feature image photo by Greg Doherty / Contributor via Getty Images

Hi! It’s me, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya. I am, you’ll note, not Carmen Phillips, the Editor in Chief of Autostraddle and the person who usually writes the Also.Also.Also link roundups these days. I’m taking over this column as an intentional way to allow Carmen to write more of the things she likes to write, including topics from beauty to fashion to baking/cooking to Black pop culture. I’m personally very excited about this shift in her workflow! Because my days are structured a little differently than Carmen’s, it also means that this link roundup is now going to be a morning missive. Here we go!

Queer as in F*ck You

‘Get off Our Backs and Let Us Live’: Miss Major Is Still Fighting for Trans Rights After 50 Years of Resistance. The one and only Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who survived being knocked unconscious at the Stonewall Riots 54 years ago has a message: “I’m still fucking here.” So begins this in-depth profile of an iconic trans elder, activist, author, and organizer whose resistance work has defined the past half a century of LGBTQ+ liberation. Tomorrow marks the 54th anniversary of the start of the Stonewall Riots, so spend some time with this profile, which delves into her latest project for the revolution: a sanctuary for trans and gender-nonconforming folks on the same property where she currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. The refuge is, fittingly, dubbed Tilifi, which stands for Telling It Like It Fuckin’ Is. Now that’s a praxis I can enthusiastically endorse!

Stories like this quite literally always make me cry: Coming Out Late — and Finding a New Life in Midlife.

NY Designates State a ‘Safe Haven’ for Trans Youth, Families and Health Providers.

McDonald’s Grimace Is Apparently a Queer Icon Now. And as someone who very recently accidentally called him “garf” instead of his government name, I have to say: who?

I, too, would like to know: How Did Pride Get So Damn Expensive?

Diana Goetsch on How Elena Ferrante and Milan Kundera Helped Her Write a Memoir. Read about the books that informed this trans memoir, which we also reviewed!

Saw This, Thought of You

The Nation’s latest special issue is on body politics, and there are some gems in it, including:

• What My Parents Taught Me About Bodily Autonomy.
• Abortion Any Time Isn’t Just a Rallying Cry—It’s True Reproductive Freedom.
• And my personal favorite: Without Apology: Abortion in Literature.

Political Snacks

In the Attacks on Trans Rights, We’re Seeing the Rise of a New Confederacy.

Guess Who’s Targeted in Ron DeSantis’s First Major Policy Address? While he was sure to pick from an array of marginalized folks and communities, he set his beady little weasel eyes on undocumented immigrants this time around.

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