I will die on this hill of honoring kinksters at pride and here's why.
During the HIV epidemic, the LGBTQ+ community (largely gay men) were dying left and right. In San Francisco specifically it was the biker clubs, the lesbians and the kinksters who kept us alive.
YouTube has been on a huge downward spiral the second they prioritized advertisers and movie stars over creators.
And for the record, they restrict LGBTQ content saying they're too sexually suggestive or inappropriate... but run sextoy ads on kids content: #youtubeisoverparty
Also just a final note of like, thank you lesbians specifically. They dont get enough love and credit for holding our hands through that shit. Butch, femme, leather or lace. Yall are also the true MVPs. ♥️♥️♥️
Families would disown you, and/or as soon as you die from AIDS, takes your possessions, life, leather gear, etc and throw them out. We were undesirable, shameful.
It was the kink community (and again the lesbians) who made sure our lives didn't disappear even when we did.
We are not wearing leather at pride to have sex in public.
We are remembering how hard our community hurt, fought and helped each other to stay alive and we will continue to do so at #pride.
So for the final freaking time. KINKSTERS belong at pride. We have gone through so much hate, shame, stigma and still to this day continue to do good. Raise money and educate our community about sex, consent and the history that would otherwise be lost to homophobia and hate.
The kink community made sure our memories weren't forgotten. We made parts of the quilt, we got loud and upset at congress, we preserved not just the kink history and gear, but the memories of those we lost as we continued to celebrate and remember our loved ones during pride.