queer forms of magic from queer lit:
queer psychopompery. the queer people who performed the role of death doula for people with AIDS and/or other terminal diseases throughout our history.
queer transformative magic— the magic of seeming and appearing and subverting. too many examples to list.
queer escape magic. the stonewall butch who escaped the cop car while handcuffed and sent the watching crowd berserk with protective fury. sylvia rivera throwing herself out of a moving car to escape a bad trick. the butch who stole a nurse’s uniform and escaped the asylum in upstate new york before they could start her electroshock treatments. the butch from the persistent desire who beat all her charges for what she did to that new orleans cop.
queer samizdat magic. the transfer and cultivation of forbidden materials and histories from one oppressive period to another. the lesbians who walled themselves up in living archives. the transfemme historians uncovering long forgotten riots and uprisings. the gay utopians hand writing notebook after notebook of revolutionary poetry. diaries and scraps from the beloved dead being collected and pored over in temperature controlled rooms with gloved hands.
queer proxy magic through objects— leather, boots, high heels, dildos, packers, ties, etc. Leathermen inheriting and caring for the armor and skins of their fallen brothers. House mothers passing down dresses and accessories to their found children. the gay man who crumbled and dropped the eucharist to the ground during the catholic church action.
queer riot magic. kettles broken through in the knick of time. cop provocateurs being identified and ignored and expelled. ashes and teeth and bone chips of the beloved dead sailing through the white house fence and landing on the pristine lawn. groups of queer protesters sitting down en masse as the police horses are kicked into charging.
