Gay in the Bay | Vol. 2023, Issue 8

Queer Intro

Welcome to the Gay in the Bay Blog! I am Josie, a queer writer and videographer that loves to document what I see around me. This started out as a writing blog but has grown to include events that more people should know about.

This post is for the week of February 19 - 25.

Do you have a live event that needs filming? I’m a videographer! Please check out the Sweeney Media on your way to the About > Contact page. I look forward to working with you.

Writing

I ended up catching a bug this week, and was unable to concentrate on writing that much. I don’t feel great about that, and really don’t want to beat myself up over that. So this upcoming week I’ll be focused on outlining.

On top of that, I’ll be planning on some videos for my YouTube channel for the warmer months. So things have slowed down a bit, to the point where I needed to take care of myself. I hope you, dear reader, will take the time to take care of yourself as well.

Besides being sick this week, I’ve also realized that I’m feeling pretty down. I don’t have the bandwidth to read, write (some days are better than others), or do much more than watch TV. I think some of it has to do with weather, possible depression, or other factors. I have to practice patience with myself and take things slowly. Take a step back and look at what I can improve upon. So yeah, there’s that.

Scott Sessions’ Patreon

Before you scroll down to the next session, let me introduce a positive force to you, dear reader. The articles below are heavy and (for many) distressing. This piece is meant for everyone to feel good and spread love.

Scott Sessions has started a Patreon. They are continuing their positive efforts to introduce spirituality in queer spaces. More information is included on the Patreon site, including perks and payment tiers. It’s great to know you can still participate in a post-religious (or “porous”) space in a world where religion is too big a deal.

Tennessee is the Most Conservative State in the Union

Thursday 23 February 2023

Today the Tennessee House of Representatives passed two harmful bills which claim to protect children. The sick people that come up with this are actually the ones who are overly-focused on children and should instead look inward. This is a war against the LGBTQIA+ Community. According to the linked article, Tennessee is the most restrictive state in the United States in terms of anti-LGBT legislation.

House Bill 1 bans medical decisions targeting Hormone Replacement Therapy. The thinking from conservatives is that minors are being forced to transition before puberty. This is incredibly false, overly simplified, and misguided. The people who wrote this have ignored years of research in favor of HRT.

House Bill 9 bans any drag performances taking place on public property. My mind drifts to laws set in place in New York State and others against “dressing as the opposite sex.” Drag performance has long been associated with transgender people and crossdressers. Again, this is an oversimplification by conservatives who refuse to understand others.

Tennessee is an appalling state and I am happy that I left. I now feel like I, a non-binary person on HRT and dressing the way I feel is right, am not legally allowed into Tennessee anymore. Nashville and the TN House have angered a lot of people today, in and out of the state. It is discriminatory to literally ban a specific type of person from living within your borders.

Edit: Chase Strangio posted this video on Instagram the same day that this newsletter was posted. It’s easy to jump to conclusions, and I have been guilty of this as well. Please watch the Instagram video below to gain another person’s understanding of these bills, which is better than my own.

Let’s better understand SB-3 and other anti-LGBT laws in Tennessee.

End of the Internet, Pt. 2

Last week I wrote about breaking news covering Gonzales v. Google. Tuesday, February 21, 2023 the case was formally brought in front of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. According to this Wired article, the Justices laughed nervously as questions concerning the Internet was brought up.

Renaldo Gonzales, whose daughter was killed in Paris, France by Isis in 2015, has fought YouTube to take down videos of his daughter’s death. It’s a confusing matter, a confusing sentence, and a confusing time to be a Supreme Court Justice! And more questions are forming around: Is Google responsible for content published by third party?

Questions like: Is Meta also responsible for egregious content posted by someone in Missouri? This would count toward Facebook and Instagram, since they are owned by the same parent company. This decision will also affect future social media sites. The potential restrictions set in place may not make a future social site worthwhile to explore. Even if you are a private company, an LLC may not be enough to combat this from 2023 on.

