Sunday Funday is Wishing Breonna Taylor a Happy Birthday!
It’s Sunday y’all! And a weird one at that. Friday should’ve been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday. Right now she’s supposed to be recovering from shenanigans with her homegirls over the weekend. She’s supposed to be sneaking into church late and hungover because her mom asked her to come just so we can celebrate you. This is supposed to be a weekend of celebration.
I know that particularly well because this weekend is also my birthday weekend. Today I’m 29 (it’s also Prince, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks’ birthdays as well). And while usually my birthday weekend is full of chaos in the most joyful Gemini way possible, this weekend has been different. I had a minor, unplanned surgery on Friday (I’m fine). I took a three hour nap yesterday and cleaned my house. Today, I might march for Black lives. It feels hard to celebrate, but I really really want to.
SO! We are having a birthday party for Breonna! Birthday parties consist of celebratory remarks — so leave your birthday wishes in the comments, share your favorite videos of Black joy, drop a birthday playlist, and give her family a gift and post your receipt to encourage folks to match your donation.
Let’s show her, and Black girls everywhere just how much we love them.
Happy Birthday Breonna. Next year, justice.
(Oh, and happy gave-birth day to the woman who gave birth to me. Black women matter.)
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Also.Also.Also: Citizen Telling LA Police Chief “Suck My Dick and Choke On It” On Zoom Call Truly Speaks For Us All
Good morning America and welcome to this link roundup! I am so mad at our fascist government, our abusive anti-Black militarized police force, our biased media, our idiotic president and his idiotic followers, the spineless politicians, our abhorrent political system and the fucking prison-industrial complex every single fucking day I want to SCREAM CONSTANTLY. How are you? I hope you are mad.
Some Reporting From The Ground
+ Are you following Movement For Black Lives on all available platforms and reading their website? You should! They have recommendations for a week of action for the cause, resources for you and your communities, links to mutual aid resources and a description of policy platforms and accordant demands.
+ This thread of police instigating violence against protesters continues to grow. It is so long and it is so fucking abhorrent.
+ The Videos That Rocked America. The Song That Knows Our Rage: “The most urgent filmmaking anybody’s doing in this country right now is by black people with camera phones.”
+ Protestors at Stonewall demanding justice for Black Lives and George Floyd were attacked with batons and violent force by the New York police Department. Time is a flat circle.
+ In North Carolina, the police opened fire at the owner of a gay bar for handing out water to protestors.
+ A non-binary protestor in Sacramento will require surgery for a fractured skull after being attacked by police officers
+ Police Kneeling is Meaningless
+ The many chapters marked by racism in George Floyd’s Family History
+ LAPD chief told to “suck my dick and choke on it” during a live Zoom call. Truly the entire call was an epic event I hope you’ve all had a chance to see at least small clips of it.
+ Louisville Police left the body of David McAtee on the street for 12 hours
+ Thousands attend Memorial for George Floyd, where his eulogy was delivered by Al Sharpton.
+ Over 10,000 protesters have been arrested at George Floyd protests.
+ “Ahmaud Arbery’s Last Moments Filled With More Racism Than We Knew, But As Much As We Expected.”
+ Our Brother Kaizen: “He would be called a murderer and a domestic terrorist. But to us, he was family. Our struggles with systemic racism were the same.”
+ Don’t Call It Rioting: Maxine Waters on the history of protest and the language of insurrection.
+ Poetry: Unanswered Questions from Black Women Protestors Against Police Violence
Some Reporting From Offices and Podiums
+ Public Health experts posted an open letter about protesting during the COVID-19 pandemic: “protests against systemic racism, which fosters the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on Black communities and also perpetuates police violence, must be supported.”
+ Trump is increasingly isolated, having created a “deep rift” between the White House and the Pentagon: “His decision to invoke a military response to nationwide protests against police brutality — symbolized by the move Monday to gas mostly peaceful protesters in a park across from the White House to clear the way for a staged photo outside a church — appears to have been a fateful miscalculation.”
+ Tom Cotton’s op-ed urging military action against protesters inspired a mass denouncement from New York Times staffers denounce newspaper and netted the paper its highest number of cancellations in a single hour.
+ Mayor Garcetti has agreed NOT to continue with the LAPD’s planned budget proposal that would’ve raised the LAPD budget by seven percent, thus sending 54% of general funds to the LAPD. Garcetti said that the city will “identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education, and in healing,” with a focused on marginalized communities. Please note that this represents only a 3% reduction in funding earmarked for the police. Additional steps were laid out including a moratorium on the CalGang Database and expanding the LAPD mental health intervention training program.
+ The LA Pride Parade was cancelled but now will be replaced by a Black Lives Matter protest
+ In Nebraska, the police department gathered at the George Floyd Memorial to sign an agreement to “Hold Cops Accountable,” and pledge to engage with community members at a monthly even facilitated by the HCA committee. Following the announcement, everybody did the Cupid Shuffle together.
+ Bail set at $1 million for three ex-officers charged in George Floyd’s death
+ U.S. billionaires have become $565 billion richer during the pandemic.
Some Resources From Us
+ Support Black Community With Your Money: A Living Index of Local Mutual Aid Efforts
+ How to Never Call the Cops Again: A Guide with a Few Alternatives to Calling Police
+ #BlackLivesMatter: A Longform Reading List
+ Police and Prison Abolition 101: A Syllabus and FAQ
+ Lez Liberty Lit: Readings and reading lists on Black radicalism, dismantling white supremacy, antiracism, police brutality and more.
+ Tuesday’s Also.Also.Also included a massive list of resources to provide help and education.
Star Power
+ Keke Palmer Kept It Real With The National Guard At The Hollywood Black Lives Matter March
+ Queer Eye Star Calls Out Racism in LGBT+ Community: Karamo Brown points out that “yeah you might have had a struggle because you’re gay, but white privilege still exists.”
+ Halsey, Cara Delevingne and Kristen Stewart are amongst Queer celebs joining BLM Protesters.
+ Indya Moore to NBC Out on advocating for Black trans women: “It’s really important to me to prioritize those who will always be thought of last, if thought of at all,” Moore wrote. “I am prioritizing the needs of black trans women first, the ones who are least likely to have friends, boyfriends and families checking in or present at all.”
+ Lili Reinhart came out as bisexual while announcing she would be marching the LGBTQ+ for Black Lives Matter protest we had in West Hollywood yesterday. “Although I’ve never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman,” she said in her instagram story, while sharing a flier for the rally.
+ Jordan Peele and More Directors Eager to Cast John Boyega After Protest Speech: ‘We Got You’
+ Criterion Collection has removed the paywall on most of its films by Black creators.
+ Amber Riley Opens Up About Lea Michele, Black Actresses Who Have Been ‘Terrorized’ On Set:
“The stories I’m reading about how white women are using their privilege and the fact that they are not fireable, something that I was told once on set after having my own complaint. They know that they are not fireable and they use that privilege to terrorize their counterparts. These networks don’t have to give a f**k. We were even told, we were expendable. The colored girls, the Black girls, are expendable. I’m talking about the culture of Hollywood right now and how they treat Black characters, Black men, Black women. I’m talking about the culture.”
