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Hey gang, generally if I take a step back here from esoteric programming languages or video game gripes, it’s to cry through my fists at the regressions this administration is landing upon LGBTQ+ folks. Which, more of that seems to be happening this week, so that’s something; please hug your queer friends & if you’re queer hug yourself. But, in case you somehow missed it, the reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy of folks with uteri is being rapidly destroyed. This is, in two words, fucking abhorrent.

So I’m doing this thing again where, paralyzed by the news I am unable to write anything regardless, I use this space to beg you to throw a couple of bucks to some folks who need it. Like…

• If/When/How Reproductive Helpline is there to answer legal questions about one’s rights concerning abortions.
• The Yellowhammer Fund is a member of the National Network of Abortion Funds that provides funding for folks who need it in Alabama.
• Access Reproductive Care – Southeast does the same for both Alabama and Georgia as well as Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
• New Orleans Abortion Fund, likewise for Louisiana.
• Women Have Options, likewise for Ohio.
• Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the only abortion clinic in Mississippi.
• Kentucky Health Justice Network is a Kentuckian group working for reproductive justice in that state.

Stay strong. Stay angry.

I know this site gets zero traffic, but regardless I regret that I didn’t take the energy to write about FOSTA-SESTA before FOSTA passed. FOSTA-SESTA is anti-sex-worker legislature posing as anti-trafficking legislature. It’s a bipartisan pile of shit, and the party split among the two dissenting votes in the FOSTA passage was also bipartisan. Since the passage of FOSTA, Craiglist has shut down all personals¹, reddit has shut down a number of subreddits, and today Backpage was seized. I would implore anyone who gives a shit about sex workers and/or the open internet to follow Melissa Gira Grant on Twitter.

If you don’t support sex workers, frankly I don’t want you reading my blog. But if you’re here anyway, it’s worth pointing out that the absurdity laid out by FOSTA is a threat to the open web at large, which almost certainly explains why Facebook supported it. It’s not just sex workers who oppose this thing, NearlyFreeSpeech.net, the host I use for all of my sites, had a pointed and clear blog post outlining how frightening it is.

Obviously, it’s worth listening to sex workers on this matter, which nobody did. But it’s also worth listening to law enforcement, the folks who are actually trying to prevent trafficking. And, who would have guessed, law enforcement actually works with sites like Craigslist and Backpage to crack down on the truly villainous aspects of the sex trade. Idaho, just last month, for instance. Meanwhile, having outlets where sex workers can openly communicate and vet their clients saves their lives — when Craiglist opened its erotic services section, female homicide dropped by over 17 percent. That is to say that so many sex workers are routinely murdered, that helping them vet clients significantly reduces the overall female homicide rate.

This whole thing is misguided and cruel², and I don’t really know what to do about it at this point. But listening to people who are closely following the impacts is a start. It’s a death sentence for sex workers, and a death sentence for the open web, and anyone who cares about either needs to keep abreast of the impact as it unfolds.