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 Â 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!
