i love you closeted queer people, i love you queer people who are afraid to “look queer”, i love you queer people who hate getting told things like “you ping my gaydar” because that’s scary, i love you queer people who are terrified of being outed, i love you queer people who don’t fit the narrow tiktok/tumblr idea of what queer looks like (ESPECIALLY if you’re disabled and/or a poc and that’s part of why you don’t), i love you queer people who rely on queerphobic family to survive, i love you queer people who find it hard to joke about their sexuality/gender, i love you queer people with a complicated relationship to being queer
I want everyone to know that there are queers in the hollers of Appalachia, in the bayous and marshland of the Deep South, in Southwestern deserts, through the Ozark mountains and up to the Rockies. There are queers in the Great Plains, there are queers in rural America, in trailer parks of the Osage foothills. In the places you least expect us to live, we are here, carving out community and fighting for liberation with pride despite it all. Stop forgetting about us. Stop overlooking our experiences and our impact just because we don’t live in a Big Gay City. And for the love of God, stop looking at us with pity.
Also, there are ALLIES out here.
I live in a no-stoplight town in the south. There are three tractor stores and two animal supply stores within 25 minutes of my house, and we finally got a grocery store, apparently some time this year. We have no McDonald’s or any other kind of chain restaurant.
I saw a redneck at the country store face down a guy whining about the trans menace and tell him to act like he had fuckin’ southern manners, or move up north.
And that redneck was a better ally than most people online
queer existence is part of the human condition. queer people exist everywhere, in every community. queer people are part of LGBTQ history. and it’s way too easy to overlook the experiences of queer folks who live in regions where, for one reason another, other people think they can’t exist or don’t belong. i fully think that everyone should read about the lived experiences of people outside of their origins. so. i have (America-focused) memoir and nonfiction recommendations!!!
This painting was left intentionally incomplete. Haring began it when he was dying due to complications from AIDS, and knew he didn’t have much time left. The piece represents the incomplete lives of him and many others, lost to AIDS during the crisis.
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“AIDS Memorial Quilt” — Multiple
This quilt is over 50 tons heavy, and one of, if not the, largest pieces of community folk art. Many people who died of AIDS did not receive funerals, due to social stigma and many funeral homes refusing to handle the deceased’s remains, so this was one of the only ways their lives could be celebrated. Each panel was created recognition of someone who died due to AIDS, typically by that person’s loved ones.
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“Untitled” — Felix Gonzalez-Torres
This pile of candy weighs the same amount as an average adult man. Visitors are encouraged to take some of the candy. As they do so, the pile of candy weighs less and less. This is a commentary on how AIDS deteriorates the body of those who have it, as Gonzalez-Torres’ partner, Ross Laycock, had died due to AIDS-related complications that same year.
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The SF Gay Men’s Chorus
This photo was taken in 1993. The men in white are the surviving original members. Every man in black is standing in for an original member who lost their lives to AIDS.
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“Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers); Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate, 1997” — John Boskovich
After the death of his lover, Stephen Earabino, from AIDS, Boskovich discovered that his family had completely cleared his room, including Boskovich’s own possessions, save for this fan. An entire person, existence and relationship had been erased, just like so many lives during the AIDS crisis. Boskovich encased the fan in Plexiglass, but added cutouts so that its air may be felt by the viewer, almost like an exhalation. In a sense, restoring Earabino’s breath.
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“Blue” — Derek Jarman
This was Jarman’s final feature film, released four months before his death from AIDS-related complications. These complications had left him visually impaired, able to only see in shades of blue. This film consists of a single shot of a saturated blue color, as the soundtrack to the film described Jarman’s life through narration, intercut with the adventures of Blue, a humanization of the color blue. The film’s final moments consist of a set of repeated names: “John. Daniel. Howard. Graham. Terry. Paul". These are the names of former lovers and friends of Jarman who had died due to AIDS.
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“Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) — Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Created by the same man who created the previous untitled piece, this piece was also inspired by his lover’s deterioration and death due to AIDS. This piece consists of two perfectly alike clocks. Over the course of time, one of the clocks will fall out of sync with the other.
In a letter written to his lover about the piece, before his lover’s passing, Gonzalez-Tourres wrote, “Don’t be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the time has been so generous to us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by meeting at a certain time in a certain space. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit were it is due: time. We are synchronized, now forever. I love you.”
“biblical angels” you do realise there are angels in the old testament that are literally just regular looking guys, right? you do know that the hallucinogenic incoherent descriptions are in like. two books. and the rest of the time angels are just guys. you know that, right?
and I’m not saying don’t have fun with weird angels. I’m saying, either the eldritch forms are for special occasions, or the society of the angels is Many-Eyed-Many-Winged-Interlocking-Circles, Four-Faces-Six-Wings, and Mike.
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