Q26 Summer Issue

High & Tight Barbershop LGBTQ + POC + Woman + Veteran owned everyone welcome 4759 W Washington Blvd Los Angeles CA 90016 (619) 559-6704

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CONTENTS 04

EDITOR’S LETTER

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FEATURED POET: MARINA FLORES

CLIMB THE WALL JOELLE BAYAA-UZURI

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LGBT MARKETING: INCLUSIVE OR TOKENISM? JASMINE LOWE

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NIKO TIARE: HEALING WITH POETRY JASMINE LOWE

DORIAN ELECTRA COBRETTI WILLIAMS

LOVE AFTER MOONLIGHT SONDRA MORRIS

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THE LASTING RELEVANCE OF SET IT OFF

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LOCALS WE’RE WATCHING

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CAMILLE ORA-NICOLE

QUEER SPACES ABOUT

Editor-in-Chief/

Managing Editor

Photography

Advertising/Sponsorships

Always looking for

Art Direction

Jasmine Lowe

Mo McFadden

info@theq26.com

more creatives for the team!

Camille Ora-Nicole

IG: @jasminedlowe

IG: @mo_mcfadden

T: 424 - 221 - 9818

info@theq26.com

IG: @oracami

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A

bout 14 years ago, my queer media obsession was kicked off by a little show called South of Nowhere.

Watching the show and feeling what I felt whenever Mandy Musgraves was on the screen was by no means a revelation; I had started realizing my queerness a couple years earlier. South of Nowhere simply gave me space, for 30 minutes a week, to be comfortable with who I was. I can’t express fully enough how important LGBTQ films, shows, and music have been in my queer development since then.

That’s why I am so grateful for all the queer filmmakers, writers, musicans, and creatives that are changing Hollywood culture. Like anything having to do with have accurate representation of minority groups, it took many years of patience, struggle, hard work, and bravery to bring our stories to the general public, stories that teach, encourage, and uplift. Back when South of Nowhere was running, it was one of only a handful of shows that positively depicted the LGBTQ community. Today, anyone can turn on Hulu and find a myriad of shows that celebrate queer people of different colors and backgrounds. There are multiple playlists on Spotify that are specific to queer artists and/or allies.

For cripes sake, RuPaul’s Drag Race is currently one of the most popular shows on television, and has won Emmy’s.

We are in an exciting time of expansion and opportuinty, and 4

Hair: High ‘n Tight Photography: Mo McFadden Button-Down: Wildfang

everyday I am thankful for those that paved the way for our community to get to this point. With that in mind however, we still have work to do. There are still moments when the LGBTQ community is represented poorly, and characters killed off television shows when their stories get more complicated than writers care for. Some states (read: Alabama) are still wary of queer characters in TV shows like Arthur due to bigotry and misinformation.

Beyond the media, we are still fighting for the maintenance of our newly found rights, and fighting for the rights of trans folx and people of color. Media plays amajor part in this, but for it to continue to grow, we have to continue to give our support. We have to keep watching and applauding. Listening and dancing. Laughing and sharing.

If we are going to succeed in our fight, it’s going to take all of us, dvoing what we can in the equality and love. So let’s do this shit, y’all. Keep your ears, eyes, and heart open, always.

And I’m staring from across the room I feel like centuries are passing between us A barricade A great wall between her and me She looks up and notices my glance She holds it I don’t look away Instead I stand up Ready to climb the wall

-marina flores

A woman

CLIMB THE WALL

A girl

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LGBT marketing INCLUSIVE OR TOKENISM?

Joelle Bayaa-Uzuri

in improving and building up the community. Full inclusion also means that within the company, it employs people from the LGBT community and engages in fair and just hiring practices.

M

Source: Getty Images

arketing is a multi-billion dollar business and the top priority of brands and corporations lobbying to get consumers’ precious dollars. Companies spent big not only looking into what markets are the most viable and lucrative or to give them an edge on their competition but most importantly to increase profits.

In 2018, the LGBT community worldwide had economic activity that amassed to $4.6 trillion dollars. And companies took notice; gearing their marketing and advertising to be more “LGBT inclusive” as a way to lure and entice LGBT consumer dollars. Companies like (but certainly not limited to) Tiffany & Co., Doritos, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, and Clean and Clear have all had ad campaigns with very specific LGBT themes and imagery; from Doritos’s rainbow chip bags to Tiffany & Co. same-sex “Will You” ad campaign. But, with the increased LGBT representation within marketing campaigns for these big companies, one cannot help but ask the question: is true inclusivity within these big brands? Commercial tokenism? Fetishism?

