How spiteful.

The Virginia NAACP sued a county school board Tuesday over its reinstatement of Confederate military names to two schools, accusing it of embracing segregationist values and subjecting Black students to a racially discriminatory educational environment.

The school board in Shenandoah County voted 5-1 last month to revert the name of Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School, and that of Honey Run Elementary to Ashby Lee Elementary. The vote reversed a 2020 decision to remove the original names against a backdrop of nationwide protests over racial injustice.

Who is Ashby Lee? I had to google. Ashby and Lee are two people; Turner Ashby was a Confederate cavalry commander. Two for the price of one!

So here we have a school board voting to restore the names of three military officers who fought to maintain the enslavement of human beings. How very ugly.

The NAACP wrote that students will be “required against their will to endorse the violent defense of slavery pursued by the Confederacy and the symbolism that these images have in the modern White supremacist movement.”

The school board members in Shenandoah County who had voted in May to restore the Confederate names said they were honoring popular community sentiment. They said the previous board members who had removed the names in 2020 had ignored constituents and due process on the matter.

Ahhh shaddup. The hell with popular communniny senniment. When communniny senniment is pro-enslavement of Other Races it doesn’t deserve to be honored.

Women have no rights that the manly men must accept.

TikTok has briefly suspended the account of Hey Jane, a prominent telemedicine abortion service, four times without explanation. Instagram has suspended Mayday Health, a nonprofit that provides information about abortion pill access, without explanation as well. And the search engine Bing has erroneously flagged the website for Aid Access, a major seller of abortion pills online, as unsafe.

The [abortion] groups and women’s health advocates say these examples, all from recent months, show why they are increasingly confused and frustrated by how major technology platforms moderate posts about abortion services.

Is that the job of technology platforms? No it is not.

They say the companies’ policies on abortion-related content, including advertisements, have long been opaque. But they say the platforms seem to have been more aggressive about removing or suppressing posts that share information about how to obtain safe and legal procedures since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. And when the platforms do restrict the accounts, the companies can be difficult to contact to learn why.

When in doubt, bully women. Rights are for men; forced pregnancy is for women.

From the Department of Easy For Him to Say:

Keir Starmer has pledged to end the Tory culture wars if he becomes prime minister. In an exclusive interview, the Labour leader told HuffPost UK that people are “exhausted” by the political battles over issues such as trans rights. And he said he wanted to focus on “bringing people together” rather than creating further division.

Man blows off women’s rights as “culture war” and thinks that will “bring people together.” Is it 1968 again? Are men of the left really still sneering at pesky women and our pesky insistence on our pesky rights?

Starmer has been criticised in the past for shifting his own position on transgender rights. However, the Labour leader said his government would look to bring an end to those controversies on day one.

He said: “I think people are exhausted by culture wars. My clear view is that the vast majority of the public in general in the UK are reasonable, tolerant people. Live and let live is a very British thing, and what culture wars do is force people into taking sides that they’re not instinctively inclined to do. And it’s exhausting because you’re constantly having a battle about this and a battle about that.”

Defending women’s rights is not unreasonable, nor is it intolerant. We are allowed to have rights, and we are allowed to defend them. Keir Starmer does not get to throw them away while telling us to give up. We didn’t ask for this “battle” but we’re not going to submit just because Starmer says “live and let live.” Easy for him; his rights are not being stomped into the mud.

He adds:

“That’s why I’ve said that politics needs to tread more lightly on people’s lives.”

Well. Some people’s lives, he means. Not women’s, of course. Go right ahead and tread on those, as hard as you can. Thanks, maaaaaate.

Another dude dismisses women’s concerns while claiming the women don’t know what they’re talking about.

Martina is not impressed.

Neither is JKR.

Well you know how it is, it’s only women, and women just don’t matter.

Nothing but mashed potatoes between those ears.

Keir Starmer promises to continue ignoring women.

Keir Starmer has pledged to end the Tory culture wars if he becomes prime minister. In an exclusive interview, the Labour leader told HuffPost UK that people are “exhausted” by the political battles over issues such as trans rights.

So he’ll just continue to ignore women’s concerns. Thanks Mister Sir!

Starmer has been criticised in the past for shifting his own position on transgender rights. However, the Labour leader said his government would look to bring an end to those controversies on day one. He said: “I think people are exhausted by culture wars. My clear view is that the vast majority of the public in general in the UK are reasonable, tolerant people.”

