Internet, I am a queer researcher of queer health and I have something to say.
A few weeks back, a study went viral about the relationship between marriage equality policy and queer teen suicide rates, and a lot of people reacted thusly: “queer mental health is better when we’re not discriminated against! BREAKING: SKY IS BLUE, WATER IS WET”
This happens a lot. People see research about a thing ~Everyone Already Knows~ and they mock it. Now I want to make two things really clear:
1. Everyone does not already know.
2. This shit can lose these projects their funding.
Did you know that media coverage is a crucial factor in funding allocation? When we submit our application for grant renewal, we have to provide a list of news articles about our research so they can decide whether the public cares enough about us to let us keep doing our work. And most research doesn’t get all that much coverage, so individual reactions can really matter. If the primary reaction to our publications is eyerolling, we legitimately might not be able to continue.
I’ve seen some frustration from people who believe this research funding would be better put to use “actually helping” the affected populations instead of–I don’t know, pinning them under microscopes or whatever it is they think we do. But funding for policy initiatives is driven by research. I know you wish politicians would listen to individual voices telling them where the problems are, but that’s honestly not a smart way to direct limited resources. We need solid evidence. And a lot of the areas that need the most attention aren’t obvious–who knew bisexual people are at a much higher risk for physical and mental health disparities than gay and lesbian people? Who would have guessed that transgender folks are more likely than any other group (including straight people) to be military veterans, but overwhelmingly don’t claim their benefits? I’m sure some people noticed these patterns, but they definitely weren’t common knowledge within the queer communities I’ve grown up around, and those findings are leading to direct action as we speak.
I get that it can be frustrating to feel like your identity is being reduced to facts and figures for the benefit of red tape. But trust me, the researchers aren’t your enemy here. Most of us are queer too. All of us are just as frustrated by this crap as you are. We are doing our best, and I swear to you this work really is making a difference. Please don’t sabotage it.
I’m reblogging this because it only has 9 notes, and it should really, REALLY have a lot more.
Also, given the current US administration’s plan to stop collecting data on LGBTQ identities as part of the census, we are in need of accurate, useful data now more than ever.
Plus the ability to cite peer-reviewed evidence of these sorts of things and quantify the extent of “obvious” effects can be pretty important to researchers who are working in adjacent fields that don’t produce the sorts of headline soundbites that get mocked on social media.
And often headlines and summaries are misleading and reductive- a study about wage gaps across a variety of demographics might get headlined “Women Still Make Less Than Men, New Study Shows” when the bulk of the paper is about the intersection of race and gender identity, and I’ve seen people on Tumblr mocking a study about the flavor compounds in food across the Indian subcontinent, conducted by Indian scientists at an Indian university, as “LOL white people don’t know how to cook.”
And to add to this– it’s also important to be able to point to something and say, no, the problem is not that these people aren’t straight. Being able to point to actual science that says, “no, it’s not us, it’s you and how you treat us”– well, that’s a a good thing.
There are a lot of people out there who genuinely believe that being any
flavour of queer is intrinsically harmful to you. That unhappiness is a
natural result of being gay, that to be trans is to be mentally ill,
that bisexuals are confused and troubled. There are people who believe that you cannot be happy or well if you’re queer, and not all of those people are bad people. Some of them have what they perceive to be your best interests at heart, and they want you to be happy, to be well, to be physically, emotionally and mentally safe. And they still act in a way that causes harm, that damages lives, isolates kids and tells them that pain is what they should expect for being who they are.
It’s important to be able to say, “these policies kill kids”, to say, “no, this wouldn’t have happened anyway”, to say, “yes, it does matter what you do.”
A thought I have had:
A lot of the “IN OTHER NEWS WATER IS WET/etc” comes from that sense of frustration that this is in fact Shit We Know (because it’s our lives) and it is in fact frustrating to have these things treated like a revelation.
It’s useful to turn that frustration around into shapes that are less likely to get research shut down. Like “FUCKING FINALLY SOMEONE DID THE FUCKING RESEARCH”. Or “AT LAST. SOMETHING TO THROW AT THE STRAIGHTS.” or “WE HAVE SCIENCED THE THING NOW WILL YOU BELIEVE US?!”
Know that the researchers are, as OP notes, probably on your side! They have fought to get this stuff in order to have Data to back shit up.
Additionally, everything everyone else has said, and ALSO that even when we study things we’re Pretty Sure Of we more often than not discover that there was at least some aspect that we were wrong about, or had under(or over)estimated, or whatever, or a contributing factor nobody had considered, so it is actually important to Do The Damn Research in order to make sure we can do the BIGGER research.
