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nerdygaymormon · 1 year

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The LGBTQ community has seen controversy regarding acceptance of different groups (bisexual and transgender individuals have sometimes been marginalized by the larger community), but the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion and reflects the embrace of different identities and that we’re stronger together and need each other. While there are differences, we all face many of the same challenges from broader society.

In the 1960′s, in wider society the meaning of the word gay transitioned from ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ to predominantly mean ‘homosexual’ as they adopted the word as was used by homosexual men, except that society also used it as an umbrella term that meant anyone who wasn’t cisgender or heterosexual. The wider queer community embraced the word ‘gay’ as a mark of pride.

The modern fight for queer rights is considered to have begun with The Stonewall Riots in 1969 and was called the Gay Liberation Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.

The acronym GLB surfaced around this time to also include Lesbian and Bisexual people who felt “gay” wasn’t inclusive of their identities.

Early in the gay rights movement, gay men were largely the ones running the show and there was a focus on men’s issues. Lesbians were unhappy that gay men dominated the leadership and ignored their needs and the feminist fight. As a result, lesbians tended to focus their attention on the Women’s Rights Movement which was happening at the same time. This dominance by gay men was seen as yet one more example of patriarchy and sexism.

In the 1970′s, sexism and homophobia existed in more virulent forms and those biases against lesbians also made it hard for them to find their voices within women’s liberation movements. Betty Friedan, the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), commented that lesbians were a “lavender menace” that threatened the political efficacy of the organization and of feminism and many women felt including lesbians was a detriment.

In the 80s and 90s, a huge portion of gay men were suffering from AIDS while the lesbian community was largely unaffected. Lesbians helped gay men with medical care and were a massive part of the activism surrounding the gay community and AIDS. This willingness to support gay men in their time of need sparked a closer, more supportive relationship between both groups, and the gay community became more receptive to feminist ideals and goals.

Approaching the 1990′s it was clear that GLB referred to sexual identity and wasn’t inclusive of gender identity and T should be added, especially since trans activist have long been at the forefront of the community’s fight for rights and acceptance, from Stonewall onward. Some argued that T should not be added, but many gay, lesbian and bisexual people pointed out that they also transgress established gender norms and therefore the GLB acronym should include gender identities and they pushed to include T in the acronym.

GLBT became LGBT as a way to honor the tremendous work the lesbian community did during the AIDS crisis.

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, movements took place to add additional letters to the acronym to recognize Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, and others. As the acronym grew to LGBTIQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAA, many complained this was becoming unwieldy and started using a ‘+’ to show LGBT aren’t the only identities in the community and this became more common, whether as LGBT+ or LGBTQ+.

In the 2010′s, the process of reclaiming the word “queer” that began in the 1980′s was largely accomplished. In the 2020′s the LGBTQ+ acronym is used less often as Queer is becoming the more common term to represent the community.

#mattxiv #queer history #lgbt #lgbtq+#queer #long post

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edenaziraphale · 3 months

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You can feel however you like about the efficacy of the strike currently taking place, but if you're posting advising folks against participating because "that's not how a global strike works", I really encourage you to examine your behavior and your motivations. We know this isn't the traditional or perfect, platonic ideal of how a global strike should look or function, but it isn't about that. It isn't even particularly about efficacy in the traditional sense of a strike. No-one thinks that this is going to end the bombing. No-one thinks that this action is going to change the political marketplace forever. But a very public, very well-known Palestinian activist and journalist has requested on the public, global stage that this action be taken. The least that we can do, while we also do other active work in this arena, is respect her wishes and galvanize on her behalf. It does not hurt any of us to do what we can. It does not take away from activism for Palestine as a whole to participate in this event. What it could do is show the global public that the narrative has changed, the people stand with Palestine in ways that can translate into action. What it definitely does do is let Bisan and others know that they're being heard. That we remember them. That we're here. I can't think of a single reason not to do what you can. I can't think of a single reason not to do everything you can. And the very least of what we can do is take her request seriously.

