Cops at Pride, Trans Dating, Witch Hunts, Christian Fragility, and More!
Prism & Pen Weekly — June 26, 2023
by James Finn
Happy Pride one day late from Prism & Pen! I took the day off yesterday to catch ABC’s 5-hour livestream of Pride Across America, featuring the New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco Pride parades. Worth it? Many of ABC’s pre-recorded interviews were quite good with lots of powerful messaging. I was disappointed, though, that ABC aired almost nothing of the NYC parade other than blurry, unviewable footage of floats rolling behind their chatty presenters. ABC showed us a little more of the San Francisco parade, and more still of the Chicago parade — but all up, video of the parades was an insignificant fraction of the livestream. All in all, I’d rather have gotten this Digest out on time.
And here you go!
What’s going on in the queer world? P&P writers lay it on the line, from the deeply personal to the bitterly political.
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— Editor’s Picks —
Cis-Heteronormative Christian Fragility: Why The Lack of Self-Confidence?
Fay wants to know why conservative Christians are so busy passing laws to keep queer people off the public stage and far away from public education. Aren’t conservative Christians confident that their ideas can champion themselves in a true “free market?”
I kept thinking about the contrast. The firm and steady confidence of “my peeps” in the LGBTQ community that “love” will win in the long run versus the apparent lack of self-confidence displayed by conservative Christians constantly crying about their victimhood …
The same lines are being mouthed either rudely by Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, crazily by looney-tunes Ginni Thomas, dully with the personality of a wet mop by Mike Pence, snidely by Darth Santis …
My Friend Survived a Gay Witch Hunt in Florida
Ron remembers a friend and colleague who got caught up in the Lavender Scare and almost lost his career. Is it starting up all over again?
Chuck Woods was a writer for the University of Florida when I met him in 2005, but he probably would not have been there if he had admitted to being gay when being grilled by campus police as a UF student in 1959. He would have been expelled even though he was told he would be “helped” if he admitted his orientation and named other suspected homosexuals.
Today’s gay faculty and students in our state universities are not being hunted and expelled, but they live in a state where laws are being made to restrict the rights of queer people, creating a new atmosphere of fear.
‘No Cops at Pride’ Isn’t Just About Queer History
Barring uniformed police officers from participating in Pride events is controversial. So why do many queer people make it a big issue? Kaylin lays it on the line— from history to very recent events.
Police brutality rarely ever focuses on just one specific group. People at the intersections of inequality and marginalisation are often the most at risk of police victimisation.
Likewise, most queer people are more than just queer — we are also women, people of colour, indigenous people, working class, disabled, refugees or members of any number of other marginalised communities. The Stonewall uprising reflected this reality: the bar was a haven for those who were marginalised, even by the queer community — queer street kids, people of colour, trans people and drag queens.
Want to Talk About ‘FORCED’ Trans Surgeries? Let’s Go!
Genital surgery for trans people is all over the news, often in misleading stories that imply trans kids need “protection” from surgical procedures they are not actually receiving. KP wants to know why New South Wales REQUIRES genital surgery in order to change gender markers on official documents. And why did a popular game show distort the issue (for snarky giggles) when Queensland dropped the requirement?
They missed the point. And then, one of the cast made a face in response to the very limited and point-missing explanation, a face that would be hard to call anything other than negative judgment. Of course, I could be wrong. Just seeing what I ‘want’ to see (let’s play that game, why not?) but the speed at which the camera angle switched …
— Essays and Creative Nonfiction —
What if You Invited 500 People to Pride and Almost 5,000 Came?
Shawn and Betty Duncan have been married for over a decade, but when they moved to the western Michigan resort town of Grand Haven, they pretended to be sisters and business partners: “We knew if we wanted our company to thrive, we were going to have to just squash that we were together and married.”
Two Saturdays ago, they held hands in public, in Grand Haven, at Pride — for the first time in 14 years.
Their friends and neighbors roared their approval, at a Pride fest that almost didn’t happen, in the middle of a crowd almost 10 times larger than anyone planned for.
TSA’s Mishandling of a Transgender Woman. Legal Sexual Harassment?
I keep thinking the TSA agent knew I was transgender the moment she saw me in line for the scanner.
… She abruptly jerked her hand straight up my skirt and directly into my crotch causing me to wince. Panicked, my eyes darted around, looking for someone familiar I could silently plead with. I saw one teammate in the distance, but they seemed impossibly out of reach. The room started to spin. I started to sweat. My mind racing in circles headed for nowhere good.
What Animals Can Teach Us About Love and Queerness
Both within and beyond their particular species, animals demonstrate care, bonding, and affection.
They remind us that the gender binary is human-made, that sameness need not be the only glue holding pairs together, and that interconnectedness benefits us all — for which reason rigidly prioritizing heteronormative romantic relationships above all other types disservices so many of us (queer people especially).
