[black-to-the-bones-deactivated2]

The LIT History Series is for the Legends, Innovators and Trailblazers that have shaped our culture.

It is widely believed that the “Lone Ranger”, the famous cowboy of the TV show and the movie, was inspired by a Black man named Bass Reeves.

Reeves was born a slave, but he escaped to the West where he eventually became a Deputy U.S. Marshal, an expert marksman, and a master of disguise with his Native American sidekick. Blacks were a huge part of the Western frontier despite what’s told to us in pop culture or taught to us in the classroom. “The kids who are learning history in our schools are not being told the truth about the way the West was,” says Jim Austin, founder of the National Multicultural Heritage Museum. “I bet you nine out of 10 people in this country think that cowboys were all white - as I did.” (x)

Cherokee Bill, born Crawford Goldsby, was a notorious outlaw whose father was a Buffalo Soldier. His reputation and career as an outlaw rivals the reputation of Billy the Kid. Bill Picket was a “famous” Black cowboy who toured the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, and England, and he was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame 40 years after his death. (x)

And black cowboys are still here, they do exist. 

That’s a huge part of history that was also erased from the history of America. We need to bring attention to this, because it’s unfair that black people along with other people of color have been erased from this narrative.

Source

[xx1xx2xx3xx]

I am so sick of the misinformation going around about Standing Rock. To begin with DAPL was set to go through a town called Bismarck, a town that is mostly white. The people of this town expressed concern for the pipeline leaking, and said they didn’t want it.

When the pipleline was re-routed, it was set up to go through land that belongs to the Standing Rock Sioux. For those who don’t know what I mean by “belongs to” because “Oh me oh my, this is American land,” no, it isn’t. Not all of it. There is land that belongs to different Native tribes. Including part of the land that the pipeline will be going through. This was not done with permission. How was this done? This was done by bulldozing up the graves of ancestors. (If that doesn’t bother you, read it as the graves of our veterans; the graves of our presidents’ families; the graves of your family.)

Outside of the media finally watching us for the last six months, the camps have been there before that. I know someone who was there on April 1, 2016. That’s well before the media started paying attention in August. Well before. The camps have been self-sustaining. Yes, there have been donations. Yes, donations were made in physical items, money for items, and money for legal funds. That money and those items went to keeping something beautiful alive.

People who were arrested had numbers written on their arms, they were kept in dog cages. Protectors who were peacefully in prayer had untrained dogs set on them to attack. There are photos floating around of one trainer who couldn’t keep her dog, who had blood in its mouth, under control. In sub-zero conditions in the early morning protectors were hosed down with freezing water - this includes the elderly and children. (Yes, there were children. Guess what, they were getting schooled there. Self sustaining.) Police shot bean bags, rubber bullets, and flash-bang bombs into the crowds. A woman had her arm blown to pieces because of this. 

At every point since the beginning, there has only been peace on our end. No rioting, no fire, no weapons, no alcohol, no drugs; nothing but peace. And from the end of law enforcement has been violence. Even residents had been violent, and police did nothing to them. But they sure as hell arrested people from camp for praying - a nonviolent act.

If you are not Native, you don’t get to dictate what happens on our lands. I don’t give a damn if the government does. The government is breaking a treaty right now, ignoring tribal sovereignty. Just because they do it, does not mean you get to. I don’t care how tired you are of hearing about it. We’re tired of having our lands stolen and having our rights violated. 

[sofarawayy-deactivated20210922]

Please boost this. I’m tired of the propaganda being spread with the intent of bigots and settlers to erase Native voices and justify colonial violence. Also realize alot of this even beyond the pipeline, is settlers acting out of pure anti Native hatred. People don’t understand unless they have lived in the Midwest, just how deep white supremacy is there.

