fuck every democrat who says the issue of trans rights is a “distraction.” fuck every single liberal who say that the threat of stripping every trans person of legal recognition is a red herring or a losing issue and if we focus on it too long we’ll throw the election. we’re talking about human rights, access to medical care, sex education, discrimination, citizenship, and a whole lot else, for millions of people.
trans people aren’t a “distraction.” we’re human beings. the fact that so many liberals turn their backs on trans people is fucking despicable.
Okay…but this, right here? This is exactly what the Republican party wants. Young voters turning against the Democratic party and either not voting at all, or voting in favor of some third party candidate that has literally zero chance of pulling in enough votes to win. They want division among the ranks. They want to split our vote.
In political terms, calling something a ‘distraction’ means it’s a distraction tactic, not that the issue itself isn’t important. The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves. They deliberately drop issues that they know are hot-button topics because these are the topics that have the potential to be the most divisive.
They’re awful but they’re not dumb. They know trans rights is an issue that could potentially split the democratic vote. It’s an issue that’s very heavily weighted toward the younger side of the party, which again, was a deliberate move on their part. If they can convinced you that the “big bad Democrats don’t care about you little trans and nonbinary kids so why bother,” then they’ve effectively won the election in a walk because the democrats went in divided–again.
Look, the democratic party isn’t perfect. Not by a long shot. But it’s literally the only party that has a snowball’s chance in hell at overtaking the republican majority right now. If we as trans and nonbinary individuals ever want our identities respected and protected, it’s the only party that’s going to be able to get us there, because it’s the party going in the direction we need to go. If you want to vote in favor of our rights, then vote Democrat. No number of videos with pennies is going to change the fact that right now, in this political climate, third party candidates are not going to have enough power to effect the changes we want.
Warning against something being a distraction doesn’t mean “don’t look at it or worry about it,” it means, “hey, I know this is majorly upsetting, and absolutely something needs to be done, but don’t let it divide us.” It’s literally because the issue is so important that democrats are warning against it as a distraction tactic–if we want to prevent that kind of change from happening under republican rule, we have to keep our heads and not let them keep us from voting as a unified party.
Please don’t let the political rhetoric make you think that the democratic party isn’t going to be fighting for us and our rights. That’s kind of exactly what the Republican party wants you to think. It’s a division tactic. Don’t fall for it.
The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves.
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
I’ve been voting since 1998. This is what they do every single election.
Also… which Democrats are you saying aren’t for trans rights, op? Because I would suspect that red state Dems don’t bring it up in local ads, rather than actually being against it.
As an ex Republican, I can tell you with 100% certainty that this is their tactic. I sat in the back row of Tea Party meetings while they discussed in open detail doing exactly this. They would talk about “hyping up abortion repeal” even when they knew the makeup of the court and current case load meant that was never going to happen. They talked about the “bathroom business” (meaning trans rights) because they knew it would divide the left and force Dems in red districts to give air time to an issue that was guaranteed to rev up the right and bring up their vote. This is the actual playbook and the left slides right into that trap every fucking year. Every goddamn time. I’m getting sick of it. I have told my fellow democrats in RL meetings–who KNOW I’m ex republican–that this is the score, and they still don’t listen.
Someone else wearing your suit is like someone wearing your face/skin. It’s creepy as shit, unless you specifically sell a suit to someone after thorough cleaning. (less for sex reasons; a suit for sex is a murr suit, a fur suit is a sfw deal; more for mascot suiting in general reasons: sweat, body odor, etc)
A reminder that turning in assignments for partial credit is better than not turning them in at all. It is. Even if you think you’ve done a bad job and are ashamed of your work, or it’s way overdue, you take whatever you can get. Partial credit dramatically improves your grade over a zero, and I’m always astounded by how often even the smartest kids don’t really comprehend that. 60% is worlds better than 0%. Even 10% is going to help you. Letter grades are misleading and are not created equal. “F"s are mathematically valuable. Turn that late assignment in.
This goes for so many things in life tbh.
Can’t pay the full amount you owe on a bill? Pay as much as you can each month. Most places just wanna know you’re making a good faith effort. You can usually even call and ask for a smaller minimum monthly payment plan until you catch up, so that maybe you won’t be getting late fees added on to your balance. It’s worth calling to see.
Third time you’ve had to reschedule that doctor’s appointment? Oh well. Your doc probably just wants to make sure you make it in to their office at all. Keep trying.
Half-assing is always better than no-assing folks. I know lots of us are anxiety-ridden perfectionists and it feels like if we can’t do everything exactly right on the first try we just shouldn’t bother. But that’s not true.
