CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
@cnlester.bsky.social
Multi-genre musician: voice/piano/composition/improvisation
Artistic Director Transpose
PhD on Barbara Strozzi - interdisciplinary work is life
’Trans Like Me’, ‘Furies,’ various critical intros, 2 current trans historical WIP
they/them
www.cnlester.com
Artistic Director Transpose
PhD on Barbara Strozzi - interdisciplinary work is life
’Trans Like Me’, ‘Furies,’ various critical intros, 2 current trans historical WIP
they/them
www.cnlester.com
Pinned
CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
@cnlester.bsky.social
· Jun 23
I'm working so hard on letting other people see me again after some very hard years of fighting the need to defensively hide.
It means so much that I can actually see myself in my new headshots.
It means so much that I can actually see myself in my new headshots.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Regular tapping of the sign: please, please read ruthpearce.net/books/terf-w... by @notrightruth.bsky.social and amazing collaborators. Particularly if you haven't read the source materials. Particularly if you haven't lived as an out trans person through the the times of Raymond onwards...
TERF Wars
“A powerful, exciting and much-needed salvo in one of the most urgent battles against bigotry.” – Sandy Stone The emergence of trans-exclusionary movements raises many questions for feminism …
ruthpearce.net
November 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Regular tapping of the sign: please, please read ruthpearce.net/books/terf-w... by @notrightruth.bsky.social and amazing collaborators. Particularly if you haven't read the source materials. Particularly if you haven't lived as an out trans person through the the times of Raymond onwards...
Last couple of RTs: other UK-based people, how do you deal with the dooming dissonant bullshit of it all? The split between the excellence and ambitions of my professional worlds in the arts/publishing/research, and the seeming long suicide of politics/bureaucracy - it's just staggering
November 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Last couple of RTs: other UK-based people, how do you deal with the dooming dissonant bullshit of it all? The split between the excellence and ambitions of my professional worlds in the arts/publishing/research, and the seeming long suicide of politics/bureaucracy - it's just staggering
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
... The UK feels like a nation whose ruling elite are absolutely committed to their own decline and utterly in love with their own perpetual mismanagement. Or, at least, so proud, so unwilling to admit general mistakes, that they will de facto achieve those goals rather than every saying sorry.
November 21, 2025 at 7:38 AM
... The UK feels like a nation whose ruling elite are absolutely committed to their own decline and utterly in love with their own perpetual mismanagement. Or, at least, so proud, so unwilling to admit general mistakes, that they will de facto achieve those goals rather than every saying sorry.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
*Insert City* is serviced by 4 different bus companies, none of which honor the regional travel tickets of the other? Why would they.
I'll be out £40 a month if I don't swap my electric tariff to a company that didn't exist 3 months ago and won't exist in 5 years? Naturally.
I'll be out £40 a month if I don't swap my electric tariff to a company that didn't exist 3 months ago and won't exist in 5 years? Naturally.
November 21, 2025 at 10:52 AM
*Insert City* is serviced by 4 different bus companies, none of which honor the regional travel tickets of the other? Why would they.
I'll be out £40 a month if I don't swap my electric tariff to a company that didn't exist 3 months ago and won't exist in 5 years? Naturally.
I'll be out £40 a month if I don't swap my electric tariff to a company that didn't exist 3 months ago and won't exist in 5 years? Naturally.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
Train companies spend millions of pounds a year in arbitration fighting each other over who pays delay repay? Of course they do.
My water company has lied about dumping waste but the regulator isn't fining them? Of course not.
My water company has lied about dumping waste but the regulator isn't fining them? Of course not.
November 21, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Train companies spend millions of pounds a year in arbitration fighting each other over who pays delay repay? Of course they do.
My water company has lied about dumping waste but the regulator isn't fining them? Of course not.
My water company has lied about dumping waste but the regulator isn't fining them? Of course not.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
The UK's "worst of both worlds" is most obvious to me as an outsider with experience in both the US and Switzerland when interacting with privatized services like rail.
Every tidbit learned about the Rube Goldberg machine of UK privatization is like peeking into madness itself
Every tidbit learned about the Rube Goldberg machine of UK privatization is like peeking into madness itself
November 21, 2025 at 10:48 AM
The UK's "worst of both worlds" is most obvious to me as an outsider with experience in both the US and Switzerland when interacting with privatized services like rail.
Every tidbit learned about the Rube Goldberg machine of UK privatization is like peeking into madness itself
Every tidbit learned about the Rube Goldberg machine of UK privatization is like peeking into madness itself
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
If a man points in a woman's face and says "Quiet piggy" you say something about it... You stand up and you say "What the fuck did you just say?" www.welcometohellworld.com/the-love-we-...
November 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
If a man points in a woman's face and says "Quiet piggy" you say something about it... You stand up and you say "What the fuck did you just say?" www.welcometohellworld.com/the-love-we-...
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
man we should bring back the pamphlet
Hey historians 🗃️: Do you know of presses that publish short books (around 30K words / 90 pages plus notes)? I have been working on an article project that could easily turn into an great micro-history of that length, but I'm not sure it would make it to the usual full 60-90K words...
November 19, 2025 at 3:48 AM
man we should bring back the pamphlet
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
That there's the sound of an innocent man!
When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:31 AM
That there's the sound of an innocent man!
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
conceding to far right ideas about the structure of society is conceding to a zero sum vision of the world, and more importantly giving voters a choice between two zero sum visions, where one is half hearted and the other is full throated. is it really a surprise then they choose the latter?
November 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
conceding to far right ideas about the structure of society is conceding to a zero sum vision of the world, and more importantly giving voters a choice between two zero sum visions, where one is half hearted and the other is full throated. is it really a surprise then they choose the latter?
