Inclusivity Thread!!! 💗💗

[Barbio]

Happy LGBT+ History Month!

I want to share a couple of books I've read over the past year that have really stuck with me. Both are geared towards middle-school audiences, but there's a lot for adults to appreciate in them, too!

 

 

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh is a graphic novel about a girl who befriends an old lady, who's rumored to be a witch. The story is centered around an interracial lesbian couple in the mid-20th Century, and the events that followed them decades later. There's also some excellent trans representation in this book! It's filled with humor and heartfelt scenes that made me laugh and cry. (It's been roughly a year since I've read it, but I still think about it often because it was just so powerful!)

 

 

The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali is a novel about a young Civil War reenactor who sets out on a project to find LGBT+ voices from the Civil War era. In his research, he finds the story of Albert D.J. Cashier, a civil war veteran who likely would have identified as a transgender man by today's terminology. (Remember I posted about Cashier earlier in this thread? This book was how I learned about him!) The book itself is fiction, but it features real history and real LGBT+ people who were alive during the Civil War, and it's a fascinating read.

 

 

If you're in the U.S. and you'd like to read these books, but can't easily or safely access them in your area, both are available as eBooks through the Queer Liberation Library! QLL is a nonprofit working to provide access to queer literature at a time when many books like these are being banned across the U.S.. Signing up with them is free, but you do need to provide a valid email address and a U.S. zip code in order to get a card. (If you're worried about privacy, you could create a new email address specifically for this and use a ZIP code other than your own, and/or sign up/access their server using a VPN or a different computer. If you've got an old phone that you don't use anymore, that could become your designated QLL phone!)

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Encanto is a 2021 American animated musical fantasy film produced and released by Walt Disney Studios. Encanto follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren, except for Mirabel Madrigal, receive magical gifts from a miracle, which they use to help the people in their rural community, called the Encanto. When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out why and save the family and house.

Encanto celebrates the importance of family and respect for Latin American culture, featuring animated stories about Latinos written by Latinos, with characters voiced by Latinos, and a storyline that actually celebrates Latino communities rather than stereotype Latino. The film was praised for accurately depicting the culture unique to Colombia from accents to outfits to minute details like the hand-painted tableware, the embroidered dresses, the food, the many colors of our skin, even the animals – including the ubiquitous toucan and the yellow butterflies that are synonymous with García Márquez.

Various social media trends surrounding Encanto had people posting videos of their children recognizing themselves for perhaps the first time in the movie's characters. Luisa's physical appearance has been praised for representing muscular women—a departure from Disney's conventionally "feminine" depiction of female protagonists as "small and skinny".

 

Disney's Encanto | Official Trailer - Walt Disney Animation Studios
 

We Don't Talk About Bruno (From "Encanto") - DisneyMusicVEVO

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso, known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cubaduring the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname "La Guarachera de Cuba". In the following decades, she became known internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" due to her contributions to Latin music. She had sold over 30 million records, making her one of the best-selling Latin music artists.

 

The artist began her career in her home country Cuba, earning recognition as a vocalist of the popular musical group Sonora Matancera, a musical association that lasted 15 years. Cruz mastered a wide variety of Afro-Cuban music styles including guaracha, rumba, afro, son and bolero, recording numerous singles in these styles for Seeco Records.

 

In 1960, after the Cuban Revolution caused the nationalization of the music industry, Cruz left her native country, becoming one of the symbols and spokespersons of the Cuban community in exile. Cruz continued her career, first in Mexico, and then in the United States, the country that she took as her definitive residence.

Cruz's legacy had been honored for years before her death, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1987). Through a formidable work ethic, Cruz rose to the very top in her genre. It was announced in December 2005 that a musical called ¡Azúcar! would open in Tenerife before touring the world. The name comes from Cruz's well-known catch phrase of "¡Azúcar!" (“Sugar!”).

 

Rareza Del Siglo (Remastered) - Celia Cruz
 

Celia Cruz - La Vida Es Un Carnaval (Audio)

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Zoë Yadira Saldaña-Perego is an American actress. Known primarily for her work in science fiction film franchises, she has starred in four of the seven highest-grossing films of all time, including the top three (Avatar, Avengers: Endgame and Avatar: The Way of Water). Her accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a SAG Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a Golden Globe Award. Zoë Saldaña was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey, and raised in Queens, New York City. Her parents are Aridio Saldaña, who was Dominican, and Asalia Nazario, who is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. 

