Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

[With Pride month just around the corner, the annual respectability debate has come to the foreground. Lots of apparent 4channers, some 'GC' people, and a bunch of young queerfolk unfamiliar with our history and susceptible to the arguments of the first two groups, have been all over Twitter trying to equate Leather Daddies and Pups at pride with having sex in front of children. Many older or more history-aware queerfolk have been pushing back and trying to educate, explaining why kink groups have always been part of Pride, why that's important, and how bogus the "seeing somebody wearing fetishwear is equivalent to being forced to watch them fuck" rhetoric is so misguided. That's the context of the quote below, from the middle of a thread.]

"pride isnt the opposite of hate. pride is the opposite of shame. the events aren't called pride by accident. as much as the character and tone of these events have changed over time, to turn them into 'anti hate' rather than 'anti shame' events is total capitulation to homophobia" -- michael wave (SzMarsupial), 2021-05-18

Virtual-Balticon is this weekend across (Zoom, Discord, SecondLife, Gather, and YouTube), and I'm joining Karen Osborne (author of Architects of Memory and Engines of Oblivion, and one of my bandmates in The Homespun Ceilidh Band and Circle of Confusion) for a concert at 8:30 pm EDT tonight. As Karen put it, "it's a time travel concert! done live!" (you get to time-travel to a recent afternoon with us, for logistics reasons).

Register for the concert Zoom session

It's good to be making & sharing music again!

Virtual Balticon 55 is free to attend, but they're accepting donations 'cause they still have expenses:

Access to Virtual Balticon 55 is being provided free of charge. To cover the cost of putting on a virtual convention and to support the Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s literacy activities, please donate what you are able to the Balticon 55 Go Fund Me campaign. [...]