In addition to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, there is also financial abuse. One in four women, and one in nine men, will experience severe domestic violence in their lifetime “It’s a national emergency,” Passi says. “This is the worst thing to happen to women ever,” Passi says of the level of domestic abuse in the U.S. It doesn’t have to be the only thing the work is about, but I think it could be introduced as a feature of who you are as a person.” -Gerald Garth A way to deepen the connection to others, and it’s something to be explored. Their note to other artists living with HIV: “I’d say if has been something you’ve been avoiding featuring in your music, think of it as a feature and not a flaw. And to clarify complex emotions for things we don’t have words for or don’t have the language to discuss.” I suppose I am to bridge the gap - the age gap, the race gap, whatever it is. be able to explain others as I understand them. And in explaining myself, I hope to understand others and. Their new EP, Is an Island (released on Bay Area LGBTQ label, Molly House Records) looks at themes of resignation, loneliness, lust, and hope navigated during their journey of coming to terms with being poz, through a style reminiscent of Blood Orange & André 3000. The 26-year-old queer Oakland hip-hop/electronic vocalist and producer tackles the complex emotional trauma that comes with an HIV diagnosis. Especially when I’m back home in the place where they lived for 10,000 years, I do feel insanely connected to them.” -Jeffrey Masters “I know that I came from people who are ancient and special.
He says that while he’s not a spiritual person, he strongly believes in ancestor worship. The 35-year-old lives in Los Angeles but is originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation.
Pico also co-curates the reading series “Poets With Attitude” with Morgan Parker and cohosts the podcast Food 4 Thot. And yet, having gotten his start making poetry zines he’d leave around New York City in cafés, bars, and laundromats, Pico is set to publish his fourth collection, Feed, with an American Book Award and the 2018 Whiting Award next to his name. You could talk about whatever you want to.” Nothing is off limits to the poet, who has quickly become one of the most successful today, queer or otherwise.įormal poetry often ignores the work of people on the margins of society, people like Tommy Pico. You could talk about a ghost that gives a blow job. “I think people get the wrong idea about what poetry is or is not supposed to be.” Pico’s describing how surprised people are when they hear his work. In order to be mentally and spiritually healthy, I continue to work very hard to unlearn those stereotypes.” -DG “I grew up hearing congressional representatives, community leaders, and the media calling my community ‘illegal aliens,’ ‘criminal aliens,’ and ‘illegals.’ I learned to think of myself as an alien, not a student a foreigner, not a community member a criminal rather than a human being. “I was born in Mexico, but I am a queer, formerly undocumented - now DACAmented - immigrant from Phoenix,” says Garcia-Madrid. Garcia-Madrid urges support for orgs like Trans Queer Pueblo ( ). Garcia-Madrid is currently a part of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, where they support unaccompanied children in their immigration cases, and will be starting law school this fall “with the goal of defending the rights of queer and trans migrants.” They’ve also worked with the National Minority AIDS Council Act Against AIDS initiative the Association for Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship and Union=Fuerza: The Latinx Institute at Creating Change. On a mission to protect and support LGBTQ immigrants, the 26-year-old, gender-nonconforming femme is “inspired by trans and LGBTQ migrants who flee severe violence in their home countries,” saying, “the act of migrating is an act of hope.”