Gloromeien's Sanctuary

in aotearoa, june isn’t our pride, it’s theirs. marsha p johnson and sylvia rivera are their historical figures, not ours. the phrase that “you owe your rights to Black trans women” is true there, but here we owe our rights to (mostly) Māori historical figures. i have the freedoms i do because of the legacy of an entirely different set of people operating in an entirely different context at entirely different times.

But because of american cultural imperialism, most queer people in Aotearoa don’t even know our own queer history. Carmen Rupe, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the Dorian Society, Gillian Laundon, Georgina Beyer, and the Wolfenden Association are some of our queer history. We should know their names! we should know what they did for us! but because of the power of the american imperial machine, we don’t.

our national pride month should be july, the month that the Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in 1986. our two largest cities hold their pride festivals in february and march, respectively. american queer history has very little (or nothing, depending on who you ask) to do with our queer history. anecdotally, from my own queries, queer youth in aotearoa know more about american queer history than our own.

gq i love you & thank you🛐

In my headcanon, which I use to establish that Sarah speaks Gaeilge, she was born and raised on one of the Aran Islands as Sorcha—she chose the nickname Sarah later on, perhaps when traveling to the mainland of Ireland, or when metting Joseph, or when emigrating to the United States. Now, why the Aran Islands? First, they're truly beautiful and fit perfectly with my image of Sarah's childhood and how her personality was formed. Second, as far as I've researched, the Aran Islands are a good way to explain why Sarah speaks Gaeilge without losing historical credibility (not that your fic can't be historically inaccurate, but if you want it to be accurate — or as close as possible —, this is a good option). The Aran Islands are a Gaeltacht (an area where the Irish government recognizes Gaeilge as the predominant vernacular — this grants the language official status as the medium of all official services, including education). In fact, until the late 20th century, an unusually high rate of Gaeilge monolingualism was observed among older inhabitants, largely due to the isolating nature of traditional trades and the islands' isolation from mainland Ireland throughout history.

Now, the question is whether Sarah would have taught Steve Gaeilge or not — everyone can make up their own mind about that and consider the reasons behind her decision. My personal headcanon is that Steve learnt to speak, read and write Gaeilge, but Sarah taught him that he should only speak it with trusted people in trusted places. It should also be noted that the Irish language spoken by Steve would not have been exactly the same as that spoken in the 21st century.

In this world where everything feels focus-tested and polished to such an inhuman sheen, it feels so refreshing to see something a bit less perfect and a bit more raw.