What have I signed away?

[sovay]

"It's just that the balls quotient of everything has become distressingly high, you know?" I said to spatch.

Especially since I had written a letter to Mayor Wu and the Boston City Council about it, it was nice to read that Boston has declared itself an LGBTQIA2s+ sanctuary city. At the moment it is primarily a statement rather than an implementation of policies, but it is a statement I am happier to see the city have decided to make than not.

Tonight I wrote letters to both of my senators and to the minority leader of the Senate whose twenty-four-hour about-face on blocking the further democracy-destroying Republican-pushed funding bill certainly didn't help the optics of Democratic Jell-O in action. I hope they are read and make any difference. The brakes-off feel has been only accelerating.

How is this year going? I haven't even made hamantashn for Purim. I did manage to light the candle for my grandmother's yahrzeit. I saw some beautifully sun-fired birch bark while out walking and had a conversation which improved when it turned from contemporary politics to Phanerozoic extinction events. The lunar eclipse to which I have been looking forward for months may be clouded out. I want my time back inside my own head.

Comments

[yarrowkat]

i'm so glad more cities are jumping on the sanctuary city movement! i'm trying to get some energy going around that in Albuquerque. we factually function as a sactuary city already - NM protected abortion care & trans health care in our state constitution last year, and the way the law is written, it can't be changed without an overwhelming *medical* consensus that these procedures do harm - and because we're a minority-majority state (NM is 67% hispanic & has a high percentage of Indigenous folks as well, with more native-managed native land than I think any other state), many queer folks of color have been moving here over the last 5 years especially. i've been here 27 years and i'm observing an enormous influx of young queer folks, predominantly people of color. so i want to see us stand up and make a statement about *political* protection, as well as providing factual medical protection. i'm mildly hampered by not being an Albuquerque resident, so i have no city councillor to hassle about it, but i'm getting a letter-writing campaign going among friends who are.

[sovay]

i'm mildly hampered by not being an Albuquerque resident, so i have no city councillor to hassle about it, but i'm getting a letter-writing campaign going among friends who are.

Godspeed! Agreed that practical rights are not chopped liver and neither is codifying them politically. Somerville has actually identified as a sanctuary city for immigrants since 1987—and is currently engaged in legally defending that status—and I would like very much for it to extend its protections explicitly to its trans/queer communities, especially since it already recognizes poly domestic partnerships. Let me know if there's any way I can boost your letter-writing campaign when it gets under way.

[yarrowkat]

thank you! yes, i think we can do both if we put enough pressure on the city council. we have some pretty good people in right now.

i had heard about Somerville recognizing polyamorous relationships! that has not started a trend, unfortunately, but still seems a Very Good Thing in itself.

i think i just need to carve out time to write the template, put it together with city council & the mayor's email addresses, and start broadcasting on instagram. it's mostly a matter of making time! i'm going to try to start this week. i will also try to say something here!