Normalize Money Honesty with Your Chosen Family
Rethink The Party
Watch a documentary or Read a Book on Your AIDS History
Accept The Climate Crisis is a Queer Issue
Value Your Queer Accounts
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By Leo Herrera @herreraimages
Queer accounts are not ok. Vague, automated censors and trolls booted us off Ebay to Tumblr to Prnhub. Even though LGBTQ folks and sx workers pioneered social media, it’s a constant struggle...
As in the 3D world, we lose spaces online every year.
Follow your favorite creators on all of their platforms and backup accounts. Subscribe to their emails (even if they’re annoying), Donate when they make you laugh or think and yes, throw ‘em a few bucks on their “Fan” accounts too. Artists, performers and s*x workers are the fabric of queer culture but they’re hanging on by a thread.
Do you know how well your friends afford rent and food?
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By Cali Crystal May 19, 2020
The queer economy is being pummeled but money’s still taboo. Social media pressures us to project prosperity while some of us are quietly struggling. No more unemployment benefits, rent or student loan pauses. Some post kitchen renovations while their friends can barely afford groceries...
We need to normalize talking about finances with our Chosen Family. Destigmatize and share information on government assistance. Check in with friends on their savings and money goals, if only to know when expensive birthday dinners or trip invitations are appropriate. Being broke isn’t a failure but it’s a burden many are too embarrassed to share.
Even if you know you’ll ugly-cry,
This is your second pandemic and it isn’t “ending” any time soon. For many who lived through AIDS, none of this is surprising (even Fauci is a rerun). Regardless of their differences, pandemics have similar human responses. From TB to HIV, the fear, denial and stupidity are the same. So are the lessons for survival and hope...
How well do you know the very recent stories of AIDS? Not the Hollywood bullsh*t that only makes us victims but stories from people who were there, who survived and rebuilt our world. Many Queer folks are more than happy to leave AIDS history behind, but we do so at our own loss.
SURE, MOST OF US WON’T HAVE KIDS, BUT LET’S...
As historic Hurricane Ida barreled towards New Orleans, Queers who could afford to evacuate asked themselves “Where in the South can i go that’s safe to stop for gas or get a hotel?” When that same storm flooded the basement apartments of Queer club kids in Brooklyn, many had to depend on community fundraisers to recover...
The climate crisis poses questions specific to Queer folks. If you evacuate for a hurricane or flood or fire, Do you know where it’s safe to travel? What about friends who are estranged from their bio-family and have nowhere to go? Does your Chosen Family have an emergency plan? Evacuations are costly and scary, the time to calmly outline your steps in a climate emergency is now.
Queer nightlife is our lifeline but it’s time to...
We have got to get our sht together. The intimacy of our gatherings makes us susceptible to each COVID wave. Our finances, reputation, spaces and mental health are at the mercy of money and governments which could give a fck if we can party safely. Did we learn nothing from HIV? Nobody is coming to save our nightlife but us. Are indoor parties sustainable? How should we label the safety of our events? How can we test at the door? What do our events owe elder/disabled Queers at higher risk?
These questions may seem impossible but we parked HIV testing trucks outside of clubs, we distributed condoms at bars, we were the first to shut down events in 2020. We rang the alarm on Delta. We created disco, vogue, drag and harm-reduction. Queer nightlife affects all culture. These are dark times but remember: As goes the Queer night, so goes the world.