#queersatanic

It has been 1635 DAYS since The Satanic Temple filed their case against us in federal district court. We got it dismissed there once in February 2021; we got it dismissed again in January 2023 after TST re-filed.

The Satanic Temple appealed the second loss to the Ninth Circuit and also re-filed part of the case in state court in April 2023 — notably after the three-year statute of limitations had run out.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed most of the lower federal court decision but allowed TST to revive their defamation claims if they could specify what exactly had been said about them that was false and defamatory.

Apparently unable to do so, The Satanic Temple voluntarily dismissed the federal case against us.

Meanwhile, in 2022, TST sued Newsweek for writing about our case back in October 2021. The Satanic Temple dragged us into those proceedings to give depositions, but Newsweek seems to be prevailing with just one claim remaining and a bunch of embarrassing stuff coming out about TST.

TST sued a woman in Texas for making TikTok videos critical of them, after first forcing her to record a pretty upsetting retraction. This is despite the fact that she was right.

TST has threatened more people than we can make a reliable count of with litigation both before and after us.

The Satanic Temple's agents have stalked and harassed us and our loved ones, and there have been long periods of misery and where it seemed like the courts would let them keep doing this sort of thing indefinitely.

But today we won.

The Satanic Temple has lost every step of the way and shown themselves to be a toxic, abusive religious organization to everyone who has bothered to pay attention — tho unfortunately, too few people have.

Thank you all for your support over these long 4+ years.

Based on their pattern of behavior, The Satanic Temple is likely to appeal this loss or perhaps invent a new pretext to continue this SLAPP in a new venue. We know that.

The Satanic Temple, its owners, and lawyers have had had no argument justifying the last 1635 days beyond their wealth and desire to hurt and intimidate people. But TST also should have much bigger issues to deal with than lighting money on fire by continuing to come after us.

So, maybe The Satanic Temple will finally walk away now. They're definitely more vulnerable now than they have been in a long time.

Please let people know what The Satanic Temple is and how they behave, and also that however scary they seem, if you stand up to them you can win.

When it comes to The Satanic Temple, there's always more, and it's always worse, but they are at least as incompetent as they are malicious. They are ghouls, to be sure, but not ones who can survive any light on their actions.

So Ave Satanas, and Hail Lucifer the Lightbringer

If you’re reading this, it means we lost.

Maybe a judge ruled against us. More likely, we ran out of money to keep paying for our own legal defense and had to capitulate. Or, after more than two years — and the devil only knows how much more if you’re reading this — of assault in and outside of the courtroom, we wore down and could not find resilience between us all to go on.

For whatever reason, if you’re reading this, we lost. And we’re sorry. For whatever reason, we were not strong enough and good enough to win this fight. Maybe we weren’t even good enough to see it through to the end.

And yet the work continues. We will not be able to continue it, or at least not all of us, but the work is the work, and it never depended solely on us anyway. The Satanic Temple is a horrid, abusive organization. If we say something otherwise because we can no longer defend ourselves to prevent it, it should be obvious this was a statement made under duress. Fuck our future selves for what they say, but have compassion for them as well. Literally years and tens of thousands of dollars must separate us from each other; bravery is much easier on this side of the chasm of time.

The work continues, and you’ll have to do it. Yes, you. No one else can build what you want to see. Certainly not us anymore.

You are Queer Satanic just as you always have been.

A queer satanic antifascist is someone who detests and opposes fascism, white supremacy, cishetropatriarchy, clericalism, and capitalism. A queer satanic antifascist looks on all forms of domination and hierarchy and chooses to oppose them — actually — even if it seems the structures they oppose are omnipotent.

Lucifer fought all of heaven; can you not fight an egregore of capitalism?

Find people who want the same things you do. Work with those people to create the world you want around you. Sometimes, that is petty resistance to hegemony — vandalism, graffiti, a heckle. Sometimes it’s filling potholes or cleaning pots after a free feeding. Sometimes it’s open carrying at a queer protest. Sometimes it’s things not to be talked about digitally at all.

Be the insurrection you want to see. Be Lucifer the Light-Bringer, rebelling against ineffable tyranny at all costs.

Push grifters like the The Satanic Temple out of radical spaces with your teeth bared, call out their leaders for abuses everywhere so no one is fooled. Feed people. Shelter people. Protect people. Do it actually, not just for clout or to funnel money up a pyramid.

Use any symbol or meme or paragraph of ours that’s ever inspired you. Make your own new things to inspire others.

We are done. If you’re reading this, we lost.

But if you continue to do the work we did, we will never, ever lose.

Hail Satan! — the work continues.