#palestine #gaza #ceasefire now #israel

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gl1tteryzebra · 2 months

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nnnng thinking about rafe’s wedding reception.

the guests remain seated in the lavish upholstered dining chairs, trying to ignore the deafening tick of the clock as they wait in limbo. by now the mingling has mostly died down— pleasantries having already been exchanged at the beginning of the ceremony —and their food lays tauntingly in front of them, growing cold by the minute.

meanwhile, off in one of the vacant dressing rooms of the facility, you’re positioned at his feet. legs tucked politely beneath your knees as your hand pumps up and down with careful precision.

you had to beg him not to tear the delicate lining of your dress when he cornered you, assuring him that was to come later with a lingering kiss to his pouty lips. his rebukes were sufficiently shut down as you reached for his belt, happy enough to take what was being offered to him on a pretty gilded platter.

rafe’s gaze lingers on the heavy rock tailored perfectly to match your finger, a satisfied groan floating from his chest as the chic platinum presses into him.

“yea, good girl," he breathily murmurs as your parted lips make room for his throbbing length, tongue swiping over the tip like a dog relishing in its meal. his lithe fingers threaded through your locks, urging you to get on with it.

“mrs. cameron."

you whimpered around him, a pang of heat spreading through your core at that. mrs. cameron, mrs. cameron. an efficacious reminder of who it was you belonged to— who it was that would fuck you tonight.

“you like that? like being my pretty little wife. course you do, bet you’re fuckin’ drippin’” he huffed out a laugh as your hips shuffled, a pitiful attempt to create that delicious friction you so craved. “that's what I thought, could’ve had me al’eady baby, now you’ll take what I give you.”

needless to say, when you finally stumble back into the dining room, rafe vocalises your lack of appetite with a smug grin.

“someone’s already eaten.”

sincerely ~ 🦓༝༚༝༚

#rafe smut #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron smut #obx smut #rafe cameron drabble #divider by @fairytopea #I’m going feral

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yessoupy · 1 year

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if u see me on tumblr now until December 2 please yell at me to complete my writing.

#nothing fun sorry #political efficacy and fucking nature vs nurture

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didanawisgi · 2 years

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“Case rates are currently highest in the Northeast region of the US, where booster uptake is best. Nearly half of Vermont's population is fully vaccinated and boosted, along with more than 40% of the population in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to CDC data.”

#Covid-19 vaccine #Covid-19 #politics #joe biden #immune escape #viral escape #negative efficacy

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sebaby-l · 2 years

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With everything surrounding the Don't Say Gay bill, Roe V Wade decisions, and co- living I'm vfeeling very doomer pilled rn LMao

#like whats the point anymore #i have zero political efficacy sure i could vote but whats the point #txt

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probablyasocialecologist · 6 months

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In the past two decades, Israel has moved toward a form of warfare that attempts to remove the battle from the war, in which Israel has opted to keep its soldiers and army at a distance while relying on its potent airpower as a means of offensive action. It has employed this strategy during its past wars in Gaza with the effect of preserving the lives of its soldiers while killing hundreds of Palestinians, mostly civilians. In 2021, Israel actually tried to deceive Palestinian fighters by announcing a ground operation, aiming to target underground tunnels and eliminate numerous Palestinian fighters. The so-called “metro operation” failed partially due to Palestinian disbelief that Israel would actually enter the Gaza Strip. For years, the reliance on airpower alongside intelligence turned Israel into a one-dimensional army that uses air control for counterinsurgency operations, with all its operational limitations and limited efficacy in targeting fighters, while wreaking havoc in Palestinian civilian spaces. Israel has chosen a mode of killing without the peril of being killed. This strategy has spurred its adversaries to develop alternatives in response to Israel’s apparent reluctance for ground engagements — if you won’t come to us, we’ll come to you. War, as Clausewitz suggests, is inherently dialectical, akin to a “duel” in which each side employs technical expertise, determination, organizational structure, command and control, and intelligence to secure an upper hand. This is what happened on October 7; it was a Palestinian response to the tactical status quo that Israel had imposed. It is crucial to understand that Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip initiated the planning for this operation in 2022, merely a year after Israel’s “metro operation” failed to achieve its intended outcomes. Palestinian military planners took into account several significant factors in their planning. One of them was Israel’s recurrent reluctance to engage directly in Gaza, but there were also political and social pressures that pushed in the direction of October 7. They included the sluggish and limited improvements in living conditions on the strip and the absence of a clear political path forward. In other words, it was the exhaustion of political, diplomatic, and legal avenues.

