Mat
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mathawthorn.bsky.social
Mat
@mathawthorn.bsky.social
Artist-Trans Nonbinary-They/them
Artist at Hawthorn Crafts
50something GenXer over 18s only occasional NSFW posts
Pinned
Hi, I’m Mat, a non binary and transgender artist living in the UK.
I mostly paint/draw fantasy and pagan flavoured art. I’m married to my amazing Ali and we have a business together selling my stuff online:

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Hawt...
www.etsy.com
Reposted by Mat
In a blatant violation of NY state and NYC law, NYU Langone has shut down its youth gender clinic and caused a potential forced detransition to its patients. Where is the NY AG and Mayor Mamdani?

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/n...
Manhattan Hospital Ends Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth
www.nytimes.com
February 18, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Mat
Good thing we’re eliminating air pollution regulations! apple.news/A2HIhmBJMTQ-...
Study of 27.8M Americans may have revealed direct Alzheimer's cause — Newsweek
Experts say dementia risk is not just about personal choices, but also about the air we breathe and the environments we live in.
apple.news
February 18, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Mat
now we're being asked to sacrifice our PCs, laptops, and smart phones for the fringe use-cases for AI.

fuck this.
February 18, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Mat
Corridors are for walking. Not for waiting.

We’ve reached a point where "Corridor B" is being treated as a legitimate location for emergency care. This cannot become the new normal.

Help us demand better. Send our letter to the Health Minister now. Link here: bit.ly/end-corridor...
February 18, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Mat
Crucial - and generally totally overlooked part of this story - is *what* the journalists that Labour Together smeared were reporting on

How Labour Together used £730k in illegal political donations to boot strap Keir Starmer’s political rise

That’s why they were targeted
February 18, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Mat
The Epstein Files are so vast and detailed that they feel like the ruins of Pompeii--a snapshot of of Billionaire Town, preserved in volcanic ash--their food, their cruelties large and small, their graffiti with dumb dick jokes, the tools of various trades, art, family pets, so many brothels...
February 18, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Oopsie
BREAKING: The Filton 24 have all had charges of aggravated burglary dropped. This is incredibly awkward because these are the charges Yvette Cooper had used to justify pretending they were terrorists👀
February 18, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Mat
as mister yoda once said: gossip leads to outting. outting leads to a billionaire-backed court case. a billionaire-backed court case leads to daily harassment from all angles of the UK press. daily harassment from all angles of the UK press leads to…
High Court dismisses fears Trans+ people would be outed as “gossip at work” in rejection to challenge to EHRC single-sex guidance.

Understand the judgement: www.wearequeeraf.com/grim-decisio...
February 18, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Mat
I've been reading a book on color's cultural relevance through different time periods and I finally got to the chapter on white. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of a hard read, but had this one line:

"White is defined by what it excludes."

And if that isn't the realest shit I've read in a while.
February 17, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Mat
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social
Poll shows rise of Christian Nationalism, now the governing philosophy of the Rep party, with 56% of Reps being either "adherents" or "sympathizers" of idea US founded as "Promised Land" for white European Christians which should be governed by Scriptural principles.
Where Christian nationalism is most dominant in U.S. states
A 50-state look at Christian nationalism.
www.axios.com
February 18, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Mat
This is a no-brainer, one of the most important steps the Government could take in actually protecting women

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Calls grow for suicides linked to domestic abuse to be treated as potential homicides
Politicians and experts say police should be better trained and move away from ‘tickbox approach’ to suicides
www.theguardian.com
February 18, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Mat
Every liberal and all leftists needs to look at things like this.
February 18, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by Mat
I used to write a lot about this and I just got so… tired. It hasn’t changed, it never changes.
'In an emergency briefing sent to all members, the University and College Union (UCU) branch at Oxford has warned that the university’s college-based system and use of emeritus professorships may be putting female colleagues at risk.' 1/2
Sexual misconduct at Oxford ‘fuelled by emeritus immunity’
Complex governance arrangements and lack of regulation of emeritus titles putting female colleagues at risk, says UCU report
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 18, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Mat
It's doubly ahistorical as it ignores how gay rights in the 1970s-00s followed a near-identical trajectory: initial acceptance, violent backlash, regression of rights, slow rebuilding/expansion.

And, yes, mealymouthed centrists told us we were asking too much then, too.
They just talk as though the public spontaneously lurched to the right on a few specific issues -- sports, restrooms. And now they just take that as a given, a fact that trans supporters must work around.

But how did that happen? Anyone? It's fucking *bizarre* they never even raise the question.
February 18, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Mat
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Mat
Musk announces that Tesla vehicles will integrate Grok into its front display to allow drivers to create CSAM while driving.
February 18, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Mat
This really sucks 🤬
Less than two years ago, Texas Tech University suspended me for speaking out against genocide. Today I found out I was denied tenure.
February 18, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Mat
The only way UK trans and non-binary people can maintain autonomy and dignity without risking falling victim to a vindictive transphobe at work, is by getting an accessible toilet key.

Free if you need them to be:
www.essehouse.co.uk/pee-in-peace-program
February 18, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Mat
Something I wrote about him a couple of months ago 👇🏻
Farage’s new hire won’t help his Putin problem
He’s got a new senior advisor... who has some pretty awful views.
open.substack.com
February 17, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Mat
On top of this, it really risks tipping Reform into a US oriented, Christian nationalist, socially conservative party in a way that is uncomfortable for a lot of UK voters. The question is if those voters notice or care.
Reform’s new “head of policy” has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “regional Slavic conflict”.

He added: “It is a conflict happening in the world that I don’t care very much about.”
February 18, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Mat
My (long) read through of the book that Labour Together sent the legal warnings to the papers about, here bsky.app/profile/flyi...
Right: I already read the other two books with McSweeney and Reed bragging to journos about how excellent their campaigns of lying and wrecking were, so I’m not expecting revelations here: details, basically. So I’ll try to avoid doing 😲😲😲 every time there’s some new piece of despicable bastardry.
February 18, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Mat
My thoughts for @theguardian.com on the way politics and media obsess about the short term when we have much bigger problems to face.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
While we’re seeking to fix what’s wrong with Britain, look hard at our policy-lite, sensation-seeking media | Roger Mosey
Mandelson, Trump, Send: all need explanation with thought and clarity. We must end this obsession with ‘hot takes’, says Roger Mosey, former head of BBC TV News
www.theguardian.com
February 18, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Mat
This is a typical threat of assault that a trans person regularly receives (just for being trans). Police, media and government ignore these direct threats.

He's all talk though. The coward would run and hide if he saw me.
February 18, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Mat
Decriminalization is really fantastic news!!
February 18, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Mat
Exactly the sort of business you want working with the NHS
Any Republican or Democrat who continues to support Palantir, takes money from them, or refuses to hold them accountable is not your friend and should not be supported.
February 18, 2026 at 8:29 AM