the RIGHT way to be gay 🐘🏳️‍🌈

On a concerning faction of queer culture now, and how the 2020s may be remembered as a decade of great migrations.

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What’s Behind Africa’s Youth Protests
“My plan to overthrow”

This story doesn’t tie in the similar protests in Asia, but — as the second link points out, via viral TikTok — there’s a growing realization that young people are increasingly being denied a future in the present and are thus revolting to reboot the system, which feels like their more adult sequel to the very 2010s teen Friday For Future protests. We’ve already seen successes (“successes”) in both Nepal and Madagascar, which many are taking notes on. What the second video gets at is what this viral Tweet about the No Kings March and this TikTok lawyer video and my interview with Sarah Schulman gets at: you gotta play ball and not pretty politics. That time is over. You don’t have to buy a gun — but make fun of them, in public! ARREST ME DADDY!!!

Wealthy thrive as most Americans fall behind
“looking for a job for two years”
“housing crisis is just in your country”
The new squeeze on the middle classes
Trump’s donors have benefited

There’s a rising realization that we’re in a K-economy, where the rich are getting richer as the poor are getting poorer, which is how we end up with economies where the top 20% uphold the economy as the remaining 80% suffer, which gets worse the further down you go. While much of the stories focus on America, this is an international thing repeated everywhere hence the aforementioned Gen Z breakouts against the rich and lineages of power. A great example: I keep reading and reading about Spain being the “breakout” economy of Europe — and yet normal people are barely getting by. What’s the truth then? Both, but there are more people in the latter camp than the former, which is why burn-it-all-down philosophies are emerging. Welcome to the age of aquarius!

Leak exposes Young Republicans’ racist chat
Vance Hits at ‘Pearl Clutching’ Over Racist Chat
“two years younger than vance”
Police investigate swastika in GOP office

Politico was on a tear this week, exposing not just a huge Young Republicans ring of racism but also a literal swastika — on an American flag — in a sitting representative’s office. Naturally, JD Vance showed up to lick the piss off any and all boots his hungry mouth could find, to which queen-of-the-week Jennifer Welch had the best take on: if he’s not fighting for his own family, he’s never going to fight for you. Some silver linings though: the jokes about the Young Republicans’ looks and Nazism, Mitch McConnell slipping on ICE, and Nancy Pelosi telling a journalist to shut up.

They Toppled Roe, Their Sights Are on Britain
Group ‘deceived’ court about LGBTQ+ research

The charmers in question? Not the Catholic church, but the Alliance Defending Freedom, a US Christian conservative law firm spreading its wing of lies across the world for far right causes.

Six killed in strike against boat off Venezuela
US strikes on ‘Venezuela drug boats’
Family demand proof of drug trafficking
The Boat Strikes Are Just the Beginning

Every time this happens it feels like it slips through the cultural sieve, which is less about “They’re going to attack you next!” and more that this is going to embolden more war by the Department of War. Also? It very well may embolden places like — I don’t know. — France and Italy and maybe even Spain to deal with migrant boats similarly. Just ask Israel! That, or continuing to allow the elements to do the murdering whilst looking away. Everyone read Small Boat!

AI writing hasn’t overwhelmed the web yet
Electric Is Too High: It’s the Data Center
“Buried her dog”

We did a brief state of the AI culture on Thursday but…at what point have we had enough? It seems like we’re getting close as a conversation is pivoting to center “AI” as a term to be a marketing term to excuse evil humans.

Disaster Losses $100B for Sixth Year

For the sixth year in a row. A bright side is the EU plans to work with states on green initiatives versus the whole of the US. Clever!

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l

A rainbow bee has been buzzing in my bonnet for weeks as we’ve hit a turning point in queer culture that needs to be noted: the time of the queer fascist.

When I interviewed activist and writer Sarah Schulman earlier in the month, one question I had to ask her about queer culture and the queer movement now given she was one of the queer foreparents who fought to halt the AIDS epidemic via ACT UP. If queer persons in the contemporary imagination are both leading the charges for change whilst being one of the biggest targets, how then would a legend like Sarah define the present? Her answer was not what I expected — and she’s right. Here’s what she said —

We’re seeing the rise of the gay and lesbian and trans fascist. We see people like Peter Thiel, Bari Weiss — who’s about to have a big role in CBS News — and Caitlin Jenner, who was the grand marshall of the Tel Aviv Pride. She’s not even Jewish! Why did she do that? All the MAGA guys, one of the secretaries — I think of commerce [KRF NOTE: It was of the treasury.] — is an openly gay guy with a husband and children. What we’re seeing is what always happens is that no demographic category is inherently radical and that, in the gay movement, progressive people came out and made it safe for right wing people to come out. That’s what we have to contend with, which has a lot to do with our moment.

