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These stories are connected. Mark Zuckerberg says Elizabeth Warren’s policies are an ‘existential threat’ in leaked Facebook audio. Facebook exempts political ads from ban on making false claims. Facebook denies Biden campaign’s request to remove false Ukraine ad by Trump campaign. [more]
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Arwa Mahdawi writes in The Guardian about the US court cases on LGBT+ discrimination. These cases are, to put it mildly, a huge deal – and not just for LGBT people. The ruling will have serious implications for straight people who don’t comply with gender norms. It could allow employers to fire women who don’t… [more]
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A company has analysed the gender balance of various UK festivals. The best was Latitude, which achieved a gender balance of 48.1% women; next up was Glastonbury, with 44.6%. And then there was Download, home of superannuated rock bands whose commercial and artistic peaks happened decades ago. 14.4%. That’s all performers. Female artists or bands?… [more]
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Today, the US Supreme Court will hear three cases with massive potential consequences for LGBT+ people. The court will be asked to declare whether it’s legal to fire people on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity. If the court rules that it is, it’ll be a very bleak day for human rights.… [more]
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There’s been a thoroughly predictable outcry against The Old Vic theatre’s move to gender-neutral toilets, and trade magazine The Stage invited two cisgender women to write about it. A Twitter storm ensued and the articles were both taken down again, but it’s been reported on social media and on the BBC as the silencing of… [more]
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One of my musical heroes and a contender for the title of Most Beautiful Man In Rock, Michael Stipe, has released his first solo record. The song, Your Capricious Soul, is the welcome return of one of the most extraordinary voices in music. Your Capricious Soul – Michael Stipe from JMSPROJ on Vimeo. I can’t… [more]
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Sky News, prop. R Murdoch, has given strange prominence to the launch of a new charity. Let’s start with a question. Detransitioning from what? What do you think transitioning means? To most, it’ll mean hormones and surgery. And as the article makes clear, to Sky it definitely means hormones and surgery. But that’s not what… [more]
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There’s been an interesting discussion on Twitter among some trans folks on the subject of transition and bravery. Did we have to transition? Are we brave to have done so? Here’s Emmy Zje: “Do you really HAVE to transition tho?†Yes. The horrific certainties of not transitioning eventually eclipsed the certainties transphobia was sure to… [more]
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Scotland banned smacking yesterday (and because it was National Poetry Day, it blocked fracking too. You’ve got to get your laughs where you can in the current climate). Smacking bans are a culture war issue, so with crushing inevitability the BBC in England got Brendan O’Neill from Spiked to talk about it – which is… [more]
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I mentioned recently that there was yet another junk science story doing the rounds about trans people: it claimed that thousands of deaths were linked to puberty blockers, when the actual number of deaths from puberty blocking were zero. The figures were based on the fact that the same drug is prescribed to help terminally… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
