Hello World, it's Eli.

#55

We're back, baby.

This was a long time coming and there's a long road ahead, but there will be BRAND NEW HELLO WORLD COMICS every day this week, including another new one tonight! This character gave me my first real platform and I'm not done with him yet, he just needed a little facelift to keep going ☺️

I hope everyone can understand that this is coming after a lot of work and soul-searching. I'm really, really excited to be making comics again, and I hope you'll support the new Eli on all of our upcoming pun-filled shenanigans ❤️

It's been a hot minute, Tumblr. In my absence I've been posting all of my new work on Hello World's Facebook page, and I published my first book People of Pride! More coming soon for this side of the internet, or you can find out more right now on my Facebook ✨

Where you can find me on the interwebs:

Announcement!

I've been hard at work on my first official zine collection! "Hello World, It's Eli: Featuring Dogs, Dysphoria, & Dinosaurs - Oh My!" is an 18-page zine jam-packed with all of my favorite comics since the inception of the strip, surrounded by wild collaging & tidbits of LGBTQ+ education. It's available for pre-order below (all preorder copies will be signed 😉), I'll be selling physical copies at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference on August 2nd-4th, & as soon as I can figure out how to compress a PDF there will be a downloadable PDF option! I'm so excited about this & can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!

Click for Zine!

People of Pride #21 & #22: Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin

In honor of the 3-year anniversary of marriage equality in the United States, I wanted to highlight a passionate lesbian couple who helped make marriage equality a tangible reality! Theirs was the first same-sex wedding to take place in San Francisco in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city clerks to issue marriage certificates to everyone, but that marriage was voided by the California Supreme Court later that year. Never taking “no” for an answer, Lyon & Martin would become the first same-sex couple to marry in California after marriage equality was legalized there on June 16th, 2008. Read more about them here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gay-marriage-is-legal-in-california/

http://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/phyllis-lyon-del-martin/

People of Pride #20: Jose Sarria

Jose Sarria ruled the streets of San Francisco both as Jose and as the “Nightingale of Montgomery Street”, read more about his lasting impacts here:

https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Honoring-a-gay-pioneer-s-contribution-to-San-2496252.php

People of Pride #19: Alice Walker

Alice Walker is a fierce, bisexual, african american poet and author. You’ve almost certainly heard of her most popular works, but read more about what else she has done here:

https://www.biography.com/people/alice-walker-

People of Pride #17: Jim Toy

It isn’t often that I’m given the opportunity to write about someone who created change so close to home, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to spotlight Jim Toy of the Ann Arbor area. He created radical change for university students across the country, read more here:

https://www.jimtoycenter.org/about-jim-toy

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/billi-gordon-phd/jim-toy-advocate-extraord_b_9343334.html

People of Pride #16: Larry Kramer

Larry Kramer is impossible to ignore. Loud, passionate, and dedicated to the causes of LGBT+ History & AIDS eradication, Kramer co-founded some of the largest AIDS organizations in the world, wrote countless books and plays about the real lives of people with AIDS, and never stopped fighting for the advancement, success, and safety of LGBT+ people in NYC and beyond. Read more about his crucial involvement in the AIDS crisis here:

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/aids-activist-larry-kramer-stigma-patient-zero-myth-n676841

http://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/larry-kramer/

People of Pride #15: Storme DeLarverie

*It is important to note that while researching powerful LGBT+ people from the past, it can be complicated to label their identities with words we currently understand while respecting who they were in their own time. While Storme may have used different identifying terms now, I am respecting her own choice of identity - a lesbian, woman, drag king.*

Storme DeLaverie was the fierce biracial, butch lesbian who threw the first punch at Stonewall, igniting years of passionate LGBT+ activism. From being one of the first “male impersonators”, to patrolling the streets of New York City until she was 85 to protect young LGBT+ people, Storme’s legacy of badassery lives on in modern LGBT+ activism. Read more about her here:

https://www.them.us/story/drag-king-cabaret-legend-activist-storme-delarverie

People of Pride #14: Harvey Milk

Important historical clarification:

