#stonewall veterans

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"THE NEW AND THE OLD," Winnipeg Tribune. March 14, 1913. Page 1. ---- CAPT. JOHN C. PONSFORD St. Thomas, who becomes warden of Stony Mountain penitentiary

LT.COL. A. G. IRVINE Former warden of Stony Mountain, who goes to Kingston penitentiary as warden. ///

"NEW WARDEN OF PENITENTIARY AT STONY MOUNTAIN," Winnipeg Tribune. March 14, 1913. Page 3. --- Captain John C. Ponsford Once Owned a Baseball Team in Ontario City. ---- Speaking of Captain John C. Ponsford, recently appointed to succeed Col. Irvine as warden of the Stony Mountain penitentiary, the St. Thomas Times in a recent issue says:

Captain Ponsford has been prominently identified with the business and military life of St. Thomas and Elgin county for a great many years. He was born in St. Thomas on Dec. 2, 183, being a son of the late George Ponsford, and was until the time of his appointment to the position of city tax collector, in 1894, identified with the firm of Ponsford Bros., contractors. He continued as tax collector until Sept. 1. 1306, resigning to go to El Paso, Texas, where until last year he was engaged in the building and real estate business with his brother, H. T.. Ponsford. In all his industrial enterprises Capt. Ponsford was eminently successful, and as tax collector he was one of the most efficient officials and set a record of never having had occasion to call on the law to assist him in enforcing the collection of tax- ea from backward ratepayers.

Was a Militiaman. The captain was identified with the 25th Eigin infantry for over twelve years. He entered the ranks as a private in the early eighties and rapidly advanced to a captaincy, being placed in charge of No. 6 company, located at St. Thomas. To quality for this rank he took a course at the Military school in London, Ont. Military men are unanimous in saying that Capt. Ponsford was one of the best disciplinarians and drill instructors the 25th ever had.

Capt. Ponsford has also taken keen interest in sporting affairs, specially baseball. He is was who was responsible for the formation of the Western Ontario Baseball league, an organization which was conducted successfully for a number of years. He was president of the league, and also was the sole owner and manager of the St. Thomas team, which succeeded in winning the championship, and the large Bailey cup in 1904. The league was not reorganized in 1904, but the St. Thomas team was continued that year as a semi-pro. organization, with Captain Ponsford at the head.

#manitoba penitentiary #kingston ontario #kingston penitentiary #warden #a. g. irvine #j. c. ponsford #prison officers #canadian militia #canadian veterans #crime and punishment in canada #history of crime and punishment in canada #prison management #stonewall #st. thomas #elgin county

[hashtagloveloses]

in preparation for pride month 2023 people should know that miss major griffin-gracy, one of our surviving veterans of Stonewall, wrote a memoir that just came out. it’s called Miss Major Speaks, and if your library doesn’t have it/have it on order, you should buy it to support her retirement.

if you want to learn more about her, you should also watch the documentary about her life, MAJOR!, which is really wonderful.

#pride #pride month #pride month 2023 #queer history #lgbt history #stonewall #original post

[isitcorrect]

Over on Twitter, "community notes" are "factchecking" claims that drag queens and trans women were at Stonewall by invoking the words of one Fred Sargeant, a Stonewall veteran turned cop turned TERF - not using that as a generic descriptor, but an accurate one, as his bio has "I Stand With JK" in it.

Fred Sargeant has, in recent years, pivoted hard to erasure of trans people and drag queens from the history of Stonewall, in the name of proving that it was entirely cis lesbians and cis gay men responsible, and when anyone pushes back, he drops the phrase that in his view terminates all debate: he was there and you were not, so you've got to trust him.

One problem, though. By his own admission, Fred Sargeant was not in the Stonewall Inn that night, and only came upon the event after police entered the bar.

Yes, his story has always been that he was at a dinner party when it began, and observed Stonewall when he walked by and saw people and cops gathered outside the bar. As he said at the time:

The kids felt that some of the other kids were being kept inside and being beaten up by the police. I don't know whether it really happened that way or not, but the rumor spread.

Authoritative stuff.

Sources do agree Stormé DeLarverie, alone or part of a group of butch lesbians, scuffled with police; they disagree on if that was the singular cause of it escalating into a riot or one of several causes. Stonewall is...a incredibly fuzzy event we'll never have a perfectly objective record of, for many, many reasons, and we accepted that, until a guy who was at a dinner party instead of in the bar decided to appoint himself the One Authoritative Voice on what really happened at Stonewall that night, and frame anyone who disagrees with him as a liar who just can't accept the truth.

Stonewall probably wasn't exclusively about trans people, but it sure as hell wasn't not at all about trans people either.

...again, this guy lived through Stonewall and then became a cop, and he wants himself to be the sole acceptable elder for the entire gay community.

#stonewall #pride #factchecking #twitter

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 25 June 1978, the rainbow LGBT+ flag was first flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day march. The flag was designed by gay artist and army veteran Gilbert Baker (pictured in 2003), and the two flags flown were hand-dyed and stitched by 30 volunteers. The original design included eight coloured stripes: pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for peace and purple for spirit. More recently, many rainbow flags have added brown and black stripes, reflecting the particular oppression faced by Black and other LGBT+ people of colour. Others have added a triangle including blue, pink and white stripes to stress the inclusion of trans people, amidst efforts by the far right, supported by a small minority of the left (especially in Britain) to attack the rights won by trans people over decades of struggle. This Pride month learn more LGBT+ history in our podcast series. In particular we've got episodes about the Stonewall rebellion and the first ever Pride the following year, about LGBT+ support for the UK miners' strike in the 1980s, and interviews with queer sex workers who organised their workplace in the 1990s and 2000s: https://workingclasshistory.com/tag/lgbtq/ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=650384743801411&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[larryfanfiction]

Historical Girl Direction

🎀 The Sweet Yoke by little_obelia @littleobelia (1k, T)

Harry prays to Mother Mary, Undoer of Knots, to send a healer to attend to the Order's ailing hens. Mother Superior consults the blessed yellow pages and finds Tomlinson, L., a local veterinarian.