Unlike those stupid noisy bitches who won’t shut up, right? So exhausting.

Well, maybe, but a question arises. How, exactly, are you defining “transphobia”? How are the people reporting it defining it?

The full caption says “Map shows hotspots for sexual orientation and transgender hate crimes” but the tweet twice says the issue is reports of such “hate crimes.” The two are not the same thing, to put it mildly. Trans “activists” see “hate crimes” everywhere. Of course the stats have shot up when there is so much hyperbolic shouting about dangerous women who refuse to pretend that men are women.

Meanwhile actual violence against women goes underreported and underprosecuted.

You what?

There are tentative signs of high pressure building from the west but cool, wet weather is likely to continue across the UK, forecasters say. After a cool and windy weekend, Monday and Tuesday will remain cool for the time of year, the Met Office said, although will feel warmer in sheltered sunshine.

Heavier showers on Monday should ease up by Tuesday, and overnight temperatures will be in the single figures with a chance of grass frost in rural areas. Ellie Glaisyer, a Met Office meteorologist, said the temperatures were “disappointing for June”. 

Oh dear oh dear if only it were hotter.

Shocking news out of Spokane, a famously boring city in the eastern half of Washington state – the eastern half being the dull, dry, not so scenic, next to Idaho half. You don’t expect much shocking out of Spokane but here it is all the same.

Lime, a popular electric scooter and bike rental service

Lemme stop you for a second right there. It’s not popular with me. I hate the damn thing. People ride the scooters on the sidewalks [pavements in UK-speak], endangering pedestrians who aren’t expecting them and can’t hear them approaching because they’re SILENT. They’re a menace and should be illegal.

Lime, a popular electric scooter and bike rental service, has announced it will be implementing a “no-go zone” around a crosswalk painted with a large Pride flag mural in Spokane, Washington. The crosswalk has become the center of much discussion after the arrest of multiple teens for making skid marks on the painted pavement.

In other words multiple teenagers have been arrested for riding scooters in the street. Not on the sidewalk but in the street – the “painted pavement” meaning the painted bit of the street that is the crosswalk. That’s where scooters belong: in the street.

On June 6, the Spokane Police Department announced the arrest of three teenagers on charges of 1^st Degree Malicious Mischief, all in relation to the alleged vandalism of a Pride flag-painted crosswalk at the intersection of Howard Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard.

If you don’t want it smeared with tire marks why did you paint it on the street???

And while we’re at it, why does “Pride” keep getting this luxury attention when other despised and rejected sets of people don’t? Where are the flags for workers? Women? Brown people? Atheists?

According to the press release, “911 received a complaint advising multiple subjects on scooters were causing damage to the newly painted Pride mural.”

It’s on the street. If you don’t want it damaged why paint it on the street?

The release continued: “Officers observed widespread damage as black scuff marks consistent with scooter wheels were observed across the entirety of the mural. The area is clearly marked to keep traffic away as it was just re-painted to repair previous damage.”

Attached to the release were two photos demonstrating the extent of the damage, both of which showed faint black marks on the street painting consistent with thin tire marks.

Again. It’s on the street. If you want it kept pristine, maybe don’t paint it on the street.

The alleged vandalism, which was claimed by many to be motivated by homophobia, resulted in an outpouring of condemnation from Spokane’s LGBT community and those purporting to be LGBT allies.

We painted a pretty decoration on the street and now it’s faintly smudged by tire marks. Arrest the culprits!!!

But the arrest, along with the seemingly minimal damage caused to the crosswalk mural, has also prompted widespread mockery on social media.

Yeah no shit. Tire marks on the street: EVERYONE FREAK OUT IMMEDIATELY.

Meanwhile we stupid boring female people wonder for the billionth time why we never get this kind of frantic furious sobbing attention, rape statistics or no rape statistics.

While discussion surrounding the incident continues to rage on, the scooter rental company at the center of the alleged “acts of vandalism” has now issued a statement.

“All of us at Lime condemn these vile acts in no uncertain terms,” Lime Director of Government Relations Hayden Harvey told The National Desk. “At a time when our teams at Lime are beginning pride celebrations around the globe, it is disturbing to see the hate taking place in Spokane.”

Oh shut up. It’s tire marks on a street. Just shut up.

Lime has now implemented a “no-go zone” over the crosswalk, meaning scooters driven over the mural will be remotely shut down. According to the company’s website, entering a “no-go zone” will cause a Lime vehicle to “gradually come to a stop,” forcing a rider to walk their scooter until it is outside the zone.

