Black queer history, sporting sisterhood, Spanish rights, New York Times protest and beauty queen euphoria
It’s the weekend gays, we made it! Before you shed your business-casual attire for those amazing outfits you plan to wear over the next two days (pajamas are also acceptable), here are five pieces of news not to be missed.
1. TikTokers refusing to have black queer history erased
2. Sporting Solidarity
3. Spain passed a landmark LGBTQ+ rights law
4. The NYT gets called out for anti-trans bias — and responds with more of it
5. How can we learn more about Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico’s love story?
1. TikTokers refuse to allow black queer history to be erased
Ron DeSantis may be hell-bent on erasing black history from high school curricula, but luckily he can’t control the internet (god knows he’s doing enough damage as it is).
TikTok creators are responding to the DeSantis administration’s decision to block AP-level high school classes in African-American history by using their platforms to highlight historical black queer figures. TikTokers like Philip Johnson and Melchizedek Shabaz combat the systematic erasure of black queer history by celebrating important, often overlooked figures like civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and black lesbian drag king and activist Stormé DeLarverie.
“[DeSantis] erases stories, erases stories, erases identities, and it’s incredibly damaging. Black history has been erased or rewritten many times in this country and around the world,” DeSantis’ Shabaz said in an interview with PinkNews. “But I have faith that his negative efforts won’t win in the long run.”
2. Sporting solidarity
Ah, sports. We want you to deliver so badly league for themselves-level queer hotness, and so often we get homophobia and transphobia. But this week, some athletes are attempting to mend that historically strained relationship with statements of solidarity.
Most notably, the Warrington Wolves, a British rugby team, paid tribute to Brianna Ghey, the trans teenager whose murder last week sparked a massive outcry in the UK and around the world and with whom the Wolves share a hometown. A player wore a jersey with Brianna’s name on it during his game and the team sent their condolences tweet.
Additionally, female footballers wear their support for the LGBTQ2S+ community (literally) on their sleeves. The US team tweeted a photo showing members wearing ‘Defend Trans Joy’ bracelets and Leah Williamson, the captain of the England team who has pledged to wear diversity and inclusion bracelets during the 2023 World Cup. OK, sports! We hope you get the ball in goal, or whatever!
3. Spain has passed a landmark LGBTQ+ rights law
Yesterday the Spanish legislature approved a bill that lowers the threshold for legal gender recognition And Ban conversion therapy – given the leaden feet of other governments working on this type of legislation (*cough* UK *cough*) this is something to celebrate. “This law recognizes the right of trans people to determine their gender identity, it depathologizes trans people,” said Minister of Equality Irene Moreno according to the Washington blade.
Before this law was passed, anyone in Spain who wanted to change their legal sex markers had to be officially diagnosed with gender dysphoria and show evidence of having been on hormone replacement therapy for at least two years. For minors, there was an added burden of obtaining a judge’s approval before changes could be made. Now anyone over the age of 16 can legally change their gender without medical intervention and without parental or court approval. The new law also includes provisions to prevent discrimination based on gender identity.
4. The NYT gets called out for anti-trans bias — and responds with more of it
On Wednesday, New York Times Contributors and LGBTQ2S+ stakeholders sent two open letters to the New York Times, and accused the newspaper of irresponsible and biased reporting on trans people. The first letter was signed by over 350 past and present contributors, including notable names like Cynthia Nixon, Roxane Gay and Jia Tolentino. The contributors accused the paper of treating gender diversity with a “familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language.”
The second letter came from over 100 LGBTQ2S+ advocacy groups and leaders and had signatures from GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and prominent drag performers like Nina West and Peppermint. “We won’t accept that Just Platform lies, bias, fringe theories and dangerous inaccuracies,” they wrote. It called them Just Take action by refusing to print biased stories, calling a meeting with members and leaders of the trans community, and investing in more trans employees. The message was also delivered via a billboard truck that drove around the city Just Offices.
Unfortunately, in typical Hereafter Cringe fashion, the Just printed a story the next day defending a known transphobe.
5. How can we learn more about Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico’s love story?
Fabiola Valentín and Mariana Varela, or as they’re often called, Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina, wowed us all queer romance stans in November by announcing that they had not only had been secretly dating for two years, but they had also tied the knot. Two Formerly Rival Beauty Queens In A Secret Relationship? One that ends in a queer marriage? Hallmark never could. Now they’re revealing more heartbreaking details in a new Fenty ad that puts their love in the spotlight.
In the ad, they talk about meeting during a pageant in Thailand and how, despite being competitors, they instantly became “inseparable.” It includes super endearing details of how they connected, how they drink their coffee, and how their initial attraction grew into a “magical” friendship and now a partnership. All with the backdrop of holding hands, looking at each other lovingly, and sharing sweet little hickeys. I’m not crying, it’s you!