My mom likes to say “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” to emphasize that it’s okay to enjoy doing things even if you’re not good at them. The point is doing them. Make that shitty art project that makes you happy. Learn that new skill even if you suck at it at first. Make it to under half of the events of that club or organization you want to be a part of but can’t fully commit to. It’s okay. You don’t have to do it perfectly to do it at all.
fuck every democrat who says the issue of trans rights is a “distraction.” fuck every single liberal who say that the threat of stripping every trans person of legal recognition is a red herring or a losing issue and if we focus on it too long we’ll throw the election. we’re talking about human rights, access to medical care, sex education, discrimination, citizenship, and a whole lot else, for millions of people.
trans people aren’t a “distraction.” we’re human beings. the fact that so many liberals turn their backs on trans people is fucking despicable.
Okay…but this, right here? This is exactly what the Republican party wants. Young voters turning against the Democratic party and either not voting at all, or voting in favor of some third party candidate that has literally zero chance of pulling in enough votes to win. They want division among the ranks. They want to split our vote.
In political terms, calling something a ‘distraction’ means it’s a distraction tactic, not that the issue itself isn’t important. The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves. They deliberately drop issues that they know are hot-button topics because these are the topics that have the potential to be the most divisive.
They’re awful but they’re not dumb. They know trans rights is an issue that could potentially split the democratic vote. It’s an issue that’s very heavily weighted toward the younger side of the party, which again, was a deliberate move on their part. If they can convinced you that the “big bad Democrats don’t care about you little trans and nonbinary kids so why bother,” then they’ve effectively won the election in a walk because the democrats went in divided–again.
Look, the democratic party isn’t perfect. Not by a long shot. But it’s literally the only party that has a snowball’s chance in hell at overtaking the republican majority right now. If we as trans and nonbinary individuals ever want our identities respected and protected, it’s the only party that’s going to be able to get us there, because it’s the party going in the direction we need to go. If you want to vote in favor of our rights, then vote Democrat. No number of videos with pennies is going to change the fact that right now, in this political climate, third party candidates are not going to have enough power to effect the changes we want.
Warning against something being a distraction doesn’t mean “don’t look at it or worry about it,” it means, “hey, I know this is majorly upsetting, and absolutely something needs to be done, but don’t let it divide us.” It’s literally because the issue is so important that democrats are warning against it as a distraction tactic–if we want to prevent that kind of change from happening under republican rule, we have to keep our heads and not let them keep us from voting as a unified party.
Please don’t let the political rhetoric make you think that the democratic party isn’t going to be fighting for us and our rights. That’s kind of exactly what the Republican party wants you to think. It’s a division tactic. Don’t fall for it.
The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves.
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
I’ve been voting since 1998. This is what they do every single election.
Also… which Democrats are you saying aren’t for trans rights, op? Because I would suspect that red state Dems don’t bring it up in local ads, rather than actually being against it.
A lot of the awful shit Lord Dampnut and his cronies do is actually calculated distraction tactics. That doesn’t mean it’s not awful! But it means that they stir up some shit saying awful inflammatory crap, and then sneak off and do something else awful under the radar while everyone’s focused on the deliberate shit-stirring awful thing.
Pointing that out is NOT saying “trans rights don’t matter”.
And honestly. Even if your local Dems are truly, openly shitty about trans rights… pretty much all of the Republicans are worse. And the Dems are the ones who have a real chance at beating them. So I would encourage everyone to vote tactically, for whoever’s going to give the best shot at having things not get massively worse for the entire country as a whole. But also. VOTE. Don’t sit it out just because you’re not a huge fan of everyone involved. That’s how Republicans win, and if you’re trans you probably already know – Republicans are, in general, really not your friends. Dems may not all be as progressive as we’d like them to be, that’s true, but at least they’re not the ones actively trying to get y’all banned from being allowed to use public toilets. So what do you want government to be run by? A group that, collectively, maybe thinks you’re kinda weird and not a top priority demographic to worry about? Or a group that collectively has more of an opinion of you like you’re evil and need to be eradicated?
I get wanting to be a priority! I really really do! But please consider what the actual alternative to “not our priority right now” is.
god this is a big ask but I really wish there were like….. a site where you could plug in your state/district/whatever and tick some boxes on issues you prioritize and then the site would give you a rundown of the potential candidates in your area and where they stand on those issues in like….. clean simple bullet points. gimme the cliffnotes, I literally do not have the time or energy to comb through god knows how many articles and shit to figure out who to support, just tell me what their stance is on X, Y, and Z, and that’s gonna have to be enough.
It goes through who’s on your ballot and explains things like that based on your address.
this is really great. it gives you bullet points on what each candidate has said and done on each issue.
very illuminating, frankly, seeing the candidate’s own words and actions. for instance, under ‘defense/veterans’ the republican candidates almost always say something about a well-funded military, and the democrats almost always say something about getting veterans the medical care they need. makes it pretty obvious that republicans don’t care about soldiers once they’re done with them.
