Editor's note: This is part of our Queer Love Letters series, where we asked our community to help in spreading joy this Pride season. Learn how to share a love letter here!
To my fellow proud polyamorous punks, gender failures and queers for Palestine,
Anyone who knows Spokane knows that this isn’t the kind of city that is exactly friendly to our type. We who make out with two people of indistinguishable genders at once in Nyne; we who show our bare chests at Pride (even if they are “female presenting”); we who cry and scream for our collective liberation; we who protest every month to liberate our Palestinian neighbors; we who distribute material aid to our neighbors, even when we are barely affording rent ourselves.
This is for you: my comrades, my friends, my lovers. We create our own spaces. You’ve all shown me that it is possible to hold multiple (sometimes contradictory) truths at once. You inspire me and energize me, you keep me going. You’ve introduced me to some amazing reads, from the Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb (lesbian space necromancy sci-fi) to the essay “Decolonization is not a metaphor” by Tuck et al to adrienne maree brown’s amazing non-fiction (Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, etc). You’ve shown me the coolest spots to hangout in this city without having to pay just to exist there. You give me the courage to be a bit more myself every day.
Without all of you, it would be impossible to be who I am publicly. Respectability politics have taken a strong hold over the queer communities in this country, especially in conservative cities like Spokane. I know many of us are afraid, and it can be easy to capitulate and dilute the true nature of our identities and beliefs. But together we can show the world that not all queer people want a nuclear family and marriage and property and a picket fence: some of us want to marry multiple partners/friends, many of us are disabled and not represented (even now) in Pride spaces, many of us are impacted by carceral, oppressive systems and many BIPOC members of our community are actively ostracized by queer white folks.
As the political situation in this country becomes increasingly hostile to trans folks and non-conforming queer folks (especially BIPOC and disabled queers), I’m so glad to be surrounded by people who care. Seeing each of you grow further into your amazing queer selves is the privilege of a lifetime.
Keep fighting, keep learning, keep growing. Y’all know who you are and I love you more than I could express in words.
In love and solidarity,
Adir Blüm