[taavot-deactivated20170404]

if anyone, jewish or not (because I feel that non jewish people could also benefit from throwing out any lingering false associations between our core theology and christian core theology), is curious about learning more about how jewish thought / theology differs a lot from dominant christian narratives, specifically how “god” and “prayer” are very poorly executed english translations of our concepts of HaShem and tefilah/l’hitpalel, especially if you’re a jewish person struggling with the idea of religious judaism because you don’t feel compatible with what the dominant meaning and concept (heavily influenced by christianity) of the english words/concepts “god” and “prayer” are, please please watch some videos by Rabbi David Aaron specifically this one (x) and this one (x) 

neither of them really come from a denominational perspective so don’t worry about if you’re heterodox or orthodox it’s just a really good look at authentic jewish theology. and some of the misunderstandings that he clarifies are, if left unclarified, big stumbling blocks for a lot of jews who are hung up on things like “do I believe in God” “do I have some ambiguous faith” “when I pray does God listen”, and those stumbling blocks could be avoided by having these conversations about what jewish theology really holds as true, especially since a lot of those phrasings we absorb from our non jewish surroundings that lead us to be confused and doubtful about our judaism are based in concepts that are… entirely unjewish. 

like as a brief summary, “do I believe in God” is a question that is steeped in this christian dominant perspective that you sort of absorb in a lot of english speaking christian majority countries, where God = metaphysical dude far off in the sky that you have to profess blind faith towards, which… could not be further from what the concept of HaShem is in Judaism, aka HaShem is everywhere, HaShem cannot be depicted by any of our human conceptualizations of embodiment (like seriously depicting HaShem as a man in a flowing robe is a huge no no) and HaShem is more scattered divinity of Being than some humanoid ruler up in the sky (the video is a lot more eloquent than on this than me lmao). “do I have faith?” often references this idea that faith is blind and that “faith” is a state of mind not a set of actions. in Judaism there’s a lot more weight to actions than sitting around and thinking “yeah I have blind faith that there’s a God” (again that perspective draws on these weird ideas of HaShem as a distant and metaphysical being that are extremely unjewish) and “when I pray does God listen” comes from a non Jewish perspective of prayer as begging God to change his mind or something like that, which is again a very unjewish perspective and that second video link talks a lot about what the real meaning of l’hitpalel / tefilah is in Judaism and what are we doing when we daven, if not this english/christian centric concept of “to pray”

anyway I feel like those videos really solidified some things succinctly for me; I had the ideas cemented in my head theologically before but this was the first time I had heard them verbalized this simply so like check it out! the first video is very short, like under 10 minutes, and should be watched first imo, the second video is like 40 minutes, if you’re really interested but don’t think you’ll get to the second one on tefilah at least watch the first one on HaShem. 

[oh-frederik-what-a-day-its-been]

[enoughtohold]

This photo is actually from 1993, by Eric Luse of the San Francisco Chronicle, reprinted in 2006 with this caption:

The Gay Men’s Chorus posed to illustrate the impact of AIDS. Those dressed in black, with their backs turned, represent those who had died. Today, all their backs would be turned because the obituary list is now 47 names longer than the chorus roster. For each man singing these days, more than one chorus member has died of AIDS.

More from the 2006 article:

There is a common saying backstage before the curtain rises on the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus:

“I sing for two.”

For each man standing, one chorus member has died of AIDS.

A quarter-century into the epidemic, the list of the dead is longer than the living: there are 210 singers and 257 obituaries.

As AIDS devastated San Francisco, the Gay Men’s Chorus suffered some of the city’s largest group casualties.

“If AIDS never happened, we’d be two or three choruses by now,” said Bob Emery, 77, who is among the four active members left from the original 1978 roster and has been living with HIV for 26 years.

[…]

At every rehearsal during the 1980s and early 1990s, there were announcements about who was in which hospital room and when the next memorial was scheduled.

“I could see all these people dropping all around me, and there was no official response from any health department at any level,” said Tony McIntosh, who joined the chorus in 1985 and lost 25 friends to AIDS. “It was maddening. The chorus gave us an outlet for all that anger and relief from the feeling that nobody in the world seemed to care.”

Singing became survival.

[…]

As AIDS took its toll, the chorus members used their concerts as a forum to bring a sense of urgency about the epidemic to the public. Their music became more somber, and they began adding AIDS requiems to their programs. The chorus also became the only place for the members to talk openly about HIV and AIDS. The men shared tips on how to get into clinical drug trials and serenaded friends through their last breaths.

For men who were fighting for their lives alone, estranged from parents who had turned their backs on their gay children, the chorus became family.

