hey queers

I did some digging.

@unashamedly-enthusiastic

On August 15, 1975, the jury of six Whites and six African Americans deliberated for one hour and 25 minutes and rendered a verdict of not guilty. Little broke down in sobs upon hearing the verdict. The Free Joan campaigns were successful enough that Joan's counsel were able to get the first degree murder charge reduced to second degree murder. Judge Hamilton H. Hobgood noted that the prosecution did not have liable evidence. She was freed in June 1979 and moved to New York City.

This isn't a performative dance routine interpreting what is going on.

This is all absolutely true. Also, to add, many deaf people receive a much worse education because the schools are unwilling/unable to invest in proper education for deaf people. So there are deaf people out there who struggle to read English because the structure of English is completely different than the structure of Sign Languages.

Also, Sign Language is NOT international. Signing in London is different that Ireland, or Paris, Toronto, Mexico, New Zealand, India-- some of the signing may be similar or even related but they are all different languages. So if you see several interpreters at an event or a news broadcast or en EU summit, and they are doing different signs, this is why.

And for the idiots who still don't comprehend that for many people English is a second language, even signers who were born in an English speaking country-- and still argue 'you get captions what's the problem' - Have you ever watched the auto-craptions on the news or a live event, or even a film on Amazon that they couldn't bother to get a human to properly provide subs? Yeah. A good percentage of the time, it's just word salad that means absolutely nothing. There is a reason we call them ‘craptions’. You're likely to just get a pile of words that may or may not have to do with anything going on in what you are trying to watch.

Some time, put on the news with no captions or sound. Put on a film or show you have never seen before, and try to lipread what is being said. Try to figure out what the plot or context is from just the actor's faces. Just try to engage when the only queues you have are facial expressions and movement on the screen-- if you can even see them talk at all, a lot of films and shows are shot over a shoulder with the back of someone's head.

Wear ear-plugs when you are out having a coffee with a friend and try to figure out what your friend is even saying. No music, no nothing-- just earplugs and trying to figure it out.

Do all of this for a week and then tell me that craptions are enough. Then tell me we don't need interpreters. After two days, you're going to be angry and frustrated because you don't know what the fuck is going on.

Interpreters do more than just tell you the exact words. They INTERPRET English language and put it into sign. They aren't just randomly throwing around their hands and looking silly. And they do it on the fly, live, as something is going. A good majority of the times, Interpreters have no idea what is going to be said. In those moments they are hearing something in English (or French, Spanish, what have you), figuring out what the best way to sign these words back to a sign-user base, and they have to do it all in seconds. It's a LOT of work.

So if you are at an event or you see two or even more signers who keep switching off after half an hour or an hour, know that the money is NOT being wasted having multiple interpreters there. They are not being lazy. They are doing a whole helluva lot, and their brains and hands and faces occasionally need a break.

So if you are hiring interpreters for an event, don't be surprised if they say you'll need to pay more to have several interpreters there. The interpreters are incredibly skilled, and they work bloody hard. If they tell you they need more than one, don't have a fit at them and try to talk them into just having one interpreter, thinking you can pay less. Understand that they work their arses off, and it's a very intense job that requires a lot of brain power and body power. So please, PLEASE be kind to interpreters.

[Image 1]

A repost on Bluesky of another Bluesky post with an attached image of a screenshot of a retweet on Twitter.

The original tweet by @ realchrisrufo reads: I'm sorry, but we have to stop with the ridiculous sign language interpreters, who turn serious press conferences into a farce. There are closed captions on all broadcast channels and streaming services. No wild human gesticulators necessary. x.com/EndWokeness/st...

The retweet by @ mirandadevine reads: I actually think that's the point of them. It's to reinforce our powerlessness.

On Bluesky, @ tonymartin.bsky.social shares a screenshot of the previous tweets with the caption: Sign language is woke now.

On Bluesky, @ jamellebouie.net reposts the previous post with the caption: i don't understand how, psychologically, a person gets to a place where they interpret sign language as some kind of attack or imposition on their life. like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

[Image 2]

A screenshot of tags that read as follows: #okay so this is obviously ridiculous and I hope everyone can agree on that #but if there's someone who is confused as to why sign language interpretation is offered alongside cc/sdh: #it's because for some people sign language is their native language #and they will have an easier time understanding sign language interpretation than written subtitles #since English may be literally a second language to some sign language users and studies have shown that reading speed and comprehension #may be slower in d/Deaf/hoh people which probably has to do with education access (although there's different theories) #and then obviously obviously it's not a farce or wild gesticulation #it's a real human language with its own grammar and vocabulary #and in a lot of sign languages facial expressions and body language carry grammatical meaning #you people think it's a 'farce' because you're ableist and don't understand the variety of human communication methods

- m/f ship between a nonblack man & a Black woman

- it's either canon (e.g. mel/jayce arcane, arthur/guinevere bbcmerlin) or entirely plausible (e.g. prism or coupé/robert dispatch)

- fanbase overwhelmingly pairs nb man off with another nb man and disengages from the Black woman character, shunting her into a background wise & sassy caretaker role (for which there is a name) or leaving her out of fanworks entirely

- fans who do this ^ claim it is an expression of love and admiration for the Black woman character, actually, bc the nb man (who may be her canonical partner) "can't handle all that" (he may be perfectly competent and engaged; she may be totally low maintenance; it has no bearing), she's just too wonderful (too much) and out of his league (lacking in flaws and interiority and fan appeal)

And old people use ellipses simply to indicate a pause, or for some other incomprehensible reason I’m not aware of. But young people use ellipses to indicate passive-aggression.

So an old person could type something like:

how are things going with your “boyfriend”….

and what they mean is

How are things going with your boyfriend? [Im so excited for you, sweetie, and I wanna hear about it]

But a young person would interpret that sentence as