Also.Also.Also: We Can’t F*cking Breathe
George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, and we stand in unequivocal support of the protests and uprisings that have swept the US since that day, and against the unconscionable violence of the police and US state. We can’t continue with business as usual, which includes celebrating Pride. This week, Autostraddle is suspending our regular schedule to focus on content related to this struggle, the fight against white supremacy and the fight for Black lives and Black futures. Instead, we’re publishing and re-highlighting work by and for Black queer and trans folks speaking to their experiences living under white supremacy and the carceral state, and work calling white people to material action.
With the murder of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade by the police and the threatened lynching of Christian Cooper weighing heavily on my mind (and still never forget Ahmaud Arbery), in lieu of our “traditional” twice-a-week link roundup, here are some really smart reading about blackness, mourning, state violence, and rebellion that have gotten me through.
“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.” — Octavia Butler
We Can’t Keep Living Like This
“By now you know the names. Always preceded by a hashtag, a pound sign, a mark denoting connection even as it severs its bearer from brethren, from breath. Always heavy, always hanging, always haunted. A tombstone in tech…. To be black in America is to exist in haunting, mundane proximity to death at all moments. There is no reprieve, no mute, no block, no unfollow that can loosen us from its shadow. And yet, we must live.”
How Many Black People Can You Mourn In One Week? by Hannah Giorgis for BuzzfeedNews (2016)
“To see the sequence of events that led to Arbery’s death as benign requires a cascade of assumptions. One must assume that two men arming themselves and chasing down a stranger running through their neighborhood is a normal occurrence. One must assume that the two armed white men had a right to self-defense, and that the black man suddenly confronted by armed strangers did not. One must assume that state laws are meant to justify an encounter in which two people can decide of their own volition to chase, confront, and kill a person they’ve never met.”
America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us by Adam Serwer for The Atlantic (2020)
“They tried to kill us, they didn’t know we were seeds.” — a proverb
Violence, White Supremacy, and the Fire It Will Take to Burn It Down
“Thug. Leader. Riot. Gang. Words have power, but we have the power to define and (re)imagine how to deploy words that will ensure the transition to a radically democratic society. This struggle requires vigilance on every level. Our narratives and practices of protest and justice will always be multiplicitous – as they should be – but the construction and adoption of a common tongue allows for… new agency over the ways our histories, presents and futures are told and experienced.”
Keywords in Black Protest: A(n Anti-)Vocabulary by Dr. Shana L. Redmond & Dr. Damien Sojoyner for TRUTHOUT (2015)
“I am thinking this morning of Breonna Taylor and the comparative lack of outrage about this Black woman EMT, an essential worker, being killed by the cops in a the middle of a pandemic. I am thinking of why it is much easier to access our rage over George Floyd… We know that it’s all wrong. But seeing the killing of Brother Floyd keeps us up nights in ways the killing of Sister Taylor just doesn’t do. The killing of one has folks across the country in the streets. The other inspires a raged filled lament. And this is why you need Black feminist theorists.”
A Twitter thread by Dr. Brittney Cooper (2020)
“The ubiquity of police killings, the impunity which greets anti-black police violence, and the utter predictability of both reveal how often the American state rehearses its power to expose black people to death.”
Necrocapitalism, Or, THE VALUE OF BLACK DEATH by Kwame Holmes for Bully Bloggers (2017)
“The price of America’s mythology is measured in our spiritual devastation and — too often, too literally — in blood. And the reason America’s mythic walls are finally crumbling is simply this: we are no longer willing to bleed, and hence, to pay.” — Marlon Riggs
Karens, Collect Yourselves.
“It’s sometimes comic, the offending subjects meme-ified on Twitter, swiftly mocked, and the chorus celebratory when consequences are actually suffered — in this case, as soon as one day later. But what becomes of all those Amys who don’t get “caught” on video? Amys (and Karens) exist all around us. They do not come from a single geographic region or socioeconomic class or subscribe to a uniform political identity. They could be your boss or your neighbor or your teacher, if disturbed on the wrong day. They know it, and that is the scariest thing.”
Millions of Amy Coopers by Adrienne Green for The Cut (2020)
“When we defend ourselves, white women look at us with the utmost fragility. They claim access to emotions such as fear and pain without missing a beat, like they were born to do it… white women are innocent until proven innocent until proven innocent.”
White Women Drive Me Crazy by Aisha Mirza for BuzzfeedNews (2017)
https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/1265039741709438977?s=20
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
… and even more Anti-Racism Resources (including some from us here at Autostraddle, This Is on Us: 7 Things for White People to Commit to Right Now to Protect Black Lives from the Police by Rachel Kincaid).
Also.Also.Also: Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird Will Be the Sexiest Hosts in ESPY History
I literally kept forgetting it was Tuesday! Because somehow Memorial Day extended my brain’s concept of a weekend, so it’s Monday? Even though it’s not, it is IN FACT Tuesday! And the days don’t even count anymore. What days in Covid? Days are fake. That’s what.
Ok that was a fun nurse rhyme, thanks for joining along.
Queer as in F*ck You
The Future in Catastrophic Times. As we navigate life during COVID-19, science doesn’t have all the answers. But queer theory might.
Queer disabled activist Stacey Park has passed away and damn she will be missed. Spend some time with #StaceyTaughtUs Syllabus: Work by Stacey Park Milbern
Over Half of LGBTQ Europeans Are Not out About Their Identities, Report Finds
Life On Hold: Fearing Discrimination, Kazakh Pair Keeps Gender On The Q.T. The fear of discrimination has forced a married Kazakh couple — a transgender woman and a pansexual woman — to hide their sexual identities and pretend to be a heterosexual husband and wife.
Ok at first this is 😭 but then it is 🙌
An announcement: pic.twitter.com/if9B35IgnT
— Nancy Podcast (@NancyPodcast) May 22, 2020
For all my sports gays out there, Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird to Host Remote ESPYs With Changed Focus.
I made it soooo long before I had to learn who YouTube star JoJo Siwa really was (I used to just call her “that kid with very large bow in her hair”) but sadly that time is now over. However this piece from Rachel Charlene Lewis from Bitch is well worth the loss of my innocence: JoJo Siwa Doesn’t Owe Us Her Sexuality
Meet the Lesbian Couple Who Just Became Costa Rica’s First Same-Sex Spouses
The New York Times would like to know: What Does It Mean to You That Pride Is Called Off? (Not to toot our own horn or anything, but I’m ridiculously excited for Autostraddle’s Virtual Pride plans this year, more coming soon!)
https://twitter.com/ortile/status/1265375559246385167
And! Don’t! You! Forget! It!
Saw This, Thought of You
I remind my friends about this every year, and since you are all my friends now, here is a reminder for you too: The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day. Formerly enslaved people invented the holiday because no major newspaper printed the names of the thousands of black people who died during the Civil War.
