(i ripped this off wikipedia real fast so sorry if it's lib)

In October 1776, the Public Universal Friend contracted an epidemic disease and was bedridden and near death with a high fever. Their family summoned a doctor from Attleboro, six miles away, and neighbors kept up a death-watch at night. The fever broke after several days. The Friend later reported that [deadname redacted] had died, receiving revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone". The Friend further said that [deadname redacted]'s soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the "Publick Universal Friend", describing that name in the words of Isaiah 62:2 as "a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named".

From that time on, the Friend refused to answer to their deadname, ignoring or chastising those who insisted on using it. When visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were addressing, the Friend simply quoted Luke 23:3 ("thou sayest it").  Identifying as neither male nor female, the Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Followers respected these wishes; they referred only to "the Public Universal Friend" or short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F.", and many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries. When someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the preacher replied "I am that I am", saying the same thing to a man who criticized the Friend's manner of dress (adding, in the latter case, "there is nothing indecent or improper in my dress or appearance; I am not accountable to mortals").

editorial note: I think this is a very cool story and I really love hearing it. We've been around forever and we've been doing variations of this forever. It's really beautiful


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  • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    to backup my disability application my GP gave me a bunch of old correspondence between the psych hospital I was inpatient at for a while and him. some highlights:

    medical transphobia

    my old head doctor from the hospital, now retired, repeatedly misgenders me in a letter from last year when we had already been working together for a year or so. fuck doctors!

    my intake overview refers to me as "a female transgender". this one was just funny to me lol, very old school. obviously it is transphobic but it gave me a laugh. anyway just wild having hard personal evidence of the medical field being decades behind when it comes to dealing with us... I've thankfully got private option too, I'd say it's even worse here if you have to go public.

    • MusicOwl [comrade/them, sie/hir]M
      ·
      1 month ago

      Ye olde timey transphobia can sometimes be funny if it is no longer actively harmful.

      olde timey medical transphobia

      My friend in California’s T prescription states it is for treating their diagnosis of “transsexualism.”