Lisa Ugray

queeriotto:

Queers United In Love and Liberation (QUILL) presents the 3rd annual Queeriot, this year in Toronto!

Queer is not a lifestyle and we will not buy into the state’s seductive incentives
Our deviance is sexier than their rules! 

SAVE THE DATE 
Join us from August  3-5 for a weekend of fabulous glittery, accessible, consensual, anti-capitalist fun! We will be hosting workshops, table space (bring your distros, your merch, whatever you make and trade!), food, music and more!
Interested in participating? Have a cool idea for a workshop? Do you want to table? Email us at queeriotTO@gmail.com  to coordinate.

Check out this blog periodically for updates! We’re still in the planning stages.

We know shit happens in spaces and conversations that can be triggering for folks, and we’re asking you to support one another as friends and radical community. We will have active listeners throughout the event. 

WE ARE:
An autonomous collective of queer identified radicals in Toronto committed to injecting anti-capitalist political ideology into queer community organizing, as well as ‘queering’ spaces in the city, be they in the radical or mainstream gay community. 
We fight the “pinkwashing” of the police, the state and the corporations and will not be co-opted or assimilated into heteronormative patriarchal racist systems of exploitation and consumerism. 
We work to bridge the gaps between sexual liberation and queer struggles with anti-racist, feminist, and disability justice organizing, and see all forms of oppression as interconnected.

Can’t wait!

mylittlebaneling:

flayotters:

Read More

Firstly, why did you put a trigger warning on this xx? [It] isn’t self-harm, it’s self-repair. 

In the context of a trigger warning, it doesn’t matter whether you view it as self-repair or self-harm, it matters whether there’s a significant chance that someone else viewing it be triggered for self-harm, and I thought there was.

Read More →

Even when made with what passes for curds this far west, it is delicious.

mylittlebaneling:

lacigreen:

rgrutan:

i thought LGBT was a sandwich

Lettuce, Glitter, Bacon, Tomato?

FAAAABULOOOOOUSSSSS!

i’ll have extra glitter, plz.

Whenever you buy them they always leave out the tomato, and also you can only get it on white bread.

OMFSM - Yes to latest commentary.

veuxveuxpas:

From how and what we eat, to medicine, to glasses and eye surgery, to SRS and tanning, to dieting and exercise, to cutting, tattoos, and piercings. Birth control. Binding. Push-up bras. Tucking. The type of shoes you wear. Hair removal. I could go on. 

Pro-choice, sex-positive, trans-positive, pro sex workers’ rights  - it’s all about bodily autonomy and not acting like you own people’s bodies.

Let people decide what is best for them. Their bodies don’t belong to you. Stop acting like they do.

Corollary: Anyone who’s serious about being pro choice must also be serious about informed consent access to hormones and surgeries (of all kinds).

mylittlebaneling:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

coldeyesthatburn:

ellydwerewolf:

OH. MY GOD. WHO ARE THESE SO-CALLED “NATIVES” AND WHY ARE THEY SO PISSED ABOUT MY PRETTY HAT GOD AND WHY WON’T THEY STOP TALKING ABOUT SOME SHIT CALLED “WHITE SUPREMACY”??!!

HOW DARE THEY CALL ME A CRACKER THAT’S SUCH A HURTFUL TERM THAT HAS SUCH A LONG AND UGLY HISTORY OF OPPRESSION AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE!!

DON’T THEY KNOW ABOUT MY CHEROKEE PRINCESS GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER?!?!?!

WHY ARE THEY BEING SO REVERSE-RACIST TO MEEEEE

THIS IS CYBER BULLYINGGGGGGGG

I’M TELLING TUMBLR ABUUUUUSEEE

but then i cracked myself up and had to stop b/c my face was hurting so that’s enough of that

AFZDADFASFG

AHAHAHAAAAAAAa

It’s true we do do this. 

yougottabejoking:

Telling people to call me Ian and use male pronouns —> Paranoia that I’m wrong and I’m not male and I’ll just have to revert and that I’m damaging my body and wasting people’s time and energy and memory and wrong wrong wrong wrong wroooong….

