Cllr Max Morris
@Max_Morris
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Green Oxford City Councillor. Senior Lecturer in Criminology @ Oxford Brookes focusing on gender & sexuality. Views my own. Usually with @APowellLaw. They/them.
Oxford, England
Joined February 2009
Please follow me in the better, brighter, bluer place if you haven't already. I joined a week ago and have already found lots of familiar faces (from here) but new ones, too! 🦋
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Before I moved to Oxford, Ed Davey was my MP and I went to his constituency office to talk about my experiences of disability discrimination. I'd never been spoken to in such an empathetic way by a politician. Hopefully the polls are right and he becomes Leader of the Opposition.
Caring isn’t just my family's story, it is the story of millions, caring for each other, dealing with tough times, and keeping going with love. Sharing our story hasn't been easy, but it's important. It's time to bring carers' experiences into the light.
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“For several days, a graphic, triggering photo of our bloody faces satisfied voyeurs and enriched companies whose values counter my own. Many outlets publishing my face without permission endorse racist, misogynist, xenophobic platforms and politicians.”
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For the record, my great great great great grandmother’s name was:
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Walking home along Howard Street this evening after a long day of doorknocking. A dazzling display of democratic choices in Donnington! 🌈
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The UK government's legally dubious decision to block the Scottish parliament's gender recognition bill has, I expect, already caused significant harm to LGBTIQA+ people. For example, see the stream of abusive texts I have received this evening from an estranged family member. 😳
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Spare a thought for the three pathetic fascists who were scared away by the crowd in Oxford with this chant today. There were many, many, many more of us. Racism is not welcome in our city.
So proud of Oxford today. An incredible turn out to stand up to the fascists seeking to divide us. We stand in full solidarity with migrants, refugees, Muslims and all others facing far-right persecution. @OxCityGreens @OxGreenCllrs
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Couples that campaign together get elected together!! 🗳️💚🤩
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I don't attack gender critical people, I leave them alone to discuss their beliefs and opinions amongst themselves (small as those gatherings might be) but they seem to be utterly obsessed with me for inviting a trans professor to speak. It's been 5 days of continuous harassment.
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On my way to exercise some free speech and celebrate the first ever Trans+ Pride in Oxford. 🏳️⚧️
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I’ve been closeted about my HIV status with students, so far, even though I keep quoting myself: “No story of gay history could be complete without a corresponding history of HIV, sex workers, trans people, and others”. Tomorrow’s class about HIV criminalisation will change that!.
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I know I shouldn't be checking work emails while on annual leave, but yesterday I was pleased to find out that I've been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Criminology from September. 🧑🏻🏫🥂🍾📚
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I’m overjoyed to have just accepted an offer for the position of Lecturer in Criminology at Kingston University London. Still speechless. 🤩.
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Bristolians spent many years petitioning for the statue to be removed, but nothing happened. Direct action is an appropriate, justified, and democratic response.
I grew up in Bristol. I detest how Edward Colston profited from the slave trade. But, THIS IS NOT OK. If Bristolians wants to remove a monument it should be done democratically - not by criminal damage.
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This reminded me of a school friend who used to take her hijab off the moment she arrived at school. Increasingly convinced the trans panic will be used as a wedge issue by conservatives with implications for almost every protected characteristic (race, religion, sex, and so on).
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I'm beyond happy to have held Donnington ward for the Green Party, replacing an outstanding councillor in @LucyPegg_. Looking forward to working with @rosierawle and other @OxCityGreens. Thank you to the other candidates for making this such a positive campaign and experience. 💚.
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🤔."methodological and conceptual flaws" "misuses data and violates its own evidentiary standards" "substandard level of scientific rigor" "lacking accountability to trans communities"
Cass Review found there is not enough evidence about the long-term impact of puberty blockers for gender incongruence to know whether they are safe or not, nor which children might benefit from them. The evidence should have been established before they were ever prescribed. 2/9.
