that I was at some event where several of us were meeting in person, and planning future growth of Rainbow Ark using what appeared to be some type of social media which seemed to be a blend of LiveJournal and Bluesky. There were timelines of conversations, and homepages with links and photos, and other familiar things.

I guess the part of me that occasionally generates these dreams feels like there is some unfinished business, or something -almost- achieved and not quite realized in our history. I still have people, mostly furs, sending me messages, expressing their gratitude that RA was a thing and thankful it was around when they needed it most, though they often understand why its time has passed.

It was such a simpler time back in the mid 2000's. Rights were extended to LGBTQ people from our government. Often the most difficult thing a young person faced was how to come out to their familes, and they found helpful resources with us.

Currently, we're all being assaulted both figuratively and literally by the trump regime using Project 2025 as their playbook. His actions have upset the entire world's structures of agreements, treaties, coexistence, trust, and even basic compassion between people. Queer people, especially transgender people have been demonized as threats to family, -to children-, and legal measures have been weaponized to try to erase us.

I feel completely ill equipped to compete with this level of villainy. I don't have the answers. Even in simpler times, I just wanted to construct a place for likeminded people to come and relax and take a rest from the constant bombardment. All Of You are what made Rainbow Ark so special by the talents, perspectives, and compassion you brought naturally with you. LiveJournal was the place where everyone was already. They were the hub for everything furry, and a lot of the LGBTQ end of things as well, so it wasn't requiring you to go through a subscription process because you were already here.

Don't know where I'm going with any of this, but are there any thoughts about what I've shared? Should we try Dreamwidth again? I just feel like it's time of a new generation. I'm 67. Would anyone else with the dream like to pick up the mantle?

She's been toying with the idea of reviving her LiveJournal again, and at about the same time, I was already wondering about this place, Rainbow Ark. Yes, for now it's officially just an archive, and yes, most of you (me included) have moved on into other parts of social media and abandoned lj for newer, spiffier things.

There is one aspect which makes this feasible as long as there is the desire among a few former Arkers to return, and it's that about 99% of you kept your journals to this present day. I don't know if you were saving it as some ace in the hole, or you simply abandoned your lj and forgot to close it, but we wouldn't have to start all over again with trying to build a community like we did in 2004-6 timeperiod. Plus there's no push to try to get numbers back up to anything like they were. If there are just 6 or 8 people, that's more than enough to have meaningful conversations--just a place to come and relax and know we're with friends.

Other parts of the Internet are so noisy and vulnerable to trolls and bots. You're limited by how many characters you can type, and you have to always be looking over your shoulder with one thing or another. This media is kind of quiet anymore and under the radar.

I don't know, do any of you check in and are reading this?

All this could come to an end anyway. I know there were rumors at the first of this year that the ruskies were maybe thinking about deleting all non-ruskie accounts. I just figure while we're here and our 22-year history is all here, why the hell not use it?

...on the first day of Pride Month. It's all about the history of Bugs Bunny in drag. A lot of love went into this website...

https://karenannetaylor.orgfree.com/bugs.html

I started to think about this entry soon after I left. No, I haven't been hacked, it really is me, Jarrell. And the link is safe, and the site itself is an old style long scroll which works well on a laptop. I was going to share it on my Bluesky, but it felt more appropriate to share here for whoever might still be monitoring this old beloved community. Love all you guys.

Tomorrow, it will be 20 years.

Just thinking about all the times we've had.

Quite a journey! <^.^>

What if the word “homosexual” was never meant to be in the Bible?

https://www.1946themovie.com/

Rainbow Ark

2004 - 2024

This past Sunday I pointed the final homepage for the Rainbow Ark website, denoting the organization's closure in early 2024.

The Facebook account has been marked for deletion in the next 30 days. Done

The LiveJournal and FurAffinity accounts will be deleted in March 2024. Actually, at the suggestions of several Arkers we will keep the LiveJournal and FurAffinity accounts open for archival purposes, but we'll make clear that after March, RainbowArk is no longer an active organization.