While Harvey Milk is often incorrectly regarded as the first openly-gay candidate to be elected to public office, the actual first openly-gay elected official was Kathy Kozachenko (from my city of Ann Arbor, Michigan!), who (while virtually unknown) won a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council in 1974. You can read more about her election here

Harvey Milk fought for the respect and representation of all citizens. He encouraged LGBT+ people around the country to come out of the closet and to bring the support of their friends, families, and neighbors to the fight for equality. Harvey Milk was assassinated on November 27, 1978, and the community’s response is regarded as one of the most peaceful reactions to violence a community has ever expressed. In the years since, there have been hundreds of openly LGBT public officials in America but the fight continues. To read more about Harvey Milk and to learn about the foundation created in his name, click here.

People of Pride #13: Brenda Howard

Brenda Howard was, by all standards, a badass. Regarded as the mother of modern-day pride, Howard worked furiously to organize pride events and groups around the country that celebrated the inclusion of bisexual people (not just Gay & Lesbian) in the LGBTQ+ community. Learn more about all of Brenda Howard’s activist badassery here:

https://www.advocate.com/bisexuality/2014/06/17/remembering-brenda-ode-‘mother-pride’

https://www.autostraddle.com/idol-worship-brenda-howard-bisexual-curmudgeon-and-mother-of-pride-178878/

People of Pride #12: Lou Sullivan

Living his life as an out gay trans man, Lou was able to create community. Through his life, work, and visibility, he left behind a legacy for trans people around the world. Learn more about why he worked so tirelessly for the trans community here:

https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/5/21/lou-sullivan

https://ew.com/article/2016/02/26/lou-sullivan-gay-transgender-pioneer-short-film/

People of Pride #11: Technical Sargent Leonard Matlovich

Leonard Matlovich had no intention of becoming an activist - until his face was on the cover of Time magazine behind a headline that read “I am a Homosexual” in 1975. He spent the next decade advocating loudly for equal treatment and opportunities in the military, & education and research for HIV/AIDS. Read more about his impact here:

https://www.npr.org/2015/10/30/452849153/a-perfect-soldier-remembering-a-warrior-in-the-battle-against-homophobiahttps://www.npr.org/2015/10/30/452849153/a-perfect-soldier-remembering-a-warrior-in-the-battle-against-homophobia

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/24/us/gay-airman-who-fought-ouster-dies-from-aids.html

http://www.leonardmatlovich.com

People of Pride #10: Ruth Ellis

To the world she was a successful businesswoman, but behind the scenes she was a community organizer. Ruth Ellis was an openly queer, black woman born in 1899, who spent 101 years living proudly and enacting change to help others to do the same. Her legacy lives on in Detroit and beyond, read more here:

http://www.ruthelliscenter.org

https://lgbthistorymonth.com/ruth-ellis

Every day in June, I will be posting an illustration that highlights an LGBT+ activist who I believe everyone should know. This series will be in no way comprehensive, & will include a multitude of identities, races, sexualities, and genders.

People of Pride #9: Vito Russo 

Vito Russo was a film historian, critic, author, and major voice for gay rights and AIDS visibility. The disease ultimately took his life in 1990, when he was 44 years old. Read more about his lasting impacts on equality and visibility here:

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/09/obituaries/vito-russo-44-a-historian-of-film-and-a-gay-advocate.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1987/11/01/why-aids-spread-so-far-so-fast/b78ecc8d-3293-47b6-b000-f0222159e223/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ad15e78485fc

https://www.glaad.org/sri/2018/vitorusso

People of Pride #8: Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin was the black, gay, non-violent activist responsible for organizing the March on Washington. His pioneering contributions to the fight for economic, racial, & LGBT+ equality are immeasurable, there is so much more to say than there is room to say it. Bayard Rustin is a name lost in history books that should have never been forgotten, I encourage you to read more about who he was, what he loved, and what he conquered here:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/…/walter-naegle-partner-of-the-lat…

https://lgbthistorymonth.com/bayard-rustin?tab=biography

http://www.pbs.org/…/…/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/