@lgbtqkidsrock / lgbtqkidsrock.tumblr.com
This October, 2018, some 4000 Hondurans migrated from their country and are on their way to the United States on foot. After organising via social media, they parted from San Pedro Sula, passed Guatemala, are currently in Mexico, and will try to reach the US border, in hopes of starting a new life in America.
Among the majority of migrants, there’s children, babies, farmers, proffesionals, stay-at-home parents, and students. They scape the poverty and violence that sorrounds their country. With a homicide rate of 43 for every 100.000 inhabitants, making the country one of the most violents in the world. The high activity of gangs and drug traffickers, plus a poverty rate of 68% of the country’s population leave Hondurans desperate. One of the organizers of the caravan affirmed that they leave due to violence, and the high cost of basic goods, energy, and water.”
The president of the United States had already threatened Guatemala, Honduras and El salvador with stopping financial aid if they didn’t contain illegal immigration (source). He announced he’d make good on his threat this monday (oct. 22) (source) because “they were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.”
According to him, most of the migrants are criminals and “unknown Middle Easterners” have started to mix in with them (source). He claimed to have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this constituted a National Emergency. Those who have not asked for asylum in Mexico will not be allowed into the US. Trump also blamed democrats for the “pathetic [immigration] laws” that he’s been unable to change (source).
Article source. ~mod ara
Honestly “queer” is so useful for people like me w/ a “complicated orientation” b/c instead of having to say I’m “asexual panromantic” and explain what that means, I can just say “I’m queer” and it tells you all you need to know (that I’m not straight).
yeah sure good for you but don’t ever ever use that word for someone who doesn’t identify as it themselves, it’s not an umbrella term for everyone. also “pan/ace” would definitely work, even if you don’t want to use it, other people could. i use ace lesbian and definitely not the q slur.
Wow its almost like they were just talking about using it on themselves for individual reasons and you butted in to be an ass and be condescending because you think you’re superior for not using queer, then you called their identity a slur right to them. But that can’t possibly be what you were trying to do, right?
Anyone is allowed to use it for themselves, I never said no one should do that if that’s what they want. Queer is a slur though. I just want people to be aware of that, I have no idea if OP is aware of that or not but some people using that word aren’t. I’m tired of people including me and other people who don’t want to be included in that word, and before anyone asks, I never meant that OP did that, because I literally have no idea if they do.
Queer is a slur as much as any other LGBT+ word, I just want you to be aware of that.
“Gay” is used as an insult. It is used to be demeaning. Its used to discriminate. And yet its used as the all mighty umbrella - gay rights, gay marriage, gay community - when discussing the entire community.
Gay gets used as a slur. Queer gets used as a slur. But I don’t walk up to gay people and say “your identity is a slur, you know that right” or get pissed when they say “the gay community” when they mean the whole community.
Personal identity and preference in terms, even harmful words that get used as slurs, are not questioned; except for the word Queer.
Queer gets shut down. Queer people get others in their faces saying “your identity is a slur!” Queer people don’t have the freedom to identify in a community, but are forced under other terms against their will due to hypocrisy and double standards.
So if you’re not going to come onto gay people’s posts for the same behavior, maybe critically analyze why exactly you feel the need to be so condescending to Queer people, specifically on posts that ONLY have to do with personal identity. Why you feel the need to insist to Queer people that their identities are slurs, to directly slap away the power of reclaiming a word from them by demanding it remain in the hands of the Straights as a perpetual slur.
I think an important difference between gay and queer is however, that queer started out as a slur used against members of the community and continues to be used as a slur in many places. Whereas gay began as a word the community chose itself to describe itself and was then later used by homophobes and heterosexuals in general in a negative way, meaning however, that gay doesn’t hold the same negative connotations as queer for many people simply because it was our word that they took, and not a word that they forced on us to make us “strange” or “other” like queer means.
That’s…. Not true. People think so because the history before gay was reclaimed is way older (older than any love community member’s lifetimes, probably,) but gay had the exact same origins.
It was meant to denote sexually perverse people, most frequently sex workers and those who hired them. Anyone who participated in anything but married, vanilla, straight sex might have been referred to as “gay,” including any suspected LGBT person.
