Else & Ilse | LGBTIQ+ adventurers

This last week was filled with so many inspiring, helpful, saddening, important, uplifting, creative, and maddening posts and stories. We can’t believe how many people suddenly started educating themselves. We hope everyone will keep this up. We believe that supporting Black artists is one way to support the Black community. Thanks to our awesome virtual community, we were directed to fantastic BIPoC artists who present their work on Instagram. Today, we would like to share three incredible Black artists we found on Instagram: Pretty In Ink Press ©  beautifully illustrates Black people, mostly womxn. Her illustrations are colorful and portray each person in a powerful way. It's hard to settle on one, but we think her illustration of  Amorous Ebony  might be our favorite one. Artist (and writer)  Autumn Joi  paints amazing portraits (mostly) of Black people that we simply love. The paintings transport so much emotion even though we sometimes cannot see the f...

These last few months, we had more than enough time for indoor activities. So we decided that we want to explore queer books, movies, and TV shows, preferably with a diverse crew and cast. And although many are (too) white for our taste, we also came across fantastic books, movies, and TV shows that include BIPoC artists. Today, we want to share one movie, one book, and one TV show with you that we particularly love. Moonlight  (2016), an all-black cast movie, was the first movie we watched during our lockdown. This coming-of-age drama follows Chiron through his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, also mirrored in the release poster that merges the faces of the three actors playing Chiron into a single face. Chiron grows up with an addicted mother who calls him a 'faggot,' but finds a supportive father figure in Juan, an Afro-Cuban drug-dealer. In the course of the movie, he struggles with his identity and with his sexuality. We started reading Girl, Woman, Other (201...

We were and are so excited for Pride Month! Although most Pride festivities are canceled this year (Cologne Pride is, for now, postponed, so we still have some hope ...), we couldn't wait for this month of visibility, of pride (not just Pride), of rainbow flags, of support, of loving each other. Then, George Floyd was brutally killed. And although we cannot imagine how it must feel to be Black or a person of color, we can't stand this injustice. We will do everything we can to stand with you. To fight with you. Pride started as a riot. And although we do not support violence, it doesn't seem likely that this injustice will end without another riot. We stand with you. We won't have queer equality if we don't have racial equality. Black lives matter. The lives of people of color matter. Remember those who died from police violence. Say their names and never forget.