For those of you just joining us, hi. It's uh. It's been a rough month for us members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Utah just yesterday introduced anti-trans legislation to prevent people from changing the gender on their birth certificate; the bill defines female as "an individual with ovaries who is confirmed before or at birth to have external anatomical characteristics that appear to have the purpose of performing the natural reproductive function of providing eggs and receiving sperm from a male donor." https://rewire.news/legislative-tracker/law/utah-vital-statistics-act-amendment-hb-153/
The United States Supreme Court allowed Trump's trans military ban to (at least temporarily) go into effect. https://www.resetera.com/threads/supreme-court-pentagon-can-limit-transgender-people-in-the-military-while-lawsuits-continue.95022/
Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that trans people must be sterilized before they can legally change their gender. https://www.resetera.com/threads/supreme-court-of-japan-rules-trans-individuals-must-still-be-sterilized-before-they-can-legally-change-gender.95519/
Brazil's only openly gay congressman quit his job and fled the country amid death threats, which Bolsonaro seemed to publicly celebrate on social media in the immediate aftermath. https://www.resetera.com/threads/brazils-sole-openly-gay-congressman-leaves-country-after-death-threats.95572/
And Chechnya initiated a new crackdown on gays in the area (similar to their 2017 gay purge), detaining over 40 and torturing at least 2 to death already. https://www.resetera.com/threads/at-least-2-dead-from-torture-and-over-40-detained-from-gay-purge-in-chechnya.93323/
If this sounds exhausting for an outsider to read, I can't begin to express how exhausting it is to live this. No explanation of how I've feared walking alone (in broad daylight just as much as in nighttime), how I feared coming out to family, how I feared (and let's face it with the current makeup of the Court, still do fear) waking up and seeing the Supreme Court make a ruling on a court case that would affect another one of my human rights, does justice.
Other members of the community have expressed it publicly or privately, and I certainly haven't been shy saying it myself in Etc threads recently: we need help. Things are going to get worse for us before they get any better. And it's debilitating to deal with in general, and certainly to deal with alone. In threads and elsewhere I was asked by others what could be done to help, if help could even be done. And this response in particular from the Japan thread inspired me to start a thread
First off, if you consider yourself an ally, if you have a gay or lesbian friend, if you have a trans or queer family member, if you've been questioning your own identity recently, or even if you just see some of these headlines and feel like you want or need to help: Please Do. Don't let anyone mislead you into thinking it's not needed, or not wanted. And don't convince yourself there's nothing you can do.
If you're thinking about donations, some recommendations include:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org The Trevor Project is a national 24/7 toll-free confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth
https://transequality.org/ The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation's leading social justice advocacy organization for transgender individuals
https://www.glsen.org/ GLSEN is a national education organization working to transform K-12 schools into safe, affirming environments for students, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity or expression
https://www.nqttcn.com/ The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network is a healing justice organization working to help transform mental health (and provide community) for queer and trans people of color
https://victoryfund.org/ The Victory Fund is the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ+ officials at all levels of government
https://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/ Mermaids supports trans and gender-diverse youth in the UK, Hbomberguy just did a great charity stream raising a lot of money for them so I'd wager they're the most recognizable ones on this list currently
And https://itgetsbetter.org/ The It Gets Better Project is a nonprofit desiring to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth worldwide
If the only currency you have to spend is time and love and support, please don't feel like that's nothing or like that's lesser. You have a trans family member who isn't getting a lot of support or compassion from the rest of the family? You have a gay friend who's feeling unsafe and even scared during these times? Be there for them. Provide support, provide love, provide comfort, even just provide the knowledge that they're not alone if they need to talk or cry or vent or just breathe. None of us should have to deal with any of this, and the last thing we need amidst it all is to be dealing with this alone. Here's some tips from GLAAD if you need or think you need help being a better ally to trans people/friends in your life, and here's some extra tips from queer people of color speaking to Pink News about how to be a better ally to them (that also applies to white members of our own community, because some of us could certainly do a better job of being there for our diverse siblings in the community ourselves).
None of this is meant to be fully comprehensive of course. There's a lot of work that needs to be done to fix any of this, let alone all of this, and make this place (be it the United States specifically or planet Earth in general) safer, happier, and better for LGBTQ+ individuals. But we can't do this alone. Like I said in the military ban thread, if you're an ally in any way, we need you now. Not in a month, not in a year, now. Now more than ever. It's going to get a lot worse for us before it gets a little better, and we need help. However you can, even if it's just being there for us when we need emotional support to make it through a day, because a lot of us are struggling even through that right now. Don't think it's meaningless. Don't think it's unappreciated. And don't think it's not needed.
