Matthew David Shaver
George Takei 
🏳️🌈🖖🏽Overheard: “Not all heroes wear capes. Or tops, it seems.”
Penny Pringle@georgetakei: Ugh it would be my state.
Rev Robin@Saerise @georgetakei This happened in 2011, so maybe it isn't still a thing there?
Frances_Larina@Normdeplume @Saerise @georgetakei
Sadly, @Normdeplume, despite losing a few court cases, Tennessee has only become more determined to oppress trans & other LGBTQ people.
Status as of last year (does not include the numerous anti-trans & anti-LGBTQ bills filed in NT the last few weeks):
https://outleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Tennessee.pdf
@Frances_Larina @Saerise @georgetakei yeah, that was wishful thinking on my part. I live in a land of high taxes, stupid weather, and fairly solid rights. It's disheartening to think about how fellow Americans are having to live. 😢
@Normdeplume @Saerise @georgetakei
I'm in California and compared to a state like Tennessee, it's like two different nations. The values expressed by our laws are so radically different.
Anna Phylaxis@Saerise @georgetakei Sometimes, I wish I could amend my birth certificate to say I was born in a different state.
michi@Saerise @georgetakei You're not alone. Too many states headed in wrong direction. But just have to keep shining the light on these small-minded people.
Romaq@Saerise @georgetakei It's OK. My home state was going to legislate a rational value for Pi as 3 or 3.2. The bill wasn't clear on that. Passed the State House unanimously. Died in the State Senate. F*ing Indiana.
Bobsee@georgetakei People should be free to be who they want to be!
Michael Porter@georgetakei Funny thing is, this is legal in Ontario, Canada. Not to say she wouldn't have been harassed by a cop, though...
Ed@georgetakei @MichaelPorter it’s legal in British Columbia as well. Women can go shirtless if they wish.
JonKramer, CIS-HET@MichaelPorter @georgetakei , it's legal in Kentucky too. The times change. A few years back we had a 'free the nipple' march in Louisville, where hundreds of women legally marched down the center of a street topless.
@MichaelPorter @georgetakei I have been to Ontario, but never seen a woman exercise this right.
Cleo of Topless Topics@dkmcf
because they don't want assholes taking pictures of them and uploading them to porn sites, most likely. not to mention even in NY which infamously allows female toplessness (now) still has to keep retraining cops not to arrest topless women for "indecent exposure" just because some asshole prudes complained.
@MichaelPorter @georgetakei
because they don't want assholes taking pictures of them and uploading them to porn sites, most likely. not to mention even in NY which infamously allows female toplessness (now) still has to keep retraining cops not to arrest topless women for "indecent exposure" just because some asshole prudes complained.
@MichaelPorter @georgetakei
Frank Cote@MichaelPorter @georgetakei that's because there's only two months out of twelve where you can take your top off in Ontario.
@MichaelPorter
thank you for adding the second part. is infuriating to me when men think "well technically it's legal, so there's no barrier at all to women being topless in public!" as if cops aren't ACABing all over them anyway.
@georgetakei
thank you for adding the second part. is infuriating to me when men think "well technically it's legal, so there's no barrier at all to women being topless in public!" as if cops aren't ACABing all over them anyway.
@georgetakei
@toplesstopics @georgetakei Just think of all the times a woman, post assault, was asked “what were you wearing?”
@MichaelPorter
💯💯💯💯
like, I did this interview with passersby at Venice Beach (full of shamelessly topless males, as all US beaches are) and so often, even would-be supporters argued against topless equality "in case it increased chances of them getting raped." because as always, the onus is on women to "not entice men to rape," not on men to, you know, not rape.
https://www.toplesstopics.org/venicebeach/
this was a major part of what put me off the breadtuber, Vaush 🙃 despite being a self professed gender abolitionist and trans rights supporter, he literally said "girls shouldn't be topless in public so they don't get raped" when I brought it up in the chatroom during his livestream. one must never forget he is still, at the end of it all, a white cis male.
@georgetakei
jamiedixon 🌱
Solarbird 
@georgetakei The rule with the right is “you’re whatever gender lets us hurt you more right now.”
Lithellyl
Sean O@moira @georgetakei 100% this. The right has demonized trans people because they’re a scapegoat they don’t think has support. Notice they’ve backed off on blacks and Jews for the nonce.
RamenCatholic 🐢🌈@seano @moira @georgetakei but we DON'T have support in many areas.
Just a couple years ago, I remember so many LGBTQIA folk saying "Cancel Pride - George Floyd is more important." And we marched with those protests instead.
We were, and ARE, allies.
I'm extremely disappointed that the "liberal" media (and, sadly, many communities of color) seem to have forgotten that now that the attention of the fascist alt-right have shifted to us.
Freedom@RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei
I mute racists. 🍑🕳️
@Freedom2B @seano @moira @georgetakei I assume you're assuming I'm racist. Being mixed-race, I don't think that I am; but my family-of-color is homophobic AF, so maybe I have a bias.
I'm mostly disappointed that the people we proudly supported have seemed to have forgotten we exist.
All communities, regardless of source of origin, are made of people (and people kinda suck). My friends from Africa experience Colorism here, and my friends from India still experience Caste-ism here.
Ludovic Archivist Lagouardette@RamenCatholic @Freedom2B @seano @moira @georgetakei
I find it very sad when a minority that is still discriminated goes and discriminates against another minority. I think that at some point of being discriminated people feel entitled to discrimination and start to just do the same.
The goal is to all work together to make sure no one is discriminated against, whether it is a positive or negative discrimination
@RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei I would argue the problem is you consider yourself an "ally". Or others are "allies". You are not, and they are not. You are front line soldiers. You stand shoulder to shoulder with the repressed and victimized, or you stand with the victimizers. Any discrimination harms us ALL, not just the temporary target of the moment.
