“I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language. I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" ...Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever. Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it's personal. And the world won't end. And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don't miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And you will still flirt and paint your nails, dress up and party, because, as I think Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking. ”
—Audre Lorde
To all the Queer Femmes
To all the Queer Femmes who:
- Spend hours of their lives with jugs of hairspray, bobby pins, teasing and extensions
- Spend hours perfecting their makeup
- Spend all night adjusting and re-adjusting their outfits
- Spend hours in shopping malls, trying to find clothes that fit your identity and size
- Spend hours in shopping malls, trying to find clothes that fit your budget
- Spend money they don’t have on fake lashes
- Spend time giving themselves manicures and pedicures
- Spend all their time looking incredible, just because that’s who they are
To all the Queer Femmes who become visible by:
- Leaving the house, even though you’ll be perceived as straight
- Leaving the house, even though you’ll be at risk
- Leaving the house, even though you’ll be a victim of sexism and misogyny
- Leaving the house, even though cis-men will make unwanted sexual advances at you
- Entering a queer space, even though other queers will question your sexuality
- Taking up space in any way possible
To all the Queer Femmes:
You’re amazing. Stay Visible, Stay Fabulous and DON’T let the man get you down!
