all i know is leslie would have still been masking up and i’m proud of that.

save these (or download them here) to use for posters, social media, zines… whatever u want! it’s never too late to start wearing a mask again :-)

How To Talk To Your Loved Ones About Covid

Huge document by queer disabled people collecting tips and resources to help as many of us survive the pandemic as possible. It's full of practical advice like "So, you love someone who has stopped taking Covid precautions (or never took them to begin with)", and navigating the common misconceptions and misinfo out there. Now includes new sections on travel, grief, talking to children, respirator masks, environmental impact, and reaching out to organizations.

It's hard to have these conversations, but it's worth it. The way out of this is together, hand-in-hand.

If you're covid conscious follow me. I love you and I am kissing you on the forehead, with consent

how the fuck do i find plague-safe dykes?

HI! please sign this petition to tell the CDC to protect healthcare workers and their patients. Protect your disabled, vulnerable, and immunocompromized community members! THIS POLL CLOSES ON OCTOBER 25th

Hi hi hi!

I’m one of the founders/creators and current co-organiser of the SAD Fair! We’ve grown a lot in the past 4 years and I’m so honored every day to see what kind of community we’ve built where we can celebrate and financially support disabled artists around the world. We are one of the first, if not *the* first zine fest/craft fair to go completely virtual, and we’re staying that way! Here’s a bit about us:

The Sick And Disabled Zine & Craft Fair (SAD Fair) is a grassroots week-long virtual craft fair centering disabled, chronically ill, MAD, and neurodivergent zinesters and artists from around the world. Now in its fourth year, this access-centered zine and craft fair will feature free live events, workshops, virtual "tables", and a virtual sensory room. This event is open to ALL! Allies are welcomed and encouraged to attend!

This fair is for people to display their work and build community, in a space that pushes back against popular narratives of illness and disability being inspirational or sad. The fair is free to attend, with free crafting and learning opportunities, as well as plenty of low cost zines and art to buy.

Our project is rooted in revolutionary love and need for community care, representation, and art. As sick and disabled queer and trans people, art is how we have explored our lives in a society that tells us we are inferior, especially as we go into the fourth year of a global pandemic that disproportionately impacts the sick and disabled community.

Many of us have been excluded from in-person craft fairs due to inaccessibility and inadequate COVID-19 safety measures. Our experiences are unique but not isolated, and our ability to find connections through art is what motivates us to pursue projects like this zine and craft fair.

Anyway, come check out the Fair this year! We are going to have so many amazing vendors and I’m so so proud to be continuously involved in this project. Also vendor applications are currently open, as well as workshop host applications!

You can also support the Fair financially if you have the means by ko-fi (link), PayPal ([email protected]), GoFundMe (link), or venmo (@stonerzines with “SAD Fair” in the notes). Just because it’s virtual doesn’t mean it’s cheap 😅

Ya boi is spreading class consciousness like COVID

I'm here to reintroduce myself 💛

Hi! I'm Mercedes, and I originally started this blog with the name "mx-ethereal-sidereal".

Now, I'm calling my astrological work Language of the Ether, where I aim to share sidereal astrology content that brings insight, clarity, and catharsis, especially for the benefit of Black, Queer, Trans, disabled, and covid-cautious young adults that are navigating the world as it is.

I aim to create accessible writing, videos, newsletters, guidebooks, etc. that provide thorough, valuable content that cover general sidereal astrology education, current events through an astrological lens, personal astrological observations, and more!

I intend to focus mainly on my other socials, so at least for the time being I don't plan on being very involved here on Tumblr any time soon, outside of maybe sharing an update or a link every so often.

Here are my links below!

My Linktree (includes my other socials!)

About My Services, Mission, Politic, Values, and Disclaimers + Ways to Tip

My zcal to Book a Reading

A Free Beginner's Guide to Sidereal Astrology!

Thank you for reading! 💛✨🌝🌞

CW: COVID-19

Potent section from "Queer as in fuck you" written by anonymous and published by Sour Queer Press which resonates strongly:

What is fascinating to me is that queer community focuses so much on consent. It’s truly mind blowing to see people go back to dance and house parties, large and small events, unmasked. Poetry readings and community care events, all with either no or sloppy precautions that make no sense (fyi, if you require masks you better have a way of making sure people are wearing them or else you are still excluding disabled folks). The irony to me of a group that cares so much about community and being trauma-informed contributing to the spread of a disabling virus is too much. And there aren’t really words for seeing person after person let you down. All in the name of something we (queer militants) have a history of fighting: assimilation. Eugenics in the name of mental health. As if queer disabled people aren’t some of the most creative people I’ve met. And I’ve been so disappointed in the queer community that I forget: so much of the invisible (no thanks to you) queer community does care about covid. It’s the aesthetic, back-to-normal, eugenicist, assimilating queers that don’t care. And it dawned on me: y’all aren’t fucking queer. Your values align with every white woman you make fun of for being fragile, attached, sensitive. Queerness is more than a denim vest and who you fuck or don’t. Queerness means fighting for the very values “queer” (from this point on, y’all queer fuckers that don’t take covid seriously are getting a “”) people are abandoning. We lost an entire generation to AIDS, and the nightmare is a generation of “queers” who are happy to forget how hard we’ve fought for each other. It seems like people think queerness is more about how you look and not about how we move. So do me a favor, stop calling yourself queer. You don’t deserve the label. Go hang out with the boring ass cis hets who go to brunch on the weekend and go to that new restaurant for Wednesday night dinners. I’m sure they’ll appreciate your added spunk and since that’s what you’re assimilating into anyways, just get to it and stop pretending. In the meantime, we’ve been building community, whoever has a filter lugging it back and forth to houses, taking whatever money we can spend on masks for ourselves and each other, watching movies and making art. But I’m gonna be honest, that’s not good enough for me. That’s what you want anyways, isn’t it? For us to isolate in our communities. No, I think I’m going to start calling in our AIDS ancestors and bringing dead bodies and ashes to your doorstep.

