All About Numbers

Am I the only one growing frustrated with “progressive” voters (US-centric, sorry) and their inability to understand how math and our government work?? Sorry if you weren’t paying attention in Civics class, but you’ve probably been required to study this stuff three times - junior high/ middle school, high school, and college/university.  At this point there isn’t much that a president can do about the recent (and upcoming - be very afraid) decisions made by SCOTUS. They have LIFETIME APPOINTMENTS.  Not saying that at least three of the current justices couldn’t be justifiably impeached, but it’s not going to happen. This is the hard lesson on “protest votes” - Everybody who thought a protest vote against Hillary because she was “too corporate” owns this. Trump appointed (god it hurts to put this in print) THREE (count ‘em, three) conservative justices.  Biden can’t touch that. The Congress is pretty evenly split in both houses.  Biden can suggest any legislation he wants. It won’t get passed. Period. But, “End the filibuster!” Can’t happen, THE MATH DOESN’T WORK. The GOP vote as a block. There will be ZERO GOP votes for that, and the Dems won’t vote as a block. It only takes one Dem to vote against and it fails. Right now more than one Dem Senator would vote against, so IT FAILS. This, my compatriots, is why Biden and Dem leaders are all saying VOTE MORE.  If you don’t like the conservative direction the courts have turned, if you don’t like that women have lost a Constitutional right to making their own health decisions, if you are worried that the court will overturn the right of all people to marry the person they love, if you are concerned that members of the LGBTQ+ community could lose their Constitutional protections, if you are worried that ideology is replacing science in the legislative process, then VOTE. And get others to VOTE. No matter who, vote BLUE. And with a conservative SCOTUS, State other local offices are even more important than ever. Think global, vote local. My friends this is not a drill. This is our democracy on life support.  Historically the party in the White House loses seats in the midterm elections. Why? The supporters of that party become complacent and don’t show. People who voted for the POTUS get angry that their pet issues haven’t passed (even when it’s the Congress, not the WH, that passes legislation ... remember Civics class?) And of course, the opposing party blames every problem in the world on the US President, even when that person can do nothing about them, even when they helped cause the problems (cough, GOP tax cuts, cough). Dems are imperfect at best, but the GOP is immeasurably worse if you care about the issues named above. The Dems cannot lose seats in the midterms.  The GOP is poised to make sure that they never lose control of the Congress and White House again, and SCOTUS will not step in to block the laws they are going to pass.

“Them’s the facts.”

We need to fight early, fight hard, fight to the end.  In my district we just selected the weakest of the 4 main candidates to run against a very competitive GOP candidate. Our Blue district will likely be flipped in November, but I will be making phone calls and knocking on doors and doing whatever I can to fight that result. If you care, please do the same wherever you are. Don’t be afraid to volunteer to help outside of your district or state as well.

VOTE BLUE!

Being GAY does not End on June 30th

To all my gay followers everywhere:

On July first, Gay Pride Month is over for another year, but GAY goes on. Did somewhere you shop have PRIDE stuff all over the store that magically disappeared at midnight on June 30th? If it did - THEY ARE NOT YOUR ALLY. Did somewhere you shop TAKE DOWN their gay decorations mid-month due to anti-gay protesters? THEY ARE NOT YOUR ALLY. They got your Gay Dollars for 30 days and now they could care less. These are places that DO NOT need you to shop there. SUPPORT GAY BUSINESSES AND SUPPORT TRUE ALLIES.

The Anti-Gay sentiment in America is growing stronger. Use your gay vote to vote against it, and use your gay dollars to support those pro-gay establishments.

She's a legend. She IS the moment.

DO NOT LET ANYONE CONVINCE YOU NOT TO VOTE!

I repeat,

DO NOT LET ANYONE CONVINCE YOU NOT TO VOTE!!

There is this growing mentality I am seeing across tumblr telling you, “What’s the point of voting?” and “What did voting ever get us?”

Let me tell you what voting got us, the Right understood the power of their vote and as a result it got them three Supreme Court judges. Not one. Not two. But Three. Three brand new judges are on the bench all because the Left didn’t value their vote and the Right did. Now we are living in the aftermath of this belief. That’s how powerful your vote actually is. It is history changing on a national level.

