Sunday Funday and Young M.A Have Big Strap Energy

Listen. Last week was Spring Break. Did I have a break? I don’t know. I got a cold and then before I knew it, it was Thursday and I still had a cold. And now it’s Saturday! And I still have a cold! It could be worse, my classmate told me they have baby possums living inside of their home. Which they just bought. Homeownership is feeling like more and more of a scam every single day. Also, I know we’ve got NSFW Sunday for all of our sex-related needs, but what if I just started making every Sunday Funday title strap-on related. You know? What if?!


+ Mónica Teresa Ortiz is imagining a queer future in her new book. Rachel listed it as one of 20 new books by or about queer women you might want to read this spring!

When I came out to my parents, the person that they knew me to be, no longer existed. I was treated as if I had died. I began thinking, is my queerness my afterlife? Is it a rebirth? This is how I perceive queer futurity. As Jose Esteban Muñoz says, it is imagining a future that doesn’t exist yet. We live in a colonized space under capitalism. Our lives and deaths happen within these parameters. The settler-colonial state attempts to control how we experience love and loss and grief but it doesn’t have to define it.

+ I spy A-Camp connections in this list of Washington’s 40 queer women under 40! 

+ Wow this makes me… feel things.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvVZhJMA-qk/

+ The Disney/Fox merger may mean good things for queer representation in children’s media!

Since its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Disney has made its mark in comic book films, so it’s understandable that superhero movie enthusiasts immediately wondered how the Disney-Fox deal would affect future tentpoles involving Deadpool, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. But Fox’s comic book arsenal extends beyond the characters inhabiting its corner of Marvel’s universe. It also includes “Goldie Vance” and an array of original titles and buzzy licensed comics from L.A.-based publisher Boom! Studios. Some of those titles could help Disney improve its LGBTQ representation onscreen.

+ What’s it like to be a rural queer? Listen to some rural queers talk about it on this week’s “Outward” podcast.

+ Lizzo! and Missy Elliott! Lizzo and Missy Elliott!!! Have you heard “Tempo” yet? If not, let me introduce you to this summer’s anthem!

+ Y’all know I love lesbians on Broadway which is why I’m so happy with the way The Prom is showcasing queer teen girlhood!

Broadway has a reputation for being an inclusive, queer-friendly space, and yet a new musical, The Prom, is still something of a first in its representation of a romance between two teenage girls — especially because it’s happy, hopeful, and without tragedy. “A lot of times we’re seeing young gay boy stories [on Broadway],” says The Prom star Isabelle McCalla, speaking over the phone, “which is wonderful.” Yet there’s a major lack of shows starring young women, especially those who identify as queer.

+ The inaugural Queer Southern History Conference begins this Thursday in Birmingham, where it “will focus on collecting, researching, preserving and sharing items to document the stories of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people and queer people in the South.”

+ The Illinois House has passed a bill that requires k-12 history textbooks to include LGBT historical figures! The bill still has to be passed by the Senate, but would be an exciting step forward.

+ Michigan will no longer fund adoption agencies that discriminate against LGBTQ+ parents!

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services is now required to maintain nondiscrimination provisions in its adoption agency contracts and end contracts with agencies found to have discriminated against LGBTQ couples or individuals. The settlement stems from an ACLU lawsuit filed in 2017 on behalf of two lesbian couples and a woman who was in Michigan’s foster care system when she was a teenager.

+ First of all, Connecticut has a Kid Governor position; second of all, right now the role is fulfilled by Ella, an openly lesbian 11-year-old.

On a family trip abroad, Ella she saw a billboard that proved revelatory. It showed two women — two moms — welcoming their baby home from the hospital. “I looked at it like for an hour,” Ella said. “And then I said to my mom, ‘Mommy, I think that I want to do that when I grow up.’ …As Kid Governor, she has pledged to help kids set up Gay Straight Alliances in their schools, raise awareness about the need for foster homes for LGBTQ youth who are kicked out of their homes, and train teachers to help them better understand how to work with LGBTQ students.

+ Does anyone else get weepy thinking about Broad City just being, like, over forever soon???

+ Please look at these frogs mating.

https://twitter.com/diorfumes/status/1108504779129569280

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Ari

Ari is a 20-something artist and educator. They are a mom to two cats, they love domesticity, ritual, and porch time. They have studied, loved, and learned in CT, Greensboro, NC, and ATX.

Ari has written 330 articles for us.

7 Comments

  1. I’m so proud of our kid governor!

    Also, aw, baby possums! I hope your friend is having them relocated, not exterminated. Possums are great critters to have around: they pick up ticks and eat them!

    • they’re literally just rounding them up and moving them to the backyard. sweet and terrifying

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