Voices of Pride creates space for queer voices that refuse restriction, dilution, or apology. Through writing, art, and lived experience, LGBTIA* creators reclaim visibility, challenge inherited norms, and speak to the realities of identity, resistance, intimacy, and belonging.

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Perspectives on Trans bodies

Words are abstract

Are put on bodies

We walk as embodiment

Of arbitrary meanings

Created from a certain

Perspec-cis on bodies

You make an arbitrary connection

From your concepts to bodies

In a certain society

Society – what is iety sauce?

We don’t want your sauce

We want a bodiety

We will look at your words

Words that want to define and reign us

We will take them apart. And take a part, the one we like

We will bring our perspec-deeps

For our bodies

Find the meaning in words that we need

Reclaim them

De-define them

Fin-d them

Fine tune them

De-adjust

Make them just

As in jsutice, and as synonymous with

Only – for us

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About the Author

Manuel (they) lives in Berlin. Manuel writes works that blend poetry and spoken word, enjoys mixing languages (mostly English and German), and has been a member of the poetry collective das ad hoc for more than five years. During a one-year stay in Canada, Manuel studied creative writing at York University in Toronto.

Manuel’s work has been published in parabolis virtualis 2, PS#7, Glitter, and on the website www.ourtextour.de (among others).

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Photography

The Voices of Pride campaign features work by Elizaveta Bogachavo, drawn from the project Ephemeral Reveries through the Alchemy of Queerness. You can read more about Elizaveta and the project here.

Instagram: @lisa.bogachova

Website: www.elizavetabogachova.me

Model: Peach Fuzz

Instagram: @____peach.fuzz