Ryu289 - Untitled

Please note that while what they said is based on a real quote, these participant characters are entirely fictional and not based on anyone real.

The brain does not magically mature at 25. Actual neuroscientists note some 8-year-olds even have a greater "maturation index" than 25-year-olds. The myth misunderstands basic neuroscience but is still used for anti-trans policymaking like the Cass Report. https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/brain-development-25-year-old-mature-myth.html

It often feels like mainstream acceptance of queer people, particularly trans and nonbinary people, is contingent on there being few of us. When I was a kid witnessing arguments about gay marriage, statistics about LGBTQ people were so often presented in such a way as to reassure everyone else that we are not dangerous because we are rare. "It's not going to cause societal collapse ... because such a small percentage of people are gay."

And conservative rhetoric against queer people, particularly trans people, which explicitly refers to us as a "social contagion," really underscores that any perceived "increase" in sexual or gender diversity will be seen as a threat. If queer people are permitted to exist, we must be aberrant and isolated. If we are normal and natural and commonly occurring, it is because something has gone terribly wrong.

So. Forgive me if I bristle at the well-meaning argument that "these trans athlete bans are ridiculous, they're only going to affect a few dozen people!" I understand where they're coming from. But I think trans people should be free and abundant.

It amazes me how the National Park Service is the most vocal department against Fascism. Even the Democrats are a mumble when compared to these park rangers' adamant denouncement and exposing of this administration. Support our bravest federal workers who keep our world one worth living in.

Texas may keep sodomy law for hate in it

This is Texas, where sodomy is still in the penal code and its conservative leaders like it that way.

Legislators criminalized such behavior back to the 1800s.

When the Texas penal code needed updating in the 1900s, lawmakers saw fit to keep their anti-sodomy law on the books, banning “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.”

Texas is also where, in 1998, a Houston police officer arrested a gay couple in a private residence for breaking that law by engaging in “homosexual conduct.”

It’s also the state where a lawsuit over that arrest reached the U.S. Supreme Court. It ruled in 2003 that anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional.

Lawrence v. Texas told states — Texas wasn’t the only one — to stay out of people’s bedrooms, because, you know, due process, liberty and privacy.

Policing private, consensual behavior between adults is also ridiculous, even if the couple engaged in such sexual relations is straight and married.

But this is Texas, where far-right extremists continue to meddle in places where they have no business, including who uses what bathroom, what sex one was at birth and what teams they can play on.

They especially want to control what Texas women do with their bodies, limiting their health care options to death.

What certain men do in private is also a concern for the far-right, so keeping a so-called “zombie” sodomy law in place is important to them, even if unenforceable.

It’s the symbolism of hate that counts.

The Texas House of Representatives bravely but narrowly voted 59-56 to strike the law and send House Bill 1738 to the Senate.

It’s interesting to note that an early ballot came in at 72 for repeal and 55 against.

Sen. José Menendez, D-San Antonio, is offering to sponsor the Senate version and hopes it’s assigned to a committee.

Time is against him.

The Legislature wraps up its session in early June.

I expect that the state’s Republican leadership, headed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in the Senate, will determine that repealing the anti-sodomy law isn’t good for politics.

Giving Democrats and sane Republicans a win isn’t good in the hate business.

Instead, by letting a so-called “zombie” law stay in place, Republicans can look to the next election and use it to feed its extremist masses.

They haven’t seen enough zombie movies.

Zombies are capable of rising from the dead.

So, this is still the Lone Star State, where politicians can be cruel and their voters more so.

It’s part of our nation’s legacy of intolerance, starting with colonial statutes that criminalized sexual acts.

Those early arrivals were hell-bent on enacting laws that punished homosexual activity in particular.

Those found guilty got the death penalty.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, things started to look up after the American Revolution.

It found that “in 1796, New Jersey passed ‘An Act for the Punishment of Crimes’ that made sodomy punishable by a fine and solitary confinement with hard labor for no more than 21 years.”

The center said 20th-century state legislatures continued to focus on criminalizing homosexuality.

“Several sodomy laws were expanded to include oral sex,” it said.

