“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.”
— Paul Strand
Throughout the long and turbulent existence of the United States, history has warned us that the American Dream is a nightmare for anyone who isn’t a white heterosexual cisgender male, so it isn’t surprising that one of the first things white authoritarian bigots do prior to enacting their genocidal policies is to burn the history books. They’re pouring the concrete for The Narrative they’re constructing.
What happens next is dividing American citizens into Us vs. Them, and they do that by amplifying hateful rhetoric about the people they’re brutally objectifying. They lie.
“When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies”, Michael Ende observed. “Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”
And when people are transformed into the Other, atrocities are just around the corner because it’s not happening to human beings anymore. Kidnapped Africans are enslaved, Indigenous people are murdered for their land, Black Wall Street is burned down, and Japanese Americans are herded into internment camps and their property stolen. It’s easy to abuse stereotypes because stereotypes don’t bleed. That’s why it’s so important to perpetuate the lies about the marginalized group you want to erase.
We’re seeing the same tactics being used against the LGBTQ community in the amplification of eliminalist rhetoric and punitive legislation, their rationale being that these freaks of nature are lust-crazed predators seeking to victimize America’s children so they must protect themselves by any means necessary.
These are the lies deluded right-wingers tell themselves to justify their cruelty. It’s a different target, but it’s using the same playbook.
This is why Without Apology: Portraits of Pride by photographer Beth Austin is so important. Beth is an award-winning photographer featured in The Nation, The Washington Post, RVA Magazine, WHURK, and on the cover of Sinster Wisdom 106: The Lesbian Body.
“I’ve photographed everything from concerts, album covers, promotional shots for musicians, candid portraits, community events, private parties, small unconventional weddings, food shots for restaurants, and even a training session (with live ammo) for a shooting range”, Austin says proudly.
“Because I love a challenge, I have yet to say no to a project.”
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a photograph can negate a thousand lies. It’s a powerful rebuttal to the vicious propaganda aimed at the LGBTQ community by the usual right-wing suspects.
“You’ve got to tell the world how to treat you,” James Baldwin said. “If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.”
Austin’s beautiful, joyous, and inspirational photographs tell the stories of people who won’t live in their designated closets anymore and refuse to define themselves by the rigid and inhuman standards of homophobic liars. They’re the stories of lawyers, activists, police officers, barbers, schoolteachers, and other everyday heroes who refuse to live fraudulent lives. They’re the stories of our parents, our families, our friends, and our next-door neighbor, our co-workers.
“Photography cannot change the world,” Marc Riboud said, “but it can show the world, especially when it changes.” Lewis Hine exposed the exploitation of children working in unsafe factories. Gordon Parks revealed the lives of black families in Mississippi being brutalized by Jim Crow. Jacob Rils documented the poverty of New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the century.
And Beth Austin shows the world the glorious spectrum of human beings in Queer Culture–gay, biracial, and transgender–who won’t be stereotyped.
“I’m hoping that it’ll change some hearts and minds,” Austin says. “Opening hearts and minds across the board, even in our own community because we don’t always understand each other.”
The LGBTQ citizens of the United States want their rightful share of the American Dream, and they’re willing to fight for it. By any means necessary.
Boots on the Ground in Maricopa County!
Baud
Glad to see you posting again.
Projecting like an IMAX.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for this eloquent post. Remembering history does matter… for us, and for the generations to come.
cain
Great post – 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
RedDirtGirl
Love your Bluesky posts and glad to see you posting more here!
Damien
Can I suggest having a regular feature front paging the ongoing stats about who exactly is actually assaulting children? There’s a website that aggregates this information, but they aren’t a nearly top-10,000 political blog.
What should be shocking for absolutely no one is that religious leaders and family members account for the staggering majority of child rape, but I think it would be helpful to have the numbers at hand.
The Thin Black Duke
@RedDirtGirl: Thanks, RD.
H.E.Wolf
@Damien: Perhaps you could post the link to that website. It would be useful for those who’re interested.
West of the Rockies
I’m a 62-year-old white, cis-hetero man (who is occasionally believed to be gay and Asian). I have an AFAB kid who is 22 and lives in a blue Oregon city. My kid is wicked-shmart and kind and creative. They go by they/them and is now on T (testosterone). I fret over how the world treats them.
Why it matters what anyone is packing in their britches to anyone else other than their intimate partner(s) is befuddling.
