For my work helping with the survey, I've been given a special link to share that will indicate that y'all found the survey through someone who helped behind the scenes!
This survey is incredibly important to have up to date data on the experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth in Australia. So if you're aged 13-25, please give it a look. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete and is pretty straightforward.
Please share it around to any Australians aged 13-25! The more people answer, the more robust the data is!
And, if you have any feedback, they will be especially grateful to hear it (there's an email to send it to) as this is their first year running it!
Survey for LGBTQIA+ youth aged 13-25. Complete today for a chance to win 1 of 5 $100 Mastercard gift cards!
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Trans community: âmisgendering is literal violenceâ Also trans community: will violently attack from behind over an accidental use of the wrong pronouns
A woman in Melbourne, Australia was hospitalized and left with horrific injuries following a brutal attack from a trans activist over what s
Content Notice: This article contains photos of bruising and physical injury. Reader discretion is appreciated.
A woman in Melbourne, Australia was hospitalized and left with horrific injuries following a brutal attack from a trans activist over what she speculates was retaliation for her gender critical views.
On September 24, 2022, Ruby* and her partner were attending the Punks Pub Crawl, an annual barhopping event for those in the punk rock scene which has been held in Melbourne since 1982. Ruby, a bass guitarist in a local band, had been attending the crawl since she was a teenager. Though she was excited to return to her tradition following the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, Rubyâs evening turned into a nightmare.
âI had only just arrived with my partner sometime around 3 p.m. There were about 70 people or so attending the crawl. The whole group of us stopped at Carlton Gardens for a group photo,â Ruby recounts, explaining that immediately after the photo was taken she would have an incident that has since left her with a debilitating injury.
âI was walking away, talking to a friend when I noticed one male walking beside the group but in the opposite direction to the rest of us,â Ruby says. âAs he passed me he shoulder-barged me hard, and I stopped to address him.â
Ruby describes her attacker as âmale, but not obviously âtrans.ââ As she was with a group of individuals belonging to the punk rock community, she didnât immediately believe he was attempting to present as the opposite sex, and simply thought he was donning classic punk attire.Â
âHe just looked like a metal head with lipstick on, and I had never seen him before in my life,â she says. According to a police report Ruby provided Reduxx, the individual is described as approximately 5â7, with long dark hair. He had been wearing a black shirt and black pants.
Startled by the body check, Ruby confronted the male.
âI said something very close to, âIs there a problem here? Do you and I need to have a conversation?â He started denying and gaslighting. He claimed it was an accident and one of his friends backed him up. It was clearly no accident so I replied, âNo, he just shoulder-barged me as hard as he could.ââ
Ruby says the onlookers immediately seemed to take issue with the pronoun she had used for the man.
âI heard a few murmurs of âHe?â Like people were offended at my choice of pronoun,â she says. âI stood facing him for another [few seconds] waiting to see if he was going to kick off, but he seemed to have nothing to say so I turned and walked away.â
But just as she did, Ruby says she was suddenly attacked from behind, with the man pushing her onto the concrete with tremendous force.
âI was wearing a heavy studded leather jacket so I went down hard and fast. I put my left arm out to break the fall with anything other than my head and the impact reverberated all up my arm, shattering my shoulder and breaking my arm at the joint.â
Ruby says other pub crawl goers told the man to back off, and she says that while she was in extreme pain, she didnât immediately recognize the extent of the damage. A friend of hers who knew first-aid put her in a makeshift sling, and it quickly became obvious to Ruby that she needed to seek medical treatment.Â
She first attempted to go to a public hospital, but was left in the emergency waiting room for agonizing hours without proper attention, so she left and later sought help at Austin Hospital, which is reputed for its trauma care. Ruby was sent for a CAT scan and X-Ray where she was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder.
Ruby provided Reduxx medical records from Austin Health showing she was admitted to the emergency short stay unit, and that she was initially slated for a surgical intervention by an orthopedic registrar.Â
A second orthopedic surgeon Ruby saw while in hospital decided not to operate, feeling her outcomes would be better if she were simply closely monitored and sent for physiotherapy after the initial injury had healed. The surgeon left the possibility of operation open if anything were to come up with the injury in the future.
In the chaos of her attempts to get medical treatment, Ruby had managed to track down the individual who had assaulted her through a band contact. She recognized her assailant had been friends with an individual who her band had performed with in the past, and skimmed his socials to find more information. She managed to identify the attacker, and, armed with the information, went to Melbourne Police and filed a report after being discharged from hospital.
