aquafoundation

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https://happeningout.travel/trip/aqua-girl-at-sea-cruise/

Tumblr peeps!

Don't miss out on this amazing fundraising cruise next year. We are partnering with a nonprofit travel organization, HappeningOut Travel, to put this together. Thanks to their partnership, for every 6 people who sign up, we receive the equivalent of a 7th person's cruise as a donation from the cruise line, MSC Cruises.

This is a great cause and a REALLY good deal. There's a lot of fun exclusive things happening on board, or if you just want to take advantage of the deal and do your own thing once on board, that's an option too!

Cruise Highlights:

8 Day, 7 Night Cruise sailing from Miami, FL on April 27, 2024

Destinations: Nassau & Paradise Island (Bahamas), San Juan (PR), Puerta Plata (DR), the World's Best Private Island, SC Marine Reserve Ocean Cay

Exclusive Deals for Aqua Girl Attendees:

Reserve your cabin for just $1

Affordable for all with $99 monthly payment plan

FREE open bar & Wifi program

Exclusive Events for Aqua Girl Attendees Including:

DAILY special receptions, private parties, special dining events, exclusive shore excursions with the group and much more

Special Aqua Girl “The D.R. pool party” at a Puerta Plata resort with a top local DJ

Aqua Girl “Ocean Cay Seize The Day Beach Party” while at MSC Marine Reserve, the world’s top private island

Aqua Girl “Ocean Cay Night Beach Party” while at MSC Marine Reserve. Dance on the beach at the best girls' party under the famous LED ‘Light House’ on our private island. 

As always, Aqua Girl welcomes all friends and allies!

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Aqua Girl At Sea - LGBTQ+ Ladies Cruise Sailing April 2024

You asked for #AquaGirl... and we listened! The world's best queer ladies' party sets sail from Miami on April 27, 2024, on MSC Cruises's Magnifica! Thanks to our partnership with @happeningout.travel you can book this fantastic 8 day "Cruise for Good" for as little as only $495 per person! Click the link below to reserve your spot today, for just $1! The more friends you bring, the more you raise for Aqua Foundation for Women! (Everyone welcome!) See you out there!

https://happeningout.travel/trip/aqua-girl-at-sea-cruise/

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#PrideOnTheBlock is almost here South Florida fam!

Don't miss out Montana State Rep. Zooey Zypher, Erin Reed, performances by Ryan Cassata and Ground Zero!

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We're here, we're queer, and we're not going anywhere.

Mark your calendars South Florida, TransCon is BACK!

Join us for a day of Community, Resources, and Empowerment.

BY and FOR the transgender and nonbinary community.

Register for free today.

[aquafoundation]

So what I’ve learned from the past couple months of being really loud about being a bi woman on Tumblr is: A lot of young/new LGBT+ people on this site do not understand that some of the stuff they’re saying comes across to other LGBT+ people as offensive, aggressive, or threatening. And when they actually find out the history and context, a lot of them go, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I never meant to say that.”

Like, “queer is a slur”: I get the impression that people saying this are like… oh, how I might react if I heard someone refer to all gay men as “f*gs”. Like, “Oh wow, that’s a super loaded word with a bunch of negative freight behind it, are you really sure you want to put that word on people who are still very raw and would be alarmed, upset, or offended if they heard you call them it, no matter what you intended?”

So they’re really surprised when self-described queers respond with a LOT of hostility to what feels like a well-intentioned reminder that some people might not like it. 

That’s because there’s a history of “political lesbians”, like Sheila Jeffreys, who believe that no matter their sexual orientation, women should cut off all social contact with men, who are fundamentally evil, and only date the “correct” sex, which is other women. Political lesbians claim that relationships between women, especially ones that don’t contain lust, are fundamentally pure, good, and  unproblematic. They therefore regard most of the LGBT community with deep suspicion, because its members are either way too into sex, into the wrong kind of sex, into sex with men, are men themselves, or somehow challenge the very definitions of sex and gender. 

When “queer theory” arrived in the 1980s and 1990s as an organized attempt by many diverse LGBT+ people in academia to sit down and talk about the social oppressions they face, political lesbians like Jeffreys attacked it harshly, publishing articles like “The Queer Disappearance of Lesbians”, arguing that because queer theory said it was okay to be a man or stop being a man or want to have sex with a man, it was fundamentally evil and destructive. And this attitude has echoed through the years; many LGBT+ people have experience being harshly criticized by radical feminists because being anything but a cis “gold star lesbian” (another phrase that gives me war flashbacks) was considered patriarchal, oppressive, and basically evil.

And when those arguments happened, “queer” was a good umbrella to shelter under, even when people didn’t know the intricacies of academic queer theory; people who identified as “queer” were more likely to be accepting and understanding, and “queer” was often the only label or community bisexual and nonbinary people didn’t get chased out of. If someone didn’t disagree that people got to call themselves queer, but didn’t want to be called queer themselves, they could just say “I don’t like being called queer” and that was that. Being “queer” was to being LGBT as being a “feminist” was to being a woman; it was opt-in.

But this history isn’t evident when these interactions happen. We don’t sit down and say, “Okay, so forty years ago there was this woman named Sheila, and…” Instead we queers go POP! like pufferfish, instantly on the defensive, a red haze descending over our vision, and bellow, “DO NOT TELL ME WHAT WORDS I CANNOT USE,” because we cannot find a way to say, “This word is so vital and precious to me, I wouldn’t be alive in the same way if I lost it.” And then the people who just pointed out that this word has a history, JEEZ, way to overreact, go away very confused and off-put, because they were just trying to say.

But I’ve found that once this is explained, a lot of people go, “Oh wow, okay, I did NOT mean to insinuate that, I didn’t realize that I was also saying something with a lot of painful freight to it.”

And that? That gives me hope for the future.

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Wednesday was International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, an important awareness day dedicated by the United Nations. Click the link below to read what United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, had to say about the day and continued attacks on LGBTQ+ people.

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been painting this vest to keep myself sane(ish). i am quite pleased 🏳️‍⚧️

[aquafoundation]

Welcome to our blog! We are the AQUA Foundation for Women, the state of Florida's ONLY nonprofit organization dedicated to serving & supporting LGBTQ+ Women.

Since 2004, AQUA Foundation for Women has been proud to be BY and FOR South Florida’s LGBTQ+ Women, who we believe are the experts on their own lives and needs. As an inclusive nonprofit organization, AQUA embraces all who feel aligned with AQUA’s mission and vision, regardless of their gender identity, presentation, or expression, and proudly welcomes our gender-diverse, transgender, and intersex siblings. 

Our Mission

To serve, support, and empower South Florida’s LGBTQ+ Women. 

Our Vision

A world in which LGBTQ+ Women are fully represented in all aspects of public life and enjoy full access to all human rights. 

Our Values

Inclusivity, Anti-Racism, Accountability 

(For more on our Values, see AQUA’s Inclusivity Statement).

Our Focus Areas

Education & Leadership, Health & Wellbeing, and Collaboration & Community-Building

For more information on the AQUA Foundation for Women, please visit https://www.aquafoundation.org