A few years ago, I came out to my mom the morning after my senior prom. She was surprised, then quiet, then asked what my real orientation was. I said, “I have no idea, but I like this one girl.” She was a little confused, but she kissed me and said, “As long as she makes you happy.” For the next few weeks, she asked a lot of questions: when did I realize? What was my new girlfriend’s orientation? What was the word for this or that? I WAS happy, right?
Fast forward about two years. My mom sits me down and tells me that she needs my help with her next book. She’s been writing middle-grade girls’ books (like, 9-14 range) since I was eight, and she says she has an idea that she really, really wants to get right. It follows the plot of Romeo and Juliet, she says, and the main character is a twelve-year-old girl realizing she has a crush on another girl when they put on the play for English class.
Fast forward another year to now. STAR-CROSSED is about to come out, and it is absolutely amazing.
My mom has poured her heart and soul into making sure this is a positive thing for kids to read.
I’ve been reading and editing and helping with this book since its first draft and I’ve been, metaphorically and sometimes literally bouncing up and down on my heels, waiting to be able to tell people about it. It’s beyond sweet, and there’s a ton of Shakespeare and humor and goofy preteen drama and twelve-year-old girls flirting and Star Wars jokes and a glossary of Shakespearean insults in the back (yes, really), and it’s just so fun and positive and smart and I want to show it to every kid I know.
This book is for LGBT kids, written by a mom who has asked questions and done her research and tried as hard as she possibly could to make her own queer kid feel safe and loved and valid, and it REALLY shows. Mattie (the cutie on the left) and Gemma (the cutie on the right) are given space to learn about themselves, and ultimately they don’t have to figure themselves out right away or come out to everyone at once or choose a label. They’re kids. It’s okay to still be figuring things out. It’s okay.
Fun facts:
My mom said from the beginning she wanted both girls on the cover to make it clear what the book was about; then when they got the final artwork and Mattie’s hair was short, my mom wrote back and asked the artist to do the hair over to make it as obvious as possible that Mattie is a girl.
When a few people started buzzing about Mattie being the youngest bisexual protagonist they’ve seen, she went back and changed passages to confirm that Mattie likes boys and girls.
When I asked for a happier and less ambiguous ending scene, she set Mattie and Gemma up on a frigging date.
It comes out on March 14, 2017. Please join me in GETTING HYPE FOR STAR-CROSSED ❤
So imagine that this dude is a seventh son and he has six sons. Everyone is excited when his wife gets pregnant but it’s a girl. Thing is that the kid is trans and no one knows why they’re so powerful
His name is Kaleb though no one knows it but him. His name sits high in his throat, ready at any moment to burst out, but it…doesn’t. It’s too big, too powerful, too personal when he doesn’t know what they’ll do with it. Or, rather, when he suspects what they’d do with it and is afraid.
“Kristine,” his mother shouts up the stairs, “you’re going to make us late!” There’s a smattering of laughter at her words, mocking and derisive, from his brothers.
Kaleb’s always the one to blame in these situations. A seventh son was supposed to bring the family luck, status and power. Instead, Kaleb was born with a vagina and the family’s six son streak came to a tragic end. The tragic part, they all seem to agree, is that Kaleb exists at all.
Kaleb looks into the polished bit of metal in his hands and takes a slow, calming breath. He watches his reflection breathe with him and pretends his hair is short in the blurry surface. “I’m a boy. My name is Kaleb. They can call me a girl, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. I’m a boy. My name is Kaleb.”
It’s a spell he casts every day, pretending as hard as he can that he has magic, that this will work. It’s more effective on some days than others, but the day he doesn’t cast it are the worst, hands down. Those days every time they look at him, every time he feels his dress brush his ankles, every time they call him she grates and sets his teeth on edge. Panic will well up in his chest and he’ll have to run to the forest behind their house where they can’t look at him, where can’t look at himself, and strip down so he can’t feel their perception on his skin.
He tucks the polished metal under his bed and rushes to the stairs, long strides eating up the ground quickly. It feels good to walk this way, without his hips swaying, and he does it as often as he can. “As often as he can” often means “where mother can’t see.”
Today they’re going into town for a marriage talk with the Mayor. Kaleb’s oldest brother, Jacob, is of marrying age and has his eye set on the mayor’s daughter. Kaleb’s already been told that the only reason they have to refuse Jacob’s suit is Kaleb himself. He’s supposed to be on his best behavior today and he intends to be.
Kaleb ignores his brothers as they yank at his hair, his skirt, as they blame him for everything from the mud on the road to the late hour. If he fights back, he knows he’ll be the one scrubbing pots and floors, not them. He knows there’ll be much worse waiting for him should the meeting not go well.
