Sunday Funday Is Keeping Marsha P. Johnson Close

Hello it is Sunday and yesterday was Saturday! My neighbors had fireworks for some reason and they scared my cats, but per usual, my robot roommate came through. Not to be like a shill of big tech, but as a person who lives alone, very little makes my life feel more tech free than being able to talk to a robot and have it do what I tell it to do. It even sang me happy birthday when I woke up on my birthday! A roommate has never done that for me.

Okay, while you read about the good news, I’m gonna go feed my cats treats for breakfast to make up for last night.


+ Hopefully including tons of facemasks and hand sanitizer, Paris held a Pride parade and thousands came out for what turned out to be, in true historical Pride fashion, hella political.

+ Speaking of Pride, we can’t let it go back to a corporate-sponsored event, which Natalie highlighted earlier this week.

+ Youth activists from 50 Miles More recently completed a march for Black and LGBTQ+ lives from Milwaukee to Madison.

+ The songs our queer elders boogied to in the 70s and 80s.

+ Queer folks in Ecuador are exploring gender identity through drag.

This metamorphosis, from one character to another and back is what’s so striking about transformismo. It isn’t just that Rentería changes into Dareyeska, or Macías into Destiny, but that they also have to transform the other way around. One complies with the arrangements, rules and expectations of society. The other creates a parallel world of fantasy and possibility where they can decide and rule on their own terms. These split realities aren’t necessarily at odds with each other, but rather emerge as adaptations and strategies for queer life to flourish on difficult terrain. Keeping these two worlds neatly separate, however, isn’t always easy as Rentería and Macías can attest to. But “easy” would be missing the aim of transformismo which, after all, is breaking free from all the ways being human is confined and constricted.

+ Wales has a new LGBTQ bookstore.

+ Want a documentary about LGBTQ friendship? Check out Jack and Yaya.

+ Google closed out Pride Month with a doodle of Marsha P. Johnson and a half-million dollar donation to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.

+ Hmm, lesbians will turn anything into a dating app including…TikTok?

+ Seven queer folks share the beauty rituals getting them through the pandemic. Speaking of, let me go wash my face.

My Queer Blackness, My Black Queerness is a vital digital project about Black queer people by Jordan Anderson.

+ Some Dartmouth sororities rewrite their constitutions to include nonbinary people. Cute if we ever go back to school.

+ Teens and the gender binary.

+ My ancestor was a suffragist.


Okay weirdos and friends, I’ll see you soon. Love yourselves, love your communities, love your enemies into being nice, I guess? I don’t know, still working on that one. You’re always on my heart and mind.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

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.

12 Comments

  1. In Manhattan Playwright Dr. Larry Myers (40 years a university professor) and now social activist is finishing “The Marsha Johnson Mirror.” Myers is close friend of Randolf Wicker (with whom Marsha lived 12 years). His is an informed voice resonating on the icon s significance. He directs The Playwrights Sanctuary (endorsed by the late dramatist Edward Albee) which sponsors & mentors newer &younger dramatists & poets.

    • I have been taught by Dr. Myers, and as a published writer, can attest to his preternatural ideas and craftsmanship. If he is reading this, he should know that a former student, named Rico, will always hold him in high esteem.

    • playwright dr myers has reignited
      DRAMATIC WORKSHOP II WHIXH NOW INCLUDES

      THE TOM WILLIAMS THEATER THINK TANK

      AS IN TENNESSEE WIllIAMS

      IN HOLLYWood myers latest alchemical protest sos drama

      is 12 states of ‘dont say gay”!!

      oodOD MYERS IS STAGING AN IMPORTANT PROTEST OF THE SCAREY DONT Sy gay in front of the la academy of arts and sciences

  2. Happy birthday. If you have a good device you can choose the Issa Rae voice, which I have. Previously John Legend was an option too & sang happy birthday beautifully. Haven’t tried Issa Rae yet.

  3. I can’t believe that two years ago we had just one queer bookshop in the UK and now with the opening of this one and The Bookish Type in Leeds we’re going to have five! Now I’m going to have to make it my mission to visit them all, which will make me very happy and my bank account less so.

Contribute to the conversation...

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated by the guidelines laid out in our comment policy. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation and thanks for stopping by!