How History Books Erased the Marginalized Voices That Built Bluegrass. Bluegrass’ history is strewn with women and Black and queer artists who weren’t credited for their contributions to the genre.
As The Coronavirus Tore Through Seattle, These Sex Workers Built A Hand Sanitizer Factory 💦
5 Reproductive Justice Advocates to Know This Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Also(also.also.) — have you been following our APIA coverage? Because wow, it’s good.
“Covid-19 was initially heralded as a great equalizer, and there was some evidence of this in some countries. But it arrived in America and immediately became American: classist, capitalist, complacent.” We Can’t Comprehend This Much Sorrow
We talked about this last week, but damn this follow up is well worth it: No One Really Knew Jane Roe (Also, Riese watched the Jane Roe Hulu documentary at the center of this ongoing controversy, and she said if you like lesbian and/or feminist history, it’s sure worth your time!)
Political Snacks
Gosh, what could be behind the right’s hatred of Stacey Abrams? I’ll give you three guesses.
Sunday Funday Is Screaming With Joy! “Tuca & Bertie” Is Coming Back to Our Screens!
It’s Sunday! Again! Time keeps on ticking… I will be 99 years old and still never get over that. Anyway, we’re two weeks away from the greatest holiday of the year (my birthday), we’ve finally reached Gemini season, and Spring is in full bloom all over North America. I hope you’re well and are resting. I hope you feel loved and cared for. I hope you’re as ready and excited about all the good news this week as I am!
+ An intro to ball culture from the legendary MC Dashaun Wesley.
+ Young M.A gave us a new album 😭
+ Anyone else filling the void with shopping? Sur La Table is having a big ole sale.
+ Pride is not canceled, it’s just virtual! Autostraddle will also have some virtual Pride plans, so stay tuned!
+ Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga came through for us with the video to “Rain on Me”
+ Times may change, but lesbians will always rock a vest.
+ What is it about queer witches and their dark counterparts?
+ Episodes for the second season of the Amazon Prime show Homecoming, starring Janelle Monáe are now available! Natalie will have her review coming your way so soon.
All episodes for the new @homecomingtv mystery are available for you to watch on @PrimeVideo 🙈🌱🚣🏽♀️🤯😎💉💉🥀🍇🍄🌺 pic.twitter.com/ZoUIqGHldP
— Janelle Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) May 22, 2020
+ Inside the King Arthur Flour Company, and the folks fueling our bread habit!
+ The hit TV show “Smash” is inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s newest Broadway venture.
+ Microsoft’s Solitaire turns 30 this year.
+ “TUCA AND BERTIE” IS BACK Y’ALL!! 😭😭😭
+ Looking for some literary fiction with happy endings? We’ve got you covered.
+ Eva Victor is also scared of the Entertainment Weekly Pride cover.
+ If you’re looking for a new straight lady whose recipes you want to stan:
Love you, mean it. ❤️❤️❤️
Also.Also.Also: ‘Jane Roe’ From ‘Roe v. Wade’ Got Paid to Change Her Mind on Abortion
Hello! How was your weekend? Can you believe it is TUESDAY already. I cannot.
Queer as in F*ck You
“If Drake and India Arie Had a Baby, It Would Be Kehlani.” Lena Waithe interviews Kehlani for Interview Magazine, which really keeps tight to the brand.
Meet a New Streaming Platform for Outsider LGBTQ Content. It’s called “FemmePower TV” and I’m already I’m obsessed.
The vintage MTV style logo really sells it.
Turkey’s Lockdown Rainbows Have Become Another Symbol of Division. In a country highly polarised along political and religious lines the symbol has become another cultural battleground.
‘I Had Two Separate Lives’: LGBT Teachers Learn to Speak Up and Get Promotion. A year-long program to train LGBT staff to be themselves, Courageous Leaders, is transforming teachers’ prospects — and their respective schools.
Saw This, Thought of You
14 Ways We’re Finding Joy (in Spite of Everything). SUCH a beautifully put together package! From The New York Times.
Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Crash the NWSL? With interest at a peak following the World Cup, the National Women’s Soccer League seemed poised to finally make a leap — until Covid-19 stopped the 2020 season before it could begin.
Black Feminist Perspectives on COVID-19: A Reading List. Ever just see a headline and already know that you’re going to have the time of your life?
André Leon Talley with Grace Jones at Studio 54 in the ’70s.
If you’re the kind of queer who lives for high fashion and high drama, may I suggest the following incredibly smart double feature, both in anticipation of André Leon Talley’s upcoming tell all memoir: André Leon Talley Would Still Take Anna Wintour’s Call by E. Alex Jung for Vulture and Anna Wintour Is Not the Star of André Leon Talley’s Memoir. He Is. by Rebecca Carroll for The New York Times. I live-blogged them during a group chat and then I had to go lay down and contemplate the horrors and beauty of the world.
The African American Policy forum is hosting this virtual event, and Rachel found it, and she couldn’t wait to tell you about it: Under the Blacklight: Narrating the Nightmare & (Re)Imagining the Possible. It’s going to be tomorrow (Wednesday, May 20th) at 1:30pm EST/ 10:30am PST. the panel is focusing on a post-Covid world, asking: What could be? What and how are you writing out of this moment? How does your work muscle up our critical and imaginative capacity to engage this world with an eye toward the next one? How dope! Plus also Kimberlé Crenshaw might show up. RSVP here.
The Post-Pandemic Future of PornThe Post-Pandemic Future of Porn
The Price of Being ‘Essential’: Latino Service Workers Bear Brunt of Coronavirus and New Research Shows Latinos Have Highest Unemployment Rate for First Time on Record. To be read together.
Formerly Incarcerated Women Launch Worker-Owned Food Business During COVID-19. Whew, you truly love to see it.
Political Snacks
In a new FX on Hulu documentary, Roe vs. Wade plaintiff Norma McCorvey says that her 1995 about-face against abortion “was all an act. I did it well too. I am a good actress.” Here’s more from The Los Angeles Times: The Woman Behind ‘Roe vs. Wade’ Didn’t Change Her Mind on Abortion. She Was Paid.
This news lead to Autostraddle’s Editor-in-Chief, Riese Bernard, dropping a factoid that perhaps everyone else knew about, but I didn’t, and now I will think of nothing else for the rest of the day: Norma McCorvey had a seemingly romantic relationship with a woman, Connie Gonzalez, for 35 years!
Excerpted from her wikipedia: “As Roe v. Wade made its way through the courts, McCorvey began a relationship with Connie Gonzalez. They lived together in Dallas for 35 years. After converting to Christianity, McCorvey continued to live with Gonzalez, though she described their relationship as platonic. Later in life, McCorvey stated that she was no longer a lesbian. McCorvey moved out of the house she shared with Gonzalez in 2006.”
If this is also brand new to you, you can read more here from an 1994 article in the NYT: At Home with Norma McCorvey; Of Roe, Dreams And Choices and The Accidental Activist from 2013 in Vanity Fair.