The word (already being one frequently used on the community,) was reclaimed as a community identifier when the community wanted to disconnect from the clinical and diagnostic implications of “homosexual.”
There is record of queer being reclaimed and used as a personal identifier literally before the popularization of gay. Both words are reclaimed slurs with negative histories, and BOTH are used as slurs against the community still to this day.
The more recent history of the mid to late 20th century more prevalently favored queer as a slur, as is represented in our media. However its clearly undeniable that the switch back to gay as the popular community slur (along with the ever present f slur,) happened in the 2000s. Which is trying to be denied and rewritten by the anti queer crowd, who completely ignore the words popularity with community members who actually lived through when it was a popular slur.
Yes to all of this. When it comes to words for “not straight” there are hardly any choices that didn’t originate as ways to stigmatize or pathologize us. We are all using reclaimed slurs to describe ourselves.
Also, queer is reclaimed in a particularly empowering way. It doesn’t just mean “same-sex attraction” but encompasses a whole spectrum of attractions and gender orientations. It’s a word that says to asexuals, pansexuals, bisexuals, trans folks, genderfluid and genderqueer and genderless folks and people who are still figuring themselves out, “hey, you’ve got a home here. We don’t need to categorize you to love you.”
This is important because there are a lot of divisions within the LGBTQ+ world, and in particular cis gay men and cis lesbians often overlook or exclude trans, bi and asexual people. Queer is the only word that not only demands equal acceptance for everyone, but leaves the door open for words and descriptors that haven’t even been invented yet.
Somebody else pointed this out earlier to me, and of course I’ve lost the post, but it’s really suspicious that of all the reclaimed slurs, the one that gets the most pushback is the one that is most radically accepting of all identities
“hey, you’ve got a home here. We don’t need to categorize you to love you.”
Lmao yeah! the pushback against this idea is overt and disgusting and I don’t trust anybody who perpetuates it.
Queer is an ideology and an identity, historically and now. It is an umbrella for that ideology and an umbrella for those identities, historically and now. They can’t be conflated (with LGBT) and it’s super fucking disingenuous to pretend one is just the tarnished besmirched dirty slur version of the other. They’re different. In my particular work for example, Queer bioethics is different from LGBT bioethics and conflating the two will muddle any discussion you try to have about them because they lead to literally opposite conclusions in some cases.
Yeah I freaking love pancakes
Wait wrong post
By far the best addition to this post
This is one of those things where I feel like an old. Like, *the* slogan I associate with pride is, “We’re here, we’re queer – get used to it!” There was a TV show called “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” that was total mainstream pap. (Not that the show wasn’t riddles problematic elements from the concept out, but ‘queer’ in the title was clearly meant as a positive.) I just have a hard time processing queer as anything but reclaimed.
They actually shot “Queer As Folk” in my city!
TERFs and radical gender/sexuality bianarists are flooding social media and blogging sites with propaganda smearing the word queer in the hopes of silencing all of us who don’t identify with their hate politics. I fought hard to reclaim the word queer in the late 80s and early 90s, and it’s the one word that doesn’t worship exclusion. Which is why these people are trying to convince you not to use it. fuck that noise. there is literally no word i could use to identify my sexuality that hasn’t been thrown at me in hatred, fear, and violence. No way am I giving up the one of those that allows me to talk about all of my community without trying to put people in boxes they don’t fit in.
I will never not reblog this post. Queer, queer, queer here.
“Queer” has been claimed by queer people as a self-descriptor since at least 1910. It’s an insult to those historical people (and all the generations of queer historical people who have identified as queer since then) to pretend that the people using it as a slur owned it more than the queer people who used it as a self-descriptor.
Source: George Chauncey, “Gay New York,” page 101
They don’t want us to use queer because they don’t want to be lumped in with anyone who’s not cis gay or cis lesbian. So fine. You don’t like the word queer? You don’t want to be in the “queer” community? Get the fuck out, then. Y'all don’t welcome us in your community anyway, so we’ll just have our own.
And it’ll be queer as fuck.