The liberal media is not on our side.
Patricklee@patricklee @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei , Exactly, and we are all in that list, even me, a middle aged white CIS heterosexual male. I may be far down on that list, but unless I stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone else, they come for me too. I am not an ally. I am on the front lines. Just like everyone else who is not in the club that is the oligarchy.
@JonKramer @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei I’m a 53 year old white dude. I’m not lgbtq. I’m not a person of color. I can only partially grasp the life of those. I’m trying (like you I think) to raise us all not punch the weakest.
@patricklee @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei , I would argue that the weakest of us is those who are afraid of small immigrant women in congress, or guys picking grapes, or working in chicken factories, or Asians, or women in general. And it's perfectly fine to punch those weaklings. You can recognize them by red hats or waving with their elbows locked.
@JonKramer @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei the strongest people never claim to be “alpha”
They don’t need to.
People know strong people and that doesn’t mean the person who can assault the most.
@patricklee @JonKramer @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei The strongest people are undeniably those who bring us into this world to little or no acknowledgment or fanfare. Then there are the unsung and marginalized people who fight for what's right and go entirely unseen. People who talk about their own strength and the weakness of others are almost always weak and trying to compensate.
@JonKramer @patricklee @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei I'm a middle-aged, straight, white, cis man but I'm a liberal and the father of young women. There is not one bit of truth to the arguments being presented by right wing reactionaries. They are all liars who realize they're wrong but will lie, cheat, and steal to maintain dominance. They've done such a poor things of running things thus far. It's time for women and minorities to have a say. Enough is enough.
@JonKramer @RamenCatholic @seano @moira @georgetakei Not sufficiently, at least. They have this bs idea of "neutrality" that makes absolutely no sense. When it comes to fascism there is no neutrality. When it comes to supporting democracy and equality there is no neutrality. One is either fighting for or against whether they realize it or not. "Neutral" always favors the fascists.
wednesday the valkyrjathey really haven't backed off tho. speak on this, but leave others out your mouth, esp if it ain't your experience.
@seano @moira @georgetakei Right wingers never change.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in-germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis/amp
Danielle Rohe 
@moira @georgetakei yup super authoritarian
WrenGuess she showed them, huh?
(☉)(☉) 🤣
Woozle Hypertwinreply-boosted to add image description/transcript, hashtags, and CW
[quote]
A transgender woman in Tennessee is asking the state to make a consistent ruling about her gender after a government office labeled her a male but police arrested her on a female-specific charge.
Andrea Jones of Morristown, Tenn., who had gender reassignment surgery and has been recognized by the Social Security office, decided to make a statement after her local Tennessee Department of Safety office refused to let her change the gender on her driver's license from male to female.
She walked out to the parking lot and removed her shirt, which she reasoned would be acceptable if the state recognized her as male.
Instead she was arrested for indecent exposure.
[/quote]
(Edit: I can't decide which I want more -- legalize the female chest, or force the DMV to allow gender-changes. "Both" seems like the obvious right answer.)
GTMLosAngeles@georgetakei
"Jones was jailed for 23 days"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064864/Transgender-Andrea-Jones-flashed-breasts-DMV-staff-refused-change-gender-male-female-license.html
"Jones was jailed for 23 days"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064864/Transgender-Andrea-Jones-flashed-breasts-DMV-staff-refused-change-gender-male-female-license.html
Transgender Andrea Jones 'flashed her breasts at DMV staff after they refused to change her gender...
Andrea Jones (pictured) flew into a rage after staff at a Department for Motor Vehicle in Tennessee said they could not change her licence without a note from a doctor confirming she has had a full sex change.
EarthOne@Gtmlosangeles @georgetakei Okay, this is an accidental Mastodon squib, considering the TOPic: 😆
Monica DePaul, Author@georgetakei the only thing consistent about her case is the state/local government treating her like trash.
Mousegirl Slice of Life@georgetakei should become standard protest tactics of transwomen "if were not woman, then by the same logic, were not beholden to the same standard" cant think of anything more feminist either, directly points out several hypocrisies at once
ERRORSMITH@Mousegirl @georgetakei This is incredibility naive and does not really work. Gender recognition is tied to following stereotypes in most places, making the person easy to attack and Regressives almost never care about logical coherence. To them A transgender person is whatever gender is most convenient to them in a given situation.
They function on appeal to emotion and outrage, and an entitled worldview that must be kept intact regardless or facts.
They function on appeal to emotion and outrage, and an entitled worldview that must be kept intact regardless or facts.
@fr2 @georgetakei i dont see better suggestions. if your protesting your rights you need to make a statement and that does it.
Tom Forsyth@georgetakei This is a brilliant hack, although I suspect Tennessee would rather declare public nudity legal than recognise transgender folks.
Oblomov@TomF @georgetakei didn't Facebook work around this by prohibiting "female-presenting" nipples? Or was that Tumblr?
@oblomov @georgetakei That was Tumblr. The fix for that was nipple-pasties that were printed with pictures of certified-male nipples :-)
0xC0DEC0DE07EA
obscurestar@TomF That'd still be a win.
Ursidinoj/The Bjornsdottirs@TomF @georgetakei Maybe they would argue that lege meant breasts typical of females, which Ms Jones has, or some other juridical gymnastics.
@TomF @georgetakei That's an interesting take but being from Missouri I wouldn't bet on it. My money is always on hypocrisy when it comes to right wingers. They're perfectly fine contradicting themselves as long as they ruin the lives of the folks they hate. Nudity will remain banned and trans people will continue to go unrecognized. Right wing reactionaries are nothing if not sad and pathetic.