And by 2069 he'd completed the look with his chin and face tattoos.

The trans-colours cyber-flower on his right shoulder was the first "proper" tattoo he'd ever gotten, shortly before running away from home even. The little, slightly crooked Ursa Major just below it was a stick-and-poke a "friend" did on him even before that, but he never had the heart to get it covered. It's awkwardly positioned and a bit wonky, but he still likes it as a symbol and reminder of his childhood. He had the dots filled in with rainbow colors a little ways down the the line though.

His left shoulder and the chest piece connecting both right and left followed a few years later! We'll get to that :3

#cyberpunk 2077 #male v cyberpunk #cyberpunk v #corpo v #cp2077 #cp2077 vp #cyberpunk vp #cyberpunk 2077 vp #vincent ezaki #my vp #I sometimes joke that Vince's background is half corpo half streetkid #but really he is too much a corpo at heart to really thrive on the streets even when forced XD #vince through the years #tagging as #trans!v tuesday #because this has some hcs on his transition that are very important to me

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Feb 26, 2024

[ Credit: Miriam Elia ]

Far away in the land of Sylvania, some woodland creatures have gathered to celebrate Pride. There’s a cross-dressing fox, a PVC-clad boar, a rabbit in full drag on a float. Rainbow flags and bunting abound. But just out of sight, perched above an ice-cream kiosk, are three sinister little figures in black face masks. They could be hedgehogs. They could be squirrels. One of them has a machine gun.

Isis in Sylvania was the work of the satirist Miriam Elia, a set of tableaux which was meant to be shown at the Passion for Freedom art exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in 2015. The pieces were withdrawn after police said they might cause offence. That the gallery capitulated so easily would suggest that its self-declared “passion for freedom” was limited.

Elia’s display brilliantly lampooned our infantile response to the growing threat of Islamic terrorism, and it seems more relevant today than ever. After the police had sent emails to the gallery declaring that Isis in Sylvania was “not art” and that “all mentions of it should be removed from the promotional materials, social media etc”, Elia responded:

“The decision to censor shows that our establishment is more threatened by satire, clarity and truth than by young men willing to kill, rape and pillage in the name of Islam. Apparently my images were ‘potentially inflammatory’ to terrorists. This is the equivalent of saying an anti-Nazi cartoon in the late 1930s was offensive… to Nazis. Those who justify and protect barbaric totalitarianism, in whichever form, are on the fast track to becoming totalitarian themselves.”

The reaction of the police, of course, exemplified the very problem that Elia had been satirising in the first place.

It should be clear to everyone by now that kowtowing to the wishes of terrorists only encourages them. Last week Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons, was pressurised into overriding parliamentary convention because of an apparent risk to security. He spoke of “absolutely frightening” threats directed at MPs because of their reluctance to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. He also alluded to the murder of MP David Amess by an ISIS sympathiser. “I never want to go through a situation where I find a friend from any side has been murdered,” he said, “I also don’t want another attack on this House.” The word “Islamist” was not mentioned, as though not talking about the problem might make it disappear.

Hoyle is correct that the threat of violence is very real. Nobody would seek to downplay the murder of David Amess at his constituency surgery in Essex in 2021, or the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in Paris in 2020, or the massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. But our tendency to forget these atrocities, and move on as if nothing has happened, is chilling. Many of our politicians are too afraid to address the issues out of fear of being branded “islamophobic”, an absurd neologism often deployed to conflate anti-Muslim hatred with legitimate criticism of Islam.

How much reflection was there after the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017 in which children and teenagers were slain? After the killing of Amess there was endless discussion in parliament about how we needed to crack down on social media, as though the radical Islamist responsible was motivated by online trolling rather than the creed of a medieval death-cult. We are like the woodland animals in another of Elia’s scenes, blissfully enjoying a picnic while armed and masked assailants appear on the horizon.

[ Credit: Miriam Elia ]

So while I have sympathy for Hoyle’s very human reaction to the spectre of violence, it is clear that the failure of politicians to accurately diagnose the problem is only making matters worse. Those few brave individuals who are prepared to speak out are putting themselves in danger. But with a collective effort the risk could be spread and at least become tolerable. After the Charlie Hebdo atrocity, media outlets refused to show the offending cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, but if all of them had done so simultaneously, the threat could have been diluted.

If the speaker of the House of Commons is prepared to modify parliamentary procedures due to threats from far-left cranks and radical islamists, where does this leave our democracy? It is hardly surprising that increasingly we are seeing commentators claiming that the values of liberalism cannot be sustained against this particular brand of authoritarianism. They suggest that liberals are too weak to tackle those who do not share their commitment to individual freedom.