🎀 Oh Valley Girl by LadyLondonderry @londonfoginacup (3k, G)

Out past the rolling hills and the churning sea sits a little fishing village, nestled in a valley where its residents are protected from the elements, as well as from the outside world as a whole. Harry lives in this little fishing village, and she loves nothing more than feeling the earth beneath her and seeing the sky above her and sometimes dreaming of adventure. Then one day a ship arrives.

🎀 Too Great a Temptation by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (5k, G)

Harry and Louis attend a fancy dress ball.

🎀 In a Little Bit of Trouble by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (5k, T)

Agent Louis Tomlinson is in hot water and finds help in the most unlikely of places: the sweet waitress at her local automat.

🎀 Hoist the Colours High by Kerasines @justlarried (5k, M)

They’re facing each other, closer now, so close, cut off from the world completely, or at least it feels that way. The blanket cages them in, blocks out the moonlight, dulls the sound of the wind, the sea, and the birds coming from outside. The air is hot and musky, but she thinks she could stay under this blanket forever. It’s their own little universe, in here, shared breath and shared heat and shared time. Or: A Girl Direction Pirates of the Caribbean AU featuring Harry as Will Turner, Louis as Elizabeth Swann, swords, and my obsession with girls in men's period clothing.

🎀 Only You (Blue Always Stays True) by BeautifulWisdom @justanotherghostblr (11k, M)

Regency AU. Lady Harriet falls for her sister's best friend the elusive Alpha Lady Louise who couldn't possibly return her tender feelings. Or could she?

🎀 Withdrawal Was the Weeping by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (11k, E)

Confined by life and society, Harry spends her Sunday afternoons walking aimlessly about the countryside as it's her only source of freedom. One Sunday she is aided by the most beautiful woman she has ever met, but not everything is as it seems. Was it a trick of the light? Was it Harry's own active imagination? There is nothing to do but try to find her again.

🎀 Harriet and Louise by Blaaake @newleafover (29k, E)

There’s nothing Harriet can do to alter the world, but she can make Louise laugh. A regency-era girl direction AU

🎀 The Changer and the Changed by homosociallyyours @homosociallyyours (59k, M)

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians. Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love. When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene. It’s a time of growth for everyone involved.

🎀 into the great wide open by mixedfandomfics @ficshl (69k, T)

It only took a week or so for Harry to truly get into the routine of life on the road. They woke before dawn each morning, ate a small meal, packed up the tent and rounded up the livestock, all before setting out. On a good day, they could make it twenty miles. There hadn’t been many bad ones, but Louis confessed that on a previous trip there had been a solid week where they hadn’t made it more than five miles a day. Soon, Louis promised, animals would start going lame, and wheels would start breaking, and people would start going hungry. The beginning was the easiest, and the end was doable only because the hope of finishing the trek fueled everyone. It was the middle bit, with the tedious marching hundreds of miles from any settlement, that people succumbed to the journey.

🎀 Among Lavender Fields by homosociallyyours @homosociallyyours (70k, E)

At twenty-one, Louis Tomlinson is more than ready to shed the girl next door image that's been with her since her entry into film in her childhood, but with a mother and father steeped in Hollywood tradition it's felt impossible. Meanwhile, Harry Styles is a young, struggling musician new to London, friendless yet eager for the next phase of her life to begin. When French director Marie Coutard casts the two of them in her film, it's a chance for both to break away from the people they've been. Together, they struggle through an acting process that's new and unfamiliar for both of them, learning more than they could've imagined about themselves along the way. As they spend long days picking lavender and long nights sharing the things they've never been able to tell anyone else, their love blooms. Will the flower fade, or will the love they make among lavender fields be one they carry with them to the end?

#larry fanfiction #historical #girl direction #genderswapao3 #ma

[racefortheironthrone]

Why do you hate anti-slavery characters? That the creators specify they are anti-slavery certainly argues against the idea of trying to deny it existed. What it seems they want in the characters is an underdog on the losing side, usually one who has lost everything, and they are acknowledging slavery is evil by not having the hero approve it. I can see hating the benevolent slave owner/inheritor, but IDK what's the problem with the other type.

You have wildly misinterpreted my argument, and you've done so in a way that actually rises to being mildly offensive because of how you've let yourself get duped by the Lost Cause mythology. Because there is nothing anti-slavery about the trope of the Confederate Protagonist.

Let me spell it out plainly for you: the trope that a Confederate veteran didn't fight because of slavery is part of the broader Lost Cause myth promulgated after the Civil War by groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy, United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans that denied that the Confederacy explicitly fought for the cause of slavery.

By pushing the false narrative that Confederate soldiers were not fighting for slavery, these white supremacist groups sought to trick Americans into believing that Confederate soldiers (including both folk heroes like Jesse James and generals like Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson) were noble (indeed, superior) warriors who fought to defend hearth, home, and the lofty constitutional principle of "state's rights."

In reality, among soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia, “volunteers in 1861 were 42 percent more likely to own slaves themselves or to live with family members who owned slaves than the general population.” Confederate soldiers fought for slavery because their society was built on slavery, they viewed the Union as a threat to their social order which was built on slavery, Confederate armies systematically enslaved or re-enslaved free black people, and Confederate soldiers repeatedly massacred black soldiers.