But if you’re having that sense of ARGH WHY IS THIS EVEN IN QUESTION, like: this is fair! But it’s also pretty crucial to reframe the direction of the argh, to provide impetus for MORE of this kind of evidence-seeking, rather than less.
Another thing! Even if you are LGBTQ+ yourself, there’s tons of things you can learn from these studies. Like, for example, school bullying.
For a paper I was writing, I needed a statistic that basically said “LGBTQ+ teens get discriminated against and makes them mentally ill.” This was something I knew, and my LGBTQ+ friends knew. Obviously, right?
But the study also said the following:
The bullying based on their identity, or repeated discrimination from other children, is a problem that does contribute to the development of depression and anxiety
[Here is the statistical amount of that impact]
And one mitigating factor that can decrease this effect by some ridiculously high number is parental acceptance
Of course, yeah, if you asked an LGBTQ+ person if they would have felt less terrible if their parents were accepting, they would say yes. But the study revealed that, due to the threat of homelessness, as well as acceptance making it easier for students to cope with the stress of school bullying, parental education would have way more impact than school bullying programs. Also, because LGBTQ+ kids face unique challenges of often being forced into independent living, then the LGBTQ+ political movement should be working together with youth activism.
And this is just one example. So it’s important to read these studies if you have access to them, because it’s not just obvious stuff! If you’re open to learning things to spite Straight people, because copying down statistics with proper citations is delightful, you can also better guide your own activism to be more effective.
And I mean. Isn’t the entire field of science basically just “water is wet” anyway? That’s what scientific research is.
Look at it this way:
If you’re writing academic papers on a topic as part of, say, a collection being put together to back a bill going to legislation, you need to be able to cite specific research done about that topic.
If no properly-documented research has been done, then you’re not going to have any verified sources to cite, and your paper is going to be taken less seriously, which means that the legislation you’re trying to push through that would have a positive impact on people’s day to day lives has less of a shot at succeeding.
Hey– in order to get to the cool stuff you gotta learn the basic crap first.
i just remembered this story my dad told me one time, about abraham lincoln
a guy challenged abe to a duel once. lincoln very much did not want to duel this cat.
so lincoln agreed, on the condition he got to choose the weapon. maybe that was how it generally went in 19th century dueling culture, i have no idea.
the guy said “sure”
lincoln said, “ok. broadswords.”
so that poor would-be opponent shows up on the day of the would-be duel, and abe is outside, doing, like, some quick sword warmups.
now, back in lincoln’s day, he was, as any american schoolchild can tell you, the tallest fucking dude on the entire fucking planet, so please try to even imagine the majestic reach of this stovepiped giant’s condor-like wingspan.
(wingspan plus broadsword.)
abe’s enemy takes one look at this, does some quick mental calculations on his own arm length (mortal, human), turns around and goes home.
the best part is that, as i remember it, lincoln of course had no fucking idea how to swordfight. it was the 1800s. we had guns. he’d just been, like, waving this giant sword around haphazardly, whacking at tree limbs, making his arms look as big as possible because he knew this joker could see him, and he knew that guy didn’t know that lincoln didn’t know what the hell to do with a broadsword.
anyway, i don’t actually know if that story is true or not but i really really hope it is. i would love to know that the president who defeated the confederacy was also fucking hilarious.
Yo what up I know everyone is broke as shit these days but here I am.
So in February, Morgan ( @ziggymira / @shinsildaen) came to live with me to avoid possible homelessness and get away from their ex whom they have since fully accepted and realized was an abusive asshole.
The issue now is that in moving, Morg has been left with almost no government ID
No government ID means they can’t apply for any type of assistance or even go to the doctor without the risk of incuring serious chargers.
Luckily they still have their passport which is expired but can be renewed. If we get that and order then a new birth certificate then they can move on to medical cards and provincial ID and then eventually get to applying for assistance as Morg is still incapable of working.
But seeing as this household of 3 people is supported primarily on my income alone, it’s been more than a little difficult to find any money that we don’t need for something else.
Morgan needs roughly $200 CND to renew their passport and order a new birth certificate.I simply can’t afford to set that much aside at any given time because that right there is most of a grocery shop
So while donations are appreciated, them and I both are offering commissions to help get this funded so they can keep moving forward and get the assistance they need!
Yes, I’m copy-pasting a lot from previous versions of this post, because it’s exhausting to rewrite the same info over and other again.
However, let’s see if I can sum things up: my daughter Dessie has chronic kidney disease, currently at stage 4. Sometime, hopefully soon, she will need/get a donated kidney transplanted. That will take us over to Seattle for three to four months, basically moving us there for the duration.
