[ID: a character inspiration meme filled out for OC Craig Carter, a middle aged white man with a mustache. The inspirations listed are: Ned Flanders from the Simpsons (annotated “yes, seriously”), Bob Newby from Stranger Things, Lloyd and Larry from But I’m A Cheerleader, a google image search for “midwestern dad”, Martin Blackwood from The Magnus Archives (as depicted by artist hotdrinks), and Bobby Singer from Supernatural. End ID.]
Thought I’d start posting some stuff for y’all to get to know Craig… he’s everything 2 me
(Also see the full Martin art by @hotdrinks here 💕)
The stranglehold romance has on all genres and mediums as some kind of Ultimate Relationship is a creativity killer
And I know that. I've struggled to write non-slash fics, despite spending my entire youth and young adulthood bemoaning the lack of strong platonic bonds in movies and books
That's changed, recently
Why?
Because when sketching out characters for an RPG, I half-jokingly offered to make my character the stepchild to my friend's character
Y'ALL
We thought it was going to be funny and awkward. We're an eccentric nonbinary actor with a supernatural hunger and their Completely Mundane Normal Guy stepdad, and by all accounts it should not work, and YET
These two are ride or die for each other. Fuck romance, they're pressing their foreheads together and making silent vows to get the other out alive at any cost, they are sacrificing their humanity, they are consumed with angst and anger and hurt one minute and dropping everything to run to the others' side.
I'm insane about these guys. Holy fuck. Who the fuck needs romance when this is out there
[ID: A three panel comic of OCs Fyn and Craig reuniting.
Panel 1: middle-aged dad Craig intensely hugs his step-child, 27-year-old Fyn, who looks caught off-guard
Panel 2: Fyn looks sadly over Craig’s shoulder as they wrap their arms around him
Panel 3: Craig’s face pressed into Fyn’s shoulder, only his teary eyes and grief-wrinkled forehead visible as Fyn says, “Hey, Dad.” End ID.]
Thought I might start sharing some of the art I’ve done for the ttrpg that’s been my hyperfixation for the last year 😅 Here’s a moment between my character, Craig, and @phynoma ‘s character, Fyn, that made my heart explode into one million tiny pieces
Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter rules that Missouri's restrictions on gender-affirming care are constitutional.
Annelise Hanshaw at Missouri Independent:
Missouri’s restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender minors are constitutional and may remain in place, Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter wrote in a 74-page ruling Monday.
Soon after the ruling became public, the ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal promised to appeal.
The state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care, passed by state lawmakers in 2023, not only bar minors from beginning cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers and undergoing gender transition surgeries. It also blocks the state from paying for gender-affirming care for adults through Missouri Medicaid and care in state prisons.
Many providers in Missouri have ceased offering gender-affirming care for minors, including patients that had begun prescriptions prior to the law’s effective date.
Plaintiffs in the case — which include gender-affirming health care providers, transgender minors and their families — had the burden to prove the statute “clearly and undoubtedly violates a constitutional provision,” the judge wrote. And because plaintiffs challenged the law in its entirety, they had to prove that there is “no set of circumstances under which the provisions would be valid.”
Carter determined the challenge did not clear the high bar on multiple arguments, but the overarching debate looked at medical consensus on gender-affirming care.
His ruling focuses on a U.S. Supreme Court precedent that allows lawmakers broad discretion in areas “fraught with medical and scientific uncertainty.” Carter concluded that there is “an almost total lack of consensus as to the medical ethics of adolescent gender dysphoria treatment,” granting the state legislature authority to ban the care.
[...]
Apart from these concerns, Carter said three witnesses were particularly compelling: Chloe Cole, a young woman who transitioned as a minor in California and since stopped treatment and has spoken publicly about her regrets, along with bioethicist Farr Curlin and plastic surgeon Patrick Lappert, both who emphasized potential side effects of gender-affirming care.
Because the risks were high for gender-affirming care, the treatment couldn’t be compared to experimental treatments with few known side effects, Carter wrote, and allowing teenagers to opt into an experimental treatment is dubious.
“If we don’t let a 16-year-old buy a six pack of beer and a pack of smokes, or let an adult buy those items for them, should we allow the same kid/parent team to decide to change a teenager’s sex forever?” Carter wrote in his ruling.
Right-wing activist judge Craig Carter from Wright County issued a ruling in Noe v. Parson upholding Missouri’s hateful and discriminatory ban on gender-affirming care on minors and Medicare covering such procedures for adults.
Carter’s justifications for the ruling upholding SB49 was based on anti-trans pseudoscience.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: Wright County Judge Carter compares gender-affirming care to cigarettes & beer while upholding Missouri's youth ban
New Post has been published on https://tslbooks.uk/ilona-hawkins/
Ilona Hawkins
About Ilona Hawkins
Ilona lives in Johannesburg, South Africa with her husband. She has three grown up children, three dogs and five cats.
She has been writing since the age of thirteen and has had a number of articles published in magazines. Two recipe books and an historical book about a church have also been written by the author.
The idea for the Craig Carter series was penned at the age of seventeen, but life happened and the book was put on hold for many reasons.
