(This post is a series of daily letters from me to my future children reporting from the emerging paradigm.)
Dear Kids:
Last night I was reflecting on having a quiet Friday night in June. How just 10 years ago I would have looked at that as a failure. I was so enlivened by going out and celebrating Pride that I didn’t want it to stop and soaked up every opportunity.
Living in NYC meant a Pride festival pretty much every weekend (and, when we were lucky, the Mermaid parade would land on the weekend between Brooklyn Pride and NYC Pride). I called June “Gay Stamina Month” for a long time.
I was taking last night easy because this morning I did a very Day Gay event (11AM start time). I taught aerobics in a cannabis healing event for LGBTQIA+ folks and their allies as a fundraiser for Project Q. (For more info on Project Q and what they do, check out my podcast episode with Sabine Maxine who is the Director of Programs.)
Rest is an important component of self care for everyone, and especially for me in my healing work. I consider teaching Fat Kid Dance Party a healing.
I was remembering last night I used to live at this pace: going going going burn out / get sick / rest a little going going going / repeat. Now it’s rest, teach/agitate/rebel, rest, heal myself, rest. I’m soooo grateful for the internet that enables me to live someplace where I can rest and heal effectively and still participate in the world and connecting to folks. The internet, our global brain, is what is making this time in herstory so possible.
When I produced my first event at Stonewall I learned from the manager that they call Stonewall a Rebellion not a Riot. It’s an important distinction that I think is important to remember.
Our foremothers (primarily Black Trans women and butches) were rebelling against consistent persistent abuse from the police. Pride began as a rebellion, a protest.
The fact that today we get to “party” for Pride is it’s own kind of rebellion. Queer folks loving themselves and partying and dancing in celebration is rebelling against homophobia/transphobia/systems of oppression. But what’s most important is that we rebel in the spirit of everyone being liberated. I wish I had centered that idea more concretely when I was deep in my plus size party girl days but it’s never too late to learn and live our values.
My hope for you is that you remember that just because something is a law doesn’t mean it’s ethical. (Sodomy laws were still on the books in many states until 2003 when the Supreme Court released Lawrence v Texas.)
And that you know how important it is to distinguish rebellions from riots.
Happy Pride!
xoxo,
Mom
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