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Another amazing day of doorknocking for @carla_denyer in Bristol Central. This is the most ambitious election campaign that I've ever been a part of, in the city I grew up in, and you can tell that people here are ready for real change. 🤩 #VoteGreen2024
Had an amazing day of doorknocking in Bristol Central with @EmilyKerr36, @chrisjarvisdiy, @APowellLaw and others. So much love for a Green alternative across this city! 💚🗳️🌈
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I'm thrilled to announce that in two weeks Professor @StephenWhittle will provide a public lecture in Oxford: 'Who Will Put the Genie Back in the Bottle? Gender Critical Activists v Trans Activists: Balancing the Legal Rights of Privacy and Autonomy alongside a Rise in Neo-Hate'.
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As it's #TransDayOfVisibility I wanted to say thank you to every resident who has put a poster up in #Donnington, already, 33 days from the local elections! I'm proud to be standing as a non-binary candidate for @OxCityGreens, campaigning for a fairer, more inclusive city. 💚🏳️⚧️🗳️
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Now seems as good a time as any to come out as non-binary. After reading Judith Butler’s early works (inspired by Simone de Beauvoir) I learned that this thing we call gender is created by the repetition of cultural norms. I was never attached to the ones labelled “boy” or “man”.
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This open letter opposing the Nordic Model of sex work criminalisation has an impressive list of signatories including (feminist, health, human rights, LGBTQ+, trade union) organisations and individuals (academics, authors, journalists, lawyers, MPs). Please read, sign and share:.
We're proud to reveal our open letter against @DianaJohnsonMP 's Sexual Exploitation Bill and her amendments to the controversial PCSC Bill. Decrim Now and our signatories say #NoToNordicmodel
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Since last year (alongside the doctorate) I’ve graduated from tank-topped bumboy to crop-topped femboy at London Pride. Becoming HIV positive 3 years ago put my body confidence in an imperfect place, so wearing this publicly in front of hundreds of thousands took some audacity.💋
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On point @Finn_Mackay: “The real gender ideology is the binary sex and gender system that requires all of us to be either male-masculine-heterosexual or female-feminine-heterosexual; and which attaches harsh penalties to those who deviate from this script”
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I urge those Tories crying about being booed (by most of us) at London Pride yesterday to watch #Epidemic on channel 4. Your party hates us.
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I’m really fucking angry. No one needed a haircut. No one needed a pint. I needed to see my dying grandmother, I needed to go to her funeral, I needed to hug my family—but I can’t. I’m not blaming any individual for what’s happening, but fuck your economy and fuck your government.
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Absolutely thrilled to pass my PhD viva today without corrections! You may now call me “Dr Maxi”. Here I am with examiners @Academicmam and @BelindaBG. Would not have been possible without incredible supervisors @DrKimberlyJamie and @FMeasham. Getting here has been tough. I cried
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Exciting news! I'm standing as a Green Party candidate for Donnington in the May 2nd elections. 🗳️. Register to vote: Get involved: Promoted by and on behalf of Max Morris (Oxfordshire Green Party), 12A Merlin Road, Oxford OX4 6EP.
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Thanks @MetroUK for letting me share some thoughts for the #Labels series:. ‘The LGBTQ movement was launched by sex workers, gender non-conformists, and trans women of colour, many of whom would become HIV positive’ 🏳️🌈. #CantPassItOn #UequalsU #Stonewall50.
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#NewProfilePic So glad my mum was there for my PhD graduation last week. As a single parent on benefits, she performed a stand out job. 🎓
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Those on Twitter saying #transgenderkids are "too young" to "choose" their gender don't get it. When did you choose? Or did you always know?.
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New article (open access) in Sexuality Research and Social Policy. This mixed method study drew on 50 interviews and a survey of 1,473 men aged 18-28 on Grindr, finding that many agree to sell sex online without advertising or identifying as ‘sex workers’.
