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James Thomson

Now is a great time to enthusiastically confirm your support for LGBTQ+ rights - particularly those of trans and enby folks at the moment - and the rights of women, BIPOC communities, and anybody else that the new US administration is actively trying to oppress.

I wholeheartedly support the rights of all of these people.

It shouldn't need to be said, but right now it _does_ need to be said. If you are able, consider donating to organisations that are trying to protect them.

@jamesthomson possibly there is an affirmative moral duty for cishet folks to cross dress much more and in public. Just blur those lines for the spies. And shelter people running from ICE.

@jayalane @jamesthomson

This is brilliant. Everyone just start cross dressing. They'll lose their minds.

@scottymace @jamesthomson I feel if ten percent did this it would be enough. But I still am reluctant to actually try it myself.

@jamesthomson appreciate you actually saying it, James.

@jamesthomson I also wholeheartedly support the rights of all these people.

@jamesthomson I'm offering living space to anyone who needs to flee persecution. I'm in Cincinnati.

@jamesthomson As a parent to my trans son who is genuinely scared, thank you.

@jamesthomson Also the rights of disabled people, seeing as how accessibility was included in the EO swipe at DEI.

@mysti Ouch, I didn’t realise that.

@jamesthomson Out of the companies that I dearly appreciate in our online space, I wish @relay would make such a loud and clear statement today.

@nileane I think it's harder for companies that represent a wide range of people to do so, but I don't disagree with you.

@jamesthomson @nileane is there an expectation that our views have changed?

I feel like we’ve voiced our support for our LGBTQ listeners and friends many times and will continue to do so.

But if you’d like it to be clear, I absolutely feel terrible for what is happening in America and cannot even imagine how upsetting it is to be made to feel you do not belong.

We are all people together, and I wish that everyone could see and accept that.

@imyke @jamesthomson @ismh86 There is absolutely no expectation that your views have changed (not on my part anyway), which is why I believe it’s important that you reiterate your support during the week that Tim Cook attends Trump’s inauguration.

Thank you guys.

@imyke @jamesthomson @nileane a thing Relay could do (not saying has to!) is saying you’re not gonna do any events like Relay 15 in the US as long as these kinds of policies are in place there. I, for example, can’t legally travel to the US anymore because I’m trans and thus can’t get an ESTA or VISA that matches my passport without committing fraud under Trumps new definition of sex/gender on official documents.

@imyke @jamesthomson @nileane (And I’m not gonna commit that fraud because the US knows I’m trans and an American male prison does not sound appealing)

@marlies @jamesthomson @nileane I understand what you’re saying, but I’m not looking to make any kind of prediction or guarantee for 2029

@imyke @jamesthomson @nileane i’m not asking for a prediction or a guarantee, just a “if this part of our audience isn’t welcome, we don’t want to do an event there” would be nice. Of course, it’s your livelihood and you have mouths to feed, so maybe you do want to do an event there rather than be all principled about it. It’s just something you *could* do. I hear Canada is nice.

@marlies @imyke @jamesthomson @nileane Yeah..... as an early career researcher in Europe the US is now on my blacklist of places I will not travel to in any circumstances because of the same reasons.

A list that includes places like China etc.

It's a shame, because it may limit the range of conferences I can attend in the future - I've already had to turn down a conference I was accepted to because it was changed last minute to be hosted in china >_<

@nileane @jamesthomson I was working on something for today’s show but it wasnt fully formed yet. But there’s no place for the bigotry and hatred coming from the leaders of this country or others where similar things are happening. I can’t imagine the fear and anger it must cause, and there’s no room in our community for those who display such a lack of empathy, compassion, and humanity.

@jamesthomson as someone engaged to a beautiful trans woman, @jae, thank you!

@jamesthomson I've chosen to provide monthly $$ to RAICES, The Trevor Project, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU. Even small monthly donations help these organizations when they are done en masse. It's important and it's a way to say

@jamesthomson Volunteer organizations should remove any 2SLBGQTI+ fields from intake forms along with sex/gender info.