Also.Also.Also: Librarians Are Queer Heroes Right Now Because They Have To Be

feature image photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

I’m making pasta for dinner; what are you making?


Queer as in F*ck You

Librarians Didn’t Sign Up to Be Queer Activists—but This Year, They Are. As someone who is engaged to a queer librarian, this issue is of great personal importance to me. But we should all be paying attention to the work librarians around the country are doing in the face of anti-LGBTQ hate groups and campaigns, like the “Hide the Pride” campaign that targeted a library in Ferndale, Michigan back in June, which this feature in The New Republic opens with. Make no mistake, as the feature states: “The work of library defense right now is unapologetically queer.”

Also from the feature:

As much as fighting book bans is about fighting censorship, it’s also about confronting and demobilizing those who are driving that censorship and the attendant instability left in their wake. Because they are not just coming for the books; they are coming for the library and the people and ideas that make libraries possible. The work of library defense right now is unapologetically queer. 

Speaking of banned books: ‘Gender Queer’ Author Responds to Kennedy’s Viral Senate Reading.

Queer Superhero History: Mystique.

I’ve got not one but TWO queer photo essays for you:

Attention Bravo Dykes! In Below Deck news: Below Deck Med’s Captain Sandy Yawn Is Engaged to Leah Shafer.

How Personal Relationships Influence Views on Gender-Affirming Care19th News did a massive political survey that resulted in a bunch of features breaking down some of the data. Get into it, nerds.

Partner brag o’clock! My fiancée’s third novel was announced yesterday, and it’s really gay. I think you’re going to love it. I sure did!


Saw This, Thought of You

The Politics of Chronic Illness Memoirs.

Her Students Reported Her for a Lesson on Race. Can She Trust Them Again? This was a really devastating read.


Political Snacks

It’s Now Clear: “Cop City” Is About Democracy.


One More Thing

A poem for you!

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Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is the managing editor of Autostraddle and a lesbian writer of essays, short stories, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. She is the assistant managing editor of TriQuarterly, and her short stories appear or are forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, and more. Some of her pop culture writing can be found at The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Cut, and others. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

Kayla has written 946 articles for us.

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