PRIDE + SEEK

Looking at this picture, I’m there. It’s June 29, 2019. I’m sitting in a bar in Andersonville after taking myself to my very first Pride. Not the first one I’d ever attended, but the first where I knew this meant something altogether personal for me.

I stood in the crowd that day, alone but surrounded by love. I went to Women & Children First and bought Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. And I spent the rest of the day reading it cover to cover over rounds of Allagash at Jerry’s bar.

Somewhere between pints, I opened my notebook and started making this list — a stirring roll call of every queer woman I could think of. I didn’t title it, but I knew exactly what I was doing. I was showing myself (and the lifetime of “straight” selves Russian-dolled within me) that my community was out there. School hadn’t taught it. The media didn’t center it. But a powerful lineage of queer women existed. And I would spend the next two years filling my head and heart with their stories until I found the words to voice my own.

Representation matters. Visibility matters. What we show and celebrate and teach matters. This month, I’ll be celebrating the queer women I wish I’d learned about in school. Some of these names did feature in my school books, but never through a queer lens. And that framework matters. This won’t be an exhaustive list, but it will be a personally symbolic one. Stay tuned for our first Queer Broad. Happy Pride, my loves!