u/ramenspoonz

We came across this remarkable interview today with Black lesbian activist and author Mary Midgett, featured in Columbia University’s Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project (2022–24), which recorded more than 230 oral histories, including those of many queer elders:

https://eldersproject.incite.columbia.edu/interviews/mary-midgett

Midgett wrote a cute little love story in 2002 called “Brunch with Sharon”. I decided to type out the first page on my typewriter as a small gesture of appreciation for her.

The project website includes the following short biography for Midgett:

Mary Midgett grew up in Boston, and began to experience her lesbian sexuality as a young person in the 1940s, when there was no language available to her for such an identity. She went on to join the Army, where she first experienced romantic and intimate connections with women, as well as community with fellow lesbians. She spent the early 1960s in New York, as part of the gay and lesbian communities, there, then married and had children, finally leaving her abusive second husband to move to San Francisco in 1974. There, she witnessed and took part in many important cultural movements, including co-founding the NIA Collective, a trailblazing group by and for Black lesbians. In 2015, she served as Grand Marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade, in honor of her many and ongoing contributions to queer culture and rights.

Dworkin was an American radical feminist whose work focused on violence against women, pornography, prostitution, and gender inequality. Her most influential books include Woman Hating (1974), Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981), Right-Wing Women (1983), and Intercourse (1987). A lesbian, Dworkin married gay writer and activist John Stoltenberg in 1998, and he remained her close partner until her death.

She’s a short-haired border collie and is almost twelve. She’s one of our many family pets but the only one who’s super protective of me. I only see her when I visit my old family home, so I do miss her quite a bit here in the city.

She’s got the cutest bald spot on her nose, I’m not a vet but I believe it’s just from being a dork and excessive rubbing.

Fashion is a bit of a lazy hobby for me… I've always really loved this one super gay collection.

Here’s a write-up from The Guardian by Jess Cartner-Morley:

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/feb/18/christopher-bailey-bows-out-from-burberry-under-a-bold-rainbow

The Powerhouse program looks really fun. There will be a special pink edition Rubber Duck on the river, a River Pride Parade, and other cool stuff to check out:

https://www.melt.org.au/program

There’s also a launch party for Brisbane Pride, and the usual March and Fair Day:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/brisbane-pride-festival-official-launch-party-tickets-1998343203315

https://www.brisbanepride.org.au

I’m also old enough to remember the gay frog panic, so these are actually gay frogs.

I thought I’d share some recent photos from a visit to my parents, who still live on the rural property where I grew up. I miss the lifestyle and can see myself settling back into it one day.

I’ve moved cities recently and have been exploring some interesting public spaces I’d never been to before. There’s a little council library here inside an old brick community centre that’s particularly quaint, with a great selection of fiction and plenty of comfy seating. One of the very first books I spotted was Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt (1952).

Anyway.

Where do y’all like to hang out, outside of home and work? Are you more of an outdoors or indoors type? Are there many queer or lesbian spaces where you live now? In my previous city, I volunteered at the queer cultural centre and met so many cool people there.

What’s it like for you?

Good Morning!

I've had terrible sleep this week and have come into work earlier just to sit and enjoy a coffee (and banana bread) at a campus cafe. We are in the first week of Spring and the sun is shining at the most beautiful angle.

My workplace is fairly gay-friendly and on mornings like this I would see quite a few couples (students, academics, professional staff) come in and/or walk past.

At my previous place, I was leading a small team of six in a wider department of around twenty. Besides a woman in her 40s, the other five of us (two women, three men) were gay. My boss was also gay, and I'd guess that was mostly the case for the rest of the wider team.

Right now, I'm in a department of around twenty again, and I've only known one other gay colleague. She's a few years younger than me, but we've hung out a few times outside work and get along great.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Do you have a lot of gay colleagues? Or perhaps it's not something you pay attention to, or care about?

Are you visibly gay at work? I usually have an assortment of rainbow paraphernalia with or on me (lanyard, bag, bumper stickers, etc.), so I assume those I’ve not told would have figured it out by now.

Do you feel safe at work? Are your work spaces inclusive and gay-friendly? Or perhaps it doesn't really affect you either way?

I’m curious to hear what it’s like for y’all!