When we think of this moment, especially as people on the left and of the progressive mindset, we aren’t including these people in the view: the portrait of fascism always zooms in on the king but never notices the rainbow across the sky, in the same way we may not see the women and Black and Latino and disabled and more in the frame. Even if we don’t want to admit it, Trump 2.0 and the modern right is more diverse than Trump 1.0, despite the movement speaking ill of diversity and ill of identity politics (which they have co-opted), which speaks to cultural whiteness and affluence preventing a good amount of people from looking beyond themselves, instead opting for a “central casting” view of what Americans should be. The point of the right now and the inclusion of queer persons is to show it’s possible to colonize us so that they may undo us, drawing lines by respectability to say that a sexually active tattooed gay man in power is inappropriate, that blurring the sanctity of gender in inflexible spaces like sports is unfair, that diversity in jobs leads to death, all because “one of us” agreed with them. This also emphasizes how ones proximity to wealth obscures all concepts of identity.

The talking point we cling to as if the ultiamte “Gotcha!” is the link between the RNC and Grindr going down, the assumption being that so many Republicans are queer closet cases. But what if the app is actually going down because it’s less closeted people getting together and more the biggest queer community event that no one’s talking about? What if there was never a closet at all and — just like in progressive spaces — queer overachievers who believe in binaries, who believe in vanilla sex, who believe in racial castes and becoming as rich as possible are rising the ranks of the right-and-white power in parallel to their leftist counterparts? I saw someone posit this on Twitter, during the Charlie Kirk funeral, which has been like getting one of those color changing eye surgeries except mine are shadowy rainbows allowing me to see queer fascism everywhere. Stories “infiltrating” circles of queer Trump supporters pop up every few months, which we always take as a novelty versus confirmation of a widening worldview: this is all a play by minority persons to be taken seriously and grab power via old structures, adopting the shared belief that they’re not victims, which has been echoed by other groups. Half of us believe the playing field should be levelled while the other half are happy to “prove” themselves as worthy of the white, male, able-bodied, heterosexual gaze that they hope to maintain, likely because they’ve already made advances in such a system — and they aren’t interested in contributing to anything else. They are the lavender version of an Uncle Tom.

What’s most fascinating to me — and confirmation of this trend — is it’s not unique to America as there are many a queer leader in conservative movements or propelling conservative status quos. A few that come to mind, and certainly are not limited to: Alice Weidel, the lesbian leader of German’s extreme far right party; the openly gay president of Latvia — Edgars Rinkēvičs — who is “neutral” but ascended from a center-right party; Serbian president Ana Brnabic, a lesbian advancing only non-queer rights. Such leadership and alliance to conservatism is of-a-kind as far as being the person of minority status who is against the advancement of peers (or at least not in solidarity), which plays into the larger picture of progressive figures turning back the clock on progressive rights: see also Japan’s not-pro-woman “Iron Lady” Sanae Takaichi and Italy’s warm and fuzzy fascist Giorgia Meloni and the Supreme Court’s finest, Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett. Or — better yet — Usha Vance and Melania Trump — or Benjamin “Gay rights!” Netanyahu too. “Not a coincidence that so many far-right parties have female leaders,” researcher Simon Gramvik wrote earlier this year, connecting this phenomena to the queer fascist past, present, and future. (For what it’s worth, we can also say the same ascents are happening on the left, as Sarah did point out that the opposite’s movement of anti-fascism and progress is being led by queer people, a pattern that is going strong. All is not lost! But know that queerness and politics is no longer tied to progressive politics.)