[…]

“We’re starting to go to less-gay places like Modesto and perform now,” said 21-year member Tom Burtch, keeper of the “Fifth Section,” a list of every chorus member who has died. The chorus publishes the list in every concert program.

In February, Burtch added the latest AIDS victim to the list, 48-year-old Robert Frey of San Francisco.

Not long after, Burtch overheard one of the new chorus members in his twenties whisper to another during rehearsal that he’s never known anybody with AIDS or HIV.

“It’s mind-blowing that we’re in the same room with youngsters who have no idea of what we’ve been through,” Burtch said, “I went over to the guy and introduced myself.”

The current Fifth Section list on the chorus’s website now contains 282 names.

Today, the chorus is planning a 2017 outreach tour in response to Trump’s election and the “increase in dangerous and divisive rhetoric against vulnerable minority populations” in the United States.

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is the oldest explicitly gay chorus of the over 190 LGBT choruses worldwide that make up the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses).

[jewish-privilege]

Opinion | Five myths about anti-Semitism

by Yair Rosenberg

…In my time reporting on anti-Semitism, I’ve often encountered a certain well-meaning skepticism: Didn’t the Holocaust, with its shocking horrors, finally compel society to stamp out anti-Jewish bigotry? Sophisticated people don’t write this idea down, but it’s one I hear constantly in my reporting.

This is profoundly, depressingly wrong. According to the FBI, Jews in the United States are annually subject to the most hate crimes of any religious group, despite constituting only 2 percent of the American population. 

…These facts underscore a crucial point: It’s wrong to subsume anti-Semitism under Nazism, its worst manifestation, when the centuries-old prejudice usually takes less extreme or exterminationist forms. The end of American slavery did not mean the end of American racism; likewise, the end of Nazism as a dominant political force did not silence anti-Semitism.

…This past election season, the ascendant alt-right, a band of reactionary white nationalists with a penchant for harassing Jewish journalists, filled Twitter with neo-Nazi memes, Photoshopped reporters into gas chambers and concentration camps, and chanted anti-Semitic slogans at political rallies.

…But anti-Semitic outbursts were taking place on the left at the same time. …During the Democratic primaries, Jewish candidate Bernie Sanders was confronted by a questioner who declared that “the Zionist Jews … run the Federal Reserve, they run Wall Street, they run every campaign.” Surveying this scene, TBS comedian Samantha Bee aired footage of an anti-Semite ranting at a Trump rally, then cracked, “To find anti-Semitism that rabid, you’d have to go to, well, any left-leaning American college campus.”

This bipartisan bigotry shouldn’t surprise. Anti-Semitism could never have attained its impressive influence without forging coalitions across ideological and religious lines. Hatred of Jews has long thrived on its ability to ensnare utterly opposite worldviews. Thus, the 2013 E.U. survey found that Italian and Swedish Jews perceived more anti-Semitic statements coming from the left, Hungarian Jews heard them overwhelmingly from Christians and the right, and French Jews reported abuse largely from Muslim extremists. It’s tempting to cast anti-Semitism as the sin of other people, but that’s usually a way to avoid confronting the problem within one’s own community.

…Most bigotries debilitate their targets while empowering their disseminators, much like slavery and redlining enriched America’s white majority at the expense of its African American minority. Many successful societies have been built atop prejudices.

Anti-Semitism, however, is a unique case — and uniquely corrosive to those societies that embrace it. That’s because it often takes the form of a conspiracy theory about how the world works. By blaming real problems on imagined Jewish culprits, anti-Semitism prevents societies from rationally solving them. In one of the most famous examples, Nazi scientists shunned Einstein’s advances as “Jüdische Physik,” as opposed to “Deutsche Physik,” enfeebling their understanding.

As Bard College’s Walter Russell Mead has put it: “People who think ‘the Jews’ dominate business through hidden structures can’t build or long maintain a successful modern economy. People who think ‘the Jews’ dominate politics lose their ability to interpret political events, to diagnose social evils and to organize effectively for positive change. People who think ‘the Jews’ run the media and control the news lose the ability to grasp what is happening around them.”