I hope my comment comes across okay. I have a fever and terrible sore throat and have felt very emotional today.
WaterGirl
@West of the Rockies: Your comment makes perfect sense.
The how and the why of how other people care about stuff that isn’t their business makes no sense at all.
Sorry to hear you are sick, have you tested for Covid?
eclare
What a great essay, thank you.
eclare
@Baud:
QFT
Dan B
Back in 1970 and 1971 a handful of us young gays and lesbians took on the brutal Richard Daley regime, the mob, and the American Psychiatric Association. We thought we’d be attacked in the streets. It wasn’t until now that the attacks have ramped up. I believe it’s because we’ve gained enough power that the right wing is afraid of losing their power.
And thank you for affirming my feeling that we’re a target. I keep feeling we should move to a safe country before November but already feel it’s too late. Portugal seemed a good choice but the far right is now ascendant there. Is there anywhere safe and easy to immigrate to?
satby
Fantastic post tbduke! Lots to unpack and think about. Appreciate it.
eclare
@West of the Rockies:
Your comment describes the fears that a lot of people have. Why wouldn’t you be emotional? It’s your child.
satby
@Dan B: Thailand. A gay couple I know just moved there as expats.
West of the Rockies
@WaterGirl:
Got a test kit ready to go. Thanks, WG.
sab
I am white cis mid-western woman and I read James Baldwin’s “Another Country” in high school and it blew me away. It was so painful that I have tried but failed to re-read it many times. Tried again this year, and I knew how raw I would feel. Not bored by it, gored by it again.
And it wasn’t just his black characters. His white middle- class lost housewife and Rufus’s lost young poor white girlfriend were so much like people I have known and he so much understood them.
How did he do that?
eclare
@Dan B:
Friend of mine and her husband moved to Canada a year or so ago. They have a Trans daughter but she’s older so I don’t know if she plans to move or not. My friend didn’t mention any problems, and her husband found a job WFH.
Caveat: I haven’t asked, but I assume based on things I know, they had a lot of money. I don’t know if that matters in Canada.
Dan B
@West of the Rockies: I’m a white gay guy who can easily pass for straight but have known many non binary and trans people who can’t. Your feelings are warranted. I think one of the most successful things we did in Gay Liberation was the speaking group. Sharing our stories to students was very important. Something like that for trans people and their families is needed.
sab
@Dan B: I am in Ohio and I keep running into ( RW) people who shouldn’t even be thinking about gender or preferences and those guys are all totally worked up. It is shocking and scary. They are so bothered by stuff that has no impact on their lives, and they are determined to ruin others’.
SiubhanDuinne
@H.E.Wolf:
One of those instances where the apostrophe makes all the difference.
SiubhanDuinne
This is a wonderful post, TTBD. Like others, I’m glad to see you posting again here, and encourage you to Do It Moar.
Dan B
@eclare: Canada takes lots of money. Between my partner and I we may have enough since we own our homes free and clear but would we be in a glut of home sales if the election goes badly? I’m hoping that the election goes well.
Jay
@eclare:
It matters. If you have skills in demand, can invest in or buy property, it makes the process a lot easier.
The Thin Black Duke
@sab: Baldwin’s mind was wide open, so his eyes saw the underneath of people’s lives that is usually hidden by prejudicial guardrails. Most of humanity have more in common with each other than not, which is why the Elites seek to Divide and Conquer us.
zhena gogolia
Possibly OT, but great video of Biden with a child who stutters.
Dan B
@sab: You know my hometown in Ohio. During the race riots almost everyone believed that the rioters in Akron were in caravans headed to little old Wadsworth. Why would any black person in Akron think about Wadsworth or Rittman, or anywhere but Akron? Logic can’t overcome fear.
Jay
@Dan B:
If you can invest $500K, and being an english speaking American, you can fairly easily get a “Golden Ticket”.
Also, keep in mind that if you are LBGTQA2+, you can claim asylum if you can prove persecution, threats or discrimination.
WaterGirl
@West of the Rockies: They say the newer Covid versions take longer to show up positive in the tests.
eclare
@Jay:
They bought a huge property, and I mean huge, north of Halifax, way north. Beachfront. They are in the process of building a second home on the property.
My friend did say that they paid what it would cost to buy a condo in downtown Raleigh, where they lived, so it doesn’t sound outrageously expensive.
