When I sat down at my computer this morning, the sun was up. It went down three hours ago, but I’m! Still! Here!
Hahahahahahaaaa. Life. What can you do.
Queer as in F*ck You
“A year and a half later, Thora and I were crowding around the desktop monitor at the hotel boutique we worked at. She’d gotten me the job a few months prior—a godsend to be able to work somewhere looking how I wanted and under my own name after my previous part-time job, where I’d pretended to be a man long after he stopped existing. Our sisterhood was bonded through many shared experiences in those early years, one of them being the release of Sophie’s “It’s Okay to Cry.” The video, which broke with the artist’s tradition of pitching up her voice and singing through cisgender stand-ins, served as either an unspoken coming out video or a sardonic performance of emotional authenticity. “I think it’s kind of ridiculous that you need to do a video that’s a close-up crying in the rain for people to know that you’re a real person,” Sophie later told Thora in a 2018 Lenny interview published a month after the release of Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, her only full-length album. Regardless, it felt real for us—she felt real for us, or perhaps, as Courtney Love once sang, so real she was beyond fake.”
Sophie Made You Feel by Harron Walker for Jezebel. RIP.
Longtime LGBTQ Activist Carmen Vazquez Dies at 72. The Puerto Rican social justice trailblazer died from complications due to Covid-19.
Second Grade Girl Expelled From Christian School Over Girl Crush, Mom Says. Ok but get ready to have your heart broken: “The 8-year-old Oklahoma student questioned whether God still loved her after the incident, her mom told NBC News.”
How Transphobia Became Rife in the Gender-Based Violence Sector. Gal-dem’s deep dive into the violence against women sector reveals a dark underbelly of transphobia, perpetuated by powerful feminists.
Saw This, Thought of You
3 Black Fashion Historians On Black Culture’s Most Influential Fashion Moments. I will never forget Lil Kim’s titty sticker as long as I live. Real formative moment for me as a tween.
Sending so much love to Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual and fuck Marilyn Manson: Evan Rachel Wood and Others Make Allegations of Abuse Against Marilyn Manson
Recommended today by Himani: White Ladies — Curl Up in Your “the Future Is Female” Sweatshirt and Read This Instead
Corky Lee’s Photographs Helped Generations of Asian-Americans See Themselves. Click through for some stunning art that is simultaneously also… our humanity. May he rest.
And now a special edition for all you sports fans out there, written by Natalie…
Saw This, Thought of You: Sportsball Edition
+ After weeks of rumors and negotiations, WNBA teams started finalizing deals with free agents around the league this week. Here’s a look at the player movement we’ve seen, through Day 2 of the Free Agency:
- Los Angeles loses perennial All-Star Candace Parker to her hometown club, the Chicago Sky, and From undrafted to All-Star MVP to the Sparks’ new guard: Erica Wheeler is heading to Los Angeles.
- The arrival of that Parker in Chicago sends Sky forward Cheyenne Parker to the Atlanta Dream.
- The WNBA’s Most Improved Player is on the move: Betnijah Laney leaves Atlanta to suit up for the New York Liberty.
- Candace Parker won’t get to reunite with her former LA Sparks’ teammate in Chicago: Jantel Lavender is on her way to Indiana.
- Natalie Achonwa and Kayla McBride are all taking their talents to Minnesota.
- A hesitant Aerial Powers (who’s likely heading to the Lynx) sent the Mystics out looking for another lockdown defender and they found one in Seattle’s Alysha Clark.
- WNBA journeywoman Danielle Robinson is leaving Las Vegas to join the Indiana Fever.
+ Not everyone’s on the move, though. Here’s a list of players who are staying with their current franchises: Sue Bird (SEA), Nia Coffey (PHX), Allisha Gray (DAL), Dearica Hamby (LVA), Brionna Jones (CON), Nneka Ogwumike (LAS), Epiphanny Prince (SEA), LaToya Sanders (WAS), Brittney Sykes (LAS), Diana Taurasi (PHX), Alyssa Thomas (CON) and Jasmine Thomas (CON).
+ WNBAPA Vice President and New York Liberty guard Layshia Clarendon hosted a conversation with the ACLU’s Chase Strangio on anti-trans legislation that’s proliferating around the country.
+ The USWNT has announced its roster for the upcoming SheBelieves Cup. Two notable omissions? Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger.
Political Snacks
OK this is just cool — in 2019, Nevada got the United States’ first majority-woman legislature, and when the session began this year on Monday, nearly 60% of its 63 members were women.For the first time there, or in any statehouse in America, women will have majorities in both chambers.
It’s almost 24 hours later, and I still haven’t stopped thinking about this. Just playing in my head on a loop. (Trigger Warning for the Video: it briefly discusses past sexual assault, all around PTSD and trauma. I don’t often give trigger warnings, so please seriously heed my advice.)
The trans online communities which I am part of did make a handful of mentions about Sophie, but it was mostly along the lines of “I’d never heard of her before” (I admit to not having heard of her either) or “we lost Sophie but gained Abigail.” Meanwhile a very large chunk of the conversation is about about Abigail Thorn coming out, which isn’t getting any mention elsewhere that I’ve seen. Though to be fair, it’s not like she’s a well-known celebrity or anything. Just something I felt like noting.
Layshia Clarendon also got top surgery! https://twitter.com/Layshiac/status/1355237900963573760?s=20
They’ve received support from the Liberty, the WNBA, and the WNBPA (which they are First VP). They tweeted that they were met with only support from the league and their colleagues.
The loss of Sophie is devastating, she was a true visionary of electronic and pop music and as well as the loss of her life the world is losing her incredible creativity and ability to imagine sounds and worlds that didn’t exist before.
I don’t often listen to her music but I’ve still found myself heartbroken, and across all of the musicians and music journalists I follow everyone is devastated
The transphobia in gender-based violence sector article had my blood boiling. And then this morning listening to the confirmation hearing of Dr. Miguel Cardona I had to hear rand Paul talking transphobic nonsense over and over about school sports. It was nice to hear Dr. Cardona firmly express commitment to the rights of trans students and athletes. But it was so frustrating to hear the senator repeatedly misgender trans girls and spew the same hate and use the same argument about denying the rights of trans folks in the name of protecting 5’2” white girls that came up in the article.
Love to see a WNBA section!! :D
thank you for the wnba coverage!