From Salt Lake City, just outside the public library:
Morgan Stanley says that it is not merely an “ally” but a “proud ally” of the 2SLGBTQQIA+. However, as far as I am aware, the bank does not offer discounts or preferential rates to customers who identify as 2SLGBTQQIA+. Should the Federal Trade Commission shut them down for false advertising unless they can show concretely what they’re doing for 2SLGBTQQIA+ customers worldwide? A company shouldn’t be able to obtain the “queer advantage” (see book below from the Salt Lake City Library) without paying for it, should it?
Separately, the New York Times says that humanity faces a “climate emergency” and an “existential crisis”. At the same time, I think that the newspaper takes money for ads for single-family homes (inherently energy-inefficient) and pavement-melting SUVs. Maybe the FTC can’t shut them down for hypocrisy, but perhaps the NYT could be forced to add a “context” box under every claim that the Earth is going Full Venus: “This newspaper profits from ads for SUVs and single-family homes.”
Many moons ago, so to speak, I was a Fortran programmer on the Pioneer Venus project. Here’s a recent tweet from my former employer:
There’s “space for everyone” and “different perspectives” are valuable. But on the other hand, there is no space for perspectives from taxpayers who fund the agency.
Also, why is it just “LGBTQI+”? Why not 2SLGBTQQIA+?
Finally, if the future of the galaxy is female, according to Science and the baseball cap below, why does NASA hire anyone who identifies as of the 73 other genders recognized by Science? Why is “diversity” better than betting on the winning gender?
The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. on Tuesday says the state of Arkansas violated several sections of the U.S. Constitution when it banned all gender-affirming treatments for people under 18. The 80-page ruling says depriving trans minors of treatments like hormone therapy would cause them irreparable harm, and that delaying care until adulthood would force teens to go through changes inconsistent with their gender identity.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” the ruling reads. “The testimony of well-credentialed experts, doctors who provide gender-affirming medical care in Arkansas, and families that rely on that care directly refutes any claim by the State that the Act advances an interest in protecting children.”
This is not a political decision. Science requires that teenagers get injected with hormones and have various body parts cut off surgically. It is settled Science that youngsters who receive gender affirming care have improved mental health and well-being.
The NHS said the new rules were “an interim policy” that would undergo further review, including the outcome of a research study on the impact puberty-suppressing hormones have on gender dysphoria in children and young people. Findings published last year from a review of children’s gender services led by a pediatrician, Dr. Hilary Cass, said there were “gaps in the evidence base” about the blockers.
The “gaps in the evidence” identified in the U.K. simply do not exist for judges in the U.S.
Separately, what if you’re visiting a teenage recipient of gender-affirming care in a hospital in Arkansas and want to look fashionable? Levi’s has you covered for about $1,000 (photos from yesterday):
I hope that your Pride Month is going well. Let’s talk about the intersection between Pride and commerce….
In some sense it isn’t surprising that retailers would have some percentage of their stores devoted to 2SLGBTQQIA+ merchandise because at least some percentage of customers will want items that broadcast their passion for the Rainbow Flag Religion (see “Nothing against LGBTQ people, but they talk about being LGBTQ all the time.”). On the other hand, unless we think that followers of Rainbow Flagism are the majority of customers, it seems odd that 2SLGBTQQIA+ merchandise is right in the front of the store, given greater prominence than everything else that customers might want.
It wasn’t Pride Month last month, but retailers in Bozeman, Montana nonetheless were following a principle that I’m going to call Rainbow-first Retail, in which every customer will be exposed to 2SLGBTQQIA+ merchandise prior to the rest of the shopping experience.
Let’s start at Target. A shopper who comes in to get a toaster, a bottle of aspirin, or a bag of Cheetos must first walk by Pride Island, which is placed just inside the main doors:
Only haters would suggest that Rainbow Flagism is a religion rather than Science, yet Target sells a gingerbread-house-like kit labeled “celebratory offering” (bottom row below; click to enlarge):
You can “Spread the Love” with a spatula by Alice Butts:
I quickly found 2SLGBTQQIA+-themed apparel in sizes down to 3T (for three-year-olds):
What if Mindy the Crippler demands to be included in Pride Month? We can cover her unsightly golden fur with a beautiful rainbow “crop top” in the “pride pet apparel” category:
Is it then fair to say that Target has something for everyone? Perhaps not. An aircraft owner friend likes to say “I’m proud of my race and I’m proud of my sexuality” yet Target does not offer clothing celebrating white heterosexuality.