Here is the information for possible kidney donors: Donors need to between 21-45, in reasonably good health, and O+ blood type. If this is something you’re interested, please contact the University of Washington’s living donor program at 206-598-3627, and mention you’re interested in donating to Dessie McAdams. I am not sure what constitutes “reasonably good health” in this case, though I think most people with chronic illnesses don’t qualify and anyone immmuno-compromised. Best to contact UW and ask.
We do have a possible living donor right now, and are waiting on the process, which may take months. I am hoping, however, that one way or the other Dessie will receive a new kidney in the next 12 months. Or so. Soon, I’m hoping. However, transplanted kidneys come with expiration dates averaging between 10-20 years, so her doctors want her to retain her native kidneys as long as possible.
I divorced my abusive ex about four years ago, taking on the marital debt to speed the divorce. I consolidated it, but just trying to staying alive as a family keeps piling up debt, pretty consistently putting us in the negative each month, because there’s more bills than money, and no way to be rid of bills without more money than we have. I’m trying. It kills me to keep asking for help. But I’ve learned if you don’t ask, people won’t help; staying silent assumes you’re fine.
We are living in a house owned by my ex in laws, and there’ve repeated threats to evict us. I’d love to move, but that’s impossible without money. I badly want to get us into a place where neither my ex nor his family have power over us.
In about early May 2017, my daughter revealed to me that her father molested her, while we were still married., when she was about three or four. I reported this to CPS and the police., but ultimately nothing came of it, because by that time no physical evidence remained.
Im trying to keep my family safe, and well. It’s a constant and continuing struggle. We currently have an old but good working car; in the past few months, though, w e’ve had tires blow out, and our car repossessed. Most recently it required a $754 fix; my mother was able and kind enough that help me that done, but I most pay her back somehow.
The house has issues; every time I think we’ve tackled the last plumbing issue, a new one comes up. The last one was the bathroom sink. Getting them fixed means dealing with my ex mother in law or ex father in law. They like to use such things as excuses to interfere in our lives. The last time I requested a plumbing fix, they sent in my ex’s half-brother, who did the job but also called CPS on me. The house’s poor electrical setup regularly kills our lightbulbs.
YouCaring has been fully absorbed by GoFundMe as of July 31st, so that’s no longer an alternative. Be aware that the GFM does not reflect the approximately 40k in debt I’m struggling with, nor other life complications which money would help with, partly not to muddy up the donation page, but also because GoFundMe is fairly public and encourages shares to Facebook — which is good for a donation platform, yes, but I don’t want my ex and his family to find out all our struggles.
I am looking into bankruptcy; that also requires money to file for. I am trying to modify our parenting plan so the kids either only see him in a formally supervised setting or not at all. Though I’m hunting for sliding fees and fee waivers, money is required for all of this. (Just filing for a parenting plan modification costs $260, if the court denies the fee waiver request.) Capitalism sucks pointy rocks.
Ifou prefer alternate donation methods, here are some:
PayPal.me/kerryren
Venmo @KerryRen
Cash app $KerryRen
C
CirclePay kerryren@yahoo.com
If you use these, please let me know if you want to be publicly thanked/acknowledged here (if you also shared your tumblr @), or as an offline donation on the GFM. Otherwise I’ll assume anonymity is preferred; you’ll still get thanked if I can find a way, but not necessarily publicly.
Do not donate if it will cause you personal hardship. Please. Don’t feel obliged to donate if you either can’t afford or even don’t want to. Rebloggjng and signal boosting, however, on whatever your available platforms are is greatly appreciated.
I do try to keep these posts updated as to my present financial status. As I receive SSDI (and my children receive social security funds through both their parents), money comes in on the third of each month and then whooshes out through the next three days. From there I try to keep us fed and alive any way I can — mostly with plasma money right now.
We don’t get food stamps. We don’t get energy assistance. We don’t get housing assistance. This is not from pride; I’ve applied and been told our household has too much income. (They don’t take the total outgo into account, much, usually). We get health insurance, which is a plus or things would be infinitely, painfully worse.
Anyway, this is long enough so I’ll end it for now.
This month’s hell begins. Please help.
Please. Help.
They’re killing me.
And in my continuing car woes, my right rear tire somehow got a big hole in it and needs replaced, because Cars Hate Me.
I hate this constant need, this constant series of setbacks and disasters. I just want to live. I just want my kids to live, safe and well. I hate asking for help all the damn time.
But I’m not going to stop hoping for a miracle. Things have to Get Better, Somehow.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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