pride month is coming up soon, so i want to make something very clear, especially for the younger queers and others who might not know the history.

in nearly all of america in the 50s-60s, being gay was considered both a mental illness and a crime punishable by prison time (up to and including a life sentence) and/or "experimental" psychiatric torture (electroshock therapy, lobotomies, and worse). you could lose your job for being suspected of homosexual behavior with no proof, and the fbi and post office spied on you if they knew you were queer. most gay bars were mafia-owned because no one else had the money or inclination to pay off the crooked police.

with that in mind: "stonewall," the event that we commemorate with pride parades today, was a violent riot incited by a police raid on a gay bar in manhattan. the fierce activism that has given us the basic personhood we enjoy today was built on a foundation of desperate physical struggle against unfair policing and stigma, the stakes of which were prison, death, or worse. gays, lesbians, trans folks and drag queens, dancers, kinksters, drinkers and teetotalers, all of them stuck together because nobody else had their backs. we can march peacefully today only because we had to fight for our lives before.

my point is this: there was no room in those days for means-testing who was a Real Respectable Gay, and there's no room for it now either, especially as our rights are eroding again. we have to stick together with people we think are gross but who haven't actually hurt anybody, because the same weapons you use to oust those you don't like will be turned on you in a heartbeat.

now more than ever, don't be a fucking cop.

Interviewer: What would you say is your greatest weakness?

Me: My commitment to quality. I can't stop myself from making sure I understand what's expected of me, or that I get the job done right.

Interviewer: ...how is that a weakness

Me: have you *seen* the tech industry lately. In the age of AI, doing your best work and caring about your impact is a fireable offense. That's how I lost my last job.