Incoming rant.

Dear Reader,

I'm honestly not sure where to begin. I've been busy with family stuff, book stuff, and I'm sick with the flu. I haven't had much time over the last several days to do much online. So you can imagine my surprise, irritation, and anger to discover that Facebook and Tumblr are implementing policy changes that are going to make the lives of many people more difficult. I could go through an entire list of why these 'family friendly' policy changes are bad, but I'm too sick to fully cogitate that list beyond the fact that I know they are going to be implemented against marginalized people such as my transgender, LGBTQ+, and kinky brethren. I'm too angry to really put into words how disgusted I am with the fact that these platforms have decided that courting the favor of the ultra-conservative community is acceptable.

My ire is not limited to this situation. There is also someone attempting to incite a version of the Satanic Panic of the 80s and 90s in the direction of the Lokean community. I would have just let that go except for the fact that this seems to be a thing that is slowly gaining traction. As the Lokean community just exists, we have had detractors from just about day one. Now we have to deal with these people saying that we're some how responsible for that reprobate who happens to be president of the United States and attempting to bring about ragnarok. Listen, if we had the capacity to bring about the end of days, do you think we'd do it? All our stuff is here.

More seriously, the continued and ongoing slander of Lokeans is really making me angry. It's like a sucker punch from the back when it comes out of the heathen oriented community who theoretically worship the same gods that we do. Last I checked, Loki was part of the same pantheon. Last I checked, Loki was ODIN'S BLOOD BROTHER. Almost all of the treasures of the Aseir are a result of Loki's doings.

I used to laugh at the norse crisis flow chart. Then I got annoyed with it. Now I'm ready to light the thing on fire and use it to light some other shit on fire. Why? Because Donald-fucking-Trump is not Loki's fault. If you want to sit there and point fingers at some religious group for political fuckery, take those fingers and point at the 'moral majority' known as the 'religious right' aka the dominionist christians. They've been working on this and planning this, just waiting for the right pasty to put into place if they couldn't get their own guy in first for the last sixty years. Ronald Regan was their test run.

You want to know who your 'enemy' is? It's them. And people like me have been saying so for at least thirty years now as everyone else said 'but they're so NICE'. You know what, there's plenty of people who are nice to your face and stick a knife in your back. They're usually pretty good about hiding the fact that they're utter bastards from everyone except for their target. That's how it works. Trust me, I know a thing or two about those kinds of relationships on multiple scales.

While I'm up on my soapbox and ranting, I'm going to draw a line here. I honestly don't care if I lose readership, sales, or standing in the community. Transgender exclusion has no place in Filianism or Déanism. Full stop. TERFs shouldn't be tolerated, welcomed, or given the time of day. They ARE tyrants. The official scripture of Déanism and Filianism says we should not tolerate tyrants, nor partake of the fruit of their labors except in necessity (and at that time offer them up to Dea so that we might not be contaminated with the miasma of their tyranny). Of all people, the Filianic and Déanic communities should embrace the transgender persons with the deepest of empathy, especially the orthodox communities. For the idea that a femme soul could incarnate into a masculine body is a doctrine that is held in many of the orthodox communities. This should be celebrated as evidence of your theology being accurate.

As someone who has struggled with their gender identification due to varying factors in their life, I have absolutely zero tolerance for someone who is going to tell anyone that they're gender is invalid. I'm sorry, but you have no idea what that person's life is like or who they are beyond what they tell you. And you have no business asking about what is in their pants. As a woman with a vocal range that drops down into low tenor, I've had people threaten my safety because I answered their girlfriend's phone. And I am very clearly female in appearance and genome. Transgender women are women, full stop. As soon as you start saying that you have to have certain traits to be a woman (ie breasts and a vagina plus functional reproductive organs) you prove that you are an asshole. Transgender women are women. They're as much women as the woman who is unable to bear children due to medical complications. They're as much women as the woman who lost her breasts to cancer.

They're as much women as the countless women who are murdered and assaulted every day just for being women. As a matter of fact, they're more likely to be murdered and have their murderer get away with it because they 'panicked'. I'm sorry, but I have a panic disorder and I don't murder people. Countless people have panic disorders and they don't murder people. Transgender women are women. You don't get to murder them, discriminate against them, or otherwise be a general bastard to them because you get squicked by the possibility that they may not fit your idea of what women are supposed to look like.

And while I'm on the topic of transgender people and religion, I've got something else to add. Transgender men are men. Full stop. You don't get to harass, murder, discriminate, or otherwise be a general bastard to them either. Why? Not because transgendered people are a special class. Nope, it's because in civil society, you don't get to harass, murder, discriminate, or otherwise be a general bastard to people. I've gotten an earful on this topic from various fronts.

I'm probably going to get some hate mail. That's why I moderate comments. I'm probably going to lose some readers. To Hel with 'em. If you think that this approach is vulgar, you haven't seen me when I'm really angry. I am not going to debate these points. These things are facts. These things are part of the hill I will die on. They're called principles. One of the things they boil down to is don't be a dick to everybody. The other thing that they boil down to is have some empathy and respect for the fact that everybody is fighting some kind of fight right now in their lives.




Postscript: I'm not "nice" to everybody. I am kind up until you give me a reason not to be. Then I return what's given to me in full force. Don't mistake my kindness for weakness either. There's a reason why I know so much about 'dark' magic. It is not a strictly academic knowledge base. And I don't forgive or forget.