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends, and emerged as a teen idol for her leading role as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place. She also voiced Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film franchise. Gomez has produced series such as 13 Reasons, Living Undocumented, and Selena + Chef, and has played a lead role in Only Murders in the Building since 2021.

Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother has Italian ancestry. Gomez's paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey, Mexico in the 1970s. She has called herself "a proud third-generation American-Mexican" and once said "My family does have quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Gomez's Spanish fluency waned after age seven, when she began working on television.

She has released the Spanish EP Revelación and her fourth album I Said I Love You First, with her husband Benny Blanco. Gomez has collaborated on various singles, including "We Don't Talk Anymore", "It Ain't Me", "Wolves", "Taki Taki", and "Calm Down (Remix)", the last of which is widely regarded as the most successful Afrobeats song of all time. Gomez has worked with charitable organizations. She advocates for mental health, and gender, racial, and LGBT equality, and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009.

 

Rema, Selena Gomez - Calm Down (Official Music Video)

 

Selena Gomez - Love You Like A Love Song

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (nicknamed Fluffy) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such and as an actor, he has appeared in numerous live-action and animated TV shows and films. Iglesias was born July 15, 1976, in San Diego, California. He was raised him by a single mother. He is known for his trademark Hawaiian shirts. He is of Mexican heritage. Iglesias often references his weight in his comedy. One of his most well-known sayings is "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy", which he proves by explaining the different "levels" of fatness. The five original levels, according to Iglesias, are "Big", "Healthy", "Husky", "Fluffy", and "DAMN!". A sixth level ("Oh, hell no!") was added in 2009, following its perceived discovery in Las Cruces.

 

Try Not To Laugh | Gabriel Iglesias

 

Gabriel Iglesias prank calls Felipe Esparza.

[Barbio]

I'm a few hours early, but 10/13/25 is Indigenous People's Day! And October is LGBT+ History Month 🌈

 

As a way of recognizing both, I'd like to acknowledge the Two Spirit community. "Two Spirit" is an umbrella term used to recognize LGBT+ Native Americans, although different tribes may use different words to describe these individuals. Basically, "Two Spirit" means "a person with both a masculine and a feminine spirit". While each tribe's culture is unique, many tribes across North America have historically revered and celebrated Two Spirit individuals, and they were often viewed as leaders within their communities. After colonization, Two Spirit individuals in particular were viewed as "an abomination" by many Western religious groups, and many were either killed or forced to assimilate to traditional male/female gender roles. Even today, many tribes still fail to acknowledge their Two Spirit members, due to the colonial mindset of traditional, binary gender roles being instilled upon them for generations.

 

In recent decades, the Two Spirit community has been working to regain that lost recognition within their tribes. Organizations like the Montana Two Spirit Society have hosted gatherings of Two Spirit people for over 25 years, and have been promoting similar events and raising awareness about Two Spirit history across the country. (I recently had the pleasure of attending one of their speaking events!) 

 

It's important to keep in mind that only Native Americans may use the Two Spirit label. Two Spirit individuals view their gender identity and tribal identity as being inseparably intertwined. Not all LGBT+ Native Americans use the Two-Spirit label, and a non-Native American using the term would be considered cultural appropriation. Instead, you are encouraged to look into your own culture's history regarding LGBT+ individuals and see if you can find a label from your own cultural background that fits you!

 

 

The Two Spirit Pride Flag. [Image ID: a rainbow flag with two black and white feathers in the middle. /end ID]

 

 

A video explaining the Two Spirit identity, featuring David Herrera, co-founder & executive director of the Montana Two Spirit Society.

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

 

Coco is a 2017 American animated fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The story follows a 12-year-old boy in Mexico named Miguel Gonzalez who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family and reverse their ban on music.

The concept for Coco is inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. Pixar began developing the animation in 2016. The film's creators and crew actually visited Mexico for research. Composer Michael Giacchino, who had worked on prior Pixar animated features, composed the score. With a cost of $175–225 million, Coco is the first film with a nine-figure budget to feature an all-Latino principal cast.

