Items

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  2022-06-20

  Mask in Germany

  I found this mask on the ground outside of a subway in Germany. At the time, masks were still mandatory on transportation, which was surprising since most of the world didn’t make masks mandatory. They even had someone walking around to either give people masks or to remind them of the mask mandate.
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  2023-06-20

  Finally got COVID

  I finally got sick with COVID after 3 years. I went on a cruise to celebrate my fiancé’s graduation and had to remove my mask when the heat was so bad in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. I’m mostly worried about getting my fiancé sick who is disabled, but hopefully we don’t live together just yet. I’m currently being isolated in my parents house watching people stream on Twitch.TV and playing Animal Crossing. I had a fever of 101 yesterday, and hopefully am able to return to work on Friday which means I’ll be able to represent my work at Hampton Roads Pride on Saturday. Since it’s pride month, me getting COVID feels very homophobic
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  2022-05-03

  Haley Thomas Oral History, 2022/05/03

  In this interview, Haley Thomas discusses the difficulties she faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they affected her.
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  2022-05-09

  I can't even make this up anymore

  First off, I do not agree with the attached pdf to this story. When I first looked at this awful website, and saw that they had FREE DOWNLOADABLE PRINTS, I immediately sighed because this is the type of stuff that's turning people AWAY from getting a vaccine. These people are the reason why people can't trust "media". It is also very obvious that these people have never taken a history or any type of political science class in their lives. Let's analyze a little bit of what they say. First off, in their step 1 of "create a problem" they compare COVID-19 to something like the flu. Given, I'm sure people have died from the flu. I mean, the influenza pandemic was a thing in 1918. Also important that they even wore masks then! Their step 2 is "provoke a terrified reaction". What I'm getting from this is, we shouldn't be worried. But we should. Any pandemic should be worrying. I can also guarantee you as well that these people didn't give a shit when the AIDS/HIV Epidemic was literally killing so many queer people at an alarming rate, and wasn't addressed until 6 years later after it started. Anyways, the steps that talk about "contact tracing" and "health passports" things are interesting. They talk about surveillance, but surveillance has been happening since the dawn of time. I'm sure muslim's everywhere in the United States could talk more about surveillance than I could as a white person. Health passports? You have to have certain vaccines to attend public school or even a public university. Also, actual passports are a thing. You know, the thing you need to tell other people who you are and where you're from when you visit their country. I'm going to jump to step 10's "Impose a Cashless Economy," anyone that has ever handled cash during a job knows how gross cash is. This pamphlet must've been when the pandemic first happened, because that's when my last job couldn't take cash because we were too afraid to touch anything. Now knowing the information I know now, a lot of places take cash now. But also, people are gross. Half of the time, people are sneezing into their hands or not washing their hands and come out of the bathroom and go to pay and give you cash. Don't even get me started on people pulling money out of their bras. Throughout this entire pdf, they talk about the elite. Which is probably the only thing I agree with them because the rich got richer during the lockdown and even made prices higher. This type of propaganda could be harmful to someone that was already on the fence about vaccines, but the fact that this information is out there instead of the actual science based truth is harmful. It uses familiar words from history to persuade people to not get the vaccine.
• 
  2020-12-28

  First Time Swimming Shirtless During The Pandemic

  This is a picture of me swimming for the first time after top surgery! I can't even begin to explain how free I felt. One of the things I was worried about was the fact that my fiancé and I not being able to swim because there was people there, but it was completely empty! It was almost like it was meant to be. After being confined about something for so long and being able to take off my shirt in public was so weird! Before this picture, the last time I went swimming was in 2015. And now, I'm able to enjoy the water and the beach with my fiancé.
• 
  2020-04-27

  Birthday During Quarantine

  This is my now fiancé, who wasn't too keen about my taking their picture, but this was a huge milestone in her life! We celebrated her 21st birthday during quarantine. Of course, I had to bring her to the ABC store so we could get stuff for margaritas. After the store, we went home to play a Jane Austen theme board game with her parents. She had told me that one of the easiest things about wearing a mask and wanting to wear make-up, is that she only had to do her eyes since everything else was going to be covered up anyways.
• 
  2020-10-09

  Traveling During The Pandemic For Top Surgery

  I traveled from Virginia to Texas for my top surgery. We drove all the way there and stopped in Tennessee on the way there and on the way back. I hadn't gotten the vaccine yet for COVID-19 and I was going to be going to a hospital in a different state that I had never been to. This is was the crazy decision I had ever made, but it was so worth it.
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  2022-04-12

  Abandoned Mask Found At Gas Station

  Mask I found while pumping gas. It's crazy how many masks are just dropped on the ground after using them
• 
  2022-04-04

  Traumatic Event After Traumatic Event

  Screenshot I found from @lovedoveclarke on Twitter. A little dark humor surrounding the many traumatic events we keep experiencing
• 
  2022-03-31

  Suicide Statistics Against Queer Youth

  Suicide statistics against queer youth released by the CDC in the first half of 2021. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 queer children attempted suicide.
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  2022-03-25

  Virginia's Law Barring Mask Mandates Does Not Apply to 12 Children with Disabilities

  A news article from NPR talks about the parents of 12 children that challenged the newly signed law by Governor Glenn Youngkin to halt the enforcement of that law because it violated the children's rights under the federal American with Disabilities Act. This law would only give parents the right to choose for their own children. The group of parents have kids with health conditions that range from asthma to cystic fibrosis, which put them at heightened risk for COVID-19. What about other kids that have health conditions that make them a heightened risk for COVID whose parents didn't say their federal rights were violated?
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  2021-09-08

  Robert E. Lee Statue Removed from Richmond, VA

  The removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, VA was removed because of the racist history of Lee and how he failed to represent the many people living in Richmond today. Richmond, VA was once the capital of the south, but today, it is an eclectic city full of rich history. The removal of the statue was because of the many BLM protests that took place during the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
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  2022-03-21

  In Hanover, the anti-LGBTQ school board needs discipline, not protesting students

  This story is about the school board of Hanover County in Virginia needing discipline instead of letting it's students protest and participate in walk-outs during school hours because of the policies against their transgender students. The school board is accused of having no intentions of supporting the non-binary and transgender students of Hanover. This is important because it is once again showing discriminatory policies that the school board keeps bringing up against transgender students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 
  2021-08-21

  Virginia PrideFest Postponed due to COVD-19 Surge

  Video highlights why the cancelation of PrideFest 2021 was important. During this time in 2021 there was a COVID-19 surge, so for the safety of the community, PrideFest was canceled. This shows the difficulties that the community faced and the hard decisions that had to be made in order to keep the community safe, but also the city of Richmond.
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  2022-03-20

  A Day In The Life

  Every day things that run through my head that have changed since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic
• 
  2022-03-11

  The Hanover County School Board, in partnering with an anti-LGBTQ outfit, has declared war on its transgender students.

  This news article is from the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia. The article contains a recent review of the Hanover Country School Board seeking legal advice from a well-known hate group that disguises themselves as "Christian conservative legal group" also known as the Alliance Defending Freedom. Back in December of 2021, the ACLU of Virginia filed against Hanover County for discriminatory policies against transgender students. The pandemic has bought out numerous laws against the safety of LGBTQ students and individuals. This is just a small example of what queer children have been facing since the start of the pandemic.