So anyway, this is obvious but no one should have the right to a control a woman’s body. And Jane Roe knew it.
Oops!… Sunday Funday Did It Again
Hi! It is Sunday (obviously), and guess what? I’m so bored. I’m SO BORED. Even with simultaneous movie nights and puzzles and crossword puzzles, everything just seems endless lately. All I want to do is like, go get a tattoo or window shop or get my nails done, or honestly even go study in a library, just to be around another person. But I can’t! And so, instead of focusing on how bored I am, let’s focus on some good news!
+ Let’s celebrate 20 years of comrade Britney Spears‘ sophomore album, Oops!…I Did It Again
+ Doc Martens are releasing a boot for Pride, as if wearing Docs isn’t gay enough!
+ NYC is hosting a virtual pride, featuring the likes of Janelle Monáe and Dan Levy!
+ Cowboy hats and Pride flags: being gay in Wyoming.
+ Albania has become the third European country to ban conversion therapy.
+ So uh, we talked about this on Wednesday, but I’m still not over it — did y’all see Entertainment Weekly‘s Pride cover?
Tag yourself. pic.twitter.com/Pu4nsQoU1Q
— Autostraddle (@autostraddle) May 13, 2020
+ The history of the word “wife” for lesbians and queer women. 😭😭😭
+ These celebs grew up with gay parents!
Alright friends, hope you’re surviving and thriving. Have you done any cool art this week? Taken a walk? Called a friend? Read a book?
When I’m feeling sad and scared and lonely this week — because the sad and scared and lonely feelings come every week lol — I’m gonna try and remind myself that even though I shouldn’t leave my house, I can get off of twitter, and make art, or try to do a handstand, or play with my cats, or dance to Vulfpeck in my underwear, or practice the aleph bet or literally a million other things. I am so privileged to have a home that I feel safe in and activities galore, and dangit, we’re fighting off boredom this week! Let’s do it, babes! I believe in you, and me, and us!
Also.Also.Also: And We’re Quarantining With Ghosts Now
I took Tuesday off, but WOW DID I MISS YOU!
What’s new? Painted your nails? Stared out a window? Did you finally find the remote? Was it stuck between the couch cushion and the fold out bed you never use? Tell me everything!
Queer as in F*ck You
Kehlani Is Ready to Give You Something to Talk AboutKehlani Is Ready to Give You Something to Talk About
I feel like we keep coming back to this story about dying lesbian bars for the last two weeks now, and always from a different angle: Where Did All the Lesbian Bars Go? Increasingly, They’re on TV
Mary-Kate Olsen Will Date Cara Delevingne: A Mystical Prediction. Sometimes we all need a laugh.
Myriam Gurba for Remezcla, Be About It: A History of Mutual Aid Has Prepared POC for This Moment (and if you want to learn more about how queer and trans POC are helping doing mutual aid in this crucial moment, you will love Autostraddle’s new mini-series, Community Check! The first two entries – published just this week — highlight the work of queer Latinas)
Saw This, Thought of You
Meet Alex Koones, the Jewish Woman Feeding Hungry Queers in NYC
With County Fairs Off, Children Show Their Cows and Sheep Virtually. Maybe it’s because I live in the Midwest, but I found this to be really tender.
Speaking of virtual events, there’s an online nerd comic-con happening this weekend to raise money to support first responders.
There's a lot of awesome queer stuff happening at @homeconofficial this weekend!#OrphanBlack panel!#WynonnaEarp panel!#Wentworth spotlight with BEA HERSELF#DarkMatter panel!
PLUS 1:1s still open for some queer folks and folks who have played queer!!https://t.co/0l0fSEKTtg— Valerie Anne (@PunkyStarshine) May 14, 2020
IDK Rachel Kincaid keeps finding us spooky shit, and I keep posting it: Quarantining With a Ghost? It’s Scary
Much respect to aficionados of sad/angry white girl music everywhere: Alanis Morissette Announces Jagged Little Pill Livestream
Whew, music really is creeping all over this roundup, huh?
Suzy is the first Latina to ever write a cover for RS, and Benito the first non-English dominant artist to grace the cover. And it’s so good – toas las flores pa @HexPositive! 💐💐💐 https://t.co/SfPNSrltga
— Verónica Bayetti Flores 🐜 (@veroconplatanos) May 14, 2020
I love everything about this. (El perreo es nuestro, here’s the link)
Political Snacks
Aimee Stephens Died Fighting for Trans Rights. Reports Still Deadnamed Her.
A good time to mention that Xoài Phạm, our new trans subject editor, penned an absolutely breathtaking tribute that we all should take time to read: Like Aimee Stephens, We Await the Justice We Deserve
Put respect on Aimee’s name.
Sunday Funday Pays Queer Tribute to Little Richard, the G.O.A.T.
Hey, happy Sunday! Happy Mother’s Day to you if you’re a mom, and happy Mother’s Day to your mom if you love her, and happy Mother’s day to Anya Marie Monts, my cat, and baby mama. Let’s get some good news in our systems!!
+ German officials are banning conversion therapy for kids!
+ Every single Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold open.
+ Southern LGBTQ history is being honored by the SAA.
The Society of American Archivists, located in Chicago, said in a statement it is presenting is Archival Innovator Award to the Invisible Histories Project. The Birmingham-based nonprofit has been collecting and archiving material about the gay and lesbian community in the South since 2016.
+ Your sex worker friends are also funnier-than-you comedians!
+ Lebanese LGBTQ folks are standing up for their rights.
+ Noah Carlos on queerness and motherly love.
+ A tribute to Little Richard’s queer triumph.
Also.Also.Also: Stop Killing Black People
Well friends, I turned them into pancakes.
Queer as in F*ck You
To quote Abeni, “who’s surprised?” The Far Right Group Behind Boston’s “Straight Pride” Also Organized “Reopen” Protest
Here’s How Our LGBTQ+ Elders Are Faring in the Pandemic
Queer Belonging: Identity and Community in American Art. The Center in partnership with The Whitney Museum of American Art invites you to a special virtual program that knits together works from the Whitney’s collection to explore gender, sexuality and LGBTQ perspectives and communities. Register now and the event is Wednesday, May 13th.
For Two Months, My Future Included a Baby. Then, in early April, I started spotting. by Zoe Whittall for The Cut (If you click this link, please know that it requires an entire box of tissues.)
I know that a lot of our finances are tiiiiiight right now, but if you have anything to spare at all, can I please leave the following for you to consider:
+ On Tuesday we talked about the likely death of lesbian bars in the wake of Covid-19, and two NYC lesbian institutions are fighting for their lives right now: Henrietta Hudson and Ginger’s Bar. Both were a home away from home when I was a messy baby gay in my 20s, and damnit I want future mini-Carmens to have the same opportunity to drink shots that taste like fruit punch (because she’s a light weight) and press up against a stranger in the corner, or to talk drunk and loud with her best friends, feeling safe, after Sunday brunch. Please give if you can.