This is what you want right now. Even if it ends up changing later, that doesn’t make what you feel or what you want right now in any way wrong. It is okay for these things to change, and okay for them to not.

mylittlebaneling:

thefangirlslayer:

clearbluelake:

There is something that makes me erupt with rage everytime a cis woman says to it me, made even worse by the fact that I can’t actually express this rage without offending anybody.

“At least you don’t have to worry about periods or getting pregnant!”

Are you kidding me, cis-humanity? Let’s take a step backwards and see this issue from a bigger perspective. Can you imagine somebody saying that to a cis woman who had just had her ovaries removed because of a medical condition? The person who said that would be socially ostracised before they knew what hit them, but apparently this is all fine and dandy to say to a trans woman. 

The few times I’ve fought back and tried to explain to somebody exactly why this is so offensive using this very comparison they get uppity. After all, those poor women who can’t have babies are real women. I’m not a real woman, except that I am, but I’m not a real real woman. You know? 

Let’s get this straight: Not only am I a real woman, just like any cis-woman, the fact that I don’t have periods and can’t get pregnant is pretty much the single biggest tragedy in my entire life. Nothing can change this. It doesn’t make it any better that in trade for this misfortune I don’t have to deal with periods or worry about accidental pregnancy.

This isn’t to say that as a woman having kids is naturally my biggest concern. I’m not dealing in stereotypes here, I’m dealing in human beings. To try to point to my inability to reproduce using the body I should have been born with as some kind of benefit to being trans is so blatantly offensive that I can’t believe I actually have to take the time to write this down.

If any cis woman really wants to play some sort of biological oppression olympics with me, here’s some handy facts for you:

•  Assuming I live until I’m 80, I will end up spending between 1800 - 5600 hours of my life stretching my vagina (dilating) in order to keep it. The lower estimate is for the minimum amount of time I need to dilate in order to simply make sure my vagina doesn’t disappear to a more reasonable estimate for how often I need to dilate in order to be able to have relatively pain-free sex. How many hours do you spend maintaining your vagina’s existence?
• The surgery itself, thanks to my province’s wonderful medical plan, cost me only around $5000 for the flight, private care, medical supplies, and time off work to recover. I went through just as much pain as any pregnancy and it took me far longer than a day or two in extreme pain. At least when the baby comes out they don’t tell you to shove it immediately back in and hold it there for 45 minutes 4 times a day while you bleed all over your bed. Tell me cis women, how much did you pay for your vagina when you were born? 
• The hormones I need to live (now that my body can’t produce any of its own) cost me $75 - $100 a month depending on if I can afford to buy in bulk. How much does your birth control cost? Are you still going to need it when you’re 70? Is it covered by your insurance?

The next time a trans woman that has had vaginoplasty starts complaining about how much it sucks to be trans, please don’t try to cheer her up by reminding her that she can’t bear children. You’re really not helping. 

This! SO much this! Even though I am a not a trans woman who has had vaginoplasty, I still concur with this a lot!

THISTHISTHISTHISTHIS

dizzzypie:

jellyfish-dance:

People are calling today “Feminist Christmas” because the anti choice policies in Oklahoma and Texas were struck down in the courts. If we can have a “Feminist Christmas” while a black trans woman is facing jail time for trying to survive a racist and transphobic attack and three other trans women of color were reported murdered just last month, then Feminism, and each of us as feminists, is failing.

this

tybaar:

1.  Lubes up soles of feets to give Lavenderpanda a footjob.

2. Realizes she also needs to grab a condom.

3. Stands up on smooth hardwood floor.

4. //set. sv_friction = 0.00

mylittlebaneling:

I think that everyone should be equal both socially and legally regardless of race.

*giggles* you thought I was going to say something racist but then I didn’t!!! (Unless that is racist in which case OH MY GOD I’M SO SORRY PLEASE FEEL FREE TO KILL ME I’M SORRY FOR BEING WHITE SCUM.)

