Lauren Auder, Wendy & Lisa // I Would Die 4 U

Post by Misha //

I have sometimes written here about the place I grew up: a very small town in a very rural corner of a very beautiful part of Washington State. Like many very rural places, the town where I grew up has been rocked by the storm of conservatism that has swept over us all during the last decade. It was already a pretty conservative place when I grew up there; now there are Trump flags flying in the hay fields and something sour boiling on the air that you can almost taste.

Most recently, our local library came under attack by a far-right group who rallied to get its funding pulled. The library’s offense? Hanging a pride flag in the window for a few months. It’s a sad chapter for our town for so many reasons, not least of which is that our library, like so many rural libraries, provides essential services to the community that can’t be accessed anywhere else. Libraries – especially libraries in rural communities – are so much more than their books. They are hubs. They are havens. They are sanctuaries. To see them come under attack is heartbreaking and really scary for everyone who wants to see their small towns thrive.

I love the place where I grew up, and I love the library, and I wrote an article that you can read here if you’re interested in learning more about attacks on rural libraries and what communities can do to fight back.

Support your local library. Also, support queer and trans art. You can buy TRANSA, a compilation benefitting the advocacy organization Red Hot, here.

Buy TRANSA here.