Merry Sims

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.

Hello all, hope you'll enjoy the upcoming Pride month content! This year, I'm planning to post comics every single day until the end of June. If you caught a glimpse at comment sections under recent strips, it has already pissed off thousands! It's just the beginning.

It's been a while since I gave you any life updates. My husband and I are still on the IVF train - it's slow but steady. We are being crushed under the weight of debts because of it, but at least we got to keep our car after this spring's threats, for those who wondered. Such is the price for growing our little queer family! At least we've got health.

I'm still trying to make a living from my art. I believe covering the internet with queer and trans comics and making bigots foam at the mouth is an important job, and you can help make it happen by getting me a coffee or by subscribing on Patreon. Every bit makes a huge difference!

So I hope Pride month will be good to you all. Except the bigots.

Be gay, trans, hydrated, or not,

Congratulations to The Ride Ahead for winning the Emmy for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary! Disabled people telling our own stories is powerful. We're so excited to see The Ride Ahead receive this well-deserved award!

her name was Marsha P Johnson, and we have her to thank for so much.

remember, the first Pride was a riot, and she was one of the brave souls who endured it to help carve the path which so many of us walk today. she helped found several activist groups regarding LGBT safety and wellbeing. and she was absolutely radiant, too.

And somehow a MAGA white racist will find a way to feel they are the "oppressed".

Black history is American history, and it absolutely needs to be documented and taught in schools.

The stories you hear of people dying from rationing, this is what happens to their body.

Affordable insulin isn’t just a right, it’s a necessity.

CW for seclusion, abuse.

A school in New York confined disabled Native children in wooden boxes. Indigenous children and disabled children have a long history of experiencing mistreatment and harm in schools. Everyone deserves an education free from seclusion and restraint.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, alongside the City’s Commissioners in the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), has announced that his administration has managed to recover over $9m in previously unpaid fines. These fines came from idling violations committed by Bezos’ delivery vehicles and third-party contractors, and despite the Amazon’s $2 trillion valuation, the company has ignored them – until now.