Anti-LGBTQ Violence Spreads: From the US to Canada, the UK to Ireland
Prism & Pen Weekly — May 21, 2023
by James Finn
Last week, somebody hacked a Florida traffic sign to urge people to “Kill All Gays.” Shocked? Anti-LGBTQ hatred is in vogue again, normalized by hateful political rhetoric. Cities in Florida and elsewhere are canceling Pride events as hatred spreads. In Prism & Pen this week, several LGBTQ writers examine the impact of that hate — from Canada, to the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland.
As always, P&P writers share their real queer lives, from the joy of young romance to the pain of divorce. Plus in fiction, Anastasia the Nonbinary Dragon is back, and Grayson Bell’s cool (quite relevant!) queer sci-fi tale clocks in with three bitesize pieces.
Read stories for free by clicking underlined links. Want more daily stories from across the rainbow? Follow us on Medium, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or Mastodon! Want to help support P&P? Click here to join Medium.
— Editor’s Picks —
Lukewarm LGBTQ+ Lip Service from Canadian Government
As Esther reads news stories about anti-LGBTQ hatred rising in Canada, she worries that political leaders aren’t taking the threat seriously. Here, she asks them to prioritize action over lip service.
When we look South across the border, Canadians often feel smug and superior, secure in our famous niceness. It is true that we have a history of being more progressive than the US. However, we are more like our Southern neighbours than some of us would like to admit…
Canadians are famous for being nice... But are we kind?
Government leaders issuing statements condemning bigotry and supporting LGBTQ+ people is nice. Action to stop the hatred would be kind.
UN Condemns British Treatment of LGBT People
A recent ILGA survey shows that quality of life for trans and gay people in the UK has plunged. Once topping the list of good places for LGBTQ people to live in Europe, the UK now ranks toward the bottom. And now, a visiting UN inspector has called the UK out for human rights abuses.
In what should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, the UN condemned British treatment of LGBT people after a recent assessment visit from Victor Madrigal-Borloz. After his 10-day visit, he concluded that the treatment of LGBT people by politicians and the media is leading to increased problems for the LGBT community.
One of the first things I think that should be taken note of is how he correctly points out that rhetoric targeting LGBT people in the UK has led to a massive surge in hate crimes.
Gay Boy Brutally Beaten by Classmates, Police Suppress Video
Like Canada, Ireland is renowned for tolerance and niceness. The Republic of Ireland remains near the top of ILGA’s list of the best places for LGBTQ people to live. But even in Ireland, hateful political rhetoric (mostly spilling over from the U.K.) is leading to sharp spikes in attacks on queer people. My story is about a 14-year-old gay boy who was beaten savagely by homophobic schoolmates. His family released a video of the beating, hoping to spark public discourse. But almost all major media sites have deleted the video and/or links to the it, citing “respect.” They are wrong to do so, and they don’t understand what respect means:
Respect should dictate that we look with clear eyes at the clear consequences of hate speech. Respect should dictate that we act, that we take decisive steps to stop the hate and protect future victims. If we don’t, who will?
Respect should dictate that elected leaders take long, cold looks at the inevitable consequences of their rhetoric.
Respect should dictate that we bear witness to the pain of a 14-year-old boy beaten senseless because he’s different.
But we can’t. Because the same media managers who platform hate have decided that we can’t watch the inevitable results of it.
— Essays and Creative Nonfiction —
A Sister’s Murder Sparks Action: Lesbian, Black, or “Just” a Woman?
Carpenter apprentice Outi Hicks was working on a job in Fresno, California in 2017 when she encountered continuing harassment from another worker there. She didn’t complain and no one stood up for her. Then her harasser attacked her and beat her to death.
In response, tradeswomen organized Sisters United Against Workplace Violence and worked with the Ironworkers Union (IW) to launch a program called Be That One Guy. The program’s aim is to “turn bystanders into upstanders.”
Divorce, Transgender Style
I was pushed out the door, the locks were changed, and I will never return to the place I called home. I want to think of it as something heroic. It wasn’t. A door opened, I walked through it, and I was cast adrift. Like being in a car accident, I was so stunned by it; a year had to pass before I could figure out how badly I had been hurt. I still am processing the loss.
Texas Mass Killer: a Neo-Nazi Inspired by a Jewish Anti-LGBTQ Fanatic
Will enough ever be enough? Members of minorities have more skin in the game than most, as illustrated just over a week ago by a killer who opened fire while wearing a patch that said “RWDS,” an abbreviation of “Right Wing Death Squad,” a slogan popular across a broad spectrum of U.S. Christian nationalist, antisemitic, and white supremacist circles.
The attacker who killed 11 people in the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting often shared RWDS memes on social media. Members of the openly antisemitic and racist Proud Boys are often seen wearing RWDS patches, including at drag queen library readings where they brandish guns while threatening LGBTQ parents and children.
7 Dating Issues Unique to Younger Queer Women
I was 20, talking to a cute girl outside Borders while a vociferous menagerie hummed inside me. My heart thundered like the stampedes in The Lion King. Butterflies flapped insistently in my stomach, spelling out the message, “You have a giant crush,” with their fluttering wings.
I didn’t know how this girl felt about me, though — and wouldn’t until our mutual friend shoved us together at a queer dance party a couple months later. (As I repeated a series of sheepish apologies, I realized my arms had wrapped around her instinctively). A kiss followed …
When ‘Straight’ People Call the Shots, Queer People Become a Monolith
When I was younger, I used to view the term “straight” with discomfort. I didn’t care for the suggestion that it meant I, as a gay person, was somehow “crooked.”
But as I came out to more and more people, I got over that stigma. Instead, my righteous indignation became directed at a much more fitting target: The types of heterosexual folks who take their orientational privilege for granted.