This may not be the end of the Internet. But if the Supreme Court favors Gonzales, there will be some strange ramifications put into action. And this will affect how other countries look at published content. Russia has already tightened their grip on content producers by forcing them to throw up disclaimers that they are “foreign agents.” You can find a video about that via this Johnny Harris video here.

If you think that this isn’t a big deal and it won’t affect you, I invite you to consider some leading questions…

  • What about the propaganda against the LGBTQ+ Community in Tennessee, Utah, and other states? The LGBT Community is constantly being silenced because of “religious freedoms.”

  • What if someone has a stalker and will not stop talking about them?

  • What if a woman is recently divorced from an abusive husband and he won’t stop sending open threats on Facebook?

  • What if my abused friends in Memphis can no longer vent about their past abusive relationships? They deserve a voice, too.

  • The black community has always been silenced since being shipped to the Americas hundreds of years ago. Why aren’t they (currently) allowed to voice their own opinions.

Wyrmwood Gaming Allegations, Pt. 1

On Thursday (2/23) I found out about some allegations about someone who was fired from Wyrmwood Gaming. While I know nothing about what transpired beyond the below, I will do my best to cover this story in more details as they are presented.

The long and short of it is this: it sounds like sexual harassment transpired, and someone was fired in bad faith. This was further complicated by covering it up; never a good move.

From what can be determined, both abuser and victim were fired, but this contradicts what Wyrmwood Gaming claims.

For the sake of full transparency on my part: I’ve seen various products made by Wyrmwood Gaming, but have never saved up enough for their expensive products.

Andy Morocco’s Statement 18 February 2023

Wyrmwood Gaming’s Statement

Color Coded Calendar

Each week I keep track of events so you don’t have to! This is amazing since I’m neurodivergent. But below are events that I really think you’ll enjoy…

Each week The New Parkway Theater in Oakland has a variety of events. The two that I love the most are Drinks & Dragons (Wednesdays) and Trivia (Thursdays) respectively. I am officially a new Game Master, and want to help make D&D more fun at the New Parkway. Check out The New Parkway website for further information on these and other events. You cannot go wrong no matter what day you show up.

Local Events

Silver Sprocket Comics is hosting an all-genre writing group on March 5th (Sunday) from 7-8.30pm.

Pop Culture

Each week I include media that I’ve enjoyed. If you’re a creator of any kind, please email me to be included in this list. I love discovering new artists; from singer-songwriters to upcoming directors, and beyond.

  • SF Gate covers a relic of the Bay’s past known as The Wooz.

  • An interesting Instagram Story.

  • Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania

Hurricane Holiday Season 2022 | Writing Blog

I do my best to organize my thoughts, but I’m always afraid that I come across as rambly. For what it’s worth, I want to start a discussion about first drafts for any manuscript, not just my own. On here or Instagram.

Writing Blog

The holidays can feel like a hurricane. Many of us have already been through the whirlwind known as Thanksgiving Day (or Turkey Day, as I like to call it). Like it or not, you’ve got to admit there’s an awful lot of logistics involved. And now there’s December, which gives way into the new year. Even then, there are birthdays and other cultural holidays that begin that just keep on rolling. The point is: you think it’s over after Thanksgiving, but then there’s more to go. Then there’s a deceptive lull. And before you know it, it’s over.

This hurricane metaphor has been true of my first draft. For five months there have been plenty of writing, planning, talking with friends and acquaintances, reading comics (relavent I swear!), and other sorts of craziness. Early on it felt like my brain had turned to mush, and that scared me. I wondered if I was already burnt out. Or it could have been another issue (see my autism posts, which need to be updated honestly). Whatever the issue, it became apparent that I needed different environs in order to write through parts of the book that I was stuck on. And thus my YouTube channel idea was born (after other ideas, of course).