Oh really. They can do that. Well then how about making the god damn sidewalks a “no-go zone” so that your god damn scooters don’t injure or kill pedestrians?

David Thompson has an excellent post on the subject:

Though it occurs to me that the pretentious weeping currently underway could have been avoided by not painting one’s weird religious symbols on the chuffing road at a busy intersection. As if that were a perfectly normal thing to do, and in no way an irritant or an invitation to mischief.

And then, inevitably, the sly conflation:

The alleged vandalism, which was claimed by many to be motivated by homophobia, resulted in an outpouring of condemnation from Spokane’s LGBT community and those purporting to be LGBT allies.

At which point, readers may wonder whether the children’s scootering, and the wider disaffection for the increasingly cluttered and kaleidoscopic Pride flag, may have less to do with “homophobia,” as claimed, and rather more to do with a symbol that is now associated with creepy, compelled unrealism, fantasy pronouns, and the steering of children towards experimental drugging and surgical mutilation. The kinds of things that many people, including many gay people, might find a little contentious, or alienating, or morally repugnant.

Or all three.

Eeeesh. No it’s not.

No it’s not like that at all. It’s like asking if pretend cats are cats or if fake cars are cars. “Trans” isn’t comparable to “blue” or “tabby” in this attempted analogy, because “trans” means “not real.” Prisoners of the ideology don’t define it that way of course, but all the same that’s what it means.

It’s not a humdrum adjective that simply names an attribute of a person or thing. It’s not like small or big, polite or rude, nice or nasty, young or old, bright or dim, fast or slow. It’s a peculiar adjective that means something like “not really” or “wink-wink.” It has nothing to do with tautologies.

That’s depressing.

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? at Miscellany Room.

A local greenspace was the site for a Pride event today. We went through, checking out the vendors. The last time I felt this out of place was back in the days when I used to do wedding photography, when I ended up shooting a wedding where the parents and pastor did the whole Evangelical, loud, praying over the couple routine. Most of the church weddings I shot tended to be in more staid, bland, formalized, un-zealous traditions, which I found less jarring to my atheist sensibilities. I’ve usually found unbridled, vocal, demonstrative piety disconcerting, partly because displays of delusional thinking, however sincere, are kinda creepy. More creepy because of the sincerity. At this particular wedding, I felt like there was a big, red, neon “UNBELIEVER!” sign blinking above my head. Well, I felt the glow of that long dark sign warming my pate once again as I made my way around the park amongst so many True Believers, the internal monologue of my critical disbelief, and my distaste for trans ideology’s parasitism on Gay Rights kept carefully away from my tongue, like a dog on a halty. (Actually, it wasn’t that hard to keep quiet; I simply observed while channeling my Inner Anthropologist.) I’m both insufficiently curmudgeonly, and too cowardly to Make a Scene; I still have to live in my neighbourhood. I’d rather not be branded the Village Asshole.

The vast majority of flags on display were the forced-teaming Pride-Progress flag, with precious few examples of the original Pride Rainbow flag in evidence. Mission accomplished, trans activism! There were a number of “licorice allsorts” flags that have been cobbled together for and foisted upon the various SOGI micro-demographics/snowflake identities, earnestly carried or worn (presumaby) by members of these subdivisions of specialness. I’m not going to waste any of my time sorting out other people’s investment in (and marketing to) the different shades of narcissistic self-indulgeance to work them all out. I’ll leave that to British Rail.

I saw a number of T-shirts that pissed me off:

“Gender Affirming Health Care Saves Lives” It isn’t “health care” and it doesn’t “save” anybody. Way to promote suicidal ideation and emotional blackmail! So much untruth and bullying in so few words; you have to admire the economy of effort. Slow clap.

“Protect Trans Kids” featuring a tasteful floral wreath and a knife. At least it didn’t show an assault rifle, but we’re talking about Canada here, so a bladed weapon is threat enough to get the point across: “This is not a Request. ” But what it’s really saying is “Protect the Transing of Kids.” The knife is just added incentive and intimidation. If they were actually interested in child welfare and safeguarding, they would be against the very thing they’re promoting. I’m constantly surprised and disappointed at the level of cognitive dissonance that some people can tolerate. One of the unfortunate consequences of “educating myself” by consulting heretical sources. Oh well. My version of the shirt would say “Protect ‘Trans’ Kids”, or better yet, “Protect Kids From Being Transed.”