Coco premiered on October 20, 2017, during the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico. It was theatrically released in Mexico the following week, the weekend before Día de Muertos, and in the United States on November 22, 2017. The film received acclaim for its animation, voice acting, music, visuals, emotional story, and respect for Mexican culture. It grossed over$814 million worldwide, becoming the 15th highest-grossing animated film ever at the time of its release. Coco received two awards at the 90th AcademyAwards and numerous other accolades. The film was chosen by the National Board of Review as the Best Animated Film of 2017. A sequel, titled Coco 2, is currently in development.

 

Coco Official Final Trailer - Pixar

 

Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal - Un Poco Loco (From "Coco") - DisneyMusicVEVO

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HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY!! 💛🪶

 

Why Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

Honoring Indigenous Peoples' Day is an effort to tell the truth about our country's history. Since the '90s, universities, localities, and states have formally replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' or Native Americans' Day. The fight to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day began much earlier (led by Native American and Indigenous people advocating for their voices to be heard) and the movement has grown larger every year.

 

It's also a day to celebrate Native cultures and recognize the fights for justice and autonomy that Native Americans still face. In many cases, the passing of bills to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day have been accompanied by measures to preserve their culture and language, as well as attempts to reconcile wrongs done to their communities.

 

South Dakota 

In 1990, the South Dakota state legislature unanimously passed a measure to honor Native American Day. It was the first state to do so. Since then, the Oceti Sakowin people, which includes the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota, have been celebrated and honored on this day.

Alaska 

Signed into law in 2017, the state of Alaska has recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day ever since. About 18% of Alaska's population are indigenous to the land, and there are 229 federally recognized tribes located within the state. Broadly, this includes the Iñupiat, Athabascan, Yup'ik, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Unangax, and Sugpiaq peoples.

 

Wisconsin 

Wisconsin, home to at least 12 Native nations, declared this day as Indigenous Peoples' Day in October 2019. Many Native communities advocate to recognize this day on the local and state level. Members of the Ho-Chunk Nation for Wausau and Marathon counties to establish their own Indigenous Peoples' Day in May 2019, and students of the Indian Community School in Franklin had advocated for the resolution for many years.

 

New Mexico

Following the lead of cities like Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico passed a bill replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2019. The day celebrates the 23 sovereign nations that reside in the state. Broadly, this includes 19 Pueblos (the Okay Owingeh, Pojoaque, and Taos for example) 3 Apache tribes, and the Navajo Nation.

 

Maine

Maine officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2019. The 4 federally-recognized tribes within the state are Passamaquoddy, the Penobscot, the Houlton Band of Maliseet, and the Mi kmaq Nation, collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations.

 

In 2021, Indigenous Peoples' Day was recognized for the first time as a federal U.S. holiday in a presidential proclamation.

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HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY!! 💛🪶 (continued)

 

Asking Indigenous women what Indigenous Peoples’ Day means to them.

They answered: refusal and resistance

 

"Columbus Day is harmful to our Native Communities because it celebrates the violence, displacement and colonization of our Indigenous people. The loss of Indigenous Stewardship has led to exploitation of natural resources, environmental destruction and climate change." - Tayler Higgins, Yup'ik, Dena'ina & Sugpiaq

 

"I live every day as an Apache & Navajo woman, but this day reminds me of the radical act of joy. The joy in learning our traditional practices, watching our kids play basketball, and sharing meals with one another. A day with a proclamation is another day — but we each have the opportunity to take the day to truly reflect and take a minute to appreciate the resilience of our people.” — Sareya Taylor, Apache & Diné

 

"Indigenous Peoples' Day is so beautiful to me, even though it rose out of opposition to those who still seek to erase us. The necessity for it was forced upon us, but the communities that come together to celebrate IPD every year show us that the resilience of our people is not just in our actions on certain days, but in how we live our everyday lives. As artists, storytellers, educators, community members, and relatives." - Lily Painter, Kiowa & Winnebago

 

“Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not only a remembrance but celebration of who we are, and a reminder that despite everything, we are still here. Our peoples have always moved in rhythm with the land and ocean, adapting, thriving, and teaching care and abundance. It's a day to honor that endurance and the responsibility we carry to those who will come after us.“ - Charitie Ropati, Yup'ik & Samoan

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HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!! 🦋

 

Let’s about the word Hispanic and the colonialism behind that word.

