Monster Loving... For Science

Exes learning to share on the altar...

Kalfr, Raye, and Gaelfr are from my new book The Ex and the Orcs, coming out June 12! After a huge fallout between them, they're working their way back together again... and learning a lot about each other in the process 😈

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

Some talking points if you don’t know what to say:

How similar past regulations like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” impacted the federal government’s spending and budget

There is no public benefit to another “don’t ask don’t tell” incident

The monetary cost of labor and resources to screen people

The monetary cost of firing experienced employees based on loosely defined gender ideology policies, then hiring and training new employees (always more expensive to fire and hire new people)

Widening the already massive federal debt deficit, which a vast majority of voters care a lot about and has caused many congressman to fret over potentially declaring bankruptcy

Inserting/forcing personal politics onto workers in traditionally apolitical workspaces goes against existing federal policy to remain politically neutral

How this witch hunt would massively stall the productivity and effectiveness of these institutions, which would cost more money and cause even more public unrest

Cutting the federal workforce again won’t be popular. Institutions still haven’t recovered from the last cuts

How civilians who use these institutions have the right to freedom of speech and expression, including political beliefs, without the government’s judgment or interference

I can see several scenarios where this would violate HIPAA considering this includes gender affirming care

Automatically punishing transgender people on a federal level by denying access to institutions if they are thought to be transgender assumes guilt based on demographics and violates right to a fair trial via “innocent until proven guilty.”

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

29. LUCIFER - Vivid Shadows 2023

“Look upon me, your shining morning star. See me, and see what my Father’s love is worth.”

This piece is from Vivid Shadows, an art series I do with my partner Jill. You can get the art book here!

Gaelfr, of Clan Bautul 😍 He's scarred, stubborn, and ready to barge into his ex-boyfriend's ex-mate's life! Hunting her food, chopping her wood, cooking her meals, keeping her safe from her enemies... and sleeping in her bed of course 👿