Prism & Pen Says, Bye Bye Birdie to Twitter
Come join us on BlueSky!
Sorry for the 1958 musical theater reference, but not that sorry! *insert laughter emoji*
If you’ve been paying much attention, you already know Twitter (now known as X) is no longer healthy for queer people and other living things. Not sorry for that obscure reference either. Google it.
*see the above laughter emoji*
At Prism & Pen, we’ve been meaning to leave Twitter and probably should have before now, in solidarity with everyone who feels targeted there by Republicans, MAGA, and other conservatives. But, at least for me, it’s been hard. I put so much work into my personal Twitter account to promote P&P stories, amplify queer voices, and put out some warmth and light into a dark universe. Since 2018!
It was hard to walk away from all those years of sweat, tears, and joy.
Then Fay Wylde happened. Just kidding, Fay!
This happened:
This reminded us at Prism & Pen that X, as it’s now called, is no place for queer people. We don’t know, but we think the tweet was likely suppressed because Elon Musk is enforcing his nonsense that the neutral descriptor “cisgender” is hate speech.
Whatever the specifics, no details in Fay’s story differ in any substantial way from details printed in every newspaper in the United States and much of the world. Here, read it for yourself: GOP Says LGBTQ Are Predators… But (Hetero) Predator Men Are OK?
The fact is that the Republican Party IS in the process of elevating sexually predatory men to the highest positions of power in the land while demonizing and stigmatizing LGBTQ people, especially trans people. That’s AFTER they cheerfully elected a rapist to the very HIGHEST office in the land.
This is real, not some leftist fever dream. So, one of our writers did what writers do. She wrote about it. (What!? A queer women complaining about men who sexually abuse women!? How dare she!)
If we’re not allowed to promote Fay’s story on X, then we have no use for X — and I mean that literally rather than just parroting the idiom. What use is a platform that doesn’t let us speak for ourselves and advocate for ourselves?
I guess that was the kick in the ass we needed — or at least that I needed.
Thanks to our social media maven Esther Spurrill-Jones, we’ve been active on BlueSky social for many weeks now already — not to mention Mastodon and Tumblr.
Starting today, we’re deleting all Prism & Pen presence on X. Esther will be deactivating our P&P account, and I’m terminating my personal account — after a short waiting period to let our followers know to look for us on BlueSky.
Wanna follow me personally? →
https://bsky.app/profile/james-finn.bsky.social
How about Tucker Liberman? →
https://bsky.app/profile/tuckerlieberman.bsky.social
Or Kaylin Hamilton? →
https://bsky.app/profile/kaylinwrites.bsky.social
Or Esther Spurrill-Jones, the Word Artist? →
Most importantly, for free P&P “friend links” for all our stories every morning, click below.
See you around BlueSky! 👇