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My PhD thesis is now available to read through Durham University’s online repository: “Incidental Sex Work: Casual and Commercial Encounters in Queer Digital Spaces” @DurhamSociology.
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Racists being able to set fire to a hotel in Rotherham is a failure of policy. Asylum seekers must be granted the right to live and work anywhere, so that targeted attacks like this cannot happen again. Communities provide more protection than the police or home office ever will.
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No offence, but why can't they just keep it hidden away, a private matter, a secretive little thing? Then the rest of us could get on with our lives without this constant propaganda being shoved in our faces. 🤬.
Heterosexual staff in organisations must leave their politics at the door. No announcements of heterosexual weddings please, no photos of your heterosexually produced babies going around the intranet, don't assume right to surname or pronoun change after your straight wedding.
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I was not sure when or how to announce this news, but I'm delighted to be joining Oxford Brookes University as a Lecturer in Criminology from January. Perfect timing with our move to the city! Very sad to be leaving wonderful colleagues and students at Kingston University London.
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#NormalizingHIVChallenge. Name: Max .Age: 28.Home: London .Occupation: Lecturer.Children: No.Married: In a relationship.HIV status: Positive since 2016 .ARVs: Yes and undetectable. Something I wrote about it last year:
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I’ve had a PhD for two weeks now and unanticipated highlights include 1) having a gender neutral title, 2) saying “I’m a fucking doctor” while being kicked out of G-A-Y for lacking ID, 3) saying “I’m a doctor now, too” to my hospital doctors and them staring back at me blankly 👩🏻⚕️.
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Lost my grandma early this morning. The world feels bleaker than usual. We were born more than half a century apart but shared the same passions and politics. She was the main reason I did well in school, instilling a love for libraries and museums and posing sceptical questions.
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I WON! The DWP will now have to back pay almost £4,000 in disability benefit which I was always entitled to. As I said to the judge, "Just because I don't look disabled, am highly educated and articulate, does not mean that my chronic health conditions don't affect me every day.".
Tomorrow morning I will be attending a tribunal to appeal the DWP's decision to deny me PIP. Here's hoping the written testimony of 4 specialist doctors and 2 social workers outweighs a 35-minute interview by an Atos "Healthcare Professional" with no knowledge of my disabilities.
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Not sure what to make of Sajid Javid's self-contradictory letter to clinically extremely vulnerable people today. It informs us that shielding has ended (we noticed), but must avoid unvaccinated people and crowded spaces. Now how does one achieve that on a busy university campus?.
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Enormous thanks to @stephenwhittle for providing his public lecture at @oxford_brookes this evening, sitting down to discuss queer theory and respectability politics with me, then fielding questions from allies and opponents. It was open to all to attend (we do not discriminate).
Maya attended my lecture tonight - very civilised. We chatted afterwards. We listened. We disagree on lots but I hope she saw that I believe the law is empathic & about restoring our humanity. I said ‘we are having the wrong conversation’ - the real conversation is about misogyny.
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@nlygo I don't think this is the kind of behaviour we should dismiss as families being families - transphobes in the media and government have constructed these kinds of paranoid delusions.
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Seeing lots of people dunk on this, but I think it stems from a confusion. The use of "small dick energy" is not an ontological claim. It's possible to have "big dick energy" with a small dick, or no dick, and vice versa. Greta's takedown is consistent with feminist/queer praxis.
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@cenkuygur @AnaKasparian @jiadarola @jimmy_dore I just became an annual member of @TYTNetwork. Your authenticity, wit and charm inspired me!.
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I'm so proud of @APowellLaw! We can't do anything without each other, even getting elected on the same day. 🗳️. When we saw these three stacks of ballot papers it was too close to call. 🫣. But we were right to tell voters in St Clement's that if you vote Green, you get Green! 💚.
