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afeelgoodblog · 3 months

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The Best News of Last Month

Sorry for being not active this month as I had some health problems. I'll start posting weekly now :) Meanwhile here's some good from last month

1. Widow donates $1 billion to medical school, giving free tuition forever

Ruth Gottesman surprised by her late husband's $1 billion in Berkshire stock, decides to donate it in full to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City's poorest borough. The donation is intended to cover students' tuition indefinitely, ensuring access to medical education for generations.

A video capturing students' emotional reactions to the news, cheering and crying, circulated after the announcement, highlighting the profound impact of the donation on the medical school community.

2. Electric school buses outperform diesel in extreme cold

In Colorado's West Grand School District, electric school buses outperformed their diesel counterparts, particularly in the bitterly cold temperatures of towns like Kremmling, where morning temperatures can drop below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite common concerns about reduced range in extreme weather, the electric buses maintained their battery charge even in these frigid conditions, providing reliable transportation for students.

This success has been welcomed by the school district, as diesel vehicles also face challenges in starting in Colorado's harsh winter weather.

3. Christian Bale unveils plans to build 12 foster homes in California

Christian Bale has led a tour round the new village in California where he plans to build 12 foster homes, as well as two studio flats to help children transition into independent living, and a 7,000 sq ft community centre.

The actor has spearheaded the building of a unique complex of facilities with the aim of keeping siblings in the foster care system together, and ideally under the same roof.

4. Average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome has increased from 25 years in 1983 to 60 years today

Today the average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome is approximately 60 years.

As recently as 1983, the average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome was 25 years. The dramatic increase to 60 years is largely due to the end of the inhumane practice of institutionalizing people with Down syndrome.

5. Greece legalises same-sex marriage

Greece has become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples will now also be legally allowed to adopt children after Thursday's 176-76 vote in parliament.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the new law would "boldly abolish a serious inequality".

6. Massachusetts police K9 tracks scent for over 2 miles to find missing 12-year-old in freezing cold

A Massachusetts police K9 followed her nose to help find a 12-year-old who went missing in frigid temperatures last week, tracking the child’s scent for over two miles, authorities said.

K9 Biza, a female German shepherd, was called on to help after officers learned the child left their home at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and was last seen in the Pakachoag Hill area of Auburn, the Auburn Police Department said.

7. Good News for the Socially Anxious: People Like You a Lot More Than You Think They Do, New Research Confirms

The "Lake Wobegon effect" or "illusory superiority" phenomenon highlights people's tendency to overestimate their abilities, but recent research suggests that in social interactions, individuals often underestimate their likability and charm.

Studies indicate that people consistently fail to recognize signals of others' liking toward them, leading to a "liking gap" where individuals believe they are less likable than they actually are.

Techniques such as focusing more on others during conversations and genuinely expressing interest in them can help alleviate social anxiety by shifting the focus away from self-criticism. Ultimately, understanding that others may also experience similar anxieties can lead to a more relaxed and enjoyable social experience.

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That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog this post with your friends.

#best news of last week

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huginsmemory · 1 year

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The Eye of Micheal design and the Zia Sun Symbol

I'm not exactly the best person to talk about this, since I'm not Zia/Tsʾíiyʾamʾé (an Indigenous people group from what is today called New Mexico, for those who don't know) but I'm also Indigenous and this is something that has been really bugging me for a while.

The new eye of Micheal design in Stampede is very clearly heavily based off the Zia Sun symbol, a symbol that is found on the state of New Mexico's flag... and is originally a sacred symbol of the Zia people that has been grossly misappropriated by the state itself and internationally.

ID: Two photos. Left is of the flag of New Mexico, with the Zia Sun symbol in the middle in red on a yellow background. There are four rays emanating from each cardinal direction from a circle in the middle, in such a way it forms what could be a 'square cross'. The rays touch the circle.

Right is a screen cap from episode 10 of tristamp, showing Wolfwoods contract. The symbol of the Eye of Micheal is on it. Instead of four from each cardinal direction, 'north' has three medium length rays, and 'south' has three long rays, while 'east' and 'west' have only one short ray emanating from (but not touching) the centre circle. As a result it looks like a typical Christian cross with a lengthened 'south'.

History

This article provides a really good background on it, but to summarize:

The symbol is an exceptionally significant religious symbol that represents the Zia themselves (along with other specific meanings) and is involved in religious healing and wellness processes; it was originally a secret symbol. However, the symbol was stolen from the nation by an anthropologist who was working with the nation, when he stole a piece of pottery with the symbol on it. The piece of pottery with the sacred symbol was then showcased in a museum, where another anthropologist took the design and submitted it for the flag of New Mexico; thus, it ended up becoming the state flag of New Mexico as we know today.

As a result, the design became legally public property, without the consent of the Zia, who now have no control over how the sacred symbol is used, and it has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by non-Zia, both within state and internationally. The Zia peoples have been lobbying to raise awareness of this issue, to both stop exploitation and frivolous use of the symbol which is considered desecration, and also have requested that those who want to use the symbol to ask for consent and for them to provide funds to the education of their children.

How this applies to tristamp

The Zia Sun symbol is, well, to put it bluntly, basically used as the symbol of the Eye of Micheal, just altered to more represent a typical Christian cross... something which would be considered misappropriation and desecration of the symbol. This ESPECIALLY so as the Eye of Micheal is clearly a Christian cult; misappropriating an Indigenous religious symbol and saying that it represents Christianity and a Christian cult no less, is, as an Indigenous person, EXTREMELY disrespectful, considering the history of Christianity and how it's been used to actively destroy Indigenous religion and culture. Also, as the symbol has been said to represent the Zia people, and is related to religious healing and wellness processes, having the symbol basically be used to represent an Christian cult of assassins who essentially medically experiment and abuse Wolfwood who is Hispanic-coded for their own gain is... Not great.

I overall understand that since as Wolfwood is heavily Hispanic coded, the crew behind stampede likely wanted to tie more of that into his background, and so seeing the Zia Sun symbol thought that would be a good way to nod to a Hispanic background (instead of, I dunno maybe not white washing him), but then failed to do proper research on it.

Going forward

Ok, so what does that practically mean for fans? Well, again... I'm not really the best person to say exactly what, but if this was my own nations sacred symbol, and by going from what I've read on the requests about the Zia Sun symbol then here's a few pointers:

I'd just avoid using the design in fanart. Hell, it's only showed up in tristamp, so there's plenty you can work with without the design, based around just general Christian imagery. I know a lot of people really like giving Wolfwood tattoos of the 'eye of micheal' symbol, since tattoos are hot, but I'd ask to please just use Christian symbols instead. I've seen so much nsfw fanart with essentially the Zia Sun Symbol...

For art you've already posted with the Zia sun symbol; it'd be nice to remove the art and put another version of the art up without the sun symbol.

Also, I know I've seen people talking about getting tattoos of it as a quiet nod to trigun... Please don't. It's more likely that people will recognize it as a Zia sun symbol rather than a Trigun symbol which might be an awkward conversation for you.

I do want to say this: I know most people don't know about this, and honestly I didn't know about the Zia sun symbol issue until a couple months ago when talking with a friend about Trigun. It's fine if you didn't know before! We live and learn and grow, and what matters is that going forward you adjust your behaviours.

