Alberta LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce’s Post

New blog post is LIVE! My queer book recommendation blog from a few months back did so well, I decided to give five MORE queer book recommendations! You can read the blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eadwWF2H

On Being Queer in the Workplace: I've recently had the opportunity to volunteer as a designer for Fruitslice, a magazine featuring exclusively LGBTQ+ artists, writers, and creators. The team is made of 100% queer people and I wanted to share how much of an impact that has left on me. ______________________________________________ You can support this beautiful fruity work here: 🍓🥭🍊 https://lnkd.in/ef83Y_Z2 Insta🌈: @thefruitslice _______________________________________________ Being from Alabama, I've struggled to find queer spaces, and post college, haven't had any queer coworkers. I've often been told having a gay couple in a design would be too "controversial" for clients and we shouldn't even pitch it as an option. And the graphics I *have* gotten to create showing queer people were usually a single pride month post. While volunteering for Fruitslice, I've been overwhelmed by the positivity, openness, and shared celebrations of queer joy. Being able to ask in the group chat if anyone has any gay music or movie recs. Not having to put on a persona or "delicately" pitch an idea that centers a trans person. Cultural references that are immediately understood. Resources freely shared. There's something so emotional and transformative about being in a (virtual) room of all queer people. I hadn't experienced that in my lifetime. And it makes me even more proud that I get to leave any kind of mark on this magazine, because we get to document queer joy, realities, and expression. And we get to do it in an environment where there's so much positivity and community. #lgbtq+ #workplaceculture #graphicdesign #inclusivedesign

My latest article, "Kenyan Libraries Should Incorporate Queer Literature Without Exception," has been published in Business Today kenya! 🏳️🌈📖 Join the conversation on the importance of inclusivity and diversity in our libraries. Let's make sure everyone's story is heard.  #QueerLiterature #Inclusivity #Diversity #Kenya #LibraryEquality 🌈📚 https://lnkd.in/eXGCaakr 

10 Queer Literary Magazines to Submit Your Work to in 2024. In my latest piece for Karma Comes Before, I explore some of the best queer literary magazines you should be following (and submitting to!) to discover diverse and powerful storytelling. Check it out and share your faves in the comments!

"I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them." Emma Thompson I’m doing the #OxfamReadingChallenge this year and keeping a record of the books I’ve read. When I’ve read a book, I take it to the charity shop, so that someone else can enjoy it, and it helps me with my decluttering programme (except when I buy more). 😄 The themes for the months to date were: ✔️January - Comfort Reading - Read a book by your favourite author (The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett) ✔️February - Love Stories - Read a book about love (How to be a Kosovan Bride – Naomi Hamill) ✔️March - International Women's Day - Read a book with a strong woman lead (Heartburn – Nora Ephron) The themes for the upcoming months are: 👉🏼April - Short Stories - Read a short story collection 👉🏼May - New Release - Find and read a second hand new release 👉🏼June - Pride Month - Read an LGBTQ+ recommendation 👉🏼July - Translated Fiction - Read a book translated from its original language 👉🏼August - Judge a Book by its Cover - Read a book with a cover that catches your eye 👉🏼September - Prize Winner - Find and read an award-winning second hand book 👉🏼October - Black History Month - Read a Black History Month recommendation 👉🏼November - Non-Fiction - Take part in non-fiction November 👉🏼December - New-to-you Genre - Read a book from a genre you've never read before I’m going to check my bookshelves for a short story collection to read in April, although I’m not sure that I’ve got one. 🤔 Which book of short stories would you recommend? You can still join the challenge - https://lnkd.in/eUVAsB4v #books #OxfamReadingChallenge #brandvalues

It’s National Indigenous History month and Pride Month! It’s that time of year when performative allies come out in crowds doing the “totally authentic” displays of allyship. 🌻The instant expert: just read a Wikipedia article on Indigenous peoples and now knows everything about Indigenous Peoples 🌺The fashion statement: rocks a dreamcatcher necklace or rainbow t-shirt and calls it “solidarity”. 🥀The social media warrior: Posts themselves at an event and can’t remember what they learned from the event. 🌷The over enthusiastic emoji user: uses every nature or rainbow emoji to show support. My dear budding allies, please remember to: 🧡listen more than you talk. 🧡learn from Indigenous and Queer community voices. 🧡Support Indigenous-led and LGBTQIA2S+ initiatives. 🧡Advocate for genuine change. Remember, being an ally is a lifelong commitment, not a monthly trend. Let’s dig deeper in understanding our true history and learnings. #IndigenousHistoryMonth #PrideMonth #RealAllyship

