109 posts
“Don’t let the fear of what could happen make nothing happen.”
— Unknown
I go to use the elevator in a high rise building only to find a sign that says “Please ask security for access to this elevator”. A week ago, that sign wasn’t there. When I ask the security guard why the sudden change in policy, they said that people from other floors in the building had been abusing their access to the elevator and that they needed to lock it down.
Let me make this perfectly clear: I could no longer independently access the only elevator available to take me to this part of the building because other people decided to use / abuse a space that was not meant for them instead of taking the stairs right next to the fucking elevator.
Here’s another example: In order to have access to an accessible room on a cruise ship, I have to submit a form stating that I do in fact have a physical disability that prevents me from using a normal state room on the ship. I have to do this because able-bodied people have, in the past, been dishonest about the level of accessibility they require in order to have access to a larger stateroom without having to pay a premium.
How about this one: I go into the restroom of a massive convention center. Every single stall in this restroom is empty except for the one handicapped stall in the back, which is being occupied by someone who does not need to use a handicapped stall. I now have to wait for that one person to exit the stall before I can use the restroom. Remember: This bathroom has 7+ other stalls that are built specifically to work for them, but they chose to use the one space that is available to people like me.
Dear able-bodied people: Handicapped bathroom stalls, seating areas, staterooms, and elevators are not meant for you and you should not use them.
I do not care how big of a hurry you were in and how that elevator got you to where you needed to go faster. Because of you, I have to go find someone every time I need to use this elevator and if I can’t find them I GET NOTHING.
To you, that cruise ship can house 2000+ people and you have an opportunity to get a massive stateroom at no extra cost if you’re wiling to fib a little. To me, that cruise ship has a capacity of around 12 (the number of accessible rooms on the ship) and if they’re all full, I GET NOTHING.
To you, that movie theater has four really great seats right in the middle that just happen to have a handicapped accessible sign on them. To me, that theater has four seats and if they’re all full, I GET NOTHING.
And let me address the bathroom thing in particular. I don’t give a flying fuck if the handicapped stall was the only one available. You should pretend like it doesn’t fucking exist and wait in line like everyone else. *
Don’t take up spaces that were not meant for you. Because everything but those few precious spaces were not meant for us.
* Unless it’s literally the only stall in the bathroom or you’re about to absolutely shit yourself. Then it’s fine.
okay u can make fun of Shrek all you want but if u don’t think they were the most beautiful fucking movies ever then ur wrong
A few years ago a roommate abruptly decided to move out to live with her boyfriend, and I ended up spending half a year sharing an apartment with someone I had never met before: an Egyptian girl with very limited English.
She was confused by my appearance and asked me “boy or girl?” It took me a while to understand what she was saying, but eventually she got the point across, and I told her that I was a girl. She seemed unsatisfied, and I explained that I was transgender. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t know the word.
We ended communicating by typing our respective sentences into Google Translate. Unfortunately, whatever the Arabic word for “transgender” is, it wasn’t a word she knew either. Eventually I ended up typing in “I used to be a boy but it made me unhappy so I decided to be a girl.” She stared at it for a moment then asked “You are happy now?” I said yes, and she smiled and looked thoughtful.
A couple hours later she came up to me and said “You and me, we are sisters,” and gave me a hug. “You say you are girl, you are girl.”
Barnes and Nobles is gonna start serving food and alcohol.
Everybody’s cracking jokes about how it’s a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the age of Amazon.
But you know what? Props to them. This is exactly what Blockbuster didn’t do. At no point was Blockbuster like “Hey, movie rentals aren’t the lucrative enterprise they once were. Perhaps it’s time we become known for our cheesy garlic bread.”
“Potter, what is that?” Draco asks with urgency, his chest constricting in pain as he catches a glimpse of something dark coiling up Harry’s forearm.
Harry shoves his sleeve down and jumps up to meet Draco, his wand clattering to the floor. “Nothing. How did you find – “
“Show me.”
