Opal's Inkwell

not to be a critic, but its crazy to me that they could not speak either TO or ABOUT the people affected by this ruling (trans girls in conservative areas) at all. a combination of transmisogyny and shitty reporting means that the takeaway from that segment seemed to be "well, it sucks, but at least blue states are still allowed to be accepting of trans youth" rather than the very real attempts to eradicate trans people from public life or the very real possibility of violent retaliation against trans girls in these states.

whether it be through traditional archival methods or by educating your people about HRT, how it works, what it does, what it doesn’t do, and risks associated, it’s becoming increasingly clear to anyone with an ear to the ground that nobody is coming to save us.

when myself and my peers were growing up, there was a noticeable absence of queer elders. 40 years ago it was AIDS. now it’s this. if you don’t work to preserve our science and our history, nobody else is going to do so either.

I’m begging you on behalf of our children, be they blood relatives or not. preserve yourselves. preserve the knowledge that got you here today. educate those who ask you earnestly.

i think about how in spite of this most trans women try to be exceptionally kind and compassionate. many of them do this so as not to turn away allies, of course. people are predisposed to abandon or find reason to hate us, so we must always be on our best behavior, kinder than anyone could be expected to be, damn near saintly. but still, they endure.

most trans women i know have been cast out from somewhere. lost social groups, in person or online, usually both. most trans women i know have been abused, starting with their parents and continuing into friends, partners, and otherwise. most trans women i know have seen the worst parts of humanity on full display all the time.

you're not just gonna love her for how she slots into your fantasies, right? you're gonna love all of her and not just the parts that get you horny, right? you're gonna love her even when she won't force you to take care of yourself, right?

When Life Gives You Corpses is a brilliant YA about a cursed praying mantis who falls for a young witch. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a raunchy, but surprisingly sweet story of two men repairing their relationship. Fabulous Bodies is a horror story about a queer rockstar rising from the dead.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is a fantasy set in a vividly imagined land, where two women (who happen to kiss) are the key to healing the broken sky. You're No Better is a story about a teen struggling in the shadow of his murderous parent. Oil on Canvas is about a woman who finds disturbing paintings in the home of her dead mother.

Salts of Mercury is the best book I've read this year and features a non-binary necromancer explaining why they did all that treason.

An Unexpected Attachment is an erotic novella about an android who's just got a penis attachment and wants to try it out for the first time.

they show up in court and just ask the lawyer for the collection company: can you prove where this number comes from? Do you have a contract showing that you purchased our debt? probably luckily for them, a reporter researching a book on the topic showed up and asked the same questions.

10 minutes later they get in front of the judge and the collection company drops the whole case and theyre free to go. story is below, it has a transcript in the link too

https://twitter.com/BrianManookian/status/1674963884703088642