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:
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:
i love to talk about barbie!!!!!!!https://t.co/tvY4TjFPA6
— Kristen Arnett (@Kristen_Arnett) July 5, 2023
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:
i won't stop being queer, getting queerer, writing my queer poems, teaching queer lit, making & sharing queer art, finding & building & fighting for & dancing with queer family
— 兔兒神 (@chenchenwrites) July 1, 2023
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…