What if we’re having our 2SLGBTQQIA+ friends over for a party? Target sells 2SLGBTQQIA+ beverages:
The local merchants actually pushed Rainbow Flagism out to the storefront with flags in the windows and stickers on the glass. Customers are required to pay obeisance to the sacred flag before they can walk in and think about transacting business.
Quite a few merchants had the following signs and stickers on their front doors/windows:
Note that Muslims are lumped in with “LGBTQ community members”. We didn’t meet any recent migrants from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, or Somalia, but I wonder if they feel “welcome here” when they must walk by a giant rainbow flag in order to get food at the downtown market:
“Everyone Welcome” is stenciled on the glass. Would Ron DeSantis be welcome? Wouldn’t that be normalizing hate?
If the bookstore window was 100% devoted to 2SLGBTQQIA+, did they have anything inside on a different topic? Pulitzer winner about the greatest American of the 21st century:
Circling back to the “immigrants welcome” theme, locals told us that Bozeman has become completely unaffordable due to skyrocketing rents and house prices. Traffic lights are being added so quickly that we stopped at several that weren’t yet in Google Maps. Apartment buildings are being constructed in what were formerly low-rise neighborhoods. Example:
In addition to welcoming “All Countries of Origin” they welcome “All Religions” but have a rainbow sticker on the front door as well:
How can an observant Muslim feel welcome?
Here’s a shop that features, on the outside of the building, a dark-skinned person with a substantial bulge in the panties:
We didn’t see a single person with this skin color during two days in Bozeman.
Circling back to the Rainbow-first Retail theme of this post… why is it profitable? Why does the typical customer want to be reminded to observe Rainbow Flagism when going into a store to buy something that isn’t related to the 2SLGBTQQIA+ lifestyle?
How exactly does the DA’s office worship Rainbow Flagism, though? Does the District Attorney (a Democrat) refrain from prosecuting those who identify as 2SLGBTQQIA+? Suggest lower sentences for anyone who can produce a recent photograph of themselves at a drag story hour with children?
The front of the building has no American flags at all, but instead is decorated with a Juneteenth flag and a (non-trans) rainbow flag:
Here’s the sacred symbol being installed high above the American flag:
I would love to know how government officials decide whether to use the trans-enhanced, non-trans, or trans-plus-intersex (added circle) flag. Does a committee meet and decide which version of Rainbow Flagism should be worshipped at any given time?
Related:
Today, the People's House – your house – sends a clear message to the country and to the world.
LA Pride has pulled out of an annual Pride Night hosted by the Dodgers after the team disinvited a non-profit drag group from the event.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers rescinded an invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well-known San Francisco order of queer and trans “nuns” that has existed since the 1970s, amid opposition from conservative Catholics. The group, which does does charitable and protest work in addition to its street drag show performances, was set to receive an award during a ceremony before a 16 June game against the San Francisco Giants.
“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the Dodgers said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence first appeared in San Francisco in 1979 in the Castro District in the form of three men wearing nun outfits. The group formed in response to the Aids crisis and was among the first to raise money to help care for people with the disease, it said in a statement. Today they fundraise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for underserved grassroots organizations, which in 2020 included grants to legal aid clinics serving LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and an alliance empowering deaf queer people, among others.
The audience for baseball has been shrinking in the U.S. The audience for Pride-related events has been growing. Instead of hoping to get “great benefits” from a token one-night 2SLGBTQQIA+-themed event, maybe the Dodgers could celebrate Pride at every game with new uniforms. Every player could wear this top from Target, for example:
Target sells these as part of its “Pride Kids’ & Baby Clothing” collection, but I think they would work well scaled up to adult size for the uniform trousers:
Even with this updated wardrobe to admire, a lot of fans might have trouble getting through 9 innings without being plastered. Target has a beer glass that could be used at the stadium:
(To be filled with Bud Light, of course.)
