Feature Image via Jenna Lyons on Instagram.
I’ll tell you what… I got new allergy meds today and I feel brand new! Have y’all really just been out here able to breathe through your nose this whole time? THIS WHOLE TIME???? Show offs.
Queer as in F*ck You
This is… so good.
“I was tumbling into love with a woman and it was all new and I didn’t have any guideposts. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t make any definitive decisions for myself around the whole situation.
I was 43 years old. I was the head of a huge company and a very American, classic brand. We had an intercom at the office, and I was running a pretty large meeting. I was standing in front of the room, and I get a call over the intercom. The heads of marketing were on the other end, and they said, ‘We have a call from New York Post. There’s a report that you’re seeing a woman — should we confirm or deny?’ You have to imagine: I’m standing on the phone with a whole room full of people and I can feel their eyes on me. And I’m like, literally six weeks into this totally new relationship. I heard the word ‘confirm’ come out of my mouth. It wasn’t like I was confirming that I was gay or that I was bi. The truth was, I was seeing a woman, so yes, confirmed. I wasn’t going to lie about it. And then it just kind of snowballed.”
Jenna Lyons on Coming Out (and Being Outed) After 40. And also here’s a present for you, you need it, you want it, you just don’t know it yet:
May we all have such a badass 40s. Ashe.
The Secret Early History of Queer Foster Families. In the 1970s, in discrete acts of quiet radicalism, social workers in several states placed queer teenagers with queer foster parents.
And to take your mind on a journey, pair that history piece with this contemporary one: Major Evangelical Adoption Agency Will Now Serve Gay Parents Nationwide “The decision comes as more cities and states require organizations to accept applications from L.G.B.T.Q. couples or risk losing government contracts.”
Frida Kahlo’s Art Broke Taboos Then and Now a Dallas Exhibit Highlights Five Lesser-Known Works from Autostraddle alum Yvonne Marquez (I thought some of our longtime Straddlers might appreciate reading more of what Yvonne’s been up to!), who had this to say about the piece: “I’ve visited Frida Kahlo’s home & have seen her work at exhibits. But I learned so much more writing this article for Texas Monthly. I asked art historians about what this painting, debuting at the Dallas Museum of Art this week, tells us about her work.”
I Was A Trans Comedian. Here’s Why I Quit (this comes recommended by Ro, whose opinion on queer comedy I trust thee most!)
The Queer Mobilization Fund (QMF) was created in 2016, and provides up to $5,000 per request in grants to support organizations that are building power for queer communities — specifically LGBTQ, people of color led, rural and youth-led organizations in North Carolina and across the Southeaster US. Rachel put me on to them and now I am so obsessed. If you know any queer organizers in the South, please let them know that applications are NOW OPEN for Spring! (They close on April 4th, 2021.) Learn more and apply right here.
Also.Also.Also! This Co-Op Is Tackling Homelessness With Its Own House For Queer People Of Color! “It feels really good to be able to take a little piece of the figurative pie from all the things Black and indigenous queer and trans and Two-Spirit people of color have had to undergo for hundreds of years in this country.”
Positive Obsession: Octavia E. Butler’s Visionary Science Fiction by Gabrielle Bellot (!!!!!) … well look at that, here goes today’s must read!
Saw This, Thought of You
This is your official reminder! Take Your Full Lunch Break. Schedule Your PTO.
The Founders Of LatinxHikers Want To Change Your Definition of “Outdoorsy”
Time for your weekly Britney read! Speaking of Britney… What About All Those Other Women? “Monica Lewinsky. Janet Jackson. Lindsay Lohan. Whitney Houston. We are living in an era of reappraisals.”
“It’s difficult to describe anti-Asian racism when society lacks a coherent, historical account of what that racism actually looks like.” The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence. (Can we have two Must Reads in the same day? We can, and we do!)
Political Snacks
Did anyone else spontaneously cry today at the thought of all your loved ones being able to get vaccinated? Oh just me?
BREAKING: “This country will have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May," President Biden says, advancing expected timeline by two months. pic.twitter.com/0hZq2862MD
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 2, 2021
Biden Says U.S. Will Have Enough Vaccines for 300 Million Adults by End of May. I tried to (cautiously, hopefully) imagine a new kind of summer for myself than I had previously prepared for, and honestly it’s almost too much.
And speaking of which, ok this is just too cute not to share:
Dolly Parton shared images and video of herself receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine dose on March 2, 2021. The iconic singer shared a photo and video with the caption, 'Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine' … pic.twitter.com/wwTktUUXWQ
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) March 2, 2021
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