One of the Internet’s longest-running and most beloved queer blogs is fundraising for its existence.
If you’re reading this website, chances are you’ve heard of a site called Autostraddle. Founded in 2009, the blog provided (and continues to provide) a revolutionary space for independent media focusing on culture from a lesbian perspective. According to the site’s info section, it’s also “the Internet’s most popular, oldest, and independently owned website for lesbian culture, inclusive of trans, nonbinary people, and all queer women.” Even as blogs like AfterEllen led to TERF-ery being published or outright closed their doors, Autostraddle remained a solid voice in the media landscape, providing a platform not just for cis women who love women, but for queer people of all genders. With a clear focus on uplifting black and brown people.
But despite being a very important and unified website, Autostraddle is in danger. According to a fundraising update posted on the site Thursday, the site must raise $145,000 in the next few weeks “or it’s over.” Although fundraising is routine for the independent site, the Post explains that Rhys Bernard, the site’s co-founder and CEO, applied for and received a financial injury disaster loan from the Small Business Association (SBA), which was granted to help businesses recover from the financial effects of COVID-19. This is the first time the site has taken on debt, and since independent queer media outlets aren’t exactly cash-strapped, Autostraddle’s only way to repay the SBA in full is through fundraising.
“If we can’t raise the necessary funds, we will all lose a significant archive of resources and history on everything from lesbian sex to queer TV, identity, politics, and relationships to countless critical discussions,” the post reads. Archives may even be confiscated as “assets” if the loan is not repaid. “We’ll all be scattered to the wind, no longer changing the face of media, no longer giving queer and trans writers their first bylines or the unheard-of freedom to write the queer stuff they actually want to write.”
Like all good fundraisers, Autostraddle offers great perks for donors. Depending on how much one pays, people can get a “gay agenda” sticker pack, some super queer magnets, a peachy (literally) zipper pouch, and even a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, all made and illustrated by Queer. Artists.
