It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States of America, and one of the main things we are thankful for today (and all the days) is because: you. For so many reasons. Millions of reasons. So today, we wrote down 100 of those reasons and we’d like to share them with you. Thank you for doing you and being you.
1. I’m grateful for the welcome wagon that old school commenters will roll out when a new reader leaves their first comment! Speaking up for the first time in a public space like AS can be scary, but y’all go out of your way to let everyone know we want to hear from them, and that they matter.
2. For giving me and the rest of us someone to talk to on Friday nights about our girlfriends and, most importantly, my dog.
3. Reading the comments and seeing how many other queer women work in STEM makes me feel less alone.
4. I’m thankful for readers that post thoughtful and complimentary comments on an article I worked really hard on. It really brightens my day.
5. I’m so much better at actual scissoring thanks to your tips on all NSFW Lesbosexy Sunday posts.
6. AS readers welcomed me into the queer community I knew I wanted but didn’t know how to find. Your cute little profile pic faces fill all the gaps in my queer heart.
7. Y’all make me want to work harder, write fiercer and dig deeper so I can give you the stories, essays and news posts you deserve.
8. I’m thankful for Autostraddle readers who cite our work in their school projects and then tell us about it.
9. I’m thankful for how Autostraddle readers often seem to understand me better than people I’ve known in real life for years.
10. I’m thankful to the readers who constantly push us to challenge our own assumptions and be better versions of ourselves.
11. I’m so thankful for the queer moms who reach out and support each other in the radical act of parenting from a weirdo, honest and feminist space! It’s hard work and I know I’m a better parent because of y’all.
12. For giving me the huge community of amazing queer women and others that I was never able to find in the small city in Idaho where I live.
13. The few times I’ve been terrified to post a personal essay were the times folks came out the hardest to be there for me. Y’all make me feel so much less alone in #thestruggle and so much more supported in my own.
14. For validating our desires to make goofy videos, ask you questions about eggnog, and share our embarrassing childhood photos in a public space.
15. I’m infinitely thankful to Autostraddle readers for turning this space from a blog to a real life, 3D community of interconnected hearts and minds and souls sharing and learning and growing and meeting up together and making the world a better place! –
16. Without Autostraddle readers A-Camp wouldn’t exist and I will never stop talking about how much Camp and that mountain and all of you changed my life, so.
17. One time Nikki T. wrote about holster bags in the comments and it changed my life. I don’t buy any other type of purse, now.
18. Autostraddle readers validated my decision to shop for books wearing a unicorn onesie. I am eternally grateful.
19. Thank you to every reader who still holds These Cashews in their heart. Bless.
20. Autostraddle is the only place on the internet where I know my bisexuality will be consistently celebrated, and that makes me want to dance with each and every one of you.
21. Autostraddle readers will read vapid fluff and hard news, pressed right up against each other with their tongues down each other’s throats.
22. Hanging out with y’all makes me feel like I’m in an issue of Lumberjanes, which is one of the greatest things any of us could ever aspire to.
23. I’ve had readers email me, message me, find me in real life, and send me mail, and every time I am blown away by your kindness, your excitement about what we do here, and all the things we have in common.
24. I’m thankful for the badass bisexual Autostraddlers who come together to recognize each other and support each other in the comments, elsewhere on the internet, and in real life.
25. I’m thankful for Autostraddle readers who host meetups. Among other things, it gives me this fabulous sense of security, like, I could move anywhere and find community and be okay.
26. I’m thankful for the AS readers, like my friends Mary and Erika, for hosting an AS meetup in my hometown, where queer women need community the most.
27. The ones who stand up for us when we’re too tired to stand up for ourselves — and not just on our site, but on social media other sites, too.
28. For understanding exactly what I’m talking about when I say my gender is Lazy Femme.
29. I’m so so thankful the Speakeasy exists because we push each other to be better and support each other through the everyday bullshit.
30. You share as much of yourselves with us as we share with you.
31. Thanks to every single person who writes cute notes in the A+ priority inbox! I read every one of them and they always brighten my day and I forward them to other team members to brighten theirs too!
32. You notice when we get better at things! It’s like when I was Most Improved Player in soccer in 7th grade, which honestly was kind of embarrassing but you get the drift, it’s great, you’re great, never change.