What is true inclusivity? Is it simply just being represented within an ad or two, or more? While it can appear that companies are doing their due-diligence to give more representation, we have to ask if is this simply for the dollar, or are these companies working to truly include the LGBT community within the fabric of their brand. Full inclusion means that some of those dollars coming from the LGBT community are going right back to the community; investing

While the ads are great displays of LGBT images, many of these same companies drop the ball at true inclusion and representation. Doritos rainbow chip bags, for example, seemingly only pop up in markets during the summer Pride months, with Doritos not taking any other significant stand for the LGBT community. While Wells Fargo not only practices fair hiring and employs members of the LGBT community, they also contribute millions to the Pride festival and LGBT causes and continue to be a strong ally for the community. Unfortunately, many companies are behind in the true inclusion that their advertisement showcases.

Commercial tokenism and fetishism seem to be more in-tune with these companies and their LGBT marketing. One example is timing. Many of the companies only put out LGBT-centered ads during peak shopping times (i.e. Christmas) or at times like Pride season, where the LGBT community tend to exercise more of their spending power.

Any times besides these, the number of ads that are LGBT-centered or featuring LGBT themes are significantly less. Also, a telling sign is the type of LGBT representation used. Even as companies use LGBT-centered ads, they tend to play it safe, sticking mostly to white and cisgendered LGBT images; ones that can blend in with the mostly cisheteropatriarchal advertising landscape. LGBT people of color are often left out, especially ones that are not cisgender and non-gender conforming.

While LGBT buying power continues to increase, we have to wield that power carefully and strategically.

These companies are fighting and vying for our dollars, and what we spend them on can make or break their bottom line. We have to look beyond these clever marketing ploys and see if the companies are truly reflective of the LGBT images they portray.

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Niko tiare

Healing with poetry Jasmine Lowe

Photography: Mo McFadden

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It’s impossible to take oneself out of their art. Art imitates life which imitates art for a seamless ebb and flow of familiarity in newly emerging concepts. Queer artist of color, Niko Tiare, uses poetry to do bring this sense of familiarity to those people, especially queer youth, who are not usually mentioned in the arts within the narrow confines of the mainstream media. They want their poetry to let others with similar backgrounds and cultures to know that they are not alone.

“I started writing when I was about 11 or 12, it was during the time that Def Jam poetry was really cool on YouTube and it was getting a lot of views and that’s where I found spoken word for the first time,” Niko Tiare said. “I discovered Youth Speaks, which is a national poetry slam and youth development program for people 21 and under. I found a lot of youth writing. They were working through trauma and using storytelling, and I found that to be really helpful for me as well.”

Niko Tiare now works mostly with QTPOC and within local communities performing their work and leading workshops on writing that dip into subjects such as gender and being a survivor of sexual assault.

They also do work informing about how to work with trans people “Every single one of my and cultural competency with pieces is very specific healthcare professionals. Niko Tiare’s other community work to being queer, being involves working with homeless trans, being a person youth who are primarily queer and of color, disabled, and transgender, due to the fact that this being a person whose is the population that is mostly on the streets within the demographic parents who come from migrant families.” of young people between the ages of 18 to 24. They do a lot of facilitation around gender and try to have writing be involved as much as they can.

They ended up taking the leap in high school to take their solely written endeavors into art and bring them in front of other people on stage.

“When I got into this all-girls high school, we had this thing called V-day, which was vagina day,” they explained. “No one knew better, although someone should have known better, but I didn’t because I was young. However, for vagina day they wanted a spoken word artist to come in and do a piece on inter-partnerviolence. I had never performed before. I only did written things and hid them away and never shared them, but for some reason, I thought I’m a spoken word artist and that I should do it. I wrote a piece for my high school and performed it in front of my school.

I realized that this is something I can do,” Niko Tiare explained. “I got involved mostly with a really cool open mic in Pomona called A Mic And Dim

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Lights where I was able to be amongst adults when I camehere for college and people who really did poetry for a living whether it was professionally or for themselves. I started to do gigs here and there.

Now I mostly do open mics in communities and even smaller workshops.”

“I originally was working with TAY, or transitional age youth, ages 18 to 24 in higher education just because that is the biggest demographic involved on college campuses, said Niko Tiare. “I really enjoyed that age-range but I also started to think about the way that higher education functions and it really crossed a lot of my ethics specifically working with Greek Life, working with a lot of white folx, rich folx, and cis folx, and I was kind of over it. Even with QTPOC in higher ed at least you have that platform or that avenue in some capacity and privilege to figure out how you are going to be okay. I realized that wasn’t the demographic that I wanted to work with.

I started to explore other options and found the non-profit that I work for now, Niko Tiare explained.