Read Yair Rosenberg’s full piece, detailing all five myths, at The Washington Post. (But for all that is good and holy, don’t read the comments. It’s a cesspool of antisemitism, philosemitism, Islamophobia, and bigotry.)

[ceevee5]

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five: “Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”

[staghunted]

I bought the book after seeing a post quoting it float around Tumblr. Not bedtime reading.

I wanted to post these types because while most of us are familiar with the philanderer or hyper masculine abuser, it’s important to recognize these types.

You’re not “crazy” if you believe you’re being abused and the dude isn’t a violent drunk bro.

The last one is especially important with more and more men identifying as feminist without more reason than they’re not “one of those guys”.

[goddessofstupidity-deactivated2]

Abusive types: Mr Sensitive

“Mr. Sensitive appears to be the diametric opposite of the Drill Sergeant. He is soft-spoken, gentle, and supportive—when he isn’t being abusive. He loves the language of feelings, openly sharing his insecurities, his fears, and his emotional injuries. He hugs other men. He may speak out about the absurdity of war or the need for men to get in touch with their feminine side. Perhaps he attends a men’s group or goes on men’s retreats. Often he has participated extensively in therapy or twelve-step programs, or reads all the big self-help books, so he speaks the language of popular psychology and introspection. His vocabulary is sprinkled with jargon like developing closeness, working out our issues, and facing up to hard things about myself. He presents himself to women as an ally in the struggle against sex-role limitations. To some women, he seems like a dream come true.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Nothing obvious yet. But this is exactly the problem: Mr. Sensitive wraps himself in one of the most persuasive covers a man can have. If you start to feel chronically mistreated by him, you are likely to assume that something is wrong with you, and if you complain about him to other people, they may think you must be spoiled: You have the New Age man, what more do you want?

The following dynamics are typical of a relationship with Mr. Sensitive and may help explain your feeling that something has gone awry:

1. You seem to be hurting his feelings constantly, though you aren’t sure why, and he expects your attention to be focused endlessly on his emotional injuries. If you are in a bad mood one day and say something unfair or insensitive, it won’t be enough for you to give him a sincere apology and accept responsibility. He’ll go on and on about it, expecting you to grovel as if you had treated him with profound cruelty. (Notice the twist here: This is just what an abuser accuses his partner of doing to him, when all she is really looking for is a heartfelt I’m sorry.)

2. When your feelings are hurt, on the other hand, he will insist on brushing over it quickly. He may give you a stream of pop-psychology language (Just let the feelings go through you, don’t hold on to them so much, or It’s all in the attitude you take toward life, or No one can hurt you unless you let them) to substitute for genuine support for your feelings, especially if you are upset about something he did. None of these philosophies applies when you upset him, however.

3. With the passing of time, he increasingly casts the blame on to you for anything he is dissatisfied with in his own life; your burden of guilt keeps growing.

4. He starts to exhibit a mean side that no one else ever sees and may even become threatening or intimidating.

Mr. Sensitive has the potential to turn physically frightening, as any style of abuser can, no matter how much he may preach nonviolence. After an aggressive incident, he will speak of his actions as anger rather than as abuse, as though there were no difference between the two. He blames his assaultive behavior on you or on his emotional issues, saying that his feelings were so deeply wounded that he had no other choice.

Many people reject the possibility that Mr. Sensitive could be an abuser. I ran into this disbelief one weekend when I was leading a training course on emotional recovery, as I periodically do. My workshops focus partly on the healing effects of crying and so tend to be attended by more women than men. The males who do come have included many of the most wonderful men it has been my good fortune to know, as well as a handful of the biggest manipulators. A few years ago, a participant named Deanna approached me anxiously before a workshop. She explained that an ex-partner of hers named Brad had called her a few days ahead of the workshop to tell her he was attending the same weekend. She was uncomfortable and told him that if he showed up she would leave. He promised not to bother her, though, and said he would not bring up their relationship in any way. He was coming with his new girlfriend, which eased Deanna’s worries.

I spent some time talking with Brad as the workshop was starting, without mentioning Deanna, and he seemed likeable, kind, and—what can I say?—sensitive. However, I observed within a few hours that he was in fact speaking to other people about his past with Deanna and getting them riled up about her running away from their unresolved issues. On Sunday morning, he finally provoked a scene about their relationship in front of the full workshop, which was humiliating to Deanna.