33. You believe in me when I don’t even believe in me, which makes me believe in me — almost. I mean you’re the closest thing I’ve got as a remedy for Imposter Syndrome.
34. I love seeing readers take articles to Facebook and to their classrooms and to friends and family members to start new conversations and to educate the people in their lives — I’m so grateful that our community acts on what they read instead of just passively consuming it.
35. I’m thankful for you all who make me feel like my trans-related writing is never out of place in a queer women’s space.
36. Autostraddle readers have given me the gift of knowing what it’s like to be best friends with Hermione Granger, just constantly being uplifted and challenged to be better and know more and fight, fight, fight for what really matters.
37. Sometimes y’all get tattoos of our words!! ACTUAL TATTOOS! THAT’S SO RAD. IT MAKES US FEEL FAMOUS AND IMPORTANT.
38. I actually didn’t know whether or not to put eggnog in my coffee until y’all told Laneia how to drink it.
39. I love when Autostraddle readers push us to cover stories that are important to them.
40. Rachel says one day we’re going to have a huge PLL-style murder mystery at camp, and I’m pre-thankkful that y’allwill make that the best day of my life.
41. I’m thankful that the AS readers keep the comment section super validating and supportive and hilarious.
42. I feel safer sharing my personal struggles with Autostraddle readers than I do with my own therapist.
43. I’m thankful for AS readers who become my actual in real life friends (shoutout to Kathryn). You’re so supportive ofthe work we do and are so fun to hang out with.
44. You get how delicious male tears really are.
45. For sending the cutest notes of encouragement, that *seriously* make my day.
46. Even though I never wrote back, I really love that e-mail you sent me.
47. I am thankful for every single reader who posted a gif in response to this post. Even when I wasn’t quick enough in editing the HTML, y’all stuck by me.
48. Y’all loved those scissoring sweatshirts EVEN MORE than we thought you would.
49. Autostraddle readers are so much more than readers, you are our community. You make this revolution happen with us, and we truly couldn’t do it without you.
50. You’re really weird and funny.
51. I feel very #blessed that Autostraddle readers invent the best/worst puns in all of human history.
52. Even when I bork up stuff and y’all have to call my attention to my own prejudices and microagressions, you forgive me and keep on loving me.
53. When we win a thing, the victory is even sweeter because we get to share it with you.
54. You literally feed me. Like your money pays for my food. Thank you.
55. When we e-mailed you to apologize for taking so long to get the A+ podcast going, you wrote us back to tell us how wonderful we are instead of writing back to yell at us?
56. For being a smart, critical and hilarious group of humans who make me feel safe in a world that is often times terrifying and discouraging.
57. Sometimes if there aren’t enough comments on a post you comment on the post just so the author doesn’t feel like a loser and WE SEE YOU and WE LOVE IT (and it helps us not feel like losers)
58. I’m thankful for the future residents of my lesbian feminist commune, bookstore and family farm.
59. My hair has been the same all my life, but y’all are really giving me the courage to consider an alternative lifestyle haircut.
60. YOU JOINED AUTOSTRADDLE PLUS.
61. You go out of your way to use our affiliate links just so we can get a kickback.
62.You’re so supportive of each other! When somebody shares a struggle on an Open Thread or a You Need Help post, y’all surround that human YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW with love, advice and acceptance.
63. I love you all for not making fun of me when you saw me lip-syncing (badly).
64. I’m the kind of person who gets offended when someone walks past me and my beagle on the street and doesn’t stop to tell me how cute she is, but y’all fawn over all my pet photos just the right amount.
65. I’m super thankful for all the trans women and especially twoc readers who support me and are the reason I write.
66. I feel re-energized to fight this fight for justice knowing we are all in the trenches together.
67. Sometimes our readers are the freaks and geeks high school clique that go to the prom just to make fun of the heteropatriarchy but also because secretly we kind of want to go to prom and feel less alone if we go as a group.
68. You’ve donated thousands of dollars towards camperships. Seriously in what universe does somebody use their tax refund to send a complete stranger to the top of a mountain with a bunch of queer weirdos? YOU PEOPLE.
69. I’m so grateful for the readers who use email, social media, comments, and contact forms just to say hi. It makes a huge difference every time!
70. You guys make the comments a safe space, but you also make them a freaking hilarious place. Sometimes my girlfriend just reads Autostraddle comments out loud to me at night in bed.
