Where do I even start?! š«„
Hello again. Glad weāre on the same outrageous, bumpy af ride together through what is possibly the fall of the US empire. Sucks that it involves so much outright and senseless bigotry, racism, hatred, erasure, and civil rights violations.
Because while a lot of the focus is on DEIāDiversity, Equity, and Inclusionāwhat they really mean is civil rights, as it pertains to :
Employment discrimination (this category left intentionally super broad and all-encompassing)
Detainment without charge and/or due process (think ICE raids)
Access to things necessary for life (healthcare, education, participation in the public sphere)
I could go on, but then this whole newsletter would be a stack of bullet points š«„š«„š«„š«„š«„š«„š«„š«„
Overwhelm is the point so that weāre spread thin and unorganized in our resistance. But we know better than that. This aināt our first rodeoāor second, or third. We know that the state will target the most vulnerable groups of people firstāundocumented immigrants, transgender people. We know that we are stronger in solidarity with one another. We know that our collective resistance and joy is more life-giving than anything the current administration could even dream of.
Ultimately, we canāt count on the state to both grant us rights and protect us from abuse. The state cannot be the only arbiter of whether or not queerness and transness and diversity exist, because the state is always going to act in the stateās interest.
Weāre seeing āDEIā immediately scapegoated for the administrationās own failures to maintain a federal agency that keeps air travel safe š«„
Weāre seeing erasure happen in realtime, as the āTQI+ā is erased from the State Departmentās traveler info website š«„
Weāre seeing a directive for federal workers to erase pronouns from their email signatures and other communications š«„
Sooooā¦ where do we go from here??? š«„ Some thoughts :
If you havenāt already, get your workplace to confirm their commitment to DEI / civil rights / not supporting Nazism. If they canāt do that, gurl you in danger š«„!!!!
Donāt panic but also be on the lookout. Make sure your community / neighborhood ties are strong. Solidarity comes in many forms - not just protests and petitions. Mutual aid is as diverse as our unique skills and passions.
Join a conversation on legal concerns for queer architects, organized by the AIA LGBTQIA+ Alliance and hosted by AIA Northern Virginia. Itāll be on Zoom and largely focused on Virginia-specific laws, but a great place to start in terms of figuring out what legal avenues are available in our own home states. Click here for info and to register!!!
Thatās all Iāve got, for now, as my thoughts and feelings vacillate between āin the end, all we have are each otherā and āshould I be making arrangements to leave the country? š«„ā and āmaybe I should stock up on rice and beansā and āthe end of empire is inevitable, letās ride this one out š«„ā
In future Queeries newsletters: revisiting queer āhomesā; Octavia Butlerās prophetic stories; slowing down / resting; making space for joy; and how to take action on multiple levels.
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Thank you for reading this newsletter. It really would not exist without you.
I hope these words inspire in some way, shape, or form.
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Until next time,
A.L.