What do you think will happen next? ;) (video by Helix Studios)
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Game Night
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Periodical Political Post *22
Queer News
- American anti-trans bathroom bills could authorise
teachers to demand to see their students naked - 8 US states still ban discussion of gay issues in school
- Boy being bullied for being gay sets himself on fire
- Pope attacks marriage equality & transgender people
- Police investigates shots fired at LGBT museum Berlin
Other News
- The UK is becoming a surveillance state á la 1984
- Toddlers with guns kill more than terrorists in US
- British ISP Sky blocks “adult content” by defualt
- Cashless society would mean more sureveillance
- Stop blaming porn consumption for bad sex
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Model Monday *9
Jaden Smith continues to bend gender norms with his latest shoot for Vogue Korea. The 17-year-old shared an outtake image from his shoot titled “Royal Salute” on his Instagram profile where he rocked a black miniskirt over a pair of skinny leg jeans, wore bright purple nail polish and a flower behind his ear.
The most beautiful part about all this? It doesn’t at all look out of place.
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Dear US lawmakers, you are the Weirdos here
It seems like a simple concept: People go into a public bathroom, do their business and get out. The End. No one is seeing anyone naked, no one shares any toilet seat with anyone. At most you’ll wash your hands next to someone else. And that’s just the few people who even wash their hands…
But in the spirit of the good, old American tradition of blowing everything completely out of proportion some US states decided that transgender people using the bathroom of their choice is the new battleground on which we’ll decide the fate of society.
And this isn’t about keeping women & kids safe from rapists, it’s about social reinforcement of gender conformity through discrimination. And it doesn’t need self-righteous white dudes like this asshole doing “social experiments” to prove that this discrimination is real by the way.
So that’s where heading: Lawmakers telling us that, if you don’t have the right genitals to fit their definition of your gender, you don’t get to use the bathroom. Instead you get shunned, discriminated and accused of being a weirdo at best or a rapist at worst. Not just in a town or two but in state after state after state after state after state. What the fuck.
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Back on the Wall
Greyson Chance (remember about him?) just released his new music video. And while this kind of generic pop is really not my thing, it’s nice to see that he’s still making music even though he seems to have the same difficulties as Ronan Parke when it comes to translating the amazing voice they impressed the world with into a unique brand now that they’re getting older.
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Meet my Child
An ad released by a newly formed political group seeks to introduce more of America to families with transgender children.
A new ad seeks to do the thing many transgender people say is most crucial to their movement going forward: humanizing the unfamiliar.
Trans United Fund, a newly formed political group, released an ad on Thursday entitled “Meet My Child,” which features transgender children and their parents. Some of those parents convey the confusion they initially felt about what the word transgender meant and others express fear for their children given the high rates of suicide and violence associated with that demographic. But all of them share the characteristic of accepting the gender identity their children express to feel, a trait that is correlated with healthier outcomes for transgender kids.
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Skyclad Saturday *17
Photo by Adrian Mendez
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Periodical Political Post *23
Queer News
- Faroe Islands say yes to same-sex marriage
- Colombian court legalises same-sex marriage
- Egypt jails several men for years for being gay
- US public divided on anti-trans bathroom bills
- St. Petersburg lets Nazis march, arrests gays
Other News
- Study: mass surveillance breeds self-censorship
- FBI lab lied in almost every case for 20 years
- Male or female? Not that easy, says science
- London first EU capitol to elect Muslim mayor
- “War on Terror” leaves 1.3 million dead
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Gay Wedding Advice
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Western Tolerance?
When Westerners talk about the differences between them and people from other countries some topics seem to come up almost always. The tolerance of the Western world for example is something we just love to brag about. But how tolerant are we really? The Get Data blog took a look at the numbers from an American perspective.
Where does the American Public Stand on Racism?
The World Values Survey is an association of social scientists from around the world that gather data on human values, political and social life, as well as a host of other social statistics. Using the WVS data, we’ll present a brief analysis of tolerance, racism and xenophobia in the Western world.
