Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"America has developed a pie tradition unequivocally and unapologetically at the sweet end of the scale, and at no time is this better demonstrated than at Thanksgiving in November. It seems that the country goes pie-mad at this time, and the traditional pies reflect that this is harvest season." -- Janet Clarkson, Pie: A Global History (2009)

[Happy US Thanksgiving!]

"Twitter has enabled people with absolutely no traditional access to power to speak to powerful elites directly, criticize them in the public square. How valuable this has been is evidenced by the fact that many of those elites are so consistently bemoaning 'persecution.'" -- Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history), 2022-11-18 (middle of a long thread that makes interesting points)

[I wasn't planning to do another LTBGQ+ tweet so son after a week of trans-related ones, but then someone shot up a bar hosting a drag show on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, killing 5 (two of whom were trans) and injuring several times as many people. (The killer was taken down and beaten senseless with one of his own guns before the police arrived.)]

"[...] First, we know that each victim at Club Q was a beloved child of God, and each member of the LGBTQ community is made in the image of a God who loves and cherishes them. There is no place in this country, our churches or our homes for hatred of God's LGBTQ children. We know that God's heart breaks when members of the LGBTQ community are subjected to violence, hatred or discrimination.

"Second, we know that these horrific murders did not occur in a vacuum. When members of the LGBTQ community are targeted in our laws or in our overheated political rhetoric, it's not long before they become targets of violence. The Trans community, in particular, has been vilified and marginalized, and we must do better. Our faith demands that we love and respect our LGBTQ sisters and brothers as the beautiful creations that they are. [...]

-- The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith (Dean, Washington National Cathedral), 2022-11-21

"Not that it's in any way surprising, but when 'civil rights' are labeled 'left wing', it tells you all you need to know about the right." -- Rick Spies (rickspies), 2022-11-17

"Cis people who ask trans folks to 'be reasonable' don't understand that transphobes will try to kill us regardless of whether we are calm and measured or scream & swear at them." -- Bose-Rosling (She/They/Ze/Xe) (AidanTheJester), 2022-11-19

"And too often their idea of 'be reasonable' is 'tolerate overt disrespect and dehumanization'" -- Jori (MAGICALGAYMERS), 2022-11-19

"There are 327 reported murders of trans and gender-diverse people between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022. With 222 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean remains the region that reported most of the murders.

"The data continues to indicate a worrying global trend when it comes to the intersections of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and whorephobia, with most victims being Black and migrant trans women of colour, and trans sex workers."

-- TENI (TENI_Tweets), 2022-11-18

Today is the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, recognizing the people murdered for being transgender in the past year, and bringing attention to anti-trans violence. At least 32 in the US, at least 327 worldwide, whith who knows how many not counted because authorities misidebntified them and misgendered them in death. (It is not uncommon for a trans murder victim's community to not find out for weeks, because police gave out a name their friends didn't know ... which impedes the investigation as well.)

"Q: How many trans people does it take to change a lightbulb?

"A1: Just one, but the lightbulb must provide a letter from a therapist and proof that it's been living as a different lightbulb for at least a year.

"A2: None. Deep down, it was always the other lightbulb."

-- Lilah Sturges, "Princess of Pizza" (LilahSturges), 2018-01-08

[above a screenshot of a tweet with the transhpobic poster's identity obscured, that reads, "The transgender is like six feet tall and completely towers over the normal woman. What the fuck has MMA become alanaferal" and a pre-fight photo of Celine Provost (left, wearing blue, taller) and Alana McLaughlin (right, wearing white, shorter), the second transgender pro MMA fighter] "The trans woman is the shorter one" -- Katy Montgomerie (KatyMontgomerie), 2021-09-21

[This is far from the first time transphobes, knowing one athlete in a photo is trans, have guessed wrong as to which and not bothered to look up who is who. Often the same 'phobes who claim "we can always tell" as part of their justification for refusing to accept trans women as women.]

"This is what I mean when I say I worry for masculine looking women these days as much as transwomen. I worry for my cousin and her gf because they are older more masculine women." -- Keri Anne (KAMasse81), replying to KatyMontgomerie

"For decades butches and masc women have been harassed out of bathrooms and changing rooms. Originally it was because lesbians/bi women were seen as bathroom predators (sound familiar?) and in recent years it's because of transphobia. It never ended but it's in the rise again" -- R (foxglovesummer), Replying to KAMasse81

"As I think back to what it was like for my transgender friends in New York City and in places like Utah, Arkansas, and upstate New York, I'm struck by how much has changed for the better, how much has stayed the same, and how much has gotten worse.