These are oxymoronic times, particularly for the queer community like any and all so-called minority groups: we’re no longer a monolith as the baseline for progress advances, revealing mass normalization via the hopeful dreams of the 2010s yielding painful possibilities of the future, as we’re no longer as “on the outside” of change but in many ways are taking down the walls of the house and culture at large as we were handed the tools of the master’s house. It’s reassuring, in a way, that Sam Altman can be proudly gay but also usher in one of the most anti-person and pro-fascist tools known to humanity. It’s a breath of fresh air, in a way, that bisexual Krysten Sinema can somewhat singlehandedly block raising minimum wage and taxing the rich. It’s hopeful, in a way, that transmaxxing can emerge as a far right twist on transness. In absurd times, the absurdities come for us all, signalling both the wheel turning forward and backwards at the same time, an illusion that defies logic. Nothing is sacred, and it will be unsurprising when a new Hitler rises to power — and it will be the solo poly hijabi.

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A Casino in Everyone’s Pocket

This piece reminded me of something we talked about on this week’s 🦿HIP REPLACEMENT🦿 in relationship to Hardspace by Anderson O'Brien’s piece on Gen Z’s looking at life as if a roulette wheel: Gen Z culture is gambling culture, literally and metaphorically. From the political protests worldwide to buy-now-pay-later dominating their life to viewing the world through swiping, we have a generation that is obsessed with the instantaneous, which is fun until it ruins your life.

Buy This Album. Now Buy It in Green.

I’m legally obligated to share this Taylor story. “Countdown clocks and flash sales are common features of online retailers that try to panic consumers into buying things they don’t need, and here Swift was acting in the spirit of Temu”: woo wee.

Hauser, Zwirner UK: 90% Drop in Earnings
Frieze London Restores Market Confidence
Millennial Collectors Snap Up Historical Works

This feels really indicative of the split between have and have nots, even if this indicates a shift in the winds of both sales and power in the art world.

Use protein powder? New report reveals lead

…and to think I just stopped using protein powder, after bulking went too far. At least we’ll look hot? Anyway, a lot of very great takes on this.

No alcohol is safe, at least for dementia

I’m also legally obligated to share this, as every “DRINKING IS BAD!!” story demands my eyes so I can theorize what my next sixty years will look like (should I see them). That said: the information about regeneration is great to hear!

Britney Spears to Kevin Federline: ‘Enough’
Nicki Minaj Rips Britney Spears’ Ex-Husband

This man is on a smear campaign based on hearsay from their sons. Not that I think Britney is fully at her best but this is biblically accurate 2000s drama.

“SEND HELP.”

Hate your job? Hate your boss? Hate men? Hate these times? Sam Raimi’s new movie is for you! And I hope it inspires everyone to literally and figuratively pee on their bosses. You have my permission!

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I

There were about ten people in the class, although the number changed over the course of six months: three were from Ukraine, two were Russian, one was Turkish, one Danish, one Finish, one from British, then me, along with a revolving cast of people from Brazil, China, and Iran. A third were students, a third were immigrants, a third were passing through, of a certain type of Barcelona person who comes here to find themself in the tangle of parties and tourist-oriented activities. I made a note at the time: a Spanish class in 2023 is like a model United Nations session, a reflection of a changing world, political shifts expressed as folding and refolding local-social fabrics to include those on the culturally and geographically outside. “Los Angeles, in America,” I always told people of my origin in these classes. Their eyes always went wide — no matter where they come from, whether a local or foreigner — which was always followed by the same response: “Why are you here? I wish I was there.” Such is immigration.

As I’ve taken language classes over the years, immigration patterns made themselves known: 2023 started with Russian and Ukrainian immigrants but shifted to more Turkish and Iranian; 2024 was more about persons from China along with people from Israel, while the undertone of Russian continued as Ukrainian stopped; 2025 has been more of a mixed bag, which is partially because I stopped taking group classes and the teachers in my one-on-one sessions can’t quite pinpoint a pattern, although a theme I’ve heard is Chinese migration continues. This is all colloquial, a small culture study I’ve been tracking since my move in 2022: in a city marked by transience and tourist porousness, who is coming to stay? The obvious are those escaping the Ukraine-Russia war, as Spain is the second most popular country for Russians to flee to as the country continues to offer protections to Ukrainian refugees. Then there are persons fleeing Afghanistan, but more so people trying to hop the Mediterranean from Morocco which has always been a point of contention, all underscored by robust migration from Venezuela, from Colombia: the picture is much wider than it seems, and certainly isn’t focused on a US (or even UK) narrative.

