Down the Rabbit Hole @f4iryguts - Tumblr Blog

I have declared war on my demons🫀

xena gave us trans drag lesbianism as a treat

There are layers to this. Earlier in the episode, Xena discovers her secret while they're sharing a locker room. A woman she has got naked with turned out to be trans. It's the exact scenario terfs are always fear-mongering about, but Xena just shrugs it off.

Also, the kiss was a big deal not just because it was gay but because the trans actress was HIV positive. They wanted to show the world that you can't contract HIV just from kissing someone. Bear in mind, the AIDS crisis was still fresh on people's minds in the 90s.

Happy Pride.

toppingilyarozanov

The AIDS crisis was not "fresh on people's minds" in the 90s; the AIDS crisis was still happening. Princess Diana made news by shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1991; Magic Johnson retired from the NBA after he tested positive in late 1991.

He was required to do this because other players were afraid that they could contract it from him on the court. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but nowhere near probable. It was fear-mongering. A ton of people opposed him playing in the 1992 all-star game because of it, though he played anyway.

Don't let recency bias fool you--these things were happening at a scale that most AIDS service orgs, even giant ones like AID Atlanta, couldn't hope to keep up with until there was a way to prevent transmission (which didn't happen until like 2013 and wasn't accessible until later that decade).

The American public became less terrified of the disease in the 90s and this episode of Xena was part of that process of de-stigmatization. But at that point people's medicated HIV was still very often turning into AIDS and killing them. It very much was still burning a deep hole in communities everywhere.

impuls1ve

i listened to my body and it's asking for substances

Personal ads in Siren, a Toronto-based lesbian magazine, 1998

hellagross

coquette-club

cuppydogshane

all the rights that come with marriage you should be able to have without marriage btw. you should be able to designate a person who can visit you in the hospital regardless of your relationship to that person.

hyperlexichypatia

People in the notes are saying "You can!" referring just to the hospital visitation part, and sure (depending). But people should have access to ALL of the benefits of marriage without needing to be married.

You should be able to add anyone you want on your health insurance plan.

You should be able to sponsor the visa of anyone you choose to move to your home country.

You should be able to name anyone you choose as the legal-from-birth legal coparent of any child you give birth to.

You should be able to apply for student aid on your own at any age.

And yes, yes, ideally healthcare and college should be free, international migration should be unrestricted, and the entire concept of legal parenthood should be rewritten from the ground up. But right now we're talking about marriage benefits.