Being an activist

(note: the formatting looked different in the preview!) Well, this is for those that are finding my Facebook page annoying. This protracted negotiation/debate about what I 'must' do to repay my debt to society is stupid and actually based on a faulty assumption (ie that I'd say yes to licensing my scripts). I've been very clear for over a year that I saw my screen test and thought I sucked. I'm good at the monologue thing, as that's what I've been doing in the park at night for much of the last few years. - Anyway, what makes one an activist? Well, to start with: attending a mass protest isn't being an activist. Signing a petition isn't being an activist. Spamming social media isn't being an activist (well, it is, but just barely 🤣) Those are important, but that's essentially being a citizen. The idea of citizenship is that citizens are supposed to be involved in the democratic process, while activism takes that another step further and suggests that civil disobedience and tactics that are frankly anti-democratic are sometimes important. I mean, if we lived in a true democracy, then cannabis would be decriminalised. That's something that roughly three-quarters of the country believes would be a good idea. The idea (for mine) is that an activist pushes an issue forward and forces those in the political sphere to examine said issue more closely. Gary's rule of thumb is that one isn't an activist until one does a solo protest; by that logic, I became a proper activist while doing my Make It Legal sandwich board thing. - I've spent the last 5 years pushing the issue of drug law reform, but the writing is on the wall, and it's very unlikely that this new coalition will progress any significant reform. As I said a wee while ago, I think that pivoting to psychedelics and MDMA is probably wiser than continuing to push cannabis reform. I've pushed the trans kaupapa forward intermittently during those years, but this year is all about Amanda the trannie (yes, all my gay friends agree that I can use that phrase) and the rights that I demand. I demand an end to discrimination in employment for gender-diverse individuals. I demand a better quality of life, regardless of my unusual appearance. I demand that people accept my identity as valid rather than inventing excuses to exclude me from their social lives. 🏳️‍⚧️ This is quite a narrow area of the trans debate, and one that I'm suited to pushing forward. I hope that the mainstream of trans debate (ie gender in schools, sports teams and bathrooms) are successful in their quest, but this is my contribution. - Also, for the 'she's just a druggie' people that are sure to pop out of the woodwork. 1. I've been fairly clear that I think my alcohol use is more detrimental than my drug use. I started drinking to cope with the negativity that I faced when I came out, and then I fell into that habit. To be fair, roughly half the country are functioning alcoholics, so that's not so unusual.

2. If you dig my writing, then accept that I was high while writing those scripts, and that I'm mostly high most of the time.

3. I'm so sick of people saying my trans thing was 'a phase' or 'because of the drugs' ... I'm more than willing to admit that I totally felt encouraged by taking psychedelics to come out and express myself, and if you've missed the last few years of my life, then you have nobody to blame but yourself. I've been out and proud. I've done lots of things. You may miss the old me, but it would be adult of you to accept that he's gone and she's who I am now. If you read my recent timeline, you'd know that my effeminacy has always been something that people remark upon. I like being Amanda more than being Michael because now I don't have this massive secret that ruined my love life. I was always outspoken. I was always femme. Now I'm wearing dresses. I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm avoiding you until you get used to it and stop hassling me. That's my message to my fairweather friends. - Brain teaser: ok, so let's say that Simeon Brown or another one of those people that drinks water but not alcohol or coffee is reading... so, given that you have this religious stance that moderates your substance use, why is it not ok for me to refuse hormones? That's also for somewhat spiritual or religious reasons. Also for virility (I like to cum). So yeah, when someone like me avoids hormones, that's gender non-conforming.