 

The word “Hispanic” was engineered. It comes from Hispano, meaning your culture traces back to Spain. That definition erases centuries of Indigenous civilization before conquest. It sidelines Afro-Latino communities whose roots are in survival and resistance, not Spain. Into the 1930s, anyone brown was counted as “Mexican”. Then, in 1970, the U.S. census invented “Hispanic”. One checkbox for Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central and South Americans. Easier to manage, easier to erase. A label born from colonization, recycled by bureaucracy, and sold as heritage. But heritage is not one box. It is a diaspora. Indigenous, African, Caribbean, Latin American—refusing to be folded into an empire.

 

The term “Hispanic” is rooted in the history of colonization, particularly the impact of Spain on Latin America. It was officially used in the U.S. Census in 1980 to categorize individuals of Spanish-speaking descent, which has sparked discussions about the implications of this terminology. Critics argue that the terms highlights Spain’s colonial power and can obscure the diverse experiences of people from various Latin American countries. In response, alternatives like “Latino/a” and “Latinx” have emerged as better to better reflect the identities of individuals from these regions, acknowledging the complexities of their histories and experiences shaped by colonialism and imperialism.

 

Links talking more about the history: 

 

https://www.facinghistory.org/ideas-week/latinx-vs-hispanic-history-terms
 

https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/the-colonial-roots-and-legacy-of-the-latinxhispanic-labels-a-historical-analysis

[Barbio]

I would just add, a lot of people don't like "Latinx" because the letter "x" doesn't appear that often in the Spanish language, so it doesn't really flow. Some even feel that "Latinx" is just another label created and used by white people, without really reflecting the people that it's meant to represent. Instead, I've seen "Latine" being used more and more frequently- that does flow in Spanish. (Many nonbinary Spanish speakers will add "e" to the end of adjectives to make them gender neutral!)

 

https://hispanicexecutive.com/latinx-latine-explainer/

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Ignore this post.

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HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK!! 💜🤍🖤

 

I think it’s time for some Asexy TikToks. 😏😏😏

 

asexual tiktoks because why the hell not?! ₊˚⊹♡ 

 

Asexual tiktoks because education ain't doing it | cloudykimchi

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HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK!! 💜🤍🖤

 

 

Let’s talk about our beautiful pride flag colors! The flag was created in 2010 by a member of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) 😜 to represent the ace community.

 

🖤 - represents asexuality

🩶 - represents greysexuality and demisexuality (or in other words, representing the grey area between sexual and asexual)

🤍 - represents allosexuals who are sexual allies and/or partners 

💜 - represents the asexual community as a whole

 

Just want to say I genuinely love our flag. I think it’s so beautiful. When I first came across it, I was just finding out I was asexual and idk something about those colors and the way it looked made me feel so safe and connected to it. It felt like my eyes lit up when I saw it! 🤩

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HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK!! 💜🤍🖤

 

Just a little meme that’s circulated around the ace community often. Which one would you be?

If you don’t know, these are basically items or subjects that asexual people tend to like more over sex. Still don’t know where these tropes came from. 😅 I will say though, I have always loved dragons and wanted one since I was a kid. When I came across my first Ace meme that mentioned a dragon, I was pumped!! I knew for certain this was the community I belonged too. 😤😤

So maybe for some of us, the meme isn’t that far off. Not all aces like these things of course. It’s all just a joke amongst the community. And of course, you are still valid as an asexual if you aren’t into any of these things.

[Artemis42]

7 hours ago, lovely_xm07 said:

HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK!! 💜🤍🖤

 

Just a little meme that’s circulated around the ace community often. Which one would you be?

If you don’t know, these are basically items or subjects that asexual people tend to like more over sex. Still don’t know where these tropes came from. 😅 I will say though, I have always loved dragons and wanted one since I was a kid. When I came across my first Ace meme that mentioned a dragon, I was pumped!! I knew for certain this was the community I belonged too. 😤😤

So maybe for some of us, the meme isn’t that far off. Not all aces like these things of course. It’s all just a joke amongst the community. And of course, you are still valid as an asexual if you aren’t into any of these things.