“I don’t – “
“Show me. Now.” Draco demands. He can’t believe this is happening. As if it isn’t horrible enough seeing it on his own arm every day.
Harry pulls up his sleeve slowly to reveal it – The Dark Mark – etched into his flesh. Draco holds back a gag.
“It’s not what you think,” Harry says.
Draco’s eyes dart between the mark and Harry’s face. “It’s – how did – why?”
“I wanted to practice removing it,” Harry says slowly, his meaning clear. It only makes Draco angrier.
“So you gave yourself a Dark Mark? You reckless idiot. What if you can’t remove it? Did you even think about that before you – “ Draco stops himself. Of course he didn’t. He’s Harry fucking Potter. Draco sighs and tries to calm himself. He’s not responsible for Harry’s idiotic antics. “How did you even manage to replicate it?” He asks, his voice measured.
Harry smiles weakly. “Well, a fragment of Voldemort’s soul was inside me for most of my life and his magic left a pretty big trace. I just… accessed it.”
Once again Draco holds back a gag. The thought of Voldemort’s magic, so dark, so cruel, inside of Harry Potter, the Gryffindor Saint, is too much. It’s horrifying.
Draco takes a breath and asks Harry the question he already knows the answer to: “Why do you need to know how to remove a Dark Mark?” He needs to hear the idiot say it.
Sure enough: “So I can remove yours.”
Draco grits his teeth. He’s furious that Harry has put himself in danger for him. Again. “You don’t owe me anything, Potter.”
“I know,” Harry says. But he doesn’t.
“You can’t just go around saving people all the time!” Draco’s raised voice echoes throughout the room.
“Why not?”
“Not everyone wants to be saved,” Draco points out. He doesn’t want Harry risking anything for him. How could he ask that of anyone, after all that he’s done?
“You don’t want the mark removed?” Harry questions, his eyes falling down to Draco’s left arm.
Draco’s mark is covered but he tugs on his sleeve regardless. “It reminds me of who I am.”
Harry frowns. “That’s exactly why you need it removed. That’s not who you are, Draco.”
Draco blanches, surprised at the use of his first name and Harry quickly corrects himself. “I mean Malfoy.”
Draco lets his eyes fall back down to Harry’s mark, taking in the harsh lines of the coiling snake and skull, and the red raw skin beneath. He shudders. “Looks like you haven’t had much success anyway,” he says as casually as he can manage. But inside, his heart is tight. Because now Harry will have to live with the Dark Mark the rest of his life. Just like Draco, he’ll be forced to carry the weight of the inescapable dark magic within his skin, forced to feel it crawling through his veins, through his every spell, with no relief and no hope of salvation.
“I’m getting close. Before you came in, I could feel it moving.” Harry retrieves his wand from the floor and points it at his Dark Mark, eyebrows tightening in concentration.
“Go on, then. No other Wizard has been able to do it, but I’m sure even a Dark Mark will be no match for the great Harry Pot – oh.” Draco’s knees buckle. “Oh.”
Against all logic, Harry removes the Dark Mark as if it is nothing more than a muggle tattoo. The head of the snake recoils into a rapidly shrinking skull until all that is left is smooth, untainted skin.
Malfoy yanks up his sleeve and holds out his arm to Harry. Despite all his protesting, he wants to be saved. More than anything.
Harry’s hand wraps under Draco’s arm holding it in place and he raises his wand. Draco screws up his eyes in anticipation - he cannot bear to witness the removal in case it doesn’t work properly. What if his Dark Mark is worse than Harry’s, having come from Voldemort himself? What if – Oh.
Draco doesn’t need to see it happen because he feels it. He feels the darkness extracted from his body, feels strength returning to his limbs. And he feels light. Lighter than he can ever remember. As if he might just float away. He opens his eyes and stares down at his clear, unmarked skin.