Utterly overwhelmed to have won an incredibly hard fought campaign in St Clement's. Looking forward to working as a part of a now 8 strong @OxGreenCllrs team to push for a fairer Oxford for all.
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Feeling lots of emotions this weekend. As many of you know, I almost quit academia after experiencing HIV discrimination. Now I’m so excited to start my career in an inclusive university, innovative department, and beautiful borough. Then there’s the panic of planning to move! 🏡.
I’m overjoyed to have just accepted an offer for the position of Lecturer in Criminology at Kingston University London. Still speechless. 🤩.
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Pleased to contribute to this response to BBC News from the Sexualities Stream of the Gender Inclusion Network (GIN): "Sex panics have a chilling effect on research, politics and public debate. They also impact on the lives of individuals in negative ways"
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As someone who's been harassed and misgendered repeatedly by "gender critical" activists, both online and at work, it's helpful to see the employment tribunal decision in Bristol confirm that people can hold whatever hateful views they wish, but cannot discriminate on that basis.
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Against almost all the odds, I've just submitted my PhD thesis! 🎓📚🥂 @ Durham University
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Apparently my leafletting addiction shows no signs of abating! Today we delivered over 1,000 thank you letters from @carla_denyer alongside news of @bristolgreen party's spectacular local election results across the city I grew up in. 💚🏘️📊
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A Truvada a day keeps HIV at bay! 💊. Not everyone knows that some people (like me) use this pill to treat HIV, while others use it as PrEP. It prevents transmission better than anything else available. Many drugs could be used this way, so fears about “resistance” are overblown.
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Disappointed to see your brilliant public lecture being misrepresented in this way Stephen. I will make a recording of it availabile (when I find a moment!) to dispel this. I also talked to representatives of hate groups such as Sex Matters and Transgender Trend who attended. 1/3.
1. Maya, .I was as blunt as it is possible to be in my lecture. All the examples of extremist assertions of apparent rights for women but not trans people, that I gave were from Sex Matters. Any group which cannot support & respect the rights of others (in this case rights….
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I'm concerned with how often the phrase "complex interplay between biological, psychological and social factors" was banded about in the report, when it looks as if any social science was systematically excluded. Positivist methods cannot make sense of human experiences or needs.
Academic colleagues who work in areas concerned with research methodologies have a duty to speak up here. The Cass Review's methods are horrendously flawed. Yet it is being passed off as an 'independent report' that should be taken seriously. Integrity matters.
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Wonderful to receive this report on my PhD thesis and viva examination
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Lovely to have a paper accepted with this review: "well written and robust article, reflecting a substantial piece of research. The clear and embedded synthesis of queer theory with robust empirical work is still relatively rare in this field and is exceptionally positive to see".
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Picket line dogs make all the difference! 🐕 We also have some kids here, given school closures, solidarity with all teachers taking action today. 🏫 #ucuRISING #ucustrikes
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Spoke to my dad this morning for the first time in several years. He apologised for hurtful things he had said (when he was mentally unwell) and I apologised for taking so long to reconnect (when I was mentally unwell). Sometimes you need to take time to care for yourself, first.
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@GaiaSophia8 Most transphobes are male, according to the survey data (as with homophobes). The idea that excluding trans people is a "women's issue" is one of the many myths they perpetuate!.
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@FreelanceScien1 Yes, but that's not really the point, it's the political news cycle which has triggered this unprovoked outburst.
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Really pleased to find out that a small research grant proposal I have been working on with HIV charities was successful this evening. 🥳 Will say more as the project develops. 📑.