71. I’m thankful for all of our family members who are AS readers (and comment award winners)!
72. I’m so thankful for Speakeasy members who share their perspectives and push us all to be better. I’ve learned so much from them.
73. For being the correct amount of ecstatic/heartbroken about the whirlwind romance of Kate Moennig and Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual.
74. I never listened to a Tegan and Sara album until you insisted on it. I would have been living a half life if I hadn’t heeded your pleas!
75. I’m thankful for the unofficial AS/A-Camp Femmes and AS/A-Camp Bisexuals groups for the funny and serious shared experiences we can talk out openly there.
76. One day we will sell a poster of a Blanche Devereaux unicorn. It’ll be called Blanchicorn. It’ll be like a centaur that is the body of a unicorn and the torso of Blanche Devereaux, sporting ’80s blouse realness. You will love it. I am so thankful you will love it.
77. I am thankful for the readers who pitch things to us. My email-door is always open for the nerd stuff: ali [at] autostraddle.com
78. You made Ellen Page Day a National Holiday. I mean it already was because of Valentine’s Day but fucckkkk itttttt
79. You never let the best The L Word jokes die. JENNY LIVES ON IN OUR LAUGH.
80. AS readers know so much! I’ve learned a ton of interesting things just from browsing the comments on every articles.
81. I’m grateful for the over-30s who understand the pop culture references that some of my own staff members can’t!
82. I’m thankful for your companion tumblrs, your instagram pics of autostraddle merch, and every cute thing you’ve ever said on twitter.
83. I love when people share the things they’ve made in the open threads. Like Vinzzz27’s metal earth figures and Jane’s floral arrangements. SO COOL.
84. You encourage us to be more weird, not less.
85. For being an excuse to record myself lipsyncing to Beyoncé.
86. I feel comforted knowing I’m not the only one who hate watches TV shows just for the lady-gay parts.
87. I love how excited you are to spread the Autostraddle Good News on social media.
88. I’m thankful for all the readers who are my members with me of the Femme Witch Coven!
89. For making me feel like I can talk about this stuff on the internet. Do y’all know how bad the comments would have been on almost any other site? DO YOU EVEN KNOW?
90. For calling out transphobia/transmisogyny and for prioritizing trans women and especially trans women of color in queer women’s spaces — and for letting us know when we forget to do that.
91. Our readers are so incredibly diverse and, more importantly, inclusive. I love knowing that so many identities and feelings are affirmed here and I even love it when you push back on us to be more inclusive in our work.
92. The ones who respond with a perfect gif.
93. You put food on my table.
94. I’m thankful for the loyalists who comment on my link roundups even when they’re boring or published at 5pm.
95. Where else would a photo of a box of possums be so celebrated?
96. For making it worth it to spend 33 hours writing a TV recap.
97. I’m thankful for every single one of you who takes the time to comment, tweet, or email and tell me you liked an essay. Each one balances out at least 100 hateful responses.
98. For giving me people to talk about comics with who share my desire to see a million more queer lady superheroes.
99. For helping us grow, challenging us, and appreciating us.
100. I am thankful for AS readers who understand my sense of humor, more than I understood it until I had the support of snarky foul-mouthed queers from across the planet.
Happy Thanksgiving, Straddlers! Wherever you are, know that you’re loved!
<3
#8. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has cited articles in school essays. And I’m thankful for the amazing queer community autostraddle has provided! You make a queer girl in the South feel a lot less lonely! :)
For serious, this website has made me a better person. Thank you all for everything that you do.
Words cannot express how thankful I am for Autostraddle. I started writing down all the numbers that appealed to me but it just ended up being all of them! The friends I’ve met (locally and from around the world), the things I’ve learned, the heartbreaking personal essays I’ve read… I can’t imagine my life without Autostraddle in it. That’s not hyperbole, either!
YOU DO YOU. WE DO WE.
“YOU DO YOU. WE DO WE.” <3333333
nomination for new T-shirt/sweatshirt logo.
Yes pls
The feels.
Why can’t I hold them?
#20 is truth
“9. I’m thankful for how Autostraddle readers often seem to understand me better than people I’ve known in real life for years.” thats why i love and appreciate AS, you do the same thing for me/us
I wrote a long comment thing then realized I can sum it up with:
Humans of Autostraddle, I love you. Thank you for existing.