I am simultaneously a cake and garlic bread ace 

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HAPPY (LATE) DISABLED ACE DAY!! 💜🤍🖤

 

Disabled Ace Day, which takes place on Wednesday during Ace Week, is dedicated to awareness, visibility, and celebration of the intersections of Asexuality and Disability and advocates for material and social support of Disabled Aces everywhere.

As with all minority groups, not every Disabled Ace is going to have the same experiences. Therefore, we recommend familiarizing yourself with a variety of facts, stories, and opinions and use #DisabledAceDay to share and amplify these valuable voices.

For those interested, you can learn more about disability and asexuality on the Ace Week website Ace Week website which has a very extensive list of resources.

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HAPPY (LATE) INTERSEX AWARENESS DAY!! 💛💜

 

What Does It Mean To Be Intersex?

Intersex people are born with a variety of differences in their sex traits and reproductive anatomy. According to experts, upper estimates are that nearly 2% of the general population is born with intersex traits (more than the entire population of Japan!). There is a wide variety of difference among intersex variations, including differences in genitalia, chromosomes, gonads, internal sex organs, hormone production, hormone response, and/or secondary sex traits.

Intersex people come from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, faiths, and political ideologies. In addition, intersex people can have many different gender identities. Though some individuals with intersex traits identify with intersex as their gender, the majority don’t--they may identify as male, female, non-binary, or a different gender. 

Intersex individuals may also be transgender if they do not identify with the gender with which they were raised. The same breadth of sexualities seen in the general population are also represented in the intersex community. Most of all, intersex people face similar bias and fear of difference that faces the entire LGBTQ+ community. As such, intersex people are valuable members of our communities who deserve recognition and respect.

 

Here’s a video:

The way we think about biological sex is wrong | Emily Quinn

 

Some other stories from Intersex people:

https://intersexday.org/en/

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HAPPY NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!! 🍁

 

 

Quannah ChasingHorse is an American model, activist, and actress. She is Sicangu Lakota and Hän Gwich'inand has appeared on the 2020 Teen Vogue list of Top 21 under 21.

ChasingHorse was interested in modeling and fashion from a young age but, due to the lack of Indigenous representation she saw in magazines and fashion shows, did not think it was feasible as a career. She has since been featured on the covers of Vogue Mexico, Vogue Japan, V Magazine, Elle, and Porter.

ChasingHorse can be visually recognized for her traditional Alaskan Native face tattoos called Yidįįłtoo, which was tattooed by Jody Potts-Joseph. She celebrates indigenous fashion and promotes sustainable indigenous brands. Her red carpet look at the Gilded Age-themed Met Gala in May 2022 went viral on social media. 

ChasingHorse is a fourth-generation land protector for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of the Alaska Wilderness League. At age 17, she sat on the International Gwich’in Youth Council, traveling to Washington, D.C., New York, and Colorado. She lobbied against oil leasing that would damage the refuge and supported HR 11-46, a bill that would permanently protect the land. She participated in climate rallies both locally and in Denver. She has spoken on climate action and indigenous rights at a number of events and panels.

[Aro-Acing It]

HAPPY TRANSGENDER AWARENESS MONTH!!! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

 

 

Dua Saleh is a non-binary Muslim Sudanese-American singer and actor in Minnesota. Xe uses xe/xim/xyr and they/them pronouns. Xe released xyr debut EP in 2019 and xyr first studio album in 2024. Xe is also well-known for xyr role as Cal Bowman in the Netflix series "Sex Education." 

 

Saleh immigrated to the United States from Sudan as a child and was very interested in poetry. When xe attended Augsburg University, xe found an interest in music and released a demo in 2017. Xe quickly began to work with Psymun, a local producer, and performed music live, including xyr 2019 EP. Xe sings rap, pop, and R&B, and xyr music is influenced by Sudanese music, 1940s jazz, 1990s hip-hop, and the music of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight. Saleh said that one of the reasons why xe makes music is because, "in Sudan, there's a lot of queer, trans, and non-binary people who are closeted, so I try to put out as much content that's like, the gay and trans agenda, as possible!" 