The below figure shows the number of respondents by country that affirm the following positions. All questions began with, ‘Would not like to have as neighbours:’ and ends with the y-axis category. For example the first survey question was, ‘Would not like to have as neighbours: Different Race’ and 5.6% of American affirmed with this statement.
Even within the Western world huge differences between neighbouring countries can be observed. While only 3.5% of the respondents from Sweden had a negative view on immigrants, 21.5% of Germans did.
Tolerance towards Homosexuality in the US
As we can see in the below figures, which again uses WVS data, the United States ranks among the most tolerant countries towards homosexuality. Still, more than 24%, almost a quarter, of Americans believe homosexuality is never justifiable and only 21.5% believe homosexuality is always justifiable with similarly low numbers found in countries like Germany compared to 60% of Swedes.
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Tempera Thursday *6
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Sexytimes Sunday *10
Video by Helix Studios
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Periodical Political Post *24
Queer News
- Faroe Islands votes in favour of same-sex marriage, mostly
- Australian PM commits to marriage equality public vote
- Only Canadian clinic providing surgery to trans people set on fire
- Ukrainian neo-Nazis threaten ‘bloodbath’ over pride parade
- A kiss can see trans people branded as sex criminals in UK
Other News
- Austerity policies do more harm than good, study concludes
- NY church spent $2 million to block child abuse law reform
- How money, law, and religion made porn your enemy
- Yet another study finds masturbation to be very healthy
- Hidden surveillance microphones all over San Francisco found
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Defiance
This weekend a 29-year-old American took his legally purchased guns, walked into a packed queer club and killed 50 people. 53 others were injured. His motivation? According to the father of the shooter he was enraged by seeing two men kiss shortly before the attack.
Well, then. Hope you’re watching. Because we have a ton of cute queer couple videos left to post…
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Shopping with Jack
Here’s a video of a 13-year-old kid getting denied lottery tickets, cigarettes & alcohol but able to buy a gun. Legally.
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Tomgirl
“Gender” is a hot topic that never fails to spark heated discussions whenever it comes up. Many people have strong opinions about it and some even believe that the course of our society depends on simple things like choosing the “right” restroom in a McDonalds.
For a long time we brought up our children with strict guidelines in our heads about which toys are appropriate, which colour their clothes must have and which emotions they are allowed to express. All based on the genitals they were born with. Trucks, blue, anger. Dolls, pink, sensitivity.
But in recent years some started to question this system and proposed the idea that children might develop healthier attitudes towards themselves and others if we don’t put these restraints in place, if we allow them to form their own character, personality and preferences without arbitrary rules.
The documentary Tomgirl explores the life of Jake, a gender non-conforming kid that chose to ignore these rules.
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Periodical Political Post *25
Queer News
- After false show of solidarity, US politicians block LGBT protections
- Bolivia approves progressive law recognizing transgender rights
- Czech court strikes down ban on gay people adopting children
- Canada finally about to tackle age of consent for anal sex
- US Msulims more gay-accepting than Evangelical Christians
- Singer Ryan Beatty says he’s proud to be a raging homosexual
Other News
- EU names Lithuania, Poland, Italy, UK as CIA torture accomplices
- Russian federation council approves far-reaching surveillance
- Brazil’s new cabinet a horror show of corruption & stupidty
- Australian commission: Military cadets raped as initiation
- Immigration’s here to stay, the UK is leaving EU over a lie
- UK scientists face an uncertain future after Brexit vote
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An American Trans Life
Many people wouldn’t be surprised to learn that transgender people experience discrimination in the United States (see: North Carolina’s HB2), but now there’s a 300-page report to back up that gut feeling, and the levels of inequality are far more than many people would expect.
The study, released by the National Center for Transgender Equality, shows that transgender people face a shocking amount of discrimination. The study involved a survey of almost 28,000 people across the U.S. The researchers found devastating levels of discrimination in every aspect of life, from work, family, housing and general safety.