“Just behave,” Samuel, the second brother, tells Kaleb. He’s never actively hurt Kaleb before, but as the biggest of his brothers, Samuel is still a threat. “Or else.”
just not the twig white cis emo boy with basic girl couples
what we NEED:
ones that aren’t toxic
the ones that ARE toxic be taken as toxic and not romanized and actually dealt with maturely and shows that those relationships are not healthy
overweight girl of color with most popular boy in school
trans girl with the football player
trans boy of color with girl football player
just break the basic white stick cis girl and the basic white stick cis boy normative!!!
^THIS!!! Like, cool. I’ll take some more m/f couples, but they need to be diverse!!!!!!! I want trans guys and gals, I want people of color, I want healthy relationships!! People need to see themselves represented, and that includes all of those people who are in m/f relationships, but aren’t the “white cis guy and white cis girl” that are the current mold. Please and thank you.
Agreed on everything.
Also more m+f and m+m and f+f friends that don’t end up in romance and have a healthy friendship, please.
Healthy friendship is all the reason I got back into Elementary (I’m mid s04 right now and please, don’t spoil me for anything).
It’s about the only show I can think off the top of my head where you have a m/f friendship between two adults who do their best to be good friends as well as trying to do their best to be as emotionally healthy as they can be, and help each other along the way.
It’s honestly amazing and I am all over that. I wish we could see more healthy relationships in media in general.
I’ve had plenty of people tell me that it’s “disrespectful” to the authors if you interpret a character as queer without a clear textual indication. But the people who actually made these characters disagree with that.
MCU Cast & Crew:
The Russos are cool with it and have repeatedly validated the interpretation, even noting that a lot of women who worked on the movie are invested in that relationship. (Link 1, 2, 3, 4).
Sebastian Stan is fine with it, and thinks it’s great that people can interpret it however they want. (Link).
Chris Evans says he didn’t deliberately put it into his performance, but he has no problem with it and thinks a romantic relationship “wouldn’t be so bad.” (Link).
Emily VanCamp was excited to hear about it, and thinks it’s great that this is a conversation we’re having about a character like Captain America. (Link).
Hayley Atwell is a fan of bisexual Steve Rogers, and hates pretty much every ship for Steve but Steve and Bucky. (Link 1, 2).
Comics:
Ed Brubaker, the man who created the Winter Soldier, not only fucking loves it, but has also been known to tweet links to Steve/Bucky fan fiction. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
If you have a problem with interpreting this character as anything other than heterosexual, not only is that problem yours alone, but the character’s creator thinks you’re stupid. Stop hiding behind authorial intent, and consider why it bothers you so much that someone you thought was straight might not be.
Also, Hayley ships Cartinelli. ❤
Samuel L Jackson literally called Chris “LGBT Captain America” on a red carpet–in front of Chris, Scarlett, and a ton of press. Chris responded with a happy laugh.
For the fucking record, there’s no mention of Captain America’s creators in the above posts. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon created Captain America. SO, you’d better correct your statements as it applies to Disney’s Marvel only.
The fact that there’s no real evidence to support Captain is homosexual tells me he isn’t. Fan interpretations are just fans individualising and tailoring things they like to be more fitting for their lifestyle.
That is all.
Oh, and fuck Disney’s Marvel.
I find that it’s often somewhat difficult to ask dead people for their opinions on a topic. But I pulled out my ouija board just for you, and they told me they’re both cool with it.
They also wanted me to pass on, “F U C K Y O U”
Maybe that’s some sort of pet name you guys had for each other?
Acephobia in the LGBT+ Community from the documentary (A)sexuality.
It is just…so fucking weird how threatened people feel when it comes to Asexuality. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
I’m so happy this post is being reblogged by LBGT+ people who aren’t asexual. I keep on reading posts by non-ace LGBT+ people of support to the ace community, and of being stunned by this reaction by a movement which should know better than to judge. AND THAT MAKES THIS ACE SO FREAKING HAPPY. The woman in the first photo expresses my sentiment. I know I belong in the queer/LGBTQIA movement. I want to belong. But I just don’t know if I’m welcome. I’m so happy that there are so many people on Tumblr who do not fall into the catagory of outright refusal of asexuality.
I know not a lot of people understand asexuality. And I know there’s confusion about it, about our experiences, and about how we fit in the movement. But let’s talk about this. Let’s have this conversation.
I mostly don’t delve into the ace tags, but I hear there’s a lot of ace-hate that and I really don’t get it. I don’t understand how asexuality is threatening.
