Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EuchreJack]

Sounds like it's the situation described within this news article, that I saw the other day.

(The "told not to register the children of same-sex couples" bit, rather than the reported small victory against misappropriating the image. I don't know anything more about the registration thing, though.)

I'm sorry, but let's not overlook this gem from the article:
"Brothers of Italy - Fratelli d'Italia in Italian - were ordered to pay for the "offensive use of their image" after Italian LGBT law firm Gay Lex took on the case. The party is appealing the decision."

As for WHY it matters that children of same-sex couples be entitled to the same rights as everyone else, there was another linked article that explains:
"That left a regulatory vacuum surrounding several aspects of LGBT family life, including adoption. Solutions aimed at getting around bureaucratic hurdles were reached on a case-by-case basis, as cases went to court...
Children who are denied the right to have both parents recognised on their birth certificate are left in a legal limbo.

Their families face a range of challenges. In the most extreme scenario, if the legally recognised parent were to pass away, the children could become wards of the state and face the prospect of being orphaned."

The Law does NOT find truth, it CREATES truth. If you have no rights under the law, you have NO rights under the law.
It's why I lose my shit when someone says "natural law". Guess what? Monkey's don't hand out parking tickets, nor hold court.  Law is an inherently artificial construct that humans created to assist them in their interactions with other humans.
Now, "natural rights" is truly a thing, as humans have the same right to fight back against anything trying to kill them as any other animal.

[Great Order]

-You know what, probably best not to be actively sharing this stuff-

[Rolan7]

3-1

no dont cri. if u cri, i cri.

3-3

All is good.

(Link to Heartstopper page 1 since it has been a while: https://tapas.io/episode/428109 )
So I'm finally all caught up now!  I liked taking my time with it.  I didn't realize it's ongoing, but honestly it feels like the primary narrative is complete.

The will-they-won't-they and being cute was fun, but I really appreciating them going into the dark issues in... chapter 5 I think?  Seemed like a healthy portrayal of those sorts of problems.

Anyway looks like there's already a second season on Netflix!  The preview clip has some Imogen chick claiming she's dating Nick, so I guess there are differences?  Unless she was in the comic and I forgot XD  Either way, I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Right now I'm re-listening to a podcast about Stein's Gate, a popular time-travel Visual Novel (and anime?) with a trans character.  I forget the details, but I seem to remember the game going into that classic trans dream of alternate timelines. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iguya5vCg8o&list=PL-DNICST8Zbx9c7VJEBldhCVWgjk3_mfH&index=63&pp=iAQB

In fact, here's a trans fic in the format of text messages along those lines.  It made me cry when I first read it.  sorry it's on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Azure_Writing/status/1452324640957902852

As for reading, I'm currently enjoying a classic manga called Power!! or Girl Got Game.  It's a mostly-comedic and over-the-top tale that appears to be about a girl pretending to be a boy so she can play serious basketball.  Her father pushed the situation on her, and Volume 2 is making it clearer that she'd rather present as a girl.  (maybe that was supposed to be clear from how hard she secretly crushes on some of her male classmates, but she could have been a gay trans guy!  IDK!!)
Anyway it's about sports and gender and cute guys.  I found it on a site called mangatoto which I probably shouldn't link directly to
Lastly, the free online manga I originally mentioned weeks ago:  From A Knight To A Lady.  I'm excited to get back into it.  The concept is:
A commoner girl decides to become a knight, and does so.  She doesn't crossdress or anything, she just trains exceptionally hard and her nation accepts her service to defend against an expansionist empire.  She even becomes a captain!  Her team poke fun as soldiers do, but she pokes back and is "one of the guys" and everything's great.  It's even looking like they might successfully repel the empire, thanks largely to her elite team.

Oh no she gets betrayed and fatally stabbed!!

When she wakes up, it's several years in the future.  Her homeland is conquered.  Bizarrely, she's in the body of a frail noble girl of the invading empire!!  Almost too weak to walk, and apparently very spoiled.

That's how the story begins lol.  She has to learn courtesy, hold back her rage at the empire, and hunt down her betrayer... if she can even get out of bed.

I found the concept engaging since she's clearly a woman in either form, but a lot of her GNC behaviors are particularly out of place in the body of a noble "lady".  It's interesting how she rises to this challenge and even gains a grudging respect for ladies, who are suppressed by misogyny just as she had been.

Also her mysterious new attitude impresses her cute arranged fiancee and maybe they don't entirely hate each other <3
https://mangabuddy.com/from-a-knight-to-a-lady/chapter-1
oh goodness I'm only on chapter 27 out of 93 waow.  A lot of stuff has happened already so I'm kinda surprised!  Pleasantly.

[voliol]

I recall Ruka from Steins;Gate as a gay character so poorly understood by the author that they turned out trans. Or at least that was the sentiment on the Internet (/r/anime_irl, to be specific) some five to ten years ago. I don't remember if those claiming that backed it up with some author interview, or if it was just some in-game/anime line about Ruka wanting to be a girl so that she could realize her crush on a male character. I'm sure you've got a firmer grasp on the situation now than I do if you've listened to a podcast about it.

