“Dating broken white women became a way to reprise a powerlessness that years of sexual abuse and generations of blackphobia had tricked me into believing in. I drowned this feeling of powerlessness in weed and seeking out relationships in which I could engage in yet remain completely hidden from view.”

Why is it that time and time again, people act like they can’t make me uncomfortable? That as a butch — as well as a queer person, a top, someone who likes to flirt and be sexual just like most human beings — it’s impossible to sexually harass me?

Gabrielle Rivera wanted an all-queer cast for her first short film. When she ended up with straight girls in her three butch/AG leads she found herself giving them a crash-course in abandoning gender norms, taking up space and playing gay. And then everything changed, forever.