God, anyone else remember when everyone understood that the correct feminist position about sports was that women should be allowed to compete with men because they’re just as capable? When it was a trope in media to have the mysterious star athlete who just blew everyone else out of the water to take off her helmet and reveal that she was a woman the whole time?
Now people are rabidly arguing that supposed “men” (trans women) have inherent insurmountable biological advantages and cis women are too weak and dainty and unskilled to ever compete and must be protected, and then they try to call themselves feminists who are being silenced as if that’s not just the mainstream sexist patriarchal opinion
Anyway, desegregate sports. There was never any reason to separate them by gender in the first place
And then there’s the flip side, as well - Trans men are able to fly (comparatively) under the radar and aren’t even part of the conversation in sports because there’s no way they could ever really compete with cis men, so they clearly aren’t serious athletes.
It’s a truly bizarre set of standards where trans athletes are left without any clear way of actually competing.
We’re changing the goal posts constantly and giving trans athletes such mixed messages until no one seems to have any clear idea of what “fair” actually means. What happens is that trans athletes are often forced into early retirement (or outright refused the opportunity to play) because they’re put into a position where they can either compete or transition openly, not both.
If we’re concerned with safety, then split athletes based on measurable physical differences, such as height, arm span and muscle percentage. If we want to preserve the rule differences between gendered sports, then create separate leagues for athletes to opt into. Even if we insist on a binary split, continue with some gendered sports, then hold a second season during the year for gender neutral competition. Just stop drawing these arbitrary lines that only end up harming athletes who don’t (and can’t!) conform.
I’m gonna say it here too. Allow me to be crystal fucking clear.
It is not cowardly to stay in the closet. Full stop. You do not owe anyone any part of yourself you aren’t ready to share
If you unable to come out because you fear for your safety or well-being or because you know it will cause you substantial discomfort, that is not a defect in you. It’s a failure of the society in which you live and the community surrounding you.
If you just don’t want to share that part of yourself, that is valid and I support you
If you don’t actually believe that coming out in your current situation would put your safety at risk or cause you discomfort, but still feel unable to do so due to having previously been in situations where coming out was/could have been dangerous, that is also not a defect. It’s a natural response to trauma, and you still don’t owe it to anyone to come out before you’re ready.
Some of my friends have been expressing that they can’t make combo flags displaying the entirety of their identity due to the virtual absence of non-satirical cis and straight flags, so I decided to take a whack at it! Please note that straight people cannot use the Queer Cis flag and cis people cannot use the Trans Straight flag. These flags are for individuals who are still part of the LGBTQIA+ community in some way.
Read more for creative process and meanings:
Queer Cis Flag
I noticed how the trans flag can visually describe trans women (blue stripe leading the eye down to a pink stripe = AMAB + feminine gender) and trans men (vice versa). I built the blue and pink stripes in this flag off that interpretation. In place of the nonbinary white stripe, a thin, dark blue-violet stripe references the historical association between the color purple and queerness.
Trans Straight Flag
The most utilized visual representation of straightness I’ve seen is stripes of black and white. In this flag, they represent attraction to gender(s) one sees as dissimilar to theirs. The stripe of light periwinkle is a callback to the baby blue, baby pink, and white of the trans flag.
Kudos to Pride-Flags on Deviantart for their 23-stripe flag template; I would have been screwed without it.
Some of my friends have been expressing that they can’t make combo flags displaying the entirety of their identity due to the virtual absence of non-satirical cis and straight flags, so I decided to take a whack at it! Please note that straight people cannot use the Queer Cis flag and cis people cannot use the Trans Straight flag. These flags are for individuals who are still part of the LGBTQIA+ community in some way.
Read more for creative process and meanings:
Queer Cis Flag
I noticed how the trans flag can visually describe trans women (blue stripe leading the eye down to a pink stripe = AMAB + feminine gender) and trans men (vice versa). I built the blue and pink stripes in this flag off that interpretation. In place of the nonbinary white stripe, a thin, dark blue-violet stripe references the historical association between the color purple and queerness.
Trans Straight Flag
The most utilized visual representation of straightness I’ve seen is stripes of black and white. In this flag, they represent attraction to gender(s) one sees as dissimilar to theirs. The stripe of light periwinkle is a callback to the baby blue, baby pink, and white of the trans flag.
Kudos to Pride-Flags on Deviantart for their 23-stripe flag template; I would have been screwed without it.
last year i wanted a jazz solo cup bi pride shirt and was annoyed to discover that there were no good options for this. so i decided to be the change i wanted to see in the world and make that one, plus a host of others.
Pride Month may be ending, but it’s never too late to include LGBTQ+ representation in your writing! Try writing your characters into these scenarios:
Person A being afraid to come out to their parents, so Person B let’s Person A practice on them. They go through it several times so that Person B can play out several different options of how the parents might react and Person A can figure out exactly what they want to say.