And the famous individuals who inspired those Western tropes, like Jesse James? Well, in reality, Jesse James was part of a notorious family of pro-slavery terrorists who participated in the Lawrence Massacre during Bleeding Kansas, and James himself participated in the Centralia Massacre during the Civil War. After the war when he became an outlaw and bank robber, James' gang targeted Republicans for assassination or robbery, James himself wrote letters to the newspapers denouncing Republican politicians, and the James gang used Klan hoods during robberies.

#history #u.s history #lost cause

[normal-horoscopes]

The rise of satanism in the 1980s was a difficult time for police forces all over America. The ever-present threat of communist infiltration was already at an all-time high, and police found themselves woefully under-prepared for criminal warlocks.

Enter the Catholic church. In a gesture of incredible patriotism and interfaith brotherhood, the Catholic church began collaboration with protestant pastors and local police unions to develop a training program that could ordain and equip officers with the metaphysical tools they might to protect themselves from the looming demonic threat.

What began as a city-scale program eventually caught the attention of the national government. The Anti-Satanic Training and Operations Initiative, or ASTOI program was a smashing success. Interfaith chaplains were placed in every police station to provide scriptural support and theological threat analysis for every police station in America. Silvered crosses, holy water gas grenades, and consecrated munitions became standard for low-level officers. SWAT teams could even apply for the use of Athama and similarly consecrated longswords for their use in TRD, Tactical Ritual Disarming.

By 1987, the prison population in American had increased by nearly 11%. Yet, it seemed as if the satanic threat had not diminished in the slightest. By 1991, ASTOI veterans estimated upwards of 500,000 active Satanists in America at any one time. Something had to be done.

State and National legislatures moved with record speed, approving a nearly 50% increase in funding to the ASTOI program by the end of 1992.

To more effectively combat metaphysical threats, Officers would now operate on a constant, low dosage of a recently formulated psychedelic known as Regulation Substance D1. RSD1 allowed even metaphysically untrained officers the ability to see beyond the veil, allowing them to "perceive metaphysical threats before they happened."

Research is ongoing, but the long term effects of prolonged RSD1 use have proved problematic. 20-year trials indicate that RSD1 can create persistent, prolonged increases in aggression, paranoia, and irritability, while significantly impairing rational judgement, empathy, and inhibition.

Several efforts have been made to reduce the use of RSD1 among local police departments, but efforts have been routinely stonewalled by a combination of politicization and lobbying groups tied to the production of RSD1 itself.

Study is ongoing.

#study is ongoing #unreality

[everybodysinvited]

LGBTQ+ History Month - Stormé DeLarverie

Finishing off this month with the super cool Stormé DeLarverie! A drag performer, bouncer, singer, show-jumper and Stonewall veteran, she did it all!!

A pioneer and protector, DeLarverie was at the forefront of the gay rights movement, pushing gender roles and dress, she was an icon in butch culture!

If you have any other suggestions for queer historic figures I'd love to hear them as I may delve into a few more posts like this throughout the year! Thank you for your support and happy LGBTQ+ History Month!

Image & text description in ALT

#education #everybodys invited #sex education #sex educator #lgbtq #lgbtq history #lgbtq community #lgbt history #lesbianism #butch #butch lesbian #butch appreciation #queer history #storme delarverie #wlw #gay history #rshe #teaching #id in alt text #id included #lgbtq history month #lgbtqia #lgbt pride #queer community

[variousqueerthings]

we have always been here: documentaries about trans people

documentaries about trans people, starting in the year 1953. I don't speak to filmic quality or whether or not something is problematic, what matters here is simply the testimony and the stamp of existence (including in those where the subject matter is spoken about, rather than getting to speak for themselves)

(I haven't seen every one of these yet, so some of them have slightly shorter texts to go along with them)

while (as you'll see) most of these are US-based movies, they are from all over the world. I'd be curious about whether there are any focused specifically on the intersection of transness and disability, I don't personally know of any, although of many speak to issues with access to healthcare (for example southern comfort)

all the ones that have links connected to them are watchable for free

some of these can be watched for free on the archive, youtube, vimeo, many could do with a few coins thrown their way: many of the movies, for example the the aggressives can be rented on vimeo, transgender tuesdays is free on youtube but accepting donations for trans women of colour, lotus sports club is doing festivals currently and is accepting donations to support the team and the vulnerable trans (now men) who have had to leave it to find work, call her ganda is accepting donations to support the family's legal costs in bringing justice for their daughter

remember, finding the stories that have been graciously shared is one thing, supporting our community is the next step

glen or glenda (1953): the first known movie about trans people, a mixed-media semi-fictional account (US)

the queen (1968) (US): following drag-queens at a national beauty pageant two years before stonewall, including footage of crystal labeija (US)

change of sex (1979-1999): a five-part series following trans woman julia grant as she tries to access gender affirming care via the gender identity clinic (UK - available on BBC iplayer)

paris is burning (1990): documenting queer people in the ballroom scene, community, competition, and challenges (US)

shinjuku boys (1995): following five young men who work at onabe bars, which cater to women, as they try to make ends meet (Japan)

transexual menace (1996): snapshots of the melting pot of trans life in new york, from famous faces, to protest, including several immigrants to america from columbia, west africa, japan, hawaii, and germany (Germany/US)

you don't know dick: courageous hearts of transsexual men (1997): about several trans men in different walks of life, who chat about their experiences, politics, and history (US)

the brandon teena story (1998): a documentation about the murder of brandon teena, using testimonies from the people involved (US)

southern comfort (2001): follows robert eads in the final year of his life, before he died of initially treatable ovarian cancer (US)

superstar in a housedress: the life and legend of jackie curtis (2004): a portrait of jackie curtis, one of the earliest punk pioneers, by (mainly cis) people who knew her (US)

screaming queens: the riot at compton’s cafeteria (2005): a rare documentary of the time featuring the voices of trans activists, about the pre-stonewall compton's cafeteria riot (US)

beautiful darling (2005): a portrait of candy darling (one of the trans woman superstars of the 60s) from the perspective of the (mainly cis) people who knew her (US)

the aggressives (2005): centered on black studs, mascs, and trans men, and more, exploring the term "aggressives," race and gender, filmed over five years (US)