But the Right isn’t stopping there. They’ve tasted what their vote got them and they have gone on record that they are going after LGBTQ+ rights and birth control next. And they plan on doing this again using their vote come Midterms. 

The only way to stop them is to keep them from taking the Senate and Congress and you do that through your vote. 

That’s what your vote will get you come this Midterm. The power to stop them from continuing their agenda. 

VOTE!

"Biden is funding a literal genocide!"

Yeah - and so will Trump. Like, if you don't vote for Biden, Trump will win, and he will continue to send aid to Israel - in fact, he will likely send MORE aid to Israel. That's the reality of the world we live in.

And, to be honest, any US president will support Israel. Because the USA is Israel's ally. That's how foreign policy works.

So who do you prefer?

Biden, who has helped lgbtq rights, reproductive rights, infrastructure, the environment, lowered medication costs, supported unions, and done MANY good, progressive things,

Or Trump, who we already know is awful. Who we already know will destroy any human rights Biden managed to gain. Who will not help the environment. Who will not help trans people, or immigrants, or women.

Because those are your two choices. And if you think they're the same, you are dangerous to all marginalized people.

this is the next biggest city about half an hour from me and where I do my shopping and bruh, the state of illinois is gonna slap down a major lawsuit on these fucking clowns lmao bc illinois enshrined the right to abortion in their constitution in 2019 I believe. also, it wasn’t even the aldermen who wanted this!! it was a group from Texas. keep that shit down there u cunts

ok, i’ve seen people use polls to figure out the average age of tumblr users, the average join date, but now i wanna see how queer y’all are. and which queer identity reigns supreme over tumblr. so vote

LGBTQ+ organizations and allies are celebrating Michigan for becoming the first state in three years to pass comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation, which now heads to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to be signed into law, finally passed after decades of court battles and hold-ups from Republican legislators.

The bill passed in a 64-45 vote in the Democrat-led House on Wednesday. It amends the state’s 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to include LGBTQ+ people among its protected groups. The law forbids discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation within businesses, government buildings, and educational facilities on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, marital status — and now, LGBTQ+ identity.

Democrats had tried introducing various LGBTQ+ non-discrimination measures over the last 40 years, according to the bill’s gay sponsor Sen. Jeremy Moss (D). However, the attempts were repeatedly voted down by Republican-led legislatures. Last January, Democrats took control of the full legislature for the first time in nearly 40 years, finally giving them the chance to pass the protections.

In July 2022, Michigan’s Supreme Court issued a landmark 5–2 ruling that ELCRA already forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of discrimination based on sex and gender. This followed a 2020 Michigan Court of Claims ruling that said ELCRA didn’t ban anti-gay discrimination as well as a 2018 vote by Michigan’s Civil Rights Commission interpreting ELCRA as protecting LGBTQ+ people from religious-based discrimination...

When the House voted to pass the historic bill on Wednesday, a crowd in the House gallery broke into applause, Bridge Michigan reported. Republican House members had tried adding amendments that would’ve carved out exceptions for religious people to continue discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. None of these amendments passed into the final bill.

Gov. [Whitmer] has signaled that she will soon sign the bill into law. In a Wednesday tweet, she noted the observation of International Women’s Day and wrote, “I’m celebrating trans women who have continuously led the way, despite constant threats to their lives and liberty. I’m proud that we’re finally in a position to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect LGBTQ+ Michiganders. Let’s get it done!”

-via LGBTQ Nation, 3/9/23

Note: If it's not clear from the language, this is basically a done deal--the bill signing IS ABSOLUTELY GOING TO HAPPEN.

As scary as things are right now, there are so many of us fighting to protect ourselves, our communities, and the queer and trans people around us.

This comes only a day after Minnesota's governor signed a landmark executive order that guarantees the right to gender-affirming care and prevents the state from complying with any other states' attempts to interfere. via them.us, 3/9/23

There is hope, and there are so many people fighting for us.

My respect for John Legend just grew ten times ...

