Born from Fire and Stardust

I knew a rapist who was an absolute ride-or-die friend to his gamer bros. Like, give the last dollar from his pocket to a friend who got a flat tire, and then turn around and go rape a Freshman that evening.

I knew a vicious child abuser who wept like a baby when her dog died.

The nastiest human being on the planet nevertheless feels obscurely melancholy sometimes, or has high spirits when they step out doors on the first warm day of spring, or has opinions on their favorite TV show and which side the toilet paper should hang on and whether or not the room should be cold or warm when you go to sleep.

We're all still just people. Complex, with fully-realized interior worlds.

None of that will save you from becoming a monster, if you decide to do monstrous things.

Aro and ace activism is healthcare reform, so that no one needs to rely on a spouse for health insurance, so that healthcare is available to everybody regardless of income, so that no one’s lived experiences or basic dignity are dismissed or overridden by doctors

Aro and ace activism is well-funded and expansive public transit, so that you don’t need to have someone on hand to drive you places if you are incapacitated, so that you don’t have to pay for an ambulance if you need to get to the hospital quickly

Aro and ace activism is disability and elder care services, so that no one needs a spouse to care for them, so that no one needs children to care for them, so that marriage is not a bind for disabled people, so that people on disability who want to and can live alone can

Aro and ace activism is community-building, it’s public events, it’s free social activities, it’s mutual aid, it’s activities that bring community members together without socializing relying on just a romantic partner

Aro and ace activism is developing a culture of believing when people tell you who they are and what they want rather than assuming you know them better than they know themselves

OpenAI scraped the entire web. All of which had been a labor of love from humans. Wikipedia is the backbone of a lot of LLMs, and that was volunteer human labor. They stole it and now they're selling it back to us.

Being supportive of trans people and involving us in research about our medical care legitimately has the ability to revolutionize our ability to study human biology, specifically in terms of hormones, cell biology, genetics, neuroscience, and nature vs. nurture - all of which are fields we are just only barely beginning to understand!!!

But nooooooo, that would be too easy and useful and potentially medically revolutionary

Not to mention, you know. Letting us revolutionize medical care for trans and nonbinary people in the process

"We have an incredibly shallow understanding of how hormones interact with the brain and body, in large part because it's so impossible to isolate them from every other possible factor"

GEE, SUCH A SHAME there aren't literally thousands of people would leap at the chance to help you start researching that-- oh, wait--

I feel a bit like that "Climate scientists remind world clean energy tech ready to go whenever" comic

"Trans people remind scientists about a ton of cool, revolutionary medical research ready to start literally whenever"

If your boss asks you if you think that person's a sex worker, you tell them you do not believe that. You don't report their presence to anyone. You don't joke about it with a coworker. You don't eavesdrop or bother them.

You see someone you don't recognize walk past reception at your hotel to head directly for the stairs or elevator or towards the rooms without acknowledging you at the reception desk. Yes, this includes when the person is wearing revealing clothing or a nice dress and heels. This is not your business.

You notice multiple men going to the same hotel room during the same evening, each only staying for an hour or so at a time. This is not your business.

You seat two customers for dinner and work as their waiter/waitress for the night. You see one give an envelope of cash to the other. Yes, this includes when there's a huge age gap between the two and they're being affectionate. This is not your business.

You overhear one customer ask another how much they charge for a night, whilst making drinks for them. You heard nothing. This is not your business.