Making racism into a joke really isn’t ok. Also, like you don’t get to declare yourself an ally to any oppressed group, you don’t get to declare yourself to be not racist.

thespiritwas:

from Dean Spade:

CeCe just took a plea deal—2nd degree manslaughter with a recommended 41 month sentence (actual sentencing hearing will be in a month). Horrifying to watch her forced to recount the events of her attack on the stand, to watch the judge speak to her condescendingly about how pulling scissors out of her purse as her attacker chased her down the street unlawfully endangered her attacker. This system is so disgusting. Still, I am inspired by her support team here in MN and people all over sending love.

How the fuck does this make sense? A system so hopelessly flawed that a trans woman of colour feels she’s better off accepting a sentence of more than three years, simply for having the gall to not die when she was attacked.

tommilsom:

Two scientists walk into a bar

The first scientist says ‘I’ll have a glass of H2O”

The second scientist says ‘I’ll have a glass of water too. Wh… why did you say H2O? Like, I know it’s the chemical formula for water and all, but it’s the end of the day and there’s really no need to intentionally over-complicate things like that in a situation outside of work”

The first scientist stares at his drink, angry that his assassination plan has failed.

This took me way too long. Take away my geek license now.

theraptorwhomurderedlove:

Or, better titled: If the phrase “WE’RE ALL HUMAN” is about to come out of your mouth as a reason why no one should be allowed to label their gender or sexuality, do me a solid and shut the fuck up.

Here’s the thing: Being able to label your gender and sexuality is an important thing for a lot of people. It’s something that’s useful and it’s worth a lot, too.

Being able to put a name to our sexualities and genders can make us feel more secure with ourselves and it can make it easier for us to discuss them as they apply to us; it makes it easier for us to find other people who share the same identity and it allows us to discuss shared experiences and feelings and practices with our own words, and being able to do this makes it easier for us (if we want) to created communities or safe spaces where—at the very least—we can feel like the people around us are less likely to laugh at us or call us frauds because we know that they understand what we’re going through. Being able to put a name to our sexualities and genders also helps us put a name to the prejudices we may face due to them and that can help us try to find ways to end those prejudices and if we want to, inform others about our sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We’re all human!” is all well and good, but the fact is that just because we’re both humans doesn’t mean that we’re the same and it doesn’t mean that you can understand what it is other people who identify differently than you do experience.

If you’re straight, you don’t know what it is not to be straight. If you’re cisgender, you don’t know what it’s like to be trans*. If you’re sexual, if you’re monosexual, if you’re monoromantic, if you’re binary identified…so on and so forth. You can say that we’re all humans until you’re blue in the face, but that does not mean that you share the same experiences and feelings that everyone else does.

And the thing is that when you try to take the labels away from someone, you’re not making this big fondue bowl of rainbows and kittens and wonderful things like you think you are. What you’re doing is taking away our ability to discuss those experiences and feelings with people who do share them. You’re taking away our ability to put a name to the prejudices and oppression we face. You’re taking away our ability to feel content in our own bodies and our own minds.

And, really, what’s it for? What are your reasons? “This word is too weird!” or “this word is new!” and “this word is made up!”. Gods, just fuck that, because it’s bullshit. It’s absolute and complete bullshit.

Moist and discharge and baste are words that exist. Over one-hundred-and-fifty words were added to the dictionary just last year. No words would exist at all if they weren’t made up in the first place. There are hundreds—if not thousands—of synonyms for penis, probably even more synonyms for what happens when semen comes out of them. Fictional cocks can weep tears and those tears can feel emotions, but you think it’s out of line and weird for me and people like me to say that the handful of words that you deign to be “normal” and “acceptable” to describe gender and sexuality don’t fit what we feel and that we’d like words that did?

And it’s crap, because from what I’ve seen most of the members of “We’re All Douchebags Humans Club” don’t apply their no labels policy to themselves. You can call yourself what you’d like all you want, but it’s different for us, right? You can be a man or a woman, but none of us can be anything else. You can be straight or you can be gay, but to you nothing else exists. There’s no other than that, not to you, because you get to decide what genders and sexualities are valid and which aren’t, right? We have to be just humans, but you don’t. We have to be label-free and without the words to define our feelings, but you get to keep your words. You get to keep your words because you think that ours aren’t worthy of being kept.

