Will you be deleting all the posts here, or leave them up as a static archive? How would our individual post histories be affected? Thanks!

Thanks! I'm not sure what the source of Spock's family name is, though apparently a lot of Trekkies know it. It's listed as such on the main Trek wiki: http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Spock Ah, ok, it's from a novel. I think that might make it canon; no idea how it works with Trek, but the official Star Wars novels were considered canon.

guh I want fanfic in which this guy attempts to psychoanalyse Sylar and treat his myriad issues. ...it probably wouldn't end well for Dr. Thredson.

Thanks! I don't think it's a matter of that person opposing gay people (and gayness is not a lifestyle... :|), but rather the opposite - it seems possible that they were unaware of Trek's K/S tradition, and took the posts to mean that I was making fun of Zach by insinuating that all his characters were gay because he was.

XD Thanks! It's mine, and I'm a guy. I also run http://textsfromkeanuspawn.tumblr.com, which came before this one.

@Dixey Or, as a more relevant example - how not that long ago, gay/bi people were likewise considered just 'confused', or having some kind of medical condition, and doctors were trying to find ways of fixing their brain chemistry / hormones to turn them straight. Gay men were for instance injected with male hormones out of some conviction that it would make them attracted to women, and vice versa with lesbians. But that didn't work at all. And even if it did, it just seems really, really wrong. :\

might have to pull back from this discussion because it's getting triggery, but some points: @SantaFeFan: with all due respect, I think we're talking about different things here. it's not about wanting to pick a different path in life; it was literally transition or die for me. it was about survival. it's also got nothing to do with the limits of having a "woman's body" or role; if so, there would be no trans women transitioning to female for the same reason I'm doing the opposite: it's sometimes literally the only way they can live. Relevant link: http://www.questioningtransphobia.com/?p=2994 @Dixey: "But I wonder what the doctors can do for their brains." No. no, no, no, no, no, no, *no*. I am completely, intensely freaked out at the idea of anyone 'fixing' my brain to make me a girl. It would be mental suicide. It would turning me into another person that I am not, who has my memories and all, and that idea terrifies me to the core. I mean, how would you feel if someone did something to your brain to make you the opposite gender, for life? I don't always like who I am, but I'd still much rather be myself - trans and all - than a wholly different person, even if that difference is only in gender identity. Such a solution also privileges the body over the person who owns it, and that's really messed up. Like, if someone severely injured their leg, then instead of treating it you chopped it off and did something to their brain to make them happy with not having a leg. Secondly: There is no 'gender confused state'. Most trans people aren't confused about their gender; if they were, they wouldn't go to all that trouble to come out to family, transition, or even be able to get past the multiple psychiatrists and doctors who are there precisely to ensure that the trans person in question *isn't* confused or mentally ill in some way. It's a long, intensive process (it takes years in some cases), and among other things requires a fairly firm conviction about your gender, whatever it may be (male, female, genderqueer). Thirdly: For people who are trans, no amount of anti-depressants or therapy can make things okay. Transition has been shown time and again to be the only 'cure', with a success rate of over 98% (the 2% were either not trans to begin with, or were unable to cope with transphobia). Lastly, this might be useful in how it questions our definitions of what constitutes a 'male' or 'female' body: http://tal9000.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/sex-is-a-social-construct/

@SantaFeFan: It's not about "relating" more to gay men. I'm transgender, so technically I *am* a gay man, just one with what's considered conventionally-female body (and even then not quite, since I started testosterone over a year ago, get read as male almost 100% by strangers, all but one of my schoolmates at college know me as a guy and have no idea I'm trans, and by some medical indicators I'd be considered biologically male). And yeah - I pick up on other people's depression quite easily. Thanks for the hug. <3 @Sunfell: I usually find that Tumblr more comforting, because it at least assures me that I'm not alone and that there are others going through the same (or worse). I've never questioned the choices I made - it was literally transition or commit suicide, and coming out to family + starting hormone therapy was the best decision I've ever made in my life. It's something I wanted since I was in kindergarten and never thought would ever be able to do. So I don't regret it in the least, even in the face of the new problems that has brought (mostly in terms of my identification documents being questioned all the time because they still list me as female and I don't look female). I don't see it as changing gender at all, because I'm still the same person, and was never really female. The only thing that's been changing is my body and how people perceive me, and while that has largely been extremely positive and put an end to years of depression (I was suicidal at 8, when I first discovered that it was something that could be done), sometimes the realities of living in a transphobic world kick in again. Like, well, with that post. Although at the same time I know it's far better than before, when I had resigned myself to staying single forever because I completely freaked out and had panic attacks at the thought of being someone's girlfriend, and even if I'd found some (straight) guy whom I liked and I liked in return, it wouldn't have been right and would have required a compromise of my gender identity that I don't think I would have survived. Whereas now at least there's a chance, however slim, that I can find some (gay/bi) guy who likes me for who I am. But it's the slimness of that chance that makes me sad sometimes.

@Diana Lyons - there's nothing to be sorry about. <3 It basically challenges a worldview that considers autistic people to be the ones who are 'wrong', rather than the other way around; I've seen similar attempts for other marginalised groups (e.g. hypothetical scenarios in which being gay was the norm and straight people were considered 'wrong' instead), and it's usually an effective means of illustrating how certain concepts and language become more obviously problematic when applied to the non-marginalised group. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg has (confirmed) Asperger's. Though I guess it's also a bit dodgy to argue for autism rights based on the more high-functioning members of the community; because it implies that if they were low-functioning or unable to contribute to society, they'd have less value as a person and less right to live, which shouldn't be the case.

I didn't write the post - it's from Stephen Ira's Tumblr blog. I looked up 'allistic', and this satire blog was one of the first results -> http://allismspeaks.tumblr.com/ It looks like a term for non-autistic people. From what I can tell, that blog presents a world in which autistic people are considered the norm, and non-autistic people are considered the ones with the disorder. There was a similar site to that a while back, based on the same principle. @Sunfell - yeah, I don't blame Zach either, because stuff like this is generally not well known. But it sucks that Autism Speaks is responsible for things like World Autism Awareness Day, because the public perception of autism then ends up skewed by their portrayal of it.

I hate cilantro and I *live* in Asia.

For some reason I'm more able to deal with the vicious attack variety, and I can understand having different opinions even if those are offensive. But this... the things she says are just completely illogical, and she's contradicting herself all over the place. She repeatedly asks in bewilderment why someone would choose to be gay, and it would seem that one of the most likely reasons is because it's *not* a choice. She doesn't even seem to understand what being gay MEANS, which most homophobes at least seem able to. /o\ meanwhile, ignoring people like that just allows them to continue on with their opinions unchallenged and thinking there's nothing wrong with their reasoning, and who knows who it might end up hurting in the end. :(