TLDR: The 'Eye of Micheal' symbol is very clearly an adjusted Zia sun symbol, a sacred and originally secret symbol of the Zia people that was stolen from them and has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by both the state of New Mexico, and internationally. The Zia people as a result have asked people to not use the symbol without their consent. Within tristamp the use of the Zia sun symbol to represent a murderous Christian cult is extremely disrespectful and would be considered desecration, considering how Christianity has historically (and continues to) help destroy Indigenous culture and religion. As a result, it is suggested that artists avoid using it within fanart out of respect.

#trigun #wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #trigun stampede #tristamp #informational post #eye of micheal #eye of micheal tristamp #livio the double fang #vashwood #trigun wolfwood #livio trigun

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writingwithcolor · 2 years

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Working Through Identity Issues and Other Pitfalls With Representation

We get a lot of asks from people with lived experience in one aspect of marginalization— LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, physically disabled, ex-religious people—and the asks boil down to, essentially: can I take all of my own trauma and put it on someone multiply marginalized?

This question has many facets, which this guide is set to outline.

Power Dynamics and Intersections

Within any space centred around a marginalized identity, white supremacy and colorism still play a very large part within those spaces. Imani Barbarin of Crutches and Spice observed that white disabled people can only exercise the full extent of their white privilege within disabled spaces, because white supremacy has ableism built in and views disabled white people as lesser; white people are denied the ability to be completely white in abled society. As a result, the only opportunity they have to exercise the full extent of white privilege is disabled spaces.

The same goes with LGBTQIA+ spaces; they can end up colonialist because of white people in those spaces assume that their methods of coming out and living in their identity are the only way that exist, when people of colour can (and often do) have totally different but still perfectly valid ways of living in their identity. Again, white supremacy has homophobia built in, so white LGBTQ+ people don’t have full access to white privilege unless they’re with other LGBTQ+ people.

As a result: if you pick an identity that you have power over, you are bringing all of those power dynamics to the table in your representation. Even if you share a marginalization with the character, one aspect of discrimination does not an understanding of all discrimination make. Identities are all intersectional.

Representing multiple axes of marginalization is much more difficult, because you will have to unpack your own power, realize how many other ways of existing there are, and leave your own ideas for how the story should go at the door in order to respect experiences you don’t have in full.

You have to listen to the people you’re representing, or else you won’t be writing representation for them.

The Bias Game of Telephone

Insiders to any given group are taught a lot of “truths” about outside groups without spending much time listening to those groups, which results in a lot of problems. What might have been said or observed once or twice travels around people in a game of telephone, fanning xenophobia because it’s so much easier to critique people over there than ourselves.

So yes, you heard that Over There, the practice is x. Apply some stereotypes, spread it around as a societal “everyone knows”, and suddenly you think you know a lot more than you do about any one group.

For example: the Public Religion Research Institute polled over a dozen religious groups in the United States on whether they support LGBTQ rights in 2019, and the results were that people who are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and basically every religious group you could think of except Jehovah’s Witnesses were in favour of legal LGBTQ+ protection. They even polled in Christian denominations separating out white, Hispanic, and Black—and all of them agreed: LGBTQ+ rights needed to be put into law. (Source: Broad Support for LGBT Rights Across all 50 States: Findings from the 2019 American Values Atlas )

Throws a wrench into “everyone knows that [insert group here] is homophobic”, doesn’t it?

The problem is, these biases are going to colour your initial research stage. If you “know” that x group believes y, then you’re going to “naturally” slot them into that role in the story, then come to us asking if that’s okay.

Instead, what you need to do is poke your own assumptions:

Why did you make this situation happen that way?

Do the numbers support this assumption?

Have you actually spent any time in groups with these individuals to see how they live?

Did you read even one multiply-marginalized person’s social media feed to see what they believe? Preferably multiple?

Once you’ve done those steps, you’ll be in a much better place to see if you’ve even made something realistic, or if you’re projecting your experience too much as a 1 to 1 in situations where it just wouldn’t happen that way.

White is Not Neutral

Any identity you have as a white person is going to look different for someone not white. Being queer, Muslim, and Black in America looks a lot different than being gay, white, and Protestant in America. Those combinations of identities will look different again if you’re in a Muslim-majority country vs Muslim-minority, Christian-majority vs Christian-minority.

The traumas of being a certain identity in a society that doesn’t like you are racialized. White is not the default experience of how life happens, and a Hindu person with a strong connection to their family and wants to maintain some connection, just with boundaries, will have a much different set of priorities than an exvangelical who wants to get away from their family the minute they turn 18.

Even if you get a Hindu person who wants to get away from their family the minute they turn 18, the logic for getting there and the hurdles to overcome will be different, because they’ll have been raised differently. If you start to assume that you know how they’ll reach that logic, then you’re probably playing a game of bias telephone, as detailed above.

Mental illness, gender, disability and basically any identity under the sun will have a different expression in different cultures. A cross-cultural study on schizophrenia’s auditory hallucinations showed that the voices people hear are shaped by culture. In Accra, Ghana and Chennai, India—people mostly reported their heard voices as a positive thing. Meanwhile in San Mateo, California, not one person did the same. (source: Hallucinatory 'voices' shaped by local culture, Stanford anthropologist says)

Different cultures will define “man” differently. Cultures might have third genders that are more widespread and accepted than non-binary people in North America and Europe. Expectations for a parent will be different. Expectations for children will be different. Expectations between friends will be different. Disability (physical and/or mental) accommodations that are built into culture will be wildly different depending on cultural values. Wealth and class struggles will also be different.

All of these things will deeply impact a majority* character from a marginalized group, let alone one multiply marginalized. If you can’t answer how a majority character would behave based off cultural practices, then answer that before you work on a multiply marginalized person from that group.

* majority= cis, het, pale, financially stable, aka, somebody who has the most institutional power within that group even if they are marginalized in broader society (if they’re in a society where they are the dominant group, then they are privileged)

Healing, Distance, and Diversity

I know many marginalized people use fictional stories to be seen on paper, especially in a society where the stories for us just don’t exist. And you’re also aware of how white the representation of otherwise-marginalized people is, so you want to do your part to change that.

There are three paths you can take with this:

1- You are writing a story primarily for others, and have worked through your own stuff enough that you can use it as an influence instead of a story basis.

You realize you might not know exactly how a Buddhist East Asian person in a supportive family feels, but you know what it’s like to feel supported growing up and want to pull from that experience to show a loving Buddhist East Asian family. Or maybe you know what it’s like to love your parents but never, ever, ever feel safe coming out to them, and you want to show other people stuck in that place it’s okay, and it just so happens that the character this time around is Black.

This is a place where you can put aside your own desires and really dig into the research. Because it will take a lot of research. There will be so many little things that you don’t know. It will be diversity on hard mode.

2- You are writing this story primarily for yourself, but it’s just so emotional to think of your own context you want to make it Different, somehow

If you are in this position, consider keeping the story private. Not a judgement, at all—we all need private stories. But until you’ve worked through your own pain, you’re going to be relying a little too heavily on assumptions and your own experience to do respectful research.

That emotional situation you want to write about is going to look so different once you change the racial demographic, you probably won’t get the catharsis you want while writing it. Which means the story and your healing will suffer, because you’re not able to do research and you’re not able to work through all of your feelings from running into cultural roadblocks.

Get catharsis first, then consider doing diversity once your emotions are less intense. You need to be able to put “you” aside, and when your feelings are too big, that just is not happening. That’s okay! Not all of your representation has to be perfectly done for others to consume.

But that also means, you don’t have to ask WWC about it. Because you’re not writing a story for public consumption—you’re writing a story to process your own trauma.

