6/8/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Who is Betty Who & why were they chosen as THE person to represent the LGBTQ community at your PRIDE  picnic today? By the way, I hope air quality is good enough for you to have the picnic.

            My dad (HTA) was born on this day in 1933 on the same day his mom turned 23. She inspired HTA to believe that women were superior to men & that when women figured out how to have offspring without involving males, they would eliminate the Y chromosome from existence.

This speculation about a world without men came from HTA’s personal battle with his temper, a twisted kind of internalized oppression, occasionally expressed, which always left us scratching our heads.

I don’t want to eliminate men, I just want a world without gender distinctions, where the first question someone asks about a baby is “when were they born?” Where it doesn’t occur to us to think “is this person a male or female?” Where we don’t associate certain behaviors or jobs with reproductive abilities. We could all be freer in this genderless world.

            Maybe we would have less violence. People would not have to prove their manhood. Displays of aggression might diminish. Cross-dressing would no longer be a thing, because gender norms would be gone. I like thinking about this world, how about you?

            I don’t like thinking about the news from Burma today that singer Lily Naing Kyaw was shot in the head for her pro-military stance. According to the BBC, it’s “the latest in a series of assassinations of high-profile government supporters.” Another reminder that WINTA & violence will not solve our problems.

            Speaking of problems, I was grateful to hear about your phone call with Justin Trudeau yesterday about the fire situation in which you “acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change”.

            Your new initiatives to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attacks are great, too!

            BYBS,