I fucking love the word queer ❤
Or, to put it another way, using a great old slogan of the community: I’m not gay as in happy, I’m queer as in fuck you.
Yes yes yes yes yes! These younglings today don’t know their queer history but feel so free to comment on it. Trying so desperately to assimilate into straight culture by turning your nose up at queer, and all the people who take refuge under its umbrella. Queer accepted me when nobody else would, not even the LGBT groups.
Queer is full of the types of people who don’t make good poster children for the middle class assimilationist cis gay couple just looking to get married and have some kids. Queer forces us to realize the fight didn’t end with gay marriage, and cis gays are gonna have to step out of the spotlight sometimes, and realize cis gays have privilege, and fight for someone with less. Trans people, nonbinary people, people in nontraditional relationship structures, aromantics, asexuals, sex workers. Heck more and more bisexual people these days are switching over to queer because the amount of biphobia in the so-called lgBt community is so alienating, and also because so many of us feel the term bisexual reinforces a false gender dichotomy and we’re too tired of jokes about kitchenware to use pansexual.
Part of what I love about the term queer is that it does make people uncomfortable. It makes them aware of their privilege, exposes certain biases, even within the LGBT community. What’s so wrong with a movement that strives to fight for everybody, huh? Huh?
Proudly bi, proudly queer, and being part of this movement when I was young was an honor.
Text of a manifesto originally passed out by people marching with the ACT UP contingent in the New York Gay Pride Day parade, 1990. -
An Army of Lovers Cannot Lose Being queer is not about a right to privacy; it is about the freedom to be public, to just be who we are. It means everyday fighting oppression; homophobia, racism, misogyny, the bigotry of religious hypocrites and our own self-hatred. (We have been carefully taught to hate ourselves.) And now of course it means fighting a virus as well, and all those homo-haters who are using AIDS to wipe us off the face of the earth. Being queer means leading a different sort of life. It’s not about the mainstream, profit-margins, patriotism, patriarchy or being assimilated. It’s not about executive directors, privilege and elitism. It’s about being on the margins, defining ourselves; it’s about gender-f— and secrets, what’s beneath the belt and deep inside the heart; it’s about the night. Being queer is “grass roots” because we know that everyone of us, every body, every c—, every heart and a– and d— is a world of pleasure waiting to be explored. Everyone of us is a world of infinite possibility. We are an army because we have to be. We are an army because we are so powerful. (We have so much to fight for; we are the most precious of endangered species.) And we are an army of lovers because it is we who know what love is. Desire and lust, too. We invented them. We come out of the closet, face the rejection of society, face firing squads, just to love each other! Every time we f—, we win. We must fight for ourselves (no else is going to do it) and if in that process we bring greater freedom to the world at large then great. (We’ve given so much to that world: democracy, all the arts, the concepts of love, philosophy and the soul, to name just a few of the gifts from our ancient Greek Dykes, Fags.) Let’s make every space a Lesbian and Gay space. Every street a part of our sexual geography. A city of yearning and then total satisfaction. A city and a country where we can be safe and free and more. We must look at our lives and see what’s best in them, see what is queer and what is straight and let that straight chaff fall away! Remember there is so, so little time. And I want to be a lover of each and every one of you. Next year, we march naked.
guys. if you go to college and want to study our history and current political climate etc? do you know what that department is called? “Queer Studies”. So could you fucking stop, you little babies.
I am officially Old as Fuck ™ compared to most Tumblrites.
I came of age after they discovered HIV and before they discovered how to treat it. THAT is how old I am.
I worked and marched with friends and loved ones and the banner that brought everyone together was “Queer.” The word doesn’t need to be reclaimed. It has been reclaimed. Before a lot of y’all were ever born.
Trying to school your elders about shit of which you know nothing doesn’t build community. It’s part of a rejection of the idea that the LGBTQ community is multigenerational. It’s a rejection of the idea that there is gay, lesbian, QUEER life after 30. Its refusing to consider that those who went before did an awful damn lot to make where you are now possible.