3- You are writing this story primarily for others, but you’re simply trying to toss as much diversity in to “fix” the “everyone is white” problem and haven’t really stepped back to ask yourself if you’re representing them, or if you’re trying to show off.

This is a place you can very quickly be accidentally hurtful, because you don’t know what you don’t know. Maybe you’re wanting to toss in some background flavour, have some experience with death, decide to change the character’s race because they’re a smaller background part… and then you don’t look at what grief norms are in their culture over yours.

You could also find out that your experience has a lot of similarities and get lucky! Or you could get a few things wrong but at least you tried. Or, worst case, you could get it completely wrong and end up not representing anyone.

When in doubt, ask. If you’ve never seen x group handle y, then look it up before you go writing about it—same way you’d research any other component of your plot. Fear is not the place to write diversity from.

TL;DR

No matter how many marginalizations you have, it’ll still be different if you don’t share race

Marginalized spaces are often the only spaces where marginalized white people have full access to white privilege, so they can be extremely hostile to PoC

Groups grow, change, and evolve, as time goes on. Don’t assume that you know how they’ll actually handle any given marginalization unless you’ve listened to them at length.

Context matters; the same identity will have a different experience depending on their level of privilege within their society/group

There are limits to how much you can extrapolate your experience to relate with others who share an identity (chronically ill, LGBTQ+, etc) with you

If you’re just taking PoC to make the story different from your lived experience, keep the story private and heal before you start to write for others

Simply trying to avoid criticism of writing all white people is a poor place to start writing diversity, and you need some basic research before you polish things

~Mod Lesya

#guides #research #creator responsibility #stereotypes #representation #characters #intersectionality

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angelfirewalker · 9 days

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Strange not to be writing about my favourite Demon Crowley, I have mentioned so....(any excuse for a pic..)

but I wanted to share some Queer Theatre History with you.

On Sunday, I had a text from Sandy Powell (the Oscar winning costume designer) who I know as both our roots in Costume come from being part of The Lindsay Kemp Company, though at different times. She wanted to know if I had any videos available for a certain scene in the Kemp Company's Flowers. Flowers is a stage production based on Jean Genet's book , Our Lady of the Flowers. Her text made me have the urge to watch the show once more....and then, as it is PriDEMONth , I thought that I would write a little more about queer/ gay theatre history... especially Flowers.

Sandy and Lindsay over the years.

Jean Genet's Book.. Our Lady of the Flowers, it's worth reading the synopsis of the basic story.

It is the story of Divine, a trans woman whom Lindsay Kemp portrays in the theatre show by his company. Darling and Our Lady

Lindsay as Divine, Neil Caplan as Darling, Atilio Lopez as Our Lady.

Lindsay Kemp Company Facebook page is an archive of the company history....please come visit.

https://www.facebook.com/TheLindsayKempCo

The Lindsay Kemp Company is basically what I would call the essence of pure theatre.... a mix of comedia del 'arte, mime, dance, musical theatre, Cocteau, kabuki, butoh and acting. It really is very hard to define. Before I joined the company, I saw many shows live in the theatre, many adored the companies' work. Others got up and walked out. Homosexuality and gender fluidity upset them. But others loved it all, David Bowie and Kate Bush specifically also Holly Johnson (FGTH), Marc Almond etc.

Lindsay took from so many influences.... as Oscar Wilde said... Talent borrows.. Genius steals. Lindsay was a thief. He never hid his sources.... Flowers, although loosely based on Genet's book, and set in 1930s Paris, it also has a hint of the film Cabaret in the nightclub scenes.

The opening scene of the Kemp Company's Flowers was 5 men in jail wanking. Some of them were not acting...just saying lol.

Photos of opening scene of Flowers .

Top 2 photos of François Testory, and bottom left of Neil Caplan by photographer Anno Wilms. Bottom right photo of Christian Michealsen by Richard Haughton.

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Sadly, the quality of all videos I am posting are from 1982, or the b/w 1976 filming from Australia.....so they are very grainy at times and the sound can disappear.

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The music for Flowers has many famous tunes, along with live percussion by the most wonderful Japanese Musician Joji Hirota. Also, Jack Birkett, aka The Incredible Orlando, was actually Blind... He plays Mimosa, Divine's friend, the black bird in Cabaret scene, and the person murdered by Our Lady.

In this film /documentary about Lindsay there is a very early version of Flowers performed in a graveyard in Scotland.

youtube

The next few video links are photos from Flowers that various photographers have uploaded.

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I just wanted to share some theatrical queer history this PriDEMONth. The Lindsay Kemp Company was formed before it was legal to be gay in the UK ,so even in the 70s and 80s things were still proclaimed as shocking. Then Aids hit, and very sadly, we lost 5 wonderful creative souls to the dreadful disease.

Neil Caplan from the UK in 1994. Centre.

Micheal Matou from Australia in 1987. TR.

Neil Cunningham from the UK in 1987.BR.

Atilio Lopez from Brazil in 1990.TL

Javier Sanz from Spain in 1994.BL

So during this Pride Month... please remember the Queer creatives that walked the path before you.... No matter how hard it feels today, it is a little easier than it was for them. Some went to Hell and back many, many times.

The finale of Flowers....

I hope the young queer community enjoy this blog and videos, and for the old ones who saw the shows... Happy memories.

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beardedmrbean · 4 months

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In her garden in northern Athens, four-year-old Niovi plays make-believe, selling cakes from her imaginary shop.

For her two mums, Christina Leimoni and Victoria Kalfaki, their dream may soon become real, as Greece stands on the brink of legalising same-sex marriage.

Parliament will vote on the bill, introduced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Thursday. Facing dissent from members of his own centre-right party, he will need to rely on support from the left-wing opposition to get it through.

Christina and Victoria will be there inside the chamber, willing it to pass. Two years ago, they returned to Greece from the UK, where they had moved for work - and to live their relationship freely.

They married in the UK and Niovi was born there. If the law passes, they plan to have their marriage recognised under Greek law.

'I have no say'

After Niovi's birth in London, they tried to register her at the Greek embassy, but were rebuffed. "The commentary was, 'You should have thought before having her'," Christina recalls.

"It was awful, I cried in the car for 45 minutes, I couldn't stop - it still brings bad memories," Victoria says, welling up with tears. "It's like being rejected by your country."

Without legal recognition for their marriage in Greece, only Victoria, who gave birth to Niovi, is accepted as her mother, even though the egg was from Christina.

At school, she has no say over decisions and when Niovi has been admitted to hospital, Christina has been barred from entering her room.

"My biggest fear is that if anything really bad happens to Victoria and she dies, our child instantly goes to social services, who then see if any of Victoria's relatives want to adopt her," she says.

"If they don't, she goes into an institution. I have no say. So the child wouldn't just lose one mother, she'd lose both of us."

Opposition by the Church

Fifteen of the European Union's 27 members have already legalised same-sex marriage. It is permitted in 35 countries worldwide.

Greece has lagged behind European neighbours largely because of opposition from its powerful church. If the law passes this week, it would become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country, and the first in Europe's southeast, to have marriage equality.

Same-sex couples would also be legally allowed to adopt children but not to have a baby through a surrogate - a recourse that is only legal here for heterosexual couples who have a medical need for assisted reproduction.

"Greece geographically is in the southeast, but culturally and politically it belongs to the West," says Alex Patelis, the prime minister's chief economic advisor and a member of the committee that drafted the marriage bill.

Mr Mitsotakis, recently storming to re-election, faces a weak opposition that has left him the space to tread onto their political turf without jeopardising his own position.