Ruby supplied Reduxx with the statement she signed and witnessed with a Constable about her ordeal. In the statement, she names Sarah Cadzow, a male who identifies as a âwoman,â as being her assailant.Â
She speculates that their mutual band contact had alerted Cadzow to her views on gender ideology at the Punks Pub Crawl, and that he had body-checked her in retaliation.Â
âIt became clear that someone had been showing the attacker my Facebook posts. The attacker had never been on my Facebook friends list, as far as I know, but his friend was. My Facebook has been all about womenâs rights and spaces for about 4 years now, since I found out about men in womenâs prisons,â Ruby says. âWe messaged the friend shortly afterwards and he helpfully agreed in writing as to what happened, but attempted to justify it because apparently [Cadzow] was âdefending his communityâ by attacking a middle aged woman from behind.â
In his youth, Cadzow had been associated with LGBTQ youth charity Minus18.
Cadzow was listed as a development team member of the Trans 101 project, a âgender diversity crash courseâ aimed at youth supported by Minus18, YGender, and the Sydney Myer Fund. He also penned a biography for the Rainbow Story Project, praising Minus18 and boasting about the fact he transitioned when he was approximately 14 years old.
Despite having provided Melbourne Police with two witness statements as well as the identity of her attacker, Ruby explains that it took months for Cadzow to finally be charged in a process that initially left her feeling abandoned.
âI canât speak for police resources or procedures, but it was very concerning to me that it took so long to charge him. They seemed to be handling the assailant very delicately,â she says. âI wanted there to be some immediate disincentive for him to do this again â to me or anyone else â and the police didnât seem to take that concern seriously at all.â
Ruby says she observed a definite âtone shiftâ when police learned her assailant was transgender.
âThe delay in charging and the manner in which they went about it certainly felt to me like a reluctance to act. This was very serious violence and all I could think about during that waiting time was âWhere are the consequences? Whatâs stopping him doing it again? What happens if he sees a woman in an Adult Human Female t-shirt?'â
On January 25, almost exactly four months after the incident, Cadzow was finally handed charges related to Rubyâs assault. He is currently scheduled for a hearing at the Melbourne Magistratesâ Court on April 14.
While Ruby expresses some relief that Cadzow has now been charged and the legal component of her ordeal is moving after months of stagnation, she has been left with the lingering impact of her attack.
âI play bass guitar, and at first we werenât sure if I was going to be able to play gigs anymore. Fortunately, itâs looking like I will be able to, just not too often and it hurts like a bastard to tune up,â she says, explaining that her impacted arm can no longer be lifted above the shoulder
âI will never swim again, [or] shoot hoops with my son, get things from high shelves, or hang washing. The doctor said: âyour ability to lift that arm above your head ended when you hit the ground.'â
In relation to Cadzowâs upcoming hearing, Ruby says she hopes the consequences for Cadzow are serious enough to act as a deterrent.Â
âI hope others who may have similar ideas realize that you simply canât just go around attacking women with impunity.âÂ
But even then, Ruby explains that she has concerns about how the case will be handled by Australiaâs criminal justice system, which has become notorious for its position on gender self-identification.Â
âThis was a clear-cut act of male violence but I have my doubts as to whether statistics or records will reflect that in the end,â she says.
âItâs getting very scary to be a woman speaking up about womenâs rights these days. This kind of violence is going way, way too far and it has to stop before something even worse happens.â
* â Subject has been assigned a name to protect her privacy.
By Anna Slatz Anna is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Reduxx, with a journalistic focus on covering crime, child predators, and women's rights. She lives in Canada, enjoys Opera, and kvetches in her spare time.
Listen/purchase: Black Metal Rainbows by Black Metal Rainbows
The Black Metal Rainbows Compilation Album is a show of strength: 100+ underground and black metal, noise, and electronic artists coming together in support of LGBTQ youth.
From blackened grind to epic black metal, blackgaze to dungeon synth, noise to avantgarde, this massive compilation of queer, trans, leftist, anarchist and antifascist bands from the global underground will raise money for charities helping LGBTQ youth: The Trevor Project, Mermaids, Minus 18, and The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) Youth & Student Organisation.
Cover art by Wesley Cunningham Closs: wescloss.portfoliobox.net + www.instagram.com/wes.cc/creditsreleased November 4, 2022
I came out as non binary a few months ago to my mom and sister. When I came out I explained my dysphoria to them and that I wanted to use they/them. But it has been about 4 months and my mom still wont let me get a binder because they can be dangerous. So I was thinking of getting a free binder behind her back, which feels wrong to me. Is there anything that can I say to her explaining that binding is not so dangerous. Thx!
