Hagra is an artist living in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. He was born in 1992 almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hagra is a transgender person and a pansexual, so naturally the study of gender and sexuality and their place in post-Soviet culture has become the main focus of his art. Hagra periodically participates in exhibitions, but sees the Internet as his main platform, as it is one of the most accessible and democratic tools for demonstrating his work.
When LGBTI+ people occupy physical spaces alongside other social groups in struggle, a solidarity network becomes possible. That is dirsek teması.
When a translator borrowed the term “gender” from English, the Bulgarian conservative right found a new word to weaponize.
Anna T. reads the Dictionary of the Queer International and tells us how it moves her.
The emergence of queer terminology in a language as gendered as German calls for creative appropriation and disruptive recombination.
Finally becoming comfortable saying “I am a lesbian” in Poland, Zohar Weiman-Kelman unpacks layers of meaning in the Yiddish words for queer identity.
Mavi Veloso’s queer trans language is always in flux, twisting Brazilian Portuguese and English phrases into new contortions that coat the tongue in a queer kind of gloss. Listen as she performs an essay-poem (or something like that). Supplemented by a queer abécédaire.
Moving back to Beirut after years abroad, Omar Mismar chats with a young barista to discover a new generation of local queer language.
Tracing the linguistic roots of queer Kyrgyz words, Temir Kalbaev describes their evolution in media and academia from pejorative slur to human rights activism.
In Latvia, the black carnation is much more than a flower. Kārlis Vērdiņš traces the symbol from private gay gatherings to tabloid scandals to contemporary pride.
