equality – Groningen Rain

31 March 202131 March 2021

Happy Trans Day of Visibility!! !

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Seventy Seven]

Tell your favourite trans people you see them.

We love that.

In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I identify as a bi-sexual non-binary trans feminine queer person; my pronouns are they / them.

I’m trans.

See me.

But first the news:

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility – an annual event occurring on March 31^[1][2] dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. The day was founded by US-based transgender activist^[3] Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009^[4] as a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centered day was the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which mourned the murders of transgender people, but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community.
Wikipedia.Org/wiki/International_Transgender_Day_of_Visibility

To celebrate, I joined Equinix’s internal Trans Day of Visibility celebration to speak on a panel and answer a few questions.

And then there were time changes.

And confusion.

And I couldn’t participate.

So I cried.

And cried.

And then pulled myself together and picked up the kids and fed them supper and ate some food and drank soda and self cared and got the twins into bed and self cared and got First Minion into bed and now I’m doing oke.

These past three weeks have been incredibly intense.

And I haven’t let up in the least.

So when something mildly disappointing happens, even as gentle as a perceived rejection or social slight, it’s more upsetting than “normal”. Thankfully, I know how to take care of myself and I AM taking care of myself and taking care of kids sometimes helps a bit.

Picking up at the end of their day, for example, they are SO HAPPY to see me.

To come home.

Which is absolutely wonderful.

So I’m going to go to bed now and hopefully process this lightly and put it away until I’m solidly under employment again and can unpack these things with time and compassion.

And visibility.

17 February 2021

If It Doesn’t Exist, Build It

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Thirty Five]

I mentioned this briefly in the video I did for The Gender Tag Project – that I went looking for resources for nonbinary people – especially around education / support / close friends – and couldn’t find much.

Therefore, I’m going to compile an awesome list of nonbinary resources.

And, because it’s how I roll, I’m going to start it live on my open source stream.

But first the news:

An awesome list is a list of awesome things curated by the community. There are awesome lists about everything from CLI applications to fantasy books.

The main repository serves as a curated list of awesome lists.

10 February 2021

Living As A Non-Binary Person In A Binary World

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Twenty Eight]

This TedX Talk is from 2017.

And still completely relevant.

But first the news:

A talk addressing the hardships and obstacles facing the day-to-day life of those who identify outside of the gender binary.

6 February 2021

Big Breath IN. Big Breath OUT. Repeat.

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Twenty Four]

But first the news:

24 September 2020

Well, Fuck

[Dutch Lock Down Day One Hundred Ninety One]

In case you’re wondering why the United States just exploded again, “On September 23, 2020, a state grand jury indicted Brett Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for his actions that led to the near-death situation in Napper’s apartment. The two other officers involved in the raid were not indicted, and while Hankison was indicted for his actions during the Breonna Taylor raid, he was not indicted for Taylor’s death specifically.^[17]“

But first the news:

Oh, and Trump says there will ignore the ballots if he loses the election.

Q: Will you commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the election?

TRUMP: "We're gonna have to see what happens." pic.twitter.com/Dzj7Q9ZJqv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 23, 2020

This is, of course, right after Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Which means the White House could put a sixth conservative in the Supreme Court guaranteeing quite a few years of conservative ruling from America’s highest court.