There’s a sense of twisted deja vu when Draco looks up from his arm. He remembers looking up into Voldemort’s eyes after he was given the mark, and feeling colder than he’s ever felt before. But now when he looks up into his saviour’s eyes, into Harry Potter eyes, it’s warmth he feels, from the smooth skin on his forearm to the centre of his heart.
He blinks back his tears. “Thank you.” They’re the same words he was forced to say to Voldemort but their meaning couldn’t be any more different this time. Voldemort had stolen his life, and Harry Potter had just restored it.
to all trans guys: the f on your birth certificate isnt for female, its to pay respects
ANA AMARI → BASTET
A guard on the ground between them groaned, and in a flash, Ana drew her sidearm and fired a sleep dart into his neck.
“You missed one,” Ana said.
Commission info!
I’m an art major in college and aspiring animator/storyboard artist! Commissions are handled through paypal. Contact me at stargravityart@gmail.com or PM me
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i love everything about this
wow such struggle much pain no but seriously it’s supposed to be that headcanon where Remus tries to find a cure for his affliction and surprisingly there is one person willing to help him and not trying to poison Severus at the same time :)
i just found this site, which (admittedly, using older terminology) has a bunch of positive reinforcement for trans orthodox people! it covers a lot of questions about whether you’re allowed to be trans (yes) and get surgery (yes) and what gender a trans person is (whichever one you are, naturally). personally this is super cool to see as an orthodox nb person!
please spread around for your trans jewish friends ♡
Epic graffiti wall
If 100 people lived on earth. De mensheid in een statistisch filmpje met legopoppetjes.
Friend: What’s your worst fear?
Me, internally: My friends and family finding my tumblr and seeing how gay it is
Me: drowning
This adorable proposal.
I’ve had this blog for over a year now and I feel like a lot of great books get lost in the shuffle so I’m going to be continuously updating this list, arranged by genre, of books I’ve reviewed or recommended (and personally have read)!
Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson
Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown
Run by Kody Keplinger
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz
Good Moon Rising by Nancy Garden
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden
My Best Friend, Maybe by Caela Carter
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
Dare Truth or Promise by Paula Boock
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan
Ship It by Britta Lundin
37 Things I Love (In No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon
Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen
Keeping You A Secret by Julie Anne Peters
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
The Difference Between You and Me by Madeline George
Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis
Sister Mischief by Laura Goode
Final Draft by Riley Redgate
Being Emily by Rachel Gold
Kaleidoscope Song by Fox Benwell
The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan
Landing by Emma Donoghue
Truth Weekend by Erin Jones
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
I Can’t Think Straight by Shamim Sarif
Last Words from Montmartre by Qui Miaojin
Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler
Disobedience by Naomi Adlerman
Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden
My Education by Susan Choi
Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson
The Paths of Marriage by Mala Kumar
Thaw by Elyse Springer
Challah and Callaloo by La Toya Hankins
Out on Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler
Double Exposure by Chelsea M. Cameron
Roller Girl by Vanessa North
Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst
Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Far From Home by Lorelie Brown
The Others by Seba Al-Herz
A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
In the Silence by Jaimie Leigh McGovern
Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam
Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu
Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman
Tailor-Made by Yolanda Wallace
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (YA)
Ash by Malinda Lo (YA)
Robins in the Night by Dajo Jago
Love in the Time of Global Warming and The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block (YA)
About A Girl by Sarah McCarry (YA)
Huntress by Malinda Lo (YA)
Libyrinth by Pearl North (YA)
The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (YA)
Gretel: A Fairy Tale Retold by Niamh Murphy
The Shattering by Karen Healey (YA)
The Witch Sea by Sarah Diemer
The Second Mango by Shira Glassman
Of Fire and Stars and Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst (YA)
The Prince and Her Dreamer by Kayla Bashe
Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor by Shira Glassman
The Abyss Surrounds Us and The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie (YA)
Dreadnought and Sovereign by April Daniels (YA)
Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis (YA)
The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Finding Hekate by Kellie Doherty
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee (YA)
Valhalla by Ari Bach
Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
