cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13932170

This will have been drawn from the work of Erin Reed Though its worth noting her only firm, DO NOT TRAVEL, so far, is florida. Though the rest are of course still dangerous.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I really wish my friends and family would understand this. This is something that I have to worry about, all of the time. It causes me constant and immense stress.

    “I would not be welcome here if they knew.” - this is what I have to be aware of, all of the time. I do volunteer work and often drive out to rural areas - stopping at gas stations where they’d leer at me if I wore a mask inside 2 years ago… - am I safe if I get pulled over?

    I’ve sat at workplace trainings and heard the things that they think about people like me - debating on if there’s a way that I can say something that won’t call attention to myself. I turn on the news or scroll through Facebook and see an endless stream of debates on whether or not I should exist.

    All I want is to inject myself with testosterone (which my insurance does not pay for). I want my drivers license to say M. I wanted, and paid for, a mastectomy. Testosterone makes me strong enough to carry folding tables for homeless shelters. It helps me turn my anger into energy. It helps me exist.

    I don’t understand why that bothers people so much. No one gave a shit ten years ago. My Pentecostal family were happy to call me their son. Trans people are just a convenient boogey man as part of a long term backlash strategy against gay and women’s rights.

    • am I safe if I get pulled over?

      Honestly, that seems a big concern for my mom about me and I’m not sure if she even thinks I’m trans. Its just things like me growing my hair out that make her worried about more less favorable treatment if I were to get pulled over. My mom is an extremely butch lesbian, so I’m sure she’s had her own experiences but she hasn’t said much along those lines.

  • Buffaloaf@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It’s much more nuanced than that, different parts of some states act very differently from the rest.

    Take Colorado for example: the same state that was the first (along with Washington) to legalize recreational weed, but it’s also where Boebert came from.

    • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah this map would have much smaller areas. If you broke it down into safe counties or something

      • Buffaloaf@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Idk, it would just look different. There are also trans friendly places within the omitted states (e.g. Austin, Texas)

        • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I think it would prob be a population density map. Higher populations like cities tend to be better at accepting people (massively generalizing)

  • Fades@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    All LGBT are safe and welcomed in Oregon and Massachusetts, my two home states in my life :)

    I love living in blue states that value people and their rights

    • abaddon@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Unfortunately, not all of our states are safe. While the population centers are mostly ok, there are plenty of places that are not safe. I had an acquaintance (gay) describe Eastern Washington as “fine as long as I don’t act too gay”.

      • Fades@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Yes you’re sadly absolutely right. I live in Oregon these days and the PDX area is quite nice but if you go south east, it is like you describe with eastern WA.

        Piece of shits have to have their bigoted safe-spaces i guess

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        as someone who is temporarily stuck in FL and moving back to NYC soon, i assure you: even if the laws were friendlier here, this place would still be a hellhole.

  • thorbot@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    This is total bullshit, I live in the state not pictured and I know tons of trans people who are openly accepted by the community

    • alphanerd4@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      That’s great. I’m really glad to hear it. It’s not that they don’t exist. It’s that they are subject to violence under the law.

  • aidan@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’m sorry, but honestly this reads like someone who lives in a bit of a bubble. Essentially every state has bigger cities filled with LGBT people who live there fine.

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    People may not like the weather in Chicago, but it’s not that bad, the summers are generally pleasant, winters are tolerable if you dress appropriately, we have a nice lake nearby, four seasons, and the people here are sane, practical midwesterners. Why are people going to Arizona with decreasing available water, where the Republicans want to pass hunting migrants for sport ( https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/arizona-bill-shoot-kill-migrants-property-trespass-border-rcna141147 ) if they cross your property? Why are they going to build tens of billions of dollars of semiconductor fabs in Phoenix ( https://www.ft.com/content/d0fe3dda-7ea4-4d37-9564-71a129b9002f ) in a place with declining water? Are the tax breaks really worth it?