FL Enacts Slate of Hate as ‘God-Appointed’ Board Member Freaks Over Disney Film
What’s it like to live in a theocracy run by extremist Christians with delusions of divinity? If you’d like to find out, try moving to Florida. Or just ask fifth-grade teacher Jenna Barbee. She recently played a Disney movie for students while their classmates finished up some standardized testing, and [now she is the subject of a criminal investigation…]
Governor DeSantis just signed a “Slate of Hate” that empowers religious extremists …
The “Slate of Hate”… signed yesterday is designed to keep transgender, gay, and other LGBTQ people classified as despised minorities — not fit to mention in school, not deserving of the freedom to make their own parenting decisions or choose doctor-approved health care for themselves or their children.
LGBTQ Safe Spaces in the City and in the Country
When my partner and I moved to the country, that is rural West Virginia, and left off big city life, it was necessary to give up the silos. We were lucky to have one or two bars, typically located out on the highway or in the decaying part of a neighboring state’s downtown. These bars typically didn’t last that long, but while they did, they attracted the full range of our spectrum. To be honest, though, the spectrum didn’t seem to be as wide as it is today. They still kept the same drawbacks as city bars — too loud, too smokey (back then), too distracting, too geared toward alcohol — but they were inclusive.
Excerpt: Out of Order, A Bisexual Thriller by Casey Lawrence
“Come here.”
Kate hopped obediently over to me and put her foot under the ice-cold stream, leaning against the wall with one hand for balance. “This place gives me the heebie-jeebies,” she said, wrapping her other arm around herself and shivering. She was dressed in tiny jean shorts and a crop top over her bathing suit, midriff exposed. “This is the place where horror movies start.”
Her blood circled the drain in the middle of the room slowly.
With the Rise of Violent Domestic Extremism, Is PRIDE Worth the Risk?
This year, we’ll have to celebrate PRIDE under the cloud of constant threat…
Over the last couple of years, our ever-increasing acceptance and visibility has spawned an ever-stronger reactionary response from evangelical and fundamentalist Christians and rightwing conservatives. This response has heated from a simmer to a boil. And, at the same time, greater acceptance has burgeoned within rightwing circles for using violence as a means of protest and/or conflict resolution. Couple those factors with the relaxing of gun restrictions and easier availability of firearms and we are left with an explosive recipe for potential disaster.
Fear, Bigotry, and The Nature of Transphobia
I was just reading something earlier which I found to be pretty interesting, an article about how most people who are transphobic don’t know a single trans person. Now of course, this isn’t exactly going to be surprising to a lot of people since bigotry often functions in this sort of way.
Transphobia and other forms of bigotry are not rational beliefs. It’s not a position that people come to based on seriously trying to understand anything. It’s a position they arrive at based on fear and disgust.
VOTE, VOTE, Dear God in Heaven, Please VOTE for LGBTQ Human Rights!!!
In his classic political satire Animal Farm, author George Orwell used the pigs to describe people who betray everyone’s trust for the pigs’ powerful and selfish needs.
Well, the pigs are back.
In far too many states in the US and in far too many countries around the world, the LGBTQ community has become the front line of the war against human rights. Political and religious organizations are using hate and ignorance to rally support for their repressive agenda against our basic human rights.
Why Taking Your Child to a Pride Parade Will Make Them More Open-Minded
Despite the latest mind-boggling opposition, acceptance of diversity and inclusion is steadily progressing. Agreed, progress has been super slow, but the good news is that it is moving forward.
Most parents want their kids to successfully grow into that positive momentum. That means it’s more important than ever to make sure kids are exposed to different ways to look and love (and laugh!).
And what better way to teach kids about being proud of who they are than watching a colorful parade of unique people go by while candy is thrown at their feet?
— Fiction Series —
How do you deprogram a true believer? What do you when a person who sees reality with their own eyes prefers a mystical or superstitious explanation? This is a problem queer people face every day of our lives, which might be why Grayson incorporates the theme so well into his science fiction.
“I think we can help with that,” Takyra said. “Aerys and I have completed our plans to revive those in cryostasis. Perhaps we could have them observe the revival process. That should prove that our cryopods contain living Athla’naa and aren’t merely a tomb for those long dead.”
“Maybe that will work,” Ardyn said. “We may sway Aelrynd, but I have my doubts about Druyndar.”
Aerys stood from his seat. “I’ll get some security techs to go fetch them and we can meet them in the revival chamber.”
Read episode 28: Intractable Read episode 29: Recalcitrant Read episode 30: Revival
Anastasia the Nonbinary Dragon
With Anastasia off on mysterious dragon business with a grumpy ice unicorn, Ero the calf shifter is feeling lonely and neglected. Then a dragonfly the size of a piglet whispers into his ear.
Now, Ero opened both his eyes and sat up in bed. “Yes, and?” He was still suspicious of this mysterious creature, but he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and longing.
The dragonfly creature — Ero decided he would just call it “Dragonfly” until he found out its name — gave him a wide, sly smile. “I know where ze is right now. Ze isn’t in any — normal place at the moment, but if you trust me…”
“Why should I trust you?” Ero asked, genuinely dismayed. “We’ve only just met.”
Read chapter 16: A Vulnerable Soul
— Poetry Picks —
Deep Song: A Gay Poem
A Deep Song Filled with sadness.
A Deep Song Filled with heartache …
That’s all for Prism & Pen this week. Writers, we’re running our current prompt for one last week before we turn to a Pride prompt. What are your thoughts on creating queer safe spaces? Check out, How Do We Create Safe LGBTQ Spaces, which includes links to the three stories on the subject so far:
See y’all next Sunday.
Jim