my only rack is 8 point

Day Dress

c. 1876

by Martha J. De La Mater

American

Marriage was a big deal. He'd never really be able to divorce her. This was gonna be it for life—and while Elizabeth for life might be wonderful, he's also getting the Bennets for life.

I don't know how much he knew about the Bennets' financial situation beyond the entail, but he had to have known there was a strong chance Mrs. Bennet would end up living with him after Mr. Bennet died. He could afford to set her up in her own house, but they'd still have to spend a lot of time together. And it wasn't just Mrs. Bennet—he'd be saddling himself with the lifelong care of potentially multiple of Elizabeth’s relatives, which is bad enough when you actually like the people, but these are people who he can't stand, and rightfully so! I'd despise living with any of them except Elizabeth and Jane, and maybe Kitty. He's not being a snob when he criticizes them—they legitimately suck. (Well, he is being a snob and dumbass by saying it out loud, but Elizabeth herself knows the criticism is justified.)

On top of all that, he knows marrying Elizabeth is gonna piss off his own family, and potentially jeopardize his friendship with his bestie Charles.

And you're telling me that Darcy was willing to take on all of that shit just for sex?? Sex is easy to get. Hell, even sex with a pretty, kind, smart wife would be easy for Darcy to get. Elizabeth is not his only good option.

He respects and takes excellent care of the people he's responsible for, including his sister, servants, and tenants, even though they're beneath him socially

He respects his parents—he still displays the miniature of Mr. Wickham even though he hates him because his father loved Wickham and he honors and loves his father

He can treat strangers like the Gardiners with respect and kindness

He favors quiet, contemplative pursuits like trout fishing

He appreciates nature and its beauty

He practices sustainable land management—he has a coppice-wood, which is better for the ecosystem of his land, rather than cutting down big beautiful old trees to make way for pointless decoration, like John and Fanny Dashwood in S&S

He doesn't flaunt his wealth—he has good taste rather than being gaudy, ostentatious, or stuffy, like his aunt Lady Catherine

Please read these articles by @bethanydelleman:

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!

Robert Eads was a transgender man who transitioned later in life and as such it was deemed inadvisable for him to seek sex reassignment surgery. He was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1996 but was refused treatment by more than a dozen doctors, some for personal reasons and others on the grounds that taking him on as a patient might harm their practice. When he finally found a doctor to treat him in 1997, the cancer had already metastasized to other parts of his body, rendering any further treatments futile. He passed away in 1999. His life and death was the subject of the award-winning documentary Southern Comfort (2001).

As i’m sure many of you have heard, the Trump administration just passed a ruling that would remove LGBT+ anti-discrimination protections in health care and health insurance. I immediately thought of this man’s story when I heard about the ruling. Stories like this are the reason why those protections are necessary.

It’s easy to feel hopeless with all the bad news our community has been bombarded with recently. But we have to keep fighting, and one way we can fight is through legal means.

Here are some organizations who have announced plans to take action in court. If you can donate to any of them, please do!

LAMBDA Legal: one of the first to announce they would take legal action against the ruling, LAMBDA Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization advocating for LGBTQ+ people and people with HIV.

Transgender Law Center: the largest American transgender-led civil rights organization in the United States. The stated mission of TLC is to connect transgender people and their families to technically sound and culturally competent legal services, increase acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support transgender communities, and work to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people.

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund: Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.

American Civil Liberties Union: a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States”