Lesbian bottom memes

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

changed the Medicare enrollment periods for elderly and disabled individuals, so that they don’t have to literally enroll in the designated period for enrollment and then STILL WAIT for 2, 3, 4, 5, or even SIX months for their healthcare to start

along the Medicare line, they have added special enrollments for: people who just got released from jail, who lost their low-income healthcare through Medicaid, had a medical emergency or natural disaster that made them miss enrollment, didn’t enroll because they were lied to by their employers, etc

they CAPPED THE COST OF INSULIN to $35/MONTH FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES!!!!! and they are working to get it capped to that for all Americans!!! (but of course, Republicans are fighting it)

Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana and started the review process to get weed rescheduled federally

provided hundreds of billions nationally in funding for the repair of roads/bridges/highways, expanding high-speed internet access, improving public transportation, adding electric vehicle charging, adding clean energy sources, removing pollution still leaking into communities from industrial manufacturing from DECADES ago, and REMOVAL OF LEAD PIPES not just on state land but on TRIBAL land and TERRITORIES!

cracked down on the (frankly, abusive) overdraft fees from banks - to the point that many banks have removed the fees outright rather than deal with an investigation from the federal government over them - and the last minute surprise fees from hotels/concert venues/etc.

They are working to change Social Security taxation so that those making above $400,000/yr actually have to fucking CONTRIBUTE - because, if you didn’t know, currently Social Security taxes cap out at $160,000. Yes, meaning that those who are MOST ABLE TO AFFORD paying more taxes, and who would contribute MORE in taxes, are paying pennies (if anything).

Also, to increase the minimum SSA benefit from just a cut-and-dry figure that has to be manually increased (and is therefore subject to NOT getting increased), to a scaling percentage of 125% above the poverty line

Also, also, to increase benefits for surviving spouses who abruptly lose 50%+ of their income when a spouse dies, then are shit out of luck for paying for homes/vehicles/etc

Not only that but:

as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic

provided massive student loan debt relief

ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods

Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that

are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits

reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)

I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

Changed the Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug program, so that EVERYONE on Medicare who is under 150% of the federal poverty level can qualify for zero monthly premiums, zero deductibles, and capped prescription costs at $4.50 generic/$11.40 name-brand.

Provided $3.5 million in grants to expand internet coverage on and to tribal lands.

And $728 million to provide clean, sustainable drinking water to rural and tribal communities and support water and river conservation in the Colorado river basin.

Provided funding for the expansion of Medicaid, meaning that now 40 states offer a year’s worth of health coverage after birth, so postpartum complications can be, y'know… treated without putting you into massive medical debt.

Demanded an additional year of coverage for children’s healthcare under CHIP, via the CAA of 2023, with a hopeful continuation even further under section 1115.

Invested $265 million across 16 states for natural disaster preparation and recovery, including streambank stabilization, flood prevention and watershed restoration projects.

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

What’s the issue with mainstream crisis lines? 

In January 2022, an article came out that exposed the fact that the Crisis Text Line was selling personal data to for-profit companies. The Trevor Project also was mentioned in this article for sharing data with Google and Meta. 

They aren’t the only crisis lines with issues: this article that also came out in January 2022 talks about how the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is ignoring the testimony from their Lived Experience Committee about stopping involvment with cops, and is working with the Federal Communications Comission to try to get permission to use a newer type of mass surveillence technology during their calls. 

Quote from the article: “Basically, Vibrant/NSPL argued that everyone who calls, texts, or chats through the new 988 number should have their personal information and exact current geolocation to within three meters exposed to NSPL call centers automatically, immediately, and by default.” 

Beyond these ethical issues around data collection, a huge problem with almost every single crisis line is their policies of “active rescue”: basically, what this means is that crisis lines will track your location and send police to your location if they think you’re at risk of harming yourself. This happens hundreds of thousands of times every single year. This is extremely dangerous, especially for Black people using these lines. There are examples of people being shot because of calls made to hotlines where police showed up. Police showing up also leads to forced psychiatric incarceration. I personally have had the police called on me twice through a crisis line that I thought was anonymous; they showed up, entered my room without my consent, and searched me without my consent. They literally made everything in that moment worse. 

If people want to learn more about the history of police involvment and crisis lines, here’s an article.

Avoid hotlines that call the cops: 

Crisis Text Line

Trevor Project 

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

NAMI helpline

LGBT National Hotline

SAMHSA National Hotline

List of State Crisis Lines that all call cops 

Alternatives that do not share data or call the cops 

Pretty much every national and mainstream crisis line calls the cops. A general rule of thumb is that unless it specifically mentions that it doesn’t call the cops on their website, it does. I also haven’t done a ton of research on the data sharing side for the lines I’m listing below, but if anyone has any more info please let me know and I’ll update the list.