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
Oh
November 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
November 16, 2025 at 11:43 PM
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
Imagine going out there in public with your full chest and declaring that what you really need as a nation is more torture
November 16, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Imagine going out there in public with your full chest and declaring that what you really need as a nation is more torture
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
I would posit that if the international treaties against torture are what is holding your country back then your country doesn't deserve to get ahead and holding it back is a moral obligation for everyone else
If you currently rely on the European Court of Human Rights for your minority group to *not* be targeted, you're in trouble...
November 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I would posit that if the international treaties against torture are what is holding your country back then your country doesn't deserve to get ahead and holding it back is a moral obligation for everyone else
For everyone just learning about RADAR keys, here's some more information including on where you can buy one/get one free or low cost (but they're cheap anyway):
news.motability.co.uk/everyday-tip...
Private accessible toilets usually don't need one, but good for railways etc.
news.motability.co.uk/everyday-tip...
Private accessible toilets usually don't need one, but good for railways etc.
November 16, 2025 at 2:37 AM
For everyone just learning about RADAR keys, here's some more information including on where you can buy one/get one free or low cost (but they're cheap anyway):
news.motability.co.uk/everyday-tip...
Private accessible toilets usually don't need one, but good for railways etc.
news.motability.co.uk/everyday-tip...
Private accessible toilets usually don't need one, but good for railways etc.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
But there's a big difference between "how can I learn from the resistance in these places and how queer people found liveable lives there?" and "such is the Shoah," to quote one of our New Canadian friend's more redolent posts.
November 15, 2025 at 12:29 AM
But there's a big difference between "how can I learn from the resistance in these places and how queer people found liveable lives there?" and "such is the Shoah," to quote one of our New Canadian friend's more redolent posts.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
We deserve better than that. But also, to be a clear-eyed realist means to look at better examples of where this Administration might be steering us. 1970s Argentina, Hungary, Turkey, Duterte's Philippines, are all more instructive and useful.
Each contains its own horrors.
Each contains its own horrors.
November 15, 2025 at 12:28 AM
We deserve better than that. But also, to be a clear-eyed realist means to look at better examples of where this Administration might be steering us. 1970s Argentina, Hungary, Turkey, Duterte's Philippines, are all more instructive and useful.
Each contains its own horrors.
Each contains its own horrors.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
There are way too many trans commentators who overindex on the Nazi Germany example, and one in particular who treats it like this recipe book being followed to the letter with exactly the same results, driving people to despair... while she sits in Canada.
November 15, 2025 at 12:26 AM
There are way too many trans commentators who overindex on the Nazi Germany example, and one in particular who treats it like this recipe book being followed to the letter with exactly the same results, driving people to despair... while she sits in Canada.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
They want you despairing, suicidal, and quiescent. They want you to be convinced of their ultimate victory, and they want you to tell all your friends about it on social media, where everyone can see. They eat this shit up.
November 15, 2025 at 12:25 AM
They want you despairing, suicidal, and quiescent. They want you to be convinced of their ultimate victory, and they want you to tell all your friends about it on social media, where everyone can see. They eat this shit up.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
It's why I think combatting despair and doomer narratives is important not just for its own sake (because we deserve better), but also for deliberately refusing to do this government's work for them.
November 15, 2025 at 12:23 AM
It's why I think combatting despair and doomer narratives is important not just for its own sake (because we deserve better), but also for deliberately refusing to do this government's work for them.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
In the case of trans people, I think most of this Administration would be plenty happy if they drove us to suicide or to voluntarily detransition. They're lazy, they're focused on optics and le epic owns, and even where they are marshalling state capacity (ICE, et al) they're at a breaking point.
November 15, 2025 at 12:22 AM
In the case of trans people, I think most of this Administration would be plenty happy if they drove us to suicide or to voluntarily detransition. They're lazy, they're focused on optics and le epic owns, and even where they are marshalling state capacity (ICE, et al) they're at a breaking point.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
It's an assault on our dignity. The memetic politics of this government is one of sneering, Extremely Online mockery. They want to *own* their opponents. They want to make you cry.
November 15, 2025 at 12:20 AM
It's an assault on our dignity. The memetic politics of this government is one of sneering, Extremely Online mockery. They want to *own* their opponents. They want to make you cry.
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
Their anti-trans policies are squarely aimed at making it harder to transition and harder to be accepted, to remove legal recognition of who we say we are. Assaults on our dignity. Make us use the wrong loo, make our IDs obviously wrong, encourage people to misgender us and insult us...
November 15, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Their anti-trans policies are squarely aimed at making it harder to transition and harder to be accepted, to remove legal recognition of who we say we are. Assaults on our dignity. Make us use the wrong loo, make our IDs obviously wrong, encourage people to misgender us and insult us...
Reposted by CN Lester 🏳️⚧️
That's the point of stochastic terror campaigns. And with the Trump Administration, they've moved from the margin to the centre.
Their chaotic goal, insofar as they have one, is making trans lives shameful and unlivable.
Most of all, they want to humiliate us. For the lulz.
Their chaotic goal, insofar as they have one, is making trans lives shameful and unlivable.
Most of all, they want to humiliate us. For the lulz.
November 15, 2025 at 12:18 AM
That's the point of stochastic terror campaigns. And with the Trump Administration, they've moved from the margin to the centre.
Their chaotic goal, insofar as they have one, is making trans lives shameful and unlivable.
Most of all, they want to humiliate us. For the lulz.
Their chaotic goal, insofar as they have one, is making trans lives shameful and unlivable.
Most of all, they want to humiliate us. For the lulz.