I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.  I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.

I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.  Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.  Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.

So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

hills

i want to protect every young girl in the world being wrongly sexualized and forced to grow up way too fast

The 13-year-old girl from Stranger Things:

Her 15-year-old male costar:

JFC why can’t they leave that poor girl alone???

What’s sexual about this? @sespursongles

Gee i dunno, maybe the way they had her spread her legs and make an o-face???

She has to pose, he gets to play

Asking “what’s sexual about this” is almost insidous. Sure, she’s not naked and she’s not performing any sexual acts, but that’s not what sexualization necessarily means. The girl-child is looking longinly, languishingly into the camera. She has her legs in a short dress spread, her lips separated, and very much make-up making her look older. She is passive, for the camera/viewer, while the boy is active, joking, playing, relaxed and as a child, respected as a child. I’m sure someone might say, “but that’s you sexualizing her, with your gaze” but come on, who are we kidding here? We know the industry sexualizes young girls, we know this isn’t a coinscidence. We know this is the pattern, the model for woman according to the male gaze or woman performing for the male gaze, and we know she is 13 and that everyone knows she is. And we know this destroys girls.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

She went from this:

To this:

DO NOT TOUCH ME

“I uploaded a video on Youtube called ‘4 Taylor.‘ She found it. We became BFFs and she called me and said I’m working on this super secret project but I know I can trust you.Will you not tell anyone? And I didn’t tell anyone. I just think that it’s such an iconic, game changing video, and for me to be a part of something that broke history and the fact that she’s embracing me, an out, gay, black man and she knows that, and loves that, and celebrates that. She’s letting me prance around in heels, and a crop top in her video and she lived for every moment of it and thought we were fabulous and so I appreciate her bringing us onto the set and letting us be fabulous.”

Drag them, Abi.

YASS YOU TELL EM ABI <3

YAAASSS

@taylorswift why is this you right now

A picture of my top 15 favorite artists

THIS

sharing music as a form of intimacy