As we mark LGBTQIA+ History month at ICMP, we recommend taking a look at these books curated by the team in our Library! For the synopses of these recommended reads, check out the full article on our website here: https://lnkd.in/dm9YDJ9J #LGBTQIAHistoryMonth #RecommendedReads #BookRecommendations

We’re continuing our “Portraits of Queer Youth in Montenegro" Series with the portrait of Enes Pucuria (he/him), 28 years old, Programmes Manager at our IGLYO Member Queer Montenegro. 🇲🇪💜 📖 [EXCERPT] 📖 “The sense of community; this is what matters most to Enes Pucurica. To this 28-year-old queer activist with a background in architecture and language education, and a passion for writing poetry, languages, and psychology, everything will always work out as long as we come together as a community, even if we do not always agree on everything. And this is essentially what Enes has always strived to do through his activism over the years: Contributing to building a close-knit community for marginalised identities in Montenegro. Enes works as Project Coordinator for our Member Queer Montenegro, the local host of our upcoming Annual Members’ Conference Podgorica 2023. Founded in 2013, Queer Montenegro started from a small self-organised group of activists and grew over the years into one of the country’s lead organisations for LGBTQIA+ rights in general. Legal aid, free psychological support, advocacy, organisation of queer culture activities; these are all part of the organisation’s everyday activities. However, just like for Enes, what matters most to them is being present for the people of our community and allowing them to be their authentic selves. Before joining an organisation, Enes engaged in activism on an individual basis. “The start of my activism is the typical story that goes from discovering who you are, fighting for yourself at first, and trying to survive and bloom in the harsh environment we live in.” Already from his first day of primary school, Enes understood that things would not be easy for him and that he would need to stand up for himself and for others. From then on, his inclination […]” 🔗 Continue reading Enes’ portrait article on: https://lnkd.in/eHctGmBE #International #Lesbian #Gay #Bi #Trans #Queer #Intersex #youth #Montenegro #portrait #article Profile picture of Enes surrounded by the AMC Podgorica visual branding, along with his name, age, pronouns, and country.

I've come to accept that I can live without it. I can live without your approval, your understanding, your acceptance. I can live without you supporting my rights to exist. I can live without your compassion or love. Because none of those things change who I am, I exist, whether the world wants me to or not plays no part in that fact. I did a series of posts lasts year about famous people throughout history who you probably had no idea were queer (I didn't before researching for the series). People who simply existed, in private queer joy, who lived their lives without being advocates. Who achieved wonderful, notable things, without it being attached to their gender or sexuality. At the time I couldn't understand that mindset. I couldn't understand why you wouldn't want to advocate for yourself and others. Why you wouldn't want to fight tooth and nail for the world to accept you. Why you wouldn't want to be the representation the world so desperately needed. Then I experienced the extreme burnout I did and started to understand the peace that comes from just quietly existing. Where every day isn't a public battle, but a private joy. As much as I am still an advocate for queer and trans rights. I am not on the front line anymore. I can't be. The most powerful thing I can do right now is just to exist despite the world wanting me not to. To be loved for who I am by my beautiful partner. To wear my chest tape on the beach without an explanation. To politely correct people on my pronouns without a lecture. To exist. Maybe some day I will have the strength again to fight the battle for the worlds acceptance, but right now, I can live without it. #trans #transrights #queerrights #nonbinary #queer

There is a clear demand for representation of queer voices, and their narratives in the books and stories we read. But do all publishers recognize it? When mainstream publishing houses do not relate to the need for this demand, that's when independent publishers step in. While we witness a number of initiatives being taken to uplift and endorse queer narratives, it is also seen that queer voices are no longer dependent on traditional publishing spaces to share their stories. What does the scope for these stories look like with an increase in independent publishers? Read further on this week’s The Book People newsletter! #newsletter #thebookpeople #queer #queervoices #queerliterature #indiepublishing