National: 

Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860, 24/7

THRIVE: text message line at 313-662-8209, 24/7

Promise Resource Network: (833) 390-7728, 24/7

Project Return Peer Support Network: (888) 448-9777 English or (888) 448-4055 Spanish, hours are Monday through Friday 2:30 PM to 10:00 PM and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Wildflower Alliance Peer Support Line: 888-407-4515, hours are 7pm to 9pm Monday through Thursday and 7pm-10pm Friday through Sunday

Key Consumer Organization: 800-933-5397, hours are 8am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday.

MBRLC Peer Support Line:  877-733-7563, hours are 4 pm-7:45 pm every day. 

Check out this page for a directory of warmlines by state. These are much less likely to call the cops, but it’s good to check with each individual one about specific policies.

I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.

Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)

But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.

I couldn't even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I'm glad I stopped to read, because:

What you say on there won't be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn't even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)

Also, what you say on there? Is now...

Koko's intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including

Publicly performing or displaying your "content" (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation

Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them

Sell / share this "content" with other businesses

Any harm you come to using Koko? That's on you.

And Koko won't take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)

I was curious about their business model. They're a venture-capitol based tech startup, owned by Airbnb, the famous mental health professionals with a focus on ethical business practices./s They're also begging for donations despite having already been given 2.5 million dollars in research funding. (If you want a deep dive on why people throw crazy money at tech startups, see my other post here)

They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn't find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of "People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find". Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.

So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.

(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don't read if you're not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)

this right here is why radfem lesbians are absolutely baffling to me. like they know the majority of their community doesn’t share their shitty beliefs right? most lesbians are NOT transphobic, most lesbians do NOT agree with them. just something to consider

(it is important to note that the group they surveyed was small, but this is definitely not the first time i’ve seen a study come to this conclusion, and a larger report will be released in june!)

obligatory link: https://www.justlikeus.org/blog/2023/03/31/trans-day-of-visibility-ally-lesbian/

The LGBTQ community has seen controversy regarding acceptance of different groups (bisexual and transgender individuals have sometimes been marginalized by the larger community), but the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion and reflects the embrace of different identities and that we’re stronger together and need each other. While there are differences, we all face many of the same challenges from broader society.

In the 1960′s, in wider society the meaning of the word gay transitioned from ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ to predominantly mean ‘homosexual’ as they adopted the word as was used by homosexual men, except that society also used it as an umbrella term that meant anyone who wasn’t cisgender or heterosexual. The wider queer community embraced the word ‘gay’ as a mark of pride.

The modern fight for queer rights is considered to have begun with The Stonewall Riots in 1969 and was called the Gay Liberation Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.

The acronym GLB surfaced around this time to also include Lesbian and Bisexual people who felt “gay” wasn’t inclusive of their identities. 

Early in the gay rights movement, gay men were largely the ones running the show and there was a focus on men’s issues. Lesbians were unhappy that gay men dominated the leadership and ignored their needs and the feminist fight. As a result, lesbians tended to focus their attention on the Women’s Rights Movement which was happening at the same time. This dominance by gay men was seen as yet one more example of patriarchy and sexism. 

In the 1970′s, sexism and homophobia existed in more virulent forms and those biases against lesbians also made it hard for them to find their voices within women’s liberation movements. Betty Friedan, the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), commented that lesbians were a “lavender menace” that threatened the political efficacy of the organization and of feminism and many women felt including lesbians was a detriment.

In the 80s and 90s, a huge portion of gay men were suffering from AIDS while the lesbian community was largely unaffected. Lesbians helped gay men with medical care and were a massive part of the activism surrounding the gay community and AIDS. This willingness to support gay men in their time of need sparked a closer, more supportive relationship between both groups, and the gay community became more receptive to feminist ideals and goals. 

Approaching the 1990′s it was clear that GLB referred to sexual identity and wasn’t inclusive of gender identity and T should be added, especially since trans activist have long been at the forefront of the community’s fight for rights and acceptance, from Stonewall onward. Some argued that T should not be added, but many gay, lesbian and bisexual people pointed out that they also transgress established gender norms and therefore the GLB acronym should include gender identities and they pushed to include T in the acronym. 

GLBT became LGBT as a way to honor the tremendous work the lesbian community did during the AIDS crisis. 

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, movements took place to add additional letters to the acronym to recognize Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, and others. As the acronym grew to LGBTIQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAA, many complained this was becoming unwieldy and started using a ‘+’ to show LGBT aren’t the only identities in the community and this became more common, whether as LGBT+ or LGBTQ+. 

Ask and ye shall receive! The photographer is Catherine Opie: