(for people who don’t know kathleen stock is an infamous British terf who triggered a whole “free speech” university row over her views)
this is what people mean when they say that transphobia and ableism are interlinked. because *of course* the same person who refuses to believe people when they assert their gender also refuses to believe them when they assert a disability. because who knows their bodies better than a random british upper-class white woman!
and at the end of the day it really boils down to this vindictive need to police and bully strangers because 1. why do you care about someone saying they’re a woman, dressing like a woman etc. and 2. why do you care about someone using a walking stick if they don’t 100% need it? the answer is, neither of those things affect your life, and you shouldn’t.
So the UK will reroute a fucking Internet cable for a fake grave for a fake elf because a bunch of brain dead nerds through a pissy fit, and meanwhile real actual natives in the US are getting arrested for trying to keep oil sand pipelines from going through their actual graves, holy sites and unceded territory. Burn it all down.
Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?
Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.
Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.
Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?
You're right that the internet is smaller than it used to be, but there's still some cool stuff left in the corners. I'd recommend checking checking out Neocities if you haven't--it's an independent web hosting platform like Geocities of the old web, and there are hundreds of interesting and active pages discoverable both through their search function and through web buttons (links attached to small pictures with the title of a website) within the websites themselves. Here are three examples of web buttons you may find in link pages:
Most Neocities websites have link pages or button collections with anywhere from tens to hundreds of these. Don't be afraid to explore!
If you're looking for something more like a search engine, I can point you towards Marginalia. It's not a particularly smart engine, but it's perfectly usable if you've ever been taught to use search engines back when they were mostly run through keywords instead of full sentence comprehension. There's also an "about" and "tips" section on the front page with more information. The algorithm of Marginalia can be filtered by the user to allow, disallow, or require JavaScript depending on your needs, plus there are filters designed specifically to prioritize web 1.0 sites or mostly text-based ones. It is possible to search for modern websites with it, but it can return websites from just about any decade (since the invention of the web, obviously) so long as they contain the information you're looking for. For example, here are some random interesting sites I've found using Marginalia:
Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Cultures
BASIC HTML COMPETENCY IS THE NEW PUNK FOLK EXPLOSION!
Earthbound Text Labs by Bill Eager
The possibilities for discovery are truly endless.
Now you might want to know about directories. These make browsing for websites easier, but require you to read through and judge which ones to visit, as there aren't algorithms ranking the sites besides the whim of whoever coded the directory. Some of them have themes, others don't. Here are two that I've used:
Yesterlinks Directory
Ichigo Directory
Directories can be harder to come by just by surfing the net, but they aren't impossible to find. Many personal websites have their own directories of interesting sites hidden within them.
Webrings are similar to directories, but are actually more community-based. You have to register your website to be a part of a webring, usually by sending an email to whoever runs it and meeting some kind of entry criteria. For example, my personal website used to be a part of a webring called Sweet Dreams, which was for websites that heavily utilize color palettes and images of cute things, particularly sweets. Webrings will give you access to a widget upon entry that allow visitors and other members to browse between the registered websites in a massive ring, ergo, where the term gets its name. Webrings can have any theme or criteria for entry. If you can make a website about it, you can find a webring for it.
Now, you might be wondering about social media alternatives. I can't offer much, but I can nudge you towards the idea of forums. Here's one I found that could really use some traffic. I also browse a bit on MelonLand forum, which is actually closed right now--it's currently closed on Mondays--but on any other day of the week, you can find a fun community there dedicated to web revival. You can find it through MelonLand's main page. I'd also recommend checking out SpaceHey, which is a MySpace clone that's customizable and easy to use.
I hope this is of some help to you. The internet may feel less magical than it used to be, but that doesn't mean that the spark has completely died out. These types of indie websites need more attention if we ever hope to reverse the damage done to the internet by centralization and corporate interest. People are trying to make the web a cooler place to be, but we're going to have to do the work of finding and interacting with these projects in order to get them off the ground someday.
