Trans rights aren't tanking the Democrats.
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-not-to-defeat-authoritarianism/julia-serano/
Trans rights aren't tanking the Democrats.
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-not-to-defeat-authoritarianism/julia-serano/
Parents of trans kids ask: Does California really protect our rights?
https://calmatters.org/health/2026/02/rady-transgender-health-bonta-lawsuit/
Parents of trans kids ask: Does California really protect our rights?
https://calmatters.org/health/2026/02/rady-transgender-health-bonta-lawsuit/
Edited 2025 to update gender and a few other things.
I'm a software engineer with a degree in Anthropology. I highly recommend the combo.
Most recently I was tech lead for Scaled Human Review at Meta. I worked in the Integrity Foundation (what other companies call "Trust and Safety") on Better Engineering initiatives and #Metaverse integration, with the teams that build human review software for the 30-40K external reviewers. I'd sworn I’d never work at Facebook, but I decided to see if I could make a difference. I couldn’t. And it wasn't a good fit for either of us. But I learned a lot about how the sausages are made and why they have such a hard time with #contentmoderation.
I've been on #socialmedia for four decades (seriously, I saw someone catfished in chat in 1978—this stuff isn't new), and virtually everyone I know I met online somewhere—many I've still never met in person. Needless to say, that's made me pretty passionate about making online communities safe for everyone, and especially marginalized groups.
I'm now a freelance #consultant and semi-retired, working on my own projects (I'll write more on that later), and with my wife's #consulting company (see below). I'm planning to do a lot more writing about #society and #technology (as well some #SFF), and to travel more.
I tend to write long posts (like this one). They may get shorter once my blog is back up. I don't stick to one topic, but I'll try to tag them so you can filter. I post about tech stuff (recent, as well as old geeky #Unix stuff), #social issues, #LGBTQ issues (especially the T), pretty #photos, and random personal anecdotes. When I boost, it's because I think it's something that might be interesting to someone, or some group, that follows me. Those tend to include all the above topics, plus SF&F-related things, and cool science stuff.
I'm #pan, #poly, and #trans. I prefer "they" or "she" for pronouns, but "he" is fine. I spent most of my life thinking I really was a straight cis man who just happened to be a bit quirky and a passionate and tearful ally, so I'm not too picky about how you refer to me. I'm also more than happy to answer any questions about all that, public or private.
I grew up mostly in #Maine and then lived in Massachusetts for a long time, but I now live on sovereign #Swinomish land in #WashingtonState (US), on the edge of the San Juan islands. Despite my first name (that's a story) and current location, I'm not Native American, although I focus a lot on Native American rights. My parents were both active in that area, and that was my introduction to civil rights in general.
I've been a #software engineer at various levels (from programmer to CTO to company founder) for 40+ years. I learned BASIC in high school, taught myself Pascal, FORTRAN and PL/1 in college, learned C as an intern at Bell Labs (Murray Hill, one floor up from the Unix crew), and went on from there. In college, I majored in #Anthropology with a concentration in #Psychology, and that's influenced the way I look at software ever since. Software is designed for people. Software systems build communities (whether intended or not). Anyone who does that damn well better understand how people and #communities work.
I've worked for Bell Labs (psych stats), Sperry Research (window systems, UX design), Apollo/HP (programmable shell, windowing systems, Unix porting, UX design), Bright Ideas (cookbook, educational games), OSF (windowing standards), Alfalfa (multimedia email - SMTP *and* X.400 :)), Wildfire (phone-based voice assistant), Utopia/USWeb (web and security consulting), Saroca (small boats), Messagefire (anti- #spam software), MessageGate (corporate compliance software), Somewhere (software consulting), ZeeVee (web video aggregation, metadata scraping), TiVo (video content correlation, #metadata pipelines), and Meta. Plus a few others.
I've been with my wife, Dr. Mollie Pepper, for over a decade. She's a #sociologist with a focus on #refugee migration, #gender, and violence; the kind of work that gives you PTSD. She did her dissertation on women's roles in the (now extremely defunct) peace process in #Myanmar (aka #Burma). A few years ago she was at a military base frantically processing thousands of Afghan refugees and managing translators (whom Trump is now deporting). She has a consulting company that specializes in evaluating and designing social service projects. You can find her at https://carlsonpepper.com/. Everything I know about #feminism, #intersectionality, #queer theory, #CRT, and #racism I either learned from her, or she gave me the theoretical underpinnings to understand them properly.
I have two grown daughters from my first marriage with Nassim Fotouhi; a kick-ass software engineer/engineering manager who came to the States just before the Iranian revolution.
Shadi Fotouhi is an artist (see my profile background photo, go look up the drug codes and compare them to the mermaids' behavior) turned software engineer; building dynamic room installations will do that to you. She worked in QA at a gaming company, and then at Jibo; a robotics startup. Now she's a senior software engineer at Wayfair--Kubernetes, release configuration, and all that fun stuff.
