The shock is wearing off from the news about the Pulse, and I’m having to get through a workday without the convenient dissociation of Dragon Age. I’m still not particularly coherent on the subject — I’ve been using Twitter for a lot of my thought bursts, and otherwise retweeting/reblogging things.
- On June 28, 1969, drag queens and trans people of color said ENOUGH at Stonewall and fought back against police. It is no accident that the people targeted in this attack were queers and trans folk of color, with drag queens of color and trans women of color headlining the event that was attacked. Our queer family of color has always been in the bloody vanguard of the fight to get the American public to recognize our basic humanity.
- This is not the deadliest mass shooting in US history. This is the deadliest mass shooting in modern times, certainly in the 21st century. To state that sweeping “in US history” ignores the state-sanctioned mass murders of Native Americans and blacks and other people of color. At Wounded Knee, for instance, something between 150 and 300 civilians (women, children, elderly people) were murdered by the US Army.
- Politicians and mainstream media are trying to make this about Islam. It’s not. It’s about the morass of homophobia and transphobia and racism and toxic masculinity that our culture is soaking in.
My writing is almost entirely a love letter to my queer family and our straight allies. I love you all. I don’t say it enough, I sometimes say it badly, but I love you all.
Please exercise self-care around all media and social media. Pamper yourselves. We all deserve treats. This grief is real.
Please keep being fabulous and amazing and marvelous, because you all are.
Please don’t stop celebrating and being who you are.
Please keep living.