ALSO you should consider browsing Virtual Pet List and seeing if there are any pet sites you might be interested in playing. There is a whole genre of browser games right under your nose
Getting off of twitter and onto neocities has really healed me and I am so glad to see it is healing other people too ;u; let's retreat into the self-made digital woods and away from corporate bs pls, I am so tired
Wow wtf HIV/AIDS was discovered by Flossie Wong-Staal, an Chinese-American woman, and she’s the reason the HIV test even exists. AND THEN she invented the molecular knife that lead to treatments for HIV/AIDS. And she’s STILL ALIVE. We don’t hear about the contributions of Women of Color enough, my word. Madness.
you can always tell a major breakthrough is made by a woman, a woc or any poc because it’s either completely ignored or never credited like it just happened by itself
I don’t think healthy people every really get chronic illness.
I have a friend I know from when we were both 6. She is the only person living nearby and so she saw me go from walking through limping to wheelchair on a daily basis. I keep her updated on my health even tho we rarely hang out anymore.
She was gonna come over yesterday and I had to cancel. She asked if I can’t hang out later that day. When I said i won’t feel better later, that if I feel that bad in the morning later will only get worse she got annoyed and “joked” that I’m just finding excuses. And I was surprised, she knows all about me being disabled after all? So, a bit taken aback, I told her it’s a normal thing for me.
“But you got the diagnosis now, aren’t you better?? I thought you’ll get better now”
She was honestly surprised and it made me realize a thing. They don’t get it. They don’t get that getting diagnosed only equals benefits like welfare or parking spot for us, and sometimes better pain meds but that is just like pushing luck. That it’s a forever thing. That that one day we felt good a week ago was just a bright spot and doesn’t mean we won’t need our aids anymore, cause chronic illness is not linear and will make a great comeback in next four hours, and the next good day is planned on when we’re 70.
Cause when abled people are sick, they get better. And our illness is just an excuse for them. And when we say we will never get better they think we’re being dramatic and pessimistic.
And I don’t think they’ll ever get it, cause to get it you need to live it.
And I want my friends to stay healthy and not go through hell.
My name is Johnson, and I am a transgender person living in South Sudan. I am sharing my story not only for myself, but for many LGBTQ+ people around me who are facing the same struggles every day.
Life has become extremely difficult. We are living in a situation where basic needs like food, safety, and support are not guaranteed. Many of us are struggling to survive, and sometimes we only manage to eat one meal a day.
Behind these words are real people with dreams, hopes, and the desire to live with dignity. Being LGBTQ+ in a difficult environment can make life even harder because we often feel forgotten and alone.
I am reaching out to the world for kindness, support, and solidarity. We need help to survive, to feel safe, and to know that we are not invisible.
Please stand with LGBTQ+ people who are facing hardship. Your support, encouragement, and compassion can bring hope to someone who is struggling.
We are human. We deserve love, safety, and a chance to live. 🏳️🌈❤️
Hello everyone! I'm Vivian [legal name is Abola], a transgender woman refugee, currently living in Gorom refugee camp in South Sudan with other LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers from Uganda, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, and Ethiopia. All of us were previously residing in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. 🌈
When I first came out as a queer person in my home country, Uganda, I faced a lot of discrimination, arbitrary arrests and assaults not only from law enforcement officers but also from members in my community including my friends and relatives. The dislike and homophobia was so intense that even my relatives and friends disowned and ostracized me. 🌈
As a result of the persecution (arbitrary arrests and assaults), discrimination, and the draconian homophobic laws, I fled Uganda to Kenya in 2021 and claimed asylum; I filed my asylum case with the UNHCR (the United Nations Refugee Agency) and the Government of Kenya. The Government of Kenya reserves the mandate of conducting Refugee Status Determination and granting refugee status to asylum seekers. 🌈
Unfortunately the Government of Kenya refused to grant me and other queer refugees, a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) interview because they didn't want to grant refugee status and thus legal residence status to queer asylum seekers. 🌈
