jo: problematic queer rep (ace wearing a red shirt in the target of boygirlhood), adult person. skilled at stress baking and crying in public. predictably ADHD (very) and hype about chicago (very) for a fob fan. any pronouns
[header image: a black and off-white illustration of Lake Shore Drive from above. icon: black and white art of a figure silhouette sitting on the bottom line of a an eye with three thick eyelashes.]
Latest reblog reminds me of how much it pisses me the fuck off how every queer person alive has to adapt to the usamerican style of queerness lest we get shunned by the community for being too different. I bring this up a lot but bro that time I got death threats for having ele/dele in my bio bc “by using neopronouns I was making a mockery of REAL trans people” when those are literally just my pronouns in my native language, and when I said that I got hit w the “well you’re on the internet so speak english” I HATE GRINGOS I HATE GRINGOS I HATE GRINGOS
I feel the need to miss out a crucial detail I missed out in this post I made out of anger, and no, it doesn’t add any silver linings or good context, it honestly only serves to make it worse.
In portuguese, much like spanish, we have no gender neutral pronouns. People who do not use ele/dele and ela/dela (he/him or she/her) all use whatever neopronoun suits them best in portuguese (ie elu/delu, eli/deli) because we have no access to a universal gender neutral pronoun like gringos do. When I brought this up upon them making fun of my “neopronouns”, they said to suck it up, and that being foreign does not make neos valid.
In mocking people who use neopronouns in english, you are mocking a very large sum of latin american genderqueer and trans people.
I know various latin language speakers that struggle with their identities in their native tongue due to us not having they/them equivalents, so they are forced to let go of their, in example, brazilian queerness, to appease to anglos who would harass them and call them mockeries of trans people for not sticking to what The Cis want.
When non-anglos tell you the usamerican and british dominance over queer spaces ruins things for them, they mean it. We are forced to repress our identites because you people think they’re too “out there and problematic”. We are forced to suppress our own queer culture because we don’t fit into your neat little boxes of what makes someone gay what makes someone a lesbian what makes someone trans or what makes someone anything else.
You tell us to remember “our queer elders”, but do you know of any queer latin american figures? We learn your history, and you refuse to learn ours because you already have “too much on your plate”. You disregard us and shame us for not fitting your ideals of queerness and using labels for ourselves you dislike, and try to baby us and tell us the proper way to be gay.
Your culture is not universal.
You are not saving queer people by making jabs at other queer people you don’t personally get. Odds are you are harming an entire group of foreign queers you never bothered to consider, because your anglo bubble is too self important.
If you want to do queer people a real favour instead of getting mad at identities that existed long before you were even born, here. Make yourself useful. Donate to queer brazilian housing and support programs. Your beloved dollar is worth a lot more than the Real. Even five dollars help.
Starting a collection of these bc my homestate is making me so goddamn proud
ICE came in two SUVs to try and grab a pregnant mother who was picking her other child up from a west Oakland (like three miles from my house) elementary school yesterday afternoon. Neighbors and other community members immediately boxed the ICE vehicles in with their own cars, surrounded the “officers,” and harassed them until they left (without their target). This is the only kind of response that’s acceptable from anyone witnessing this shit, and as Oakland Councilwoman Caroll Fife said after the incident, “there were too many white people around for them [ICE] to stick around.”
Fellow white people: if you’re able, put your bodies/vehicles/voices in between these kidnappers and their targets, ESPECIALLY if you look “respectable” (eg soccer mom/dad, business attire etc). They’re much, much less likely to engage violently with individuals and crowds who look like ppl they respect/view as human (white/white passing) so use their prejudice to your advantage.
Also: Karen the FUCK outta them. Eg. “I want to see badges and identification containing your full name and title, I want the names and contact information of your direct supervisors, I want to see a warrant signed by a judge that includes the full legal name of the individual you are attempting to detain, and I want to see these items now.” Speak loudly but as calmly and firmly as possible, don’t touch them but stay in between them and whoever they’re trying to grab if possible. Repeat.
Also, if you are an employee of whatever location ICE is entering to get somebody, you can do the following:
- Straight up refuse them entry. Not all workplaces will allow you to do this (e.g. I work in a public library and can’t do that) but if you are on private property you can straight up tell them to GTFO or get trespassed by the cops.
- Announce their presence over the PA system. Say “Will the ICE agents who just entered the building please come to [your department] immediately?” and anyone else in the building is going to be made aware that ICE is here and that they’re likely to be headed towards wherever you asked them to go, giving them time to escape if necessary.
- Be strict about weapons policies. If your workplace only allows LEOs to carry weapons, ask to see their badges, and ask to copy down their badge numbers and names, too. Take your time doing this, waste their time with as much bullshit red tape as you can muster.
- Be VERY strict about harassment policies, and make it clear to the agents that you will not tolerate them harassing or detaining patrons of your establishment unless they show you a warrant signed by a judge. If they have one, ask to photocopy it “for your records,” again making sure to waste as much of their time as possible. Let them know that you will call the cops if they attempt to apprehend anyone without a warrant, and follow through on that if they try it. Tell them it’s “policy” if they object. (It doesn’t matter if it’s actually policy, you can just lie to these assholes.)
- If you manage to repel them from the building, they might try to hang around the parking lot to snatch people as they exit. Make it clear to them that “loitering” is not permitted and they have to vacate the premises if they are not there for legitimate purposes.
Regarding the “ICE agents” in Oakland specifically, a few days after the attempted abductions the actual police caught a guy with a van full of fake federal badges and uniforms.
This is real. Do not give these people any authority because they are in a uniform or wear some agency logo. Once our own government broke the rule of law they opened it up for any scumbag to put on a fake badge and start grabbing children from schools.
i hate holiday music so much “giddyup jinglehorse pick up your feet” has the mouthfeel of somethign my homophobic high school coach would yell at me on track day
this is going to be a controversial one but I think the optimal number of cats for facilitating making the bed is not, in fact, “every cat in the house” but perhaps even … zero
btw if you’re fat and your partner doesn’t love you wholeheartedly, if they’re attracted to you “despite” your body, if they avoid touching you, if they look away from certain parts of you, you’re allowed to break up with that person. look at me. you can do better. you are not unloveable and you don’t have to settle i fucking promise.
ALT
[Image Description: tags by user biblicalhorror that read #also goes for physical disability btw. End ID.]
ALSO GOES FOR DISABILITY, DISABILITY JUSTICE AND FAT LIBERATION INTERTWINED 4 FUCKING EVER I LOVE U FAT PEOPLE I LOVE U DISABLED PEOPLE I LOVE U FAT DISABLED PEOPLE YOUR BODY IS NOT A BURDEN ON THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU !!!!
ALT
