Luke A.B.'s Blogging

  ‘Homosexual’ in a variety of Welsh-English and Welsh Dictionaries While not every dictionary had relevant data, some Welsh-English dictionaries had a discrepancy between their Welsh and English side. With the entry missing on one or the other. (E.g. There may be an entry on the English side, but no corresponding entry on the Welsh side). Where possible, this has been noted with (e) for the English side and (w) for the Welsh side. Please be warned that this post contains slurs . Gwryw- root entries: 42 Cyfun- root entries: 22 Other entries: 3 Individual entries so far: 67 Dictionary Year published Entry Collins Spurrell Pocket Welsh Dictionary (1993) 1993 Gwrywgydiwr The Welsh Learner's Dictionary by Heini Grufudd (2007) 2007 Gwrywgydiol Welsh Gem Dictionary (2017) 2017 Cyfunrhywiol Hippocrene Standard Dictionary – Welsh-English English-Welsh by H. Meurig Evans (1993) 1993 Gwrywgydiwr,(e) Gwrywgydiol,(e) Gwrywgydiaeth(e) Cyfunrhywiol (w) Gomer (2016) 2016 Cyfunrhywiol Geiriadur Ne...

  UK’s First Trans MP: a Conundrum for the Conservative Party? Earlier this year, Jamie Wallis MP came out as transgender. Following a car crash in late November 2021, he described his reaction to the incident as being linked to his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which he developed as a result of blackmail and rape. Wallis is an MP for the Conservative Party, having unseated Labour’s 30-year hold on the Bridgend constituency. This, combined with his transness, makes for a rather unusual situation for the Conservative Party at large, having spent the last twelve years introducing policies that have had a negative impact on the transgender community in the United Kingdom.  Wallis, in an interview with Sky News said that he wishes to transition as ‘quick as possible’ but also mentions that the process will be ‘challenging and difficult’ with ‘lots of hurdles’. Additionally, he mentioned that  ‘it's not going to be done overnight, it's going to take many, many years’...

Queer Vexillology- Flags I have created over the years (and across the internet): A collection In the years since I realised I was queer (2014) and since I was born (2000) the LGBTQ+ community has seen many new pride flags come into being with the express purpose of helping a community feel seen and represented symbolically. Since 2014, the various queer flags, the aromantic flag and the new 5-stripe lesbian flag have all come into being. The LGBTQ+ community has a penchant for making flags as a go-to symbol for any new gender, sexuality or relationship style term.  Personally, most of the flags I’ve ever created are variations of existing flags, but I have made quite a few in my time which people in my communities use.  But crucially, last year saw the use of one of my flags in a political sense. I haven’t yet publicly come forward about this, but a few days before the BBC Lily cade article fiasco happened, I was approached online by a BBC reporter whose office is less than t...

  A Short History of Packing, Penises and Pieces of Affirmation for trans men:   Trans men (and other transmasculine individuals) have long existed on this planet. But what isn’t often recorded is our history, particularly, our affirmation seeking history in the form of dysphoria relief. I am in fact, referring to packing- the practice of trans men, transmasculine people, female-to-male spectrum people and many nonbinary people giving ourselves penises.  Packers come in many shapes and sizes (just like their cis counterparts) and most trans people’s first packers are homemade, makeshift solutions to the empty space where a penis should be. Those with the cash can opt for soft body-safe silicone packers made by dedicated shops online, which offer an array of skin tones to match the user’s body. This is a hallmark of 21st Century trans society, the 18th, 19th and 20th Century trans men generally stuck to the homemade type.  Anders Magnus Åhrman (1777-?) was a trans man...

  Friends in Unlikely Places: A history of Trans Allyship: (Trans Men Edition) It is an unfortunate assumption that throughout most of trans history, that trans people have been utterly alone in the universe, save for the lucky few who were able to find other trans people at the time they were alive. But it’s completely false that absolutely no cis people were supportive towards historical trans people in their time. Historical trans people and their cis contemporaries are a lot more interconnected than is currently thought and the under-discussed aspects of trans allyship are absolutely present in the records that we have.  The focus here will be on trans people who intended to go stealth, but had one or two people who were aware of their trans status and were supportive of their transness. Other focuses will be on historical trans figures who drew support while people knew of their status. As many names of these allies will be mentioned as possible, though it is not possible...