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Well this was an unexpected 30th birthday present, a glowing review! Looks like I will be publishing my first book, Not Sex Work, as part of Routledge's Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex for Sale series (sometime this year or next)! 📚🤩
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So impressed by the encampment outside of the Museum of Natural History. Proud to see students in Oxford standing in solidarity with Palestine. 🍉
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Overjoyed and exhausted after picking up the keys to a cute little house in Oxford yesterday. It's very "queer", as all the rooms are oddly shaped, and therefore perfect for us (even as we embrace this middle-class, homonormative ideal which I've built a career critiquing)!! 🔑🏡
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So much for my last day of annual leave, I have a full draft of @APowellLaw’s PhD thesis to proof. Very proud of him for getting to this stage! 📑
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Proud to be standing for a political party that is trans inclusive. Locally @OxCityGreens have called on the council to "work with healthcare providers. to remove barriers transgender and non-binary people face", something I've been working towards: 💚🏳️⚧️
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In addition to campaigning in the local elections, last week I was touring the country as a “young person” for the Youth Stop AIDS speakers tour 2024 (via video message). Here are some clips of what I said: “It's hard to conceive of how different the world might’ve been. ” [1/3]
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New article (open access) in @JoCrimLaw: ‘Bareback sex in the age of preventative medication: Rethinking the “harms” of HIV transmission’. @LawAndSexuality, @APowellLaw and I argue that criminal law has not kept up with the science of #HIV #UequalsU #PrEP.
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You have no idea how happy I am to have my very own (tiny) office! 🧑🏻🏫🗄️🖥️
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Delighted to be invited to become a board member for the Sex Work Research Hub (@sexworkreshub). As an academic network, the SWRH has always championed participatory research, postgraduate and early career researchers, and evidence-based policy proposals such as decriminalisation.
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Had a lovely time camping and canoeing with my family in the Wye Valley this weekend, where I came out as non-binary without fanfare or hostility. It seems that the noise generated within conservative media and political bubbles does have some limits. ⛺🛶🤷🏻🫧
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School should be a place where children can escape from parental pressure. At the very least it should be a space where questioning norms is allowed, if not encouraged, without the threat of being reported back to the heteronormative and patriarchal power structure of the family.
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Today is my last day of unpaid work, preparing the first publication from my PhD. Then I’m on holiday (camping in Cornwall with my family) until the job starts at Kingston University and we move to Surbiton! After three years of economic uncertainty, it still doesn’t seem real 😅.
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I have just signed my contract with Oxford Brookes University, with the beautifully even start date of 01/01/2022, so might as well update my bio on here! 📄.
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It's official, contract signed! 📝📖.
Well this was an unexpected 30th birthday present, a glowing review! Looks like I will be publishing my first book, Not Sex Work, as part of Routledge's Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex for Sale series (sometime this year or next)! 📚🤩
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How about 'pints' of insulin because I haven't been able to access my standard 100 milliliter pens for six months now due to supply chain disruptions. 💉 #BrexitHasFailed.
The UK is no longer a serious country. 'Freedom' to buy pint sized wine but your rights to travel work and study in 27 other countries have been revoked, protest is heavily impeded by vague laws, and an ever increasing minimum income requirement to have a foreign spouse applies
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Here’s to the wonder of HIV medication which has ‘transformed the virus from something life-threatening to little more than an inconvenience. gives me an average life expectancy and makes it impossible to pass the virus on’ (as I wrote for the Guardian in 2018) #WorldAIDSDay2020
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@CllrAlexCatt Sorry you've been targeted by the hateful extremists. Exactly why Norwich Council was right to unanimously support your motion! Transphobes are losing the argument and lashing out. 💗.
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Thank you to everyone for the supportive comments following my dad’s hateful outburst on Facebook last week. Unfortunately the harassment continued on WhatsApp last night, so I think that relationship is beyond repair. On the other hand, this was my mum’s response to the article:
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This episode of #BBCQT makes me want to move to Edinburgh, especially after last week's racist and ableist audience in London. Everyone seems more thoughtful. I hope Scotland escapes the tyranny of English policy on welfare, on drugs, on Brexit (to respect the will of its people).