"I can name every single surgeon in the US who did top surgery for trans guys in 2007 because there were only 3 of them. Now, thankfully, there are many.

"While today transgender people can serve openly in the military, something utterly impossible 15 years ago, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to pee in peace."

-- Brian G. Murphy (ThisIsBGM), Queer Theology email (QTheology), 2022-11-16

A few selections, out of order, from a Twitter thread by dana with a d (danathestrong), accumulaed between 2022-03-01 and 2022-11-07 (so far):

trans people have been around longer than HRT

trans people have been around longer than gender affirming surgeries

trans people have been around longer than republicans

trans people have been around longer christianity

trans people have been around longer than capitalism

trans people have been around longer than the divine right of kings

trans people have been around longer than borders

"All I want is for everyone saying they think parents should be notified if their kid is using a different name/pronouns at school to be asked what they think parents should do with that information

"A right to know implies that some kind of action will be taken as a result, and I think it's pretty fair to ask what they think that action should be"

-- Louisa (LouisatheLast), 2022-11-07

"Closing comments on this now since it blew up overnight and getting called a groomer by a bunch of randos isn't my idea of a good time, but if you want to know why I wrote this in the first place, check out all the replies promising transphobic 'interventions' and child abuse" -- Louisa (LouisatheLast), the following day

Selections from a thread started 2022-11-13 about one of many safety concerns for trans women -- sort of a pek behind the scenes at one way an often hostile world affects us:

margo quinlan (margoqnln):

my voice training didn't really click till I started to see it as part of my self defense and..that sucks imo?like the ways the world forces trans girls to perform femininity for self preservation is rlly deeply unsettling when u stop and think ab it

taylor of the spear (turnintoabat):

I can do a really good femme voice but only if im in public aka a little bit terrified

sailor moonage daydream (zunetopia):

yeah i can hit perfect girl pitches when talking to the dude at the gas station automatically but when i'm hanging out at home i fall back into my old register and i HATE it

Myra Drew (Parody) (thenicestbird):

Oh fuck so that's why I always drop it instinctively around people I feel comfortable around?

taylor of the spear (turnintoabat):

you know how cats will slow blink at ppl they trust? I do that but with my voice lol

[Yes, I'm aware a lot more people adjust voice / behaviour / mannerisms / gait to conform to gender expectations (when I was trying to be a boy, I was self-conscious of my gait lest any wiggle attract attention), but since i's Trans Awareness Week, here's one of the many issues for trans women. And yes, my voice is lower at home, even more so when I'm tired.]

"In Heav'n we are ourselves entire
 Exactly as God planned,
 Bound not by snares of hatefulness
 But held in God's own hand -
    In truth the dead now stand."

-- first verse of "In Heav'n we are ourselves entire", by Jay Hulme (JayHulmePoet), with music by Yshani Perinpanayagam (_yshani). full text -- video of it being sung

[A week from today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, for remembering, honouring, and calling attention to transgender people murdered in the past year. (Note contrast between this and the more celebratory Transgender Day of Visibility in March. TDoV is for celebrating trans people, being trans, etc.; TDoR is for calling attention to our dead, and the transphobia that killed them.) The week leading up to TDoR is Transgender Awareness Week, so expect a lot of quotes pertaining to that this week.]

"Why do we spend hours on the internet, but only minutes on our knees every day?" -- Timothy Keller (timkellernyc), 2022-11-08

"Because most guys don't last that long." -- Shaiel Ben-Ephraim (academic_la), 2022-11-08

Along with lots and lots and lots more oral sex jokes, other replies include:

"Because I can't look at cats videos when I'm praying" -- Erik Lucas (@eriklucas.twitter), 2022-11-08

"Osteoarthritis in many cases." -- Ann Tofu Eating Coates (setoacnna), 2022-11-08

"I've summed up my own complicated relationship with Remembrance Day here amongst other places. To whit: the day's evolution from sombre commemoration of the dead to social media virtue signalling seems complete. I am growing ever more fed up with the increasingly shrill demands to don a plastic flower, as if a hundred thousand dead-boys on the Somme were my responsibility.