Eta> I am sure my friend has well over $500k.
eclare
@Dan B:
I am hoping that too. 🙏
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
👍
sab
@Dan B: My trans niece is safely out of Ohio and gone for good. But she has left friends from daycare here. But basically she is happy in CA.
I have others who are trans or gay and do not have the emotional or financial resources to leave. Life is scary here. Family supportive but law is hostile as phuck.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Brought a tear.
Dan B
@Jay: Thats what I remembered. We have enough but my partner’s Social Security is tiny so we’d have to figure out how to live on mine. Getting to Canada is the easy part.
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
That was great, thank you.
Dan B
@Jay: Seattle has the second highest percentage of LGBT+ people in the US. Proving persecution would be tough unless there was invasion from the very red rural areas. That’s also unlikely since they’re afraid the gay cooties would get them.
Ladyraxterinok
@sab:
In high school in tbe 50s in Oklahoma I discovered Richard Wright’s book Native Son
Among many other things I learned from the book about the Scottsboro Boys
Later in college I read his book Black Boy. Years later a black male colleague told me it was accurate
About the same time I read Ralph Ellison’s book Invisible Man
Heart-wrench9ng, mind-blowing information for a white girl growing up in Tulsa, who never ever learned anything at all in the Tulsa public schools (graduated in 1957) about the Tulsa Race Massacre
sab
@Dan B: I know people in Akron who are still traumatized. I say “they didn’t care about you or even hate you, they just wanted to be safe” and they look at me like I have two heads. Akron has had a number of race riots, mostly whites killing black people. Our only black race riot was in the 1960s when that lowlife killed Dr King.
Wadsworth was worried? Seriously?
I have black grandchildren and I worry whenever they step outside the door. Worrying about race relations and our police’s attitude is one thing. Toss your grandchildren into the mix and it is a whole different emotional ballgame.
Dan B
@sab: Needed: Underground railroad. And supporters in a safe place. Chicago’s probably the closest. Stories like yours are important to share. Personal stories are vital.
Jay
@Dan B:
You sell your homes,
You “invest” by buying a small business on Vancouver Island in one of the small towns, where housing is affordable.
You live off the profits of the small business.
T’s sister and her husband, got fed up with Calgary. For what they sold their 1950’s 2bdr home in Calgary, they bought an existing autoshop and a 3bdr home, with in walking distance of the beach, in Duncan.
Doug’s not really happy with the autoshop, because it’s mostly brain dead service and repairs, but on the other hand, people in Duncan don’t want to drive to Nanaimo or Victoria for minor car repairs or service.
They just run the office, supervise the shop and manage the books, they use the apprentice program to staff the shop, and for every job they post, they get a hundred applicants.
Jay
@Dan B:
if the GrOPpers bring in Federal Laws, that’s all that is needed to prove your asylum claim.
sab
@Dan B: I have a stepson who had a drug addled adolescence and he behaved very very badly multiple times over ten years. The Akron cops every time put up with it, handcuffed him and called his dad, or hauled him off to the emergency room for detox. For years.
If any of my black grandchildren had behaved as he did even once the cops would have shot the kid dead. We all know that.
ETA The black grandchildren were his sister’s. He and we did notice the police difference on how everyone was treated.
Baud
New mysteries.
japa21
Couple of observations.
The first is regarding the picture at the top of the post. I know people who would get very upset about what they would call “desecration of the flag.” These are the same people who display the blue line flag ad even flags with Trump on it. To me, that picture shows not a desecration of the flag but the love the people pictured have for their country, a country in which a good share of the population would prefer to see them dead. IOW, to me they are far more patriotic than the complainers and haters.
As to safe areas: to be honest, I fear that if the US goes the Trump route, the few remaining safe areas may soon follow. And I refer to both safe areas within the US and other countries.
bbleh
… the American Dream is a nightmare for anyone who isn’t a white heterosexual cisgender male …
and who is so consumed by fear that they cannot abide the thought that they are not supreme in all matters.
I know plenty of white cisgender males who are totally cool. The problem with the MAGAts is not their racial, sexual, or gender identity; it’s their fear, their fear of difference and (IMO) their lack of confidence in themselves. They tend to fear women for the same reason.
And there is a HUGE industry devoted to, and profiting from, stoking that fear.
@Dan B: I believe it’s because we’ve gained enough power that the right wing is afraid of losing their power.