“The findings reveal disturbing patterns of mistreatment and discrimination and startling disparities between transgender people in the survey and the U.S. population when it comes to the most basic elements of life, such as finding a job, having a place to live, accessing medical care, and enjoying the support of family and community,” the researchers said.
Family Life and Support
Respondents reported varying levels of support from family members. 60% of the respondents who were out to their families said their families were supportive of their gender identity. 18% said their family was unsupportive and the remainder said their family was neutral.
For transgender people, family support can have a significant impact on the rest of their lives. Those with supportive families were less likely to experience other forms of discrimination and hardship or to experience them to a lesser extent. Those with supportive families were almost 20% less likely to experience homelessness and less likely to attempt suicide.
Unfortunately, not all families are supportive. One in ten transgender people reported that a family member was violent toward them for being trans and 8% were kicked out of the house by their family. Another 10% ran away from home.
Mistreatment in School
Discrimination against transgender people starts at an early age. Almost 80% of people who were openly or believed to be transgender while in school experienced mistreatment. More than half experienced verbal harassment, a quarter experienced physical assault and 13% were sexually assaulted. 17% of transgender K-12 students left a school because the experienced severe mistreatment.
Workplace Discrimination
Discrimination against trans people doesn’t end when they get their diploma. In fact, discrimination at work can be so serious for them that many end up unemployed and even homeless. For example, 13% of the respondents had lost a job because they were transgender and 19% had been fired, denied a promotion or not been hired for a job because of their gender identity. In the past year, 15% said their were verbally harassed or physically or sexually assaulted while at work because they were transgender.
Experiences in Bathrooms
The survey took place before North Carolina’s discriminatory bathroom bill, HB2, was legalized. And yet, transgender people already faced discrimination and violence in public restrooms so great that 59% avoided them altogether. As a result, they often experienced urinary tract infections, kidney infections or other kidney-related issues. About one-third of respondents limited what they ate and drank during the day so they wouldn’t have to use public restrooms.
9% said they’d been refused access to a public bathroom because of their gender identity and 12% reported being verbally, physically or sexually assaulted in a public bathroom. Despite what North Carolina’s lawmakers believe, it’s trans people who are in danger in public restrooms.
Harassment, Violence & Homicide
The survey found that transgender people face horrific levels of harassment, sexual assault and physical violence. Almost half of respondents had been sexually assaulted in their lifetime, with 10% reporting they’d been sexually assaulted in the year prior to the survey. More than half had experienced intimate partner violence. In the past year, almost half had been verbally harassed for being transgender and 9% had been physically assaulted. These experiences were even more common for respondents who had experienced homelessness or who had engaged in sex work.
While not included in the research, transgender people also face alarming rates of homicide, with black transwomen being specifically targeted. According to Mic, if everyone faced the same risk of murder as a black transwoman, the murder rate would increase from 15,696 to 120,087 in the Unites States.
Of all the transgender murders in the U.S. between 2013-2015, not one was prosecuted and none were reported as hate crimes. To make sure these lost trans lives are not forgotten, Mic created a database called “Unerased” which includes over one hundred murdered trans people.
via care2
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Periodical Political Post *31
Queer News
- Parents make young gay people homeless at a dramatic rate
- New US attorney gen. unchanged in hostility to queer rights
- Texas judge suspends Obamacare’s transgender protections
- Trans boy, 8, kicked out of Scouts after parents complained
- Gay-themed Moonlight wins Golden Globe for best drama
Other News
- Legal challenge against UK’s surveillance law crowdfunded
- New US attorney general wants to prosecute “obscenity”
- Porn company opens Virtual Reality rooms In Tokyo
- Tumblr bans videos of dogs for being “sexually explicit”
- Sweden sees benefits of six-hour working day in trial
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Nathan Chen
17-year-old Nathan Chen performed in a record-setting short program with a near-flawless free skate featuring five quadruple jumps Sunday to become the youngest men’s U.S. figure skating champion in more than five decades.
Submitted by Bruce
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