Mr Patelis says the bill is a cornerstone of the prime minister's beliefs: "It's often thought that human rights and equality are the purview of the parties of the left. This is coming from a centre-right party - and it's important to recognise that equality under law and individual rights are also the ideology of the right."

But Greek society is split. A recent poll for Proto Thema newspaper found 55% in favour of same-sex marriage and an even slimmer majority backing adoption.

Up to 50 of Mr Mitsotakis's 158 MPs are expected either to vote against the bill or to be conveniently absent from the chamber, meaning they can duck the vote.

A letter by the Church of Greece opposing the move was read out in morning mass across the country earlier this month, condemning what it said would "promote the abolition of fatherhood and motherhood… and put the sexual choices of homosexual adults above the interests of future children".

One of the most outspoken prelates has been Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus. At the city's Agii Anargiri Church, we watch as he leads a packed service, with worshippers in their Sunday best kissing icons and bowing heads.

He recently warned that he would block MPs who back the bill from his church, adding it would be preferable if they had not been born.

And, he said, he would refuse to baptise children of same-sex couples "to help them understand that what their guardians are doing is a sin."

Outside parliament on Syntagma Square, opponents gather to protest against the bill, beneath banners reading "No children for perverts" and chanting "Take your hands off our kids".

A video shows images including religious icons and, oddly, Bill Gates. Conspiracy theories about a new global order being imposed on Greece have blended with pious Greeks who believe their traditions are being destroyed.

"The Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman - and anything else is a big sin," says Rallou Perperidou.

"Like Sodom and Gomorrah, God destroyed people practising homosexuality. God will forgive them if they accept what they do is wrong and denounce it."

Kyriaki Chantzara, 38, is at the protest with her sister, who is expecting her tenth child.

"Homosexual people cannot give the right example for children because we think the existence of a female and male example is crucial to them. It is a human right for every child to have a father and a mother," she says.

Back in northern Athens, four-year-old Niovi is practising her English with nursery rhymes. Her mums help as she reads "Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock…"

As time ticks towards the parliamentary vote, the women say their excitement is building. "I'm amazingly happy about it," says Christina.

"It's the start of accepting diversity in general as a country and accepting that all people have equal rights. And for us it will mean reality, because I am Niovi's mother, and this should be supported by the law. The legislation will bring truth to the reality."

#nunyas news

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justinspoliticalcorner · 2 months

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Katherine Stewart at TNR (08.10.2023):

Earlier this year, nearly 1,000 supporters of “National Conservatism” gathered at the semicircular auditorium of the Emmanuel Centre, an elegant London meeting hall a couple of blocks south of Westminster Abbey, to hear from a range of scholars, commentators, politicians, and public servants. NatCon conferences, as they are often called, have been held in Italy, Belgium, and Florida and are broadly associated with what is increasingly called the “New Right.” In London, speakers denounced “woke politics,” blamed immigration for the rising cost of housing, and said modern ills could be solved with more religion and more (nonimmigrant) babies. The break room was lined with booths from organizations such as the Viktor Orbán–affiliated Danube Institute, the U.K.-based conservative think tank the Bow Group, the Heritage Foundation, and the legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom, which is headquartered in Arizona but has expanded to include offices in nearly a half-dozen European cities. When I attended NatCon London in May, I heard a number of American accents in the crowd, and I was not surprised to see Michael Anton, a former national security official in the Trump administration and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank, on the lineup. These days, Anton and other key representatives of the Claremont Institute seem to be everywhere: onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC); at the epicenter of Ron DeSantis’s “war on woke”; and on speed-dial with GOP allies including Josh Hawley, J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump.

Most of us are familiar with the theocrats of the religious right and the anti-government extremists, groups that overlap a bit but remain distinct. The Claremont Institute folks aren’t quite either of those things, and yet they’re both and more. In embodying a kind of nihilistic yearning to destroy modernity, they have become an indispensable part of right-wing America’s evolution toward authoritarianism. Extremism of the right-wing variety has always figured on the sidelines of American culture, and it has enjoyed a renaissance with the rise of social media. But Claremont represents something new in modern American politics: a group of people, not internet conspiracy freaks but credentialed and influential leaders, who are openly contemptuous of democracy. And they stand a reasonable chance of being seated at the highest levels of government—at the right hand of a President Trump or a President DeSantis, for example.

[...]

Founded in 1979 in the city of Claremont, California (but not associated in an official way with any of the five colleges there), the Claremont Institute provided enthusiastic support for Donald Trump in 2016. Individuals associated with Claremont now fund and help run the National Conservativism gatherings; Claremont Institute chairman and funder Thomas D. Klingenstein also funds the Edmund Burke Foundation, which has held those National Conservatism conferences across the globe. Claremont is deeply involved in DeSantis’s effort to remake Florida’s state universities in the model of Hillsdale College—a private, right-wing, conservative Christian academy in Michigan whose president, Larry Arnn, happens to be one of the institute’s founders and former presidents. Claremont honored DeSantis at an annual gala with its 2021 “Statesmanship Award,” and the governor returned the favor by organizing a discussion with a “brain trust” that included figures associated with the Claremont Institute. If either Trump or DeSantis becomes president in 2024, Claremont and its associates are likely to be integral to the “brain trust” of the new administration. Indeed, some of them are certain to become appointees in the administrative state that they wish (or so they say) to destroy.

The Claremont Institute in the Trump era has become a clearinghouse for far-right and fascistic ideas.

#Claremont Institute #Conservativism #Right Wing Extremism #Alliance Defending Freedom #Danube Institute #The Heritage Foundation #Michael Anton #CPAC #CPAC Hungary #Bow Group

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jojodelaguerras-wooden-stick · 2 months

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Some Christian Borle works that I hope vox fans will know about !!

I assume that there are many hazbin fans who are discovering CBorle or my tiktok has just been fueling this misunderstanding. Anyway, live laugh Christian Borle

Spamalot (OBC) - Historian/Prince Herbert/others

He is so funny in this, especially as Prince Herbert and not-dead-yet Fred. Being ragdolled and shaken around by the king as Prince Herbert or insulting Sir Robin with his tambourine as a minstrel

Legally Blonde (OBC) - Emmett Forrest

I know this is one of his most iconic roles but Emmett deserves more love literally the sweetest character and CBorle played as him so well. His "little miss woods comma Elle" AH and the little things that makes Emmett RAHHHHH

Some Like it Hot (OBC) - Joe/Josephine/Kip

Did you know that he does most of this show IN HEELS. Not only that, TAP DANCING IN HEELS like are you kidding. He also wrote some lines for the show! I love the whole show in general, it is so funny and so real in how they talk about identity and how you present yourself. I can write a whole essay but that'll be for another day. I love this show with all my heart

Little Shop of Horrors (2019 off-bway revival) - Orin/others

Speaking of heels, he too was in heels for this production, but much much less than SLiH. Still, the talent is there. Especially when he plays all the different characters, from a crazy dentist like Orin to Skip Snip. He is also super unhinged and likes to drag out his death as Orin to make the audience laugh. I recommend watching the tiny desk concert first if you are not familiar

Thoroughly Modern Millie (Replacement) - Jimmy Smith

There's not much for this show, just a video of him singing What do I need with love. I liked his singing in this and the small details he does during this song to show that Jimmy has fallen for Millie is cute

Mary Poppins (Replacement) - Bert

He may claim that he was the worst tap dancing Bert but he was still a champ for learning all that choreo and even going upside down in step in time. Another one with crumbs :" Gosh what I would give for a boot cuz rn its just the disney on Bway videos and jolly holiday. He did it with Laura Michelle Kelly :)