The Twitter account is in the process of being abandoned for BlueSky. Done

The BlueSky handle of @RainbowArk will be changed likely before the end of the year. Done

Website hosting for MyRainbowArk.com will not be renewed when it comes up for renewal in March/April 2024. Members who have email accounts should take measures if necessary to save any of their content before March. Email accounts will begin to be deleted near the end of February as the first phase of site closure. The website consists of well over 100 web pages and is best browsed by conventional desktop/laptop. Please feel free to save any of the data you wish while the site is still up. Visit the "Site Map" there to help in your navigation.

It's been a great run: 20 years! Thank you all for being a part of Rainbow Ark. Others will come along and make better social media, resources, and content for the newer generations.

Has anyone here seen the Mama Bears documentary yet? Renee and I watched it yesterday and I consider it a must-see. Much of their intent reminds me of the original intent of Rainbow Ark of providing a space where young people could find balance between their orientation/gender identity and their faith without having to suppress either one in the process. It follows the progression of three main characters and their struggles with their families, and how at least in some instances where their parents became their allies and even creating a nationwide network to help thousands of others.

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/mama-bears/

Today is Rainbow Ark's 19th birthday, although the most recent 9 or so have been mostly quiet years.

I send greetings to all fellow Arkers past and present. On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, and with the probable impending demise of Twitter, I wanted to see if others are still here.

Twitter has been where I've thankfully kept in contact with the greatest number of you, but it could never have been a replacement for LiveJournal because there is no real "community" there; no lengthy or ordered discussions where we chime in with our own take on things. It's mostly a moment, then we move on. But maybe that's indicative of how social media has evolved. Maybe there is no place in 2022 for community journals, but one reason I'm here right now is to find out if that's true.



More importantly, is there a need for Rainbow Ark anymore? When we assembled in 2004, we were a small wounded group of furs who were trying to navigate our way through being true to our orientation and gender identity, without feeling like we had to give up our religious faith. It seems almost trivial as I think about it now because many of us have now come to the conclusion that any established religion that has to be bent and edited to the point of "allowing" LGBT+ to even exist is not worth our attention when the real issue is often suicides which result from those who never quite find that balance.

In the larger world beyond the furry fandom there is a wave of toxic conservatism which wants to invalidate and criminalize our very existences. Gay marriage seemed like it was a settled issue. We seemed to have arrived at our destination. Now it all seems like it's thrown into chaos with the current pendulum swing of toxic ideologies.

Is this community journal even able to address some of these more serious matters? Should we even try, or should we be more of a respite where we don't have to think about some of the more serious issues at hand, and we can just encourage each other?

Is there still a place for Rainbow Ark, or is it time to let it go?

Sunrise photo from earlier this week. Today is our last full day here. It's been a wonderful reset.

This is an article brought to my attention by a friend, Tenza @hyoufox
...

https://religionnews.com/2022/08/02/mixing-faith-with-furries-things-can-get-hairy/

RNS) — In a 2019 YouTube video titled “Hund the Hound Meets Jesus Christ,” a man wears a plaid robe and a clunky blue dog mask. Overwhelmed by his own technology, he faints and has a vision of the Son of God — or, at least, an actor playing him.

Viewers, even those familiar with the Christian furry community, had questions.

“(What) the f– did I just watch, Hund?” one commenter inquired. Hund the Hound replied, “My new channel introduction.”

Hund the Hound, a 33-year-old Ohioan, is a furry. He is also a Christian. For Hund and many other Christian furries, those two identities peacefully coexist. Not everyone would agree.

The furry movement, which grew up in the 1970s as part of the underground comic book world, engages in anthropomorphism — assigning human characteristics to animals, in their case by creating avatar-like representations of self, called “fursonas,” and in many cases making costumes to match. Hund the Hound’s fursona is, well, a canine.

Like fans of Marvel characters or other comic book-based media, furries gather at conventions, the largest of which are Anthrocon and the Midwest FurFest, which in 2019 reported attendance of more than 11,000 furries. Some spend time in online role-playing games or designing and constructing costumes.