“I realized that it is mostly black and brown youth, mostly queer, and mostly trans and that was the population that I really wanted to work with. I wanted

to be able to act as a mirror to show an example of success for people that look like us and see the world in the way we do. I was also lucky enough to know someone in the field to help me transition from higher education to a non-profit sector.”

For now, Niko Tiare wants to continue to keep things small, community-based, and direct the message to who they want to hear it when it comes to poetry. However, in the future, they are considering going back to school to get a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and become a licensed therapist.

“I’ve been searching for almost a year trying to find a therapist competent enough to care for me and I can’t find that. I once had a therapist who was an Asian non-binary person who specialized in kink and polyamorous relationships. I thought that it was wild, and it was the first time in my life that I could ever talk about sexual trauma and inter-partner violence with someone and actually get somewhere with it. I really want to become a therapist so that I can be a space where QTPOC can come and actually be held in a way that’s responsible and competent and I don’t think that the majority of us have that access to care.

I think that’s disgusting because our rates for mental health and suicides are through the roof and we don’t even have access to care.”

Niko Tiare is also working on putting together a YouTube channel that can be used as a resource for cultural competency training and workshops that people may not have access to due to lack of awareness or funding. It would work as a means for friends and family of queer and trans people to obtain information.

“I definitely believe in vulnerability as community care. So, for me that means when I share my story I’m sharing it with the purpose of one, yes, healing myself, but sharing my story is a big part of unlearning shame and celebrating myself, but also because everything that I know about myself that I love, I love because somebody else out there showed themselves to me and showed that aspect of pride in themselves to me.

Credit: IG: Rigo Perez @thatonelatino

to being queer, being trans, being a person of color, disabled, and being a person whose parents who come from migrant families,” Niko Tiare continued.

“Everything is reflective of that because I don’t think I can write about me without touching on any of those things. I’ve been lucky enough to have that, so, for me, that vulnerability as community care is getting up there and sharing how I experience the world and the way that I experience my body, and I love that even if I don’t always join in the celebration of that experience of myself. It’s who I am, and it is part of my journey. It’s not strange, it’s normal, and other people are going through this.”

Read “My Mother’s Femininity”

by Niko Tiare on the next page!

You can follow Niko Tiare on Instagram @thedivineshift for more information or for your local community or school bookings.

Every single one of my pieces is very specific 11

MY MOTHER’S FEMININITY My mother tattooed her femininity onto my bare-naked skin at birth as if she knew...I would be pretty.

She buzzed blue lines into the widest edges of my hips so i would one day sway the hearts of 100 men. she didn’t know 100 women would follow, so i thank her for pouring waved into me,

but some days, some days i still slap the nape of my neck. it’s still itching.

It’s still healing.

My mother etched rules into the back of my head so i would never forget things like, how to stand.

Up straight.

How to sit.

Knees together.

And how to speak.

Politely. Softly.

She cried.

Politely. Softly. Ashamed of me.

And I didn’t understand.

I didn’t understand until the day I saw her raise a dancer’s hand, Thoughtlessly waving and swirling.

It was the gift of grace.

But I also remember my mother. Pinning me down.

Carving a cage onto my throat.

She drew the key onto the spot that I could not reach.

I used to hate her for that.

Until I pushed. Until I stretched. Until I grew.

Until I could reach it myself.

She gave me the gift of my own voice.

I just had to unlock it myself.

She wrote quack. In thick script under my tear ducts.

So they would never learn how to be silent.

Empathy.

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For years I allowed that to be confused with cry baby.

My mother’s femininity.

Adorns my body like.

Birthmarks you have to learn to love.

So these days I no longer try to scrub her away with the rouch edges of masculinity.

I’ve learned to work with what’s been given to me But.She.Still.Cries.

Still politely.

Still softly.

Still ashamed of me.

But this time she doesn’t understand.

She doesn’t understand. That I am an artist too now and I’m just trying to fill in the lines.

She doesn’t understand.

That the blue lines she buzzed into the widest edges of my hips to sway the hearts of 100 men She doesn’t understand.

That the rules she etched into the back of my head serve as nothing more than reminders of things that I cannot be.

That the cage she carved onto my throat felt more like a cone of silence than a microphone.

That I almost broke my body reaching for the key.

My mother’s femininity.

Was the first thing forced upon me.

My mother.

Was my first perpetrator.

And my fiercest protector.

I have learned that she can be both because I have to.

Because without her lines.

I have no idea what my skin really looks like.

Without her lines.

I wouldn’t be an artist too now.

Without her lines.

What poems would I write to cover them up?

What stories would I tell to color them in?