Abdaljawad Omar, Hopeful pathologies in the war for Palestine: a reply to Adam Shatz

#israel #palestine #gaza

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apas-95 · 7 months

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ultimately, yes, in any violent conflict, excesses will be carried out. the degree to which these excesses are carried out depends on both the general level of political development of the masses acting spontaneously, as well as the political character of the organised vanguard of the conflict. as communists, we can recognise that while decolonisation is good in any case, a national liberation movement lead, principally, by the workers movement will be both more effective and carry out fewer excesses than one led by simple bourgeois nationalists. we should, in the process of our own national struggles, recognise every excess carried out as our own failure, as a failure of our own communist organisations to properly develop and lead.

all this being said, the fact that colonial and imperialist forces purposefully suppress communist organisations, and preferentially give non-secular, bourgois nationalist groups a leading position in the movements against them (because they recognise the greater efficacy and danger of the workers movement) has a certain amount of irony to it. they self-select those fighters for national liberation most likely to carry out all its excesses against them, then cry at the atrocity.

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mengjue · 1 year

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What's Happening in China? The November 2022 Protests

Hello! I know that there's so much going on in the world right now, so not everyone may be aware of what is happening in China right now. I thought that I would try to write a brief explainer, because the current wave of protests is truly unprecedented in the past 30+ years, and there is a lot of fear over what may happen next. For context, I'm doing this as someone who has a PhD in Asian Studies specialising in contemporary Chinese politics, so I don't know everything but I have researched China for many years.

I'll post some decent links at the end along with some China specialists & journalists I follow on Twitter (yeah I know, but it's still the place for the stuff at the moment). Here are the bullet points for those who just want a brief update:

Xi Jinping's government is still enacting a strict Zero Covid policy enforced by state surveillance and strict lockdowns.

On 24 November a fire in an apartment in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, killed 10. Many blamed strict quarantine policies on preventing evacuation.

Protests followed and have since spread nationwide.

Protesters are taking steps not seen since Tiananmen in 1989, including public chants for Xi and the CCP to step down.

Everyone is currently unsure how the government will respond.

More in-depth discussion and links under the cut:

First a caveat: this is my own analysis/explanation as a Chinese politics specialist. I will include links to read further from other experts and journalists. Also, this will be quite long, so sorry about that!

China's (aka Xi Jinping's) Covid Policy:

The first and most important context: Xi has committed to a strict Zero Covid policy in China, and has refused to change course. Now, other countries have had similar approaches and they undoubtedly saved lives - I was fortunate to live in New Zealand until this year, and Prime Minister Ardern's Zero Covid approach in 2020-2021 helped protect many. The difference is in the style/scope of enforcement, the use of vaccines, and the variant at play. China has stepped up its control on public life over the past 10 years, and has used this to enforce strict quarantine measures without full regard to the impact on people's lives - stories of people not getting food were common. Quarantine has also become a feared situation, as China moves people to facilities often little better than prisons and allegedly without much protection from catching Covid within. A personal friend in Zhengzhou went through national, then provincial, then local quarantines when moving back from NZ, and she has since done her best to avoid going back for her own mental and physical health. Xi has also committed China to its two home-grown vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm, both of which have low/dubious efficacy and are considered ineffective against new variants. Finally, with delta and then omicron most of the Zero-Covid countries have modified their approach due to the inability to maintain zero cases. China remains the only country still enacting whole-city eradication lockdowns, and they have become more frequent to the point that several are happening at any given time. The result is a population that is incredibly frustrated and losing hope amidst endless lockdowns and perceived ineffectiveness to address the pandemic.

