I usually end the week with a summary of the stuff that's happening and it's pretty varied.
Pride season
Pride Season in the Northern Hemisphere opens, as far as I know, with Sanremo Pride, Italy, which is tomorrow and is my most local event. It's not a large meeting - about 2000 are expected - as this is a less populated, sleepy corner of queerdom. The focus this year is on the trans community because we are most under attack right now.
I've decided not to go for logistical reasons. It's not possible, even if I get someone to give me a lift, or take a taxi, not to run a high risk of outing myself to the neighbourhood, especially on a Saturday which is the busiest day of the week. I won't bore you with the complexities of the details or my concerns. Much as I am aching to go, I think a better option is to go to a different Pride in this region where I can check into a hotel and get properly dolled up and be anonymous. Yes, that's what it's like for most of us. As one friend crudely put it, you don't cr*p in your own back yard. Safety is paramount.
The Wotsit of Rage and the campaign against reality
Last month my opening post was a quote from a British political vlogger who used the expression "about as popular as hedgehog suppository" to describe Trump's popularity among the British public. This week he comes up with a new epithet for Trump: the "Wotsit of Rage", which had me doubled up. For readers outside the United Kingdom, I should explain that a Wotsit is a popular but unhealthy corn puff snack, somewhat orange in colour. (Wiki article and illustration here: Wotsits)
(For information, the vlogger is a guy called Phil who "likes talking about politics" and whose approach is mainly to set up a current affairs topic as an aunt sally and knock it down with reason and humour. He's an old-style UK Labour Party supporter, of which there are not so many these days, so you need to take his stance into account, but he's up-front about that. That said, when I was younger (like, in the '80s, just as a random example), the political spectrum was broader than it is now, yet one was always able to have a civilized discussion with people from anywhere else on that spectrum, which is uncommon nowadays. I find the change to today's more abusive, more rigid attitudes repellent. I'm no nostalgia fiend but previously (1) everyone was genuinely interested in the progress and welfare of their country as a whole, differences being essentially on what was the best approach, and (2) nobody questioned reality. There was no flat earth theory, faked moon landings, 'deep state' psychosis or social-media endorsed narcissism to contend. So I find Phil refreshingly old-fashioned in his approach! His YouTube channel: A Different Bias)
Purity culture and rape culture
This week I have been binge-watching drag queen Landon Reid's marvellous ripostes to "creepy conservative men" who contact him when he's dressed in (often exquisite) female fashions because they think he's a woman. They offer obscene and sexist suggestions whilst invariably turning out to be evangelical Christians, usually married or with a strong church leaning, some even having "purity buddies" to help keep them away from "impure thoughts and temptations". It shows how the purity culture, the guns + Jesus + Trump obsessions of so many American men (OK, let's be fair to America, many men from all over are similar) are so closely tied to denigrating, crushing and sexually overpowering women. There's plenty of mansplaining and self-owns along the way. A witty exposé of a frightening trait of our era. Try this typical one:
Plus Landon offers makeup tips on how to recreate the looks of female icons like Sabrina Carpenter or Endora, and even male ones like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz!
Going abroad (just!)
Next week I had planned to go to Germany but family health issues prevent it. Instead, I will be in Milan again and also spending a couple of days in San Marino, which is the oldest continually independent state in the world, with the oldest written constitution (sorry again, USA).
San Marino has always been a republic headed by two Captains-Regent, who are colleagues elected every six months in the style of the Consuls of the ancient Roman Republic (c. 510 BC - 27 BC), who were elected annually. In 2022, Paolo Rondelli, an openly gay man, was elected as one Captain-Regent, thus becoming the world's first openly gay head of state. There have been plenty of gay/bi heads of state before, of course (e.g. James VI and I of Scotland and England in the 16th/17th centuries), but not declaredly so.
Sadly, trans rights seem to be lagging behind gay rights in the republic. I will report back.
Passenger action group
A couple of weeks ago I grumbled about the collapse, yet again, of the lousy French train service to Italy and the lousier attempts to get stranded passengers a replacement bus, meaning I walked much of the way home (section titled "A night in the mountains" here). Last week two further even worse failures that left passengers living on this side of the French border stranded until late at night finally prompted the establishment of a passenger action group. A cross-border bus, even a boat, might at least alleviate the misery at bad times, and be a competitive alternative on a normal day.
Thank you for reading. Have a good weekend. Don't overdose on Wotsits.
Sue x