On donating blood

After decades of bigoted discrimination, the FDA has finally caught on to science–somewhat.

Since forever, straight people–who have always been allowed to donate blood, many believing that they were in monogamous relationships–found out, the hard way, that their partners were cheating on them. But it was only gay men who were singled out as “unsafe”, first barred from donating blood for life, then required to be celibate for a year before they were allowed to donate blood.

It has forever been thus; being queer has always been considered tantamount to being promiscuous, careless and, too often, unclean.

Then COVID hit, and the numbers of people who could donate blood dwindled to the point of crisis.

And lo and behold, the FDA found out, rather quickly, that queer men can donate blood without compromising the health of transfusion recipients.

Who could have known?–other than non-bigoted people, that is.

Boomerang (1992) (sort of a movie review)

Since the whole thing started when I said that there’s not enough groveling at the end of Boomerang, it was obvious that it would be the inaugural selection for #RomancelandiaMovieNight. ¹

Musings on privilege

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a friend about politics, sexism, authoritarianism, and more. At one point, he mentioned that he despises the way privilege is often deployed to shut people up.

Which is a fair criticism, as we’ve all seen cries of “privilege” used to police what other people say and how they say it.

On the other hand, privilege exists, most people have at least some in one area or another, and it shields them from other people’s experiences and suffering.

Thing is, people rarely see their own privilege, however limited it may be, and therefore tend not to be receptive when it’s pointed out to them.

Like, say, people who have the privilege of choosing what they engage with, and how. Another form privilege manifests is in what we even see happening in the world around us.

Making lists, checking them twice.

This post has existed in draft form for…well, yikes, almost two full years. Something came to light yesterday, that made me come back to it. And you, lucky readers, get to read my thoughts.

As I’ve mentioned before here and elsewhere, I do have a list of authors who, in my opinion, behave badly.¹  And, since my time, emotional labor, energy, and money, are limited, I quite simply refuse to even try their work. It’s still, at least in this small area, a free country.

By the same token, I have a much, much, much longer list of incredible people who are authors who will always get my support.