“In the 1950s, state and nationwide ‘witch hunts’ of homosexual men ensued, and hate-based rhetoric equated consensual adult sex with child molestation.”

Human Rights Watch, the independent group that monitors and investigates human rights abuses worldwide, maintains the origins of anti-sodomy laws rest in British colonialism.

Here’s the hope in this story.

A bipartisan team led HB1738. It’s the first time a bill has gotten this far in several decades of trying.

That’s a remarkable feat.

Rep. Venton Jones of Dallas, who is openly gay and was born when this fight to repeal the law began, authored the bill. In his success, he remembered those who came before him.

“I am standing on the shoulders of people who have carried this bill before me, and that’s where I get my strength,” he said.

Jones didn’t build his case on the Supreme Court ruling.

Instead, he asked his colleagues “to vote for a law that upholds the principles that Texans should have the freedom and ability to make their own private decisions without unwarranted government interference.”

Even one of the worst lawmakers in the state, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, supports repealing the state law.

But this is Texas, where an unconstitutional law is likely to remain in the penal code.

Far-right Christian nationalists will raise their Bibles in unison.

The rest of us can carry on the march toward sanity that the Texas House began.

Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of Equality Texas, said people hear “gay rights” and imagine all sorts of things.

But their struggle is simple. It’s “the privacy to live our lives in peace.”

And no one — gay or straight — can live in peace when zombies can come back from the dead.

elon musk did a nazi salute twice at the inauguration, and republicans are defending him.

trump revoked executive order 11246, which prohibited discrimination.

trump put all dei employees on leave to be fired.

trump blamed the dc plane crash on dei.

trump banned all lgbtq+ flags from being hung in government buildings.

trump ordered the pentagon to cancel celebration of mlk jr. day, black history month, women's history month, holocaust remembrance day, asian american pacific islander heritage month, lgbtq+ pride month, juneteenth, women's equality day, national hispanic heritage month, national disability employment awarenessmonth, and national american indian heritage month.

trump proposed removing all palestinians from gaza, turning the area into a vacation resort called “riviera of the middle east”.

trump posted an ai generated video showing what he hopes to turn palestine into, with a large golden statue of himself in the middle of it.

trump rolled back biden’s executive order to lower prescription drug costs for people using medicare and medicaid.

trump rescinded the $35 cap on insulin, and prices are expected to rise to $1500 a month.

trump ordered the national institutes of health to cancel their review panels on cancer research.

trump ended the guidelines to prevent ai misuse. the guidelines prevent many things, but notably it prevents production of ai child pornography.

when sean hannity asked trump about the economy, he said “i don’t care”, after campaigning with the economy as his main talking point.

trump has withdrawn the us from the world health organization.

trump is ordering health agencies to stop reporting on bird flu and halt publications of scientific reports.

trump has pardoned over 1500 people who stormed the capitol on january 6th.

trump changed denali back to mount mckinley.

trump signed an executive order to rename the gulf of mexico to gulf of america.

trump shut down cbp one, an app which granted legal entry to 1 million+ immigrants.

trump has discussed introducing a “gold card”, which would allow the wealthiest people to buy us citizenship for $5 million usd.

trump is allowing ice raids at churches and elementary schools.

trump announced plans to declare a national emergency at the us-mexico border.

trump signed an executive order to expand the use of the death penalty.

trump disbanded the school safety board that works to prevent school shootings. it was comprised of survivors, educators, and gun violence prevention advocates and formed after the school shooting in parkland.

trump has threatened to invade panama to claim the panama canal.

trump withdrew from the paris climate act.

trump revoked all protections for transgender troops in the us military.

trump rescinded executive orders made by biden that benefited and protected women, lgbtq+ people, black americans, hispanic americans, asian americans, native hawaiians, and pacific islanders.

trump is attempting to make it legal to refuse to hire or fire pregnant women.

multiple state legislators are drafting bills to allow the punishment for abortion to be the death penalty.

trump pardoned 23 individuals convicted under the freedom of access to clinic entrances (FACE) act for their anti-abortion activism, including oftentimes violent protests at abortion clinics.

