Category / LGBTQ+

by Baroness Buttercup

These Are The People In Your Neighborhood

When California made major changes to its sex education curriculum earlier this year, people flipped out. Some — left-leaners, hippies and those with little rainbows next to their handles on the Twitter — did happy cartwheels and handsprings and generally bounced around like a bunch of wannabe Katelyn Ohashis.  Others — far-righters, conservatives and those who answer direct questions with Bible quotes — did angry summersaults, banging their heads on the floor as they ranted and raged.

With school back in session now, I’m wondering how long it will be until I start seeing posts by angry parents, frustrated and disgusted by what their precious spawn are being taught in school and threatening to move out of The Golden State in response. The issue? One of the primary ones is “the suggested use of gender-neutral and LGBTQ-inclusive language.” The curriculum covers grades K through 12 and many parents think kids in the lower grades are too young to start learning such stuff. The argument I saw most often on Facebook? “Just let kids be kids.” Continue reading →

by Baroness Buttercup

I Tripped Down Memory Lane Today

A recent Tweet by BasicButch asking people to name their favorite queer character from a book, tv show or film has taken me on a bit of a journey into the past today.

In my mind, I began to scroll through the cast of characters from every lesbian movie I’d ever seen. I love so many of them! Who was my favorite? It could have been either Rachel or Luce from Imagine Me and You. They’re just so adorable! Then there’s Peyton and Elena from Elena Undone. That kiss, though … amirite??? Of course, Maggie and Kim are better than chocolate in Better Than Chocolate. I couldn’t take my eyes of Cory and Violet in Bound and who didn’t love Annabelle and Simone in Loving Annabelle? Don’t even get me started on Lucy Diamond in D.E.B.S., that woman was mad hot and badass! Continue reading →

by Baroness Buttercup

Time To Get Off The Sidelines and Into The Game

Actions speak louder than words.

When I was young, I would often hear that in response to me saying I’d clean my room, do the dishes or put away my laundry as opposed to actually getting my lazy ass up and doing the thing. That is, my parents knew better than to trust what I said about certain things and wanted to see some proof, in the form of action, that I wasn’t just saying what they wanted to hear to get them to leave me alone.

This isn’t to say that everyone lies like a ‘tween who’d rather watch cartoons than do chores on a Saturday morning. But you can tell a lot about where a person’s truths and sincerities lie based on what they do rather than what they say. Continue reading →

by Baroness Buttercup

Bring Me Some Water

I don’t know if you’ve noticed among people on Twitter (hell, I don’t even know if you’re on Twitter and in a position to notice), but there are those who use their little profile space to get very specific about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Rarely do you see something that just says plain, old lesbian.  Well, unless she’s got a rather non-descript appearance and is wandering through her twilight years, I guess …

What I mean, though, is that you don’t see many people who just identify as a lesbian or a gay man. You know, there was a time when being a single sexual-orientation had quite the cachet. We protested the injustices, we took to the streets, we paved the way toward tolerance and acceptance. And when I say “we,” of course, I mean a bunch of other people with cultural awareness and a sense of right and wrong that extended beyond their own wants and needs. Continue reading →

by Baroness Buttercup

Bonded By Rejection

Full disclosure: I originally wrote this for another writing platform I’ve been experimenting with, but it wasn’t getting a lot of traction there. And, attention-seeker that I am, I just wasn’t having that! So, I decided to share it here with you, my faithful Baronettes, who I know will appreciate it and give me the Like and Comments I so desperately need.

boy-555577_1920I don’t feel that belonging to one marginalized group, the LGBTQ+ community, makes me some kind of expert on what it’s like to be a member of another marginalized group. Hell, I don’t even feel like I know what it’s like to be another person from my own ever-expanding group—which I believe now is formally known as the LGBTQQIAPP+ community.

For those not in the know, that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, and Polysexual. And, of course, the little “+” means there are still more orientations and genders not represented in the alphabet soup we’ve become. Continue reading →

by Baroness Buttercup

If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It!

flaunt it

More than once in the very recent past I’ve seen an online comment featuring some variation of the “I don’t care what people do in their private life as long as they’re not all up in my grill with it” sentiment. In other words, “I don’t care if you’re gay, as long as you’re not all gay about it.”

Just today I was told, “You want to talk about the gay stuff be gay don’t flaunt it.” Despite the lack of punctuation, I understand what he’s saying. And I also don’t. I can see how some people would consider our Pride Parades flaunting it. I mean, some of the entries can be fairly outrageous and might be shocking to the heteronormative community. And perhaps two fellows dressed in assless chaps and short-shorts making out in the Home Goods section of the Boise, ID Wal-Mart would also be seen as flaunting it.

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by Baroness Buttercup

Alphabet Soup

Unless you’re in grade school or younger (and if you are, please log off — this blog is not for you), there are things that make you realize you’re getting older.

In junior high your andy-warhol-campbells-alphabet-soupbody changes. In high school, you get the driver’s license experience. In your twenties, you have college or moving out on your own. Or the pressure to move out. Or the begging and pleading and cajoling to a please move the fuck out already!

Then you turn thirty and everything starts making you feel old. You stop getting carded in bars. Baristas start calling you “ma ‘am.” You sit down to watch the Grammys and have no idea who anyone is.

I also understand that for heterosexuals the clock starts tick-tocking on when you’ll get married and start reproducing. I did not experience this, because when I was that age, marriage equality wasn’t even on the horizon. Perhaps now that it exists, thirty-something lesbians and gay men feel the same pressure to get married, but I haven’t seen any studies or the matter, so I can’t be sure.

Continue reading →