Utah just yesterday introduced anti-trans legislation to prevent people from changing the gender on their birth certificate; the bill defines female as "an individual with ovaries who is confirmed before or at birth to have external anatomical characteristics that appear to have the purpose of performing the natural reproductive function of providing eggs and receiving sperm from a male donor." https://rewire.news/legislative-tracker/law/utah-vital-statistics-act-amendment-hb-153/
The United States Supreme Court allowed Trump's trans military ban to (at least temporarily) go into effect. https://www.resetera.com/threads/supreme-court-pentagon-can-limit-transgender-people-in-the-military-while-lawsuits-continue.95022/
Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that trans people must be sterilized before they can legally change their gender. https://www.resetera.com/threads/supreme-court-of-japan-rules-trans-individuals-must-still-be-sterilized-before-they-can-legally-change-gender.95519/
Brazil's only openly gay congressman quit his job and fled the country amid death threats, which Bolsonaro seemed to publicly celebrate on social media in the immediate aftermath. https://www.resetera.com/threads/brazils-sole-openly-gay-congressman-leaves-country-after-death-threats.95572/
And Chechnya initiated a new crackdown on gays in the area (similar to their 2017 gay purge), detaining over 40 and torturing at least 2 to death already. https://www.resetera.com/threads/at-least-2-dead-from-torture-and-over-40-detained-from-gay-purge-in-chechnya.93323/
If this sounds exhausting for an outsider to read, I can't begin to express how exhausting it is to live this. No explanation of how I've feared walking alone (in broad daylight just as much as in nighttime), how I feared coming out to family, how I feared (and let's face it with the current makeup of the Court, still do fear) waking up and seeing the Supreme Court make a ruling on a court case that would affect another one of my human rights, does justice.
Other members of the community have expressed it publicly or privately, and I certainly haven't been shy saying it myself in Etc threads recently: we need help. Things are going to get worse for us before they get any better. And it's debilitating to deal with in general, and certainly to deal with alone. In threads and elsewhere I was asked by others what could be done to help, if help could even be done. And this response in particular from the Japan thread inspired me to start a thread
First off, if you consider yourself an ally, if you have a gay or lesbian friend, if you have a trans or queer family member, if you've been questioning your own identity recently, or even if you just see some of these headlines and feel like you want or need to help: Please Do. Don't let anyone mislead you into thinking it's not needed, or not wanted. And don't convince yourself there's nothing you can do.
If you're thinking about donations, some recommendations include:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org The Trevor Project is a national 24/7 toll-free confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth
https://transequality.org/ The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation's leading social justice advocacy organization for transgender individuals
https://www.glsen.org/ GLSEN is a national education organization working to transform K-12 schools into safe, affirming environments for students, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity or expression
https://www.nqttcn.com/ The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network is a healing justice organization working to help transform mental health (and provide community) for queer and trans people of color
https://victoryfund.org/ The Victory Fund is the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ+ officials at all levels of government
https://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/ Mermaids supports trans and gender-diverse youth in the UK, Hbomberguy just did a great charity stream raising a lot of money for them so I'd wager they're the most recognizable ones on this list currently
And https://itgetsbetter.org/ The It Gets Better Project is a nonprofit desiring to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth worldwide
If the only currency you have to spend is time and love and support, please don't feel like that's nothing or like that's lesser. You have a trans family member who isn't getting a lot of support or compassion from the rest of the family? You have a gay friend who's feeling unsafe and even scared during these times? Be there for them. Provide support, provide love, provide comfort, even just provide the knowledge that they're not alone if they need to talk or cry or vent or just breathe. None of us should have to deal with any of this, and the last thing we need amidst it all is to be dealing with this alone. Here's some tips from GLAAD if you need or think you need help being a better ally to trans people/friends in your life, and here's some extra tips from queer people of color speaking to Pink News about how to be a better ally to them (that also applies to white members of our own community, because some of us could certainly do a better job of being there for our diverse siblings in the community ourselves).
None of this is meant to be fully comprehensive of course. There's a lot of work that needs to be done to fix any of this, let alone all of this, and make this place (be it the United States specifically or planet Earth in general) safer, happier, and better for LGBTQ+ individuals. But we can't do this alone. Like I said in the military ban thread, if you're an ally in any way, we need you now. Not in a month, not in a year, now. Now more than ever. It's going to get a lot worse for us before it gets a little better, and we need help. However you can, even if it's just being there for us when we need emotional support to make it through a day, because a lot of us are struggling even through that right now. Don't think it's meaningless. Don't think it's unappreciated. And don't think it's not needed.
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