Happy August, y’all! Take a break with the top queer stories today, including Beyoncé’s tribute to a killed gay dancer, Nazis protesting a Pride event and more.
1. Doc Martens faces Bud Light–esque backlash after featuring trans person on shoes
2. Tributes and outrage in the wake of stabbing of O’Shae Sibley
3. Nazis terrorize Wisconsin Pride event
4. Virginia trans kids anxious for school year with uncertainty around anti-trans policies
5. Erie, Pennsylvania, has declared itself a queer sanctuary city
1. Doc Martens faces Bud Light–esque backlash after featuring trans person on shoes
Doc Martens is receiving transphobic backlash after creating a custom pair of shoes featuring a trans person with top-surgery scars. The shoes aren’t being sold and can only be won in a contest; this has not stopped right-wingers from criticizing the brand for promoting “wokeness,” echoing criticisms of Bud Light, Target, Kohl’s and Maybelline, who have featured queer people in their campaigns. The shoes, meanwhile, are pretty cute: they’re by Jess Vosseteig, a queer illustrator from Colorado, who describes her style as “positive, bright and super colourful.”
2. Tributes and outrage in the wake of stabbing of O’Shae Sibley
Tributes and outrage are pouring in in the wake of the killing of O’Shae Sibley, a gay man and dancer. Sibley was stabbed to death at a gas station in New York after he and his friends were voguing to songs from Beyoncé’s Renaissance. A group of men had called them homophobic slurs; Sibley confronted them before they killed him.
Beyoncé herself joined in, posting a tribute to Sibley on her website. The front page shows a black screen and reads simply: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley.” A choreographer and dancer, Sibley was described in tributes as “funny, unique and charismatic” and “a peacemaker.”
3. Nazis terrorize Wisconsin Pride event
Nazis protested a Pride event in Wisconsin on Saturday, brandishing swastikas and shouting homophobic slurs. The event was Watertown’s annual Pride in the Park event, where the group of Nazis came dressed in all black and chanted “Us or the pedophiles” and “There will be blood, blood, blood.”
Officials quickly condemned the group, with Wisconsin governor Tony Evers saying that the group “chose to disrupt, intimidate and harass kids, people and families who were attending a local Pride event aimed at celebrating and honouring the LGBTQ2S+ community.” The event’s organizers said that the protesters weren’t there for long, however, and people were able to continue celebrating.
4. Virginia trans kids anxious for school year with uncertainty around anti-trans policies
Trans and non-binary kids attending Virginia public schools are bracing for a new school year in which schools can opt in to an anti-trans policy—and it isn’t quite clear whether they will. Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration last month announced new guidelines for schools that would bar trans kids from using the correct bathroom, and would require that they get parental permission to be referred to with their name and pronouns. There are, however, no repercussions if schools choose not to follow these guidelines—creating anxiety for trans students, who don’t know what rules they will need to follow just weeks before the school year starts.
“We’ve now got a lot of kids who can’t enjoy their last few weeks of summer break because they’re wondering if they’re going to be deadnamed, or misgendered or bullied at school,” Narissa Rahaman, the executive director of Equality Virginia, told Huffpost.
5. Erie, Pennsylvania, has declared itself a queer sanctuary city
Erie, Pennsylvania’s City Council declared a resolution last month to act as a sanctuary city for queer people, acknowledging the anti-queer bills being considered in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and urging the police to make enforcing anti-queer laws “their lowest priority.” Councilwoman Susannah Faulkner headed up the resolution; Kansas City, Missouri, and West Hollywood have adopted similar policies.
The resolution comes after some Erie residents complained about LGBTQ2S+ books in the children’s section at the library, with librarians eventually removing all displays of books in the library in protest. Erie joins cities like Lawrence, Kansas, and states like California in pledging to be a safe haven for queer folks.
🌈 Bonus good news (because we need it!) 🌈
Thirty years ago, an iconic piece of lesbian history entered the world: k.d. lang and Cindy Crawford on the cover of Vanity Fair!
Petition to bring back more overtly homoerotic magazine cover shoots!
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