trump signed an executive order allowing deportation of foreign students who they believe express support for hamas or hezbollah.

trump announced that the us government will from here on out only recognize male and female as sexes. intersex is not legally recognized anymore.

trump has told all schools and universities that they have two weeks to end all diversity initiatives, or he will cut federal funding. (as of feb 19, 2025)

trump fired the staff of the federal aviation association after a deadly plane crash in dc.

trump has fired the heads of the tsa and coast guard, and gutted a key aviation safety advisory committee.

the state of louisiana just rolled back desegregation laws because of a petition from the department of justice.

the supreme court weakened the clean water act's limitations on raw sewage discharge into our water in a 5-4 ruling.

the official white house twitter account posted an “illegal alien deportation” asmr video where they did closeups of chains and the sound of ankle chains hitting the metal stairs of the airplanes deportees were being loaded onto.

on truth social, trump posted, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”.

at CPAC, a republican group called the “third term project” held a rally to support changing the constitution so trump can run for a third term. on their posters, they’re photoshopping his face onto julius caesar’s, seemingly forgetting what happened to julius caesar.

the trump administration paused health communications to prevent the fda from announcing food recalls.

republicans on tiktok are recreating elon’s salute to prove that it “wasn’t a nazi salute”, and they’re either doing it completely wrong because they know if they replicate it then it will actually be a salute, or they’re doing the proper salute and posting it online.

google and apple maps now display the gulf of mexico as “gulf of america”.

rfk jr. wants to ban SSRIs and put everyone on them into labor camps.

andy ogles drafted a constitutional amendment to allow trump to be president for a third term.

the us senate confirmed russell vought, one of the main authors of project 2025, will lead the white house budget office.

nancy mace repeatedly used the t-slur during a congressional meeting, three times were out of spite.

andy biggs introduced a bill to abolish osha and completely eliminate federal workplace safety protections.

georgia republican congressman mike collins called for the deportation of new jersey born mariann budde, the bishop who urged trump to “have mercy” on the lgbtq+ community and immigrants during a service at the national cathedral.

florida republican anna paulina luna has introduced a bill to add trump to mount rushmore.

new york republican claudia tenney introduced a bill to make trump’s birthday a federal holiday.

west virginia republican delegate lisa white has introduced house bill 2712, which would remove rape and incest as exceptions for abortion, even for minors. you can call her at (304) 340- 3274 or email her at lisa.white@wvhouse.gov and let her know your opinion on that.

there is a bill named the SAVE act which would require americans to provide their birth certificate, passport, or other citizenship documents every time they vote, and would require the last name on their driver’s license to match that of their birth certificate. this would prevent married women who have changed their last name from voting.

bill h.r.1161, which is available publicly on congress.gov, would authorize trump to enter into negotiations to acquire greenland and to rename it to "red, white, and blueland".

six states (arizona, idaho, iowa, kansas, mississippi, and north dakota) are planning on challenging obergefell v. hodges, which would end same-sex marriage nationwide. about a dozen more states have representatives are also considering filing similar resolutions.

a bill to ban the mRNA vaccine has passed out of the house committee.

amazon revoked protections for lgbtq+ and black employees.

the cdc has removed their hiv prevention page.

the united states state department has officially changed its “travelers with special conditions” page which previously said “lgbtqi+ travelers” to “lgb travelers”, completely getting rid of the tqi+.

every single republican told us we were overreacting. trump swore he had nothing to do with project 2025 yet continues implementing details outlined in it. not a single person has the right to tell us we’re being dramatic anymore.

hope “cheaper eggs and gas” was worth it.

EDIT: i removed the “trump refused to swear on the bible” point because it was being taken as me being an offended christian. i’m not christian, im agnostic. the reason i included it in the first place is because he’s the first president in history to ever refuse to swear on ANYTHING. meanwhile his “conservative christian” followers had no issue with this, and decided to continue to scramble for excuses instead of admitting he may not be as religious as he claims he is. i figured taking that point out entirely is probably better than filling this with an explanation in the middle of the other important issues.

Sending in the cops to put down student protesters--err I mean Hamas terrorists