Me and My Girl (New York City Centre) - Bill Snibson

He did this show with Laura Michelle Kelly too :))) AND THE SHOW IS SO FUNNY it's so underrated and has very funny lines. Someone said that it was basically 2 hours of CBorle being silly. I also love his and Laura Michelle Kelly's dynamics as Bill and Sally. Speaking of this couple, Bill and Sally are literally as healthy as Emmett and Elle and i love that for them

Peter and the Starcatcher (OBC) - Blackstache

Literally my favourite show of his. His blackstache is so animated and silly I love him. And his agility sliding over the trunk and running around. His moments in Mermaid Outta Me ༼⁠;⁠´⁠༎ຶ⁠ ⁠۝ ⁠༎ຶ⁠༽ silly lil guy. Similarly to Orin, he likes to drag out his hand pain to make the audience laugh. AND HIS CURLS omg this era of CBorle hair is the best imo. And he won his first tony for it! That goes to show something about his portrayal of Captain Hook and how it needs more love !!!!!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (OBC) - Willy Wonka

A lot of people seem to see this role as the role he went bald for. We joke about Borled Egg a lot but he brought such beautiful unhingeness to this role that really brought out the joy of this show.

Footloose (The Muny) - Director

He also directs! Though there is no boot for this production, he talks about his experience directing and working on the show in some interviews and a reunion zoom call. The cast talks about how he allows them to be free in their portrayal of the characters while giving advice and proper directions, especially since he was in Footloose for tour and bway. I would have loved to watch it since footloose is a show I like too. NaTasha Yvette Williams is also in this!

Anyway, he has done a lot more shows, he's been in the industry for nearly 30 years so he has a lot under his belt and I wish he wasn't just reduced to Vox's VA, Marvin or Shakespeare. He's a brilliant actor with impeccable comedic timing and seriousness. He's not a two-time Tony award winner for nothing!

#tbh i also didnt know a few until recently i just deep dived super hard #but watching these shows i love them so much not just CBorle but the whole cast #SLIH and Little shop and peter #theyre so good #me and my girl is rly funny for a musical from 1937 #christian borle #hazbin hotel vox #everytime i see a vox pfp ill be like U KBOW OF CHRISTIAN BORLE

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femininefreyanyctophile · 2 months

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I am so happy rn my favorite leftist forum is on tv!!!

So a little bit of context:

On the 19th of march, the current ministerpresident of Bavaria (CSU, moderate centre right) announced a new law that will outlaw the usage of gendered words (adding an "*in/*innen" to the end of many jobs, as their traditional names are male) in state institutions (police, school etc.). In protest of this the reddit user, on the german(/Dutch) leftist subreddit r/gekte, u/Ein_Geist has started renaming the addresses and names of the CSU and its sister party, CDU.

Most of the changes were gendering the buildings, renaming stuff like "boys" meet to "boy/girl/diverse" meet or renaming parts of their name ro the opposite (christian democratic union to christion undemocratic union) etc. Quickly many other users (me included) followed lead, and in half a day, basically every CXU building was gendered or changed. The more (potentially extremist) right wing party AFD was also hit with "stray bullets".

This went on for a few days until April 2nd and on April 1st a user posted something to indymedia (https://de.indymedia.org/node/349113) explaining that it was not just an April fools prank (which seemed to be an assumption before) and at that point the media had caught caught wind, up until yesterday it was mentioned in the news! (In german)

In response to this the parties CXU have also answered that they will "Check legal steps"; although there wont be much they can do about it.

#cducsu #Feminism #womens rights #Smart witch rambles #gendered language #Gekte

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 3 months

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The US state of Virginia has allowed a group of churches, Christian schools and pro-life pregnancy centres the right to hire workers who adhere to the same belief system.

Represented by the Christian legal group ADF, the Christian groups filed a lawsuit against the state and then-Attorney General Mark Herring in September 2020 following the enactment of the Virginia Values Act.

Under the state anti-discrimination law, religious organisations were directed to employ people who did not share their belief…

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coochiequeens · 8 months

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Another member of an "oppressed" group getting a light sentence for a violent crime

By Natasha Biase October 30, 2023

Several months after a Guernsey Royal Court jury unanimously found a 19-year-old trans-identified male guilty of rape, the court has announced that Freddie Christian Trenchard, also known as Alyssa Christine Trenchard, has been sentenced to three years at a youth detention centre.

As previously reported by Reduxx, Trenchard, who began identifying as a woman three years ago, assaulted his victim after inviting her to his home in the summer of 2021.

Despite the victim testifying that she cried and screamed “no” during the attack, Trenchard’s defense lawyer argued that no intercourse had occurred and even accused the victim of being motivated by transphobia.

Trenchard’s July conviction hearing was attended by Guernsey Women’s Rights Network representative Jane Roper, who informed Reduxx that the court referred to the rapist by “she/her” pronouns. Roper added that the assault was described as “having been committed by a transgender female with her penis.”

“The judge sent a message asking the defendant what he would like to be described as, and then actually apologized to him and told the court that Trenchard would like to be described as a ‘transgender female.’ In her opening statements, the judge said the alleged crime occurred ‘when the defendant was biologically male,'” Roper previously told Reduxx.

Describing how shocking it was to witness the legal system affirm a violent criminal, Roper added: “It was a truly bizarre experience to witness the court jumping through hoops for this man. As a woman, that felt really shocking, especially as we had all sat through the complainant’s harrowing oral evidence detailing the rape.”

Speaking with Reduxx, the media representative for the Guernsey Police confirmed that Trenchard was recorded as a “woman” at the time of his arrest, in accordance with his gender identity.

Although Trenchard, who refers to himself as “trans femme,” was released back into the community until sentencing was issued, ITV has reported that he was handed a three-year sentence followed by three years of probation. Trenchard will be placed on the sex offender registry and “is subject to notification requirements” for the next ten years.

The judge on the case, Judge Catherine Fooks explained that: “Those who commit rape can expect to go to prison and to have long orders made against them.”

A still from a now-private TikTok video in which Trenchard mimed being sexually aroused while being addressed as “miss.”

“Your actions have had and will continue to have a lifelong impact on your victim,” she added.

As a result of the sentencing, prosecutors confirmed that they were planning to appeal Trenchard’s three-year sentence, calling it “unduly lenient.” No date for the hearing has been set.

The English Channel island of Guernsey has a population of only 64,000 people and an extremely low violent crime rate. There is only one prison on the island where both males and females are detained.

Although there are currently only three women and 71 men serving time at the facility in separate wards, the prison’s governor, John De Carteret, admitted that the institution “has accommodated trans prisoners previously” and has established protocol in place to accommodate transgender individuals.

“Where a prisoner expresses that they identify as a gender that is different to the sex they were assigned at birth, we instigate a Transgender Care Board to review all relevant information before decisions are made,” he said.

“Each offender is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and an appropriate assessment of risk is paramount for the management of individuals who are transgender … We would not accommodate a preoperative trans prisoner in a prison location that is not consistent with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

While Trenchard lists his gender as “female” on social media, often posting videos on TikTok using hashtags such as “#trans and #transisbeautiful,” he has also admitted that he is sexually aroused by being called “miss,” which the court referred to him as during the trial at his request.

#guernsey royal court #Alyssa Christine Trenchard is Freddie Christian Trenchard #Not a woman #NotOurCrimex #Will this guy be in a youth facility until he's 22?