This list gave me the warm fuzzies. I love everyone on this site. Finding this place truly changed my life. Thank you!
Ok, here goes – so many of these are the reasons I spend some much time on Autostraddle. #1 inspired me to make this post. Although technically this is not my first comment (that was on one of the meet-up threads, but nothing came of it), I feel like it marks the first time I have really tried to connect with this community that I’ve been lurking in for years now. Interacting with new people intimidates me, and I worry a lot that I don’t have anything insightful or useful to contribute to the conversation. Even though I haven’t spoken up before, I so am thankful that this space, where I can read things that resonate with me, exists. Thank you to all of the wonderful contributors – I have learned so much from your stories.
Welcome!
Welcome! – Have a cookie, stay forever!
Quick, someone grab a toaster, we got a newbie in here!
Welcome Kaila! We’re so glad you’re a part of the family.
Chandra, Rachel, and Ellaria – thank you so much for the warm welcome! I am smiling ridiculously big right now.
This makes me so happy. I am utterly thankful for having a place that feels like home when I really need it, which is fairly often. You are all amazingly amazing. SIDENOTE I am currently at a bar with one of my brothers (he is braving the line for drinks while I hold down the fort/table with high stools? They seem very tall, I am not a fan) and super hoping that more gin helps me bring up the funfact that I also superduper enjoy having sex with women.
In conclusion I love you all, happy holidays, and (a third thing that is sufficiently witty/poignant).
[I can’t find a hug emoticon on this new cell so please just imagine that I did and that it is GLORIOUS because this ^ made my weekend. As did this entire post and everyone’s responses. Because somanyfeels.]
You guys this makes me so happy. It makes my <3 happy. So grateful for this place. This is my hangout you guys. So glad we share so much and Im so happy to know that we treat each other like a tiny big fam all the time. I hope we all keep sharing things on all the posts and threads.
So much <3 you guys. My heart us bursting.
These are mostly all exactly the reason why I love this site so much. (I mean practically all of them except for it putting food on my table, obvs. It puts metaphorical food on my table. Food for thought, maybe?) also I WILL SEND YOU NOTES OF ENCOURAGEMENT I am glad to hear you appreciate these because I like writing them and I am so very thankful this website and this community exists.
Thank you for creating a space for all us weirdos to weird together and love each other! <3
YES! <3
Awwwwwwwwww
SIGH I’M JUST SO THANKFUL FOR AUTOSTRADDLE BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS IT WITH BEAUTIFUL WORDS
you all rock so much. bye
#3 – YES. I love how there are so many STEM women here and science-related threads.
And #62. <3
AS I respect you so much; you inspire me and help me and ilu <3333.
Thank you to everyone for everything that you do. This website is pretty much the best place in the universe. Except for maybe Betty McRae’s bed.
you guys are the best
You guys make me feel less alone. So thank YOU.
This list gave me chills and makes me so so proud and thankful to be a part of this community.
Most amazing people I’ve ever met :)! Also thanx for loving on most of my posts
P.s we sure do have a lot of beautiful people here ;)
I honestly think that I wouldn’t be the person I am today, if I hadn’t “met” you. So, thank YOU.
EEEEEEEEE you guys you guys you guysss you are all the best for real. This silly website and all the wonderful people on it and doing it make my heart feel full 24/7 and I don’t really know what more you could ask for. Truly, I love this place and you people.
AND I will post flowers forever and ever and ever <3 <3 <3
I am so incredibly thankful for this community. Thank you, Autostraddle, for getting me through the rough stuff. Sometimes the only good thing you can hold on to is just pushing through to make it to the next A Camp, and that is fucking magic.
I am so grateful that this place exists. I love all of you, for real.
I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Autostraddle. The articles, the community and most of all camp.
Going to camp honestly changed me for the better. and for good. (Great, now I’ll have Wicked on my mental radio station all day)
Thank you AS for existing and inadvertently enabling my girlfriend to find me and colonise my heart.
A close second on the thank you list is Riese’s frequent inclusion of Tonya Harding stories in TIRTIL earlier this year.
Also thanks for A-Plus, which is so worth it and full of amazing things, and reminds me of why I came to AS in the first place.