Jayne County: man enough to be a woman (2005): a performance by veteran punk musician Jayne County and her band (UK/US) (excerpt)

beautiful daughters (2006): following a group of trans women who performed the vagina monologues in 2005 (US)

still black: a portrait of black transmen (2008): a series of interviews following black trans men speaking about their lives, careers, race, and gender (US)

the advocate for fagdom (2011): a series of political testimonies by queer activists, including the punk musician vaginal davis (US)

she said boom: the story of fifth column (2012): a documentary about seminal 1980s queercore punkband fifth column (Canada)

TRANS (2012): following a series of trans people at varying places in their transition, and the people around them (US)

hide & seek (2013): a group of trans people in pakistan speak about their experiences with the language they have access to (Pakistan)

before the last curtain falls (2014): transexuals and drag queens in their 60s-70s touring a show called "gardenias" (Germany)

mala mala (2014): following a number of trans people in puerto rico from all walks of life (Puerto Rico)

queercore: how to punk a revolution (2017): a primer to the history of queercore with interviews of some of the people who created the scene (US)

laerte-se (2017): a portrait of the underrated visual artist laerte (Brazil)

a year in transition (2018): 20 year old arab-american trans man documents one year of going on hormones (US)

call her ganda (2018): the story about the murder of a trans filipino woman named ganda by a us marine and the repercussions (Philippines)

indianara (2019): indianara is an activist fighting for trans survival and rights in brazil (Brazil)

disclosure (2020): going through a history of trans representation in the media (US)

transgender tuesdays (2020): featuring trans people talking about a groundbreaking gender-affirming clinic that opened in the 90s in the san franciscan tenderloin district (US)

prayers for sweet waters (2021): three trans sex-workers who live in cape town discuss their experience during covid (South Africa)

the end of wonderland (2021): follows erotic photographer tara emory as she goes through changes in her life (US)

travesía travesti (2021): the last performance of a cabaret during the chilean revolt of 2019 (Chile)

casa susanna (2022): documentary about the 50s summer retreat for male crossdressers and trans women (US)

la vida es un carnaval (2022): in a rural town, a group of trans women plan the first gay pride during its annual carnival and a bunch of scar tissue comes up (Mexico)

this is not me (2022): two young transmen in iran with supportive families share their daily lives (Iran)

lotus sports club (2022): a football club in cambodia run by trans man pa vann and a safe space for trans boys and lesbians (Cambodia)

nel mio nome (2022): four italian transmen share their thoughts, experiences, and identities (Italy)

the dads (2023): a group of dads of trans kids meet with the father of matthew shepard for a fishing trip (US)

kokomo city (2023): intra-community, celebratory documentary centering black trans sex-workers in america (US)

#queer stuff #trans stuff #queer resources #queer cinema #queer documentary #trans documentary #trans rights #queer rights #queer culture #queer art

[transbookoftheday]

Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and Toshio Meronek

The future of Black, queer, and trans liberation explored by a legendary transgender elder and activist

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a transgender elder and activist who has survived Bellevue psychiatric hospital, Attica Prison, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a world that white supremacy has built. She has shared tips with other sex workers in the nascent drag ball scene of the late 1960s, and helped found one of America’s first needle exchange clinics from the back of her van.

Miss Major Speaks is both document of her brilliant life–told with intimacy, warmth and an undeniable levity-and a roadmap for the challenges black, brown, queer and trans youth will face on the path to liberation today.

Her incredible story of a life lived and a world survived becomes a conduit for larger questions about the riddle of collective liberation. For a younger generation, she warns about the traps of ‘representation,’ the politics of 'self-care,' and the frequent dead-ends of non-profit organizing; for all of us, she is a strike against those who would erase these histories of struggle.

Miss Major offers something that cannot be found elsewhere: an affirmation that our vision for freedom can and must be more expansive than those on offer by mainstream institutions.

#miss major speaks #miss major speaks: conversations with a black trans revolutionary #miss major griffin-gracy #toshio meronek #transfem #trans book of the day #trans books #queer books #bookblr #booklr

[genderoutlaws]

Just ordered my copy of Miss Major Speaks!! I’m so excited for this release, show Mama Major all the love and support ♥️

#op #books #book recs #miss major #black trans women #trans elders #stonewall veterans

[kithj]

i thought it would be fun to share what i’m reading for pride :-)

pageboy by elliot page

i have been a lifelong fan of elliot page, one of my first celebrity crushes (alongside anna paquin in xmen) & if you’ve ever watched any of his other work like gaycation or there’s something in the water, you know he is very articulate & deliberate with his words & that definitely translates into his writing as well. i’m about halfway through and really enjoying it, his writing is again very deliberate and snappy, and i like how he reflects on the history of where he grew up and interweaves it with his childhood & present day. one of my favorite passages so far is when he's reminiscing about playing pretend as a boy:

"Those were some of the best times of my life, traveling to another dimension where I was... me. And not just a boy but a man, a man who could fall in love and be loved back. Why do we lose that ability? To create a whole world? A bunk bed was a kingdom, I was a boy."