 

Along with singing and writing poetry, Saleh has also acted in the 2018 production of Waafrika 123. Xe was also cast as Cal Bowman in the third season of Sex Education and returned for the 2023 fourth season. 

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HAPPY NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!! 🍁

 

 

Gregg Deal is a Pyramid Lake Paiute artist and activist whose work deals with "Indigenous identity and pop culture, touching on issues of race relations, historical consideration and stereotype".

Deal's activism exists in his art, as well as his participation in political movements. He has been heavily involved with the #changethename movement, which addresses the Native American mascot controversy and has appeared on an episode of Totally Biased with Kamau Bell as well as The Daily Show with John Stewart. He created a #changethename video on Vimeo to invite Indigenous people to weigh in on the mascot issue in response to what he perceived as mainstream media's failure to include Indigenous voices within the discussion.

 

Here is some of his work:

 

 

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I actually got to meet him at my college a couple weeks ago! He was really cool and taught us a lot about his work and activism.

Here are some more of his work:

 

 

 

 

 

[lovely_xm07]

Sorry, I just find his work so cool and at times humorous.

Fun Fact (I learned this when I met him): That first photo I posted is his kid. They identify as nonbinary and Gregg and his family fully respect and honor their pronouns and identity. That shirt they are wearing is their favorite band. The band found out about this painting, met them and Gregg, and were able to amplify the message of this painting even more. The message being the red hand mark of their mouth, a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HAPPY NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!! 🍁

 

 

This GORGEOUS woman is Lily Catherine Gladstone! She’s an American actress. Raised on the Blackfeet Reservation, Gladstone is of Piegan Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European heritage. They earned critical acclaim for portraying Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman who survived the Osage Indian murders, in Martin Scorsese's crime drama film Killers of the Flower Moon, receiving several accolades. She became the first Native American to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Gladstone made their feature film debut in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, and collaborated with filmmaker Kelly Reichardt on the independent films Certain Women and First Cow. She also appeared in the television series Room 104, Billions, and Reservation Dogs. Their performance in the crime drama miniseries Under the Bridge earned her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Gladstone goes by both "she" and "they" pronouns. She explained in 2023, "In most Native languages, most Indigenous languages, Blackfeet included, there are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there's only they... my pronoun use is partly a way of decolonizing gender for myself." Gladstone is "middle-gendered" and a member of the LGBTQ community. Gladstone stated in 2025 that she "can’t put a label on" her sexual orientation, and referred to herself as queer, pansexual, straight, and demisexual.

[lovely_xm07]

HAPPY TRANSGENDER AWARENESS MONTH!! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

 

 

In 1975, a Black trans woman modeled for a box of hair dye!!! 50 years ago, Model Tracey Norman was featured on Clairol's Nice 'n Easy, No 512, a shade of dark auburn, hair dye box. At the time, nobody knew she was trans. Tracey was being booked for very prestigious modeling opportunities and became quite successful in the modeling world during the 1970's, all while remaining quiet about her assigned gender at birth due to fear of no longer being accepted and hired in the community. 

In 1980, while on set for a magazine photoshoot, her hairdresser's assistant outed her to the editor. The career she had worked so hard to build was instantly ended in that moment. Not even being paid for the photoshoot she had already completed that day. 30 years later in 2016, Clairol invited Tracey back as the star of its latest campaign, 'Color As Real As You Are, giving her the chance to model for the brand again... this time without harboring any secrets and being embraced for exactly who she is.

"My DNA and my brain have always said that I was a woman. That's how I carried myself. That's how I talked. That's how I walked. That's how I lived my life, as a woman. That's how I was able to work as a model. I was a woman going in getting the job as a woman. Once they found out, of course, my work stopped because the timing of it was so unheard of and so frightening for them that it was like "Wow. Now what do we do?" I was the first woman of color to do this, so that's what made it even more, within the black modeling community, really scandalous." - Tracey "Africa" Norman

[lovely_xm07]

HAPPY NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!! 🍁

 

 

Since it’s Election Day here in the U.S., let’s talk about the history of voting rights for Native Americans.

