That Picture Of The Little Boy Holding A Puppy And Smiling With The Writing On The Bottom That Says Hi

that picture of the little boy holding a puppy and smiling with the writing on the bottom that says hi daddy this is my doggy chelsea isn't she cute i love you and the picture of the cat with the writing that says our michael... pet photos of all time

not to be controversial but I don’t understand how some people think love isn’t real. even if we’re exclusively talking romantic love (which is stupid to do anyway) how can you deny what millions of people have expressed over millennia? How can you tell them their experiences aren’t valid? It feels so unnecessary pessimistic and also kinda selfish

Faced with the current state of the world, I was once again thinking “why can’t they just leave us alone?” And I still think that, but it hit me that that’s what they- the fearmongering bigots, that is- think and say as well.

But what do they want? Let’s look at what the queer community want, in detail. The ability to not be killed or imprisoned for expressing our identity. To be able to access life-saving medicine and therapy. To be able to get married. These are not abstract- these are real threats we face, propagated by specific people and policy. This is our daily lives.

What’s on the line for them? In their own words, their way of life, their culture. What does this mean? What is their way of life? If you press further, it just circles back- their way of life is excluding and ignoring queer folks existence.

This group, by nature, seek dominance and segregation. We want acceptance and inclusion. This is immediately obvious if you are paying any attention. We want gay couples to be allowed to go to prom. They want only straight couples at prom. We want gay couples and trans people to be allowed to exist peacefully on TV and media. They want only straight, cisgender people. They actively campaign for this, and treat the very idea of acknowledging us as people as not only obscene, as funny, so ridiculous it’s humorous. Plainly, we want to exist, while homophobes and transphobes don’t want us to. Their safety and well-being is not on the line. Ours is. What’s on the line for them is the ability to not see what might be a potential gay couple once while taking a walk and never again. For their kids favorite book series to not have one line regarding a characters transgender identity. For their not to be a gay couple mentioned among the straight couples in the newspapers marriage section. And, most importantly, for their sense of dominance and control not mentally challenged. Of course gay marriage doesn’t affect them, but it challenges their view of the world where only their way of life is right and true. It challenges what they’ve grown up believing. And that, truly, IS scary. They are truly scared- but they are not truly in danger.

Their most concrete compliant and demand, which has picked up steam extremely quickly in the past year, is to let the children be. Don’t groom the children. Don’t force the children to be trans.

This is a decades old panic shifted from primarily targeted towards gay men, to primarily focused on trans people. ‘Think of the children!’ has been used for a long time, and to some extent, that’s perfectly understandable- I, too, want children to be safe and happy. But this argument is, at best, projection. The people being forced to live in a body that makes them miserable is not cisgender kids- it is transgender kids. Transgender people, including kids, are the ones much more likely to be groomed or assaulted. There ARE kids having their genitals changed without their consent- intersex babies, a practice that once again targets people whose gender doesn’t match certain ideas, and a practice largely condemned by trans activists. This is not happening to 8 year old boys who wanted to wear a dress and are now having surgery on their privates. That is a fantasy, put simply, it is a lie.

Queer people want freedom. Queerphobes want suppression. Queer people want equality. Queerphobes want dominance. Queer people want truth. Queerphobes want misinformation. And no amount of lies, no amount of changing history (“we were fine with gay marriage, but now you’ve taken it too far!”), no amount of colorful cartoons seen on Twitter or Facebook is going to change that.

what if everything is intentional. what if dancing with your friends matters as much as picking up groceries. what if you put color in your hair and a stranger feels seen. what if someone makes soup for you. what if tears are sacred. what if it’s all love.

it’s always “you need to get a job” and “why aren’t you in college?” And never “Ava what are the 5 DSM-5 criteria for autism, why don’t you tell me all about your opinions and theories on it?”

*squirms around*