stone butch blues by leslie feinberg

i’ve read this collection many years ago as a teen/early 20s and it’s actually been really hard for me to reread. i got through the first 3 chapters and had to set it aside because it was really affecting me. maybe because i’m older… anyways, not sure if i’m going to finish this reread since i don’t really think i’m in the right headspace to handle it. however there’s a lot of Leslie Feinberg’s writing available online, i’ve shared some previously and you can find them here :-) sbb is also available for free on hir website, and i do still recommend it, just be aware of the content before you start reading.

honorable mentions follow because i haven't gotten the books in the mail yet 😭

miss major speaks by miss major griffin-gracy

this book just came out this past month, and i'm waiting for my copy to arrive. i'll just share the description here:

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a transgender elder and activist who has survived Bellevue psychiatric hospital, Attica Prison, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a world that white supremacy has built. She has shared tips with other sex workers in the nascent drag ball scene of the late 1960s, and helped found one of America’s first needle exchange clinics from the back of her van. Miss Major Speaks is both document of her brilliant life–told with intimacy, warmth and an undeniable levity-and a roadmap for the challenges black, brown, queer and trans youth will face on the path to liberation today.

you can donate to miss major's fundly here

the persistent desire: a femme-butch reader edited by joan nestle

i've read some of the essays in this anthology previously, but i have a really hard time reading the scanned pages on my laptop (hurts my head) so i bit the bullet and ordered my own copy from a used bookstore. it was suspiciously cheap compared to where i've seen it elsewhere, so fingers crossed it's the real deal. i'm excited because the shop noted that it had previous wear & potential writing in the margins from the previous owner and i look forward to seeing the thoughts of the person before me :-)

i really like reading older lesbian literature, though it makes me sad sometimes that a lot of the lesbian bar culture no longer exists. i wish i could go back and talk to some of the women and butches that lived through it.

hijab butch blues by lamya h

this is next on my to-read list, i think i might jump over to this one since i've set sbb aside for now. i'll just paste the description again:

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher—her female teacher—she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can’t yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don’t matter, and it’s easier to hide in plain sight.

To disappear. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: when Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. Could Maryam, uninterested in men, be . . . like Lamya?

i'm excited to read this one and get my own copy eventually. a lot of the butch literature i've read has been from white butches (primarily leslie feinberg & ivan coyote) & i look forward to reading a new perspective. kitty tsui is also another butch whose work i really like, she has an essay in the persistent desire and i know that one has made the rounds on tumblr before.

anyways just felt like sharing ! i haven't been able to do anything for pride this year so i'm trying to fill the void a bit with reading a lot of gay/lesbian literature. hope you all are having a safe and happy pride :-)

#personal

[hlficlibrary]

✤ Pet Cat Fics ✤

A series of posts with the top five fics of each category by kudos plus five more hidden gems from that category! Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

- Top 5 H/L Fics -

1️⃣ The One Where Harry Really Doesn't Have Ten Cats by LoadedGunn (T, 10k)

"Mate, you can dress him up in a tutu and upload it to YouTube, I don't care as long as he's alive when I come back."

Harry gasps. "How did you know I have three tiny cat tutus?"

"You sound like the crazy type."

Or, the AU where Harry is a pet-sitter for the rich and famous, and Louis is rich and famous.

2️⃣ Emperor's New Clothes by sunsetmog / @magicalrocketships (E, 92k)

The fact that Louis’s most precious belonging was a cat with a face like thunder and an uncanny ability to cover every single inch of Louis’s clothing with cat hair was something that Louis chose not to think about too much.

or: Harry’s a pop star and Louis isn’t, and there’s a non-disclosure agreement where there used to be a relationship.

3️⃣ Thought The Song Was Sung by @100percentsassy (E, 12k)

Louis never auditioned for the X-Factor. Years later, Harry's just another gay ex-boybander who lives alone with his cat... until Niall decides to take matters into his own hands and set up a profile for Harry on a dating website.

4️⃣ I hear you calling in the dead of night by Thelonelycoast (M, 72k)

No one really notices Marcel Styles. In fact, Marcel’s so invisible that if his teachers don’t call on him in lessons - and they rarely do - Marcel can go whole days without speaking to anyone other than his mum, his sister, Gemma, his cat, Dusty and the school librarian, Alma. And if he just so happens to have a tiny, miniscule crush on the footie captain, Louis Tomlinson, well, that’s no one’s business but his own. Until Louis notices him back...

5️⃣ knock knock, i love you by beautlouis / @thelovejandles (E, 86k)

“Well,” Louis says, searching for something to relieve this tension. “I think if a bloke gets kicked out of his stats exam for a knock knock joke, he deserves to hear the punchline, yeah?”

“Oh!” Harry says, beaming. “I forgot where we left off, what was it again?” He looks overjoyed to be exchanging a shit joke.

“Ah, you said knock knock, then I said who’s there, and then you said Noah,” Louis supplies helpfully. He hates that he's actually curious about the rest of the joke. “So, Noah who?”

“Oh,” says Harry, in a much different tone, dragging out the syllable. He looks bashful now. Louis cannot keep up with this boy, it's going to kill him. “Right, well.” He shuffles his feet. Fuck, what kind of knock knock joke gets a boy nervous? “Noah a good place we could get something to eat?”

[Harry and Louis get kicked out of a statistics exam for passing a knock knock joke note, and subsequently fall in love. Harry's a virgin, there's a cat, a hot cocoa date, a lot of sex, even more knock knock jokes, and everything is lovely and happy.]