Towards the end of 2023 when they (Government officers working in Kakuma refugee camp) explicitly told us (the LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers) to go away and find somewhere else to claim asylum and safety, I moved to South Sudan together with my fellow LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers and we sought asylum in South Sudan. Unlike in Kenya, the UNHCR in South Sudan is allowed by the Government of South Sudan to conduct the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) interviews using their International experts. Fortunately, the UNHCR in South Sudan granted me and my fellow LGBTQ refugees a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) interview which I passed and I was granted refugee status which meant a little bit of safety from continued persecution since I can't be deported back to Uganda because I am a recognized refugee. 🌈
I have been a refugee and an Asylum seeker for nearly four years in Kenya and South Sudan. I still face a lot of psychological torture and trauma as a result of the persecution I faced in my home country Uganda; I was also disowned and ostracized by my relatives and friends, a fact that is significantly contributing to the psychological torture that I am experiencing. 🌈
My unfortunate experience of persecution and discrimination has pushed me to becoming an LGBTQ rights activist and advocate. I dream about the day when I will speak for the voiceless queer people on the world stage. I hope for a world where no queer person has to forcefully leave the comfort of their home country to seek asylum in a foreign country in an attempt to save their lives, a world where no queer person is discriminated against, a world where draconian laws criminalizing homosexuality are a subject of history. Such a world is possible only when you and I join hands and resources and amplify each other's voices️. 🌈
While in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, I participated in a lot of advocacy and activism regarding LGBTQ refugee rights and safety. My advocacy work was documented on the Instagram account @sevencolorspectrumkakuma
Click the link below to check out the Instagram profile and see the work of my activism and advocacy while the LGBTQ refugee community was still residing in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya:
WHY YOU SHOULD DONATE:
We face numerous challenges. Mental health challenges such as psychological torture and stress are very common amongst us. We also face discrimination from the rest of the refugee population and the host community. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides financial support in the local South Sudan currency, the South Sudanese Pounds, an equivalent of only $10 per refugee per month for basic needs. This money can't sustain us for more than a day considering the high inflation in South Sudan where we are living That amount given to us in South Sudanese Pounds is too little to sustain a person for more than a day. Therefore there is a challenge of lack of basic needs like food, clean drinking water, clothes, decent shelters, healthcare, etc. There are a considerable number of LGBTQ refugees in the camp who suffer from diseases such as HIV/AIDS, asthma, epilepsy, sickle cells, and of recent, cholera has become very common. 🌈
As an LGBTQ refugee rights activist, a representative and one of the leaders of our community, one of my tasks is to advocate for the betterment of the living conditions of the LGBTQ refugees in Gorom refugee camp. To that end, I reached out to a well-wisher based in the United States last year to help us set up a fundraising campaign on the popular crowdfunding platform "gofundme" since someone in Africa can't create a fundraising campaign on the platform. On April 29th, 2025 they launched our fundraiser which you can donate to by visiting the link below:
️⚧️️❤️
I created this fundraiser on behalf of Vivian in Gorom Refugee Camp.
Fo… V D needs your support for Support LGBTQ refugees in
🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈
Your donations will be used to meet the basic needs of the LGBTQ refugee community in Gorom refugee camp such as food, vital medication, more decent shelters, etc. 🌈
No donation is small. Please donate and save a life today. Love and solidarity. 🌈
"Today marks one year since the death of the People’s Bubbie Shatzi Weisberger. Before she passed, she said, “I’ll fight like hell for a free Palestine until the day I die. Then I’ll keep fighting. Your queer ancestor is with you.”
If you’ve been rising up in solidarity with Palestine these past two months, your queer ancestor is indeed with you, along with countless other antizionist Jewish ancestors. For many, family and community rifts may be especially painful right now. No matter what, you are not alone. Remember that you have a long lineage of elders and ancestors at your back.
Last night, Israel resumed its brutal bombing of Gaza and has already killed dozens of people. Shatzi would encourage all of us to do everything we can right now for a permanent, lasting ceasefire. To mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.
Shatzi died on World AIDS Day, which was b’sheret ("destined”) because in addition to being a lifelong organizer, she was a nurse for 47 years who cared for people living and dying with AIDS.