You know what I (as a queer ace-spectrum person) find most threatening? Getting unwanted sexual unwanted advances from both queer and straight people. I’ve gotten them from people of all spectrums and it always makes me profoundly uncomfortable, and often unsafe. It just boggles my mind how people are upset by the concept of asexuality. That’s like getting really mad at someone who isn’t hungry. What’s the point? Just shut up eat your own sandwich. (And stop chewing on me.)
Wow, the fuck the people in those images.
Nobody has the right to disrespect anybody else’s sense of self. It may not be for, you but that does not give you the right to be an asshole.
We really need to push more for LGBTQIA+ to be a standard,instead of just LGBT, especially considering that even the B and T are already invisible in much of the community.
Not supporting some of us = not supporting all of us.
Not supporting some of us = not supporting all of us.
It really, really does bear repeating.
I couldn’t be further from ace, but for serious.
If we’re not in this together, we’re not in this at all.
This makes me so angry. I have friends who are ace, and they are just as much a part of the queer community as I am.
We need to embrace asexuality and treat it with the respect that it deserves.
I heart the non-aces who reblog this so hard. ❤ Thank you friends.
To all of my friends out there and ESPECIALLY my trans friends, if you hadn’t done so now, PLEASE GET A PASSPORT.
President Obama made it VERY easy to get your gender marker changed on your passport. All you need is:
– An ID that resembles your current appearance (just get a new photo taken on a driver’s license or ANY government issued ID)
– Passport photo that resembles your current appearance (From any drug store)
– Proof of legal name change (if applicable)
– A physician statement that indicates you have either completed or are in process of treatment for gender transition (the hardest part)
No surgeries, no red tape, no bullshit. And when people try to harass you or puush you around because “Hahaha your ID says your x” Whip out your passport and shut them DOWN. I carry mine wherever I go and I know a lot of my friends who live in the south do so as well.
This law could VERY easily change under a Trump presidency and I haven’t been as serious about anything as I am about this. PLEASE GET A PASSPORT. Even the passport card (which is half as expensive as the book is!!!) will do. Just please if you can, get ONE ID that matches who you really are.
And I know to be able to get all of this together is a sign of privilege in the first place, and from one black, trans, queer women to all of my vulnerable siblings I will rot in a jail cell before I let this country harm any of us and I this I swear. I will NOT take this lying down.
PLEASE Signal Boost!
This is legit. My therapist at the VA told me this was the easiest way to get a form of ID with the proper gender marker on it.
I work in a supermarket. Your passport is a picture ID with your birthdate on it. We take it for buying booze.
I’ve recommended getting one to more than one nervous person handing over their license.
It expires just like your license and there’s some red tape for getting it renewed in a timely manner, but it’s considered as valid as your license even if it’s maybe less easy to carry around.
AND it’s internationally valid, unlike, say, your driver’s license.
If you can afford to get both the passport and the passport card, do it. Leave your passport at home, carry the passport card with you. It is a valid ID for purchasing liquor; it is a valid ID for crossing land and sea borders into Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean (please note it is NOT valid for international air travel); it is a valid ID for filling out your paperwork when you get a new job.
George Michael’s life was constantly trailed by homophobic media that painted him as a sexual deviant and a drug addicted train wreck “corrupted” by the gay lifestyle. In reality, George Michael was an artist who, for a large portion of his life, was forced to hide his sexuality and live a lie in a pre-millennium society that emotionally punished anybody whose orientation challenged heteronormative expectations. Let us not forget the paths paved by people like George Michael: those who bravely came out during a time when closet doors were locked from the outside.
I want the next show Netflix makes to feature two queer women of color and feature the multiple seasons it takes them to realize they’re madly in love with each other and are soulmates. Scifi dramedy is preferable.
can one of the leads be lindsey morgan
lindsey morgan and jamie chung pls
UM. YES.
oh holy fuck you all wrote a better series than anything that’s out there and you did it in two gifs.
One of the biggest problems with religion is that people stubbornly, insistently reduce God to their own size; they imagine that God loves the same people they love, and that God hates the people they hate. This is not just insidious theology; it’s actually idolatry, because people are just worshiping a blown up version of themselves. So let me say it simply: God’s love transcends all of that.
When your parents reject you, God loves you; when your friends or classmates make fun of you, God loves you; when your priest, minister, imam, or rabbi tells you that you are an abomination, God loves you; when politicians cater to people’s basest prejudices, God loves you. No matter how many times and in how many ways people make you feel less than human, God knows otherwise, and God loves you. When you feel frightened, or abandoned, or humiliated, I hope the unshakeable conviction that God loves you can help hold you and enable you to persevere.
Steel Phoenix Studios 
