“I hope it makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them,” Sally Ride’s sister, Bear Ride, said.
RIP.
"Queer people do not need to offer excuses or defend their own existence. If one could become queer by simply waking up one morning and deciding to become queer, for a day, for an hour, it wouldn’t change the fact that being queer is just as good, as valid, as worthy, as being straight. Providing straight people with reasons or excuses for our queerness simply confirms their suspicions that our sexuality really is their business and that we need to justify our existence to them. This allows heterosexists to continue to believe there is something superior about heterosexuality, and that being queer is a deviation from some kind of normal or default sexuality. There isn’t and it’s not.
We don’t need to justify ourselves to anyone. We don’t need a reason to be queer. Maybe we were born this way, maybe we weren’t. Maybe sexuality is fluid for some people and not for others. It’s totally irrelevant either way. The message we need to send to heterosexists is not that our sexuality was foisted upon us and that they should be “tolerant” and “understanding”. The message is: our sexuality is perfectly valid and none of your business, we offer you no excuses, and we are never going away."
We don’t need to justify ourselves to anyone. We don’t need a reason to be queer. Maybe we were born this way, maybe we weren’t. Maybe sexuality is fluid for some people and not for others. It’s totally irrelevant either way. The message we need to send to heterosexists is not that our sexuality was foisted upon us and that they should be “tolerant” and “understanding”. The message is: our sexuality is perfectly valid and none of your business, we offer you no excuses, and we are never going away."
— » Fauxgress Watch: “Born This Way” Social Justice League (via transformfeminism)
(via quandongpie)
We love this inclusive ad from JCPenny that depicts a two-mom family. Just in time for Mother’s Day!
(via pinkpanthers)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A lesbian who sought a North Carolina marriage license with her partner and was rejected under a state law banning same-sex marriage was arrested with another person Thursday after they refused to leave a government office where several gay and lesbian couples were turned away.
The civil disobedience followed a day after President Barack Obama publicly endorsed same-sex marriage, and two days after North Carolina voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
The protest came amid attempts by a gay rights group, Campaign for Southern Equality, to broaden public support to allow same-sex marriage and more protests are planned in coming days at other county offices in North Carolina that issue marriage licenses
Nine gay and lesbian couples each presented completed forms and identification to a clerk at the local Register of Deeds office in Winston-Salem, but were refused because state law recognizes only heterosexual couples.
(more at: Lesbian seeking marriage license arrested in NC - CBS News)
(via badwolfday)
In Today’s Cissexist News: This Person’s Name is Not…
When members of the media report on cis women who have changed their names—either through marriage or for some other reason—they don’t tend to say, “Jane Smith, who was born Jane Johnson.” Yet when members of the media are reporting on trans women they, as a matter of routine, almost always give the name the woman doesn’t use, saying something to the effect of: “Jane Smith, who was born John Smith.”
The difference in how cis women who have taken on new names, often by marriage, and how trans women are treated by the media is glaringly obvious. While journalist will often cite some made up journalist imperative to rationalize their use of the wrong name for trans women, these arbitrary double standards with which they report on former names are revealing.
In both cases, the former names of both cis women and trans women are not actually news. These are not the women’s names. There is no need to bring these not-their-names into the stories.
We don’t see this same thing happen with the married names of cis women. This is because there is not a strong socio-political interest in invalidating the relationships and marriages of straight, cis women. (The exception where we might see this happen is with regard to cis lesbian couples. By using a cis lesbian’s former name from before her marriage the reporter can not-so-subtly undermine the women’s relationship as less real than that of a straight cis woman who takes her husband’s name.)
So what reporters are really doing when they use names that trans women don’t go by is helping to perpetuate cissexism. They’re using those names that are traditionally associated with males in ways that misgender these women and confirm cissexist beliefs about who trans women “really” are.
This consistent invalidation and marginalization of trans women by the media is a contributing factor to the specific oppressive and violent incidents that these reporters are (poorly) covering. Over and over again, in stories reporting on the deaths of young trans women of color, the reporters will give a woman’s former name in a way that invalidates her gender as a woman. Yet these women are often killed by people using the exact same cissexist logic of disrespect and invalidation. One cannot be separated from the other. These women are not random victims in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rather, their deaths fit a very specific pattern that is reinforced by the society we live in. A society that is bolstered by the way the media reinforces these patterns in its reporting.
(boldness added)
I think this might be a general go to for the media for all trans people, actually.
(via fuckyeahfeminists)
While Obama was announcing his support for gay marriage, Argentina was formalizing rights for transgender adults to get publicly-funded sex change operations and ID changes. Top that, America. (photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP)
oh shit. big thumbs up to Argentina.
Yess.
America, get with it. Seriously.
pa’lante!
(via quandongpie)
Featured Interview:
Jewel Thais-Williams, 72
Text reads, “Jewel Thais-Williams, age 72, is the founder and owner of the Catch One Disco, the oldest continuously running black gay nightclub in the United States. She also runs Village Health Foundation, where she is a licensed acupuncturist. Born in Gary, IN and raised in San Diego, she moved to Los Angeles at 18 to attend school’ she worked in various retail jobs before opening the Catch One in 1973. The Catch One has served as community space for black gay Los Angeles, providing a home for Unity Fellowship Church, ULOAH, Christopher Street West, Minority AIDS project as well as AA and CA support meetings. She lives in Los Angeles.”