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oediex · 1 year

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If anyone is in need of some good news re: abortion

There is currently a discussion within the government of Belgium to extend the possibility of abortion beyond the current 12-week period.

Abortion was legalised in Belgium in 1990. At the time, the then-king of Belgium refused to ratify the law (this is usually just a formality) due to ethical objections. This was resolved by declaring the king "incapable of reigning" for a short time, which allowed the then-federal ministers to ratify the law themselves.

Currently, abortion is possible up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The person wishing to end their pregnancy will have a consultation with a psychosocial health care professional to discuss it. There is then a 6-day period in which the person has the time to think it all over. You can take more than 6 days as well, but that is the minimum required. After that, you can have your abortion either at an abortion centre, or at a hospital (when there is a danger for the health of the person undergoing the abortion, or when that person wishes to have it done under anaesthesia, or when it's past the 12 weeks). There are currently 7 abortion centres in Flanders (about half of Belgium, approx. 6 million people).

Abortion beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy is legal under certain circumstances, such as when the health of the pregnant person is at risk or when it is known the unborn baby has an incurable illness.

Illegal abortion can lead to a fine or imprisonment for both the doctor and the person undergoing abortion.

Minors can have an abortion without permission from their parents.

The whole procedure is 4 euros if you've got health insurance. Note that every person living in Belgium is required to have health insurance, which is very cheap - about 8-9 euros per month, with tons of benefits. Without health insurance, it's between 100 and 550 euros (depending on where it's done).

The person undergoing abortion can also be seen at an additional appointment afterwards if such need arises. You can always go to an abortion centre afterwards as well, for both physical and mental support. They will also support you in choosing the right contraception afterwards.

That's the current situation. Here's what the discussion is mainly about:

Extending the maximum period to either 14 or 18 weeks. The 14 weeks is what the christian centre party currently part of the coalition is accepting (this changed recently, before they did not want to extend it at all). 18 weeks is what the other coalition parties want and what has been suggested by an expert committee made up of scientists. Most of these experts actually suggest it should be extend to 20 or even 22 weeks, but 18 is what they presented to the government (because of 1 expert).

Other notable suggestions the expert committee has presented (there are a total of 25 points):

More effort with regards to prevention, education, and access to contraception

certain contraception methods, such as coils or implants, to be free for longer (some of them are currently free until 18, some until 25, etc.)

The 6 days to "think it over" between the first discussion and the actual abortion should go

easier access to abortion medication

decriminalise the person undergoing abortion or doing an abortion themselves when it is done illegally

Source (in Dutch)

#abortion #reproductive rights #belgium #good news #the only thing that ickes me about all the news about this is that it's consistently talking about “women” and “girls”#I might actually send a complaint about that to the government-subsidised news #because it's not inclusive language #btw can we all applaud the ability to edit tags now

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 3 months

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By: Bernard Lane

By: Mar 5, 2024

The gist

The puberty blocker-driven “Dutch protocol” of medicalised gender change—administered to ever more teenagers around the world—appears more likely to come under serious scrutiny in its home country.

The parliament of the Netherlands has now passed two motions this year calling for a closer look.

On February 27, with a majority of 101 out of 150 votes, the parliament approved a motion asking the government to commission research.

This would compare the outcomes of the Dutch protocol with the results of new, more cautious treatment policies in other European countries, such as Sweden, where non-invasive psychosocial techniques are now favoured as first-line responses to gender distress.

On January 25, the parliament approved a motion—proposed by Diederik van Dijk of the conservative Calvinist Reformed Political Party (SGP)—that the government seek advice from the independent Health Council on the medico-legal implications of medicalised gender change for minors.

Both motions were opposed by the temporary Health Minister of the Dutch administration in caretaker mode, but cabinet negotiations are under way and expected to produce a new, more responsive government reflecting the success of centre-right and populist-right parties in last November’s elections.

“I think this [second motion] will exert extra pressure on the new minister of health to initiate a review of the puberty blockers in one way or another, be it the Health Council or another institution,” said media sociologist Dr Peter Vasterman, who has been calling for independent evaluation of gender medicine in the Netherlands before any expansion of capacity.

“We don’t have a new government yet, but it will probably be a right-wing variant. So, there is a good chance that this topic will finally be put on the agenda and a review will be conducted of current trans care.”

The detail

Parties supporting the February 27 motion included the centre-right New Social Contract (NSC) party of Peter Omtzigt, the right-wing populist Party For Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders and the populist-right Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) of Caroline van der Plas. The motion was spon.sored by NSC member Dr Rosanne Hertzberger.

Among those opposed to the motion were GreenLeft-Labor (GL-PvdA), the social-liberal party D66, the Socialist Party (SP) and the Christian Democratic Appeal party (CDA).

The objections raised by Health Minister Pia Dijkstra, of the D66 party, included privacy risk, the difficulty of the research proposed, the redundant nature of the research proposed, and the ethics of using randomised clinical trials (something not proposed by anyone).

Dr Hanneke Kouwenberg, a Dutch radiologist and nuclear physician who has followed the gender clinic debate, said she was angry at the denial and hypocrisy of parties seeking to block the motion.

“As often happens, opponents of a more fundamental scientific approach in this debate do not substantiate their position with arguments, but rather with emotional blackmail,” she told GCN.

“It is deeply disturbing that research aiming to examine whether Dutch gender care has better outcomes than other countries, which indeed might substantiate the claim of successful selection of treatment candidates, is being vilified by parties perceived as ‘progressive’ and ‘left wing,’ whilst the minister goes so far as to call such research ‘unethical’—which is especially bizarre since no intervention is needed in the proposed research.

“It once again shows how much the parties resisting [inquiries] do not have the interests of minors, nor quality of care, in mind, but consciously and repeatedly close their eyes to a practice whose benefits have never been substantiated but whose drawbacks are increasingly coming to light.”

“More and more teenage girls are choosing to change their gender around the world. In Quebec, the health system responds very quickly to their requests for medical transition by prescribing blockers, testosterone and mastectomies. These young girls often present with several mental health problems and many wonder if we give ourselves the time to evaluate everything that is going on in their heads. Is it normal for a 14-year-old girl to get a testosterone prescription within minutes? And what happens when they change their minds?”—Documentary, the French-language arm of Canada’s CBC public broadcaster, 29 February 2024

Watch the ethics

A spokeswoman for the group Genderpunt, which advocates for more open debate about gender medicalisation, said the Dr Hertzberger’s February motion with its focus on comparative outcomes might seem more palatable to government, although she suggested that if the job were given to Dutch gender researchers it might be undermined by “gender-affirming” groupthink.

She said it was possible that the ethical and medico-legal analysis called for by Mr van Dijk’s January motion would prove “far more interesting.”

“Is it ethically justified to take the risk that a minor will, in the long-term, regret gender-affirming care and have to deal with the consequences for the rest of his life? How is this child protected by national and international law (like the Convention on the Rights of the Child).”

Science: egalitarian or authoritarian?

Before her recent election to parliament Dr Hertzberger was a microbiologist studying the little understood bacterial makeup of the human vagina, a field with implications for the reproductive and sexual health of women.

“For instance, it is unclear why humans are the only apes with this high acidity and dominance of Lactobacillus whereas these characteristics are absent in other primates. Why is the human vagina such a good host for these specific bacteria?” she says on her website.

She carried out her research thanks to the hospitality of a lab at the VU University Amsterdam, which is also home to the gender centre whose Dutch protocol for “juvenile transsexuals” culminates for males in castration and the surgical creation of a pseudo vagina.

