LGBTQ Fandom

[id: screenshots of tiktok captions. the images say, “but the only reason we still love princess diana is because she did not have the time to disappoint us.”]

begging queer kids to read up on princess diana’s involvement with the community. yes, she was a rich, pretty monarch. yes, she died young.

but the reason why queer people love her is because she used her privilege during the aids crisis to advocate for sick queer men, when very few others would - much less someone of her status.

diana spent years advocating for the health and care of queer people with hiv/aids. in 1987, at the height of the epidemic, she opened the first specialist clinic dedicated to treating aids patients (the first clinic of it’s kind in the uk).

she also fought public hysteria by hugging and shaking bare hands with aids patients, at a time when aids was thought to be spread by skin to skin contact. not only that, she visited patients in the clinic regularly and even comforted them through their sickness.

and when queen elizabeth told her to try focusing on “something more pleasant”?

diana ignored her and kept fighting.

And. I am so, so excited for Leah Sava Jeffries to play Annabeth Chase. I am so, so excited for Black girls to see themselves in her too; to see themselves portrayed as tough, and smart, and brave, and nerdy. I am so excited for all the kids watching this show to see Annabeth Chase as a Black girl. It meant so much to privileged little me to see a smart blonde girl fight and think and love her way through the world of Percy Jackson and I believe with my whole heart that it means even more to see a smart Black girl do that. Blonde Annabeth was important to me, and so is Black Annabeth. These things are both true.

I hope that Disney and Rick do Leah justice. I am confident that Leah will do justice to Annabeth.

I am so excited for this girl, and I am so excited to see PJO come to life in a way that reflects the heart and soul of the books I grew up with.