The story does not end there. I called a break, and took Brad aside. I told him that it was my understanding that he had agreed not to raise these issues and that it had become obvious to me that he had come for the weekend with the intention of doing precisely what he had promised not to. I went on to point out that he had taken Deanna’s weekend away from her and that I considered this kind of power move to be abuse, especially since it was directed at an ex-partner.

Saying the word abuse to an abusive person can be like lighting a tinderbox: When you name the unmentionable secret, he goes wild. Brad got loud, rolled his eyes at what a hysterical exaggerator he considered me to be, and adopted a victim stance, saying, I beg you to stop this. Then came the most important part: He said in a screeching whine, I have only put a hand on a partner once in my life, many years ago, and I just barely pushed her away from me like this—and he shoved me hard by the shoulder—after she called my mother a sick woman.

Well, why was Brad denying a history of assault (while actually admitting to one) when I hadn’t said anything about violence? The possibility that he might be physically abusive had never occurred to me before, but it certainly did now. The signs were all there: bullying Deanna that weekend and then insisting it was for her own good; feeling entitled to ignore an important agreement; blaming his earlier girlfriend for his assault of her and minimizing it—the strength of the shove he gave me would have shaken up most women. I now doubted that the assaultive incident he had described was his only occasion of physically intimidating a woman.

At this point I required Brad to leave the workshop. I then had to deal with a mini-insurrection from some of the other workshop participants, who couldn’t believe I was ejecting this gentle man who was so in touch with his feelings. He cries after all; how could he be abusive?

This gentle man style of abuser tends to be highly self-centered and demanding of emotional catering. He may not be the man who has a fit because dinner is late but rather erupts because of some way his partner failed to sacrifice her own needs or interests to keep him content. He plays up how fragile he is to divert attention from the swath of destruction he leaves behind him.

The central attitudes driving Mr. Sensitive are:

• I’m against the macho men, so I couldn’t be abusive.

• As long as I use a lot of psychobabble, no one is going to believe that I am mistreating you.

• I can control you by analyzing how your mind and emotions work, and what your issues are from childhood.

• I can get inside your head whether you want me there or not.

• Nothing in the world is more important than my feelings.

• Women should be grateful to me for not being like those other men.”

Lundy Bancroft, Why does he do that? In the minds of angry and controlling men

[callmeblake]

I know it’s long, but read it - I wish I had known these things before I got married.

[lioness--hart]

Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

Google is the latest tech company to drop the longstanding wall between anonymous online ad tracking and user’s names.

Guys, this is really important. Until now, Google collected your data, but did not attach your name to it. Now, they can, and will. This new thing they’re doing will allow them to collect your data across searches, your email, Youtube, Maps, Google+, and all their affiliates, and build a complete profile of YOU.

If that doesn’t bother you, maybe this will: they own and can sell all that data, including anything you create and send (artists and writers, take note).

There is a way you can opt out of this ridiculousness. It’s described in the link, but if you’re still not sure about it, please ask me and I’ll guide you through how to turn all this off.

This is my wake-up call. I’ll be locking down my devices and scaling back what I put through the big Google machine, which means you may see less of me across social media. I’m going to keep researching this, but it may mean in order to keep the rights to my creative work, I’ll have to keep it out of Google’s hands. And that may take some doing.

[thebyrchentwigges]

Duckduckgo is a nontracking search engine….may be worth a try.

[tygermama]

So according to the article there is an opt out for this. Instructions are I the last paragraph. I’m on mobile so I’ll edit this more later. EDITED TO INCLUDE OPT OUT INSTRUCTIONS

To opt-out of Google’s identified tracking, visit the Activity controls on Google’s My Account page, and uncheck the box next to “Include Chrome browsing history and activity from websites and apps that use Google services.“ You can also delete past activity from your account.

[agnostijew]

Btw, this week is a good time to learn about/support the American Federation of Teachers, working to protect teachers, students and public education since 1916.

[weavemama]

Don’t you fucking dare tell me it’s not okay to punch a nazi when the rise of anti-semitism is getting worse and worse. 

