We're just people.

Hi Everybody!!

We’ve been accused of making people uncomfortable.

Of “sending the wrong message”

Of “painting our lives as normal”

Good.

That weird old American Gothic painting was always a lie for real people anyway— a fantasy of purity, simplicity, sameness.

Like we all really should dress that way… <smirk>

We weren’t artistically brushed into their “big painting” as we are, so we took theirs off our wall… and painted ourselves

Others don’t need to understand us to respect us.

Others don’t need to approve before they step out of our way.

Others don’t get to pretend we weren’t always here, just because the way WE paint doesn’t match their frame.

We are not their project. We are no kind of a threat to how they want to be seen.

We’re just people.

And we’re tired of being spoken about instead of just being seen.

Queer people can grow food too, if we feel like it, Farmer White — no matter what we choose to look like.

So I made them an alternate painting in case they ever want to look.

Luv luv luv!!!

–K

From Clothes Go In The Closet – NOT HUMANS! Action over fear. An LGBTQ+ truth-telling project using art, voice, and education for LGBTQ+. Text edited with AI. Otherwise this would be chaos and typos.