"The calls of the Don Cherry types to wear a flower on one's lapel feel ever more like exertions to clap for Tinkerbell. Wear your poppy, or all those kids slaughtered at Ypres and Verdun died for nothing. I'm not a fan of this kind of emotional blackmail. Nor anything that smells this much like a mandatory test of state loyalty.

"Thing is, I do wear a poppy. I do attend the annual ceremonies, observe the minute of silence, and afterwards take the flower off and place on the nearest cenotaph, as you are technically supposed to do. I do it because it means a lot to those who did serve, and it costs me nothing (well, 25 cents in the box). I think it's important to remember history. But history is forgotten when memes and slogans take over. When symbols and gestures take on importance in their own right, divorced from what they represent, history is definitely forgotten.

"I am grateful that a previous generation stood up to fascism in the 1940s. And I'm not naïve enough to believe that the meek inherit the earth. Conflict, alas, appears to be inevitable. But it shouldn't be entered into blindly, and forgive me if I'm not terribly grateful when it occurs.

"The lessons of history and of war are complicated, and it's useless and insulting to boil it all down to the GI Joe themesong. If one lesson is that dictators need to be defied, could another not be less blind allegiance to the state might lead to fewer dictators? If wars need to be fought, might there be fewer of them if we got over this fetish for flags, trumpets and epaulets?"

-- evening_tsar 2021-11-15

[A meaningful Armistice Day / Veterans Day / Remembrance Day to everyone for whom the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has special meaning. May the human race someday outgrow the making of war.]

"Your email does not find me well.
 It does not find me at all.
 I am always one step ahead.
 I am in the shadows as it saunters by.
 I am a hunter who kills without reading.
 The remains of your message glisten in the moonlight.
 I turn to face you.
 Tell me, Craig, did I find you well?"
  -- Micro Flash Fiction (MicroFlashFic), 2022-10-19

"If a dude can be CEO of three companies at the same time that just says to me CEO isn't a very demanding or important job." -- Barry Petchesky (barry), 2022-11-04

"It boggles my mind that the very people who think we are the greatest democracy in the world don't vote. People will spend hours getting to and from a 4th of July event every year, but won't take 10 minutes to vote every other year." -- Dan (Dan_Blue_OC2CO), 2022-11-07

"Maybe it's just because I'm an old airplane, but I want to point out that the 'abortion panel' thing some Rs in the US are promoting isn't a new idea; it's actually how things used to work prior to (and sometimes even after) broad abortion legalization.

"Women used to have to show up in front of a panel, usually three doctors, but the details varied, and show evidence that they were a victim of incest/too young/ sick/mentally unwell to carry to term. And if the panel disagreed, they were SOL.

"Can't prove the father is Uncle Perv? Too bad. Might not get deathly ill/actually die? Too bad. Can't convince them that you really will off yourself? Too bad.

"Financial hardship? Phft, who cares? Deadbeat husband? Your fault for marrying badly. Rape? Don't make me laugh.

"In some jurisdictions, some/all of the men who sat on these panels would also be members of the local eugenics board (yes, those were a thing until well into the 1970s).

"This was probably the status quo re abortion most places pre-Roe. Ev'rything old is new again!"

-- Retired 747 (747Retired), 2022-11-03

[...]

"As a society we often try to ignore death, to disguise and distract from the end as if death will forget us just as readily. The ever-rising cost of human life the pandemic continues to leave in its wake has created a societal grief that hangs heavy.

"The guilt - the would-have, could-have and should-have - became compounded by directions to stay apart, and many people have been left with the bittersweet feeling that steps which were necessary to preserve and protect the lives of the community prevented us from being present in the lives we cared the most about.

"Experiencing bereavement during a period of societal mourning while the lives of everyone in the community are in some way impacted by grief, creates a dichotomy of solidarity and solitude: you are not alone, and yet we all are."

[...]

-- Lennie Pennie (Lenniesaurus), "As mortal as we all are, our love for each other remains", HeraldScotland, 2022-11-05

swan (pandersera), 2022-11-03:

we're living in such a specific time in human history when this concept is popular enough to be a meme but not popular enough to restructure civilization

ShitpostGateway (ShitpostGate), 2022-11-03:

[To everyone celebrating Guy Fawkes Day, may you have nice, safe bonfires and no unexpected explosions"]