Adaptation, Inheritance, and Natural Selection by Malinda Lo (YA)
That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston (YA)
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Warrior Woman by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Necrotech by K.C. Alexander
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Sappho’s Bar and Grill by Bonnie J. Morris
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (YA)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag
Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr (YA)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
The Ada Decades by Paula Martinac
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (YA)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Affinity by Sarah Waters
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale (YA)
Hood by Emma Donoghue
The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley
Hild by Nicola Griffith
Bittersweet by Nevada Barr
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Against the Season by Jane Rule
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann (YA)
The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter
The Black Unicorn: Poems by Audre Lorde
Coal by Audre Lorde
The Cold and the Rust: Poems by Emily Van Kley
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho trans. Anne Carson
Living as a Lesbian: Poetry by Cheryl Clarke
Not Vanishing by Chrystos
Rock | Salt | Stone by Rosamond S. King
Jam Jars by Yonnette Anderson
Finder of Lost Objects by Susie Hara
A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo (YA)
Far From You by Tess Sharpe (YA)
Echo After Echo by Amy Rose Capetta (YA)
Heart of Brass by Morven Moeller
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (YA)
Everfair by Nisi Shawl
The Dark Victorian: Risen, The Dark Victorian: Bones and Ice Demon by Elizabeth Watasin
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay and That’s When My Nightmare Began by Alex Cooper
The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin
How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir by Amber Dawn
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger by Kelly Cogswell
(See also Spinning, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and Snapshots of a Girl under Graphic Novels)
Bleeding Earth by Kaitlin Ward (YA)
As I Descended by Robin Talley (YA)
Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace (YA)
Mad House: Vengeful Vampires by Bria Lin
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (YA)
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Hocus Pocus & The All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha (YA)
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in the Twentieth-Century by Lillian Faderman
To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America - A History by Lillian Faderman
Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution by Linda Hirshman
Sappho Was A Right-On Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism by Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love
Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians by Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons
Tell: Love, Defiance, and the Military Trial at the Tipping Point for Gay Rights by Major Margaret Witt with Tim Connor
Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women by Leila J. Rupp
Queer Africa: New and Collected Fiction edited by Karen Martin and Makhosazana Xaba
Compreñeras: Latina Lesbians: An Anthology edited by Juanita Ramos
Speaking for Ourselves: Short Stories by Jewish Lesbians edited by Irene Zahava
Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens edited by Saundra Mitchell (YA)
Bareed Mista3jil edited by Meem
Tangled Sheets: Stories & Poems of Lesbian Lust edited by Rosamund Elwin and Karen X. Tulchinsky
The Penguin Book of Lesbian Short Stories edited by Margaret Reynolds
A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction edited by Naomi Holoch and Joan Nestle
Dispatches from Lesbian America edited by Xequina Maria Berber, Giovanna Capone, and Cheela Romain Smith
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence edited by Rosemary Curb and Nancy Manahan
The Lesbian Path edited by Margaret Cruikshank
Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence edited by Marion Dane Bauer (YA)
The Dirt Chronicles by Kristyn Dunnion
Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer edited by Angela Brown
Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe
Skim by Mariko Tamaki
Bingo Love by Tee Franklin
Spinning by Tillie Walden
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Motor Crush Vol. 1 and Motor Crush Vol. 2 by Brenden Fletcher
Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew by Grace Ellis (MG)
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi
Snapshots of a Girl by Beldan Sezen
Love Is Love: A Comic Book Anthology to Benefit the Survivors of the Orlando Pulse Shooting
Bombshells by Marguerite Bennett
Heavy Vinyl by Carly Usdin
jane the virgin: portraying a bisexual man in a healthy relationship and slaying biphobes since 2017
hey why don’t discos still exist
Sweaters: Knitted ✔ Puppers: Petted ✔ Gender Diverse Friends: PROTECTED ✔✔✔ I think we all need a little trans positivity on our social media right now, so here’s a preview of an upcoming post 💖🏳️🌈
Meet Maiden & Princess, a children’s book set to launch in April 2019 about a maiden who falls in love with – you guessed it! – a princess.
