The Sphere Foundation has launched a petition calling for easier visas for LGBT people from Russia
Due to the recognition of LGBT as an "extremist organization," Sphere launched a petition calling on foreign countries that have signed international human rights conventions to ensure that visas and travel documents are easier to obtain for LGBT people and specialized human rights defenders from Russia.
Human rights activists emphasize that recognition of LGBT as an "extremist organization" will lead exclusively to mass repressions against LGBT people, especially those who publicly advocated for the LGBT community.
The petition is addressed to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the European Union member states, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, as well as representatives of the European Commission.
Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.
I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.
I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.
My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.
Three years.
No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.
I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.
This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.
dear universe, can I please stop having out-of-body experiences? can i have peace?
overheard an old man talking about how he got a great deal on a bouquet of flowers and is excited to give them to his wife whose in the hospital rn because they'll make her "happier than a faggot in boytown". insane thing to say
idc if it's not a person. if your icon is a sunrise, you're a sunrise now.
poll about swapping with prev's icon here
ok but what if then happy sayakyoko in a little teacup ride what then