See this interview ... and vote

ATTENTION ANYONE WHO IS AN ALLY OR IS LGBTQ+

They are trying to eradicate queer people. This is genocide of some form,I'm sure. If you can vote,please vote Democrat this election,even if it's 'not the best option'. If you can't, encourage and educate the people who can. Please spread this.

To anyone considering not voting this year or wasting their vote on a meaningless third party vote, just a reminder: THIS is the garbage that the nazi virus polluting the human species with its existence that supports Donald Trump stands for and believes in

This is the garbage that Donald Trump and the nauseating brainless cattle that are his allies want to INFECT America with like a cancer

Voting for anyone other than the Democrats will allow this DISEASE upon the human race to come into power

Also on a side note, to the nauseating goat-fucking trash of the Heritage foundation: My reaction towards a "Feminist movement" that was against the pill or against "Recreational sex" would be: "I utterly fucking despise every last one of these moronic fucking cunts and their garbage ideology"

Because the only form of feminism I care about or support is feminism that is sex-positive, pro-choice and pro-LGBTQ.

Also the only "True purpose" of sex is to have any kind of it you want, as much as you want with as many people as you want to have the most number of orgasms possible

Maybe if these joyless nazi cunts had actually every got fucked properly in their miserable worthless lives they wouldn't be such a pathetic bunch of hateful little dipshits

It’s lesbian visibility week. In general, I haven’t been very visible lately on this blog because my Dad died (fuck cancer).

Warning: Long post. TLDR - my Dad was a great Dad and a good man.

Prior to that, I was spending a lot of time with him and Mom, helping as best I could. And afterwards, spending time with Mom getting everything done that needs done.

The Hot Wife has been at home, keeping everything going there and providing a lot of love and support.

My Dad was from the Silent Generation (the one before the Boomers). Unlike most people his age, he never stopped learning, growing, and adapting to the changing times. He believed in equity and justice not because he was “woke,” but because it is the right thing to do and he participated in civil rights protests in the 60s.

He taught me how to throw a ball and was always up for a game of catch.

He shared his love of folk music, classical music, science fiction, existentialism, art, and weird cult/art house/foreign films with me.

When I came out, he apologized for the times when he and Mom told me to act more like a girl, while encouraging me to be myself and grow up as a tomboy. He would buy fireworks for me and martial art supplies so my bff and I could terrorize the neighborhood in our ninja suits every summer night and a few other nights too.

He always bought boxes of candy for Mom, Seester, me, and my girlfriend on Valentine’s Day.

He randomly showed up at the Baltimore Gay Pride Festival one year (the year I wore my fav t-shirt that said “let go of my ears, I know what I’m doing”), and for many years after we went to Pride together.

We gossiped about our celebrity crushes together.

He refused to take my Mom shopping at Hobby Lobby and refused to eat at Chick-Fil-A.

He was so happy when I married the Hot Wife and he loved her too.

I didn’t know this until I cleaned out his desk - he had been donating to the Human Rights Campaign Fund for years and he had a few different clippings from magazines and downloads from the internet about how to challenge transphobes.

I didn’t just lose my Dad, we all lost an LGBTQ+ ally, a voting Democrat, and an example of non-toxic masculinity.

Good-by, Dad. Easter pizza dinner won’t be the same without you.

My god, swifties are fucking unbelievable.

They really think Taylor can just be like “I hired a trans person, therefore I’m an ally!” They really think her RAINBOW CAPITALISM in 2019 makes her an ally. They really think an “ally” can just tell people “go vote” without addressing any of the anti-LGBTQ legislation.

In fact let me just post this clip because “frilly and spineless” is exactly what she is now.