Maiden & Princess is intended as a companion to [author Daniel] Haack’s Prince & Knight, which was released in May as the inaugural effort in a new partnership between GLAAD and Bonnier Publishing USA. Acknowledging that both books “exist in the same universe,” Haack told HuffPost he was particularly excited about Maiden & Princess because he believes same-sex love between two women is even more underrepresented in children’s literature as compared to that between two men.
“We wanted to take that fairy tale structure with real human characters and tell a simple love story between these two women, complete with all the anxieties and excitement of first love that would resonate with kids,” Haack, who resides in Los Angeles, said.
Beautiful. Learn more over at HuffPost.
Last week, New York City became the first U.S. city to pass a law allowing birth certificates to be marked with a gender-neutral “X” rather than the traditional gender markers “M” or “F.” The policy will go into effect January 1.
The new law also mandates that people be allowed to choose their gender marker when applying for amended birth certificates, replacing a previous requirement that applicants provide letters from medical and mental health practitioners confirming their gender identity. […]
New York City is unusual in that it issues birth certificates to those born in the city through a vital records department separate from New York state. Typically, birth certificates are issued statewide. New York state does not currently offer gender-neutral identity documents — but a bill proposing nonbinary driver’s licenses was introduced in June 2017, and is still making its way through the state legislature voting process. A NYC municipal ID that gives applicants the option to forgo a gender marker entirely has been available to city residents since 2014, making it one of the first genderless ID cards in the country.
While New York is the first city to pass a gender-neutral birth certificate law, it joins a handful of states that have recently passed legislation to make gender-neutral birth certificates available: Oregon, Washington, California, and New Jersey. Last month, Colorado issued an intersex birth certificate to a single person in response to extensive documentation supplied in their application, but did not announce plans to make gender-neutral birth certificates widely available.
Stories like these make me proud to be a New Yorker!
ICYMI: During the fifth inning of a World Series game this weekend, activists unfurled a giant trans pride flag bearing the words “TRANS PEOPLE DESERVE TO LIVE” in the middle of the crowd. The group TransLatin@ Coalition was behind the flag, citing protests of Trump’s newest proposal to erase trans people; activists Maria Roman and Bamby Salcedo filmed themselves draping it in the stadium, where it stayed for several minutes. YES. (via PinkNews)
Scotland made history recently by becoming the first nation in the world to mandate teaching about LGBTQ history and social movements in public school curriculum.
State schools will be required to teach pupils about the history of LGBTI equalities and movements, as well as tackling homophobia and transphobia and exploring LGBTI identity, after ministers accepted in full the recommendations of a working group led by the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign. There will be no exemptions or opt-outs to the policy, which will embed LGBTI inclusive education across the curriculum and across subjects and which the Scottish government believes is a world first.
Jordan Daly, the co-founder of TIE, said the “destructive legacy” of section 28 had come to an end. This legislation, introduced in 1988, banned local authorities in the UK from “promoting” homosexuality, until it was eventually repealed in Scotland 2001 and in the rest of the UK two years later.
Daly said: “This is a monumental victory for our campaign, and a historic moment for our country. The implementation of LGBTI inclusive education across all state schools is a world first. In a time of global uncertainty, this sends a strong and clear message to LGBTI young people that they are valued here in Scotland.”
Incredible. I can’t wait until the day when this is the standard around the world.
if you’re lgbt and a transmisogynist like i’m really sorry you’re an idiot and don’t realize trans women literally created this community cause that’s really sad, like we wouldn’t have a community without them. you waving your pitchfork and incomprehensible rhetoric to thank them is sad. and all i’m gonna feel in response is utter secondhand embarrassment for how stupid you are. like you’re dumb bye