Other Issues at Play:

Beyond the Covid situation, China is also wrestling with the continued slowdown in its economic growth. While its economic rise and annual GDP growth was nigh meteoric from the 80s to the 00s, it has been slowing over the past ten years, and the government is attempting to manage the transition away from an export-oriented economy to a more fully developed one. However, things are still uncertain, and Covid has taken its toll as it has elsewhere the past couple of years. Youth unemployment in particular is reaching new highs at around 20%, and Xi largely ignored this in his speech at the Party Congress in October (where he entered an unprecedented third term). As a result of the perceived uselessness of China's harsh work culture and its failure to result in a better life, many young Chinese have been promoting 躺平 tǎng píng or "lying flat", aka doing the bare minimum just to get by (similar to the English "quiet quitting"). The combination of economic issues and a botched Covid approach is important, as these directly affect the lives of ordinary middle-class Chinese, and historical it has only been when this occurred that mass movements really took off. The most famous, Tiananmen in 1989, followed China's opening up economic reforms and the dismantling of many economic safety nets allowing for growing inequality. While movements in China often grow to include other topics, having a foundation in something negatively impacting the average Han Chinese person's livelihood is important.

The Spark - 24 Nov 2022 Urumqi Apartment Fire:

The current protests were sparked by a recent fire that broke out in a flat in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province. (This is the same Xinjiang that is home to the Uighur people, against whom China has enacted a campaign of genocide and cultural destruction.) The fire occurred in the evening and resulted in 10 deaths, which many online blamed on the strict lockdown measures imposed by officials, who prevented people from leaving their homes. It even resulted in a rare public apology by city officials. However, with anger being so high nationwide, in addition to many smaller protests that have occurred over the past two years, this incident has ignited a nationwide movement.

The Protests and Their Significance:

The protests that have broken out over the past couple of days representing the largest and most significant challenge to the leadership since the 1989 Tiananmen movement. Similar to that movement, these protests have occurred at universities and cities across the country, with many students taking part openly. This scale is almost unseen in China, particularly for an anti-government protest. Other than Tiananmen in 1989, the most widespread movements that have occurred have been incidents such as the protest of the 1999 Belgrade bombings or the 2005 and then 2012 anti-Japanese protests, all of which were about anger toward a foreign country.

Beyond the scale the protests are hugely significant in their message as well. Protesters are publicly shouting the phrases "习近平下台 Xí Jìnpíng xiàtái!" and "共产党下台 Gòngchǎndǎng xiàtái!", which mean "Xi Jinping, step down/resign!" and "CCP, step down/resign!" respectively. To shout a direct slogan for the government to resign is unheard of in China, particularly as Xi has tightened control of civil society. And people are doing this across the country in the thousands, openly and in front of police. This is a major challenge for a leader and party who have prioritised regime stability as a core interest for the majority of their history.

Looking Ahead:

Right now, as of 15:00 Australian Eastern time on Monday, 28 November 2022, the protests are only in their first couple of days and we are unsure as to how the government will respond. Police have already been seen beating protesters and journalists and dragging them away in vehicles. However, in many cases the protests have largely been monitored by police but still permitted to occur. There seems to be uncertainty as to how they want to respond just yet, and as such no unified approach.

Many potential outcomes exist, and I would warn everyone to be careful in overplaying what can be achieved. Most experts I have read are not really expecting this to result in Xi's resignation or regime change - these things are possible, surely, but it is a major task to achieve and the unity & scale of the protest movement remains to be fully seen. The government may retaliate with a hard crackdown as it has done with Tiananmen and other protests throughout the years. It may also quietly revamp some policies without publicly admitting a change in order to both pacify protesters and save face. The CCP often uses mixed tactics, both coopting and suppressing protest movements over the years depending on the situation. Changing from Zero Covid may prove more challenging though, given how much Xi has staked his political reputation on enforcing it.

What is important for everyone online, especially those of us abroad, is to watch out for the misinformation campaign the government will launch to counter these protests. Already twitter is reportedly seeing hundreds of Chinese bot accounts mass post escort advertisements using various city names in order to drown out protest results in the site's search engine. Chinese officials will also likely invoke the standard narrative of Western influence and CIA tactics as the reason behind the protests, as they did during the Hong Kong protests.