HIDDEN GEMS:

💎 The Changer and the Changed by @homosociallyyours (M, 59k)

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians.

Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love.

When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene.

It’s a time of growth for everyone involved.

💎 Treat Mothman With Kindness by flowercrownfemme (T, 16k)

“Does anyone else ever think mothman is... Kinda hot?” “No?” Zayn squinted, frowning. “Louis? The fuck?”

In which Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn are amateur cryptozoologists and Harry is the creature they find in the woods of a small north-western town. ft. lots of glitter and shrieking and a whole shed full of lesbian cats.

💎 Forever You'll Be There by my Side by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup (G, 4k)

If asked, Harry would say that he doesn't live alone; he lives with his lovely and intelligent cat Starberry. He lives on a street full of witches and wizards that he sees briefly before they apparate off their front steps, and his sister floos by unannounced quite often. If asked, Harry would say he lives a rather content life.

If asked, Harry would not say being practically run over by his new neighbour the first time they meet is a positive thing. He may even say that he wishes that new neighbour would stop following him around and let him do his produce shopping in peace.

💎 meow or never by velvetnoodle / @femslashy (T, 3k)

Harry is having a terrible, no good, very bad day.

He’s holed himself up in the back of the university library, stealing an entire sofa for himself. The fact that no one has said anything to him about it just goes to show how much his feelings must be on display. That’s nothing new; Harry’s always worn his heart on his sleeve. And cried easily. Not that he’s crying yet, but he’s close. It’s been a right shit day, and Harry just wants to go back to his room and bury his face in Evie’s soft fur. Unfortunately, he no longer has that luxury.

When Harry is forced to choose between getting kicked out of student housing or giving up his cat, a moment of self-pity leads to the discovery of a third, and much more appealing, option

💎 Zoey by @wabadabadaba (G, 2k)

Harry knew his first name, but he liked the way Dr. Tomlinson sounded more. Harry watched as Louis unclasped her harness and set it aside and pet her back and under her chin. Louis kissed the top of her head and murmured sweet nothings to her- mostly about how pretty she is and how well behaved she is. Harry wished it was him.

or Harry has a huge crush on his cat's veterinarian and finally decides to do something about it.

#ficrec #hlcreators #hljournal #hltracks #1dficvillage #trackinghappily #trackinghome #tracksintheam #1dsource #yourlarrysource #hlsource #wabadabadaba #velvetnoodle #ladylondonderry #homosociallyyours #flowercrownfemme #beautlouis #thelonelycoast #100percentsassy #loadedgunn #sunsetmog

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and Toshio Meronek

goodreads

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a transgender elder and activist who has survived Bellevue psychiatric hospital, Attica Prison, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a world that white supremacy has built. She has shared tips with other sex workers in the nascent drag ball scene of the late 1960s, and helped found one of America’s first needle exchange clinics from the back of her van.

Miss Major Speaks is both document of her brilliant life–told with intimacy, warmth and an undeniable levity-and a roadmap for the challenges black, brown, queer and trans youth will face on the path to liberation today.

Her incredible story of a life lived and a world survived becomes a conduit for larger questions about the riddle of collective liberation. For a younger generation, she warns about the traps of ‘representation,’ the politics of 'self-care,' and the frequent dead-ends of non-profit organizing; for all of us, she is a strike against those who would erase these histories of struggle.

Miss Major offers something that cannot be found an affirmation that our vision for freedom can and must be more expansive than those on offer by mainstream institutions.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this one yet, but I desperately hope I will find a copy someday and get around to it.

#miss major speaks #miss major griffin-gracy #toshio meronek #polls #trans lit #trans literature #trans books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #history #interviews #non fiction #memoir #to read

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

WOKE politicians 'support gay CONVERSION therapy' as confused kids 'fast-tracked to STERILISATION'

Andrew Doyle: On Friday there was a heated debate in the House of Commons about conversion therapy. Emotions ran high and few were more impassioned than the conservative MP Alicia Kearns who berated Alba MP Neil Hanvey for appealing on behalf of the LGB community.

So, here's how that exchange went.

Hanvey: People in the LGB community are often referred to as bigots and transphobes and other slurs just because we have concerns about legislation such of this. And we want to make sure that young LGB people are protected. And trans people. Does she agree with me that that must apply, that rule must apply, to all sides of any debate and not just one side that she favors.

Kearns: ... absolutely right, but there was one digit missing from his LGB: LGBT. We do not divide the LGBT community in this place. You can say that you have concerns about we doing. But by removing the T, you are suggesting that transgender people do not exist. You are suggesting they are lesser than other LGB people. And I will not stand for that, because it was trans people who stood with gay people at Stonewall. It was trans people who fought alongside for LGBT rights. So, when you say LGBT, when you remove the T, you suggest that they are lesser.

Doyle: Now it's clear to me that Alicia Kearns is well intentioned and sincere, and I mean no disrespect when I say that this is a subject about which she clearly knows very little. And that is dangerous, because if she gets her way on this issue, it will set back gay rights by decades.

So, let's address some of the key misconceptions. So, firstly, Kearns claimed that Hanvey was suggesting that transgender people don't exist, and at no point did he make such a claim. Sexual orientation and the belief in gender identity are totally unrelated concepts. Kearns seems to be suggesting that gay people have no right to campaign for their interests unless they simultaneously campaign for trans people. But why? Groups such as Mermaids campaign solely for trans rights. Are they therefore homophobic? Perhaps Alicia Kerns would like to berate them in Parliament. I look forward to seeing that.