Print editon [PDF, 2.6MB, archived] | Read edition [PDF, 14.7MB, archived] | Audio [MP3, 72.5MB, archived]

You can follow Queer Sour Press on their blog or on Mastodon or email them here: [email protected].

Fucking depresses me no one is cautious during deaf events or pride events even though deaf people are more disproportionately likely to be disabled; and queer people are also disproportionately more likely to be disabled. Even more infuriating when one of the reasons why we don't have many queer elders over the age of 40 was because of the AIDS epidemic and we have had campaigns like safer sex awareness and consent as well as distributing harm reduction supplies such as free condoms.

mask stickers are on sale!! buy them here <3

i'm selling them at production cost— i got these printed at 123stickers, if you wanna print them yourself you can download the graphics for free here on my website!

it's never too late to mask again 😷

What The Burnt City gave me

Seriously soppy and mournful and oversharey post ahead. Skip it if you don't want to deal with that.

It gave me something to look forward to, for one glorious year and a half. Something that I always knew I would enjoy, no matter what. How many things can you say that about - how many activities, venues, restaurants, can you say you know, before you go in, that you will always have a wonderful time?

It taught me about generosity. They are always so giving. Even when I don't think I deserve it, they give me something to hold on to (I don't just mean 1:1s, I don't just mean interactions, there are other ways too that they've made it meaningful).

It helped me back into the habit of doing things - since covid I'd been on the cautious side and didn't leave the house as much as I used to. Not that I was a total shut-in, just that I was used to my evenings at home, and there had to be a special and important reason to go out. But this was always special and important.

It got me into London - I live in a town outside of London, within commuting distance but well outside. And I emigrated here some years ago. The show reminded me that I'm a stone's throw away from a truly world-class city, and a visit doesn't have to be saved for special occasions. It's quicker to get to Woolwich than to my friend's house across town...

It gave me community. For the first time since the lockdowns, I've been making new friends. Friends who I can be myself around - in all my awkwardness, nerdiness, trans queerness. I have met some of the kindest, funniest, most talented and giving people. And I really hope those relationships will continue, but even if they don't, I found these kindred spirits for at least a few months and it's been beautiful.

It got me into theatre! I used see maybe a couple musicals a year, now I have so many friends with their fingers on the pulse of British theatre, watchers and creators, keeping me updated on what's coming up. I've taken in so many fabulous productions that I never would have even heard of otherwise.

Sometimes it just... gave me a reason to get out of bed and shower? I get depressed sometimes. There are times when I feel so numb, when I don't care about anything, when I can't feel anything - but I care about this, and I feel things from this.

And it gave me a reason to dress up and party, to hug my friends tight, to cry and to squeal with delight.

I cannot express how grateful I am. I could keep writing until the end of my life, and I could not express the extent of it.

‘I’m so excited to be a queer parent’

Sara Quin is beaming as she flips through photographs of her newborn son on her phone.

It’s the first time the Vancouver-based musician, one half of twin sister pop duo Tegan and Sara, has been away since he was born 11 weeks ago and she’s missing him dearly.

“Isn’t he cute?” she asks. “I love him so much.”

“I’m so excited to be a queer parent,” she adds.

Before the nostalgic series began development, Sara was already looking to the future. She started a fertility journey with her partner that stretched over four years, as it became stalled by COVID-19 clinic closures and other complications. Her partner gave birth on June 24, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

As a sleep-deprived new parent, the timing made her consider many other women who don’t have childcare services, financial security and other support systems.

Two months after her child was born, Sara shared the news on the duo’s Instagram account, posting an image that concealed her son’s face.

She’s being cautious for now, keeping his name under wraps as she considers how much of her personal life she wants to put into the world.

“It’s a conversation I’ve had with Tegan and with my partner,” she says.

“My instinct is to share very little because I want to keep it (out of) the public domain. But then on the other hand, I’m desperate to see other versions of what I’m doing and I can’t seem to find them,” she says, of queer representation.

She points out that those who don’t give birth often seem to be missing from the conversation, especially in LGBTQ families.

“I feel like it’s reason enough to, with careful thought, share some of my experience,” she says.