Furries do not identify as animals; they identify with animals, said Sharon E. Roberts, associate professor of social development studies at the University of Waterloo in Canada and a co-founder of Furscience, a group of interdisciplinary professors who have researched anthropomorphic identities from more than 40,000 furries.

Most furries, however, do not consider themselves to be religious, according to data from Furscience. When asked about their religious beliefs, one-third of furries flat-out identified as either atheist or agnostic. Three-quarters of furry respondents disagree with the statement “I am religious,” according to Furscience’s findings.

With its roots in underground comic culture, the furry community has long had associations with sexual experimentation, erotic content and gay culture. During the “burned fur” movement from 1998 to 2001, there was a concerted effort among a group of furries to “purify” its public image. Today, according to the Furscience website, furry fandom includes people of all ages and sexual orientations, with “adult” activities kept separate from other events. Still, its fanbase tends to be suspicious of the religious community.

“Given that most furries are LGBTQ+, this may preclude many from being religious, especially if the religion is at odds with LGBTQ+ people,” said Furscience researcher Courtney Plante, an associate professor of psychology at Bishop’s University.

But despite the possibility of encountering stigma in the furry community, being a furry emboldens Hund’s faith. His fellow furries, he said, pulled him from the depths of suicidal thoughts and gave him a support system.

God placed Hund in the community, he said.

“He knew that me dressing up like a blue dog would get me out of my depression, grow my social skills and make me the person I am today,” Hund said. Hund the Hound’s YouTube channel, which Hund has managed with his wife, Lilly the Fox, since March 2017, has 320,000 views and nearly 5,000 subscribers.

All the same, Christians in the furry community are cautious about who knows about both their furry and faithful selves. Christian furries interviewed for this story, including leaders of the group that calls itself the Christian Furry Fellowship, asked to be anonymous, fearing “doxxing” from within the largely secular furry community for their Christian identity and ostracization from their professional lives for their furry hobby.

“My furry friendships are a blessing,” said one CFF organizer with a red fox fursona who asked to be called “F.” “And for that reason, I am sad to see so much grief within the fandom that could be helped by the knowledge of the Lord.”

Founded in the late 1990s on internet chat forums, CFF is a ministry that views furry fandom as a mission field. In 2010, CFF members converged on Anthrocon in Pittsburgh. Another leader, who asked to be referred to as “AD,” described the 10 days he spent picking up members in their hometowns to share the event with 4,000 other furries in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center as one of his “most dear memories.”

CFF members mostly meet on Discord and Telegram for Bible study and fellowship.

One CFF leader, a data engineer who asked to be called “S,” said both fursuits and being behind a screen can promote anti-religious talk. “When you’re behind two layers of anonymity, like furries are, you’re more inclined to express your true thoughts,” said S.

Such animosity, he said, can be a bonding experience for Christian furries. “I actually like that the fandom is majority nonreligious because it leads to deeper connections with those in the fandom who are religious,” he said.

CFF, for its part, does not enforce any worldview related to sex for its casual members. Like many conservative Christians, its members believe that engaging in same-sex sexual relationships is wrong; having homosexual feelings alone is not. Furries who disagree with this stance can still join, S said, as long as they abide by the group’s rules.

~

I guess we wound down operations a little too soon.

We were a safe haven until it looked like we were no longer needed.

It's suddenly time to fight for what's left of our rights.

It's not like the SCOTUS decision yesterday was any kind of surprise after the leak. But I had kind of wondered for awhile if the leak was planned so SCOTUS could sort of read the room's reaction to the impending demise of Roe v Wade.

Now Thomas is saying that Obergefell should be revisited by the Court. Notice he didn't mention Loving v Virginia -- anything that would have affected his life. SCOTUS is now a sick joke. Thomas should be impeached and his wife should be in jail. Of course they're not the only ones.

Some have said that they've had enough and are looking at other countries.

Some are saying to stand and fight, and maybe not by the rules anymore.