Can I have this framed
the Queer masterpost
September 13, 1987
[ID: scan of an article on the AIDS crisis by Fran Lebowitz - text below the cut]
I recently heard the news that Adam by Ariel Schrag will be getting a movie. I read the book myself about a year and a half ago and I cannot stress enough just how problematic it is.
Adam goes to New York to stay with his lesbian sister for the summer, and while he’s there he meets trans men who consider themselves lesbians. At a party he meets a lesbian he thinks is pretty and in order to get into a relationship with her he lies and tells her he’s a pre transition trans man. Let’s make a list of some of the highlights from the book, shall we?
1. Progesterone: not for everyone, but for many people it may increase sex drive and WILL make your boobs bigger. Also effects mood in ways that many find positive (but some find negative). Most doctors won’t prescribe this to you unless you ask. Most trans girls I know swear by it.
2. Injectible estrogen: is more effective than pill or patch form. Get on it if you can bear needles bc you will see more effects more quickly.
3. Estradiol Cypionate: There is currently a shortage of injectible estradiol valerate. There is no shortage of estradiol cypionate. Functionally they do the same shit.
4. Bicalutamide: This is an anti-androgen that has almost none of the side-effects of spironolactone or finasteride. The girls I know who are on it are evangelical about it.
Are there HRT medications that don’t increase blood clot risk? I’m already at risk because of my blood pressure, and my doctor won’t prescribe HRT that increases clot risk while I’m on the medication - and I may never not be on the medication.
Absolutely.
The concerns surrounding venous thromboembolic events as a side-effect of hormone replacement therapy can mostly be traced back to one particular study known as the Women’s Health Initiative. This study was an enormous undertaking which, unfortunately, demonstrated significant adverse effects of the hormone therapies studied. As a result of this the use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal cis women was dramatically reduced as the medical community began to question whether or not the therapy caused more harm than good.
Naturally, trans women have been suffering from this fall-out ever since.
What physicians seem to fail to recognize is that the study examined a very specific hormone regimen which was, arguably, outmoded at the time the study was conducted: It examined the use of conjugated equine estrogen (Premarin) with or without the use of medroxyprogesterone acetate. Neither of these drugs is regularly used for the treatment of transgender women.
The estrogen most commonly used to treat transgender women nowadays is 17β-estradiol either in pill form or in the form of a sticky patch that you apply to your skin. Esters of estrogen (e.g. estradiol valerate) are also sometimes used either in a pill form or as an intramuscular injection.
Transdermal estradiol patches are the gold standard when it comes to treating women who are at high risk of a venous thromboembolic event. It simply does not increase the risk of developing a venous thromboembolism. The only thing you should keep in mind is that patches are not always well tolerated because of the lifestyle changes required to keep them from falling off and the fact that they tend to irritate the skin.
Fortunately, oral 17β-estradiol appears to be safe, regardless of the increased risk. At least one large study has shown that the use of oral estradiol in trans women is not associated with venous thromboembolic events. An individual woman’s risk would need to be substantial in order to contraindicate the use of oral estradiol.
For those who have significant risk of venous thromboembolism because they have had a previous thromboembolic event, because they are paralyzed, or because of some other factor it is good to know the relative risk between oral and transdermal estrogen. The latest research indicates that the use of transdermal estrogen lowers your risk of a thromboembolism to 80% of what your risk would be using oral estrogens.
It’s difficult to find hard numbers regarding the relative risk of venous thromboembolic events with regards to hypertension. The best I could find after an hour or so of searching was this study regarding VTE in lung cancer patients. Hypertension increased the risk by a factor of 1.8.
However, to put that into perspective being of African descent increases your relative risk for deep vein thrombosis by a factor of 1.3 when compared to Europeans. Europeans are, themselves, at increased risk when compared to Asians and Pacific Islanders by a considerable margin: a four-fold increase.
I should point out that being ‘male’ is also a risk factor for developing a thromboembolism and hormones are likely to be a contributing factor. Also, menopause is another serious risk factor. Given this information it is likely that the use of transdermal estradiol will lower your risk of thromboembolic events significantly.
As far as the anti-androgen is concerned: The primary use for spironolactone for cisgender people is as an antihypertensive.