It is true that too often exemptions have been made out of fear of causing offence to religious minorities. Police in the north of England failed to enforce the law against predominately Pakistani grooming gangs for fear of being branded “racist”. The inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing found that security guards held back from intercepting the killer for similar reasons. Sharia courts have been operating in the United Kingdom for decades and, although their rulings have no legal standing, they do hold authority within Muslim communities. And we have seen how police have overlooked some of the worst behaviour at the now regular pro-Palestine marches in London.

But this is not a weakness at the heart of liberalism; it is the failure to properly follow its principles. All branches of liberal thought – from the conservative liberalism of Friedrich Hayek to the social liberalism of John Rawls – share an understanding that the rule of law is paramount. Individual autonomy cannot be preserved if the state is unable to maintain the peace and impartially resolve the natural conflicts of human existence.

A well-intentioned commitment to multiculturalism has enabled parallel societies to flourish within the United Kingdom. In turn, this has granted authority to the most reactionary elements within religious communities. Sharia law may be an ambition for ultra-conservative theocrats, but many female and gay Muslims will not find it such an appealing prospect. We need to stop appeasing these minorities within minorities, small groups of extremists that by no means represent the average British Muslim. And this means that our parliamentarians must retain their courage, even in the face of violent threats.

More than anything, we need to be able to talk about this crisis with honesty and candour. However comforting it might be in the short term, our political class cannot go on living in their Sylvanian fantasy, wilfully oblivious to the masked elephant in the room. This denialism is a form of procrastination, putting off the inevitable for another day. The values of our liberal democracy and our hard-won rights are under threat. It’s time to grow up. 

A limited edition book of all the images in Miriam Elia’s “Isis in Sylvania” series is available to buy here. A signed limited edition print of the picnic scene is available here.

==

We have to stop being panicked when people claim to be offended.

#Andrew Doyle #islam #this is islam #islamophobia #islamic violence #islamic authoritarianism #authoritarianism #sharia #sharia law #Miriam Elia #islamism #liberalism #liberal values #religion is a mental illness

[9w1ft]

9-

I once again come to you as the Kaylor jewelry expert with a detailed question.

When did Karlie start wearing the Cartier onyx necklace? I know she wore it to the rep tour show in Nashville in August 2018, but was she seen wearing it before that?

hi anon! thank you for the question 😌

back in june 2018 karlie went on a back to back trip to japan and then shanghai. she can be seen wearing the amulette de cartier in japan (josh was there) from june 11th, if you look closely through her instagram stories. she’s more clearly documented wearing it in shanghai starting on june 15th (she was alone for this leg).

her engagement was announced a little more than a month later. iirc, there was word on the street (online rumors) a few weeks before it was announced on july 24, that they were getting engaged. i guess that if you were to believe this official narrative, you might think the amulette was an engagement gift from josh that she could wear without the news getting out by wearing her ring. but my goodness, a symbol of protection during difficult times seems to be an odd choice as an engagement present (who pops the question with a necklace that’s a lucky charm made for times that require strength of heart against all odds?!)

so I’m sure you can see how this lends itself perfectly to the kaylor narrative.

*to provide some meta context, their trip to japan was at the time very painful for kaylors. the two were acting lovey dovey at a time when many were convinced they were about to break up, and they appeared very intimate (hand holding/cheek kissing) with each other in ways they really hadn’t in years prior. i think at the time, some saw this bump in pda as writing on the wall that an engagement rather than a breakup was coming. at the time i was a holdout but in hindsight, given the symbolic value of the amulette, it feels that way. btw all this was happening right after taylor got very very loud in spring 2018, when rep tour started and she debuted the rainbow dress and delicate pride speech and we had the caticorn rainbow ad, and so it was distressing at the time how it was like one step forward, two steps back for kaylor. but in hindsight, sheesh, simpler times!

so karlie wore the amulette a whole lot between the end of june and end of sep 2018. most memorably, i would say, to NYC pride and of course when she went to rep tour nashville.

iirc the last time she was seen wearing it in 2018 was on sept 28 2018? and she changed her IG profile picture to a picture with her wearing it, and it stayed like that for what feels like it was about a year. then of course we have taylor’s october 2018 AMA performance where there was this big set piece that looked so much like the amulette.. and a nod to it in 2019 as the little peephole on the door to the lover house

while it remained karlie’s profile picture for a long time, karlie didn’t post new photos of her wearing it again until march 2020, another time of difficulty for her with her fans (controversies about her kushner/white house connections in the early days of the pandemic and in an election year) she continued wearing it off and on, notably during her pregnancy, including in the pregnancy announcement video. id add pics of it but i’m over the pic limit!! but you can check the #cartier tag on my blog for more.

so yeah, you can see how these two periods of time have some thematic similarities for her—pivotal life moments both taking things to a new level—and how the amulette and everything it stands for just adds to the symbolism of it all… 🫠

#i’m emoshunul #kaylor #cartier #jewelry