And, just really, fuck you. Fuck you so fucking much, because I like my words. I like not feeling lost and detached and not knowing what the hell my sexuality or gender is, because I didn’t think words existed to describe them. I like knowing that there are other people out there that feel the same way that I do and who get it. I like my labels, because they’ve done a fuck of a lot for me and I don’t like people saying that I’m not allowed to have them for some completely useless reason while they sit with their own words and definitions and don’t make a single move to get rid of them like they want me to do with mine. 

tal9000:

Which trans women get talked about in the media - and how

garconniere:

disclaimer: i must admit, i try to avoid arguments that begin with “why are talking about THIS when THIS is happening?!” but it has been on my mind for far too long and i can’t shake this. no, i’m not the best person to write about this, but i can’t find anyone else who has expressed similar concerns about it so i’m going to put it out there.

important note: this is not intented to criticize trans women, or the choices of one trans women over another; it is a criticism of which stories about trans women get told, and why. it is a criticism of silence. it arguing for a space in newspapers, on televisions, on the radio, and online for productive discussions about how dismantle institutional forms of transphobia, racism, and intersecting systems of oppression.

jenna talackova’s story, in short:

the Miss Universe Organization will allow Jenna Talackova, a transgender woman, to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant.
“provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions.”

cece macdonald’s story, in short:

Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald is a young African American transgender woman who is charged with two counts of “second degree murder” after an incident that began when she was violently assaulted because of her gender and race. 

unfortunately, if you know anything about oppression you wouldn’t be surprised to know which story is front-page news, and which one isn’t being talked about at all. talking about what happened to cece means confronting instituional racism and transphobia.

when you google “cece macdonald,” you get 3 680 results.

when you google “jenna talackova,” you get 6 290 000 results.

asking to be allowed to participate in a beauty pageant, and being granted permission even though you were forcibly assigned male at birth, is perceived as revolutionary, forward-thinking, wonderful. jenna gets invited to talk shows, she gets her photo and name published thousands of times. she fought for the right to live her life the way she chooses to.

but what about cece? asking people to question and challenge the legal system that puts an african-american trans woman behind bars, charges her with murder, for defending herself against racist & transphobic slurs and physical attacks? no. that’s asking too much. that’s too complicated. “we don’t know the whole story,” they say.

do we not want to hear or challenge the stories that are too “complicated?” people don’t see one simple solution in the case of cece macdonald. it’s not a happy subheadline with an accompanying glamour shot. it’s not a matter of one rich white guy changing a rule after being pestered by a few LGBT organizations and having the financial means of filing a law suit.

in this case, you can’t even use the argument of the big bad mainstream media turning a blind eye. look at gay media outlets, too, and you’ll find radio silence. the advocate, “the world’s leading source for LGBT news and entertainment,” has three full-length articles about jenna tacklova. and when you search for cece? nothing. most of where i’ve found this information has been through tumblr and twitter.

INFORM YOURSELF.

SIGN THE PETITION TO HAVE THE CHARGES AGAINST CECE DROPPED.

TELL CECE’S STORY, because not enough people know her name or her story.

recommended reading:

• Support CeCe MacDonald
• This is what happened to CeCe by Redlark at Feministe (February 9th, 2012)
• Undoing Racism, Undoing transphobia: Demand justice for CeCe by Savannah Lefty Girl (February 12, 2012)
• Sign the petition here
• The View Needs To Widen Their Scope on Jenna Talackova: Discussing Transphobia While Being Transphobic by Jorge Antonio Vallejos at Black Coffee Poet (April 9th, 2012)
• No Feminism without Trans Feminism by Laurie Penny (November 2009)

sinag:

So I’ve been thinking of a-bayani’s post and— okay, please listen to them, they are saying some effing important things. And, reading and re-reading the first paragraph of their post, I just— ugh. Okay.