Hi, Anon! Congrats on coming out to your mom and your sister as non-binary!
As for the binding, thatâs complicated. Binding, like pretty much anything, can be dangerous if itâs not done correctly, but can be safe when itâs done correctly. Â
A good example of this is driving. Driving can be incredibly dangerous if itâs not done correctly. People need to drive safe vehicles, drive within the speed limit, drive in the correct lanes, drive with the proper training, drive sober, drive with any special equipment (like eyeglasses, in my case), drive only for certain periods of time (not for 18 hours solid), etc. in order for driving to be safe. Â
In order for binding to be safe, you need to have a binder that fits properly (isnât too tight, for example), and is made of safe materials (donât use ace bandages, for example). You need to make sure youâre not wearing it for too long, and take breaks, and be aware of your body and your breathing and health.
There are some people who bind who are so affected by dysphoria that they donât bind safely, and it can cause health problems. Your mom might be worried that you will be one of these people, or that once you get a binder, youâll be so happy with how you feel in it that youâll disregard binder safety and use your binder in an unsafe way. She might be scared that it could turn into a power struggle, where sheâll have to beg/order you to take it off after several hours, or something like that.
I know this is hard, but it might be worth trying to talk to her about what, specifically, sheâs scared of. If she tells you that sheâs scared youâll bind 24/7, then you can promise her you wonât (and keep that promise). If sheâs scared youâll pick a too-small size and damage your body, you can talk to her about proper sizing and maybe even get her help with measurements/ordering, if youâre comfortable with that.
Binding is a tool, like a car. And like a car, binding needs education to use it correctly. When you bind correctly, itâs safe. When you donât, itâs not. So itâs not so much about convincing your mom that binding is inherently safe (because, like anything, it can be misused). Itâs more about promising your mom (and yourself) that you will bind in a responsible, safe way, and to help educate yourself and her about what that might look like for you.
Iâm not sure what country youâre in, but no matter where you are, Minus18 is a great website based out of Australia that has incredible resources for LGBTQIA+ minors. Your mom might be more willing to trust a source that is from an established organization. Here is their guide on binding: https://www.minus18.org.au/index.php/resources/sexuality-info/item/441-how-to-bind-your-chest
I hope your mom is willing to listen to you and ready to educate herself alongside you about how to bind safely. Please keep us updated on how youâre doing and how it goes!
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Today is the first day of National NAIDOC week, celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements. The theme of this yearâs NAIDOC is âOur Languages Matterâ and focuses on the importance, resilience and richness of Indigenous Australian languages.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in particular those who identify as LGBTI+ and Sistergirls and Brotherboys.
We are so excited to announce that we are doing 22 Days of Troye this year!
22DoT is an edit challenge to celebrate Troye Sivan's birthday and to raise money for Minus18.
From May 15th we ask all of you join us in filling 22 prompts by posting any kind of fanwork each day until Troyeâs birthday on June 5th.
If you have any questions about the project or prompts feel free to message us here or on twitter.
Under the cut you'll find more information on the challenge.
Here's how 22DoT works:
â Since the main goal of this challenge is to raise money for Minus18, please make sure to include a donation link to their chuffed page in every post. [https://chuffed.org/organisations/minus18]
â For each day you can create edits, drawings, gifs, videos, drabbles, photosets, moodboards etc. filling that day's prompt. Any fan work is welcome as long as it's your own. If we find out your work is a repost we will delete the reblog and won't reblog from you again for this challenge.
â You don't have to post every day, it's okay if only a few of the prompts inspire you or you don't have time one day.
â Please tag your posts with #22DoT within the first five tags of your post so we can find and reblog it! We know life is busy so don't worry about posting your edits a day late, we will reblog posts up to three days later.
â Of course you can also participate if you don't have a tumblr, we will be tracking the tag #22DoT on twitter as well and retweet your edits there.
One random person who participates in our 22DoT challenge from May 15th to June 6th and follows the rules above will win 6 stickers from our redbubble shop!
We will also be giving away a spiral notebook with a design of your choice after June 5th to one person who donates to the Minus18 chuffed campaign. (There will be a detailed post about this soon)
For more information and a list of all reblogged edits you can visit our 22DoT page.
We canât wait to see what you come up with, happy creating!Â
We want to thank the lovely team of @louisforlunch for inspiring this challenge with their idea for 22 Days of Louis.