thank god it's over. i love pride, but jeez - maybe its the small town in me, but the sea of thousands of faces gets exhausting. and courtesy of the woman who decided to plow her bike into my weak knee during the QUAIA contingent of the pride parade, i am still a little worse for wear.
good news found me when i returned, however. my proposal for artsweek was accepted!
here's the finalized summary for the guidebook:
The Justice League of Gawkamerica is an installation of several to-scale photographic foamcore superheros, assembled en masse throughout The Spill (414 George Street). The figures - each a self-representation of the artist - comprise a comic-style narrative about disabled imagery.
also, pride weekend wasn't without its highlights. including, but not limited to:
- my lovely professor carla finding me sitting on wellesley at 1am smoking and drinking wine from a cup (classy broad).
- marching in the FIRST fucking trans march. so many people. such awesomeness.
- a fellow QUAIA marcher being punched in the face by a disgruntled man.
- being kicked out of the washroom at woody's for being in a stall with someone else (teehee) only to have the staff member (upon seeing my, ahem, appearance) gratuitously apologize to my companion, and tell my companion that i could use the accessible washroom upstairs, for which we would need a key from the bar. well i got the key. and took a few liberties.
- not spending more than $20!
- wearing a mesh shirt, booty shorts, a leather vest, and a sailor's hat. together. in public.
- dancing, dancing, and more dancing.
- my brother's first pride! and having him march along the sidelines of the dyke march.
also also...in other pride-ish related news...
i went to my first pride bathhouse, courtesy of the lovely Women & Trans Bathhouse Committee organizers. unfortunately for anyone reading, i can't quite kiss and tell (confidentiality), however i will say that it was an unforgettable experience. a few steamy encounters, a few passionate conversations, a lot of tickling and tantalizing sights and sounds, and one little genderqueer raised in uxbridge left with a mindful of ideas and the anticipation of future exploration.
it wasn't entirely positive times for all, sadly. there was a fair bit of backlash from certain attendees regarding the transmale presence at the event. some bickering can be found on craigslist. read at your own discretion. transphobia and racism abound, these attitudes are troublesome, as a trans ally with a body nearly exclusively read as female, though i am far more gender variant.
the waging war over the sanctity of women-only spaces. ultimately, the event was advertised as trans-inclusive. ultimately, there are even FEWER spaces available to trans people to sport their sexiness than nontrans folk. and some of us came to the event PRECISELY because of its promise of being a gender cornucopia, so to speak.
everyone should have access to such a sexy space...and later run-ins...complete with a smile and a wink.
'yeahhhhh...we were hot in that stairwell, weren't we'
;)
As a queer trans boy with a queer cis boy partner, I do not like "women and trans only" spaces. They police trans women even though they say they don't. They delegitimize my trans faggotry. They further allow cis queer men to other anyone who doesn't both identify as male and was male assumed at birth. They shut out any cis queer boys (like my boyfriend) who want to interact with me in a space where we are accepted as boyfriends (as opposed to a gay bar where, suffice to say, I am not always accepted as I am a person with dwarfism who is not always read as male). I understand the concern about a "safe space", but why assume that cis queer boys are necessarily "unsafe"? Why not create a policy where cis queer boys who are PARTNERS/LOVERS of trans boys are allowed in as well? I feel that my identity as a gay trans man is neglected by these prevailing 'women and trans' policies: "Oh, silly, if you're REALLY a trans guy you only like WOMEN! Or at least women and female assigned people at birth like YOU, you sexy trans man you wink wink". It pisses me off.
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