Eeyup.
Eyeroller
@Ladyraxterinok: I graduated (actually from Jenks HS) in 1975 and never heard anything about the Tulsa Race Riots until the last 10 years or so.
sab
I was pissed off about neighbors letting their dogs pee on my flower garden by the side walk, especially my rose bush. So I put up a little barricade of tiny flags blocking my roses.
The flags are now yellow, and the urine drenched roses want a better barricade.
Eyeroller
@Baud: Oooh, I did my dissertation on nonisotropic cosmologies! I didn’t even believe it myself!
Jay
@sab:
Step 1, put up a sign. Somewhat humorous is best,
eg “I don’t piss on your lawn or porch, so don’t let your dogs piss on my roses.”
Step 2, when the ground is dry, scatter cayenne pepper on the soil and stems. The backsplash has an effect.
moonbat
Thank you for this post.
Baud
@Jay:
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Baud
@Eyeroller:
Always trust your gut.
bbleh
@sab: IR- or AI-driven sprinklers. Any time something of sufficient warmth gets close enough, the sprinklers switch on. Or just get some wolf pee or something online, and sprinkle it around
@Jay: aww, that’s too eeeeasyyy!
sab
@The Thin Black Duke: His eyes were so amazingly wide open. I try to do the same. Fail mostly even within my own white family, but he is such an inspiration for how to live and to look at others.
sab
@bbleh: You do know I am a luddite who can barely change lightbulbs?
Odie Hugh Manatee
They don’t care about children, they just use them as a shield for the horrible things they want to do to other people. Think of the children! Really?! Then why do they work so hard to deny assistance to children in almost any form unless they control the purse strings and where the money goes? Why do they want kids to be hungry at school while other kids around them are enjoying their food? It’s because they don’t give a crap about kids unless they are their own kin, and even then too many don’t care about their kids beyond controlling them and what they think.
These people are waging a war on people who don’t conform to their ways. It’s up to us to fight them in every way possible. If photographs can tell a story that gets across to those on the fringes then that would be a very good thing.
bbleh
@sab: OTOH, you are empathetic enough to get the lightbulbs to realize that they need to change.
Ok, I’ll reluctantly endorse the cayenne. Also cheaper, easier and faster, as if THOSE mattered …
Dan B
@sab: We had neighbors who were black. The 50 year old son was good humored, very good humored, good looking, very responsible, and afraid to go to the north end of Seattle. They moved to Renton. We miss them.
JCJ
@satby: Yeah, when I am in Bangkok it is such a good thing to see gay and especially trans people so well accepted. I am sure there are examples to the contrary, but in general there are not so many assholes. Recently there was a story of a huge fight between a group of Filipino trans women and Thai trans women. The Thai women had support from a whole spectrum of people.
satby
@Dan B: My late friend Meghan Buell did that, speaking to schools, colleges, at teacher institute days, anywhere that would have her speak on transgender and LGTBQ issues, especially in outreach to rural areas. The stress of the hate she often received, especially as a public school teacher in this red state, I believe killed her.
Baud
@satby:
My condolences.
Dan B
Apparently the new Christianist fear is Gay Nationalists. I missed the memo from the founders. We are the groomers and pedophiles. Too bad that much pedophilia is by youth pastors.
Miss Bianca
@Dan B: The short and possibly too-facile answer is “No.”
This is our country. And if we’re not safe in the US, we’re probably not going to be safe anywhere. Like it or not, I think we are bound to stay and fight the right for our right – and others’ – to live and love in peace.
Wish I had a more comforting answer, but I don’t. I’m sorry. :(
ETA: FWIW, I’m a *very* reluctant warrior. I’m lazy and a smartass and I’d rather fight with words than fists or firearms. But I will resort to the latter, if I have to. I sure will.
Dan B
@satby: We always went in groups since people would be reluctant to threaten even a small group.
Baud
@Dan B:
They’re just projecting again since people have been realizing the truth about Christian Nationalism.
“You’re the Nationalista!”
satby
@Baud: She left HUNDREDS of friends. A huge loss to the entire South Bend area. As one of the ministers said at her funeral “Meghan was a badass” [in her advocacy]. Thanks.
bbleh
@Miss Bianca: concur 100%. I may be old, but I ain’t givin’ up without a fight. And I happen to know how to fight, and how to use firearms. And not just for me and mine, but for others today and those yet to come.
