“In our culture, we’ve had to struggle in our community. We are where we are today because for 20-odd years, our people didn’t accept us as who we are. We still had to play a male role or a female role, but luckily our people have changed and evolved. But we’ve had to fight for our struggle … I practice as a woman … I dance as a transgender woman”
Aunty Vanessa, Max, Crystal, Lisa, Maddee, Zac, and Aunty Lillian at Kunghah Retreat in Melbourne November 18-20
what showwriters think lgbt people want: gritty shows with unhappy queer people who find their attraction a struggle and are ultimately killed off for tragedy porn
what lgbt people actually want: a sitcom about ancient lesbos where lesbos’s famous lyric poets, sappho and alcaeus, are best friends trying to get girlfriends, and sappho is way better at it than alcaeus is
alcaeus, all alone in a bar with his lyre, plucking its strings sadly: it’s just so hard sappho. there just must not be any girls here looking for anyone today.
sappho, with her arms around two girls, on her way out the bar: what was that, dear
fair point, but consider: the premise of the show is that even sappho ‘holy shit is that my crush ohhhh my gods oh shit did she look at my OHHHHH my GODS i am dying i am literally DYING’ of lesbos is better at getting a girlfriend than alcaeus is, and the show follows her trying to show him in increasingly ridiculous ways how to flirt with girls
it’s the queer historical road trip novel you never realised you needed
the friends-to-lovers trope! the sharing-a-bed trope!! the mutual pining trope!!! the everyone-knows-their-feelings-are-reciprocated-except-for-them trope!!!!
basically monty and percy are the cutest and i can 100% guarantee they’re going to be everyone’s new otp
a super smart, no-nonsense girl who is basically the embodiment of a slytherclaw (and also seems very aroace after deciding that kissing isn’t really her thing)
main characters with disabilities! incl. a disabled love interest who adamantly doesn’t want a cure-all, and whose disability doesn’t make him any less desirable
comically inept and lovable pirates
tl;dr: a historical novel that acknowledges that queer people, disabled people and people of colour have always existed and puts them front and centre, while acknowledging the hardships they faced
V.E. Schwab writes genuine characters and weaves a fantastic story filled with magic. It’s the second book that really brings out the LQBTQ+ relationship. I would recommend ADSOM to anyone who loves Harry Potter (and was pissed by lack of representation), or to anyone who loves magic, portal fantasies, or parallel worlds.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Once again, if you love Harry Potter, you’ll LOVE this, and if you didn’t love Harry Potter you still might. This book is the best of contemporary relationships, magical schools, and parlous adventures.
Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo
Do you like heists? Do you like morally ambiguous characters and antiheroes? If so, you’ll like this book.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
What happens when children come back to the real world after the portal fantasy ends? Every bit as magical and whimsical as the portal fantasy stories.
Most of these are pretty popular, but I’m always surprised in my real life how few people have read them.
These LGBTQ+ characters aren’t defined by their orientation, or chosen gender. It’s really nice to read something with casual representation, that normalizes something other than straight. All of these books are from my favorite shelf, because not only are they wonderful stories with beautiful writing, they all have diverse characters, and not just LGBTQ+.
I’m reading this queer anthology and the first story is a fairytale about a queer Latina girl whose anger was so fierce it literally poisoned the rich white men who unfairly captured the transgender soldier she was in love with and my heart is literally bursting I’m going to cry
the second story is about two queer girls who leave their husbands-to-be at the altar and flee together on a boat to become pirates IM FUCKING SCREAMING THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF GAY CONTENT I SIGNED UP FOR
okay this is the anthology and it’s entirely written by queer authors and inspired by the stories of real queer teens in history and it’s the most wholesome and epic thing I’ve read in a long while
Very rare do we see the representation of black people or men in general especially in the gay community, in the genre of class, elegance, romance, and MAN THIS IS BEAUTIFUL… but this was all of thee above and for those dreaming to experience their moment such as this, stay Hopeful
Photographer Braden Summers traveled to several diverse countries to showcase that no matter who you are, love is love. Because there is a misconception of what being gay looks like he went out to photograph only gay couples.
willowfoot 