[geekandmisandry]

Wait, a teacher got in trouble for no longer recommending a Nazi? The fuck??

[professeur-wrecks-deactivated20]

Sandra Bland would have been 30 years old today.

Happy birthday Sandra, rest in power.

Say her name. Do not forget.

[lupins-archive-deactivated20181]

Pray for Espírito Santo, pray for Brazil.

Espírito Santo, a state in Brazil, is in complete chaos, a sort of chaos that is being compared to the film The Purge, where for 12 hours there were no laws and no rules. Except here, it’s been two days already.

The National Media is suppressing it all, the only way people IN Brazil are aware of what has been happening is through Twitter, because the media is ignoring it all.

The Military police went on strike for better payment, thugs are literally ruling the streets and running riots. There is murder, rape and looting. Just this morning, more than 16 people have been murdered.

In two days, more than 50 people have died, stores are being robbed in daylight, buses are being set on fire and dead bodies are left lying in the streets, according to the Daily Mail, which is one of the only medias spreading what’s going on. Only international media is talking about it and giving it attention. Brazil’s media is literally suppressing it completely, we woke up with news about the sunset in Rio and what’s been going on in Big Brother Brazil, there are countless news about Carnaval, but nothing about Espírito Santo.

And this is just a little bit of what’s happening. People are running down the streets with guns in their hands, people can’t get out of their houses, people are dying, ES is being ran by thugs and no one is talking about it. No one mentions it. PLEASE, spread this somehow, tell people what’s been going on, demand attention. 

If this was happening in France or in the UK, people would be all over it, celebs would have “pray for brazil/es” all over their social media profiles, but when it happens in Latin America people ignore it.

There is a tag on twitter called “#ESpedesocorro”, ES asks for help, where Brazilian people have been sharing videos and images of what’s been going on, because our media is not, and begging for prayers and help. You can watch some videos here: [x], [x], [x], [x], [x].

There’s nothing on TV about this, just NOW, after three days our president Michel Temer is sending the federal troops. But they are doing everything very silently, and the government has not decreed state of siege and emergency, even though it should have. They sent nothing more than 200 federals and 1 helicopter to see what’s going on. Which is a joke.

“The governor of Vitoria in eastern Brazil called Monday for federal troops to come to the rescue after police went on strike, leaving the city at the mercy of criminals.The acting governor of Espirito Santo state, Cesar Colnago, asked President Michel Temer ‘to send the National Force and the army to safeguard the security of citizens,’ a statement on the governor’s website said.Police, aided by relatives and sympathizers blockading police stations, have been protesting against unpaid salaries since early Saturday. With no patrols on the streets over the weekend, assaults and other crime have multiplied, Brazilian media reported.“ According to the Daily Mail. 

All we ask, is for you to try to spread this, show people how our media is hiding serious events, how there’s murders and rape, how we need help and no one even mentions it. 

Please, pray for us, talk about us, demand the media’s attention. People in Espírito Santo need help. 

Under the cut there’s graphic content, images of what’s been going on. You can decide if you want to look or not, just know we never had a chance to choose.

Keep reading

[reverseracism]

This is an article about the Quebec Mosque shooting, in which CBC speaks to a former radical nationalist about the radicalization of young white people and white supremacy. 

It’s an interesting read and looks into the mind of someone who went through this, and how they allowed themselves to be sucked into this way of thinking before getting out and working to prevent other young white people from becoming white supremacists.

[gaywrites]

Transgender Women Are Facing a Devastating Medical Crisis—and No One's Talking About It

As the nation's supply dries up, trans people who rely on injectable estrogen are panicking.

Bamby Salcedo describes the past month of her life in one word: “devastation.” It was late August when the activist and community organizer first learned about the ongoing injectable estrogen shortage in the United States, which has been gradually impacting the lives of transgender women and transfeminine people like herself for over a year now. As the nation’s supply dries up, trans people who rely on injectable estrogen are panicking.

“Members of the community are not finding out” about the shortage, Salcedo told me. “I don’t think many service providers even know about it. I still have not received notice from a doctor.” In fact, if it weren’t for an acquaintance who works at the clinic she goes to, Salcedo, who founded the Los Angeles-based TransLatin@ Coalition in 2009 to advocate for the needs of trans Latinx immigrants in the U.S., might still be in the dark about the status of her medication, which she described as “life-saving.”