Dr Hertzberger has practised “citizen science” with the rationale of engaging ordinary women in research to develop a probiotic to modify the vaginal microbiome. She is also an advocate for “open science” whereby all findings, even negative results, are made public.

“The general aim is to increase scientific efficiency by sharing as much information as possible with other scientists and the general public,” she says.

She has also reflected on the role of science in society, publishing an essay with the title The great nothing: Why we have too much faith in science. Her thesis is that science is muscling into the moral vacuum left by organised religion.

“I see a new generation of Western secular policymakers, politicians, administrators, thinkers, writers, entrepreneurs and leaders who no longer see science as a tool for generating knowledge, but as a new infallible authority; an all-knowing judge who decides what is good and what is evil,” she writes.

Video: Dutch MPs debate gender clinics

youtube

Vision necessary

Dr Hertzberger’s motion was put in the context of the international scientific debate over youth gender dysphoria and reports to the Dutch parliament acknowledging missing data and a “lack of visibility” into local gender patients.

A familiar narrative in the Netherlands has been that the pioneering Dutch protocol was a source of pride and that any concerns arose from its less careful application in other countries. However, the rigour and ethics of the key Dutch studies establishing the protocol have recently come under much sharper scrutiny both in the Netherlands and internationally.

During the February 15 debate of motions proposed by her and other MPs, Dr Hertzberger said: “The decision to treat these children with puberty inhibitors is taken at an early age, 14 to 15 years on average, during a period of major hormonal, physical and mental changes, based on symptoms that are not objectively quantifiable.”

“We have seen in recent years how other European countries have become more reluctant to treat minors according to the so-called ‘Dutch protocol’. More importantly, the reports before us today show a lack of visibility [into Dutch gender patients].

“We see in Sweden, for example, that they have temporarily really stopped puberty inhibitors altogether and only allowed them in experimental settings. We are very curious to see what happens to that cohort of patients in the end and how their wellbeing goes.

“This [shift to more cautious treatment] comes not only from politics and not only from society, but also from healthcare itself and from science.”

“The Endocrine Society (ES) is updating its clinical practice guidelines on ‘gender-affirming care.’ ES, however, appears to be putting its thumb on the scale in favor of medical interventions by appointing experts with serious conflicts of interest to its guideline-development group, ignoring its own standards for how to write trustworthy medical recommendations, and trying to keep the process hidden from the public.”—Leor Sapir, news article, City Journal, 27 February 2024

“It’s noteworthy that most of the authors of ES’s 2017 clinical practice guidelines were also big names at WPATH [the World Professional Association for Transgender Health]. Two—Peggy Cohen-Kettenis and Louis Gooren—were Dutch pioneers of pediatric gender medicine. Despite the perception that ES and WPATH are separate entities, and that recommendations on behalf of ‘gender-affirming care’ are not just made by trans advocacy groups but also by run-of-the-mill U.S. medical groups, the truth is that WPATH members used ES as a guise for embedding hormonal interventions as an accepted standard of care in the United States.”

Why the data drama?

Aside from her successful motion, Dr Hertzberger put up another which did not go forward. This sought data to compare people diagnosed and treated in Dutch gender clinics with those on waiting lists.

She noted that the patient group seen today—dominated by teenage females—was different from the past group of mostly males with gender distress stretching back to early childhood.

“I am really puzzled by this [resistance of some MPs to requests for more data], because there is a report [to parliament] that says there is too little visibility into this group [of patients] and the medicalisation of this growing group of children and adults,” she said.

“We are particularly interested in the children. We see major changes in recent years in European countries that have changed their standard of care [Finland was first in 2020, followed by Sweden in 2022 and England issued a new, cautious draft treatment policy in 2023—GCN.]

“Surely that is a goldmine of data which, by the way, we can easily collect in anonymised and aggregated form, as we so often do.

“I really want to ask [Health Minister Dijkstra] why she does not want more data on this important development [in gender dysphoria], which also has medical-ethical consequences,” Dr Hertzberger said.

Dr Vasterman told GCN that it was quite reasonable to request current data on patient registrations, diagnoses and treatment at Dutch gender clinics.

“It is unacceptable that no new data has been provided for years now, which makes it very difficult to evaluate current trends, such as the shift in sex ratio [of patients] and the rise of non-binary identity among young girls.

“These developments have huge impact on the needs for trans care but without data it is difficult to develop new a policy.”

“Despite claims that blocking puberty gives time for decision-making, no one can answer the obvious: How is it possible for a child to discover ‘This isn’t as bad as I feared,’ when they are blocked from experiencing it? Fears are resolved by confronting them, not avoiding them.”—Sexual behaviour scientist Dr James M Cantor, tweet, 3 March 2024

Not our problem

Dr Kouwenberg said that “Dutch politics has long acted as if there were no problem with the Dutch protocol,” despite last October’s breakthrough Zembla documentary on the flawed design of key studies, critiques in international journals and the shift to caution of progressive European countries.

“And if there were a problem, it was invariably stated that the problems abroad were due to a poor selection of candidates for puberty blockers, that in the Netherlands, work was being done very carefully, and only children who were actually ‘trans’ [those whose gender dysphoria would not desist with the passage of time] would be treated with puberty blockers. The concerns of critics were always dismissed as moral panic and fear-mongering,” Dr Kouwenberg told GCN.

“It comes as no surprise that there is actually no test, let alone a validated one, to distinguish desisters from persisters prospectively, and Dutch medicine does not possess crystal balls to predict the future. Nevertheless, the gender clinic in Amsterdam [which developed the Dutch protocol] and the politics associated with it have long been able to stave off further investigation with statements like these.”

“With this motion [by Dr Hertzberger], it seems that finally an end has come to a long period of denial of the altered reality at the gender clinics and of the criticism of the approach for gender dysphoric youth.”

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queen-susans-revenge · 7 months

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Book reviews: Spare and Endgame

At the rate royal "bombshells" drop, one might imagine Buckingham Palace a smoking crater of charred ruins.

But after years of drama, not only do all the grand old piles in the British royal family’s vast portfolio of real estate still stand, but the royal machinery that sustains them isn’t even dinged. And that's because all the smoke and dazzle is part of a calculated strategy, a show cooked up in concert between "the Firm" and the tabloids that profit from royal clickbait. The gossipy headlines generate profit for the papers, sustain public interest in Britain's royal family, and provide a useful way to punish members who don't toe the institutional line.

Prince Harry's biography Spare became the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time and generated countless media headlines. Omid Scobie's Endgame is currently providing chum for another tabloid feeding frenzy.

But ironically, both books are packed with stories the tabloids won't repeat, because they illuminate too much of the "invisible contract" between palace and press.

In probably the best coverage of Spare, Zeynep Tufekci wrote for the New York Times: "Any close follower of the British media should not have been surprised that after Prince Harry fell in love with Meghan Markle, the biracial American actress, years of vitriolic, even racist coverage followed. Whipping hatred and spreading lies — including on issues far more consequential than a royal romance — is a specialty of Britain’s atrocious but politically influential tabloids.

"People like me, uninterested in celebrities, shouldn’t dismiss the brouhaha around Harry’s memoir as mere celebrity tittle-tattle. He has made credible, even documented claims that his own family refused to stand up against their ugly, sustained attacks against Meghan. In other words, it appears that Britain’s most revered institution, funded by tens of millions in taxpayer funds annually, plays ball with one of its most revolting institutions.