Shireen Hinckley is a documentarian, digital image technician, video editor, and co-founder of Somewhere Films (https://www.somewherefilms.com/shireen-hinckley); a womxn's filmmaking collective. She works for #Beyoncé at Parkwood Entertainment, where she's an editor and post-production supervisor for all of their video releases. She worked on "Black is King" and just about every video since then, whether it's for Instagram, Times Square, Tiffany's, the Oscars, or Chloe x Halle.
I'm incredibly honored to have those wonderful women in my life. I wouldn't be who I am without them.
A couple other things that may come up, especially in my photos. My mother is an artist who lives in Maine in a round house she designed, and the family built, when I was in high school. And I'm part owner of a #lighthouse on Cape Cod.
--kee
Even though I'm leaning towards being somewhere on the asexual spectrum somewhere I've given dating a go recently and really enjoyed it. Met some wonderful interesting people and it helped me come out of my shell a bit more and made some friends. I'm glad to be a work in progress even in my 50s. Imagine how boring it would be if I ever figured everything out? ( That's a lie id like to figure everything out! ) 💖
#trans #transjoy #transgender
Hiya!
I'm Nikki
I've been on here before as NikkiRaven
I'm into Running Guitar Writing & trying to find some peace amongst the chaos!
If we have followed each other in the past or not I hope you have a wonderful day! 💖
#trans Re- #introduction #transgender
Einladung: Am Samstag, den 7. Februar gibt‘s in Wien ein Haecksen-Treffen zum Austauschen, voneinander und miteinander Lernen, Skill sharing und Vernetzen. Ankommen & Snacks ab 16 Uhr, pünktlicher Start um 16:30. Neue FLINTA*s sind herzlich eingeladen und bringt gerne friends mit. Siehe: https://metalab.at/wiki/Haecksen
Wo? Rathausstraße 6, 1010 Wien im Metalab
Was sind die Haecksen?
Die Haecksen sind eine Gruppe für Techniker*innen, Hacker*innen, Maker*innen, Wissenschaftler*innen, Künstler*innen, Aktivist*innen. Es gibt das überregionale Netzwerk und regionale Gruppen, die im Umfeld des Chaos Computer Club entstanden sind. Mehr dazu hier: https://www.haecksen.org/uber-die-haecksen/#selbstverst%C3%A4ndnis
Was ist das Metalab?
Das #Metalab ist ein #Hackspace in Wien, um gemeinsam zu basteln, mit #Technik zu experimentieren, Kunst zu machen, uns austauschen und vieles mehr.
Das Haecksen #Treffen ist während dem MetaInvasionDay. Der MetaInvasionDay ist eine monatlicher Tag im Metalab nur für Frauen, agender, inter, nicht-binäre und trans Personen sowie alle, die ihr Geschlecht (noch) in Frage stellen. https://metalab.at/wiki/MetaInvasion_Day_%F0%9F%91%BE
Leite die Einladung gerne weiter! Wir freuen uns auf neue und bekannte Haecksen und Interessierte. :)
#haecksen #Wien #Vienna #Austria #ccc #c3w #chaos #Frauen #trans #nonbinary #transJoy #chaoscomputerclub #feminist #IT #FLINTA #computer #nerd #meetup #meeting #skillsharing #networking
"But far less attention is paid to the growing number of cisgender women now being targeted simply for failing to conform to a narrow, outdated standard of femininity."
https://medium.com/@karlacross0/we-can-always-tell-4a9d36732351
Einladung: Am Samstag, den 7. Februar gibt‘s in Wien ein Haecksen-Treffen zum Austauschen, voneinander und miteinander Lernen, Skill sharing und Vernetzen. Ankommen & Snacks ab 16 Uhr, pünktlicher Start um 16:30. Neue FLINTA*s sind herzlich eingeladen und bringt gerne friends mit. Siehe: https://metalab.at/wiki/Haecksen
Wo? Rathausstraße 6, 1010 Wien im Metalab
Was sind die Haecksen?
Die Haecksen sind eine Gruppe für Techniker*innen, Hacker*innen, Maker*innen, Wissenschaftler*innen, Künstler*innen, Aktivist*innen. Es gibt das überregionale Netzwerk und regionale Gruppen, die im Umfeld des Chaos Computer Club entstanden sind. Mehr dazu hier: https://www.haecksen.org/uber-die-haecksen/#selbstverst%C3%A4ndnis
Was ist das Metalab?
Das #Metalab ist ein #Hackspace in Wien, um gemeinsam zu basteln, mit #Technik zu experimentieren, Kunst zu machen, uns austauschen und vieles mehr.