-Niko Tiare 13

Dorian Dorian Dorian Dorian Dorian Dorian

Electra Electra Electra Electra Electra Electra Jasmine Lowe

Dorian Electra entered the national stage with their 2010 music video I’m in Love with Fredrich Hayek.

The video and its subject lauded the philosophy of the Austrian economist and garnered commentary from the modern Austrian theory professor, Steven Horwitz. The gender-fluid popstar continued using music as a way to express themselves and their thoughts in 2016 when they released Ode To The Clitoris, which was meant to desensitize the word. Electra went on to be featured on Charli XCX’s track, “Femmebot” with Mykki Blanco on the mixtape “POP2” and continues to make great hits today. However, one thing that remains consistent in their music is remaining truthful to themselves.

“A lot of music is about taking on stories of different characters, but also using it as a way to express certain things about myself,” said Dorian Electra. “I feel most at home whenever the music that I make really represents who I am, also shares something new or different than the stuff that I hear already out there. I think the most interesting music tries to add something new. I hope that by adding a little bit about who I am that it would be something new to put out into the world.”

Electra makes it a point that the music they are sharing with the world remains consistently honest to who they are as an individual by being wary of who they choose to work with on projects. Electra tends to lean towards those in the industry who are open and willing to let their voice shine in their work.

“On all of my music videos, I work with my partner

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Westin Allen who co-directs and edits the videos.

We’ve been working together since 2013, so he’s definitely seen me change in a lot of ways and also become who I am now. He’s played an integral role in all of that. I also work with Mood Killer who is another one of our creative partners who works with us on everything. I’ve known them since 2009, and I have been working with them since around that time.

I definitely feel that having them both on whatever projects I’m doing helps me feel like myself and expressing who I am.

I’m definitely careful not to take sessions with really ‘bro-y’ producers,” Electra continued.

“Definitely people who really understand my vibe.

With producers, I’m open to working with anybody who’s really open and interested in doing something weird. Like I love combining different genres and love playing with my voice and making the vocal production reflect who I feel like I am. So, it could be lowering the pitch and making things sound more masculine or highlighting different voices like yodel-y whiny voices or whatever. It’s about finding someone who is interested in pushing the boundaries and exploring new and weird production styles. I think those are the people that I gravitate towards and I’ve been lucky to find some really amazing people to work with.”

Dorian Electra has also been consistent in the way that they incorporate intersectional feminism

and queer histories into their work. Music videos The Histories of Vibrators, the 2000 Years of Drag (which was accepted and screened at The East Village Queer Film Festival, New Fest, and Fringe! Queer Film Fest, among others) and the Dark History of High Heels in 2016, and Control in 2017 incorporated these histories which focused on queer issues. Electra collaborated with artists such as The Vixen, London Jade, and Zuri Marley. However, a connection with one particular artist has reminded them of how powerful music can be when used in political protest.

“I first met Nadia from Pussy Riot over email because we were both interviewed by this French documentary maker who was doing a documentary about the clitoris and I had a pop song about the history of the clitoris and this person had also interviewed Nadia and connected us. We immediately hit it off and admired each other’s work, and a year later she asked me to open for them on tour. As recently as April 4th I opened for them at this secret show in LA, so I continue to do stuff with them. It’s just amazing to work with hhver and travel with Nadia because the music that she is making is illegal in her own country. She could be jailed for talking about sex or politics and homosexuality. It just really makes you as an artist, not to take for granted the freedom that you have. Especially here, as bad as things are, it’s always nice to take for granted the freedom of speech, especially that we have here. For her, it’s not just about making music and having fun. It’s a life or death situation, and the songs she sings are about the experiences she had in prison. Her husband was poisoned by the Russian government and other reallife things occurred. I think it’s cool to see the power of music used in that way for political protest.”

Electra also notes their collaboration with Charli XCX and Charli’s ability to incorporate queerness and intersectional feminism into her music while still producing popular songs in the mainstream.

“She is amazing,” Electra spoke about the pop star, Charli XCX. “She asked me to be on her mixtape called POP2 on a song called Femme Bot and also with Nikki Blanco who is an amazing queer artist.

Charlie is amazing because she straddles the two worlds of mainstream pop, where she’s a big pop writer. She’s written songs for Selena Gomez and other huge artists and has had other songs become huge radio hits with Iggy Azealia, and other songs

of her own. She also opened for Taylor Swift last year on tour, but she also occupies this underground electronic music world that is really pushing the boundaries of music production and the queer music fanbase that’s definitely the world that I’m in. It’s cool to see her straddle both of those worlds and bring up the underground and help it get more recognition.”