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    7 months ago

    Let’s be honest: Is there anything worth visiting in those missing states, anyway? Sure, Disney World is in Florida, but have you ever been to Florida? It sucks. Hot and humid as shit. Rains every single day at about 5pm. Gators and Floridians everywhere… Even the magic of Disney doesn’t outweigh all that.

    • force@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Atlanta has cool stuff like conventions. Savannah’s city center part is a nice place. Ohio has some really big events. I can’t think of any other reasons to go

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Spent a cumulative 5 or 6 hours driving in Florida. I saw orange groves, retirement communities, trailer parks, and barren highway. THAT’S IT. Hell, I was hungry coming off the plane and decided to pick something up on the way to where I was going 90 minutes away. I did not see a single food place. That’s unheard of in civilized states.

      • VerdantSporeSeasoning@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        Yeah, Utah has Arches, Canyonlands, Zion; Wyoming has Yellowstone and Devil’s Tower, Montana has Glacier… And I know I’m leaving out a ton. I hate Utah’s theocracy, but the landscapes are mesmerizing. Everyone should get to see those wonders without fearing a lynching.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      7 months ago

      Cajun food is great. Basically, southern food in general is good. You can’t get boiled peanuts up north. Besides food? Not really.

      • Restaldt@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Do you know how easy it is making boiled peanuts?

        Its literally just peanuts boiled in salty water forever

        Super easy in a slowcooker or even a regular pot

        You can have them whenever and wherever you want

        • ZeffSyde@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Note: the above is talking about raw peanuts, which are very hard to find up north. Doing this to a bag of roasted peanuts will make you very sad.

  • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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    7 months ago

    Can somebody give me a better explanation of how NH keeps ending up red on these maps? As a trans person who’s lived in both NH and VT for very large parts of my life, I’ve found that they’re really, really similar when it comes to trans rights. Hell, NH is one of the few states to cover laser hair removal and electrolysis for facial hair under medicaid for trans people. Vermont doesn’t even cover that and has repeatedly shot down any attempts to add it.
    Also even though both states cover breast augmentation for trans people, Vermont refuses to cover it for me because I have a deformity and require a slightly different procedure which they go out of their way to explicitly exclude, whereas in NH that procedure is explicitly also covered.

    I’m assuming there’s something deeper and more sinister going on in NH if it’s red even despite that. I wouldn’t doubt it tbh. I can’t move back there because they intentionally illegally shut off people’s disability benefits hoping they just won’t bother to appeal the decision, so I’m not blind to how awful the state can be.

  • ZeffSyde@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Apparently, Utah can be added to this. Though they vote overwhelmingly Republican they are surprisingly supportive of lgbtq rights , at least according to a video I saw yesterday.

    I think it was called Why is Utah Weird? I think Bobbybroccoli did it.

    Anyone from Utah with a different experience, please correct me so I don’t spread any more disinformation.

    Edit: Just read down about 30 comments and apparently I was gaslit by a YouTube video. Whoduhthunk?

    • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah no… They have bathroom bills that require you to have appropriate sex change documents. It’s one of the spots bathroom gestapo check your papers. Also trans care for youth has been banned and 4 anti trans bills have passed in the 1st quarter of 2024…Utah ain’t safe gov’ner.

    • Deuces@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The video was well researched and overall a very good description of life in salt lake, less so in other counties like st George. As he said in the video 80% of the population resides in “the valley”, and he didn’t really concern himself with the rest of the state. I also wouldn’t choose to live in Provo or Spanish Fork as a queer person despite them being in the valley, but I wouldn’t consider them dangerous or actively hide it there.

    • paultimate14@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      That would have been from the channel ~~Half as Interesting for anyone… Interested. ~~ Wendover Productions. My bad - Half as Interesting is front he same people, but shorter-form content.

    • TK420@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      NH is a “Live free or die” kind of state….dying seems to be what they are doing these days because they sure as fuck are not living free….