Quilts and Queers

And this is why it’s important to include queer characters in books. 

dorothy-snarker:

“Glee” has a problem. Well, “Glee” has more than one problem. It’s got 99 and then some. But today I plan to bitch about one in particular. You see, “Glee” has a meta problem – a big one. That is, it is intensely aware of itself and self-referential. And even more so, it has started to essentially apologize for its own flaws on the show. In essence it is a show, apologizing for the show, about a show choir. ….

Yes, “Glee,” very good. You’ve located the problem. But, alas, herein lies the rub. “Glee” may be meta and apologize for its shortcomings, but if it then doesn’t do anything to change its shortcomings, it doesn’t really matter. Saying you’re sorry and still doing it anyway doesn’t make things better. ….

READ THE UNBEARABLE META OF GLEE IN FULL HERE

powerpussysays:

pour vous, balalaikaboss! :D

side note: if any of you has an idea for a caption, or any submission of any kind, please direct it to our inbox! we love you, and we love your ideas! don’t be strangers now, ya hear?

the-nightkind:

fourteenacross:

brilligspoons:

wecouldliveonthesun:

becauseproperteaistheft:

fuckyeahfanficflamingo:

[DISCOVER SLASH (fanfic Flamingo) BECOME GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST]

I hate fandom.  Fuck this.

this can be a lot more complex than the meme makes it out to be, though. i’ve lived my whole life in a conservative fundamentalist family and culture, and yeah. it was fandom and fanfiction that made me start rethinking everything i’d been told about queer people. it was fandom and fanfiction that allowed me to start exploring my own queerness. so i don’t read this as just LOLZZ GAY BOYS ARE HOT THEY SHLD TOTES BE GETTING MARRIED or whatever. there’s a lot of life-changing truth to this for me.

i agree with the above - i spent the first 18 years of my life in what is essentially a religious cult, and fandom is the thing that helped me keep an open mind WRT queer culture. i wouldn’t have had any exposure whatsoever to gay rights, etc. without it. i’m definitely not saying that this is the norm, but. you know. :\

I totally get how annoying it is when fandom kids assume they can’t be homophobic or whatever because they’re slash fans, but I have to agree with the above. I come from an incredibly liberal family who never so much as batted an eyelash when I came out, but still, fandom was my first real exposure to narratives about queer characters. Reading and writing slash from an early age made me much more comfortable with queer relationships and thus left me self-aware enough to realize and acknowledge my own queerness openly.

Like I said, my family is very liberal and accepting and great and I’m sure that somewhere along the line I would have gotten that exposure and things would have clicked in my head, but because of my exposure to fandom and slash when I was young, (Very young. I started writing fic when I was ten.) by the time I was fourteen and realizing that I was mostly attracted to women, I was already deeply involved in a community where that was accepted and nurtured and respected.

So, yes, people who use their involvement in fandom as the basis for all their knowledge of gay rights are annoying, but it really is a community that fosters the acceptance and acknowledgement of the importance of queer stories and queer identities and, for a lot of people, it’s the only one they know and have access to. It’s the only place that some kids see that being queer is normal and okay and that queer people deserve the same rights as everyone else.

If being a slash fan makes one previously unaware person say, “No, wait, the attack on gay rights is fucking bullshit!” for the first time, I kind of think it’s worth it.

I agree whole heartedly with the above post! I came from a family of open minded individuals but I never really thought much on it until my best friend introduced me to slash fanfic, and fanfic/fandom in general. I was about 10 at the time. 

After so much time of reading and being aware of slash and femslash, it just showed that there was nothing wrong with being gay. NOTHING! Love is love. And it’s beautiful wherever and in whomever you find it.

Slash fanfic and fandom helped me become a more open and understanding person. It made me believe in pure, non gender discriminating love. It made me realize that I was able to love both men and women, so I am nothing but grateful.

Who cares how people are brought the the cause? They’re here. That’s what matters.

See, I discovered slash and became a lesbian… But there you go. 

http://www.afterellen.com/tv/does-lesbian-subtext-still-matter