#queer equality

[nerdygaymormon]

[gwydionmisha]

How a teacher and her students are bringing queer equality to Wikipedia

One professor’s students have added thousands of references to Wikipedia entries on LGBTQ+ history.

[gwydionmisha]

LGBTQ+ Equality Support Is at Record High But Some Troubling Trends Exist: Report

Misunderstandings are being fueled by anti-LGBTQ+ political rhetoric, says the GLAAD's "Accelerating Acceptance" study.

[stabbedinthenameofscience]

I posted this on facebook with a less-than-stellar article and instead of actually discuss the points, all people did was talk about the nitpicking they had with the article.  So I deleted the post, fuck it, and I’m posting it here without the article.  It doesn’t need it to stand.

One of the things I've always been bugged about with most political candidates is that when faced with questions pertaining to smaller groups, such as trans* folks asking for commentary on their own economic needs, I rarely (if ever) hear the explanation tailored to address them. Yes, looking at economic and job opportunity factors will help them...but only if they can get a job in the first place because they have little to no legal protection. The broader sense is where I am frustrated with most political candidates. It's like the recent equal pay amendments I've seen popping up. Yes, equal pay for women is great, but if you're a lesbian and you can be fired for having a photograph of your family on your desk at work, does it really benefit all women? And why, when I have brought this up before to folks, is the response that incremental progress is what we have to settle for? Incremental progress sometimes unintentionally further marginalizes already struggling groups by leaving them out in the name of getting something done. It doesn't make them feel included or valued (and is one of the reasons i'm seeing more and more of my friends end up so disheartened by politics that they refuse to even be a part of it- it becomes a mental health protective measure to withdraw). It isn't that it's not important to discuss- it's that the discussions I have heard are too broad and don't address the interconnected details that make $15 an hour, the necessity of strong unions, etc. enough to make a difference in the lives of people already largely excluded from accessing even the shitty job market we have. To me, it would be anti-trans* to discuss economic issues without acknowledging that the refusal to hire them in the first place (often in the name of religion) is a huge piece of that puzzle. It would be anti-trans* to keep at-will employment contracts that allow people to be fired without stated cause. It would be anti-queer to refuse to acknowledge the role that a lack of anti-discrimination laws play in hiring, housing, etc. It would be anti-parenting to not discuss how family and parental leave impacts economic capacity and also how maternity leave (or lack there-of) destroys opportunity. It would be anti-family to not discuss how single parents face different economic barriers due to our overall lack of quality affordable childcare and how that also is impacted by funding threats to Head Start and GSRP. It would be anti-addict to not discuss our shitty support systems for addiction. It would be anti-mental illness to not want to discuss how our media makes it harder for the mentally ill to seek help because of how they handle shootings and further marginalize us, thus making coping with workplace stress even harder. It would be anti-inner city to not discuss barriers to transportation and food deserts right alongside all this, because the means to get to work is a part of it and the time and distance people have to go to get food is also a depletion of economic capacity in other areas of life. All of these things play into economic justice and I haven't heard it in candidate conversations, publications, speeches- I know it would be downright impossible to address everything that everyone needs, but I don't feel like I hear enough an acknowledgement of just how complicated this all is and how many intricacies "economic justice," as a phrase, includes. That's not to say it doesn't exist in organizations not in the national eye, but I was latching on to the fact that candidates don't seem to ever really draw this in and all of them need to acknowledge that economic justice looks different for different groups of people. If we are to discuss economic justice, we have to also examine exactly how that plays out in different communities and what systemic overhaul actually looks like for queerfolk, trans* communities, people of colour, addicts, the extremely impoverished...because they all have barriers to access that make things like $15/hour something they would have difficulty benefiting from without removing those barriers and acknowledging them in discussions. This would be difficult to address on the campaign trail. But for some of these groups, to have someone say "I actually hear your needs and want to make things better for *you* and understand that takes more work" would be a completely new experience and would mean the absolute world.  There's a need being unmet and that's leaving people out and I think that, the idea that identity politics needs to be set aside in order to focus on "bigger" issues, is a dangerous one, because identity politics is exactly what makes that bigger issue a matter of justice for all.

It's a very specific frustration, one I have with nearly every politician out there, and one of the reasons I have heard for people feeling like they don't matter and won't participate in politics or vote. If it's an impediment to participation, I think it needs to be critically examined and dealt with.

[brutallyromantic]

Even though I really want stories and shows and movies with queer characters who are full people and whose plot doesn’t revolve entirely around the fact that they are queer, I also really want stories and shows and movies about queer characters that are entirely about the fact that they are queer and showing them being adorably romantic and finding that one person and having the happily ever after that we have come to expect for the majority of hetero couples in popular media.

[mycodedecoded]

Surfing the web for news and entertainment: Smashing Gender Binaries With The Queer Kids Of Today 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gabrielsanchez/queer-youth-of-today#.ysRO6N3NOr

[mycodedecoded]

 code…decoded introduces the TRANSGENDER code: Gender neutral ‘Identity’ icons developed for a NEW generation of LGBT+. Identify Yourself with PRIDE. (◕‿◕)

[avyssoseleison]

But as a child, I just accepted the gender/sexuality realities of Sailor Moon. No, I was not CONFUSED or SHOCKED in the way many adults claim children to be whenever they come across something that's not cishet bullshit.

I accepted that Sailor Star Fighter could love Bunny even though both of them were (mostly) women – and I saw Sailor Star Fighter as an equal rival to Mamoru.

I accepted that the Sailor Star Fighters were women as much as they were men and I never wondered what they “really” were. Same goes with Sailor Uranus.

I accepted that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were in a relationship, because damn was it obvious.