Our mission here at Geeks OUT is "to raise the visibility of queer geeks." If you're on this site, you have likely experienced some degree of dismissiveness, hostility or even violence when you have participated in genre fandom, either online or in person. Or you care that people are experiencing things like that. And you're looking for a better way, for a safer space, for a more inclusive community.
Raising visibility means finding community because when we can see each other, we can find each other. It makes it that much easier to find a group in which we can "geek out" together in a way that acknowledges our variegated differences while gushing about the comic books, video games and other media that we cannot help but love so very hard.
In this vein, enter We Are Comics.
It's no frills, basic, but that's the glorious beauty of it. We Are Comics is a visibility movement that explodes notions of "fake geek girls" and "comics are for straight white dudes" and "cross-racial cosplay isn't canon." The Tumblr asks for photos of you showing your love for comics with a sign "We Are Comics" or "I Am Comics." That's it. Simple, straightfoward, and wonderful. From the About page:
We Are Comics is a campaign to show—and celebrate—the faces of our community, our industry, and our culture; to promote the visibility of marginalized members of our population; and to stand in solidarity against harassment and abuse.
Becky Chambers'article on The Mary Sue attributes the Tumblr to Rachel Edidin, whose really excellent, personal essay about pop culture and mental health I briefly reviewed here.
I can see this getting very big and you should be a part of it. Submit your photo here or tweet with the hashtag #iamcomics.