Dorian is working on their debut album right now, but they have a similar goal with Charli XCX in mind when creating new artistic content. Outside of remaining true to themselves in their music, incorporating powerful messages into songs that people will enjoy is also an important consideration when making music.

“My whole goal is to make music that can be enjoyed both in like a pop and club context but also has some different and really interesting stuff that tries to push the boundaries. Something that has a lot of unexpected instruments and sounds and vibes and stories and characters and all kinds of things into a queer pop context and that weaves this whole world of things that I like, and hopefully, that other people might like.”

It’s important to see artists in the music industry who are not only representing marginalized communities, but who make it a goal to push boundaries, share stories, and speak about important issues. Dorian Electra’s refreshing take on creating music that means something and that can be incorporated into and enjoyed by the mainstream population is something to strive towards in a career.

It will be interesting to see what the artist has in store with their work in the future. However, what they had to say about music today gave insight into what we may expect to see.

“Do something different,” Dorian Electra said when asked by Q26 to advise those who want to enter the music industry. “Don’t try to follow trends because by the time you end up seeing something that is out and trying to make something on your own that’s similar the trend will be over,” Electra shared. “The best thing to do is, yes pay attention to what’s popular and what people like but do what feels right for you and try to combine at least two different things that haven’t been combined before. I think that is the fastest formula for making something new is just combing two unexpected things.”

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after

moonlight Romance and Cultural Sexualization of Queer Bodies of Color Cobretti Williams

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Growing up in my colored and queer body, love was different - it felt different. Fleeting at times, for one reason or another, but a liberatory undertaking, knowing that if I did not love myself, how in the hell was I gonna love anybody else? With so few representations of queer people of color in media, it’s hard to imagine feeling worthy of love and belonging when every image you see is White, blonde, and hardmuscled - everything I’m not and nothing I ever want to be. Thankfully, with the success of movies and shows like Moonlight and Sex Education , we are starting to see queerness in all its beauty, brimming with flamboyance and golden melanin. In this vein, we now see more queer people of color romanticized and centered in sexual attraction. It is exciting and familiar to me, but again, the love feels different. In truth, I wonder, what does it mean for queer bodies of color to experience romanticism and sexualization in mainstream culture?

The widespread success of Moonlight brought many firsts to the film industry; a movie created and directed by Black gay men that centered a Black gay character growing up in South Florida. The optics of the narrative alone were unprecedented at the time.

Before Moonlight, there were glimmers of Black LGBT representation on shows like Noah’s Arc, the L Word, and independent film and documentary such as Paris Is Burning. While iconic by all accounts within my upbringing as a queer man from the South, these representations were often on the fringe of mainstream, not to be desired or overtaken by audiences of popular shows like Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, or even Looking, in most cases. For queer people of color, this is an important distinction to make. As one comes to explore their identity and form a sexual and romantic attraction towards certain physical characteristics, when all you seen on your screen are queer people that do not look like you or identify with any of your experiences, that impacts what you view as attractive and worthy of love. This phenomena has been known for decades by queer folks of color, who often encounter transphobia, racism, and sexist remarks by White-passing, White-identified, and White-seeking LGBT people on dating apps and in real life.

Now, with the help of diverse directors and producers telling stories that represent and emphasize the perspectives of trans and queer people of color , there has been a sudden shift in acceptance and welcoming attitudes towards media and entertainment that promotes QTPOC people as main characters. However, as a critical consumer and productive skeptic of popular culture, a part of me wonders whether this is a genuine trend towards inclusivity or a potential cultural shift that sees the culture, experiences, and influence of queer people of color as trendy, and therefore now capable of being loved and romanticized as White queer people have been for quite some time (read: forever).

To be clear, there is duality in this scenario; I would like to believe White people are becoming more aware of their privilege even in queer and trans spaces, however, I also know that sexual and romantic objectification of Black and Brown bodies is also a reality. Indeed, there is a thin line between a preference that is based on stereotypes and assumptions of a person’s skin color and sudden enamoration because of a market-driven shift in the display of queer and trans people of color that makes it exciting, exotic , and dare I say spicy , to find Black and Brown bodies more attractive than before. What lies in the thin line is an opportunity to address how LGBTQ history and practice is largely absent of the narrative, voices, and experiences of trans and queer people of color and how these harms can potentially be perpetuated in the way we romanticize and sexualize QPOCs because they are more popular and visible than before.

As the trend of representation in media and entertainment ticks upward towards more inclusive, equitable, and diverse representations of queer voices, this is one of many areas of critical analysis we must consider, reflect on, and trouble, so that when we see QPOC being loved on screen, we will know it because their are worth more than the tv ratings, box office dollars, or trending hashtags on social media.