Readers: Are you watching the Dodgers play this evening? Would you be inclined to watch more baseball if they extended their celebration of Pride to every game? Aside from the above modifications to the uniform and beverage sales, what else should the Dodgers do to show their commitment to Rainbow Flagism?
Related:
The Dodgers corrected their error within a few days. “Dodgers Reverse Course and Reinvite Group to Pride Night” (NYT, May 22): “The Los Angeles Dodgers, who faced enormous backlash over last week’s choice to disinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from their annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night, reversed course on Monday. The team apologized to the group and extended a new invitation for it to attend the festivities…”
“Target CEO defends LGBTQ-friendly kids clothing amid boycott calls: ‘The right thing for society’” (New York Post, May 23): Target’s top executive dismissed the social media uproar over the retailer’s new line of LGBTQ-friendly kids clothing, saying that marketing the products are good for business and “the right thing for society.” … “I think those are just good business decisions, and it’s the right thing for society, and it’s the great thing for our brand,” Cornell said. “The things we’ve done from a DE&I [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, it’s adding value,” Cornell said. “It’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today.” … Cornell added: “I know that focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years.”
Happy Pride Month (last year it was officially “A Proclamation on “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, And Intersex Pride Month”, according to Joe Biden).
Black trans women are essential to creating the future, because when everything fails you, you’re more clearly able to reimagine what it would look like if things worked. This is why Black trans women are, in many cases, the most visionary and progressive leaders within social justice movements. … The future is trans because the ways we’ve gone about organizing human life have changed in really fundamental ways. Trans people, just through our existence, show the power and the resilience of change, and possibility of how we can do things differently.
The corporate author (no human is identified) say “The Internet serves another purpose for the queer community, which is known for its taste-making sensibilities, accepting attitudes, irreverent humor, and fun-loving vibes.” What if a person says “I agree with the Florida law that bans public school classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for K-3″? Would the queer community accept that person?
Checking in on the rainbow flag religion during a recent visit to one of its sacred places: New York City. The celebration begins at Newark Airport, Terminal C:
(Note the possibility that this reflects a charitable donation by the “All Gender” family, just as the “Dolby Family Terrace” is not a terrace in which surround sound occurs, but rather the result of a donation from the Dolby family.)
Here’s the gender non-conforming “family” depicted on the door of the All Gender Family Restroom:
(Apologies for the skewed photo, but I was rushing past!)
What if an out-of-towner wants to suit up in native garb? American Eagle is ready to supplyi:
Once in Greenwich Village, one finds a somewhat hateful display (trans-exclusionary?) on an old-school establishment:
The window decals raise a question… why don’t Deplorables get upset about Miller Lite if they objected to Bud Light’s waving of the rainbow flag?
Dia Chelsea invites everyone to use the Women’s room:
Billboards in various parts of the city remind New Yorkers that 2SLGBTQQIA+ combined with youth is hazardous:
(If the city has run out of space for the tens of thousands of asylum-seekers who’ve recently arrived, how are they ever going to provide homes for the “homeless youth” mentioned?)
We are informed that #NewYorkStrong may not be quite strong enough to handle Ibsen’s 1879 A Doll’s House (“This production contains themes that some people may find upsetting”). If a fainting couch is required, however, anyone may use the Women’s room:
Canines who rejected gender binarism and cisgender heterosexuality are catered to:
The Whitney museum has two single-user restrooms next to each other, but they’re labeled differently:
For years, Evan Sterrett’s relationship with his boyfriend had become “reruns of the same drama.” Evan wanted space; his boyfriend wanted commitment. But one summer, their relationship received a guest star — a third partner who resuscitated their joie de vivre.
Today, we hear Evan’s story about navigating the complex geometry of throuplehood. Then, we meet Samatra and April Doyle. They don’t live together and don’t co-parent, but they are married and intend to be together forever.
A queen-sized bed can sleep two adult men comfortably. It can fit three, if you don’t mind cuddling or waking up to strange noises in the dark.
One early July morning, I woke up to my boyfriend making out with the guy who had been living with us for the past month. I’m not really a fan of sex before toothbrushing. So I smiled, mumbled “hot” and turned over.
April and Sam Doyle have been married for three years. It’s both of their second marriages, and they’re both mothers. April has one daughter with her first wife, and Sam has three children.