Even if the risk of thromboembolism was truly significant with modern hormone replacement therapy it wouldn’t justify what your doctor is doing to you. The fact is that mortality in the transgender community from suicide–caused in part due to the lack of access to hormone therapy–is substantial. The quality of life lost when a trans woman is denied hormone therapy is substantial. The fact that your doctor does not appear to be taking this into consideration when they weigh the risk of thromboembolism against not receiving necessary medical care is deeply concerning.
I strongly recommend that you seek a doctor who is more sensitive to your medical needs as a transgender woman.
Edit: Fixed a minor, but embarrassing, error.
oh wow this is so helpful & good info
Everyone who cares about transfem people please reblog this
this was really fucking helpful
!!!!
I was gathering some links for my sister and I thought folks here might find some of these useful. Most of the links come from tumblr posts bytrans women and amab non-binary folks, and I figured they know what they’re talkinga bout!
Shoes
Zappos (it’s really easy to get shoes, try them on, and return them, they go up to size 20)
Eleanor Anukam: Luxury shoes in larger sizes
Long Tall Sally: clothes and shoes for tall ladies
Full Beauty: up to size 16
Makeup tips:
Swimwear: http://www.thelingerieaddict.com/2015/03/trans-swimwear-part-one-trans-women.html Undergarments:
Voice: Easy steps to voice feminize! (YouTube) Finding Your Female Voice (Free Workbook PDF) NY Speech & Voice Lab: voice feminization Shortcut to female voice Misc
Originally, I was just looking for shoes in 15+ sizes, and makeup stuff, but I realized I had all these other links floating around too. If anyone has some shoe advice for trans women I’d appreciate hearing about it!
Hey um ok so I have a problem. I'm bi and my parents are very religious and LGBTphobic. So my mom was looking through my stuff and found out I'm bi. She basically told me that my feelings aren't real and that I'm confused. She wants me to talk to a therapist about it. The only way it could have gone worse is if I had gotten kicked out. So any suggestions as to what I can do? I'm just scared now and need some advice.
it’s going to be okay! i’m so sorry this happened but i promise you’ll be alright. we’re here for you, anon. if you’re feeling anxious right now, please take a small break. you can try playing one of these cute games! once you’re feeling a little less anxious, come back and we’ll discuss what you can do under the read more.
I'm non binary, advice for asking for a binder, or any tips on binding?
if you’re asking your parents: tell them that it’ll make you happy and more comfortable with your body! you can also tell them how millions of people bind every day and there are thousands of resources, tutorials, and shops out there that encourage safe binding.
if you don’t want to ask your parents: you can buy a binder yourself, enter a binder giveaway, ask a friend for help, bind with sportsbras or camisole, or make your own binder (requires the ability to sew).
- make sure you measure yourself and get the right size.
- here’s a post on how to wash your binder.
- i’d recommend slowly breaking yourself into binding, especially if you have anxiety! try wearing it for 5 minutes, then take it off and rest or wait until the next day. then try wearing it for 10 minutes. then 30 minutes. slowly increase the time until you’re comfortable wearing it for a total of 8 hours (or less if that’s as much as your body can handle).
- please do not wear your binder longer than 12 hours even if you think you can go for more! technically you should only be binding for 8 hours just to be safe. everybody’s body is different so sometimes someone’s limit will be even less. binding can become extremely dangerous if overdone, so take care of your body. pay close attention to how you are feeling, ok?
- please try to limit physical activity (do not attempt to exercise or do any heavy lifting) while in your binder. know your body and pay attention to any aches and pains you may have. be prepared to take off your binder at any time just in case.
- never sleep in your binder!!! if you’re feeling dysphoric you can sleep in a sports bra or a large jacket/shirt or put a pillow over your chest.
- take breaks from binding if you can. give yourself some time to breath. c:
- if your nips get irritated you can put bandaids on them!