And then there’s my favourite (which I hadn’t seen before), “You’ll have to go through Me” printed in the trans colours, with the wearer eagerly pledging, in anticipatory, post-Niemöllerian solidarity, protection (unto death?) for trans folk, reinforcing the dishonest Official Narrative that Trans anybody is some sort of helpless, powerless, threatened, beleaguered, and endangered minority in imminent danger of being shovelled into the ovens. If you’ve got events that are sponsored by multiple corporations, and all levels and branches of government, all of which are eagerly pushing acceptance of your agenda, and splashing your flag and its colours everywhere, YOU ARE NOT HELPLESS, OR POWERLESS. Quite the opposite. You’ve already won; now you’re just claiming “victimhood” and fighting dirty to protect your ill-gotten gains, gifted or taken in back room deals to which women (amongst others), were not privy. You’re not the ones they’re out to get. You’re not the target of all of this corporate and government effort and attention: I am. Cue that neon sign.

How many of these people who have bought the narrative (along with the T-shirts) know they’re also throwing their support behind the mutilation and sterilization of children, the erosion and violation of women’s boundaries, the destruction of fairness in sports for girls and women, the imprisonment of violent male predators with women, the suppression of free speech, and other illiberal, ideological positions that the demands of trans “rights” entail? Buy one lie, buy them all. Easy enough to do if you don’t look to closely at what’s in the package, and if you unwittingly outsource your ethical judgements to dishonest narcissists. But once you’ve bought it, it’s yours. Do you keep it, or admit your mistake? How far will you ride the sunk-cost fallacy? How many of these logical consequences of trans ideology would they explicitly defend in so many words if put to the test? Did they know they were signing up for all of this when they accepted the Drag Queen’s shilling?

A thing I often wonder: why is the subjunctive so taboo in the UK even when it’s necessary for meaning?

I ask because I’ve just happened on an example of the kind of thing.

From a statement issued by Durham University:

While individuals and groups within the University community may express lawful views on any issue, we insist that this is done in a safe and respectful way.

See that’s not what they mean. By not using the subjunctive they said something they’re not trying to say. They say they’re insisting that this is in fact done in a safe and respectful way, when what they’re trying to say is that they insist it should be done in a safe and respectful way. It’s a counter-factual subjunctive. Why is it anathema?

Slowly, inch by inch, institutions are rediscovering that people can’t change sex even if a piece of paper says they have done so.

The equalities watchdog is urgently reviewing its guidance for employers on single-sex jobs as women’s refuges are “routinely” and “unlawfully” advertising positions to male-born applicants.

The Equality Act has exemptions which allow employers to restrict a job role to a particular sex if they can show it is an “occupational requirement” and is “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. Under these rules, it is lawful for women’s domestic violence and rape charities to advertise female-only positions.

But there’s a catch!

However, the feminist campaign group Fair Play For Women (FPFW) has alerted the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to nine different charities which allow men who identify as women to apply for jobs reserved for female candidates.

Because guess what: this is what happens when large mobs of people shout “TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN” and way too many people nod solemnly in agreement.

When you make it taboo to say that men are not women, you’re going to get men applying for and getting jobs reserved for women. That’s why we’ve been saying men are not women all these years.

Dr Nicola Williams, director of FPFW, said fresh guidance on this issue was needed because many organisations are “misinterpreting” equality laws.

She said: “The Equality Act has exemptions which allow employers to lawfully restrict a job role when necessary, such as with positions in women’s domestic violence refuges, to people of the female sex.

“This does not include people whose sex is male even if they identify as women and have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.”

Because people whose sex is male are male. It doesn’t matter how they “identify.”

“But domestic violence and rape charities are now routinely misinterpreting this law because of the mistaken belief that they must still invite trans women to apply for female-only jobs for fear of being accused of discrimination.”

And because men refuse to be told “No.”

And in January this year Dundee Women’s Aid was criticised for publishing a job advert for a women’s support domestic abuse practitioner, which encouraged applicants who “identify as women” to apply for a female-only position.

Arguably men who “identify as women” are worse candidates for such a job than men who just are men. Men who claim to be women are performing a kind of contempt for women by claiming to be women. It’s a hostile act. This gets veiled because of the many deluded women who cheer them on and call the rest of us rude names.