It’s our damn country too.
The Thin Black Duke
@Miss Bianca: More to the point, most of us can’t afford to immigrate, so we resist by any means (voting, donate, marching in public, whatever) available to us. And the next time someone spews “b-but ‘Both Sides’ BS to you, be very rude in responding.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
In 2024, those people are essentially the political equivalent of flat earthers.
H.E.Wolf
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m always happy to apostrophize you, the inimitable, indomitable, ineffable SiubhanDuinne! :-)
satby
@Dan B: I know you have a great oral history to share. I remember when Meghan went to Lexington to be a part of this oral history project. I really hope you do one too, especially about gay liberation in Chicago. And I hope people check out a bit of Meghan’s story at the link.
wjca
My sense is that a lot of the gun nuts simply cannot imagine that there are a lot of us out here who feel no need to own a personal stockpile guns. Or even one gun. Nor an inclination to go out and play pretend soldier on weekends. But who damn well do know how to use a gun, if push comes to shove.
I hope it doesn’t come to that. But if it does, it will be a shocking surprise for them. If, necessarily, a brief one.
NotMax
Curious how you would choose to characterize the style of Weegee.
UncleEbeneezer
Speaking of Baldwin, there’s an episode of Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans that features Capote spending a night hanging out with James Baldwin and it’s really great. The series is only meh so far but getting better. But that episode can pretty much be enjoyed as a stand-alone. It is on Hulu.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
IANAA, but personally, I think that’s cool af.
Miss Bianca
@The Thin Black Duke: Heh, indeed. :)
SiubhanDuinne
@H.E.Wolf:
Good lord. Keep that up and it’ll be the insufferable, implacable, incorrigible SiubhanDuinne!
frosty
@Jay: Invest $500K in what? Will they take retirees or just skilled workers?
VFX Lurker
I’m listening to an audiobook adaptation of Chuck Tingle’s Straight. It’s a horror novella where an astronomical phenomenon causes straight cisgender people to turn into rage zombies once a year, threatening the safety of LGBTQ+ people. Four LGBTQ+ friends rent an AirBnB in Joshua Tree to wait out the third occasion of this annual event.
So far, the book has drawn some parallels with COVID. There’s a vaccine against the rage-phenomenon that not everyone takes. People who lost friends and family to the rage-zombies have to contend with others who choose to dismiss the horrors of the past.
Looking forwards to listening to the rest of it.
Jay
@frosty:
property, a start up or an existing business.
Yes, we will take retirees.
In a bunch of the smaller cities and towns across Canada, there are existing business’s for sale, because the owners are retiring, and few buyers.
bbleh
@wjca: I hope for many reasons it doesn’t come to that, or anything close.
That said, I would advise owning a weapon, and storing it properly, and practicing occasionally and responsibly (and of course for those who don’t have experience, learning to use it and handle it properly). I’ve never felt that it’s necessary, but … I’m starting to feel it might be necessary, and if ever push comes to shove, it will be too late.
schrodingers_cat
@The Thin Black Duke: Immigration is not easy and the older you are the tougher it gets. I did consider it when the Orange One won but I decided to against it and applied for my naturalization instead. Because this was home and I was not going to give it up that easily.
frosty
@Jay: Yeah, no. I’m done working; I’m done being responsible for anything. Reckon I’ll stick it out here. Or somewhere close to here. I’d like to get out of the Alabama part of PA.
Miss Bianca
@VFX Lurker:
Yow.
schrodingers_cat
OT Art break: I tried my hand at an abstract pattern with Tombow markers and Sakura jelly roll.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Looks like cells.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Do you like it? It was inspired by Lisa Congdon’s class at Creative Bug.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I prefer the less abstract stuff.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Me too in general. I was stretching my creative muscle.
Jay
@frosty:
property count’s as an investment, your house or a rental, (in the hands of a property mgmt company), no work involved.
you can buy into a company, that counts, don’t even need to work beyond the odd meeting and making sure it’s running well.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Keep stretching. It’s the only way forward.
Denali5
@schrodingers_cat:
I like it. It reminds my of Kandinsky”s Circles and Squares.
Don K
I lived completely in the closet from the time I realized I had something to hide (roughly age 9) until I was 24, and partly in the closet for another 15 years, and I’m damned if I will ever go back. I’m triple damned sure I will never let future generations of LGBTQ kids grow up in the shame and distrust of the closet.