None of the above cover the throuple situation promoted by the New York Times. Shouldn’t there be emojis showing three adults in a sexual or romantic relationship? For compliance with 2SLGBTQQIA+ dogma we would need the flexibility to show each member of the throuple in any one of the 74 gender IDs recognized by Science and each member also needs to be available in a rainbow of skin colors. That’s going to be more than one million emoji choices required, therefore, before considering the possibility of adding children.
What does GPT-4 say when asked the headline question?
As an AI language model, I can’t provide real-time updates on the current emoji set, but as of my last knowledge update in September 2021, there were no specific emojis for throuples. Emojis are designed and approved by the Unicode Consortium, which aims to create a standardized set of emojis that can be used across various platforms.
There could be several reasons why there isn’t a specific emoji for throuples:
Limited representation: There are countless different relationships and arrangements that people can be a part of, and it would be difficult to represent all of them through emojis. The Unicode Consortium may focus on more widely-used and universally-recognized emojis.
Complexity: Designing an emoji that accurately represents a throuple can be challenging. Emojis need to be simple and easily recognizable, and creating an emoji for a throuple might be too complex for the small size of emojis.
Demand: The demand for a throuple emoji might not be high enough to warrant its creation. The Unicode Consortium considers multiple factors when deciding on new emojis, including how widely the emoji would be used and the potential impact on existing emoji usage.
Inclusivity: It is important for the Unicode Consortium to be inclusive of diverse cultures, identities, and experiences. They may be focusing on adding emojis that represent broader groups of people or experiences rather than specific relationship arrangements.
That being said, the selection of emojis is continuously expanding, and it’s possible that a throuple emoji could be added in the future if there is enough demand and support. People can propose new emojis through the Unicode Consortium’s submission process, so if you feel strongly about having a throuple emoji, you could consider submitting a proposal.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is facing pushback after suggesting that American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who’s a stepmother, is “not a mother.”
“The problem is people like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother and not a medical doctor,” Greene said.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) stepped in with a point of order after Greene’s comments, calling them “unacceptable.” … “You are a mother,” he added to Weingarten. “Thank you for being a great parent.”
The journalists report as a fact that Mx. Weingarten, age 65, is a “stepmother”. Wikipedia says that Mx. Weingarten’s marriage was in 2018, when he/she/ze/they was 60 years old. Mx. Weingarten married Sharon Kleinbaum, at least 58 years old at the time. If we assembled Kentaji Brown Jackson’s panel of biologists, I think they would likely say that Mx. Kleinbaum’s children were fully grown by the time the “rabbi” was 58 (rabbi in quotes because the congregation led by Mx. Kleinbaum is “not affiliated with any denomination or branch of Judaism.”). Thus, we would need a definition of parent as something that did not require “caring for a human under age 18”.
If I were to marry Warren Buffett, for example, would Democrats say that I was a “stepdad” to his 64-year-old youngest son?
Another quote from Greene at the hearing from Yahoo! News:
“I didn’t ask you a question. What I would like to talk about is your recommendations to the CDC, as not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher, either. So, what you did is you advised the CDC?” Greene said.
My personal efforts in this area haven’t been very successful. When the kids were younger I explained to them that the reason Mindy the Crippler, our golden retriever, was so tightly bonded to me was that I had given birth to her and then nursed her for 8 weeks. They refused to accept my status as a dog mom and cited Mindy’s biological mom, Chaos, as the animal’s only real mother. More recently, I used the “Mother’s Room” at a downtown Boston law firm to change from MIT teaching outfit (jeans and Oshkosh T-shirt) into testifying-at-trial outfit. For this, I was mocked by a couple of female executives from Brazil. I said “This is Massachusetts and it is my right to identify as a mother any time that I want. In fact, I can be more of a mother than either of you will ever be.” Apparently Fox News and MTG are also popular in Brazil because they responded, “You can call yourself whatever you want, but don’t expect us to cooperate.”
“Teachers Are Wary of Returning to Class, and Online Instruction Too” (NYT, July 2022): Unions are threatening to strike if classrooms reopen, but are also pushing to limit live remote teaching. Their demands will shape pandemic education. (summary: Mx. Weingarten’s unionized teachers wanted to collect paychecks while neither working in the classroom nor at home)