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The Lasting Relevance of

set it off

Source: https://mubi.com/films/set-it-off

Sondra Morris

I was only nine when Set It Off was released in November 1996. I had no clue what the film was about, but I wanted to see it because my older cousins, whom I idolized, saw the film as soon as it came out and played the soundtrack on repeat. My parents refused to let me see it because of the violence--and possibly Queen Latifah’s depiction of a lesbian character--so I spent the holidays memorizing the soundtrack with my cousins until some new film grabbed my attention and I moved on.

Though it’s now considered a classic of black cinema, I only saw Set it Off for the first time this week. I expected to find it dated but was shocked to find it still painfully relevant.

Set in the Los Angeles projects, Set It Off tells the story of four black women trapped in a world with no respect for their intersectional identities. Cleo, played by Queen Latifah, is a masculine-of-center queer woman looking to fix up her ride, pay off her bills, and spoil her girlfriend. Stony, portrayed by Jada Pinkett Smith, longs to escape the projects and grieves the murder of her college-bound brother at the hands 18

of the police. Frankie, Vivica A. Fox’s character, loses her job after being accused of conspiring in a bank robbery she had no part in. And Tisean, played by Kimberly Elise, is a single mother struggling to prove her financial ability to care for her son. Fed up with their daily realities and the lack of options afforded to them, the women decide to begin robbing banks to procure the money they know can change their lives.

Cleverly, the robberies function as a metaphor to explore divisions of class, gender, race, and sexuality.

The banks symbolize all of the societal ideals the film’s heroines do not possess: whiteness, maleness, wealth, and heterosexuality. When a white detective questions Frankie in the opening of the film, he asks her, “What’s the procedure when you’re being robbed?”

This question not only refers to her training as a bank teller but extends to her ability to behave obediently in a society where, no matter how hard she works, she remains at the bottom of the totem pole. Her response that a gun to her head caused her to change course foreshadows the remainder of the film, where we watch the four heroines abandon societal procedure

under the unyielding stress of their everyday lives.

lesbian. Everything about the scene is revolutionary.

The main characters are obviously upset with the status quo but never come off as stereotypical “angry black women.” Their anger and decisions are justified in a way that is uncommonly portrayed in mainstream cinema. It is society and their place within it that causes anger, but when together, the women tend to relax and we see them express joy.

Cleo’s sexuality is never in question nor is it treated as anything other than normal. Cleo occupies a position typically reserved for men in 90s West Coast hip-hop culture. She procures guns, robs banks, showers her beautiful femme girlfriend with gifts, and smokes weed with her friends. At one point, Frankie, Stony, and Tisean show up at Cleo’s auto shop unannounced to talk business and find her receiving a lap dance from her girlfriend. The camera lingers on the dance and it’s clear that this dance doesn’t exist for male pleasure. In fact, it exists in a bubble completely devoid of men altogether.

To that end, the women are unwaveringly loyal to one another. As they approach their final target, Stony must decide whether to maintain her relationship with Keith, a black Harvard-educated bank manager or to stick with her crew and finish out their string of robberies. She chooses her friends because she knows, as they all do, that no man can save them.

Throughout the film we see men betray, accuse, and coerce the heroines. Violence against black women is frighteningly common but rarely discussed or reported upon and almost never witnessed. For every name we can offer of an unarmed black man executed by police there is a name we don’t know of a woman who died the same way. Black Lives Matter was created by three black women, two of whom are queer, and somehow these facts get left out in the majority of discussions surrounding the movement.

Black women, especially queer black women, continue to struggle to have their needs met, their obstacles addressed, and their stories heard.

Unsurprisingly, our protagonists’ best moments tend to be those where no men are present. Their relationships with men are not a deciding factor in how these women live their lives and the ability to make their own choices as they embark on their crime spree affords them a sense of freedom.

Much of the heist planning takes place in Cleo’s garage and, though the women keep their traditionally feminine job of cleaning houses for a cover as their crime careers take off, in the garage, they engage in activities typically reserved for men. Where the traditional mainstream heist movie would show men in the safe house after a job counting money, Set It Off depicts our heroines celebrating their haul on the hood of a classic low-rider in the home of an out black

When the film came out it received praise for its empathy towards the heroines, the social commentary embedded in the plot, and the stark reality of its characters’ lives. Though other heist films and tv shows have come up since then, few manage to question and comment on societal norms in the way that Set It Off does. 2018’s Oceans 8 boasted a diverse cast but kept the story superficial. Good Girls , an NBC sitcom, occasionally flirts with social commentary but keeps the tone appealingly light.

