It was 1995, you see, and my image of the modern lesbian was pretty stereotypical — dumpy, unstylish, short-haired. It’s a “type” I embrace these days (literally and metaphorically). But back then, as an awkward gawky teenager struggling to fit in, that image was downright petrifying and bore no resemblance to my own aspirational existence. The only famous lesbians I knew of were The Indigo Girls. So I was pretty vulnerable, you could say, to suggestion.
Jessie’s death is tragic, especially since she was so young and her friends had to witness her being killed. Was it really necessary to shoot and kill a teenage girl? The problem is the ones to evaluate that question work under a system that is unjust to people of color. Jessie didn’t deserve to die, even if she indeed used a stolen car as a weapon. Her life was taken because it was deemed unimportant and disposable because an officer decided his sense of safety was worth more than her life.
Yvonne via Jessie Hernandez Didn’t Deserve to Die
If there is one thing I’ve learned in my research, it is that in the face of systemic inequities, homophobia, sex negativity, harassment, the threat of job loss, death — we find places to be ourselves. We’ll make spaces our own under the worst of circumstances, even if just for a few hours. People risk it because that’s how important it is to us to find one another, to feel human, to feel desire and love and express it openly without shame… I am mindful of the resilience of our communities, the unwillingness to accept the message of the city, that there’s nowhere we belong. History tells us that’s not true. We’ll find each other, no matter what.
Buying sperm and getting pregnant started to seem like a better path for me as a queer black woman. I didn’t need anyone’s approval to get pregnant. As long as I had the money for the sperm the sperm bank would sell it to me.
Asher Jak via Adventures in Baby Making as a Single Black Lesbian
If we don’t abundantly love each other, we can’t have an abundant relationship with God. I must embrace an interpretation of my faith that requires unconditional love for queer people because any less would be to deny my own humanity and that of my community.
I guess I should explain who I am. My name’s Claudia Kishi, I’m twenty-one, and the club notebook was like a journal of baby-sitting jobs for my group of friends who used to meet up in my room three times a week to take calls and eat junk food. These days I don’t eat so much junk food. Turns out your metabolism screws up if you really expect to live off Doritos and Ding Dongs.
It was 1969 when Carmen Goodyear dropped out of Vassar to live on the fringes of Mendocino, California. She began farming, and with fellow lesbians from across the country, began writing and publishing the consciousness-raising, feminist Country Women magazine from their cabins.
Remember the historic and super gay “Puppy Episode” of The Ellen Show? Heather damn well does, so she recapped it for you!
