Q+A
ATTORNEYS
Marketplace
COUNSELING
SOSSITY CHIRICUZIO
HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY?
As a queer, fat, working class, poly,
bearded femme.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN
PORTLAND/OREGON?
I moved to Portland in 2004 seeking
community I needed: radical queers
who are body/sex/poly positive and
politically aware. I found that, but I
also found a city and community who
have so much work to do around
racism and accountability. This city fills
and breaks my heart every day.
WHAT’S YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING
MOMENT OR A PASSION YOU HAVE
THAT NO ONE WOULD GUESS?
Perhaps some people don't know that
I like to 2 step, or that I love sci-fi, or
what a nerd I am about plants.
WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO OR
REVERE IN THE GAY COMMUNITY OR
HISTORICALLY?
Dorothy Allison is an inspiration and
lodestar for me: be real. be fierce but
not hateful. Talk about the stuff you're
supposed to be shamed by. Embrace
the entirety of your experience. Ac-
knowledge the experiences of others.
Photo by Horace Long
HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED DISCRIMI-
NATION WITHIN THE QUEER COM-
MUNITY?
I've experienced it personally in relation
to my gender, my class background,
and my size; and I've definitely seen it
happen to people of color, disabled
folks, transfolks, to the freaks in the 90's
and to the folks who aren't freaks now.
We step on each other all the time.
EATS
GARDEN/YARD
HIV/STD TESTING
WHAT'S AN IMPORTANT TOPIC THAT
THE LGBT COMMUNITY SHOULD BE
TALKING ABOUT AND ISN'T?
Privilege and accountability. Race,
class, gender, sex, sexuality, appear-
ance, size, age, ability... willful igno-
rance.
August 2012
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