Das Haecksen #Treffen ist während dem MetaInvasionDay. Der MetaInvasionDay ist eine monatlicher Tag im Metalab nur für Frauen, agender, inter, nicht-binäre und trans Personen sowie alle, die ihr Geschlecht (noch) in Frage stellen. https://metalab.at/wiki/MetaInvasion_Day_%F0%9F%91%BE
Leite die Einladung gerne weiter! Wir freuen uns auf neue und bekannte Haecksen und Interessierte. :)
#haecksen #Wien #Vienna #Austria #ccc #c3w #chaos #Frauen #trans #nonbinary #transJoy #chaoscomputerclub #feminist #IT #FLINTA #computer #nerd #meetup #meeting #skillsharing #networking
There is a petition on the UK Parliament website to legally recognise nonbinary as a gender – which would include an X marker on UK passports for nonbinary people.
The deadline to sign is March 2026 and at the time of writing only 213 people have signed.
Let's show them the power of Mastodon. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be debated in Parliament.
Sign 👇
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738780
#NonBinary #Enby #Trans #Transgender #Queer #LGBTQ #LGBT #UK #UKMastodon #Fediverse
Idaho bill to ban local protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination heads to House
Idaho bill to ban local protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination heads to House
Four years ago today I first admitted I was trans. It's hard to believe it's that recent. Already it feels like it's been forever, like I have always been the way I am today.
At some level, I knew this a long time before I ever admitted it to myself. I didn't have the words for it, I didn't know it was possible, and I never imagined I would be safe to follow through on it. But it was still there.
I remember looking at the other side of the clothing store with longing. I remember asking every girlfriend how things felt for them. I remember the bitter disappointment when I noticed differences in our experiences. I remember driving into the mountains because it was the only place I felt safe wearing a skirt. I remember trying on my Nonny's shoes as a small child, I must have been 3 or 4. I remember in high school telling my dad "I know there are a ton of reasons it wouldn't be, but I can't help but feel my life would be better if I'd been born a girl."
When I first admitted this to myself I was so scared. "I look at that potential future and see pain," I wrote. "I don't think I could take it[.]"
I was wrong. Oh, it wasn't painless. I have lost parts of my family. I lost a couple of bad friends. Deciding to transition derailed my PhD program. But I had never experienced such joy before. I had never known that you could wake up and feel hopeful, not about something, but in general.
It is wild to me how much of this has become mundane now. I wake up and I can wear the clothes I want. My hair is beautiful in a way I never imagined it would be, back in the days of constant buzz cuts. I get to hear a name that I chose instead of the one foisted on me. My hormones actually feel right now, like a fog lifted on the inside. I don't have to mask my behavior nearly as hard, because who cares if someone sees me act naturally—I don't have some bullshit facade to maintain. Or, at least, a much smaller one.
I never thought I would be here. I wasn't sure, then, that I would last four years. Hell, I don't think I ever imagined living this long in any real detail.
I'm so fucking happy I stuck with it. I am happy I get to continue down this path. And oddly, I almost look forward to the next challenges. They will be hard, and remembering the payoff is especially hard in the moment, but this has proven to me that I can do it. One step at a time. Journey before destination.
I am grateful to be here as the real me. Thank you for seeing it with me. Happy hatching day 💜
#trans #transjoy #transfem #transfemme #queerjoy #queer
very excited to have my response included in the latest Boston Review forum against Democratic moderation! here it is, my best argument for why Dems shouldn't "moderate" on transgender rights & LGBTQ issues more generally (as they are inextricably linked):
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-not-to-defeat-authoritarianism/julia-serano/
#trans #transgender #queer #LGBTQ #lgbtqia #politics #democrats
...I also made a video essay version of my "Trans rights aren’t tanking the Democrats" response, please like & share! btw the photo in the thumbnail is from *1997* during the 2nd Annual National Gender Lobbying Day, where trans people gathered in Washington DC to reach out to members of Congress. in other words, trans activism is not in any way "new"!
https://youtu.be/a9VhnoxRj1o
#trans #transgender #queer #LGBTQ #lgbtqia #politics #democrats
very excited to have my response included in the latest Boston Review forum against Democratic moderation! here it is, my best argument for why Dems shouldn't "moderate" on transgender rights & LGBTQ issues more generally (as they are inextricably linked):
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-not-to-defeat-authoritarianism/julia-serano/
#trans #transgender #queer #LGBTQ #lgbtqia #politics #democrats
...I also made a video essay version of my "Trans rights aren’t tanking the Democrats" response, please like & share! btw the photo in the thumbnail is from *1997* during the 2nd Annual National Gender Lobbying Day, where trans people gathered in Washington DC to reach out to members of Congress. in other words, trans activism is not in any way "new"!
https://youtu.be/a9VhnoxRj1o
#trans #transgender #queer #LGBTQ #lgbtqia #politics #democrats
