ALL SUFFICES.

we now have to deal with puritan gay-conservative shits who don’t want queers to wear their leather and kink outfits to pride anymore, because “that’s not about sexual orientation, it’s about sex and doesn’t belong in public”. What the fuck. 

LGBT and queer struggle has always been deeply intertwined with the struggle for sexual liberation. Being visibly queer and visibly sexually deviant has always been two parts of the same same ‘fuck you I’m queer’ to homphobes. Celebrating our sex lives and celebrating our existence has always been inseperable. The leather scene is a highly visible bit of queer culture and queer history. So much of the movement was build by these communities. So many of our heroes and queer elders wear leather. You do not get to take that away.  

No minor at pride is gonna be scarred because they see a gay guy in chaps dancing on a float. Get real. Everyone has seen naked buttcheeks on tv a thousand times before their 12th birthday.  

Hi friends, I need some help right now.

Those of you who have been following me forever might remember that back in 2013, the first place I ever rented away from home was broken into and my new $400 drawing tablet and $2000 mac were stolen, both of which were necessary not only for school but for posting my artwork, access to my software for editing my images, basically the lifeblood of my art career and the way I make my rent. I wasn’t able to buy a new one at the time because I was saving up for top surgery, so I had been working off of my old roommate’s damaged laptop for a couple years until that crashed. This is what I was having to work on:

This year I had saved up enough to buy myself a laptop, but  a week ago it crashed too. My phone has also broken several times over the past few years, I’ve bought new batteries 4+ times and it just died again about a month ago and i gave up. I’m using a friend’s old slow iPhone at the moment.

I’ve been managing many of my tasks by walking to the university campus nearby to use their slow and often occupied Macs which do not store anything other than temporary files, but this is no longer sustainable as I have to move in a couple months when my lease is up.  I also won’t be able to transport my artworks to school to scan them as my bike wheel and chain were also stolen in early April and I’m at a point where even getting my main mode of transportation up and running again isn’t something I can fit into my budget.

I guess needless to say,  without a way to document and upload my artwork as original prints and as products for sale, once again how I pay my rent, I have been freaking out. I have honestly felt really disconnected working on broken, slow and borrowed equipment that can’t handle the video editing that I have been moving toward making with the intention of sharing more of my life, artwork tutorials (I have requests for several already), and better serving my community. I’m especially bummed because I have been actively planning a podcast primarily to use as a spotlight on emerging and marginalized artists to highlight our struggles and wins, but honestly nothing feels like a win when the only link left between you and your livelihood is an old iPhone 5 that doesn’t hold a charge or receive calls. here’s a painting of trans ppl in love i made recently! this is all so disappointing especially since i’ve been making  really conscious effort to make paintings that give our community sweet, loving and positive images.

Any money not going toward purchasing a new laptop so that I can do my work and pay for my rent, groceries, hormones, etc. will go toward podcast equipment for the show that I want to get up and running for this year, and art supplies to draw the ugly cats that people send me on Tumblr.

Absolutely anything helps, thank you so much.

brain: dont do it then

Inside the World’s Only Surviving Tattoo Shop For Medieval Pilgrims

The Razzouk family has been inking religious pilgrims in the Middle East for 700 years