A Love Letter
So I made this little piece a few months back while goofing around with some footage I shot at LA's very first Downtown Proud Festival and shared it around briefly to friends on National Coming Out Day but honestly didn't feel like it was all too special or all too important for sharing elsewhere (like Vimeo).
Cut to present day and boy has the temperament changed. Initially, I found the juxtaposition of Ms. Thatcher's painfully dated speech a bittersweet companion to the celebratory, modern imagery as it conveys just how beautiful my fellow queer family is and also how wholeheartedly misrepresented / misunderstood we've been described for decades.
Personally, there's just something so cathartic and relatable hearing her spout about keeping children away from the topic of homosexuality while watching fully formed humans shamelessly reveling in their own skin. Feels even more poignant now when so much of what we've worked towards is so up in the air.
Lastly, I'd like to comment on the title. One of the things I love most about my LGBTQ+ community is how we reclaim painful artifacts (words, symbols, etc.) and breathe our power into them which not only honors the historical pain from those before us but more importantly, it dilutes the chance of someone else using it against us. Personally speaking, I never used to utter the word faggot after I survived middle school. That word haunted the hell out of me and it wasn't until the end of college when I started to come around to it as a way to reclaim the years when that word taunted me.
This piece may be short, but it is oh-so-sweet and oh-so-necessary to share here now, for celebrating our strong queerness is more important than ever in my opinion.
Thanks to all who make up my glorious queer family. You make life so worthwhile.
🌈