Diversity Rules Magazine

11 Diversity Rules Magazine June 2019 Her most recent book, An American Queer, a collec on of "The Ama- zon Trail" columns, was presented with the 2015 Golden Crown Literary Society Award in Anthol- ogy/Collec on Crea ve Non Fic on. This, and her award-win- ning fic on, including The Raid, The Swashbuckler, and Beggar of Love, can be found at h p://www.boldstrokes- books.com/Author-Lee-Lynch.html. I was si ng on the ca o, watching the birds do their aerial ma ng dances, the bees and their flowers coming into bloom, thinking about regenera on and queer families. Sure, we can reproduce ourselves with a li le help from our friends and science. Yet, with rare excep- ons, gay men don't raise gay children and gay wom- en usually bring up heterosexuals as well. There are no bloodlines connec ng one gay genera on to the next, the grand-lesbian culture to the great grand- lesbians. Gay people some mes use the word family to de- scribe our partners and our friends. I have a niece, a nephew, cousins, to whom I can pass down blood family "heirlooms." But to whom do give the diminu ve model type- writer Valerie Taylor, known for her lesbian pulp fic- on and later Naiad Press novels, gave to me? The photo a teacher sent of her students studying my novel, The Swashbuckler? The rings from my bond- ing ceremony with Tee Corinne? The Zippo lighter that was once so much a part of my so butch per- sona? Would these items have meaning to other dykes? I'm very interested in the concept of lesbian genera ons and am, in fact, wri ng a series of standalone books I'm thinking of as a lesbian fam- ily saga. Rainbow Gap (boldstrokes- books.com) is the first of that series. Writers Ashley Bartle and Andi Mar- que e had a conversa on about gen- era onal differences in Ashley's "Women and Words" blog of April 16, 2019 . Ashley, a courageous teacher, wrote: …for many of the kids, I'm the first real life adult queer they have ever seen. You know when you're out in public (not in an urban area) and you see queer people and it's super exci ng. My office is like that for the first two months of school. Andi replied: I should totally come visit you. "LOOK, KIDS! LIVING HISTORY! AN OLD!" Ashley also says (about her- self and Andi): The most no- ceable difference is the de- cade or so between us. I'd like to look at the differences in our experiences and the ways our heteronorma ve world treats us the same. Later, she says: One could easily argue that the an- swer to queer diaspora is the internet…That's where we went to organize in terms of ac vism or what- ever else… and the community centers that were in existence. Andi responded: OH, absolutely. But I do miss hav- ing that real-world space because that was where we went to be safe. And to be heard. I shared their conversa on with an OLD. Mary wrote: I can't relate to any of this as it was 30 years before being out was even in our vocabu- lary. In Jr. High School… I knew that lesbians existed but don't know how. However. A real. Live. Lesbian? Never happen. Amazon Trail - Con't on page 12 The Amazon Trail Femmes And Their Gadgets By Lee Lynch (c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / grsphoto

• Cover