ACTION = LIFE

The queer actions we've been up to and into.

Glitter in my Wounds (selection)

heterosexuals need to see our suffering
the violent deaths of our friends and lovers
to know glitter on a queer is not to dazzle but to
unsettle the foundation of this murderous culture
defiant weeds smashing up through cement
you think Oscar Wilde was funny
well Darling I think he was busy
distracting straight people
so they would not kill him
~ CAConrad¹

Again. Still. 

This week has been a difficult one, amongst years of difficult weeks. We needed to find our way to navigate the constant barrage of hate. So, instead of putting together our weekly recommendations, we wrote this to help us—and maybe in sharing, we will help others, too. 

At last count, nearly 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced by US state lawmakers in the last few years. And, as any queer not under a rock knows, this week conservative political commentator Michael Knowles said that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” THEY ARE SAYING THE QUIET PART VERY OUT LOUD, plainly putting their fascist toes further and further over the line. 

The increasing legislative attacks on trans and gender nonconforming people, drag performance, abortion rights, and critical race theory are all part of the same ideological framework designed to uphold the white cisheteropatriarchy. With the recent legislative pushes, Conservatives are using trans people as political pawns. This is not a test. This is not optional to respond to. This isn’t even the start, nor the end. This is more of the slow bleed of fascism—we are the frogs in their pot of water on which they continue to turn up the temperature. More people will die if this continues. That is not an exaggeration. But it doesn’t have to be inevitable.

We must be louder, more emphatic, more steadfast. Only a resolute, united clap-back is going to stop this from getting worse. We have to stop picking each other apart so we are not already half-way ragged and exhausted as they are coming for us. Infighting only helps them. We don’t all have to agree about everything and we don’t each have to be perfect, but we must unite around what’s at stake and each take action. And we have to continue community care to support and care for each other. We need to maintain our health and sanity in the interconnected fight for racial justice, LGBTQ+ liberation, and abortion access. Doing nothing makes you complicit in their white supremacist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and classist agenda. We’re all tired, but we can’t give up.

Action is especially important for “allies” and queer people with privileges such as white race, cis gender, expendable income, and able bodies. We thought about and wrote down some actions for us and others to engage with, so we want to share the list of ideas with you. This list isn’t exhaustive, this isn’t everything, but it’s our something today. Pick something, anything, as your means (energy/spoons, financial, and/or logistical) allow—and be a steady heartbeat of action:

1. Write your local city council, mayor, and/or governor to ask what they are doing locally to welcome, support, and protect queer life, especially BIPOC and/or trans lives. 

2. Write your state / province officials weekly (set a calendar reminder to yourself) to demand proactive actions to support and protections for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC lives or to push against harmful legislations. Lots of bills get defeated when the constituency is vocal. You can use these resources to both track current anti-trans & anti-drag legislation and, if in the US, find your representatives to write or call: https://www.transformationsproject.org / https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights 

3. Check out how media outlets (especially local ones) are talking about this issue. Be informed about their propaganda promotion or silence. All their words (or lack thereof) matter. Write or call to demand better (or any) coverage. Or go thank an ally journalist truly showing up for trans and queer people right now.

4. Call your closest Queer Center and ask how you can get involved as a queer community member to connect with others or as an ally to support the local LGBTQ+ community. 

5. Participate in community care and mutual aid. Take food weekly to your local food fridge (or get a permit to install one if your neighborhood or town doesn’t have one). Plant or extend a garden (veg and/or flowers) to share with neighbors and build community resources. 

6. Make explicitly political art. Yes, all art is political, but there is some art that is so pointed it is piercing. Inspire your community with zines, stickers, and buttons. If you’re an ally, write a slogan on signboard and put it in your window to show your queer neighbors you support them. Make LGBTQ+ supportive pins to wear and share them for others to wear. Create LGBTQ+ supportive flyers or stickers to put up around your neighborhood, town, or city.

7. If you’re cis, wear visibly supportive trans pins and gear. If you have disposable income, buy art and goods from queer artists and makers.

8. If you have an able body, use it to protect more vulnerable and/or at risk community members. Defend drag performers and protect queer spaces.

9. Send love letters to the humans you know whose lives are hard right now. Yes, a real letter. Even a postcard. Tell them you see them, appreciate them, and love them. Help them get through another day.

10. Wear masks in indoor public places. Just like a pin or shirt can show allegiance, a mask shows that you care about others’ well being. Protect the vulnerable from the other still-real threat, Covid. Masking is community care! 

We don’t have all the answers, but we have a place to start. There are many ways to help all marginalized communities, so please share other suggestions and resources in the comments below. 

Be a steady heartbeat, with love, without ceasing. 

1. Glitter in My Wounds by CAConrad