From ACT UP’s organizing to end AIDS to the movement for Palestinian freedom, we honor the ancestors and movements who made us possible."
We will be forever grateful to the ancestors who paved the path before us. May their memories fuel us to work towards freedom for all people — no exceptions."
Pride Month in Gorom Refugee Camp: What “No Celebration” Really MeansJune is Pride Month, but for LGBTIQ refugees in Gorom Refugee Camp, South Sudan, there are no rainbows.
Celebration is impossible because:
Same-sex acts are illegal in South Sudan,LGBTIQ refugees face beatings, “corrective” rape, and death threats from other refugees. Visibility increases risk.
When shelters are burned and food is scarce, as shown in recent photos from Gorom, “celebration” is a luxury. Safety comes first.
Yet Pride still exists here. It exists when:
- A lesbian shares her ration with a trans woman denied aid
- A gay man guards the sleeping area so others can rest
- We choose not to disappear, even when the world demands it
This Pride Month, don’t just post rainbows.
Ask governments: Why are queer asylum claims still delayed?
June 12, 2016. Putting a date on this for when it gets reblogged months from now by people who think the post is about something from 30, 40 years ago.
I am a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting, having grown up in Orlando and just turned 20 a month prior. If you didn’t know, there were several families who refused to claim the bodies of their relatives due to their sexuality. One family even had their relative’s name removed from the memorial. Murdered by the same hate with which their families reject them in both life and death.
Many, many people celebrated Pulse. We were told we deserved it. That it was God’s punishment for our sin of loving the same sex. We are sent messages like these I received in 2018:
We in the community often call the victim count 49+ to include the survivors who couldn’t live with the pain.
The event was never officially declared a hate crime or targeted homophobic attack and is rarely listed as one in databases.
At our vigils for those slaughtered, Extremist Christian groups showed up to protest, holding signs like this:
ID: Me kissing a woman I was casually seeing in front of an angry looking man with a “Sodomy is Sin” sign.
Please understand how much more than just a mass shooting this was. We are still to this day harassed and told we deserved it by some.
This year was the sixth anniversary. The first couple years I received dozens of messages checking in on me on 6/12. Year 5 got enough news coverage for people to think to reach out to me. This year it was my therapist, the woman I kissed in that photo, and a couple of other gun violence survivor friends. People are forgetting already.
once you get over your ass and realise you will never get some people and that’s ok you are basically immune to right wing fearmongering. otherkin? none of my fucking business
I must not fall victim to disgust. Disgust is the heart-killer. Disgust is the little-death that brings total apathy. I will face my disgust. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the disgust has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I really just have to summarize Thomas's entire life:
He was in a committed relationship with a male swan named Henry for 18-24 years before a female swan named Henrietta showed up and mated with Henry.
Thomas was initially jealous of the pair and attacked them, breaking 2 of the 5 eggs Henrietta had laid. However, once the remaining eggs hatched, Thomas warmed up to them and helped raise them.
Henry couldn't fly because of an injured wing, so Thomas taught the cygnets how to fly.
When they needed to reduce the goose population in the pond where Thomas and the swans lived, they dyed Thomas's feathers red so he wouldn't be separated from Henry.
Henry, Henrietta, and Thomas remained in their happy throuple for years and raised 68 cygnets before Henry died in 2009. After Henry's death, Henrietta found another swan and flew away, leaving Thomas alone.
Thomas finally met and mated with a female goose in 2011 and had his own babies. However, another goose named George stole them and raised them himself.
As Thomas grew elderly and blind, he was relocated to a wildlife center where he raised orphaned cygnets.
His caretaker at the center described him as "pretty high maintenance."
Thomas died in 2018 at the age of around 40. He had a funeral that included a small coffin and a procession that was led by a bagpiper. He was buried under the stone where Henry was buried, the two finally reunited in death.
Before and after his death, Thomas has been celebrated as an icon of the LGBTQ+ community for obvious reasons.
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