Kearns went on to say that it was trans people who stood with the gays at Stonewall. Trans people fought together for LGB rights. Did they? I mean there were some trans people involved in the struggle for gay rights, certainly. But not all that many. The activists who changed history for the better were predominantly lesbians and gay men. At the Stonewall Inn, it was mostly gay men with some lesbians and drag queens who were involved in the riots. And it was likely a lesbian, Stormé DeLarverie, who sparked the whole thing. After the police raided the bar, she was being forcibly arrested and is said to have shouted to the crowd, aren't you going to do something?

Now, some trans activists have since attempted to rewrite history, claiming that a transwoman called Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick at the Stonewall Inn. The trouble is, Marsha P. Johnson wasn't trans. He was a drag queen. And he wasn't even there when the rioting started.

Now, if Alicia Kearns wants to know about the actual history of Stonewall, not the revisionist fabrications of activists, she could read "Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution," by David Carter. Or, she could talk to someone who was actually there, such as the gay rights veteran Fred Sargeant.

Now let's talk about the confusion that's at the heart of this parliamentary debate. What exactly is conversion therapy? A YouGov poll last year revealed that 65% of voters believe that gay conversion therapy ought to be banned, and 62% feel the same about "trans conversion therapy." And this would suggest that most voters do not recognize the difference between the two, and nor do many politicians. Now this photograph was taken in Westminster Hall. A cross-party collective of dozens of MPs with a placard that reads, "I support a trans inclusive ban." The image was posted on Twitter by Laboir MP from Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome.

In truth, and without realizing it, the these politicians are supporting a new form of gay conversion therapy, something that most of us thought would be consigned to the history books by this point. When we hear that phrase, "conversion therapy," most of our minds leap to a variety of horrific practices. So, in America, Christian fundamentalists have established programs to address the "problem" of homosexuality, there are camps where young people can "pray the gay away." Which I suppose is at least a step forward from brain surgery, castration and the kind of electric shock treatment favoured by scientific practitioners in the 20th century, or the corrective rape of lesbians to "cure" them of homosexual tendencies that still goes on in some countries.

Such practices are of course already illegal in the UK. So, why the need for a conversion therapy ban? Well, what's happening is there is a conflation of sexual orientation and gender identity and this is why so many are confused. In her book, "Time to Think," Hannah Barnes revealed that between 80 to 90% of adolescents who were referred to the Tavistock pediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. We've known for a long time there's a strong correlation between gender nonconformity in youth and being gay in adult life. Members at the Tavistock itself joked that, "soon there would be no gay people left." Whistleblowers revealed that homophobia was endemic. In other words, children who are likely to grow up gay are being "fixed" by medical practitioners to better conform with stereotypical heterosexual paradigms.

Barnes's research shows that the Tavistock clinic -- and this is a quote -- "ignored evidence that 97.5% of children seeking sex changes had autism, depression or other problems that might have explained their unhappiness." They are only 2% of the country's children that suffer from an autistic spectrum disorder, so why is it that 35% of referrals to the Tavistock fit into that category?

in almost all instances, children who are prescribed puberty blockers go on to cross- sex hormones, which in some cases leads to irreversible surgery. We're dealing here, overwhelmingly, with gay and autistic children fast-tracked onto a pathway to sterilization. This is what MPs such as Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Alicia Kearns and Keir Starmer are supporting. Whether they realize it or not.

Now, thankfully, more and more people are waking up to the scale of this problem. So, recently the equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch wrote to the Commons Women and Equality Select Committee about her discussions with former clinicians at the Tavistock. And the conclusion? So-called gender affirmative care amounts to what she described as, "conversion therapy for gay kids." And crucially, she cited a survey of detransitioners -- these are people who have been pressurized into transitioning and they later regret it -- in which 23% of respondents put their determination to transition down to experiences of homophobia.

Badenoch quoted a gender clinic in Germany. They said, "it must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient's development as a homosexual. This may not be in the interests of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity."

It is profoundly disturbing that Starmer's Labour party is now officially supporting gay conversion therapy in the form of a ban on "trans-inclusive conversion therapy," and that he's gaining cross-party support. Now, a charitable interpretation is that Starmer, Kearns, Russell-Moyle, Whittome, all the other MPs who are supporting this, simply do not understand that they are advancing dangerously anti-gay proposals. They are supporting the new Section 28. And all the while, they think they're doing the precise opposite.

If any of these politicians would like to come on to this show and discuss these issues, I would be delighted to have them. Consider it an open invitation. In the meantime, I'd like to remind Parliament that homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organization's list of psychiatric disorders back in 1993. Being gay is not a medical condition that requires treatment. Unfortunately, activists have been remarkably successful in confusing the issues through semantic ambiguities and the redefinition of terms. And so, although it sounds desperately counterintuitive, the truth is that in order to oppose gay conversion therapy, one must be opposed to a ban on "trans conversion therapy."

#Andrew Doyle #no debate #gay conversion therapy #conversion therapy #woke homophobia #anti gay #homophobia #historical revisionism #Marsha P. Johnson #Stonewall Inn #Stonewall riots #gender ideology #queer theory #intersectional feminism #gender identity ideology #sterilization #autism #trans the gay away #autism spectrum #religion is a mental illness

[antebellumite]

(since i sense you may be having an atticus finch moment rn) is go set a watchman "canon" to you? i always liked tkam but i never read gsaw (even though someone gave it to me when it came out) because i got a weird feeling about the circumstances of it being published among other things. never talked to anybody about it so figured i'd ask a certified tkam enjoyer

i am having Such an atticus finch moment that i have three fics in the works for him

ohhh boy so hear me out.

warning: i'm rereading tkam as we speak and its been a while since ive read gsaw

in my own personal head-interpretation of to kill a mockingbird, in which the irl reality of its publication is disregarded, gsaw is canon in the sense that it's the alternate universe of to kill a mockingbird, with the point of divergence being the tom robinson trial.