+ Tagg Magazine is black lesbian owned, and a sister-site of Autostraddle of sorts. Like most media companies, most of their advertising clients have temporarily (or permanently) shut down their businesses. In order for Tagg Magazine to continue their work, they’re holding a fundraiser and asking for our community to help keep the voices of queer women alive. They’ve got fun perks, including a few Autostraddle merch prize packs, and are hoping to raise $7,500!
We are all we got to see each other through this storm. Thank you.
Saw This, Thought of You
Ahmaud Arbery’s death didn’t get much media attention until now, in part because it happened right as Covid-19 began scaring us into submission. But even long before the coronavirus, there has always seemed to be some reason for us to look away from black death of this kind. The era that birthed Black Lives Matter is several years past, yet we keep needing to repeat those words to a largely white America that seems exhausted by them. The shock of Arbery’s limp body slumping to the ground after very real gunshots is here to once again wake up the “woke,” I guess. Saying their names over and over again to people who don’t hear them until we eventually lose our voices has to end… Until there are severe and inescapable consequences for killing black people, anyone who isn’t fully antiracist will continue to do just that.
We didn’t need a pandemic to remember how filthy America has been left by racism and the laws that uphold it. However, we cannot baptize ourselves in the blood of the slain and leave feeling clean. We can no longer accept facsimiles. We must have actual justice.
Ahmaud Arbery Should Be Alive by Jamil Smith for Rolling Stone
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1258212658479656960
Ida B. Wells Was Finally Awarded Posthumous Pulitzer Prize For Lynching Investigations. This is gut wrenching to report as the news of another black man being lynched takes over the news, 100 years later after her life’s dedication and work.
Ida B. Wells was honored alongside Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose 1619 Project for The New York Times was singularly the best work dedicated to black humanity that I read last year. It changed my heart and refocused my mind. If you are going to read two things from this link roundup today, they should be Jamil Smith’s essay on Ahmaud Arbery (linked above) and Hannah-Jones’ America Wasn’t a Democracy Until Black Americans Made It One.
And related to everything we just touched on, We Are Losing a Generation of Civil-Rights Memories. The coronavirus is rampaging black communities over 65. Now, more than ever, we can’t afford to let go of their wisdom or their stories.
I’m Teaching From Home and Don’t Know How Long We Can Keep This Up
Foodie Culture as We Know It Is Over Hannah Giorgis wrote this and even though she’s one of my favorite writers, real talk I don’t love this overly pessimistic headline (most writers don’t write their own headlines! So this isn’t on Hannah). But what I do love is this deep dive into empathetic, comforting, food TV and the ways we’re drawn to the small habits that turn into large wonders during pandemic.
Political Snacks
No links. #JusticeForAhmaud
Also.Also.Also: Oh F*Ck, the Coronavirus Really Might Be Lesbian Bars’ Final Blow
I have two bananas on my counter that are taunting me right now, but after 50 days inside, I’m exhausted and can no longer think of what to do with them. So anyway, the count remains at: Banana Bread (3), Banana Bread Blondies (1), Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (1), Caramelized Banana ice cream sundaes (1)
Queer as in F*ck You
“Butch identity didn’t feel accessible to me before seeing her in mainstream TV. Butchness — and to some extent even queerness — felt like a very white thing… the most well known butches in mainstream media are often white. Even when I was out in college, the most vocal queer people on campus were also white. I like to think this is changing now.” Why ‘Vida’s Roberta Colindrez Is the Queer Butch Icon We Need Right Now by Natalie Torres for Remezcla
mxmtoon Sings for Queer Teens—and for Herself by our very own Rachel Charlene Lewis for Bitch
‘Robin Hood’ Cardinal Gave Funds to Transgender Sex Workers in Need During Coronavirus
Few Lesbian Bars Remain in the U.S. Will They Survive COVID-19? There are thought to be just 16 lesbian bars left across the country, and the global coronavirus pandemic could reduce the number even further. (UGH THIS HURT ME SO BAD)
(Also.Also.Also — speaking of dying lesbian bars, have you ever read Dykes Rule the Night by Clare Hand for Autostraddle? It’s hands down one of my favorite pieces that we’ve published in the last year, and a deep dive into the current state of lesbian bars. It’s so good. So Good. Please read it.)
Saw This, Thought of You
Yesterday was the first Monday in May. In another world, in another timeline, that would mean I’d still be gagging from the Met Ball the night before. Alas, we now live in “the after.” But these teens on Twitter won’t let a global pandemic get in the way of their high fashion fun, and the results are gorgeous: Their Met Gala, Their Way. You’re Invited.
We’ve been following this story, and I’m legitimately heartbroken to inform you that despite winning four fucking World Cups, the USWNT has lost the summary judgement in their equal pay suit against the US Soccer Federation. Patriarchy won this round, but trust — we will fight on another day. And to quote the unequivocal greatest team in US Soccer: I! Believe! That! We! Will! Win!
Japanese Aquarium Urges Public to Video-Chat Eels Who Are Forgetting Humans Exist. To be honest I read that title three times and barely understand all those words in order? I’m sorry. Slimy eels are not my thing, but I bet this is going to make some of y’all real happy.
Tracking the ‘Murder Hornet’: A Deadly Pest Has Reached North America. I REFUSE!
DIV. I Switching From RPI to Net to Assess Teams. OK, Natalie promises me that this is a big deal for women’s college basketball. When Natalie talks sports I believe her. And then I go back to painting my nails and dreaming of marrying a WNBA player one day.
Malic found this and listen, I have no idea what’s going on but its damn entertaining. Boss Bitch Fight: Actresses with Their Stunt Doubles!
It’s Okay to Be Doing Okay During the Pandemic. Stop feeling guilty. Start being useful.
After Decades of Materialism, Americans Are Experimenting With Frugality
Political Snacks
Sunday Funday Is Making Cocktails in Our Robes With Divas
Hello! It’s Sunday morning and I haven’t had my coffee yet and I have that feeling in my chest/stomach that feels very similar to when I’m about to cry? Bodies are very strange. Last night I woke up just to kick my laptop off the bed and then immediately fell back asleep. Earlier this week I had an IT band injury from, wait for it… underuse. My body is definitely trying to tell me something, just what, I am unsure. However I will keep listening to her (yeah, my body is a her even though I’m not, it’s fine). I will be gentle with her and myself and the world and my friends and my emotions and I will start that process by sharing some good news with you!
+ A motorcycle-riding leftist feminist Is coming for Turkey’s government!!
+ More lesbian TV: this time, the new Netflix documentary, A Secret Love
+ Also, did you watch The Half of It this weekend? Whenever you watch, be sure to check out #TheHalfofItNetflix on Twitter to see what our TV team, plus the cast and creators had to say about it! After you watch, read Malinda Lo‘s review of the film for Autostraddle and Drew’s interview with creator Alice Wu!
+ Animal Crossing is a social platform first, and a game second. We need more of those!
+ IDK maybe you want to learn something today?
+ Queer visibility in The Last Unicorn
+ Seven queer fantasy films to transport you into another world.
+ Queer! All Girl! Skate! Crew!!!!!
