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   Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot (libreleah@mas.to)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jun-2026 00:10:00 JST Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot

   It's pride month, and I intend to do at least the minimum amount required in order to celebrate it; perhaps I may attend a march this year. I usually can't be bothered as I'm quite anti-social most of the time, but given recent events, I may go to one. Silence is death, afterall.

   I'm trans. Yes. I also have a sexual orientation that fluctuates wildly, sometimes I'm basically ace and other times bisexual.

   I live in a country where I'm still allowed to be these things, in relative safety. I don't take such safety for granted, for I know that there are always those who seek to erase my existence entirely. Take the far right, who recently won local government elections in my area. Upon assuming office, they mandated that all local libraries remove Pride flags and generally abstain from promoting anything LGBTQ-related. It is a harbinger of future attrocity, if the Reform party gains more serious power in my country, the UK.

   I've also noticed that mas.to lets me type longer messages now.

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     Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot (libreleah@mas.to)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jun-2026 02:31:13 JST Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot

     in reply to

     My friends across the pond are have even more to worry about. Take for example this article:

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/05/conservative-states-rebrand-pride-month-backlash

     I have a different proposal, to create a new set of celebrations celebrating the welfare state, trade unions and worker's rights legislation, and how these tended to produce the economic conditions necessary for childbirth as seen in the very period these fascists seem to admire. Childbirth is what this GOP stunt is about. The boom in baby births in the 1950s, 60s and 70s were a direct result of people suddenly being able to afford nice things like housing, food, transportation and general luxury, where someone fresh out of college could usually get a good job and work really did pay.

     Conservatives have attacked unions, workers rights and generally weakened the economic purchasing power of ordinary people so much since the 80s that lots of people just don't have children anymore. Instead of fixing their mess, they scapegoat trans people and continue cutting education.