I just finished reading Nicole Brossard’s Picture Theory and, honestly, I don’t know what to think or feel.
The best I can offer is perhaps that Brossard seems to me the post-modern lesbian lovechild of Gertrude Stein and Allen Ginsberg, perhaps raised by a doting auntie Mary Daly. Even more so than in Mauve Desert.
“Courtney Demone is a trans woman currently undergoing hormone replacement therapy and, as such, is starting to grow breasts. This experience, she wrote in a Mashable essay published Wednesday, has led her to realize the power of #FreeTheNipple in a new way — and how it can truly benefit others.
“‘When people start to consistently see me as a woman, my privilege to be comfortably topless in public will be gone for good,’ she writes. ‘We can challenge that.’
Demone’s solution? She’s launching the hashtag #DoIHaveBoobsNow and will post topless images of herself on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. She will do so, she writes, “until those networks decide that my breasts have developed enough to be sexualized and worthy of censorship” or, ideally, change their policies.
More at Mic
“The Supreme Court may not think bans on gay marriage are sex discrimination, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission thinks anti-gay discrimination in the workplace is.”
More at Washington Post
While celebrating the gains of queer people, such as the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriages, I feel it’s important to remember that you can still be arrested for your sexual orientation in 75 countries and punished by death in 10 countries around the world.
The best news I saw this Queer Freedom season was the San Francisco opening of “Jazzie’s Place”, amazing apparently the first homeless shelter for queer youth in the world.
Thanks to Gary Sponholtz for this great video of the ribbon-cutting event!
“Those of queer and Muslim have been enjoying the pride parade in Istanbul for over a decade, using it as an example of what is possible in a Muslim country. But this month’s pride left many of us angry. Vasip Şahin, the Governor of Istanbul, who belongs to a political party that lost in this year’s elections, and his government have banned the pride last minute, using the holy month of Ramadan as a pretext.”
Images no longer available…
More at Islam and Homosexuality
“New York City’s landmarks commission today [June 23, 2015] voted to grant official status to the Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar often credited as the birthplace of the modern LGBT rights movement.
“The vote was unanimous, according to the Associated Press.”
More at The Advocate
How lovely to encounter this video of Gryphon Blackswan, a faerie friend from the good old days.
How cool that there is a “Radical Faerie Ancestors” channel on youtube!
“…there are many people who have been using Facebook for building up communities, for sharing important information, and for starting businesses based around their professional persona — and some don’t use their legal names. And many of these — including drag performers, trans people, Native Americans, and domestic violence survivors — have very good reasons for not using their legal or birth names on Facebook.”
More at East Bay Express and at #MyNameIs Campaign
“…police in Egypt are definitely using phone apps to entrap people they suspect of being gay or transgender.”
This blog post lists precautions LGBT people in Egypt can take to try to protect themselves, but the situation appears to be very grim.
More at A Paper Bird