This isn’t a Spain-thing as it’s an international thing, which is why nationalism and strongmanship alongside anti-immigration thoughts and feelings is so en vogue despite being necessary for so many countries survival: the 2020s will be remembered as an era of great migration, both forward and backwards, both within countries and beyond borders. In visiting London and Paris and Stockholm this year, the same feeling was had, particularly as it relates to the growing web of Ukrainian/Russian migration, which is heard in the accents and languages in more local neighborhoods, echoed by friends in the states who have explained similarly. Look to the real estate market for clues too: wealthy Russians play a key role in the shifting local economic landscapes, revealing that housing crises aren’t just in LA or New York but an international thing, that most cities are becoming playgrounds for those at the top repave regardless of nationality as everyone everywhere below starts feeling the squeeze. What was once wealthy Chinese taking over California has become a past time of multinational oligarchs. Then there’s the Covid of it all, the “digital nomad” of it all, the safety seeking, as evidenced by friends I had in Los Angeles who left in 2021 and 2022, the people from within Spain who moved to Barcelona immediately after their lockdowns to start something new, to push reset. Our wandering eyes at times the forces of soft colonialism.

Migrations are always occurring, but these are times when the paths are shifting, where walls are going up as others come down, as economic forces in the macro and micro reshape what’s is and isn’t possible — and where too. If I had to posit a trend, it would be less that migration will continue in this form but that we’re about to see a boomeranging or scatterplotting more akin to Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West and Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection: the tapping foot of discomfort as those who migrated continue looking for home after making oneself homeless, a search for opportunity as the lands of plenty dry out — or drive you out. A perfect example is the concerning but inevitable “self-deporation” push but there’s also the thread of buyers’ remorse as far as the digital nomad lifestyle, underscored by — at least in Spain — the vast majority of people moving out of the country being foreigners. If wars end, if economies stabilize, if loneliness and lovelessness continues, if enough opportunities are missed as FOMO takes hold during the Internet’s collapse, perhaps a proper boomerang will occur — but a further deepening of wanderings sounds more suited to now, the opening more doors looking for an exit, seeking perfection despite every place and every problem feeling more and more familiar.

“Most Americans aren’t self-sufficient enough to navigate the challenges that come with immigration,” an American immigrant explained in a TikTok that felt very close to (My.) home. “Never once has anyone asked me ‘What was the most difficult part of your immigration process?’” “Isn’t it fun?” and “I bet you feel pretty good, huh?” are the questions I’m asked of Barcelona life, of having made a move, of immigrating — and my answer is always “It depends on the week, the day, the hour.” The shifting of one’s place in the ways of true immigration is much like dating a very fickle lover who both loves and hates you, who you have to fight with to get even the smallest bits of affection in return only to get slapped in the face as it tells you to love them more. Will I or any of the people in my Spanish classes be here forever? That’s to be seen but, as is indicative of another American moving into my building this week, we’re at the mid-point of this cycle. Who knows their story, who knows their reasons for being here, but the world is changing just like you and I are wont to do. No matter where this moment and these relocations take us, we will survive — perhaps defeated, perhaps enriched — but with plenty of knowledge of how to live.

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“someone’s picture”

At this point, I don’t care how I look or what people say about me in the background of a picture. I accept that my face is everywhere online.

“The Bronx?”

This interaction between Law Roach and Indya Moore is immediately in my lexicon, which highlights his being a master of shade. This was the second best VS post.

“We’re losers.”

An incredible thesis on the state of the Democrats.

“I’m not on TikTok”
“I know you’re on”

I keep seeing videos like this, which is to say: you’re drinking Diet Pepsi while I’m sipping on “Diet Pepsi.” These things are different, sweetie.

“Sigma’s Path”

In case you’re wondering who is the speedy ass who takes such a path, it is I.

“Every time I’m sick”

This? This! Is solidarity.

“Early college days”

Literally every birthday party in America, yes.

“Everybody in the fucking world knows”

A great tip for growing your own mushrooms at home.

“last seven minutes of my life”

When will all die of brain rot poisoning, repeating “Send it to me, Rachel.” to the faces of the gods above, we should not be surprised when they send us down the River Styx.

And, finally, what I’m referring to when I say “I’m a scat man.”

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TR.BIZ: 10.16.2025

The Change Report™: Sarah Schulman

TR.BIZ: 10.14.2025