tom robinson is found guilty: atticus experiences Character Growth and becomes and remains the folk hero Defender of Rights and dilf we know today

tom robinson is not found guilty [or at least, not found guilty via the defense atticus uses in gsaw]: atticus basically remains on the natural course he was in the beginning of tkam to bigotry and Racism TM

tldr: gsaw, on its own, is not a good book, and nor is it fully canon, but it does serve as great contextualization to the person that atticus is in tkam and who atticus could have been.

at the beginning of the book and throughout the trial, atticus finch is clearly a very White Moderate in our Modern Terms, in the sense that he might disapprove of the racism exhibited by the citizens of maycomb, but he also is more than content to not do anything about it. his worldview is essentially: "man it sure sucks that my neighbors are prejudiced and more than willing to sentence an innocent man to death, and but i guess i'll tolerate it and spend time around them because they're good people at heart [to other white people]." you know how one of the most memorable lessons atticus teaches to scout is to have empathy for others? my argument is that atticus's practicing of that is what makes him to give too much leeway to the bigoted members of the community around him.

we see this with ike finch, maycomb's "sole surviving confederate veteran" and stonewall jackson fetishist. he makes his appearance early on in the book, prior to the robinson case even being introduced. according to scout, he comes by at least once a year to "rehash the war" with atticus. while i can assume this means that ike is representing the confederacy and atticus the union in this conversation, considering that in the immediate paragraph after, atticus states "this time we aren't fighting the yankees, we're fighting our friends. but remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they're still our friends and this is still our home." it implies that in this american civil war replay, either both of them are identifying with the confederacy, or ike is and atticus is more than okay to go along with it. and in addition, atticus's apparent determination to remain on good terms with the people of maycomb no matter how bitter it got adds questions to just what he would have considered bitter enough for the people of maycomb to no longer remain his friends. if the mob at the scene at the jailhouse actually managed to lynch tom robinson, which they were probably going to do, until scout saved the day, would that have been "bitter enough" for atticus to reconsider being friends with murderers?

actually the fact that he adds in 'and this is still our home' makes me think he was planning to leave maycomb entirely if that scenerio actually happened but i digress

and then you get to ms. dubose, who serves as another aspect to how atticus views the racism of his town. when ms. dubose dies, he calls her the most bravest person he'd ever known, for having the courage to die clean of her morphine addiction, and also a "great lady". which, i understand, in part, is because she Just Died and he's talking to Jem and Scout who are children, but the way that atticus talks about it makes you feel as though he's implying that her courage serves as either recompense or excuse for a. the racism and b. the whole thing where she essentially verbally harassed jem and scout whenever they came by for the horrid sin of walking where she could see them.

of course there's also maycomb trial in general. atticus obviously knows that he cant win-- the famous 'just because you're licked doesn't mean you can give up' quote-- because he understands the prejudice of the town. but i believe that behind the quote, atticus still had faith in the judicial process, just not in the people who were in charge of it in maycomb. its part of the reason for his appeal-- to get robinson to a higher court where the people there could be more open-minded.

so in essence, atticus at the turning point of his story [ the trial ], is someone who's

1. overly lenient and sympathetic view of his maycomb neighbors allows him to excuse much of the harmful rhetoric and actions they perpetrate

2. considers racism to be, while Bad, a certain type of bad that is ultimately forgivable/excusable. i think there's also evidence in tkam that he basically also thinks the same thing for other forms of bigotry but i'm not going to look for them.

3. has trust in the judicial system

so from there, we have the tom robinson trial.

i like to think that what acting as tom robinson's defense attorney did for atticus was that it forced him to actually reckon with the racism of maycomb as directed towards an actual human being rather than a Nebulous Construct. when tom robinson got declared guilty despite being innocent, it showed him the actual harmful effects of what the people of maycomb believed, on an actual human being, who was subsequently presumably murdered via 17 gunshot wounds. it showed the failures of a system that allowed for tom robinson to be murdered and sentenced for a crime he didn't commit in the first place.

in gsaw, without tom robinson being convicted, i don't think that lesson would have hit so hard. to gsaw!atticus, robinson being declared not guilty is proof that the racism of maycomb is ultimately Not That Harmful, proof that the system ultimately Works As It Should, and it allows him to sink deeper into interactions with more extreme racist individuals, and eventually become the verison of atticus we see in gsaw.

in addition, gsaw!atticus's defense for tom robinson that gets him acquitted is that the robinson's presumed rape of mayella was consensual, whereas tkam!atticus reveals that the rape didn't happen between robinson and mayella in the first place (although, you know.) which implies a contrast between gsaw!atticus and tkam!atticus where tkam!atticus was focused on exonerating robinson's public image in order to then acquit robinson, but gsaw!atticus was focused on acquitting robinson head on, even if it meant attacking mayella instead.

what this would mean is that gsaw!atticus might not even have had all that much of an interaction with tom robinson, and therefore wasn't able to do that whole tkam-trademark Understanding and Seeing Him As A Person, thereby Removing his past Blinders to Injustice TM TM TM.

and this leads to the changes in atticus from tkam and gsaw. they're still the same person, but with a different turning point.

#thank u for asking!!! #atticus finch #to kill a mockingbird #go set a watchman #fic purge #long post #what if the trial turned out differently is such a potentially insanely juicy concept i need to rip into it #i understand why it isnt for very important Reasons relating to the Real World #but WOW #anyawys this is my reading and i am not a very Big tkam-er #more knowledgable tkam enjoyers please feel free to add on or correct anything