I’m nostalgic for the days when we didn’t sell T shirts for little girls urging them to Bend Over.

The New Republic reminds us that what Trump is doing is not legitimate response to rivals but something else entirely.

The idea that Trump should pursue “revenge” and “retribution” for prosecutions is everywhere on the right. After a federal judge ordered Steve Bannon to surrender to prison, numerous MAGA influencers, including the MAGA God King himself, angrily vowed such payback. Republicans have said Trump should “fight fire with fire” (Senator Marco Rubio) and that GOP district attorneys should declare open season on Democrats (Stephen Miller). Trump, of course, has offered many versions of this, including to Dr. Phil and Hannity.

In the media, this story tends to be framed as follows: Will Trump seek “revenge” for his legal travails, or won’t he? But that framing unwittingly lets Trump set the terms of this debate. It implies that he is vowing to do to Democrats what was done to him.

Criminals don’t get to “seek revenge” for being convicted of crimes. That’s not how any of this works.

But that’s not what Trump is actually threatening. Whereas Trump is being prosecuted on the basis of evidence that law enforcement gathered before asking grand juries to indict him, he is expressly declaring that he will prosecute President Biden and Democrats solely because this is what he endured, meaning explicitly that evidence will not be the initiating impulse.

Nor will it be the ongoing impulse or the terminating impulse. It won’t have anything to do with it.

You might think this distinction is obvious—one most voters will grasp instinctually. But why would they grasp this? It’s not uncommon to encounter news stories about Trump’s threats—see here, here, or here—that don’t explain those basic contours of the situation. Such stories often don’t take the elementary step of explaining the fundamental difference between bringing prosecutions in keeping with what evidence and the rule of law dictate and bringing them as purported “retaliation.” Why would casual readers simply infer that prosecutions against Trump are legally predicated while those he is threatening are not?

Conclusion: don’t let Trump frame the subject this way. Correct it every damn time.

Oh good GOD.

How do they get this way? How do they not see it?

The woman asks him why he said, in connection with Rosie Duffield, that “only women have a cervix” is “something that shouldn’t be said” and “is not right.”

“Well,” he says, “look, what I said then and on other occasions is simply that I do not like the way that this becomes so quickly a toxic conversation. I want the conversation to be had with respect…I think about that poor girl Brianna who was murdered and the terrible circumstances of that death…” [clip ends]

Sir, sir, are you aware that women get murdered? Has no one told you that? How does the murder of a teenage boy explain why women shouldn’t say that only women have a cervix?

You will sign the Loyalty Oath or else.

Staff at a top university say they feel coerced to subscribe to a Stonewall agenda by signing a pledge to oppose transphobia and demonstrate “allyship” by sharing their pronouns.

Exeter University last week asked its academics to sign the “inclusive practitioners commitment” produced by its “LGBTQ+ colleague and student” group.

Well that will be why they feel coerced, then – the fact that their employer “asked” them to sign a pledge to believe in bullshit.

The online document requests staff make six pledges to prove they are “the kind of person that LGBTQ+ people can confide in and feel safe around”.

Isn’t it fascinating that universities have never “requested” (actually demanded) that staff make pledges to prove they are the kind of person women can feel safe around?

These include promising to “affirm trans staff and students” by using their chosen names and pronouns. They are then encouraged to seek out LGBTQ+ people’s contributions to their teaching subject and ensure when they refer to trans and non-binary experts they “respect their identities, names and pronouns”.

Lecturers are also told to “educate” themselves about how anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment can be perpetuated through “micro-aggressions, dog whistles and talking points”.

Honestly, how does this happen? How do adult people running universities take this childish drivel seriously? Why aren’t they all rolling their eyes and throwing it in the recycle bin?

In addition, they are asked to promise that they are “firmly against” transphobia, bi-erasure, acephobia (discrimination against asexual people) and intersexism, a term for prejudice against people with variations in their sex characteristics. Finally, staff are asked to ensure their “allyship” is visible by sharing their own pronouns where appropriate.

Who is in charge of all this asking?

Exeter University is part of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, which ranks employers on how LGBTQ friendly their working environments are. It is also a member of the charity’s controversial Diversity Champions Scheme, which has been criticised for encouraging employers to stifle free speech and debate in relation to trans issues.

It sounds more like a daycare facility than a university.

I saw this

Shall we sample? Let’s.