Synthetic estrogen plays a crucial role for trans women and transfeminine people who choose to undergo hormone replacement therapy as a means of medically transitioning. Yet the growing disappearance of its injectable form from the pharmaceutical market has gone largely unnoticed beyond the circles of those affected. Salcedo said that she has “not seen any” media coverage of the shortage, despite the subject’s constant presence on her various social media feeds. That’s not surprising. In the eight weeks since Out magazine’s website broke the news of the “Injectable Estrogen Shortage That’s Leaving Trans Women in Crisis,” very few outlets have picked up the story. This silence, Salcedo told me, must be broken.

“They would not deny a person who is diabetic their medication, right?” she asked. “Access to hormones saves lives. Not having this medication puts us in danger.”

This is critically important. Hormone access can literally be a matter of life and death; we have to keep talking about this. 

[chronicdharma]

[cervinelich]

this is why its depressing to work in a pharmacy.

[iatrogenic]

I was definitely a profit killer when I worked in a pharmacy (which honestly was my favorite job in the entire world, but it was short-lived and nowadays you can’t work at a pharmacy like that, it’s all tied in with corporate retail and no one should ever trust me with a cash register ever). It was not, however, actually a profit killer for the pharmacy, just for the drug companies, so no one cared. These days I do medical billing, which means I actually bill OUT from hospitals so I’m mostly spending my professional time taking money away from insurance companies. 

I will now impart all of my profit killing resources onto you, in case you don’t know them. I think most of you know them, now. But just in case you don’t.

THIS IS US-CENTRIC. I’M SORRY. 

1. GoodRx - this thing has an app now, so you can look up the best places to get your expensive medicines at the lowest possible prices without insurance on the go, and you no longer have to print coupons because you can just hand over your phone or tablet. Times have changed for the better with GoodRx. Definitely use it before trying to fill your scrip, because it will tell you the best place to go. (You can do that on the website, too.)

2. NeedyMeds - Needymeds is basically the clearinghouse of drug payment assistance. They have their own discount cards, but also connections to many patient assistance programs run by drug companies themselves. They are good assistance programs, too.

3. Ask your county - This is not a link. This is a pro tip. Most county social services will have pharmacy discount programs for people with no and/or shitty pharmaceutical coverage. You can often just find them hanging around at social services offices; you can just pick one up and walk off with it. 

4. Ordering online - There are a few safe online pharmacies. I keep a little database in a text file on my computer. Most of them are courtesy of CFS forums, my mother or voidbat, so a lot of that is a hat tip to other people, but if you’re in need of a place to get a drug without a prescription … first I’ll make sure you 100% know what you’re doing for safety reasons and then I’m happy to turn over a link. 

5. Healthfinder - A government resource that helps find patient assistance programs in your area. This might also point out the convenient county card thing. RxHope is something a lot of people get pointed to via Healthfinder that’s a good program.

6. Mental Health America - Keeps a list of their best PAPs for psychiatric medications, which can be some of the most expensive and a lot of pharmacy plans don’t cover them at all. 

[forevrdreamingofbetterthings]

This is so important ppl.

Signal boost the shit out of it!

[dynastylnoire]

Booooooooooooooooooost

[dysfunctionalqueer]

Good Rx Saved my family a hundred dollars a month while I was getting signed up for CHIP seriously it’s a life savor especially for ridiculously expensive drugs like abilify

[motivation-gems]

Useful info, friends! ;)

[quietborderlineinfo]

Since many of our followers are on medications, I feel like this would be an important resource. -Luna

[will-work-for-spoons]

Also! Some drug companies have patient assistance programs where they send you the drug for FREE if you are uninsured, or if your insurance doesn’t cover that drug.

Do a Google search for “patient assistant programs” + (your med), or search the manufacturers website. Sometimes the info is online; other times you have to call.

Even some of the big name pharma companies have this. It’s certainly not all companies, or all meds, but it is worth a shot.