(Source: ubleproject, via fuckyeahfeminists)
White House releases “Progress For The LGBT Community” infographic
The White House just published an inforgraphic that overviews the progress of LGBT Americans. @BarackObama tweeted: “From safer schools to ending #DADT, take a look at three years of progress for LGBT Americans.”
From their post:“Three years ago, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was the law of the land, and the words “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” appeared nowhere in the federal register.
Today, gay and lesbian men and women can serve their country without hiding who they are. The Obama administration has declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, and the President is working to make our schools safer for LGBT youth.
As we celebrate three years of progress for LGBT Americans under President Obama — and work toward another four — here’s a look at how far we’ve come since the President took office.”
(via pinkpanthers)
NOM hacked today after announcing their endorsement of Mitt Romney.
from HuffPo:
The hacker also put up a tweet on NOM’s Twitter account saying, “Yes, creating a wedge between the black community and #lgbt was wrong. We vow to work on how we address our opponents in the future.”
Someone then modified NOM’s Twitter account settings, making its profile icon rainbow-colored with the tagline, “We support full civil equality for all LGBT Americans!” It was sending out pro-marriage equality tweets on Wednesday morning.
Click the image for more deets.
Chat I had with my 6 year old brother about my new girlfriend..
Tom: Emily, you know Emily, Emily, you know, you know… GIRLS can have GIRLFRIENDS, and BOYS can have BOYFRIENDS.
Me: You’re right! I have a girlfriend, you know. She’s lovely.
Tom: (sadly) But why can’t boys marry boys?
Me: Well, that’s tricky. They’re going to change the law so it’s okay. But for now, you can get kind of married, just not in a church.
Tom: Oh! So you can get married in a village hall!
Me:….. Yes.
Tom: (hopefully) Maybe when I’M grown-up, they’ll have changed the law by then.
Me: FINGERS CROSSED, TOM.
[via Flannybabes]
![lgbtlaughs:
[Source]
[Panel oneJamie: *looking out the window at snowfall* Wooo, Operation Snowed-In Sleepover is GO!Erin: I’ll get my overnight bag!Mimi: Can everyone eat porkchops? I have enough to feed fivePanel twoHazel: Did you guys plan this?Thea: *handing Hazel a candle* Emergency candle for youPanel threeHazel: I’d ask who sucked the weather’s dick for such a convenient blizzard, but seeing as you all date women—Thea: Don’t be so quick to assume that the weather’s a dude.Mimi: The weather’s a big happy clam in the sky and it tastes like sunshine!]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1lszaHzG81qak0qdo1_500.jpg)
[Panel one
Jamie: *looking out the window at snowfall* Wooo, Operation Snowed-In Sleepover is GO!
Erin: I’ll get my overnight bag!
Mimi: Can everyone eat porkchops? I have enough to feed five
Panel two
Hazel: Did you guys plan this?
Thea: *handing Hazel a candle* Emergency candle for you
Panel three
Hazel: I’d ask who sucked the weather’s dick for such a convenient blizzard, but seeing as you all date women—
Thea: Don’t be so quick to assume that the weather’s a dude.
Mimi: The weather’s a big happy clam in the sky and it tastes like sunshine!]
On Sunday, March 25th, a community vigil will be held in honor of activist Agnes Torres. Ms. Torres was a known LGBT human rights activist who was recently found murdered outside of her home town of Puebla, Mexico. Agnes Torres was known as a psychologist, educator, activist, daughter, and friend. The internet recently trended #AgnesTorres in response to her untimely death. She is greatly mourned by many communities.
Community Vigil in Honor of Agnes Torres
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
6 PM - 8 PM
Broadway Youth Center
3179 N. Broadway
773.935.3151
Continue reading on Examiner.com This Sunday: Community vigil in honor of Agnes Torres - Chicago Feminism
Emphasis mine:
The “It Gets Better” Project has drawn substantial public attention to this issue; there are now more than 400,000 members of the movement. While it is unquestionably important to address bullying, we must also acknowledge that it takes on different forms in different contexts. Street harassment – certainly a type of bullying – is an incredibly common experience for women across almost all social categories, but particularly affects urban women, including woman of color and those who are poor.
It won’t get better for the New Jersey 7. The group included at least two couples, now felons who can no longer associate with any other felon, including each other. The women with felony convictions cannot vote, adding them to the growing rosters of disenfranchised African American voters in the U.S. Others lost physical custody of their children while in prison, and several must now navigate a depressed job market with a felony gang conviction on their records. All of which begs the question: It gets better for whom?
We need to make sure that it gets better for people who aren’t middle class, white or male. It will get better when we address inequalities, starting with those who are the most oppressed. It could get better if we put the brakes on a voracious criminal justice system and if we stop criminalizing survival. And it will get better when a group of young African American lesbian friends can walk down the street knowing they are safe from sexual harassment and threats of violence.
(trigger warning for homophobia)
So I guess #ToMyUnbornChild was a trending topic recently. Ugh. To make matters worse, at least 100 terrible people answered the question “What if the fetus you save is gay?” with “I would straight-up murder them, of course!” Chances these same people consider themselves pro-life? Close to 100%, I’d imagine.
-Jess
(Source: stfuconservatives, via princessdieistheword)