Compare that to the first half hour of Set It Off, which sees Stony’s little brother, Stevie, killed after the cops mistake a bottle of champagne for a gun. The camera never wavers as the audience watches bullets pierce Stevie’s unarmed body. It’s a common story in 2018, but in 1996--before Instagram and youtube enabled people of color to share and witness proof of state violence freely--this scene was validating and shocking.

In the most memorable line of the film, Frankie confronts the detective who’s suspicions cost her her job and asks him, “What’s the procedure when you have a gun to your fucking head?” In a moment of silence, as the detective is forced to understand that this is all about more than robbing banks, Director F. Gary Gray asks the audience a larger question: when society has a gun to your head, what’s the procedure?

When forced to decide between maintaining the status quo and living miserably or risking death and living freely what do you do?

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NEW SPOKEN WORD VISUAL FOR “WHAT I WISH THEY’D SAY”

BY ALEX LUU & JASMINE RAFAEL The visual takes on the point of view of two queer kids, entering a followup conversation with their respective Asian parents, played by both Luu and Rafael, after having just come out. The piece is performed from the parents’ perspective and dares to show a reality where accepting and loving conversations can exist for those who don’t have the privilege of familial support due to cultural barriers.

Watch the short here or copy/paste the link below: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2049202848708752& id=1619708638324844

Alexandra Bender is a writer pursuing a career in animation as a show

runner. She is also songwriter, and has a new emo-punk song out on Youtube called Shitty Childhood Friends (link below).

Currently she is developing a new animated series called Katharina the Supervillain, acting as the writer and director. She is also on a mission to reboot the classic animated series Angela Anaconda, originally created by two queer women (Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose).

Watch the trailer for Katharina The Supervillain here or copy/paste the link: https://youtu.be/r5n7opuFe4w Listen to Shitty Childhood Friends here or copy/paste the link: https://youtu.be/lS-9ACNnkg4

FIGGY BABY Figgy Baby is a nationally touring rapper, dancer and performer based in Los Angeles. They were recently invited to perform in their first international show at the University of Montreal in Canada this July.

Their latest single Seams was produced by a predominantly queer and women of color team. The music video, directed by Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy writer Aeryn Michelle Williams, breaks open the box of perceived masculinity with vibrant colors, wild, uninhibited dancing, and the exposure of the male body. Figgy Baby, donned in pale pinks, a smear of blue eyeshadow across his face like war paint, raps and joyfully dances his way through the wide landscapes of Los Angeles. In a period of mass redefinition, “Seams” is a necessary and timely track that offers a new perspective into what it means to be a man.

Watch Seams here or copy/paste the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzyF8pZn3D0

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locals we’re watching

The importance of

Source: https://www.gaytravel.com/gay-guides/west-hollywood/

queer spaces Camille Ora-Nicole

The first time I felt truly comfortable in my queer skin was during my freshman year of college.

I had, somehow, without actually coming out, attracted the attention of the queer kids in my architecture studio lab. I don’t know if it was my shyness, or my jackets, or just my fucking face, but we all ended up hanging out.

Anyway, one day my new friends invited me to go out clubbing with them in West Hollywood (WeHo, as I would learn to call it.) They told me it would be a gay club, and little repressed me decided, “why the hell not?”

It was during this night that I learned of the magic of Pavilions, the necessity of pockets and flats when you go out clubbing if you want to be comfortable, and most importantly, the sheer magic that you feel when you are suddenly surrounded by people who are just like you. Up to that point in my life, I had never felt so free and perfectly, perfectly happy. It was that very night that I decided to come out. And, little by little, I did come out. I started dating a girl not too long after that would become my wife. I eventually started going to the Pride Center on my campus and joined E-boards. I started doing research and learning more about my community beyond what was shown to me 21

on The L Word . And now, roughly ten years after going out that first night, I am writing this account for a queer online magazine that I founded because I just can’t get enough of this world that has been opened to me. This world, with its heartwarming stories and some of the saddest, most tragic stories you can come across, this world full of some of the best people I have ever met...this world means so much to me.

example is The Factory in West Hollywood, a club that has been open since 1974. It’s a staple in WeHo and one of the last remaining clubs to offer a real Girl’s Nights on Santa Monica Boulevard. Thanks to community support, it has been protected from complete demolition. A mall will be added and the club itself will be altered, but plans as of now have it still standing into the future.

Perhaps it would have happened eventually, but this queer blossoming was expedited with my first visit to that nightclub in WeHo. I am not the first or the last person who will have a similar experience.

However, gay bars are not (and should not) be the only places that we find love and acceptance.