+ Check out Netflix’s new series Hollywood, and all the cool queers behind it!
+ The “Insider Art” Anthology is here to support women and nonbinary artists!
Keep on trucking babes. Take note of the flowers growing, and the clouds, and the phases of the moon, and your neighbors. Pay attention to your community. We need each other, and we will make it through this by actively supporting one another. Stay home unless you have to go out. Wear a mask. Wash it as soon as you get in. Fall back in love with bleach. I love you, we got this.
Also.Also.Also: Let Your Bi Flag Fly, Colors Can’t Have Copyright
In case you were wondering: Yes, I already memorized the entire Savage Remix while working up MANY sweats pathetically twerking in the mirror. (Dancing is not my skillset, but for the Queen we try our best)
Bey Hive 🐝 we eating. So proud of Meg’s come up.
Here’s what else is happening in the world.
Queer as in F*ck You
Sorry, Straight People: Lockdown Culture is Just Lesbian Culture. Homemade hummus, DIY haircuts and constant yearning? We’ve been doing that for decades.
A leader of BiNet USA is threatening legal action & demanding payment for use of the bisexual pride flag.
(PS: This probably goes without saying, but No, You Can’t Copyright the Bi Pride Flag)
What Will Pride Even Mean This Year?
Ooof. A Lesbian Couple Got Engaged Last Month. They Just Disappeared Without a Trace.
Saw This, Thought of You
“Meaning-making is always dynamic and unstable. We can differentiate between a face mask as an item that is going to close you off from something, or bring some closure on the street, in a public space, or in the supermarket. And then we can talk about those cultural contexts where the mask is coded as an expression of civic duty.” Face Masks and Politics of Vulnerability
Simone De Beauvoir’s ‘Too Intimate’ Novel to Be Published After 75 Years
This made Rachel “rly relieved to be single”: Petting the Cat Wrong and 16 Other Ways Our Partners Are Trying to Hurt Us
The 29 Best Red Lipsticks of All Time
Pandemic Advertising Got Weird FastPandemic Advertising Got Weird Fast
How Animal Crossing’s Singing Shih Tzu Took Over TikTok
U.S. Women’s Volleyball League to Start in 2021
Lorraine Hansberry’s Radicalism. Wow, this goes so well with Natalie‘s “The Quiet Lesbian Biography of Lorraine Hansberry” from Autostraddle’s 2020 Black History Month celebration. The perfect pair.
Political Snacks
“If we say ‘Never Biden,’ what incentive does the candidate have to move his policies to the left? But if we endorse him now, he doesn’t have to work for it.” https://t.co/B4Nv3ZrzZQ
— Bitch Media (@BitchMedia) April 30, 2020
Also.Also.Also: We’re at the Part of the Pandemic Where the Aliens Arrive
This is where we are: Banana Bread (3), Banana Bread Blondies (1), Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (1)… and TONIGHT! BROWN SUGAR CARMELIZED BANANA SUNDAES WITH RUM SOAKED TRES LECHES ICE CREAM!
Queer as in F*ck You
17 LGBTQ Writers on What They Are Listening to Right Now
Lesbian Visibility Day was on Sunday, but tbh at Autostraddle Lesbian Visibility Day is obviously EVERY DAY! And so, may I present you with From Coming Out Tales to Epic Romances: 10 Latinx Films To Celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day. (This list also goes very well with our personal celebration of the holiday, Lesbian Visibility Day Roundtable: The Art In Your Lesbian Canon)
Do you remember when we could go outside? Would you like to see two brides in matching sharp black suits and their umbrella-donuts and ballon-cake? I BET YOU DO! I BET YOU DO!
And here’s an important f*cking question:
https://twitter.com/satansjacuzzi/status/1254809692683067392?s=21
Saw This, Thought of You
Quarantine Could Change How Americans Think of Incarceration (You should absolutely be pairing that with: ‘I Am Trying To Get Out Of Here So I Don’t Die’: 8 Women Experiencing COVID-19 Behind Bars)
I’d like to do more to help my beloved local businesses during this crisis, but I’m not sure if it’s financially wise to spend money on anything but essentials right now. I’m a freelancer with a steady stable of clients, but like most work, mine has gone completely quiet since March. I’m supposedly eligible for unemployment insurance, but my claim is still pending and I’m not sure when (or if) it will go through…. Right now, it seems like we’re all in survival mode. I feel like I should be financially responsible and eliminate all extras. On the other hand, my community is important to me. What’s the best way to be careful and still supportive to others?
I Want to Support Businesses in Need — But Can I Afford It?
Inside the Dystopian, Post-Lockdown World of Wuhan
“Here is a good recap of this week’s UFO news if anyone else has been feeling behind on that topic.” — Rachel. UFO Pentagon Video: 8 Questions and Answers About That Bizarre Footage
Listen I don’t even know what’s happening: The Editor of Taco Bell Quarterly Explains How to Make Art out of a Fast Food Brand
For Couples in Quarantine, Therapy Is an Exercise in Privacy and Trust
Here’s Why Zoom Fatigue Is Real
Anna Wintour Made Condé Nast the Embodiment of Boomer Excess. Can It Change to Meet This Crisis? I won’t lie, this kinda made me want to rewatch The Devil Wears Prada? But also, no seriously, eat the rich.
Political Snacks
Well friends, Riese Bernard found this data to be really interesting: 260,000 Words, Full of Self-Praise, From Trump on the Virus
Sunday Funday is Searching For The Imperium Silver Crystal
Happy Sunday babes! I feel like I’ve gone through every emotion possible throughout this quarantine, and now it seems like… I might be getting used to it? I definitely still feel lots of dread, and I’d do anything for a hug from another human, but it is what it is. I’m settling into the truth that we’re going to be like this for a while, if we want to keep everyone healthy, and while that means I have to adjust to a life on screens, at least I have screens, you know?!? I’m trying! We’re all trying. Let’s keep doing what we can for each other.
Part of what we can do is share good news and here’s some!
+ If you’re binding your chest, here are some things to think about in light of COVID-19
+ Sailor Moon is coming to Youtube!
+ Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball coach, is retiring after 33 years.
+ It is St. Stephen Sondheim’s birthday, and Broadway will not let a stay-at-home order prevent them from celebrating!!! “Take Me To The World” will be broadcast live online tonight!
+ Sugar Town is described as “a gentle, positive story about a queer polyamorous relationship”
+ We also shouted her out in Tuesday’s Also.Also.Also, but did you know that Autostraddle writer Drew Gregory loves being a lesbian and wrote about it for Lesbian Visibility Week?
+ Our girl Shania said, “Get thee back, men!!”
+ Did we all know Dolly Parton funded Buffy the Vampire Slayer????????
+ Here’s what the gay writes are listening to in quar quar!
+ LOL, the heteros discovered nude selfies!
