LGBT+ and General Positivity

Some people in mental hospitals now are crazy. Some of us are psychotic. Some of us are aggressive. Some of us are a danger to ourselves. Some of us are a danger to others. And we are still humans, who deserve human rights, which we legally do not have.

There is a difference between women writing under a masc pseudonym and Piotr. That was not a pseudonym. He is a man.

The gender-neutral "ze" that "What's Your Pronoun?" mentions was suggested in Vol. 24, Iss. 9 of "The Ladies' Repository" on page 567. The Ladies' Repository was a monthly periodical based in Cincinnati, Ohio... produced by members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

[Image ID in ALT]. This letter from J.W.L. (above), in which they suggest "ve" or "ze", came in response to a query posed by anonymous writer "Philologus". "Philologus" proposed the need for a gender neutral pronoun, and offered up the example of ve/vis/vim, in Vol. 24, Iss. 7 of "The Ladies Repository" on page 439 (below).

[Image ID in ALT].

It's likely that by 1864 this was already a fully tenderized horse; so these proposed ve/vis/vim pronouns may have been in circulation as a suggestion prior to 1864 as well.

I feel like the Black British experience is constantly one of work and struggle. Our parents and grandparents lived through colonial and post colonial (using the term lightly) rule just to end up working and serving the imperial core, targeted by the same government that invited them here. A lot of the time its phrased as a choice but in reality what else could they have done? Ts and Cs apply bc for some West African Brits their parents were middle class back home but for me and others our families grew up in poverty in places still recovering from slavery and colonialism.

Britain whitewashes the history of Black immigrants, literally in the sense we're not taught our own history of Black people in Britain and metaphorically by applying British individualist myths; that as long as you work hard, don't complain about it and love Britain you can be British too. But it erases, ignores and distorts the truth that the British state used our community as nothing more than a labour force to rebuild after WWII and actively targeted Black British communities with police surveillance, brutality and systemic racism. All whilst denying it of course and turning their nose up at the very accusation. Very British.

Black British contributions, West African and West Indian to be more specific don't just apply in terms of work but in terms of shaping culture. 'Roadman' has become a meme and a caricature (including by some Americans on here ik u lot love 'chav') with barely any connection to its Black British roots, even when the term gets used as an insult to mainly Black working class men or used as a British version of 'thug'. The grime scene is undeniably a staple of Black Britain yet it is pathologised and judged, moral panics about Black people's violence and yet capitalised and profitted off of by non Black Brits as an aesthetic. Everybody wants the tracksuits, the tunes and the terminology innit. To be 'road' means to be Black British yet when its time to talk culture, nobody wants to credit it us. All of a sudden its 'London culture'.

At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.

Oh, but had the artisan who made me created me instead – a worthy woman... ...I would say "how lucky am I"

Father in heaven who did miracles for our ancestors with fire and water... ...Who would then transform me from a man to woman? Were I only to have merited this being so graced by goodness...

What shall I say? why cry or be bitter? If my father in heaven has decreed upon me and has maimed me with an immutable deformity then I do not wish to remove it. the sorrow of the impossible is a human pain that nothing will cure and for which no comfort can be found. So, I will bear and suffer until I die and wither in the ground. Since I have learned from our tradition that we bless both, the good and the bitter I will bless in a voice hushed and weak: blessed are you [HaShem] who has not made me a woman.

ואחר שכך למדתי מפי השמועה

שמברכין על הטובה ועל הרעה

אברך בקול נמוך בשפה חלושה

ברוך אתה יי שלא עשני אשה.

And after I learned so from hearsay's mouth

That you shall bless both for the good, and the bad

I will bless in low voice and a week lop

note that these excerpts conveniently leave out rhe parts where he jokes about how women have life on easy mode and spend their days laying on the floor tasting one dish after another. this poem is looking down on women and complaining about how many mitzvot men are beholden to

it's not a personal failing to not be well-versed in קלונימוס בן קלונימוס or אבן בחן because sadly it is a topic that is as yet extremely understudied. there's not even a definitive set of dictionaries to help one parse through medieval hebrew*, and only a select few scholars are working through the extensive medieval jewish philosophical literature to try to help fill that gap

that being said, it does not give you the right to simply take one bad translation of one poem out of context (and boy is this poem heavy in context, kalonymus was a fucking master of intertextuality) and plaster your modern understandings of sex and gender on something intended to be satirical and then accuse a queer scholar of this very topic of erasing its own history just because it knows more than you

somebody asked me why i care about this spreading of disinformation and my answer is this: by spreading lies about queer jewish history, you are making it harder to discuss actual real queer jewish history. additionally, you're participating in the whitewashing of an already criminally under-discussed figure just because you like your made up version of his history better than the actual reality

*it's not nearly as intuitive as youd think. for example, עולם usually meant "time" and to study סלם יעקב meant to study (aristotelian) philosophy and the sciences. there was heavy influence from a variety of genres and regions, like arab adabs and italian proto-pickup artistry (i wish i was joking LMAO look up מגילת החשק של עמנואל הרומי and dante's vita nuova it's crazy. theres a nun)

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if you are curious about how to discuss queer history without reneging on the whole "sex and gender are social constructs" thing, i recommend the following:

michel foucault - history of sexuality vol. 1

catherine chin - "marvelous things heard: on finding historical radiance"

max k. strassfeld - trans talmud: androgynes and eunuchs in rabbinic literature

after youve shored up your methodology, i recommend the following discussing kalonymus, his writings, and his legacy. it is important to note that the first two publications both have serious lapses in their methodologies including convenient omissions, misleading translations, and a lack of work done in the methodology discussed above

j. chotzner - "kalonymos ben kalonymos, a thirteenth-century satirist"

tova rosen - "circumcised cinderella: the fantasies of a fourteenth-century jewish author"

roni cohen - carnival and canon: medieval parodies for purim (doctoral thesis)

Trans activist Jamison Green's passport photos before and after HRT. Left he's age 32 (1980) Right age 41 (1989) after being on testosterone for one year (x)

especially when they are fat. especially when they are Black or Native or Asian or any racial/ethnic group that isn't white. especially when they are tall and broad and have a deep voice and a beard, and especially when they like themselves that way and still are hurt by misgendering. especially when they have gone on E and T blockers and have gotten facial feminization and vaginoplasty and have DD tits and like themselves that way and still are hurt by misgendering (even when people think they should be grateful for it, even when it feels like the lesser of two evils). especially when they transition in ways people see as "only halfway" and dress androgynous and use contradictory labels and call themselves femboys in the same breathe they do tgirls and they like themselves clockable as fuck and still are hurt by transphobia and exorsexism.

Levi's said yes, actually. Assless chaps and a biker vest. Happy Pride.