After all of that, I considered joining National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) in October. But in the last week of spooky month The End occurred. The end of the book, that is. I primarily focused on the whirlwind that was the characters, their needs, and the abrupt conclusion with a strange Doctor Who-inspired ending.

I found myself writing more than usual. Generally I write in short bursts and need to take a break but not that week! And it was a damn rollercoaster, the interactions, espionage, trying to bring all the various threads to the final fight. Ending one chapter and setting things up for the next. It was the most exciting thing since moving out to California.

After I wrote that final twist at the end, I realized that Hurricane Holiday Season had only just begun.

There are a lot of things that come to mind after completing this draft that I had to take a break from.

  • How much closer to being published am I?

  • How do I find an agent again?

  • Oh shit, what do I do about revisions?

  • How long do I need to wait before revising?

There were more, but I focused (and still am focusing) on revisions first. And that’s another deep conversation for another post. But the first part of this writing journey is done. For book one, since this is a series. I must be a glutton for punishment because I know this book is only going to expand from here.

I hope you survived NaNoWriMo unscathed. And I hope the rest of the Hurricane Holiday Season treats you well.

Here’s what I’ve been up to this week…

I rely on music now more than ever. For rest and relaxation, for writing, road tripping, you get the idea. According to Spotify, I seem to listen to Pop the most. But I’ve been following more Punk, Ska, and Jazz lately. Anyway, here are links to music and other content that I’m consuming. This helps while I’m writing.

Speaking of writing, I started the first chapter of my next book while filming at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park. I decided to do this while waiting to revise the first book and outline the second one. I have most of the broad strokes down, but for the second novel I need to get more specific details down.

Alexander Lasarenko, and I found out him through this documentary by Defunctland on YouTube.

Chloie and the Scouts

Books! I read a ton of books at once, so it’s worth my time to only mention one at a time. If I’m honest, I think it would be overwhelming to list them all off at once.

A Scatter of Light

Review: Rom-Com

The phrase Romantic Comedy, or Rom-Com, used to bug me. Let’s explore that.

There’s no denying that Romances and Comedies are, at large, successful genres. So one would think that combining the two would be an even bigger success. Right? The answer to that gets a mixed result. What begins as a simple question turns into a mix of results, feelings, and opinions. A simple yes never seems to suffice. “Yes, because…” or “No, because…” generally follow.

Romantic Comedy… is a subgenera of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount out obstacles. —Wikipedia entry

I used to say the phrase, “I hate it because it sucks.” Which is one of the biggest cop-outs one can possibly state. There was a period of time where I wondered why nobody wanted to talk about movies with me. And it was because of that cop-out answer. There’s just no room for someone else’s opinion in a conversation you or I just closed.

The Rom-Com subgenera has always felt foreign to me. Possibly to do with the screwball scenarios and just how lightly we’re taking the emotions of these two people’s lives. Plus, they always felt forced to me. None of it made sense and it just felt fatalistic. Like these two fictional people had no autonomy of their own. (I just came up with the storyline of Stranger Than Fiction (2006).

My brain was just plain determined not to like this kind of movie. Until Love, Simon (2018). This movie is, at its core, a Rom-Com. I didn’t want to like it. But I did in the end. But why?

The most obvious aspect was the fact that Simon is gay and he’s going after another guy. But it was more nuanced than that. The comedy was more restrained and felt more natural. It didn’t feel forced in the initial viewing. And it felt like each character had personal autonomy. So I guess it has to be LGBT for me watch?

But another reason this phrase used to be obnoxious was the contraction. “Rom-Com.” For some reason my brain just doesn’t like it. It rubs me the wrong way. And if you say it too many times, it loses all meaning. Which is probably what happened when my parents introduced me to movies such as Titanic (1997) at a young age.

Romantic Comedies are beginning to grow on me, as much as I don’t like to admit it. Though the catch is: it needs to be LGBT. With a sigh, I have to give Romantic Comedies four stars.