Finally, there will be a new surge of misinformation and bad takes from tankies, or leftists who uncritically support authoritarian regimes so long as they are anti-US. An infamous one, the Qiao Collective, has already worked to shift the narrative away from the protests and onto debating the merits of Zero Covid. This is largely similar to pro-Putin leftists attempting the justify his invasion of Ukraine. Always remember that the same values that you use to criticise Western countries should be used to criticise authoritarian regimes as well - opposing US militarism and racism, for example, is not incompatible with opposing China's acts of genocide and state suppression. If you want further info (and some good sardonic humour) on the absurd takes and misinfo from pro-China tankies, I would recommend checking out Brian Hioe in the links below.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a grass-roots protest made by people in China, who are putting their own lives at risk to demonstrate openly like this. There have already been so many acts of bravery by those who just want a better future for themselves and their country, and it is belittling and disingenuous to wave away everything they are doing as being just a "Western front" or a few "fringe extremists".

Links:

BBC live coverage page with links to analysis and articles

ABC (Australia) analysis

South China Morning Post analysis

Experts & Journalists to Check Out:

Brian Hioe - Journalist & China writer, New Bloom Magazine

Bonnie Glaser - China scholar, German Marshall Fund

Vicky Xu - Journalist & researcher, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Stephen McDonnell - Journalist, BBC

M Taylor Fravel - China scholar, MIT

New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre - NZ's hub of China scholarship (I was fortunate to attend their conferences during my PhD there, they do great work!)

If you've reached the end I hope this helps with understanding what's going on right now! A lot of us who know friends and whanau in China are worried for their safety, so please spread the word and let's hope that there is something of a positive outcome ahead.

#孟珏’s china corner #中国 #上海 #习近平 #习近平下台 #共产党下台 #China #Shanghai #China protests #China protests 2022 #Xi Jinping #Xi Jinping step down #CCP step down #Xi Jinping resign #CCP resign #乌鲁木齐 #Urumqi #Urumqi fire #Urumqi apartment fire

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essektheylyss · 6 months

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As much as it is fun to joke about how absurd Trent's plan was (and on its face, considering just his perspective alone, it was!), I do think we need to acknowledge that it wouldn't have worked as a threat if it had not been reasonably concerning to Caleb.

When you think about how little the Nein know at this point about the Solstice (meta pigeons notwithstanding), there are a lot of factors that play into this being a credible threat. For instance:

The collars are no longer working, as are some wards, in which case it's not unreasonable to wonder if any of the Amulets of Nondetection are out of commission.

It's possible that the Dynasty genuinely does not have that much evidence to go after Essek—that he managed to fake his death and cover his trail that way, or he left well before the pressure really began to encroach, as a preemptive measure, and with him out of sight the rumors died down (or were even quashed by his mother for political reasons, regardless of her feelings on the matter).

There's no good way to know what information or evidence Trent may have stashed away in the event that it was necessary later, which could be delivered anonymously to the Dynasty and not rest on Trent's credibility.

Regardless of Trent's relative ability to capture Essek on his own, which is probably low, he is enough of a loose cannon that he could seriously hurt him simply in a one-on-one duel, because Trent has clearly gone beyond any considerations of self-preservation and is trying to inflict maximum damage, which makes him dangerous all on his own.

It doesn't have to be any one of these, but the important thing is that the plot hinges upon Caleb believing this is at least a semi-credible threat. If there really was no danger to Essek, then it would be reasonable for Caleb, who is very intelligent, to dismiss it and focus on something more important. We've seen that Caleb is perfectly capable of shutting Trent out in the face of larger priorities even when his threats were very affecting, and Caleb's had an extra seven years since then to move past that trauma.

But given that the point of threatening Essek, on a meta level, was to ensure that the plot of the one-shot moved at the pace it needed to, then Caleb needs to believe that this is a credible threat. Regardless of the efficacy of the particular plan outlined, we must be willing to believe that, if he is not confronted now, Trent will make good on his threats in one way or another.

#critical role #cr spoilers #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #m9 solstice #trent ikithon #like the point here is not that trent's plan isn't absurd. it is.#but also like. if he couldn't get the dynasty to go after essek he would just go fuckin harm essek himself.#the man is like. BEYOND help. he's fucking monstrous. he will make this happen or die trying because this is basically all he has.#also I am laughing now at the idea that deirta covered the treason up after he left #she's fucking pissed but she's also like 'well this is nOT affecting my political standing.'

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