+ What it’s like to love a Black woman 😭😭😭
I’m tired and I feel like a pioneer woman and the days feel long but the weeks feel short and it’s… it’s a lot y’all! It’s a lot. It’s okay if your productivity is low, it’s okay if you’re totally fine and getting lots of work done! Everything is okay right now. Spending your stimulus on aprons and new knives is okay. Saving all your money and regrowing your scallions and trading eggs for masks is okay. However you’re surviving is okay.
I’m happy you’re here, reach out if you need something and honestly, I’ll try to help. I love you all a lot and feel very hopeless a lot of the times, but the good energy here each week makes me feel hopeful! I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’m glad to do life with y’all. Happy Sunday babes.
Also.Also.Also: Here’s a Very Specific Personality Test Based on Your Exact Level of Horniness
It’s rained all day, and even though I’m obviously not leaving the house, it’s somehow still bummed me out?
Queer as in F*ck You
LGBTQ Activists Join Forces to Reimagine Pride Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Texas Judge Says She Was Forced to Remove Pride Flag From Courtroom. Get ready to get really angry: The rainbow flag’s removal followed a complaint by a local defense lawyer who compared the LGBTQ pride symbol to a swastika and the Confederate flag.
Meet the Artists Driving Russia’s New Wave of Queer Music
Saw This, Thought of You
How I Knew It Was Over: Stories From After SARS, Ebola, Polio, and the 1918 Flu. Those who lived through other major viral outbreaks on what it felt like when life started returning to normal. (And All the Things We Need to Ditch Once This Is Over, which made me laugh.)
Coronavirus Has Created Abortion Deserts Across the U.S.
‘You Just Can’t Say No’: Muslim Essential Workers on Working Through Ramadan and you should definitely read it with this: Essential Workers Are Being Treated as Expendable. Also: Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 — An Activist Roundtable
A Few Things We Can Learn From Indigenous Leaders on Earth Day. (Autostraddle also talked to some designers working hard to make sustainability in fashion more queer for the 50th anniversary of the holiday.)
Political Snacks
What the ‘Liberate’ Protests Really Mean for Republicans
Stacey Abrams has a new plan to get $1,000 to 100,000 families in the next 100 days
Also.Also.Also: Is Anything Gayer Than a Mullet?
The official at home 🍌🍌🍌 count is: Banana Bread (3), Banana Bread Blondies (1), Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (1). In case you were wondering, this is also how I’m keeping track of how many weeks I’ve been inside! 3+1+1 = 5 weeks, will this ever be over?
Anyway, this week I used Smitten Kitchen’s new banana bread recipe and ok, I realize this is going to sound absolutely impossible, but if you can somehow convince yourself not to eat all the banana bread before DAY 3, Deb is absolutely correct — the results on the third day are BEYOND delicious. You won’t believe it.
I know it’s hard, but if you’re able, you absolutely must stay inside. And if you’re a worker who doesn’t have the privilege of “sheltering at home,” let me just say: Thank You. Everyone stay safe. If you’re here and reading this, I love you.
Queer as in F*ck You
Despite the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Government Is Still Targeting L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
From K.D. to Kristen: Ranking the Best Queer Mullets in Pop Culture
LGBTQ Orgs Say They’re in Deep Fundraising Trouble Because of Coronavirus (Speaking of which, have you heard about the Autostraddle Fundraiser? 💜)
The Real Reason People Are Hoarding Toilet Paper and Guns by the always great Debbie Millman
Eight out of the 10 Most-Banned Books Are Challenged for Their LGBTQ Content
“When I came out as trans, my sexuality didn’t matter to the people around me. My friends and family were adjusting – or failing to adjust – to the reality that I was a woman. Whether I wanted to keep dating women seemed inconsequential to them. But it mattered to me.” EXCUSE ME! We already know that Drew Gregory is talented, but damn she put her foot in this essay for Cosmopolitian UK!
NYC Pride Has Officially Been Canceled
Saw This, Thought of You
Today marks the 20th Anniversary of one of my Top Five favorite movies, Love & Basketball. To celebrate, here’s an oral history of the film that changed the game. Go ahead and pair that with Why We Keep Returning to ‘Love and Basketball’ 20 Years Later by Jordan Ligons for The Ringer.
Lizzo, Whitney Houston, and the Curious Case of “Racial Transcendence”
Hunched Over Your Computer All Day? These Stretches Are For You
Would You Choose to Come Back From Space Right Now? Yeah, obviously not.
The Coronavirus Crisis Is Hastening the Collapse of Local Newspapers. Here’s Why It Matters.
Doctors and nurses and orderlies, truck drivers and grocery workers and transportation workers, nursing home aides and sanitation workers and EMTs—they are all, along with so many others, heroes. Stipulated. There is no amount of honking, singing, or clapping that can adequately express our gratitude for these people, across so many professions, who suit up every day, imperiling their own lives and the lives and health of their loved ones, to make sure that the needs of the rest of us can be met…. [but] under that cloak of national reverence and well-intentioned hero worship, political and systemic failures are never corrected in ways that might prevent other ordinary Americans from ever having to commit such acts of “heroism” in the future.
Damn this is so good, if you read one thing this evening let it be this: America’s Heroism Trap
Political Snacks
How Far-Right Media Is Weaponizing Coronavirus by Rebecca Traister for The Cut.
Sunday Funday Is Hosting Socially Distant House Parties!
Hello! We are still home! My boredom is setting in which means my mind is going to things like “huh, still can’t figure out why [redacted] thought [redacted] for months about me, but didn’t tell me!” I’m also thinking “maybe I should check in on some exes!” Both of those are wrong! No obsessing! No exes! I’m gonna figure out how to macrame and maybe make a little hanging holder for my projector? Or maybe I’ll run? Or maybe I’ll write a book? Or build an obstacle course for my cats out of recycled boxes???
While I figure out how to stop being bored while living alone and not being allowed to leave, here’s some good news for you to peruse.
+ Some more thoughts on Mrs. America and 1970s feminism.
+ Want to support a small queer business while covering your precious face and saving PPE for medical workers? Here are 12 masks to help you do just that! Wanna make your own mask? Well, Vanessa has you covered as well! Literally!
+ The Atlanta Queer Arts Showcase has moved online. Check it out!
+ THEE Dr. Blue Ivy Carter, daughter of queen Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and her husband Sean, wants you to know why it matters that you keep your hands clean.
https://twitter.com/CleopatraLament/status/1251704402651615232
+ The trailer for Bit will have you dreaming about all-girl vampire gangs who eat boys 😍 (and Drew already has a review for you!)
+ Which Meryl Streep Movie Should You Watch Based On Your Personality? (I got The Devil Wears Prada)
+ Twelve important reproductive rights cases that aren’t Roe v. Wade
+ Burn it Down! is an anthology of feminist manifestos
“We have returned again to a period of cultural reckoning,” Fahs writes, pointing to a “reinvigoration of misogyny and racism” that would have been “eerily familiar” to any number of activists whose manifestos appear in this volume. Fahs, whose previous books include a biography of the feminist insurgent Valerie Solanas, describes the texts gathered here as a “necessity.” Irreverent, scabrous and enraged, these manifestos also happen to be full of contradictions, written in the heat of the moment and without a cool eye to posterity. But it’s this rough-hewn immediacy that makes some of them so bracing to read, especially now. At a time when public life has dissolved into self-quarantine, when the ability to concentrate seems like a vestige from another era, there’s something to be said for tracts that don’t just lay claim to your attention but also seize it.