Quadrillipede
I’ve gone through the whole process of moving to Canada on a work visa, becoming a permanent resident, and then a full Canadian citizen over the last 20-ish years. I can only really speak to the sociopolitical culture of BC’s Lower Mainland, but I have some extensive experience with the immigration process itself, if that might be helpful…
schrodingers_cat
@Denali5: Thanks!
Jay
@Quadrillipede:
as a Birth Canuck, glad to have you here.
Anastasio Beaverhausen
@DanB
I started having these thoughts last year. After much discussion, my husband and I are taking our two kids and moving to England this summer. I would certainly stay and fight if it was only me, but I have to consider them as well and I can only imagine how bad it could get here. Husband is an immigrant and one child is mixed race. And it doesn’t have to be repeal of Obergefell or formal passage of discriminatory laws to make life hell, it can be a simple change in attitude or enforcement. I remember returning from Brazil to Miami, and for the first time approaching the immigration officer as a family. (We are! Let’s do it, we said.) We were interrogated for five minutes about our marriage. Location, date, did we have a wedding? People in line behind us were starting to stare. It wasn’t illegal of him, but it was humiliating. “Are these your children? They’re adopted?” And right now we are in Panama visiting a friend who is from here. We came through immigration in Panama City as a family, with one form. They went ballistic. “It’s not possible to do. You are not married. You, you get you’re own form and get back in line.” All of this in Spanish, with my husband translating. Which I did. I can’t tell you how scared the kids were. What had we done wrong? Are we not a family? Why is Daddy going back? Well, we are going to miss friends and family in northern Virginia, and it may be a case of thinking the grass is greener, but we’re moving. P.S. just watch an episode of Question Time in the House of Commons to get an idea of the youth, diversity, and intelligence on display in Westminster vs. Washington.
Quadrillipede
Most of science seems to involve getting answers to questions that always posit more detailed questions.
(The fact that our primitive meat computers can even entertain Quantum Mechanics amazes me (ditto Astrophysics), and I think that our evolution just doesn’t support understanding physics at extremely large or small scales, so no wonder it seems so utterly weird to a primate conditioned to be mostly effective in the 10mm-10km range…)
But yeah, JWST is an amazing piece of technology…
bbleh
@Don K: good on ya! and fwiw, you have a lot of very aware and active allies of all stripes very much in there with you, and there ain’t NO way we’re goin’ back, not even one damn step! Ni shagu nazad as Charlie Pierce says, and yeah I’ll be there.
Quadrillipede
@Jay: Thanks! Although moving from the UK to Canada is kind of an “easy mode” immigration, I like to think it does give me some insight into the experiences of non-white, non-AMAB, ESL immigrants…
Dan B
@satby: There’s a pretty good oral history of Chicago. And there’s history at the museum in Seattle. My partner’s in several photos there. He and his ex did a big fundraising thing called the Tacky Tourists of America. It did memorable fundraising parties four times a year including a party on one of the boats that featured a couple hundred shirtless guys with a sequined mermaid on the bow with huge red lips on the prow. They went through the locks. The boat with sweaty guys would rise up to the horror and delight of Midwestern tourists. The fundraising made several important non profits possible.
Dan B
@Anastasio Beaverhausen: Having kids is a huge difference. We’ve only got three cats, one of them is crawling up the chair trying to get his hoomin to feed him! I’d expect a Christianist friendly administration to take away kids, at least.
WaterGirl
@Anastasio Beaverhausen: That sounds scary all around. I’m sorry that happened to you.
Dan B
@Quadrillipede: Thanks. It’s time to have the discussion with my partner. I doubt he’d move since he’s never lived in an conservative area. I have dreadful memories from Jim Crow south and rural Ohio. He’s been in Seattle his entire life.
Quadrillipede
Closer to topic: while I can pass as a “generic white dude”, I did get a lot of grief about being insufficiently masculine growing up (mostly in the late 70s to early 90s).
I’ve been thinking more deeply recently that I’m confident enough in my own identity that I could lean into an even more androgynous mode of presentation in public, to demonstrate overtly non-toxic masculinity and model permission for less rigid gender roles.
Seems there are only so many bigots out there, and if anyone wants to give confidently middle-aged me any aggro about it, they may get more pushback than anticipated, and that aggro’s not being directed at a non-binary teen who’s still developing their psychic defense mechanisms.