Male positivity? In my branding? It’s more likely than you think
I love this
Y E S. FINALLY
AXE realized their target demographic are the preteen and teen boys who over-apply their product and decided to do something good for these impressionable youths
If you ask someone to get tested before yall engage in sexual activities and they give you a rough time… fucking run. They can keep whatever they have to themselves.
this post is SOOOO ugly. the only thing i’m running away from is ur HIV stigma honestly
good stay away
Wanting to avoid a disease that will ruin all future chances of having a healthy, physical relationship with someone or producing healthy children is stigma?
hi! i know this post is a bit old, but i have good news! people with HIV can absolutely have happy, healthy lives including sexual relationships with HIV-negative people.
people with HIV who are receiving successful treatment can keep their immune systems strong, and reduce the level of the virus in their blood so low it’s undetectable, which means they can’t transmit the virus! also, PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medicine HIV-negative people can take to protect themselves from HIV, kind of like the birth control pill.
Okay, here’s the thing, and I think y’all missed it:
Let me use myself as an example.
I have herpes simplex 2. That’s the one that gives you cold sores, and up to 80% of the global population has it. But, even though it’s not genital herpes, if you go down on somebody during an outbreak, they can get herpes 2 in their junk. And it’s nasty. The usual problem is “just” a cold sore, but during severe outbreaks–which can occur if, for example, you’re on antibiotics during an outbreak–you can develop sores on your lips, inside of your mouth, even in your throat. They break, they bleed, they ooze, it sucks. During my last major outbreak (so far my only major outbreak, thankfully) I ate nothing but lukewarm soup for a week.
So now let’s say I have a new partner, and I’m in what I think might be the starting stages of an outbreak. Because I am an honest person, and feel they have the right to informed consent, I’m going to ask if they get cold sores (if the answer is yes, they’re fine, because you can’t get herpes twice). If the answer is no, I’m going to tell them I have herpes 2, explain what that is, and suggest we cool it with the kissing and/or sexytimes until I’m not virus-shedding. And nobody has given me shit for this, ever. I’ve had a couple of people thank me for my honesty. That’s it.
But now let’s say I’m a total shitstain. I know I’m in an outbreak. And I do not tell my partner, and I go down on her. I have decided, for her, that for the rest of her life she should deal with occasional bouts of weeping sores, raw skin, and thick mucous crusts on/in/around her genitals and possibly on and in her mouth.
I’ve given her a lifelong disease. She had no chance to consent or even say “I am willing to take this risk.” Isn’t that basically a form of rape?
So if you ask someone for an STD test and they refuse, they are hiding something and you should run. If you ask for an STD test and they say okay, or just straight-up say “I can get tested to check my viral load but you should know I have HIV,” that person is a keeper. They will be honest with you about their health and yours. They probably have information on how to reduce your transmission risk even further, and will inform you and use that information. (Which doesn’t take the onus off you to do your own research, by the way, it just means you have a starting point.) And as noted above, if their viral load is undetectable, they can’t transmit! I wouldn’t start having regular condomless sex without guidance from a sexual health expert, but you really have very little to fear.
Don’t be afraid of the STD, or the honest person who has it. Be afraid of the person who refuses to disclose.
STI stigma absolutely has to be fought, but at the same time, its absolutely reasonable to be wary of a person who refuses to tell you if they have an STI/gets angry at you for asking if they have one/to get tested bc it’s just you taking care of yourself. as the comment above outlines, STIs can be extremely damaging and if you knowingly infect someone you’re a fucking scumbag, especially if it’s an especially serious one such as HIV because it can develop into AIDS if untreated.
YUP.
I get cold sores. And you know what would suck really really fuckin bad? if I ended up getting that virus in my eyes; which can blind you tbh; on my genitalia, or by some accidental brush when shedding… MY PARTNERS GOT IT. Now sure, one’s got it and is asymptomatic and doesn’t really shed. That’s fine. Y’know what ISNT fine? If my second partner got it because I decided to be a DICK and kiss him when I’m gearing up for an outbreak.
He would be well within his rights to break up with me for my assholery. It’s not STIGMA at that point, it’s self-preservation and acknowledgement of his autonomy and the requirement of INFORMED CONSENT.
He knows I have cold sores sometimes. He knows roughly the rate at which I get them. He knows that he’s taking a calculated risk kissing me…. we’re still not gonna have a makeout sesh when I’m in outbreak, nor am I going down on ANYONE while I’ve got sores on my mouth yo, that’s not right. OBJECTIVELY.
House Of Crows 