- binders are all made differently so sometimes you’ll find yourself dealing with a uniboob. sometimes this can be a sign for a smaller binder! the easiest fix for a uniboob is to pull them down and away from each other, towards your armpits.
hi! i’m fraizer, and i’ve been in a long distance relationship with james @fizzymelt since february. we live overseas, me being in the UK, and him being in the USA. we’ve wanted to meet for a long time, obviously, but recently decided to start saving up to purchase plane tickets. everything is organised, the only problem, of course, is money.
the plane tickets, with one stop, for a flight to and from his home town is £1221. however, i want a budget of about £1300 at most, the extra money going towards emergency expenses, food, souvenirs, and other stuff like that on the way to, whilst there, and from. even with family and friends on both sides helping to save, we feel like it won’t be enough, so we’re looking for donations of course. if you want to send money, but don’t want to do it for free, i have fairly cheap commissions open, the post is here. all money from these commissions will, of course, go towards the plane tickets primarily. james has also offered to do a drawing reward for every donation over £5. just send either of us a screenshot of the confirmed payment, or write a note with your url on paypal, and then we can negotiate the reward. i’m also selling things like bones, skulls, and feathers in facebook groups, namely the vulture nest and this group, if that’s your kind of thing. it’s EU only, however.
even if we don’t have enough money by the preferred time, the money can still go towards plane tickets at the next possible date. the date of the planned initial plane is the 23rd of july, though we wish to have the amount of money needed earlier. please send all money to [email protected] on paypal. we aren’t using a site like gofundme because we know it charges. my blog: saint-nevermore james’ blog: fizzymelt paypal: [email protected]
hey whats up im gonna make a positivity post for amab nonbinaries bc there are None so shout out to amab nonbinaries who are out are closeted are tall are short want to be androgynous but arent want to be feminine but arent dont want to present androgynously or femininely and are told theyre invalid for it who are still okay with he/him pronouns who hate their bodies who love their bodies who are fat who are skinny who are muscular who have eating disorders who have depression who have “scary” mental illnesses -such as bpd -schizophrenia -dissociative identity disorder who have developmental disabilities who are physically disabled who experience chronic pain who live in broken homes who are poc who dont like labels who rely on their labels who use neopronouns who have dissociation issues who are asexual who are aromantic i cant think of any more but shout out!! you all are great and wonderful and i hope you have a good day
the first american woman in space was a lesbian……… this sounds like such a shitpost buts its actually real i love history
I just looked this up and it is (mostly*) true! The first American woman in space was Sally Ride in 1983. Here’s a picture of her in space communicating with ground controllers during the 6-day Challenger mission. (Source)
Prior to her first space flight, Ride got a lot of shit from the media and remained remarkably calm and non-homicidal:
“No other astronaut was ever asked questions like these: Will the flight affect your reproductive organs? The answer, delivered with some asperity: “There’s no evidence of that.” Do you weep when things go wrong on the job? Retort: “How come nobody ever asks Rick those questions?” Will you become a mother? First an attempt at evasion, then a firm smile: “You notice I’m not answering.” In an hour of interrogation that is by turns intelligent, inane and almost insulting, Ride remains calm, unrattled and as laconic as the lean, tough fighter jockeys who surround her. “It may be too bad that our society isn’t further along and that this is such a big deal,” she reflects.” (Source)
After her death in 2012 it was revealed that she had been with her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy (a woman) for 27 years. Below is a picture of Ride (left), her partner O’Shaughnessy (right), and their dog Gypsy, circa 1985. (Source).
Ride and O’Shaughnessy co-founded the Sally Ride Foundation, aimed at promoting interest in science among elementary and middle school aged-kids, especially girls. The two women also co-wrote six children’s science books. Here is a picture of them speaking at an American Library Association Conference in 2008. (source)
*Ride had been previously married to a man and it is unknown exactly how she identified (lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, etc).
(Also: Bear Ride, Sally’s sister. Dr. Bear Ride is a Presbyterian minister who has been arrested along with her wife at a LGBT march. (source) Badassery must run in the family.)
I’m Gay
I’m A Lesbian
I’m bisexual
i’m trans
Im Asexual.
I’m not sure yet
it’s ok!
a wholesome post
A recent study proves that “all male” and “all female” brains are rare and that most people are in the middle.
Awareness about gender fluidity has been increasing in recent years as sexuality and identity are being questioned and the current wave of feminism challenges traditional gender roles and the supposed abilities of each sex.