Perhaps more than ever, the sisters are on noticeably different trajectories in their personal lives, which they acknowledge may seep into their professional work at some point.

Tegan brought home a German shepherd border collie puppy during the pandemic and started to shape a few TV pitches with other collaborators. Sara recently began shopping around her own concept for a series that’s separate from her sister.

They welcome the suggestion of recording solo music projects in the coming years, which they admit they probably wouldn’t have seriously considered earlier in their careers.

Sara’s new role as mom lingers amid all these possibilities.

Both of them have discussed whether Sara should open up her own Instagram account where she can foster a community interested in hearing about her adventures in motherhood and how she shares time with her child.

“I am going to get to show him things, lead him places and tell him about the world,” she said.

“Even silly things like I can’t wait to start swim lessons with him. I can’t wait for his personality to develop”

She adds: “I’ve been disrupting systems since I was a teenager and now I feel some weird thrill about being in a video game and it’s called ‘Being a Parent.’” (X)

i think the ‘covid is here to stay!’ argument for no longer taking precautions is so fucking stupid because like. yeah, hiv/aids is here to stay, we can never go back to my parents’ era of wild uninhibited group sex with strangers or whatever. i remember my mom saying as i was growing up that when she was young “sex couldn’t kill you” but now it can, because hiv/aids is “here to stay”. but what has the public response been? well, at least in the current era, there are plenty of campaigns about having safe sex, and even the most wild and uninhibited of sexual communities practice “safe, sane, and consensual” kink and what it means to be responsible: using protection like condoms and dental dams, getting tested regularly, discussing with your partners, and being educated about the risks. black, queer, and drug communities had to protect and educate themselves because nobody else would. 

and i know ive said it before, but it is eerie seeing the handfuls of queer elders (actual elders, in their sixties and beyond) in these covid cautious groups talk about their deja vu in terms of public response. government expects individuals to fend for themselves and actively suppresses information or makes treatment inaccessible, even acknowledging its existence is inherently political, other people immediately ostracize you, you end up isolated from your communities and society because they dont want to be reminded of the risk, or people become fatalistic and decide they’re just going to live it up now and do whatever they want, ignoring who they might be hurting with their behavior.

unlike hiv/aids, we’ve known much earlier on how covid is spread and how to reduce transmission, and yet people refuse to do it. if we expect people who are at risk of spreading stds to cover their area of transmission, why is it "personal preference” and not a public health concern to expect the same from those who are at risk of spreading covid?

I'm bored aka so here's a list of dating apps I use and my mini reviews:

Feeld - originally the most promising because it's more for polyam people; also the most fun at first. Has since devolved into lots of couples/swingers looking for thirds. Overall as someone who is interested in finding a primary, it hasn't been helpful. 7/10

OKCupid - has excellent identity options but has been paywalling too many features. And not to be mean but everyone I see say they like it best is typically white and a level of nerd that I'm not at. 5/10

Her - so I originally avoided this one because of the name, but this is where a lot of Black trans mascs are in my area which was exciting. The site and interface is cute and I love the banners you can use. But no one reads profiles; and there are too many "no poly" and "no mascs/femmes" comments for me to feel like I belong there. 5/10

Jack'd/Scruff - these are essentially the same cruising app. Like seriously they are exactly the same but color coded lmao. In DC Jack'd (red) has mainly Black queer men and Scruff (blue) has mainly white. I love the tagging system but can't find people in my area using said tags. I bumped it up a point because they're both less overwhelming than Grindr. 4/10

Grindr - has the most trans/non-binary people but finding each other also means opening yourself up to chasers. There's a wild mix on here but I get both the most messages and the most unwanted dick pics. Feels the most chaotic (though apparently Sniffies is worse lmao) but also has a great tagging system. The app also paywalls *a lot* and there are *constant* long ads. I would rate it so much higher without the ads. 3/10

Anywho they all ultimately suck and I hate them but still lurk on them 🤸🏾‍♂️. I'm a sex neutral ace/demi who's kinky af and I have limited time/energy. I look for people who are interested in intentional communication and kink education. I have not found a good app for my needs, at all, and figure I never will lol.

Like, if I was into NSA or FWBs I would be *eating* right now. But since I'm not (and I'm COVID cautious) it's hard as fuck to find good matches. It's all pretty stressful and demoralizing, so I don't take these apps seriously anymore. And they're all fucking paywalled and make us commodity ourselves in ways I'm not comfortable with.

(There are also multiple guides for trans masculine ppl and cruising apps like Jack'd/Scruff/Grindr. They have a lot of possibilities, they just don't work for me right now.)

Soooo how does dating work if you're a 28 year old gay neurodivergent introverted grey ace/aro transguy w like no dating experience who doesn't drink so can't do all the queer bar stuff and still wears facemasks and wants a partner whose also covid cautious which is like 1% of people these days .

Because I've finally got my shit together enough that I finally wanna try that because 💕MEN💕 but like. I'm such a fucking niche genra of a person and so sucky at meeting people and socializing and dating sites haven't worked for me. At least I live in a queer city?