I Was Bathroom Policed by Security at LAX Because I’m Trans
To my surprise, shock, and bafflement, a woman in uniform stood outside the bathrooms. She said she heard me in the bathroom and that I should use the all-gender restroom in Terminal Six. I took her comment to indicate that I did not sufficiently conform to her idea of someone who belonged in the women’s restroom.
I asked if she wanted to see my ID with an F on the gender marker and if she wanted to check my underwear.
Working on My Internalized Gender Biases: Facial Hair Tripped Me Up
I don’t think I reacted when I saw the cashier’s pronoun pin. I hope I didn’t. I was exhausted and sleepy, but too hungry to just go home to bed, so we stopped at Dairy Queen for a burger and chicken strips.
The cashier who served us had dark facial hair peeking out from under a light pink face mask. I barely registered this until I saw the “she/her” pronoun pin fastened to her uniform shirt.
Transgender Women: Modern Day Witch Hunt Victims
Elizabeth Johnson was the last witch executed in the US in 1693, and Anna Göldi was the last witch executed in Europe in 1782. Historians suggest that the disproportionate storm of hate was caused by churches and governments that were under intense pressure to clean up society.
The witch hunt is back! This “witch hunt” has targeted a transgender women.
Celebrating Pride and Solstice: My Regular Pagan Holiday Greeting!
Just as the whole alphabet of queer folks have become pariahs around the world, our invention of Gay Pride Day and Gay Month have become universal markers of summer solstice (winter solstice in the southern hemisphere). For most of my adult life I’ve been celebrating the summer solstice at Gay Pride Day. Taking place in cities and towns around the world, mostly in June, Pride is both a protest and a party.
Think You Have Real Freedom? A View From a Gay Man.
If the protestors’ children weren’t attending the drag show, then whose children are they worried about?
Are they trying to parent other people’s kids?
I’m not saying those people shouldn’t be allowed to protest, because that’s what free speech is, right? The problem is that it works both ways. What if a bunch of drag queens (or is it a quiver of queens?) decided to protest outside their church? They probably wouldn’t like that very much.
The 20 Minute Uberfrau: The Little Black Dress and Other Transgender Reflections
I almost went arse over tit just now.
Just awake, I was off on my frizzy way to check for mail at the bottom of the stairs. I’d just opened the door to my apartment when I tripped over something in the murk. Well, would you look at that? An unusually conscientious postman had placed my Shein package and an envelope containing my new passport just outside my door.
How fabulous. What a way to start a day, almost being felled by change and glamour.
Elon Musk’s Anti-Trans Crusade: Twitter and the Fall of the Bird
Twitter has become incredibly toxic for pretty much anyone who isn’t white, cis, or straight. For example, many people noticed a massive spike in the use of the N-word on Twitter right when Elon took over, and we’ve seen similar patterns of this with other forms of bigotry in general.
Transphobia has been a consistent problem since Elon bought Twitter, and it’s something that is, as per the report from GLAAD, getting considerably worse.
Rishi Sunak Unveils New Section 28 Targeting Trans Kids
The original section 28 prevented discussions of homosexuality in a school environment, and many people are drawing a comparison to these proposals. Under this new guidance, trans kids are being targeted but in a much more frightening way. If this actually gets put in place then it will mean the forced outing of trans kids to their parents which, as I’ve already explained, is only going to benefit abusers.
Support for Same-Sex Marriage Falls as Right Intensifies ‘War on Trans’
In the real world, Lenny and I were denied the protections of marriage. As we planned for his impending passing, we became registered domestic partners. We hired lawyers. We commingled our finances so money wouldn’t have to go through escrow. In the real world, the co-op board evicted me after Lenny died.
Now, in the space of just one year, pollsters find that very significant percentages of Americans — Republicans and Democrats — have decided that same-sex relationships are immoral. Is anybody truly shocked? Does anyone truly fail to see the connection to the right’s war on trans?
Reframing the Narrative: A Queer Take on Homophobia
Have you ever had your grandpa, over a Sunday brunch, casually ask you, “So, when did you decide to be gay?” It’s like asking someone when they decided to have brown eyes. It’s these moments that make me pause and realize how misunderstood the concept of sexual orientation is for older generations.
I’ve often come across people who might unintentionally make homophobic comments or ask offensive questions. However, I’ve learned that it’s usually not malicious, but rather a lack of understanding or familiarity …
A Queer Interpretation of the Greek Myth, ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’
For countless nights, as a boy between the ages of about six and twelve, I had a recurring nightmare. It was the same panic-ridden story of being trapped in a labyrinth.
I grew up in a pre-YouTube world, listening to stories on small vinyl records. Of them all, I was most transfixed by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur — a story I returned to over and again. It would be three decades before I could finally glimpse its meaning and significance.