+ Do not worry, Paris Jackson will play Jesus in a new indie horror film alongside Bella Thorne.
Okay pals, I hope this news cheered you up! I hope you combat the boredom that is creeping in. I hope you have friends and family to call when you’re lonely. I hope you get to see at least one very beautiful animal this week and allow yourself to become overwhelmed by their beauty! We’re in this for the long haul, together. So stay inside, call your loved ones, and throw a dance party. You’ve got this, I believe in you, in me, in us! Love you, mean it, bye!!!!!
Also.Also.Also: A Surprise “My So-Called Life” Reunion, Rayanne Graff and Ricky Vasquez Remain Perfect as Always
In my Natasha Lyonne voice: Thursday! What a concept!
Queer as in F*ck You
This project sounds great, has already exceeded it’s fundraiser goal, but you can still donate and help make it truly spectacular: Black Trans Sex Worker Survival Kits
“I can’t stop thinking about food. Everything is falling apart, but all I can think about is the softness of fondant icing when you press in a birthday candle… I scroll through terrible news while thinking about the snap of fridge-cold chocolate.” Finding Food Pleasures in a Time of Crisis by Ruby Tandoh of Great British Bake Off Fame
Gay Bars Bet on Virtual Happy Hours to Save Them From Extinction (Related: May I recommend Kayla‘s excellent small series, “Happy Hour at Home” by your neighborhood Autostraddle? Today was Spiked Hot Chocolate!)
Crusader Kings 3 Lets You Play as Bisexual or Asexual Rulers
Many Trans Students Have Been Forced To Hide Their True Selves Because Of College Closures
Virginia Governor Signs LGBTQ Nondiscrimination Measure Into Law
Philip, the Last Sweet Potato: A Non-Binary Quarantine Love Story from Beloved Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Sophie Blackall 100% I am going to watch this and cry.
Saw This, Thought of You
This Study on Flower Resilience Is the Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Read During the Pandemic
The Unexpected Benefits of Being Weird
ICE Quietly Releases Hundreds Of Local Immigrants As Covid-19 Tears Through Jails
As you can see, a lot of the world is awful right now. Do your f*cking part and keep staying home: The Answer to All of Your Social Distancing Loophole Questions Is No. (Vanessa also covered this for you with a lot of love.)
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Virtual Medical Appointment
Okay. This is PURE JOY:
https://twitter.com/wcruz73/status/1250585114771251201
Ricky Vasquez + Rayanne Graff 5ever!
… And now, Natalie made something special for our sports gays in the house!…..
Saw This, Thought of You: WNBA Draft Edition🏀
Compiled by Natalie
I miss sports. It feels ridiculous to say that…there are so many other more important things to worry about…but, I miss sports so, so much. Folks have tried to give us “sports-like” content — ESPN’s Horse Competition (#TeamVanderQuig) or player-fronted esports — but it’s just not the same. Tomorrow though? A little bit of normal is gifted to us with the WNBA Draft.
When Tina Charles didn’t re-sign with the Liberty immediately, I figured she was on her way out of New York… but to Washington?! I was not ready. The Mystics already are WNBA champions. Tina Charles could turn them into a dynasty.
It’s Sabrina Ionescu at #1 then…who the hell knows? One take: WNBA Mock Draft 7.0: Big Board, after the Tina Charles trade
WNBA mock draft 2020: Sabrina Ionescu remains No. 1, but trades shuffle first round
Combining two things the gays love: the WNBA and horoscopes? Well done: Your WNBA Draft horoscope will tell you which team is your best fit
UConn great Sue Bird talks 2021, advice to WNBA draftees and more on NBA’s Instagram
Political Snacks
Get ready, my friends. What is about to be unleashed on American society will be the greatest campaign ever created to get you to feel normal again. It will come from brands, it will come from government, it will even come from each other, and it will come from the left and from the right. We will do anything, spend anything, believe anything, just so we can take away how horribly uncomfortable all of this feels. And on top of that, just to turn the screw that much more, will be the one effort that’s even greater: the all-out blitz to make you believe you never saw what you saw. The air wasn’t really cleaner; those images were fake. The hospitals weren’t really a war zone; those stories were hyperbole. The numbers were not that high; the press is lying. You didn’t see people in masks standing in the rain risking their lives to vote. Not in America. You didn’t see the leader of the free world push an unproven miracle drug like a late-night infomercial salesman. That was a crisis update. You didn’t see homeless people dead on the street. You didn’t see inequality. You didn’t see indifference. You didn’t see utter failure of leadership and systems.
But you did.
Also.Also.Also: The NY Times Assembled a Bounty of Butches
This one’s gonna be quick.
For anyone who is keeping score at home, the official banana count is currently: Banana Bread (2), Banana Bread Blondies (1), Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (1)
Queer as in F*ck You
We shared our remembrances a few weeks ago, but here’s more about What Lorena Borjas Did for the Trans Girls of Queens and you should absolutely read it (by Cecilia Gentili for The New York Times)
’90s Flashback: Jill Sobule’s “I Kissed A Girl” Was A Watershed Moment
I knew on the surface it had to be somewhat light & funny – so I could get away with it. But underneath, was…the insidious “gay agenda”. I wanted to write a song that I wished I heard when I was young -terrified, lonely and queer. https://t.co/IUVbTdWhJ6
— jillsobule (@jillsobule) April 10, 2020
The Butches and Studs Who’ve Defied the Male Gaze and Redefined Culture by Kerry Manders for The New York Times.
Saw This, Thought of You
Hong Kong Gamers Protested Inside ‘Animal Crossing.’ Now China Wants to Ban It
A History Lesson:
https://twitter.com/asialeeds/status/1249307970430787584?s=12
Here’s the link. My backpack has a button that says, “Ella, Fannie Lou, Shirley, and Maxine Taught Me.” — Thank you, Miss Ella. for everything you did to pave the way for brave black girls who just wanted to make a difference.
And speaking of badass mujeres, Friday was Dolores Huerta’s 90th birthday. Remember children: Bad Bitches don’t age, we just keep tearing shit down.
D’Angelo Lovell Williams’ Poignant Self-Portraits Offer a Space for Healing
Leaving My Near-Death Experience on the Dance Floor
Sex Work Comes Home. More of us are making and watching sexual performances online now. Fewer of us are paying.
Also, Sex Workers: YOU CAN AND SHOULD REQUEST PANDEMIC RELIEF
Metaphors Make Sense of the Past. Can They Guide Us Toward a Post-Coronavirus Future?
Millennials Don’t Stand a Chance. Maybe don’t read this one if you felt like holding on to any optimism today. Any at all.
Political Snacks
Are We at the Start of a New Protest Movement? Fuck, I hope so.