Author: forlovefromfear

URGENT SUPPORT FOR 2-SPIRIT TRANS MOHAWK/INUK YOUTH

allthecanadianpolitics:

If you can donate directly, please use the emails below to avoid processing times and additional fees they incur through Facebook donation. Please reblog if you can’t help. 

Aqiggiqa@gmail.com
Ramentwinster@gmail.com 

Original text from the post: [bold is mine]

I have created this as an urgent last resort personal fundraiser for my brother and I. 

We are two homeless, disabled 2-spirit/trans Inuk/Mohawk siblings trying to return to our family living abroad. My brother and I have been living with our family abroad but have had to return to Canada due to unforeseen immigration issues/the need to acquire new documents for an identity change. Without these documents we have not been able to acquire a job to support us while living here. 

We have been in Canada for the past six months struggling to survive and waiting on end to return “home” (where we can be supported at least with basic needs fulfilled) but cannot physically leave the country without a passport renewal which has been excruciatingly long and difficult to deal with. We have had to wait on new birth certificates involving sending and receiving documents between provinces, as were both born in British Columbia. 

In order to receive the Quebec birth certificates they had requested to keep my brother’s original British Columbia copy. We waited for one year for ordering a copy of originals from BC (which was lost in the mail and had to be be cancelled and sent again) then sent it in and waited two more months for a new birth certificate from the Quebec government, in which we failed to receive the notice for the arrival of the new QC one and had to wait once again. There are more intimate details to this process that I will not disclose due to this fundraiser being public. 

We have already spent the last of our remaining funds on a single ticket for my brother to return to where our family lives on November 1st (less than a week away!) as we cannot support ourselves here and had only intended to stay here for this document renewal process. 

My brother went to the passport office and was denied his request for an application of an express passport, even with him RAMQ, old passport and certified renewed birth certificate given by the L’État Civil du Quebec. 

This process has been traumatic and horrifying beyond dealing with navigating bureaucracy as we have been subject to over anti-indigenous racism compounded with transphobia and being systematically denied access to resources, relegated over and over again to grey zones of never ending barriers/catch 22’s of bureaucracy/government document processing. This has cost us hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the past six months of waiting, especially as this is not a free process and documents have had to be requested and sent more than once. This is on top of trying to survive on a daily basis while being attacked/disposed of and targeted verbally, physically, sexually and psychologically for being visibly native and 2S/trans. 

We need immediate support for food and shelter. We have requested to book a safe, private space for ourselves in the meantime but cannot afford to pay for it immediately, and it needs to be booked by this Sunday (Oct 28th). We have spent the past few weeks moving from place to place every 1-3 nights and it is exhausting and we were only expecting to have to find a place until Nov 1st, the date of my brother’s supposed departure. We are asking for immediate financial assistance to secure temporary, safe private housing and food, medication costs. We have been receiving guidance so far on what to do and are in the process of requesting new documents to be sent via express mail. We are hoping this will take no more than a week or two to solve, otherwise we need as much support as we can get right now please. 

Please donate directly to:

Aqiggiqa@gmail.com

And 

Ramentwinster@gmail.com

Password “reparations” 

Please share this fundraiser and description to encourage direct support. If you cannot donate please at least share, putting in the effort to share and encourage your own networks has made a huge difference 🙂 

Nakurmiik/nia:wen

Thank you for your continuous support ♥ 

Sila 

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Submitted by @chaoskyan.

URGENT SUPPORT FOR 2-SPIRIT TRANS MOHAWK/INUK YOUTH

ladyloveandjustice:

“healthy male friendships are rare in fiction”

uh

okay

i’ve apparently been consuming an entirely different world of media than y’all because most of the stories in the world revolve around bros being bros…but sure. intense male friendships are underrepresented and oppressed. they aren’t central to most mythology, there aren’t entire genres devoted to them, there wasn’t an entire “no homo” word invented for them because they’re so ubiquitous, ancient philosophers didn’t invent a word to describe them and often hold them to be superior to relationships with women i apparently imagine things all the time.

like there are so many shows where women BARELY EXIST or there’s ONLY ONE how the fuck could male frienships be underrepresented, they are the ONLY FEASIBLE RELATIONSHIP ANYONE CAN HAVE IN A LOT OF STUFF BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS GIRLS TO BE CHARACTERS IN LIKE HALF OF MEDIA NOR DO THEY WANT ANY QUEER CHARACTERS.

For those of you are the parents and teachers of Jewish children after the Pittsburgh shooting

jewish-education:

I know many of us are driving to teach Sunday school this morning or day school tomorrow or have already been getting questions from our own children or children in our community as soon as we got the news. Here are some resources I found for folks who need to address the Pittsburgh shooting with Jewish children and teens:

My main take-aways were:

  1. figure out what they already have heard and start there
  2. they don’t need to know all the details, see pictures, etc. but it may be hard to shield older children that much
  3. be open about your own emotions
  4. if your synagogue has safety measures or evacuation plans, you might choose to talk about these
  5. ask them about their own experiences with antisemitism and about how they’ve handled it, do they need strategies? support? etc.
  6. be ready for them to ask questions about G-d
  7. ask questions throughout to gauge how they feel and what they need, and to help them come to answers themselves

I’m sorry this is so late and might not get to everyone who needs it, but I needed some time to process for myself. I encourage anyone with suggestions for approaching these conversations to speak up.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting our Jewish future in this time of tragedy.