Sunday Funday Is Swimming With Valentina Sampaio

Good morning beautiful people! It’s Sunday, it’s 110º Fahrenheit in Austin, TX, and…I have not left the house in many, many, days, nor do I ever think I will again? Maybe I just live inside full time now??? Anyone else feeling…….. trapped?! Hahahahha, everything’s fine! I’m fine, we’re all fine! Let’s engage with news together instead of thinking about how if people keep thinking about themselves and their comfort more than the safety of the whole world we’ll be stuck inside forever! Okay let me chill.


+ Black women made house music. Let’s give them their credit! 

+ Black communities are keeping us fed!!!

+ The only Harper’s we recognize here is Harper’s Bazaar, and they say, “no feminism without trans women!!!”

+ Go Thailand!! In a rare step for Asian countries, Thailand moves to legalize same-sex unions!

+ Meet Troy Perry, the priest who founded the Metropolitan Community Church

One Troy Perry story or adventure tumbles into another: leaving home as a teenager to escape an abusive stepfather, founding the global, LGBTQ-inclusive Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 after recovering from an attempt to end his own life, meeting his husband Phillip Ray De Blieck in a leather bar—and suing the Los Angeles Police Department to hold the city’s first Pride parade in 1970, then called Christopher Street West.

+ Valentina Sampaio is SI‘s first trans model, featured in this year’s swimsuit issue

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I am excited and honored to be part of the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The team at SI has created yet another groundbreaking issue by bringing together a diverse set of multitalented, beautiful women in a creative and dignified way. I was born trans in a remote, humble fishing village in northern Brazil. Brazil is a beautiful country, but it also hosts the highest number of violent crimes and murders against the trans community in the world—three times that of the U.S. Being trans usually means facing closed doors to peoples’ hearts and minds. We face snickers, insults, fearful reactions and physical violations just for existing. Our options for growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school or finding dignified work are unimaginably limited and challenging. 💜🧡💛❤️💚

A post shared by Valentina Sampaio (@valentts) on

+ Which Pokémon character was supposed to be a lesbian???

Good Trouble‘s Sherry Cola is on a mission to empower queer Asian girls

+ Matthew Thomas Reid is working to lift up the voices of queers in Appalachia

+ An artist has created a series of posters to celebrate Pride in San Francisco. Go on a socially distant date! Get a COVID test first!

+ FKA Twigs is giving us a new short film, “We are the womxn”

+ Okay and finally an oldie but a goodie (and a reminder to wash your feet bc you never know who’s IG they’ll show up on)


Okay friends, I love you so much, and even though I’m full of overwhelm, I, and you, are gonna make it! Even if that means I’ll just take out my trash today, which is in itself a big deal and very important you know? Try to take care of yourself. Try to stay indoors, if you have to go out, please, please, please, please, wear your mask and carry hand sanitizer and don’t touch anyone you don’t live with. I love you, we’ve got this!

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Ari

Ari is a 20-something artist and educator. They are a mom to two cats, they love domesticity, ritual, and porch time. They have studied, loved, and learned in CT, Greensboro, NC, and ATX.

Ari has written 330 articles for us.

3 Comments

  1. Ari! I hope you had a lovely walk to take out the trash

    I keep forgetting to tell you that I use your “fake commute” walk every morning and it’s keeping me as sane as I can be working remotely. So thanks for that and for this column every week.

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