I’m so thankful for Autostraddle. I’m thankful for the “coming out” and “how to be gay” articles, because wow I needed to hear from women with similar stories to mine. I’m thankful that this is a safe space for so many queers. I hope I can go to camp sometime because you’re all amazing.
I love those articles too. They were among the first ones I read when I first started lurking on this site.
Aw, this was really sweet.
No other space on the big, bad internet has done for me in the past four years what Autostraddle has done. I seriously believe that this place has contributed in my healing and made me a better person overall.
I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my sappy girl heart.
AS is great! I’m so thankful I found this place. When I stumbled upon AS I did not know that this kind of community could/did exist. I thought I was mostly alone. Glad I was wrong!
You are all SO INCREDIBLE, and I am so grateful to each and every one of you!!!
Plus I have seriously been drinking non-stop Mexican chocolate eggnog, and I have no idea how i’m going to survive once the holiday season is over, so there’s that to thank you for too.
Even though I rarely comment, I look at this website more than anything else I use technology for. And without knowing it, everyone here is my best friend (sorry you don’t get a choice, you just are.) Reading why you’re thankful for US blows my mind, because without YOU I’d still be a very lost soul. This website is gold. THANK YOU for following your instincts to create it.
(I’m also a huge fan of this place because the most AMAZING BEAUTIFUL INTELLIGENT woman found me and had the nerve to message me and now we’ve been talking for months and I’m finally flying to meet her next month!! Everyday I thank God for stumbling onto AS!!)
Best friend high five
Thanks for all you do, guys.
Can’t thank you enough for existing AS team/AS site inhabitants/AS. Honestly I have cited articles in my MA, I have laughed and cried and declared Ellen Page day a day of sanctity and wonder and awesome. I didn’t know I needed you ’til I found myself here through the windy roads of interwebs. Thanks for everything. KOKO.
actually crying
<5
I love ya’ll so much, for reals.
I was up at my local comic and game shop earlier and inquired about Lumberjanes and mentioned that I knew one of the creators from online. The guy helping me was like, “Grace, right?” I responded with a triumphant yes! and he started praising the series. Gave me the warm fuzzies.
Incidentally, AS gave me the courage to publicly come out as bisexual to a room full of semi-strangers at that same store which was HUGE for me.
<3
To me, coming out is always a great accomplishment. I’m so happy for you!! :D
Yep my heart is still bursting.
i just love everyone SO MUCH you guys
D
Dear Autostraddle,
I was TRYING to say that this website has genuinely made my life better, but my phone sucks. So thank you, and also ughhhhh.
UGH I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH. <3
ugh ok too many feelings must post.
I truly believe AS is making the world a better place with your words and actions. I especially appreciate your commitment to intersectionality of trans, POC and feminist rights in a queer space, and creating communities irl and online that are full of brilliant vapid fluff, heart-felt and informed personal stories, and keen sociopolitical activism and commentary. Also I love learning how to code and build computers on the same site as where I read Grey’s Anatomy recaps and queer comics. You all make my life so much better. AS forever!
I love this so much. I wouldn’t consider myself a regular commenter, but I still feel like part of the AS family, which is a really really awesome family to belong to. I’ve never encountered an online space that is so welcoming and inclusive of all different voices, or a group of creators who care so much about their readers and what they put out into the world. You all should be endlessly proud of what you’ve built here, because this is a really fucking special place.
guuuuuuuys I have two job interviews on monday which means I might be getting a job which means I will finally be able to throw money at you guys and buy a scissoring sweatshirt and be an A+ member and also eat and pay rent and stuff yayyyyy!
Argh I keep forgetting post this little thought somewhere in Autostraddle.
The thought that the vapid fluff is important and necessary because the hard news is heavy and our lives are already so full of weight. What is the point of fighting for justice and equality if you burn yourself out trying punish yourself for enjoyment, for smiling when you know many people are suffering and have not what it is that you have.
In our queer, letter brigade lives we have so many opportunities to join in suffering, in anger, in thirst for justice how dare anyone shame us for joining in joy or escaping for awhile.
Sometimes you have to run from the weight or be crushed.
What a sweet list! It even inspired me to upload a profile picture and encouraged me that I should maybe comment more. I always worry that it may be a bother when I comment, by now I can see it as a sign of support for the writers and for the website. So, thanks!