Before Obamacare, I lost insurance and couldn’t pay for my mood stabilizers (kiiiiinda important to have those when you’re bipolar.) I was on generic Lamictal, but I went to the official Lamictal website, filled out a form with a valid prescription, and they mailed my meds to me every month for free.

If you know anything about bipolar disease, you know that that was a literal life saver. Patient assistance programs ftw!

[comtessedebussy]

This is so important given the recent vote to repeal Obamacare. And the cartoon above is so on point They’re literally voting to kill people. Literally.

[thebibliosphere]

Some of my meds are no longer going to be partially covered by my ridiculously expensive private insurance. I just used the GoodRX website to look it up, and I can either spend $40 at Target to pay for one of them out of pocket–per month–, or I can get it at Sams Club for $4. No that is not a typo. The drug I need to take every single day to keep my allergies from spiraling out of control (yay auto-immune bullshit) is literally ten times cheaper at Sams Club. Holy shit.

[fiercefatfeminist]

It is our duty as feminists to protect and respect women in Hijabs

[fiercefatfeminist]

Now. More. Than. Ever.

[princeoftheplayground]

Question: if I see someone pull off a Hijab, what should I do? I know there are reasons they are worn so I want to if i should stand in between them and who did this, should i protect them from view somehow, or something else? This has been happening a lot so I feel it’s something everyone needs to know.

[protectnevillelongbottom]

Good question! I cannot correctly and effectively answer, as I am a white, non-Muslim person; however, I will reblog in case any of my followers can answer. 

[inquisitivespirit]

I asked my Hijabi friend, so here’s one Hijabi’s answer: 

“my opinion is, definitely try cover them or give them something to cover themselves with. And perhaps shoo off the person, without putting oneself in danger! God forbid, if that happened to me, I would like someone to come and comfort me and give me something to cover my hair with and then help me report it to the cops “

[animatedamerican]

(Followers, if any of you are hijabi and would like to expand on this answer or offer alternatives, please do.)

[scifibi77-deactivated20190412]

If u see it happen to 1 of us, pls cover our head + hair with a coat or shawl or any piece of cloth, while hugging us in comfort. Please don’t get hurt by lashing out @ the perpetrators in any way, coz if they dare to do that, they’re probably too far gone in their own hatred to listen to any reason. Much love + Thank You to anyone who supports us.

[meanieyards]

yes !! everything said here is important af. if you see someone pull off a girl’s hijab immediately cover her hair and provide comfort. don’t talk to the perpetrator but try to get the woman out of there if you can. maybe if you have a scarf on you at the time give it to her so she can wear it until she’s alone and can replace her hijab. please please protect muslim girls because we already had it hard before donald trump became president and now its gonna be worse with people going around thinking their violence and cruelty is justified 

[hollowedskin]

for my other white ppl who might have a hard time, it’s my understanding that a hijab is like a major item of clothing, not an accessory like a hat or a scarf. so think abt it more like if someone just ripped someone’s shirt or skirt off. u don’t want to be left there exposed or have to walk home without it.

everyone, even outside America needs to protect our Muslim sisters in these times.

[quadriparesis-deactivated201908]

as a man, what would be the best thing to do? should i turn my head and avoid looking at their hair? can i still offer a jacket or something similar?

[wear-it-like-armour-bastard]

^I’m hoping someone has an answer islamaphpbia is on the rise in my town and I want to be a good male non Muslim ally

[soul-angelos-deactivated2023102]

For men, yes please, we would prefer it if you avoided looking at our hair, and if we don’t have something to substitute as a hijab at that moment, anything you could lend us, a jacket, etc, would be very appreciated.

Also, since most girls avoid physical contact with men they’re not related to, please do not hug them, but rather shoo the offender away if you can, or at least escort the girl to a safe place. You can still offer words of encouragement and support. Furthermore, understand that the victim may not be very welcoming towards you because she’ll obviously be shaken, and won’t know where you are coming from. If that’s the case, please still give her something to cover herself (hijab is very important, think of it as someone ripping your shirt off) and stand some distance away until you are sure she’s in safe hands.

Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it, god bless all of you.

[clairethehuntress-deactivated20]

In the horrible climate we’re currently in, please take note of this.

[oak-antlers]

Reblogging this again for the guy-instructions

[geekandmisandry]

Same