I don’t have all of a-bayani’s experiences — for one thing I’m a Filipino in the Philippines, I’m one of those people who’s given up shouting and speaking out online because what the hell, no one listens, and meanwhile we have First World Feminists wringing their hands about how oh those poor Filipinas remain so voiceless (guess who stole those voices away, guess who keeps speaking over us, guess who keeps erasing our long history of struggle, our ongoing battles) — but can I just say I’m pretty appalled by how Americans have no effing idea what they’ve done to our country? You have no idea your military’s still here, really? You have no idea how much your armed occupation messed us up? How much you continue to mess us up?

I’m no historian. But — if you can spare the time to view them — here are some links.

Here’s an infographic detailing the increase in US troops in the Philippines over the past several years. Here’s an article detailing what a US Marine publication said about the Philippines, in reference to its “new generation of Marines and sailors [who] will get to experience the Philippines as previous generations have.” Here’s a timeline of the Subic rape case. Here are some articles on how the US not only supported the Marcos dictatorship, but stored nuclear weapons here during that time. Here’s a record of the Balangiga massacre — guess what, you still have the Balangiga bells. (And don’t even get me started on all those spoils of war encased behind glass in your museums, things you have stolen from us and continue to hold up as prizes in the collections of your academe.) Here’s an account of the Battle of Bud Dajo. Here is an account of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, where the US bought the Philippines for the sum of twenty million dollars.

And— there’s so much, so much lived history, so much char and ashes in our streets and in our minds, so many scars —but what good would it do to show you? What does it matter? What is this but yet another harrowing of wounds that people all too easily unsee? All these things go unheard, forgotten, and now instead those who struggle to remember are asked why they hold on to hate.

For all the benevolence of your rule, America. For all the blissful ignorance and apathy of your people. I give you back my fury, all my bloody broken rage.

clearbluelake:

A trans friend of mine got this message from a guy she had a few dates with:

[Friend’s Name]

I’m sorry I made you feel that I was interested up until this point. There is no way for me to put this lightly, but I think it was a little unfair for you to not share the fact that you’re transgender. It’s kind of a crucial part of a straight relationship. 

I’m sorry, it’s not something I’m into. 

Good luck.

Absolutely terrible! Unfortunately I know a lot of my cis friends wouldn’t agree with me on this. I suggested my friend send the following message back:

Guy’s name,

I’m sorry I made you feel that I was interested up until this point. There is no way for me to put this lightly, but I think it was a little unfair for you to not share the fact that you’re transphobic. It’s kind of a crucial part of a caring relationship. 

I’m not sorry, bigotry is not something I am into.

Good luck.

I like the point that this reversal sends home. Too often cis-people feel entitled to know whether or not you are trans. They think this is crucial info and if you don’t share it you are somehow ‘lying’ to them or ‘deceiving’ them. By flipping the discourse on the issue of disclosure it highlights just where the responsibility lies. What kind of person feels the absolute need to know, upfront, whether or not you belong to a marginalized group before they agree to date you? If somebody dumped somebody because they found out that the person they are dating is biracial and ‘passes’ for white, we’d call that racist. 

Trying to watch a cis person defend their right to know their partner’s trans status up front is laughable and shows exactly what the paradigm is. It’s our responsibility because what if they don’t want to date trans people? We are to assume that everybody we meet would not be okay with us, and hope that our kind cis superiors feel ‘progressive’ enough to date us despite our transness.  The idea that people not wanting to date trans people simply because they are trans and no other reason is somehow considered the norm and we are supposed to cater to it. This is bullshit! If you really care what your potential partner’s genitals are or used to be it’s your own damn responsibility to ask. And don’t take that to mean you can just ask any random trans person what their genitals are like. You are not entitled to this information. 

Also I want to take a moment to point out that this guy clearly thinks that my friend transitioned in order to not be gay and feels entitled enough to lecture her on ‘straight’ relationships like she is a lower class straight person. What a fucking jerk. For the record my friend works as a model and is one of the nicest people I know, so this guy really missed out.