8 Comments
User's avatar
pax (they/them)'s avatar

okay love this AND is the cover photo from stl tower grove lol

Expand full comment
Ben Greene's avatar

Hahahaha yes exactly, I didn’t want to use a stock image but I saw a cool duck last week and decided he had something to say about queer joy 😂

Expand full comment
Aren Stone's avatar

Thank you--lots for me to follow up on internally here. I also think of the heart of resistance as love--a universal love, not romantic or personal love, which is like queer joy in many ways. And it, too, is something that those aligned with the current administration don't have: a sense of universal love and radical love = Queer Joy (?).

Expand full comment
Crystal K's avatar

Thank you for this. You’ve given me quite a bit to think about. It seems a long time since I’ve worked toward something as opposed to just fighting against that I have forgotten what that feels like.

Expand full comment
Ben Greene's avatar

I honestly relate to this a lot. So much of the fight we're in these days feels like we're just scrambling to stay on defense all the time, and I think that's largely intentional to keep us from asking for more when we push back.

It takes a lot to reclaim our ability to dream of the future, but I know for me building a community that knows how to dream and sees the value in it is one of my biggest goals, and it feels good to move towards that. I hope you're able to get back to dreaming again soon!

Expand full comment
Crystal K's avatar

Thanks, me too. 🙏

Expand full comment
Kate Antoniades's avatar

Thank you for this post! It gives me so much to think about. I'm curious about what you think about similar "purity tests" in the context of political candidates. So many people seem to be searching for the "perfect" candidate, which isn't usually productive. (Also, last week I got a new subscriber who Substack says was referred from your newsletter. I haven't seen a mention, but thank you so much if you linked to it!!)

Expand full comment
Molly Ringle's avatar

This is a wonderful and deeply important post. What comes to me as a guiding principle is a few words of Martha Beck’s: “Love out loud.” We talk about what and who we love; praise those things and people openly, to whoever will listen. It is a start and can help us find our people. I’ll be pondering more specifics about our better future as well!

Expand full comment