(no subject)

Time to pimp a few events, methinks.

Tonight, 6.30pm, outside the V&A museum, London - protesting Stonewall's nomination of transphobic cissexist journalist Julie Bindel for "Journalist of the Year" award.

Stonewall are an LG(B) rights organisation for whom I have volunteered much time and money. I've had a long conversation with the CEO in which I was told
i. Stonewall don't believe in "no platform" policies
ii. Bindel was selected by a large group of people, and thus not nominating her would have been meddling with the democratic process, "like an authoritarian"
iii. She has since recanted her transphobic views, anyway.

After waiting a very long time for any proof of point iii., and having heard Bindel continue to insist that trans people should only have access to "talking" (ie reparative - think But, I'm a Cheerleader!) therapies, I've had enough. Points i. and ii. are indicative of the fact that Stonewall is now operating under the kind of Libertarian ideology that allows oppression to continue in the name of "freedom". This is not the organisation that I gave a month of my life to.

18th - 22nd November, 7.30pm, plus Saturday matinee: The Academy, at the OFS, Oxford

This is my show this term. Rehearsals have been going incredibly well, with songs I don't even have to learn to sing getting stuck in my head. It will be full of camp and meta, like a good pantomime, but without the audience participation or dodgy fursuits. Think "Xenu is Loose" written by people who weren't stoned. Or think of a mix of Rocky Horror, Hairspray, and Indiana Jones. Filled with geeky and philosophical allusions because that's what the writing team are like. Now with added sebastienne!

(no subject)

We did good this evening. A total of 12 lost-looking people waving a pro-Bindel flag (what? guys, the protest was about Stonewall, not Bindel), versus 120 vibrant, magical queer activists, singing songs and shouting slogans. If any religious fundamentalists turned up, they stayed out of our way.

After my experience of trying to get Stonewall to take biphobia seriously, as well as the fact that the CEO tried to convince me that Bindel had retracted her cissexist views when all she had really done was to apologise for the tone in which they were expressed, it was exceedingly therapeutic to shout "Hypocrites!" into the cold night air as swankily-dressed guests arrived for the awards ceremony.

[This is a placeholder for thoughts about "Everybody's Problem", an internet activism idea spun on the journey from London to Oxford with the superlatively intelligent darwinian_woman. We plan to fully recognise intersectionality, to learn from one another in the fight against oppression, and to ensure that every post contains an action point, ie, something that the reader can do to make the world a better place.]