"At the very least, it seems clear by now where some senior members of the royal family position themselves in all this."

Endgame goes even farther than Spare in detailing the often sordid workings of the invisible contract between journos and courtiers. Scobie details how Christian Jones, Prince William's communications secretary, fed negative stories about the Sussexes to Dan Wootton at The Sun in exchange for burying another story that might have been highly damaging to the heir: reports of private dinners and a "rural rivalry" that hinted at an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley.

No proof or confirmation of that royal affair was ever provided, because after Jones' intervention, those stories were comprehensively scrubbed from The Sun's website. Instead, the paper was allowed to break the story of what it would call "Megxit": Harry and Meghan's desire to separate themselves from the Firm.

According to both Endgame and a report by the Byline Times, when Harry pursued legal action against The Sun, he was punished by the withdrawal of his official security. (It's worth noting that the disgraced Prince Andrew is still covered by taxpayer-funded security, despite having a much lower threat profile than Harry.) Scobie quotes a source as saying: "I have never seen the Palace circle the wagons like they did with Christian." Byline Times also quotes a source: "They threatened the removal of the funding to try and protect the royal household from a potential courtroom scandal with Jones and Wootton very publicly at the centre."

Why would the Firm pull out all the stops to protect a courtier, even if it meant putting the monarch's own second son in real and immediate danger?

Because Jones is merely a flunky for Prince William, and it's hard to imagine that Jones's press machinations were conducted without the approval of his "principal." Indeed, he wasn't William's only communications secretary to openly collude with the tabloids against Harry and Meghan: another highly placed aide, Jason Knauf, gave testimony on behalf of the Daily Mail in a case brought against it by the Duchess of Sussex, regarding the leak of a private letter. (Despite the attempted sabotage from William's camp, she won that case and was awarded a front page correction and a large settlement.)

The details of all this sordidness — the sacrifice of Harry and Meghan on the altar of tabloid drama, with obsidian knives wielded by Harry’s own closest kin in an attempt to secure more favorable coverage for themselves — forms the narrative backbone of both books. And William isn't the only one implicated in the matter: Queen Camilla emerges as a canny and ruthless operator, buying the rehabilitation of her own image with the coin of gossip leaked against both her stepsons.

"In a funny way I even wanted Camilla to be happy," Harry writes. "Maybe she'd be less dangerous if she was happy."

It's pretty hard to tell if anyone's happy in Britain's royal family. Endgame tells us that Charles is jealous of William, that William is jealous of Harry, and that Harry will probably never get any of the remorse he'd like to see for the way he and his wife were thrown to the wolves. Hating Harry — and even more so, Meghan — has become its own lucrative, self-sustaining industry. Literally hundreds of negative articles are published about the two every day. It's a relentless, often racist onslaught of character assassination that exploits the same culture-war fissions that drove Brexit.

Spare mostly comes off as a good-faith effort from a deeply weird person to explain to the rest of us why he's like this. Endgame isn't as well-written or compelling, but it backs up a lot of what Harry puts into generalizations with names, dates, and specifics. Together, they paint a very damning portrait of two rotten institutions propping each other up at the people's expense.

But by and large, you won't read about that in the press.

#house sussex

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mariacallous · 2 years

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Holding a rainbow flag, Marco Marras walked on stage at the start of a rally being held by Giorgia Meloni in Sardinia during her election campaign to confront her about gay rights. As security men moved to shoo him away, the student told the Brothers of Italy leader, now Italy’s first female prime minister, he wanted to be able to get married and raise a family in his own country. Meloni replied: “You want a lot of things … everyone wants things; you already have civil unions.”

If gay people in Italy, a country that regularly ranks in reports as being among the worst in western Europe for LGBTQ+ rights, had already understood that privileges so far gained were threadbare, Meloni made it explicitly clear they would not get any better under her government.

“I acted out of a sense of duty,” said Marras, 24. “Meloni had come to Cagliari to meet an audience of ‘yes men’, people who support her and who call her ‘great Giorgia’. I wanted to show something that her electorate doesn’t want to see or accept – LGBT people – we are not monsters but normal people who want basic rights. She practically responded: ‘Be happy with what you have’ – they think I should live a lesser life because I’m gay.”

A government led by Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist origins, and including Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, was sworn into office on Saturday. The first formal step towards its formation resulted in the election of two controversial figures: Ignazio La Russa, a Brothers of Italy politician who collects fascist memorabilia, and Lorenzo Fontana, a League member with anti-abortion and anti-gay views, as speakers of the upper and lower house of parliament respectively.

Italy enacted a civil unions law in 2016 when the country was governed by a coalition led by the centre-left Democratic party, but the bill stopped short of legalising gay marriage, while a clause that would have allowed a person to adopt the child of their same-sex partner was scrapped after pressure from rightwing parties and the Catholic church.

A common feature of the rabble-rousing speeches given by Meloni, a self-described “Christian mother” who says she defends traditional family values, is the reiteration of her view that a child should only be raised by heterosexual parents.

IVF for homosexual couples is banned in Italy, forcing people to travel abroad to become parents. Surrogacy, meanwhile, is prohibited outright, and Meloni has proposed extending a ban to criminalise gay couples who seek surrogate mothers abroad.

“It’s shocking, you could risk jail or fines regardless of where in the world your child is born through surrogacy,” said Monica Savoca, who lives in the Sicilian city of Catania with her Spanish wife, Maria Carreras, and their two children. “This discussion over surrogacy is part of a medieval vision. We felt afraid after the elections – they call themselves ‘moderate’ when, in fact, we’re talking about an extreme-right government that shouldn’t exist in Europe.”

Some cities and towns in Italy have embraced gay parenting, for example by allowing children of same-sex couples to be legally registered with the surnames of both parents. However, authorities in other areas have been less welcoming, such as in Catania, where the town hall is being taken to court by Savoca and Carreras after it refused the registration procedure for their children – Pau, 12, and Mia, 11.

They said they had never felt discrimination in terms of acceptance of their family in other areas of society. “I must say that society is much more open than the political world,” said Savoca. However, if they lose their case, and given the current political climate, they are ready to leave Italy and return to live in Spain, where they were married and both children were born via IVF, one to each mother.

They are especially afraid about the appointment of Eugenia Roccella, a Brothers of Italy deputy who in 2017 said she wanted to either abolish or significantly modify the civil unions bill, as minister of families, births and equal opportunities. Roccella said the bill had damaged the traditional family, and also rejected a law that would have criminalised homophobia, arguing that it compromised free speech.

“This government shouldn’t only make us in the minority groups afraid, but everyone,” said Savoca.

Italy’s new prime minister has repeatedly said she is not homophobic and will not try to repeal the civil unions law. However, there are fears her leadership will trigger a rise in homophobic attacks. The law that would have criminalised homophobia, drafted by Alessandro Zan, a gay politician with the Democratic party, was shelved last year after being boycotted by the rightwing groups.

“When the law was a theme there was a reaction in terms of an increase in homotransphobic incidents,” said Zan. “This is because people who acted out their discrimination felt authorised to do so. It will be the same with the demonisation of gay families. For this reason, we need to be really tough in opposition as we cannot accept that parties exploit human rights to obtain a political dividend.”

Marras, who was hit with a barrage of online insults over his confrontation with Meloni, worries that her government will attempt to justify homophobia, and may try to tamper with the civil unions law.

“They could amend the law to allow ‘conscientious objectors’, who for example could be mayors who are permitted to refuse a civil union for moral reasons,” he said. “So they maintain the law but block its implementation.”

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