Quickies: Trans in Gaming, Trans Bashers Caught, Drag vs Black Face
By - Magic: The Gathering Introduces First Trans Character – The collectible card game often creates back stories for the characters in their cards. The story for “Alesha, Who Smiles at Death” is the first to reveal a character as trans.
- “League of Legends E-Sports Organizer Limits Lesbian and Transgender Participants” – A Southeast Asian e-sports event organizer for the all woman tournament set a limit of 1 gay or trans player per 5 woman team. The organizers fear queers “may probably have some unfair advantage.”
- Suspects Arrested in Spokane Trans Woman Assault – Reader Hanoumatoi alerted us to the original report in which suspects were sought. Now it looks like they got them!
- Arrest Made in LA Trans Woman’s Murder – “A 25-year-old man wanted for questioning in the apparent stabbing and arson murder of a transgender woman in a Van Nuys apartment surrendered to police Sunday and was booked on suspicion of murder, a police official said.” The victim, Yazmin Payne, was found dead by firefighters responding to a fire in her apartment on Jan 31.
- Same-Sex Marriages May Start in AL Next Week – “A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday refused to delay a district judge’s decision that overturned Alabama’s gay marriage bans.” Alabama’s AG has asked the SCOTUS to stop the weddings pending it’s own decision on same-sex marriage later this year. If the SCOTUS refuses the AG’s request, same-sex marriages can start as soon as Monday.
- OR Bakery Loses Anti-Discrimination Case to Lesbian Couple – Sweet Cakes by Melissa will have to pay a fine to a lesbian couple who were denied service when they sought to purchase a wedding cake. The compensation amount will be settled in a hearing on 10 March.
- Herbal Supplements Not As Advertised – “DNA testing on hundreds of bottles of store-brand herbal supplements sold as treatments for everything from memory loss to prostate trouble found that four out of five contained none of the herbs on the label. Instead, they were packed with cheap fillers such as wheat, rice, beans or houseplants.” (I cringe every time I read a post in one of my local queer groups about herbal supplements or naturopaths.)
- How is Drag Different from Black Face? – A Facebook posting by Mary Cheney is making the rounds. In it, she questions how drag is any different from black face, and why one is ok and the other is not. Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights has posted a video response. (Note: though I am an avid drag fan, I don’t agree with everything said in this video.)
Featured image: Matt Baume via Youtube
I just wanted to say, admittedly belated, everyone should read the Alesha UR. It’s pretty good, even if it was two weeks ago. This year’s actually a time travel set, but in order to get people interested, they designed the set around Things Fans Have Been Requesting. This one’s actually over a thousand years in the past.
The card is well-designed too, and pretty much assures she’ll see play in Commander due to her uniqueness in red/white/black legends. (Already, someone has adopted the Aristocrats deck from a few years back to Commander because of Alesha.)
Last year, they sorta hinted that a character, Anax, was bi; he does end up married, though. One of the cards was also statues of (male) lovers who were reimagined as bitter enemies by historians.