Also.Also.Also: Lilli Vincenz, a Powerful Voice in Early Queer Media in the 1960s, Has Died

feature image photo by Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images

I’m drinking an iced french vanilla coffee and would love to know what beverage you spent your morning with.


Queer as in F*ck You

In sad news: Trailblazing Lesbian Activist Lilli Vincenz Has Died at 85. Vincenz made many contributions to queer history, activism, and archival work, including her documentaries, which can be watched on The Library of Congress’ website. She was also a very early voice in queer media. In 1966, she was the editor of a monthly newsletter called the Homosexual Citizen. In 1969, she helped co-found the newsletter’s spinoff newspaper the Gay Blade, which then became the Washington Blade, which still exists as the country’s oldest LGBTQ+ newspaper. In 1966, she was the first person to appear on the cover of the lesbian magazine The Ladder with her face showing:

A view of some of Lilli Vincenz memorabilia featuring her as an early gay and lesbian activist in Arlington, VA on June 5, 2013. Vincenz was an early LGBT activist in the 60's and 70's and has donated much of her activism memorabilia to the Library of Congress. Shown is some of her personal memorabilia which includes a photo of her with Phil Donahue and pictures of her and others rallying for equal rights for homosexuals.

Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images

More history! This Is What It Looked Like to Party in Fire Island in 1999.

Resumes Including ‘They/Them’ Pronouns Are More Likely To Be Overlooked, New Report Finds.

Welcome to the Era of the Trans It-Girl. There are some serious limitations to ~influencer visibility~ that you won’t find discussed in this mostly fluffy piece, but it’s cute and I did indeed smash that follow button for some of the girlies on this list!

Ballroom Culture, Pioneered by Black, Queer Crowds in the 60s, Thrives at Bushwick Nightclub.

Barbie Is an LGBTQ+ Party, Attest Out’s Cover Stars. LGBTQ+ Barbie stars Alexandra Shipp, Hari Nef, and Scott Evans are on the cover of the latest issue of Out Magazine to promote the Barbie universe’s gay touches. Barbie is absolutely all up in the Discourse on all 75 social media platforms that have sprung up in recent weeks. I’m, of course, partial to the piece written by my fiancé in 2019:

In other gay toy news: USWNT’s Megan Rapinoe Gets Ultimate Honor: A LEGO Figurine.

Creating Safe Spaces: On Writing Queer Romance.


Saw This, Thought of You

Authors are suing AI for stealing their work. Don’t let the robots steal from artists and creatives! Bestselling Authors Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay Sue OpenAI Over Copyright Infringement.

Ugh, while on the topic of AI, I’m a tennis gay, and I hate this development: Wimbledon’s AI Announcer Was Inevitable.


Political Snacks

Moms for Liberty Came to Philly. Philly Came for Them. Read more about Moms for Liberty and why we should be organizing against them in Autostraddle’s Pride package.


One More Thing

I just really like this sentiment:

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Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is the managing editor of Autostraddle and a lesbian writer of essays, short stories, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. She is the assistant managing editor of TriQuarterly, and her short stories appear or are forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, and more. Some of her pop culture writing can be found at The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Cut, and others. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

Kayla has written 934 articles for us.

1 Comment

  1. Wimbledon how could you??? Class politics in the UK are obviously horrific so assessing them on that metric is super flawed but at the same time….for WIMBLEDON?? I am stunned this wasn’t deemed ‘beneath’ the event. As someone who’s gone it feels like their whole thing involves the last bastion of (air quotes doing a lot of work) “a more civilised age. If AI can even get there…

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