Native Americans have a long history of fighting for their voting rights as U.S. citizens. Even after the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, Indigenous people in the U.S. were not guaranteed the right to vote. In fact, discriminatory laws implemented by some state governments actively worked to suppress Native American voting rights for years.

Native Americans were often forced to fight for the right to vote state-by-state. The last state to guarantee Native American voting rights was Utah in 1962. However, even as Indigenous people won these victories, they still struggled against many of the same discriminatory practices that African Americans faced, such as poll taxes and literacy tests.

In 1965, the historic Voting Rights Act outlawed many discriminatory practices that denied U.S. citizens the ability to vote based on their race. And thanks to subsequent legislation in 1970, 1975, and 1982, their voting protections were further strengthened and empowered. But with the Voting Rights Act continuously weakened by Supreme Court rulings in the last few years, some voting protections may be diminished, and will likely affect minority voters — like Native Americans — the most. 

As Native Americans hung on to their disappearing lands and their endangered cultures, the U.S. government sought various ways to force the surviving tribes away from their traditional way of life. Under President Andrew Jackson, who passed the harmful Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee tribes east of the Mississippi River were forcefully removed from their territories and relocated to the “Indian colonization zone” in the West. 

Up to 100,000 Indigenous people were forced to make this move, with some “bound in chains and marched double file” as they made the journey on foot. This brutal removal of Native Americans from their homelands became known as the Trail of Tears. Some 15,000 people died along the way. In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed, which provided for the dissolution of “Native American tribes as legal entities and the distribution of tribal lands.”

 

 

Throughout the following decades, Native Americans were forced to assimilate into the country’s white society. This included the formation of “assimilation” schools, where young Native Americans were forbidden from practicing their cultural traditions and forced to learn white customs. These schools were meant, as Carlisle Indian School founder Richard Henry Pratt put it, to “kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” It was a way to further strip Indigenous nations of their identities and their rights. 

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted Native Americans born in the United States the right to U.S. citizenship. But many saw this as a way to further assimilate Native Americans into white society and break up Indigenous nations.

Furthermore, this act did not guarantee Native American voting rights — as the government allowed the states to decide whether to grant Indigenous people the vote or not. Since authorities in several states did not want Indigenous people voting, many Native Americans remained disenfranchised due to discriminative policies enacted by state governments.

In blatant violation of the Indian Citizenship Act, Colorado denied voting rights to Native Americans in 1937 by claiming that they weren’t really citizens. In Utah, Native Americans who lived on reservations weren’t technically considered “state residents” until 1956. And in Minnesota, voters were required to be “civilized” before they could go to the polls.

As Native Americans fought for their voting rights for much of the 20th century, they slowly racked up victories — but they still weren’t able to vote in every state until 1962. And it wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that any laws that “deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color” were finally outlawed for good. 

But even then, the piece of legislation appeared to mostly address the discrimination against African American voters. So some questioned whether it even applied to Native Americans. It took about 10 years before a civil rights commission report revealed cases of Native Americans being denied the right to vote. Finally, no one could deny this was a problem.

The long history of systemic discrimination against Native Americans has had lasting ramifications to this day. Studies show that Native Americans and Alaskan Natives still have the lowest voter turnout in the U.S., which partially stems from their low voter registration rates. This lack of civic participation among Native Americans is fueled by numerous barriers that still exist for Indigenous people, such as ID and address requirements for voter registration, voting roll purges, and even a lack of resources to reach their designated polling sites.

(Phew! 😮‍💨 Long one)

[daveb]

Thanks for laying out that information! We do have a lot of shameful history, and it needs to be spotlighted.  

[Barbio]

Acknowledging our history is the first step towards making our country better. It annoys me when people think that telling the truth about American history will only make people hate America, when in fact, not telling the truth and trying to cover it up actually makes people hate America more once they find out they've been lied to. I'd rather know the truth and try to make amends for it here in the present than pretend that nothing was ever wrong.

[daveb]

1 minute ago, Barbio said:

Acknowledging our history is the first step towards making our country better. It annoys me when people think that telling the truth about American history will only make people hate America, when in fact, not telling the truth and trying to cover it up actually makes people hate America more once they find out they've been lied to. I'd rather know the truth and try to make amends for it here in the present than pretend that nothing was ever wrong.

Exactly.