Quickfire Round ⚡️

• Twitter is completely disintegrating. Major advertisers are pulling out, Elon Musk’s new verification system is dead on arrival, half the employees have been fired, and the site is now full of (parody) impersonators, which led to this lovely insulin saga that led to a $20bn market cap loss for pharma company Eli Lilly.
• Less than a week to Malaysia’s 15th General Election. Not sure who to vote for? Get to know your candidates, and have a look at the big coalitions’ manifestos.
• Cybersecurity who? It seems that MySPR, the electoral database site from the Malaysian government, has just had a massive data leak. Yeah, that means your IC and all your identifying details could be in a data pack being sold for $2000. Hope your IC’s pic’s flattering!

We’re never alone

Just over two weeks ago, officials from the Malaysian police and JAWI (the state religious affairs department) raided Shagrilla, a queer Halloween party. I wasn’t there, but I remember seeing the Instagram stories from my friends, from friends-of-friends, people I’d met once or twice before. The KL queer scene is tiny, which means that most people knew someone there.

Still, even though I was halfway across the city stuck watching a movie I was struggling to focus on, it felt like a very personal violation. Malaysia is not friendly to us. We constantly live under the threat of something bad happening, either from the state or from the public. So, that day, it finally happened.

20 people got arrested. 20 people got arrested for presenting as a gender deemed “invalid” for them, and had their lives, relationships and jobs put at risk.

Communities are strong. They make you feel safe, and when you feel safe you begin to drop the inhibitions you’re forced to maintain in order to fit into cis-het society. When you don’t have that, it’s so so easy to feel alone. You feel atomised, another queer person in the global South without anywhere to belong.

Queering The Map is a site I found from this tweet. It’s pretty simple, and the general concept is that queer people all around the world drop pins in their cities and leave messages for others. There are heartfelt love notes from Zambia, recounted encounters in Vietnam, reflections from Kuala Lumpur.

Our authority figures know what they’re doing. Kill the community, force people back into hiding, make sure no one feels safe. So: it’s nice to have a reminder that we really aren’t alone. In spite of everything, we’ll always be here, pouring our hearts out to the void.

Watch This 📺 Philosophy Tube

Abigail Throrne, a.k.a. Philosophy Tube, put out a video speaking about her experience trying to receive gender-affirming care from multiple gender clinics in the UKL

It’s a system that’s shockingly slow and inefficient, one that barely functions and is stuck in layers-upon-layers of bureaucracy. At times, it almost seems like certain medical professionals actively make it harder for trans people to get the care they need.

What should be, legally, an 18 month process, turns into a process that can be drawn out for year. Some people don’t survive this, because—reminder for the 100th time—trans healthcare saves lives!