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences further challenged the assumed differences between the sexes by studying the brains of 1,400 males and females to determine if there really are distinct differences. Find out what we discovered below:
Hey transmasculine and gender-variant folx! If you wear a chest binder, I made an Android app that you can use! It reminds you to take off your binder at the end of the day and also to stretch out your back during the day. You can find it in the Google Play store here.
If you’re having issues with it, or have any feedback for me, I’d love if you could email me at [email protected]. And if you like it, feel free to rate and review it!
On the whole "deciding whether you are LGBTQ" thing ... I mean, people who only partly identify with a gender different from their assigned gender can decide to not identify as trans too, but they have every right to claim this label. Does that make them not LGBTQ because they could choose not to count as trans? No, obviously not. They are. (1/2)
Also I think that everyone that’s not heterosexual + heteroromantic counts as LGBTQ. There’s a lot of ace and aro erasure going on, most people don’t even know these romantic/sexual orientations exist! Being asexual is NOT being heterosexual. Being aromantic is not being heteroromantic. Not being sexually or romantically attracted to anyone is NOT being straight! It’s something else and something people get a lot of shit for so I think (my personal opinion ofc!!!) they belong to LGBTQ. (2/2)
on the gender thing- that’s true, but they don’t want to claim the trans label for whatever reason but still aren’t cis, don’t experience cis privilege, and are still lgbt. also i’m pretty sure i just said using trans people as props for your arguments is objectifying and unacceptable.
straight= exclusively attracted to the “opposite” gender. you’re redefining straight to try to force your way into the lgbt community and that’s not ok. obviously aces aren’t heterosexual (unless they’re ace-spec). same for aros. a heteroromantic ace or an aromantic heterosexual is straight.
tbh i’m not sure if aro aces are straight (i take back what i said earlier about aro aces). they’re still not lgbt. like i said earlier, the lgbt community is a gathering of sga/trans communities to fight for rights. it’s a group with a specific history and specific oppression that aro aces do not share with us.
what resources are you trying to get by forcing your way into the lgbt community? material, tangible resources. lgbt kids need shelters when they’re kicked out, scholarships, suicide lifelines, etc. lgbt-specific resources like these are crucial. if you aren’t sga or trans, you don’t need lgbt-specific resources because you can have literally anything else.
the lgbt community isn’t a club that you can’t come into. it’s not a 100% supportive, nice, fun hugbox. it’s a political move by a handful of communities with a shared history to get rights and resources. if you aren’t sga/trans, you’re not lgbt. you don’t need the community. we do.
getting shit for something =/= lgbt. if that were the case, women, people with disabilities, POC, etc. people would be inherently lgbt. clearly, that’s not the case.
i know ace people get shit sometimes. i’m sorry. for real. but acephobia is not systematic oppression. there are no laws/have never been laws against your existence, your right to marry, etc. people thinking you’re weird (and even more extreme things, like assault) are not the result of systematic oppression.
- jay
As an ace myself, I need to acknowledge with what Mod Jay is saying here. While I don’t entirely agree with everything, we (the ace community) do need to acknowledge that we do not receive the same oppression as sga or trans people do. Mod Jay isn’t calling het ace/aros straight as if he’s insulting them. He’s saying that they experience the same privilege as straight people. He is not saying that you don’t receive any oppression at all. He is not denying that you, as an asexual or aromantic person, has never experienced any sort of hate geared towards your orientation. If you have, you have, and we are not telling you that you haven’t! However, aces/aros do not receive the same oppression as pga/trans people do! Repeating what Jay has said, “There have never been laws against your existence, your right to marry, etc. People thinking your orientation (asexual/aromantic) is unusual is not the result of systematic oppression.”
I’m very sorry if anything we have said might’ve upset you. We are not against aces/aros at all. You are very much welcomed on our blog. However, please be aware that it’s not very nice to speak over pga/trans people if you do not identify as one yourself. If you disagree with us in any way, there is nothing stopping you from unfollowing us! We do not wish to argue. These are simply our own views.
Thank you!
- Derek