Honest Talk About Cis Gay Men Who Aren’t Attracted to Trans Men
In an LGBTQ+ Facebook group, a cis gay man declared, “I respect trans people’s identities. But if a trans man comes for a hookup, and he pulls down his pants, I won’t be interested.”
A trans female friend, Lyra, was the admin of the group. She was mad and deleted his post.
Some people applauded her decision, but others grumbled that an admin shouldn’t delete a post just because they disagreed with it. Some other folks stated that sexual preference is different from the acceptance of other people’s identities.
Transgender Insecurity: The Baseball Bat of Gender Dysphoria
For 60 years I hid behind a wall of masculinity. Testosterone and strict male socialization over decades made the walls high and thick. It took 60 years to breach them. I have tried over over the last five years to deny that I am transgender…entirely to myself. Everyone else that I have told seems to accept it faster than me.
I am amazingly stubborn.
Just Call Me Bubba: I Surrender My Transgender Membership Card …
I am going to move to a place where men are men and women are second class. I’m thinking of Texas. They have the right political attitude about godless LGBTQ people, and they sure know how to treat their women. God has even instructed them on how to handle women who believe they have a right to their own bodies.
Then I am going to get me a pickup truck with a gun rack.
— Memoir —
Slammed: a Memoir
How did John navigate life as a musical-theater actor after meth/sex addiction almost destroyed his career? Not very happily, actually, at least during one particular year from hell — otherwise known as a national road tour of Annie, The Musical.
While the show played at a theater downtown in the Tenderloin District, our hotel was in Oakland, which meant a commute. The Moms — each orphan had a parent accompanying them on tour — banded together and demanded to be put up in a hotel closer to the theater… So they booked the Moms and the Orphans, along with Gene, our Daddy Warbucks, at a hotel about a block away from the theater.
On the very same day, just down the street from the hotel, Gene realized a sleeping homeless guy was actually dead. He called 911 and stayed to divert orphans and Moms till first responders could handle the situation.
Read: Touring with ‘Annie,’ a Monster Cast Member Triggered Meth Memories
— Fiction Series —
In a galaxy far, far away, a band of “elves” crash landed on purpose onto an already inhabited planet. War broke out between the elves and the indigenous people, but after centuries, a ban on most technology created peace and prosperity — at the expense of individual freedom and knowledge of the past. Now, a warship is speeding in, and the “elves” on board sound angry, quite possibly genocidal.
“Our shuttles were not damaged, but in the twelve-hundred years since the ship crashed, it has been buried underground,” Takyra explained. “The shuttle bays are entirely blocked, and we have no means to raise the ship.”
There was a long pause.
“Understood,” Captain Denyra finally responded. “It is imperative that you gather as many of these Aria’asharra descendants as you can within the next week.”
Read episode 43: Burnout
Read episode 44: Closer
Read episode 45: Catching Up
Read episode 46: Denyra
— Fiction Finds —
End-of-Summer Texas Hookup, The Texas Secret.
As their lively conversation unfolded, Emily pulled a letter from her purse and handed it to Mark, waiting for him to read. Tension hung in the air. The letter was as menacing as a Texas thunderstorm to her bon vivant life and there was no right time to reveal the truth. With a deep breath, she paused, her eyes fixed on Mark’s face. The letter Mark was reading had the potential to disrupt the tranquility of their lives and unearth a long-concealed secret about their parent’s fortune.
Gloryhole In Heaven
As I became overwhelmed by the reality that this truly was Martin I was holding, in my blindness I lowered my lips and kissed him — as I had done so many many times before. And just as suddenly the cock became lighter as it slowly evaporated from my hand. Gone. I felt around for the hole in the partition, but there was no sign of it.
I stood up and waved my hands like crazy over my head and the bathroom light kicked back on.
— Poetry Picks —
The Transgendence Prayer: Inclusive Spirituality.
Dear Goddess,
Hallowed be thy energy,
Thy vibrations come to us,
To this Earth as from the heavens, …
It Ain’t Necessarily So
It ain’t necessarily so,
It ain’t necessarily so,
The things that you’re liable
To read in the bible,
It ain’t necessarily so.Some Christians insist all day long
That the Bible says gay sex is wrong …
What is your America to you?
I don’t stand, heart covered by hand.
I kneel in the sand.
Heavy heart, disillusioned,
what is your America to you?In my America I am scared all the time.
My people, your people, always some people,
it’s they, they say, who risk toppling the steeple…
Sweet Melody of Love — a bisexual poem
I’m made of sugar and of spice,
And everything that’s sweet and nice.
I’m drawn to both fire and ice,
And everything between the heights.
If music be the food of love,
Play on, sweet melody of love!
That’s all for Prism & Pen this week. Writers, please take a look at our current prompt, Pride 2023 DEFIES White Supremacists, Christian Nationalists. We’ll be accepting submissions through the end of the month.
See y’all Sunday, barring another disappointing network TV livestream.
Jim