In general there's a lot of gender and gay in manga and anime, since 70s shōjo manga authors started it with say The Rose of Versailles and The Heart of Thomas. Though quite a lot of it is not too great when it comes to accuracy, since the target group is as often straight cis people wrestling the claustrophobic gender roles of Japanese society, as it is LGBTQ+ people*. Most (in)famous is perhaps the yaoi/BL genre and the amount of yuri written for men, basically occupying some space ranging between gender escapism and gay/lesbian porn for straight people. But I imagine it's similar with trans characters, versus characters who have trans flair but exist to explore tight gender roles and/or a want for femboys/tomboys. Though it goes for like everywhere, that explicitly trans character are very rare.

*Not to say LGBTQ+ people don't consume these works. Flower Tribes and Female Desire: Complicating Early Female Consumption of Male Homosexuality in Shōjo Manga. by James Welker is a favorite paper of mine, about readers of early readers of BL who can be viewed through both a lesbian and transmasc lens. And even if bara exists as a "by gay men, for gay men" genre in parallel to the "by women, for women" of BL, that doesn't mean gay men don't read BL.

[Loud Whispers]

If you want trashy romcom anime that turns out to be good I can recommend Lvl1 demon lord to the one room hero.

The hero Max and his party defeat the demon lord. Save the world. All is good.
Except the demon lord reincarnates to have a rematch with Max only to discover the world has modernised and Max is just a washed out has-been. At the start it becomes clear the demon lord has some kind of transcendental love for the hero that goes beyond gender and sexuality (love for the one person they considered a true equal), and as a demon who can change shape or reincarnate they don't really have as strong an attachment to their male identity. But then the demon lord keeps pretending to be Max's girlfriend and you can sum up their sheer awkward energy as "hahahaha wouldn't it be so stupid if we like held hands and gazed lovingly in each other's eyes hahahaha but that would be so silly... UNLESS...?"

The jokes all land pretty well and then they start involving politics and drama from old friends... And it just works

[Mech#4]

I enjoyed reading "Girl Friends" by Milk Morinaga about a decade ago. It's not very complicated but was a nice romance story.
"Girl Friends" wikipedia page.

[martinuzz]

In Uganda, a 20 year old man is the first to be charged with 'qualified homosexuality' under the new Ugandese anti-LGBTQ+ laws that were passed last May.
If he is convicted, he will face the death penalty. His crime is having had sex with a 41 year old male.

The new law, which is regarded the most draconic and gruesome anti-LGBTQ+ law in the entire world, not only makes the act of homosexuality punishable by death.
Anyone deemed accomplice can face up to 7 years in prison, for example, a hotel owner renting out a room in which a homosexual act took place.

Promoting homosexuality will be punished by 20 years in prison. Unsurprisingly, activists and organisations helping LGBTQ+ can no longer operate in the country.

In response to the new law, some countries, including the Netherlands, have frozen developmental funds and partnerships, and the World Bank decided this month not to grant any new loans to Uganda, because 'the law is fundamentally in contradiction with our bank's values'.
So far to little effect. Ugandese politicians say the law is nescessary to protect Uganda from Western influences.


Sigh.. Why is LGBTQ+ acceptance becoming more and more of a casus belli for international relations
I guess it's nothing new. Hitler didn't only send Jews, Sinti and Roma to the gas chambers, gays were also targeted for extermination.

[Great Order]

And, rather depressingly, upon being rescued from the camps anyone who was gay was immediately sent to prison.

As for protecting from "Western influences", it's a post-colonial nation. They're protecting Western influences, just older ones.

[Loud Whispers]

Alas, lacking in certifications, does that make one an unqualified practitioner of gay?

[Rolan7]

And, rather depressingly, upon being rescued from the camps anyone who was gay was immediately sent to prison.

As for protecting from "Western influences", it's a post-colonial nation. They're protecting Western influences, just older ones.

Yeah, but not even just the older ones!  Evangelicals have been exporting violent homophobia into Africa in the 21rst century.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/19/africa-uganda-evangelicals-homophobia-antigay-bill/

Sanctioning Uganda is probably the best bandaid *now*, but it's pretty hypocritical when we protect and respect and honor these fucking bloodthirsty racist homophobic shitheads in our own countries.  We should treat them as murderers, not give them GODDAMN TAX EXEMPTIONS

This one quotes actual Zambian politicians: https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2023/04/08/heres-what-american-christian-fundamentalists-are-exporting-africa-column/
The film God Loves Uganda covered this shit a decade ago

Yet we're supposed to treat all this as some religious liberty thing.  Blood-soaked fucks.  AND cultural gen- uh, "people who want to replace the culture of people they view as lesser".  don't want to get controversial by using the scary phrase.

My point is that there are things we could do here at home.  These people should not feel safe, and they certainly shouldn't be fucking subsidized.

[Caz]

Ugandese politicians say the law is nescessary to protect Uganda from Western influences.

Didn't Ugandan homophobic beliefs stem directly from colonial Europe?

[Magmacube_tr]

Ugandese politicians say the law is nescessary to protect Uganda from Western influences.

Didn't Ugandan homophobic beliefs stem directly from colonial Europe?

It did. That's the irony.

[martinuzz]

Didn't Ugandan homophobic beliefs stem directly from colonial Europe Christianity?

Yes it did

[TD1]

Ohhhh, are there any pre-colonial records of Ugandan homosexual practices?

[Loud Whispers]

Ugandese politicians say the law is nescessary to protect Uganda from Western influences.

Didn't Ugandan homophobic beliefs stem directly from colonial Europe?

To defeat the colonial Europe... You must BECOME the colonial Europe