You have a right to exist even when politically inconvenient. Your experiences don’t become less true or less important for not fitting a convenient narrative. Everything you’ve felt is valid.
So if a feminist space says you’re bad for women, or a queer space says you’re bad for gays, or anyone else tries to shut you up; then fuck them. Walk away and start your own space with fewer assholes. You’re fine; they’re wrong.
As is our tradition, my family gathered in the living room to eat hors d’oeuvres and chocolates while we watched the Times Square feed on TV. A couple minutes after midnight, we had the annual realisation that none of us know the words to “Auld Lang Syne” past the first verse and so can’t sing very much of it ourselves, the annual hasty scramble to find a recorded version to play instead, and the annual reminder that we don’t speak Scottish and the reason we can never remember the other lyrics is because we can’t understand them.
Ah, tradition.
(On the other hand, “getting out a smartphone and bringing up an ‘Auld Lang Syne’ video on the Youtube app” is absolutely the right way to ring in a mid-2010′s year. It felt very Correct.)
Tags:
#oh look an original post #New Years #proud citizen of The Future #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now
The A stands for ally *because the LGBTQA community decided it did* decades ago.
It’s not something straight people wanting to be cool are asserting for themselves. It’s something the community decided. A long time ago. For important reasons.
Like, when I was in high school, this is what we meant when we used the A to mean allies:
the straight couple who regularly took in kids who’d been kicked out of their families for being gay or trans
the straight adults who were brave enough to give rides to scared gay kids with violently homophobic parents
etc, etc
The A was also there meaning allies to protect people who were LGBTQ but weren’t out:
people who were probably gay or trans, but needed space to think about it, and needed to be in LGBTQA space without pressure to self-identity while they were figuring it out
people who couldn’t afford be be out, and needed to be able to say “I’m an ally; you don’t have to be gay to go to GSA; I’m just there to support my friends”
I think all the reasons it was important when I was a teenager are still important now.
And like, yeah, having a concept of allies means tolerating a certain amount of obnoxiousness from straight people who want to feel cool. But I think that’s a lot better than only being welcoming of people who are willing to shout from the rooftops how queer they are. Because that excludes some of the most vulnerable people.
(Like – if we want to talk about the problem of queer youth homelessness – it’s important to acknowledge that one thing that protects vulnerable queer kids is having access to spaces that are affirming of their gender and attraction, *and* rigorously careful to avoid outing people. Because people who have access to enough community to sustain them have a much, much better chance of being able to stay alive and stay closeted until they’ve managed to safely move away from dangerous parents.)
My country is super homophobic and this matters a lot. Last year I volunteered as part of an organisation dedicated to combating homophobia. All the members officially described themselves as allies. Yet, this is the first conversation I had when attempting to join them:
Me: *fills out application form while leaving the ‘gender’ section blank*
Secretary: So, are you transgender?
Me: …Yes. But, like, I’m not committing that to writing, or anything.
Secretary: Of course. Totally fine. I’m bisexual. Everyone else here is queer some way or another. I don’t think a straight person has ever joined.
Me: So, the reason you all list yourselves as allies is because…
Secretary: Because homosexuality is illegal.
Me: Thought so.
I am torn on this issue: on the one hand, it’s very important to be welcoming to allies, and not just because often ally==closeted, but for strategic reasons as well. On the other hand, the LGBTetc. acronym does not seem the place for that? LGBTetc. groups should pretty much be always open to allies in my opinion, but… I don’t think there are many closeted folks going around saying “I’m LGBTQA! I’m the ‘A’, it’s for ‘Allies’!”
Of course, I might also just be bitter because I (an ace-ish-kinda person) don’t ever see “A is for Allies AND Asexuals”, only ever “A is for Allies”. And I saw “A is for allies!” at around the same time I saw a lot of “Asexuals are not a part of the LGBTQ community”.
Tags:
#oh good somebody else wrote about the ace thing #it was bugging me but I couldn’t quite figure out how to put it #asexuality
When I was in high school, they made us do “devotion” every morning.
Every
Fucking
Morning
They would march us into an auditorium and pack us together and scream at us for an hour about how much Jesus loves us, which is why He threatens us with fire, and if we don’t want to burn we have to let Him come inside our hearts and/or orifices.
Jesus Christ: Scumbag Boyfriend
And, as a Jewish atheist, I was too lesbian for this shit.
So I did the obvious thing, of course.
I hid
In my classroom
Where everyone else was hiding.
Alison Morais: A Fucking Genius
But then the teachers found us
Because, like, how could they not
And they decided that the appropriate punishment for five delinquent kids refusing to participate in forced-worship
…Was to make them lead worship services.
My Teachers: Also Fucking Geniuses
So then they marched the lot of us to the auditorium and said that we would each have to give a sermon on a Biblical passage of our choice.
And we would each have to speak, on stage, in front of the crowd, for five minutes.
We were told to vote on who was to go first. Everyone made the logical choice and voted for the person they thought would be best able to deliver a speech on short notice.
Translation: Those FUCKING ASSHOLES threw me to the wolves and I will EAT THEIR CHILDREN.
So then it was time for me to use my mouth to serve my scumbag boyfriend Lord and Saviour.
I read and commented on The Lord’s Prayer and made sure to really put OOMPH into it. I was FABULOUS. The crowd went wild; even though they usually hated this part of the day.
Charisma: 1
Honesty: 0
Achievement Unlocked: Standard-Issue Religious Leader
But! There was one problem! Remember that I was supposed to go for 5 minutes, right?
This took me 4.
I had no idea what to do for the last minute, so I just looked at the rest of Matthew 6 in case there was something good.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
So then I started bullshitting
Because of course I did
And I basically was like:
You see this thing we do where we assemble each morning
And are forced to listen to the teachers pray at us
When clearly they’re praying for us to watch instead of for their own spiritual betterment?
And then the teachers were like:
Alison, what are you doing
Jesus is telling us that this is morally wrong
ALISON NO
He’s saying G-d hates it
Your mum hates it
Uncle Joe hates it
That creepy guy in the white van who sells chloroform-flavoured ice-cream hates it
ALISON STAHP
And if you do it you’ll be tortured in hell forever and ever; amen. Good night, Detroit! See ya!
ALISON GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BITCH
But I was gone
Tags:
#storytime #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #Christianity
Brinens and Things - Tumblr Mirror 