Page 1:

Menstruation is defined as “the monthly shedding of the lining of [the] uterus”
(Cleveland Clinic, 2019, para. 2). Although menstruation is often considered in the
context of the experiences of cisgender women (Brantelid et al., 2014; DeMaria et al.,
2020; Donmall, 2013; Jackson & Falmagne, 2013; Mason et al., 2013), many scholars
have begun to critique the idea of menstruation as an experience unique to women and a
mark of womanhood.

Menstruation is defined as that but it also is that. People who’ve done it can confirm. (They’re all women, by the way.) Knowing what menstruation is isn’t just a matter of looking in the dictionary. It’s not a word like “affable” or “landscape” or “confusion.” Just for one thing, it’s part of a process that results in all of us. Without it none of these fucking fools would be here gurgling about the definition of menstruation and none of us would be here wanting to smack them.

No real scholars “have begun to critique the idea of menstruation as an experience unique to women.” It’s too stupid. Scholars would spot that right off. Even scholars in astrophysics or church history would.

It’s not an “idea” that only women menstruate. It’s reality. People didn’t sit around and dream it up; it’s reality.

But this pile of tripe is for a degree of Master of Arts, so I guess respect for truth has no role. Make no mistake though: this is ridiculous contemptible childish garbage. A university that takes it seriously should close its doors.

Scholars have promoted a more feminist and gender-inclusive conceptualization of menstruation and have acknowledged that not all women menstruate and not all who menstruate are women.

It’s not a club. It’s not a party. It’s not a class outing to the botanical gardens. It’s part of a biological process essential for making new humans. It doesn’t need to be “inclusive” and it can’t be. Trying to be more “inclusive” about it is pointless and absurd and childish.

Page 2 is just as stupid. I stopped reading there.

There’s a thing called Clarks Village, for (it says) Somerset Outlet Shopping. Lots of stuff to buy, for up to 60% off! Whoopee! Also have you heard about our lord and savior the things you can do to support the LGBTQIA+ community? HAVE you?

Wait there’s more. It has a Pride Tree! And a whole long list of things you can do!

This year, the fabulous Bristol Pride Day takes place on Saturday 13th July on The Downs. A Pride event with the community at its heart, international headliners, and all without the high ticket price, Bristol Pride is determined to keep Pride accessible for everyone that wants to celebrate diversity, champion inclusivity, and protest prejudice. This year, The Human League is headlining the main stage, along with tons of other fantastic acts.

There are various ways to support Bristol Pride, including buying a Pride Supporter Wristband, which gets you free bus travel and other benefits on the day, and by online donations. Buy your supporter wristband and see how else you can help by visiting the website.

Surely, you think, I’ve messed up and found the wrong page somehow. Nope: this is an outlet store that moonlights as the Somerset edition of Pink News.

It has tips. Tips on what? Silly question. How to be a better ally, of course.

1. Call out homophobic and transphobic behaviour when you see it, if it is safe to do so. For example, correct your friends or family if they’re using outdated terms or inform a member of staff if you hear abusive language on public transport.
2. Use inclusive language to help everyone feel united. For example, address a group of people with “Hi everybody” instead of “Hi ladies and gentlemen”. It’s a subtle change in phrasing that makes a big difference.
3. Normalise the use of pronouns, such as ‘he/him’, ‘she/her’ and ‘they/them’. Adding pronouns to your email signature or social media profile helps to create a more welcoming environment for transgender and non-binary people.

The “use of pronouns” has been normalised as long as the language has existed. We all use he and him, she and her, they and them, every single day, because they come up in ordinary conversation. How much more normal do you want “you” and “we” to get?

1. Expand your knowledge! There are plenty of educational resources online. To start, you could look up a glossary of common LGBTQIA+ terms to ensure you’re speaking to those around you in the most respectful way. We also recommend reading about the incredible history of LGBTQIA+ activism and the struggles the community has faced, to understand why Pride month is so important.
2. Show up in person. Find out about events, marches and volunteering opportunities to support your local Pride organisations. Taking part in our Tree of Pride is a great start!
3. Don’t make assumptions. Lazy and incorrect assumptions are damaging to the LGBTQIA+ community. For example, guessing somebody’s sexual preferences, assuming a gay man has certain interests or assuming someone identifies as a woman due to the way they’re dressed can be very offensive and upsetting. Your intentions may be positive, but the outcome might not be.

Oops time’s up! The outlet’s closing. Sorry you didn’t have time to shop. See you next year!