We can’t wait until assets in our communities are in danger to protect them, though. We need to actively support new ideas and business owners whose goals are to enrich the community with a diverse offering of queer spaces. Businesses like the Eastside Cafe, Stokely’s Cafe and Social House, and Cuties Coffee gives us alternatives to bars where we can vibe with our community over coffee, workshops, movies, and more.

LGBT centers are places where we can grow into ourselves, and understand where we stand in a place that (should be) nurturing and safe. Neighborhoods like the newly minted transgender cultural district in San Francisco and communities present in WeHo, Long Beach, Palm Springs, San Diego, Los Angeles, and the like offer safe places for queer folx to live, work, and play. These places are necessary for our well-being, and therefore it is important that we fight for the spaces that we have and work towards creating a more diverse landscape for our community.

There are movements to protect LGBTQ places of historical importance like the Stonewall Inn and the Black Cat, but it’s not enough to stop there. We need to fight for the survival of our existing meeting spaces and shops. “Fighting” comes in a lot of forms, and the easiest way to “fight” for our spaces is by supporting our spaces and small business owners. It means shopping from them as we can and, if they find trouble from new development and/or gentrification, rallying behind them however we can. A prime

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When we support queer spaces, we support our community’s autonomy and well-being. We are creating a framework for the next queer kid to come into themselves in a safe community. We are creating more job opportunities, increasing our safety net, and broadening our living spaces.

And, besides, hanging out with our community is just plain fun. Where else are you going to find such creative, colorful, diverse, fucking awesome people?

We are the juice and the salt of the earth and the butter on the popcorn. When we are together and healthy and happy, there’s no limit to what we can do. A great way to ensure that we are together, healthy, and happy is to ensure that we have places to go to find resources and community. So, next time you have a chance to support a queer space, do so and bring another queer person along with you to share the joy.

ABOUT Q26 is a collaborative effort that began as a social project defining the terms in the LGBTQ+ Alphabet Soup. This effort has grown into a collaborative online publication geared towards the queer community. We focus particularly on the issues of queer people of color and how the media can help solve some of them, including issues of equity and autonomy.

QPOCs often have trouble getting our voices heard due to the multiplication of our marginalization. Not only do we lack privilege and attention because of our skin, but also because we are queer.

Our voices are heard less, we are often at a higher risk of violence and economic abuse, and we are taken less seriously. Part of the reason for this is due to people not knowing where we come from, our history, or our stories. Consequently, they don’t understand the institutional biases against us.

We believe that the issues that face one of us faces all of us. We believe that we are stronger and more vibrant together. We believe bonding with different people of different labels and backgrounds strengthens our understanding of each other and allows room for us grow and collectively gain our freedom.

Camille Ora-Nicole Founder/Director

One way of bonding is by engaging in each other stories. Our writers, artists, musicians, actors/actresses, filmmakers, innovators and activists are immensely important in getting our stories out and helping people understand our issues- and also to understand the fact that we are also humans who love, laugh, hurt, and have both strengths and flaws.

All of our stories matter, and we all deserve to be heard. As an online magazine, we want to help build a more equitable world by lifting up our community and supporting our storytellers.

Furthermore, we want to carve out a space where all of us in the LGBTQ+ community can coexist. That place is Q26.

We are always looking for new team members to act as designers, writers, photographers, outreach leads, and more! E-mail us at info@theq26.com for more information.

Jasmine Lowe Editorial Manager

Are you a creative with an upcoming project? E-mail us at info@theq26.com for consideration in our Fall publication. Deadline August 31st, 2019.

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ADVERTISE WITH Q26 Get your business out in front of a new audience by advertising through Q26!

All sponsors and advertisers will not only be featured in the Fall Issue of the magazine, but will also have maintained support on our Social Media channels, ads placed on our website with applicable links, and opportunities for partnerships.

Advertising through Q26 also creates new financial opportunities for talented writers and creatives, and a portion of all funds go towards our annual Fall fundraiser for LGBTQ+ youths.

SPONSOR LEVEL

ADVERTISER

3 SPOTS AVAILABLE $450

4 HALF-PAGE SPOTS AVAILABLE STARTING AT $75

Fee Includes:

6 FULL-PAGE SPOTS AVAILABLE STARTING AT $150

• • • • •

Photoshoot Featured Article Full Page Ad Space designed by a Q26 vetted creative Ad Space on Website for 3 months Social Media Support for 3 months

Fee Includes: • Half/Full Page Ad Space designed by a Q26 vetted creative • Ad Space on Website for 3 months • Social Media Support for 3 months

For Inquiries, E-mail info@theq26.com Fall Deadline: September 14th, 2019

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