Thread by @VABVOX

Happy #Pride
I was expelled from my all-girls high school for being a #lesbian & put in a mental hospital for #conversiontherapy.

I became an #LGBT activist to prevent that from happening to other girls like I was.
Yet conversion therapy is still legal.

Happy #Pride
I memorialize every #lesbian who died hidden in the shadows because of #homophobia, who was forced into compulsory heterosexuality, who was made to live a lie. You deserved better. We honor you by making a safer world for lesbians today. Amen.
🏳️‍🌈🖤❤️💜💙💚🧡💛

On #Pride I think of the #lesbian who became my mentor. She propelled me forward into lesbian #feminist writing. #AudreLorde opened a door for me I didn't know existed. I am so grateful she was in my life and left such a legacy for #lesbians.
lambdaliterary.org/features/oped/… …

When Nancy Garden died, the @nytimes failed to print an obit for her. Mine was the only obit out there until the NYT was shamed into reporting her death.
This is why #Pride matters--because #lesbians are so easily and readily erased, still, in 2018.
lambdaliterary.org/features/rem/0… …

One of America's greatest poets was a #lesbian--#AdrienneRich. When she died March 27, 2012, I wrote this tribute to her, illuminating her work & life.
On #Pride we celebrate lesbian foremothers like her.

Diving into the Wreck: Remembering Adrienne Rich
lambdaliterary.org/features/rem/0…

#Lesbians have been with us for centuries. This sweet couple was photographed in 1907.
#Pride is for celebrating our history.

🏳️‍🌈❤️💜💙💚🧡💛🖤

On #Pride we must remember that so many lesbians are still at risk, everywhere.
In South Africa, #lesbians are victims of #correctiverape & murder, just for being gay.
I wrote about it here:
advocate.com/commentary/201…

#Pride reminds us #lesbians have a long history in America and elsewhere.
19th c lesbians lived together in what were called #BostonMarriages. Some have tried to de-gay them and erase our history.

On #Pride celebrate our #lesbian icons.
#BarbaraJordan was the 1st black member of Congress since Reconstruction, a civil rights icon & lesbian.

#Pride celebrates all our achievements.
#Lesbians are rising in global politics, fighting back against right-wing populism.
#AnaBrnabi, 42, is the new Prime Minister of #Serbia.
She is an out #lesbian.

With #immigration the resounding issue, on #Pride, recognize the life of #GloriaAnzaldua. A Chicana scholar, writer, sociologist, activist, #lesbian. Her voice was so strong--I wish she were still here to raise her voice for lesbian immigrants, today.

On #Pride celebrate #lesbian #JaneAddams. She was one of America's most vital voices for change, for equality, for the suppressed voices of poor women, especially immigrants.
Addams founded modern social work, cofounded the #ACLU, won the #NobelPeacePrize.

Democratic women have long been in the forefront of radical change in America.
#DrAliceHamilton was a physician, scientist, social reformer & #lesbian. Her work created #OSHA. Hamiliton focused on the health of #immigrant women.
Celebrate her on #Pride

On #Pride we recognize all our #lesbian icons.
#MphoTutuVanFurth is an Anglican priest, feminist activist, daughter of #DesmondTutu & lesbian.
She is married to academic scholar #MarcelineVanFurth.

On #Pride remember our warrior women.
Our #lesbian history spans all continents. #QuiJin 秋瑾 was a Chinese scholar, revolutionary, feminist, writer, warrior & #lesbian. She was executed July 15, 1907 at 31.

On #Pride remember the women who have been erased most often in our society--the First Nations women.
#Chrystos is a #NativeAmerican/indigenous poet, activist, two-spirit, #lesbian.
❤️💜💙💚🧡💛🖤🏳️‍🌈

On #Pride we celebrate our artists and activists.
#LenoreChinn is an Asian-American painter, activist & #lesbian. Chinn co-founded the Lesbians in the Visual Arts and Queer Cultural Center (QCC) in San Francisco. Chinn gives lectures on lesbians & art.

Here is another painting by Asian-American #lesbian artist #LenoreChinn because I ❤️
her work so much. She focuses on images of minorities and lesbians.
#Pride

On #Pride we fight the erasure of #lesbians.
#EndomoniaWildfireLewis was an African American sculptor. She moved abroad to live freely as a lesbian and her classical work is in museums worldwide.

Here is one of #EndomoniaWildfireLewis's sculptures. She worked primarily in marble. This piece is titled "The Death of Cleopatra." She sculpted images of women of history as well as women of her own time. She died in 1907.
#Pride

Another sculpture by African American #lesbian sculptor #EndomoniaWildfireLewis. A bust of her lover titled "Portrait of a Woman," 1873. Look at the gorgeous detail in the bodice. All sculpted from marble.
#Pride

This one will really upset the #MAGA folks.
#KatherineLeeBates was a poet, educator & #lesbian. She wrote #AmericaTheBeautiful, a better national anthem than the one that we currently have.
#Pride

Here's the real #SpaceForce:
#SallyRide was an astrophysicist, astronaut, first American woman in space & a #lesbian.
Happy #Pride

#PratibhaParmar is a British filmmaker, here with ##PulitzerPrize winner #AliceWalker. They worked together on a film about #FGM and on a film about Walker's life. Each woman--both #lesbians--is iconic as both artist and activist.
#Pride

#AdrienneRich won myriad awards for her poetry. She was a life-long leftist feminist activist. Her partner of 36yrs is writer Jamaican-American writer Michelle Cliff, whose work "Claiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise" is sheer brilliance.
#Pride

On #Pride it is vital that #lesbians tell our own stories, claim our own achievements, refute the insistence lesbians erase themselves.

I was the 1st out lesbian with a daily newspaper column on #LGBT issues, which was nominated for the #PulitzerPrize.

When my novel #OrdinaryMayhem was published, Paige Cohen interviewed me. I spoke about how vital #lesbian writing & visibility are, how homophobic violence impacts lesbians. (The novel won the IPPY & Lambda Literary Award.)
#Pride
lambdaliterary.org/features/03/30… …

Bisexual Mexican artist #FridaKahlo and Costa Rican lesbian singer #ChavelaVargas, 1945
(I love this photo--Kahlo suffered extreme pain much of her life after a disabling accident she barely survived. She's so happy here.)
#Pride

For International Women's Day, Mattel debuted their first bisexual Barbie, which I wrote about here. A true #Pride moment (although they erased her disability).

#FridaKahlo, Renowned Artist, Is Your New Barbie curvemag.com/Culture/Frida-…
#Pride

I'm not sure where this is from, but I applaud the message.
No matter how much homophobic bullies like Trump and #SarahHuckabeeSanders and others try to suppress, oppress and erase us, we are here, we will support and strengthen each other.
#Pride