what i loved this week

edition 1.0

Dear friends,

I’m thrilled to welcome you to the first edition of WHAT I LOVED THIS WEEK, a weekly brief digest you can expect in your inbox every Friday (for now, until my ambition recalibrates or cat parenting takes over).

I love a lot of things most of the time, so I’m being good and limiting myself to ten loves a week. So think of this email as more of a ripe and joyful glance you’ll enjoy taking before your weekend begins.

As part of my Amplify Queer Voices initiative, I will always feature 3-5 queer voices in each edition of this digest. Please love on them and subscribe if you’re able — they’re important and needed.

As a reminder, My Dear Queer is entirely donation-based. I do not offer paid subscriptions (read why at the bottom of this post). If my work resonates with you in any way, please consider leaving a little tip — I donate at least 10% of all monthly donations to The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline.

Thanks for being here.

xo,

Bardette

---

• Ben Greene
  of Good Queer News on dreaming of a life beyond winter (and demystifying exec orders) in Moving Tenderly Through the Winter of our Lives

• the eternal wisdom of my younger self

  

  *and my subject-verb agreement

• this trans joy!

• this short spoken story!

• this song! #mood

• Tori Ai-Ting • They / Them
  ’s response to my note crowd-sourcing thoughts on tenderness

• Natalie S. Ohio
  of Queer Your Thoughts taking a brilliant, necessary dive into a term that has always irked me in ““Man-Hating" Lesbians” or Women Who Eat Mediocre Men for Breakfast?”

• Rebecca Fullan
  of Timely Morsels giving us this breathtaking prayer for freedom in “Then Let Us Be Free”

• and, lastly, this:

---

My Dear Queer is now donation-based only. Why?

I recently signed this open letter taking a stand against Substack’s enabling of hate speech, especially transphobic and queerphobic speech.

Substack takes 10% of every paid subscription. In short, I don’t want my readers’ money going towards anything that is or enables hate speech, especially now. So I’ve decided not to offer paid subscriptions as an option to my readers.

Instead, those who wish to honor my time and my art can feel free to donate to me directly. Consider your donation a tip, a virtual hug, a take-me-out-for-coffee treat — you get the gist.

I will be donating a minimum — likely more! — of 10% of each month’s donations to Trans Lifeline and The Trevor Project (suicide prevention for LGBTQIA2S+ young folx) for the indefinite future, and all other donations will go towards supporting queer and trans artists and creators here on Substack or locally in my community (and occasionally pens, markers, and paper for yours truly).

I aim to always be transparent about how I am using donations, so expect regularly updates on that throughout the coming year.

And — donations are not expected. I respect where everyone is at financially, and above all want to make sure that my content makes folks feel seen and safe. I am grateful for your readership regardless.