First things first, happy Pride Month, everyone! On this tour, I get to look out into the most stunningly beautiful, brilliant crowds of people who are living their authentic lives. They are loving who they want to love, they are identifying how they identify, and allies who get to support them in and celebrate them in that. It’s the most beautiful experience for me to look out into the crowds on this tour, I’m looking out tonight, I’m seeing so many incredible individuals who are living authentically and beautifully and this is a safe space for you. This is a celebratory space for you and one of the things that makes me feel so prideful is getting to be with you and watching you interact with each other, being so loving and so thoughtful and so caring and so being with you during pride month, getting to sing the words to ‘You Need To Calm Down’ where there are lyrics like “can you just not step on his gown?” or “shade never made anybody less gay”, and you guys are screaming those lyrics in such solidarity, in such support of one another, in such encouraging, beautiful acceptance and peace and safety and I wish that every place was safe and beautiful for people in the lgbtq community, I really wish that. Cause we can’t talk about pride month without talking about pain. Right now, and recently and in the recent years there have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the lgbtq community at risk. It’s painful for everyone, every ally, every loved one, every person in these communities and thats why I’m always posting this is when the midterms are, this is when these important key primaries are, cause we can support as much as we want during pride month, but if we’re not doing our research on these elected officials, are they advocates? are they allies? are they protectors of equality? Do I want to vote for them? I love you guys so much. Happy Pride month, I just adore you. I really do.

— Taylor Swift gives a Pride Month speech during The Eras Tour in Chicago, IL (June 2, 2023)

Berlin had become the “gay capital of the world,” a city with a booming queer nightlife scene and the center of new academic ideas calling for greater acceptance of homosexuality and gender non-conformity.

To the Nazis, homosexuality represented a “threat” to the “Aryan” race’s survival that needed to be stamped out. Although male homosexual activity had been technically illegal in Germany since the 19th century, it was generally tolerated and even celebrated prior to Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power in 1933.

The Nazis began their anti-queer purges by targeting clubs, societies and Magnus Hirschfield’s renowned sexology research institute, burning the books in its library. Decades of pioneering work and community life had been erased.

By 1935, Paragraph 175 of the German penal code was revised to include a harsher sentence and criminalize virtually any kind of male same-sex intimacy.

Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested for violating Nazi Germany’s law against homosexuality, and of these, approximately 50,000 were sentenced to prison. An estimated 5,000 to 15,000 men were sent to concentration camps on similar charges.

In the concentration camps, they were subjected to barbaric tortures, including sexual abuse, castration and medical experiments. The other prisoners also ostracized them. Overall prospects for gay prisoners were poor: an estimated 65% died, and an unknown, albeit likely disproportionate number committed suicide.

As the Allies swept through Europe to victory over the Nazi regime in early 1945, hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners were liberated. The Allied Military Government of Germany repealed countless laws and decrees, but left unchanged the 1935 Nazi revision of Paragraph 175.

For the queer survivors of Nazi oppression, 1945 did not bring about any kind of liberation; rather, it marked the beginning of a systematic process of persecution and willful suppression—one that would result in their erasure from the pages of popular history.

Under the Allied occupation, homosexual concentration camp survivors were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment regardless of time served in the concentration camps. They were easy to identify because in the concentration camps they had an upside-down pink triangle sewn to their clothes.

After the war, Jews, children, and political prisoners could apply for financial and moral support from the new German governments (a.k.a. reparations), homosexual men could not. Similarly, gay survivors were not allowed to collect a pension for the time they spent working in the concentration camps while other survivors could.

The Nazi version of Paragraph 175 remained on the books of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) until the law was revised in 1969 to decriminalize homosexual relations between men over the age of 21. This resulted in the arrest of around 100,000 gay men between 1945 and 1969. Paragraph 175 itself would only be entirely removed from the penal code in 1994, following Germany’s reunification.

Advocacy groups successfully rallied for the creation of memorials, and the German Bundestag finally voted to pardon and compensate the victims of Paragraph 175 in 2017, a meager and all-too-late offer of justice as most of the victims were long dead.

The Nazi-era oppression of queer women and intersex individuals has been overshadowed due to a combination of homophobia and sexism. Lesbian women, for instance, may not have been systematically persecuted under the Third Reich, as Paragraph 175 only targeted gay men, but that did not deter the Nazis from shutting down their clubs or arresting them for “anti-sociality,” deeming them “morally unsound,” labeling them as “lesbisch” (lesbian) political dissidents and sending them to concentration camps.

For years, LGBTQ organizations were ignored and even shunned from Holocaust commemorations. The gathering of their stories was not considered important. The suppression of the Holocaust’s queer voices remains a stain that lingers on to this day.