Person A taking care of Person B as they recover from top surgery / bottom surgery.
Person A is an experienced drag artist and is helping Person B, who is new to the world of drag, craft their drag persona.
Person A has been questioning their sexuality/gender identity for a long time but they don’t know where they belong in the LGBTQ+ community. They decide to confide in Person B and tell them how they feel. Person B says that they feel the same way too and introduces Person A to a label that they’ve never heard of before but describes their feelings perfectly. (You can decide which label it is.)
Person A and Person B are a gay couple and their friends Person C and Person D are a lesbian couple. They’re all going to prom together but none of their parents know that any of them are queer. When they meet up so all the parents can take pictures of them before prom, Person A and Person C switch places so they can pose as 2 straight couples. Then, they all say goodbye to the parents and meet up with a different photographer who they’ve hired to take gorgeous prom pictures of them as the beautiful queer couples that they are.
Taking a break from diabetic talk to send my support to Orlando.
It shouldn’t be so dangerous just to live. These people were having a lovely evening, dancing, doing the same things I and my friends often do on weekends, did this weekend at RI Pride, and they were murdered. This is not a question of mental illness, as always seems to be the conclusion after yet another attack, and it’s not a question of supposed ISIS involvement-this is hate.
I can’t narrow down the solution to mass violence to a single change; I’m neither qualified to make those pronouncements, nor do I think a single issue is at play. What I can say is this: the United States is the only country of its kind were this kind of citizen perpetrated bloodshed is accepted as a fact of life. While our country prioritizes a misinterpretation of the second amendment over the lives of our citizens, there will be no safety. Yet, I doubt the Pulse case will develop any differently from the Newtown shooting, the Oregon shooting or the countless others-why would this event spur us on to greater legislation when all these others have not?
Beyond the epidemic of gun violence–which by the way, never seems to highlight the daily violence in underpriviledged communities–these murders speak to the ever-growing hate within our borders. Over the course of the election we’ve seen so much racism, sexism, xenophobia, and yes, homophobia come to light. Clearly those feelings had been boiling under the surface, but with the support of a presidential candidate (however unqualified), those feelings become acceptable to vocalize. Now, they’ve also been acted upon.
Call your local legislators, your senators, and your house reps. Voice your support for gun legislation and the LGBTQ community.
During this Latine/x Heritage Month, we want to celebrate the diversity, beauty, and resilience of our Latine/x trans siblings We see you in your boldness in these intersecting identities. What does Latine/x Heritage Month mean to you?
Gender is an experience and a whole adventure. Nonbinary people come in all shapes, sizes, and expressions. Our needs are as unique as we are. Because there is no such thing as a “typical” nonbinary person, everyone’s medical needs should be treated on an individual basis. Knowing your options will help you work with your provider to make sure you’re getting the most out of your healthcare.
If you are nonbinary, you might have questions about what “gender-affirming” healthcare looks like for you. Your gender identity might feel new to you, fluid, or temporary; it might also feel clearly defined. One of the beautiful things about the “nonbinary” gender is that it can manifest in so many different ways—as many ways as there are people. With such diversity, you deserve plenty of medical treatment options, too.
Joy and grief are all parts of any transition. Becoming your most authentic self means letting go of the parts that were meant to protect you and keeping the parts that are the core of who you are. All the love, joy, and hope wouldn’t be here without the grief, loss, and hurt along the way. From friendships and family members, to workplace challenges and inaccessible healthcare, to losing parts of the past you can no longer go back to, coping with this sense of loss is the unjust price of becoming who you were always meant to be. Grief, the deep sadness which stems from loss, reminds us of the deep love we are capable of giving and receiving. Letting go of what doesn’t serve you means making space for something new to flourish. Queerness is a cycle of death and rebirth, peeling back layers of mask and shell over and over again, until the image of self is both recognizable and beyond imagination. Hold onto that hope as you go through your journey. We are always here to answer your questions and help you get started! If you are ready, visit us at getplume.co/get-started
Claiming your identity is a powerful, political act in a culture that wants gender to be simple. The moment we begin to know who we are, we start to experience how binary gender is normalized. Blue for boys, pink for girls, and strictly segregated single-sex spaces are some of the first ways we experience the gender binary. For those of us who identify as nonbinary, transgender, genderfluid, gender non-conforming, agender, or genderqueer, the binary just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense to or for us.
Some people describe gender dysphoria as a sense of displacement. In our culture, anyone who doesn’t fit into standard gender categories might feel this way. Gender dysphoria can be a physical sensation or a psychological one. However, it’s not the only sign that our identity doesn’t square with binary gender.