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About 6 months ago I was the victim of an attempted mugging which involved a wine bottle being smashed over my head, but today I used that experience for a lecture on crime prevention and community safety. Combining pedagogy with therapy: engaging for students, empowering for me.
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Alongside all the A-level results, congratulations to my boyfriend who just passed his PhD viva (with no corrections)! I’m so proud of Dr Alex Powell for defending a thesis on ‘Queering Refugee Law: A Study of Sexual Diversity in Asylum Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom’.
Slightly stunned to have passed my PhD viva without corrections today!! Thank you to my amazing supervisory team for all of their support, and to the examiners for such an amazing conversation. Still can't believe I am going to be a Dr.
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The outpouring of affection for @CarolineLucas, alongside sorrow that she won't be standing in the next general election, is testament to what a brilliant MP and person she is. I share those emotions and echo what others have said, she was a key reason I joined @TheGreenParty. 💚.
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I often say to students: “anyone who claims to know what sex work is, is lying”. We have no idea what “every” person has experienced, identifies as, or wants from policy. Men who sell, women who buy, and non-binary people are erased by gender essentialist/heterosexist assumptions.
The Nordic model was developed in Sweden after they spoke to virtually every prostituted woman.
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Hey @QuestionLGBTedu, if you’re worried about children learning that LGBTIQA+ people exist, and that it’s cool for them to be different from the bland cis het norm, just wait until they get to university where people like me will be teaching them! Please block me, I feel left out.
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Freshly vaccinated with my first Pfizer-BioNTech jab. Very smooth operation by the NHS on campus! 💉
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I don't want to become the “bench person” of Oxford, but this one on Boundary Brook Road may be my new favourite (after another low blood sugar) where I was stopped by six people cycling/walking past to tell me “good luck”, “you've got my vote”, and “I'm joining the Green Party!”
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For the record, I did share this bottle of bubbly with @APowellLaw, who was also promoted to Senior Lecturer in Law on the very same day! As he already got to share the news about becoming Programme Lead, I was allowed to have the attention today. #AcademicPowerCouple 🎉💖👏🏻🌈.
I know I shouldn't be checking work emails while on annual leave, but yesterday I was pleased to find out that I've been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Criminology from September. 🧑🏻🏫🥂🍾📚
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For the first time ever my Twitter profile is "protected", so it's an exclusive experience for 2,787 of you! I've not been doxxed, though that does happen as an academic who supports sex workers and trans people. Just being a bit less public until some legal matters are resolved.
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Maya, as I said to you in person, what made it stressful was not you attending (it was a public event open to everyone), but when you share things on this platform they get picked up by others and I've been subjected to weeks of hatred and harassment. Yet you keep on doing it. 🤔.
@Max_Morris Max. I don't doubt it was stressful. But you might want to use some empathy - you insist that having people turn up in large numbers outside an event shouting, banging etc is not intimidating, but a middle-aged woman registering is. 🤔.
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Sharing is caring! As it’s #WorldAIDSDay, here’s a selfie my bestie took of us swapping pills at the beginning of this week. 💊 Both made of the same ingredients, theirs prevents HIV (#PrEP) but mine treats AND prevents it (#TasP). 🧪 Science has changed, but have your attitudes?
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No offence Bob, but it doesn't look like you've avoided alcohol, tobacco, or fast food your entire life. Anyway, with £350million a week extra surely the NHS can afford to treat both!.
'I didn't worry about getting HIV'. Irresponsible not to use condoms, antiretroviral drugs are very expensive! NHS need the money for cancer drugs!
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Does nobody remember the UK's same-sex marriage debates in 2013? All those conservative "concerns" about a "conflict" of rights between religious and sexual minorities were nonsense. There's never been any conflict between trans and women's rights. The Equality Act covers us all.
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Pleased that my application for Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) has been successful. 👨🏻🏫 I’ve enjoyed teaching this year and had lovely feedback from students: ‘We engaged so much more because we felt he was sharing a piece of himself along with the course material’.
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