Quadrillipede
@Dan B: Happy to answer any questions (you should be able to grab my email from a front pager if discretion is desired).
FWIW, Seattle is the US city I’ve visited the most, and it feels kinda like a larger, older, hillier version of Vancouver to me. (Even the Space Needle reminds me of the Harbour Centre!)
bbleh
@Quadrillipede: absolutely correct! not only may they (justifiably!!) get more pushback, but they deserve every inch of it and almost certainly more. And what will make that effective is precisely your confidence in yourself and — almost as importantly — their lack of confidence in themselves! They don’t pick these fights out of confidence; they pick them out of a lack of self-confidence and an expectation that you’ll react with fear and assuage their lack of self-confidence. It’s classic bullying. And when bullies are confronted, they back down.
See also above regarding firearms. This has been a PSA.
SteveinPHX
@Baud: One of my kids is working on his doctorate at the U of Western Australia in astro-physics. He & I were just discussing this about an hour ago. He has been in several meetings over the last couple weeks on this topic. In general terms he was trying to explain it to me in cowboy talk. I was an English major so he has to be patient with me. Astronomers are beginning to figure out that the universe is expanding at slightly different rates at different places. He pointed out that our galaxy is on the edge of a great void and that might affect expansion rates around these parts. Parts being billions of light years across.
We are on the beginning edges of learning vast amounts of new stuff with this Webb telescope. These astronomers are just getting wound up.
Sister Golden Bear
Late to the thread, but I wanted to thank you Thin Black Duke, and it’s great to see you posting again.
I could, and need to, write a whole post about the Republican trans genocide efforts here in the states — tl;dr in Florida and West Virginia things seem to be subsiding, roughly 20 bills in each state died in session, and but in many other states it’s getting even more horrible.
But tonight, I wanted to look at the UK which has been a bellwether of strident things can get. The latest is the Wizard Lady engaging in Holocaust denial, pushing the claim that trans people weren’t targeted. When she was quickly schooled, she then doubled down, and now is threatening to sue those who called her out (thanks to the UK’s shitty libel laws).
That famous photo of the first Nazi book burning was the Nazi students burning the library of Berlin Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, which was an institute focused on LGB, and especially T, rights. The Nazis also send numerous trans people to their deaths in the camps.
I’d urge you read a good summary of it: The persecution of trans people by the Nazis was devastating – and it still echoes down the ages, and more about the history of the institute: The Forgotten History of the World’s First Trans Clinic.
So if you wonder why, I’ve been warning so often about the Republican trans genocide efforts here, this is why. The British TERFs have long been in league with the reactionary Right, and of late a number of high profile ones have been openly supporting actual neo-Nazis.
Sister Golden Bear
@Damien: The Washington Post has a devastating article today (gift link) about how at least 1,800 cops have sexual assaulted children over the past two decades.
Blogger Joe.My.God posts multiple times per week (sometimes multiple times daily) about clergy, youth pastors, cops, and others. who have been arrested, convicted or sentence for child sex crimes. beks on the hellsite does the same, and is even more comprehensive. Still no drag queens on either list.
wjca
It’s one of the things I love about science. You come up with a theory. You come up with an experiment based on the theory. Results do not match expectations. Maybe the experiment had issues. Or maybe the theory, however well it has held up in past experiments, is imperfect. Finding those imperfections is how we learn and advance.
And, yeah, the Webb looks to be destined to find a lot of new stuff. Plus pretty pictures, of course. Glad we did it.
Dan B
@Sister Golden Bear: The persecution of trans people I the US is like a test feeler for who else can be harassed. It feels like LGB are rapidly being added. There are laws allowing religious discrimination. We all sink or swim together.
Ixnay
Yeah, preach. Thank you for the post.
wjca
It’s a historic pattern: pick on the softest (smallest, weakest, fewest allies) target first. Thus building momentum for the next target. Rinse and repeat until, ideally, there’s nobody left. Except that, at some point, the next target is just too tough.
The trick is to make the first target be too tough.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dan B: They’ve made no secret that it won’t stop with trans people. In fact we’ve gotten ahold of internal communications within the hatred groups that they intentionally went after trans people because there wasn’t enough support to outlaw LGB people. Although the moral panic about “groomers” was their first attempt to broaden things. Won’t be the last.