colored queer waters

blackgirldangerous:

The Black Girl Dangerous Writing Workshop, May 2012

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Are you a queer or trans* person of color? Are you a straight and/or white ally who supports the voices of queer and trans* people of color? Do you feel loved and represented by Black Girl Dangerous? Give some love back!

The best way…

yaoiandhistory:

Lots of queer minors are being displaced and I’m seeing it all over Tumblr. This gives a state-by-state listing of laws regarding runaways/unaccompanied minors. I wouldn’t want any of the good people on Tumblr who’d take them in to get into trouble. Anyone who wants to help should read the section on their state. It’s divided into sections in the table of contents.

Please spread this link around!

(Source: littlelovelybabygirl)

An award winning photographer who has devoted her working life to documenting the lives of black lesbians has had five years worth of her work stolen.

 Zanele Muholi, described by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa as “one of the country’s foremost artists”, had more than 20 external hard drives stolen from her flat in Vredehoek, Cape Town on April 20.

The hard drives contain stills and video footage, including photos from the funerals of victims of homophobic hate crimes. It is thought that the burglars were targeting Muholi’s work, as little else was taken from her flat, and back up hard drives were also taken.

Muholi’s partner Liesl Theron, with whom she shares the flat, said that her possessions were left untouched, except for a laptop which was stolen, further fuelling belief that Muholi was the intended target of the crime.

The work taken had been captured across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Malawi, according to the Cape Times. Also stolen was work due to be shown at an exhibition in July, which Muholi believes she will now have to cancel.

Despite the volume of work stolen and the imminence of the planned exhibition, Muholi’s plight has been largely ignored by the media. It is believed that the lack of publicity is due to the nature of her work, which shows a different side to the black lesbian community than that usually represented in the mainstream media.

“I’m not myself. I can’t even sleep at night since I’ve heard about the burglary,” the devastated Muholi told DIVA. She has appealed for anyone who knows the whereabouts of the hard drives to return them.

Queer photographer Del LaGrace Volcano said of the theft; “Zanele’s work is, in my not so humble opinion, some of the most important work being produced, not just in Africa, but anywhere. I consider her a dear friend and mourn the loss of her archive as if it were my own.”

Zanele’s supporters are fundraising to help her replace the stolen equipment. Donations can be made online atIndieGoGo.

The investigation into the burglary is ongoing, according to a police spokesperson.

don’t feel like an idiot for asking this at all. i honestly don’t get this a lot. nine times out of ten when people do ask box me about being a queer muslim its usually the textually illiterate folk who wanna play god and tell me how to act. so no worries at all. 

first, its good that you admit that you’re gay and there’s no “fixing” that. that’s the first step to being on the healthy path of being a queer believer of any kind (islam included). 

next, you have to understand that just because religions are infused with a lot of heterosexism doesn’t they are an accurate depiction of all believers nor is it an accurate depiction of the culture that religion evolved from. there are LGBT folk all over the world, have been for years. they have their own lingo/terminology, their own theories governing their existence, and their own culture that they subscribe to. they may not have waved a rainbow flag and marched down the ye old streets shouting “we’re queer and we’re here”, but they were apart of ancient and older societies just as heterosexuals were. their exclusion from those dominant narratives is a product of people wanting to believe heterosexuality makes your society more “perfect” or “godly”, which as you can imagine is not true. 

so once you understand the damage heterosexism has played with respect to religion and the societies that evolve out of those religions, you need to work on forming a relationship with God. you need to find comfort in the Qu’ran, in prayer, in living the 6 articles and 5 pillars.

next you need to find people to support you, queer muslims, queer believers, and even secular/atheist friends who can respect your decision to convert. the people who can’t support you are going to be toxic to your transitioning process, and you’d be best to either keep them at a distance, remove them from your life all together, or negotiate the terms of your relationship. 

you don’t, however, have to get comfortable with the homophobia, sexism, shadeism, or even racism that exists within Islam and some people will attempt to justify one way or another. all too often converts get caught up in the problematic thought-trends that exist within a religion, and hesistate to challenge them. when they do challenge them, they are told to be silent because they are a newbie and what the fuck do they know, right? 

WRONG! 

you have every right to challenge these things, and to not let them pollute your relationship with God and Islam. you are an agent of change as much as people who were born into the faith are, so don’t let anybody tell you to take things lying down, especially the things which are an affront to your identity as a queer person. 

last, and not least, remember that being a muslim in this day and age is not easy. you’re going to have struggles not only within the muslim community but outside of it. you’re going to face discrimination, islamophobia, on top of the anti-LGBT bigotry you may or may not face. even if you experience these things, be mindful of the ways in which you do in fact have privilege. do not allow converting to Islam make you think that you’ve magically become the “privilege-less” person. understand how you have privilege in Islam and outside of Islam, and learn to dismantle the ones you do have. 

i hope this helps

dyemelikeasunset:

(Sorry, I’m specifically asking for Muslims)
I’m curious as to what you identify as as well :)

If you’re uncomfortable replying to this, send me a private ask!

i’m a queer muslim

anybody else out there?

TW: RACISM

screencaps from pinktacolovers 

these screen caps hopefully illuminate why i am saying just flat out boycott pinktacolovers as a blog

people have tried to hold them accountable

and they have basically thrown up the jay-bird, resisting all attempts at an accountability process, and threw out some half assed apology attached to “but i’m not a racist because of XYZ123 reasons!” 

queer brown representation deserves much better y’all! 

when a white mod is being asked to be more racially inclusive on a blog which mission statement is:

A general spam of mainly lesbian and other various LGBT orientated news/photos/songs/media…

{notice how this shit doesn’t specify that a person is supposed to naturally assume “pink taco” as a title automatically equals white pussy bearing people}

and an ask pops up basically saying “There’s no way in hell the lack of inclusion is YOUR fault, person controlling the submissions of the blog and its content, because there is just a disproportunate amount of material about LGBT people of color in general let alone people of color across tumblr”

using the word “colored lesbian”

and instead of challenging the blatantly racist language in calling brown lesbians “colored lesbians”

responds with a smiley

RESPONDS WITH A MAFUCKIN SMILEY FACE

then we just need to stop allowing the shit that does represent us appear on that blog

so if you’ve submitted your picture to pinktacolovers, ask for that shit to be deleted

if they have reblogged you, ask for that shit to be deleted

if you mod a blog for queer brown people and you know they reblog you, ask that they don’t reblog you anymore

go submit your shit to queerbrown, thegang, fuckyeahqueerpeopleofcolor, and the multitude of other queer brown oriented blogs that wouldn’t have let a fucked up ask like that slide with a smiley 

put in on the qpoc/qwoc/tpoc and any other self identifying tags 

its time we appreciate the spaces that are out there for us and stop begging for crumbs from people who can’t be bothered to be inclusive and want excuses for their lack of inclusion

• friend: aarriii
• me: yesssssssss
• friend: an org at my school for femmes is making a comeback and is being headed by three white girls
• friend: thoughts?
• me: sounds like a movie about music in the 1960s that ignores motown
• or has the potential to

{note: this article was submitted to me by Calishi. the english translation is provided below and the link will take you to the original article in french}

radicalqueerbrownboy:

lati-negros:

source

tw: murder

An advocate for the Mexican lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) community, Agnes Torres Sulca, was found murdered in Atlixco, Puebla this past Saturday, March 10.

According to reports from the State Attorney’s Office, the body of Agnes…

Que pena!  My heart goes out to this womans family.  Another sister was taken from us. Violence against transwomen of color continues to sky rocket world wide, and the only thing queers want is marriage equality..? smh