Sterrestel

if i shouldn’t use my cane because i can sometimes technically walk without it, it would just hurt like a motherfucker then abled people should no longer be allowed to use potholders to take things out of the oven because i mean

*pinches nose*

Fellas, is it cultural appropriation to inherit your family's culture but you don't pass the blood quantum test?

After a few hours, I didn’t hear back from them so I went home. My parents were home and had stacked a bunch of groceries on top of the letter without opening it. They said “hi” and I said “hi” and went down stairs to the basement. I held my dog and panicked about what to do. My sister, who knew that I had written them a letter of great importance, told me they hadn’t read it yet. She also told me she could ask them to do so. I consented to this and stayed in the basement. A few minutes later my dad knocked on the door and poked his soft smooth little nerd head in and said “hey buddy” and I started crying so hard I almost vomited. He came over and gave me a BIG hug and said that it was gonna be OK, he was OK with this, he knew it must have been hard but he was here for me. He told me he and my mom had already talked years before they had me about how if they had to pick between their faith and their child they’d pick their child. It was a very sweet moment. I came out to my mom later that evening and we were both bawling the whole time.

The day after I came out to my parents, I came out to my brother @inbabylontheywept at a Mexican restaurant and he took it like a champ. That evening my mom took me for a walk and looked almost angry - she said she wanted to make sure that I didn’t use being a woman as an excuse to not go to grad school. I told her I wouldn’t and she instantly looked relieved and happier.

My dad, on the other hand, seemed to struggle with it. He kept asking me if I had a boyfriend, and I told him I did not. He kept asking me if I wanted to go clothes shopping with him and I did not. He kept asking me if I would let him go to some of my shows, and I had NO idea what he was talking about.

Finally, 6 months after coming out, of awkward misgendering and questions that didn’t make sense from my dad, he excitedly pokes his soft smooth little nerd head into my bedroom again and says “I found a movie about Your People.” My people. I was absolutely bewildered, but he was so excited and I knew he had been trying SO hard so I watched it with him. It was The Birdcage, and it was amazing. It also was revelatory in that I finally realized why my initially-supportive father seemed to be having such a hard time with my pronouns and stuff - he didn’t know what the difference between trans and doing drag was. After the movie he again asked if I would invite him to one of my shows, and I said, “Hey dad, you know how about half the world is women?” And he said “yeah,” and I said “Well, see, I’m on that half now. I’m not doing drag.” And it was like a switch flipped in his brain. He was like “omg that’s so easy? I was so confused about what to call you when?”

Say, pal. I heard you like cozy games.

If so? I've got the perfect cozy game for you. It's set in a wonderful world full of magic and science, with a vibrant cast of weird characters you can get to know! You'll spend your time gathering resources, to help build a thriving home base.

That's not enough to get you in on it? Alright, I can give more incentive.

You can dress up characters in countless fun outfits! There's so many cute accessories to choose from.

There's an in-depth farming system, featuring nutrient cycling. And you can even talk to or play music for your plants to help them grow better. If you excel, you can grow a crop as big as yourself! And, you can compare your best harvests to your friends, using weighing scales!

Characters have their own favorite foods! Some might prefer a simple breakfast of bacon and eggs, while others love an elaborate turkey dinner. What'd be your favorite food, if you were a character...?

Family bonds are emphasized as a reoccurring theme. I won't give spoilers, but there are many heartrending moments to look forward to.

There are several different critters you can befriend, as well as many other friendly, cute, and helpful animals all around the world. Some creatures will help with your daily chores if you give them a little snack, while others will help carry all your things, and some just are so dang cute it makes you feel so much better to stand around them.

Did I mention the fun and wacky characters? I haven't talked about them enough. There's a lumberjack who adores and respects nature and talks to his beloved axe, a mime with an unrelentingly cheerful attitude who spends all his time making balloons and fooling around to help cheer up his friends, a lonely robot who's not too fond of most people (who's also nonbinary!), a friendly-but-forgetful time traveler who could always use a hand getting her things done on time, a friendly swamp monster who loves reading fairy tales and playing with her friends, and a charmingly incompetent scientist who never gives up!

I haven't even mentioned the fishing, or how you can help a lovely old woman renovate and restore her home!

There's animal husbandry, crafting, exploration- You'll always have something to do.

But there's only one way to experience it all...

So what do you say, pal?

For a lot of people, the queer experience is one of powerlessness in all realms but identity. Your parents can make your life hell for being queer. Your school or work can dress code you. Your doctor or therapist or government can bar you from HRT or PrEP. Little can be done about that on an individual basis. But you get to decide your identity. That part is entirely within your power.

So when they see someone online saying "Your identity is inherently part of X category" or "If you have X identity, that means you have Y traits or privileges," that reads as an attack on their whole concept of queerness. Queerness is about responding to people applying labels or categories with "You can do what you want forever," because in their life, that is what queer liberation has meant. The core value of their queerness is that identity is self-determined, never determined by an external party. That has had value and represented a form of personal liberation that is narrow but meaningful.

Of course, this isn't how the world works. Being a man or a woman generally does impact your traits and privileges. Queer liberation also has to be for more than internal personal identity. It has to actually affect the material world and put food and shelter and employment and HRT where queer people can reach.

TME/TMA categorization isn't a tool we use to tell people how to identify, it's a tool we use to understand how we can materially liberate ourselves from the power wielded by our parents, schools, workplaces, doctors, therapists, and governments.

This is the most beautiful scientific diagram I've ever seen.