The Sound of Community: The Uplifting LGBTQIA+ Stories in Storm Miguel Florez’s Films

Early in his documentary The Whistle, StormMiguel Florez muses about his LGBTQIA+ friends who grew up in other parts of the country in the ’70s and ’80s who always say, “I didn’t know anybody like me.”

Florez retorts, “Albuquerque was packed full of queers back then!” Later in the film, we see a woman holding a scrapbook. It shows the wear and tear of being well-loved over many years. A bumper sticker reading “Get Wrecked” falls out of it and she chuckles. To her, it’s a scrapbook of cherished memories. To our underrepresented community, it’s a treasure trove, an archive, a key to reminding us that we’ve always been here and we’re not going anywhere.

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Lazarus Letcher
The heart expands during Pride Month

What often gets lost in the folklore of Stonewall, and trying to parse out who played the biggest role or who was the first to strike back, is that droves of people came together because we cared about each other. The power of Stonewall, the power of Pride, is about us standing together.

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Lazarus Letcher
Navigating Outdoor & Recovery Spaces as a Black Trans Person

Written in Issue 02 of the Radical Adventure Riders Get Rad Be Radical

“Since my family was brought to America in chains, my dad was the first generation not born on a plantation or a farm. Leaving agriculture, hours in the hot sun, and a connection with the earth behind was seen as a step up. So for our family, spending time outside as ‘recreation’ didn’t make much sense”

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Lazarus Letcher
What if Technology was Created for the Benefit of All Life on Earth

The G7’s goal to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030 does not account for land and water already protected by Indigenous communities – this means that more land could be stolen under the guise of environmentalism. The G7 could meet its 30 by 30 goal by financially supporting Indigenous land stewards and communities and returning stolen land; 80% of the Earth’s current biodiversity is the result of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous stewardship.


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Lazarus Letcher
Crossed Wires: Tech and the Movement for Black Lives

As the years marched on, our devices kept us a tap away from the latest brutality, while those that made our devices tried to navigate their role and responsibility in the movement for Black lives. I’ve watched countless videos of modern lynchings while casually scrolling through my social media accounts – and I’d watch these people that look like me and my family go from human to hashtag. The companies that made my phone, created social media platforms, and gave me the ability to access the internet have all given their two cents on this issue.


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Lazarus Letcher
Yelling His Name: Black Trans Mourning and the Murder of Tony McDade

Liberation is not trickle down — as Black trans people we can’t just “wait our turn” for the police to stop killing Black cis men before we address the violence we face. We need to acknowledge intracommunal violence as our Black trans sisters like Iyanna Dior get attacked at rallies that are meant to celebrate and uplift all Black life. We need to practice what we preach and light candles and hit the streets for Tony like we do for George, we need to pack Transgender Day of Remembrance for our Black trans siblings like we do the victims of police brutality. I keep trying to get chants started for him at the marches and vigils I attend. It hasn’t caught on yet, but I have hope.

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Lazarus Letcher
Transgender Murder Memorials: A Call for Intersectionality and Trans Livability

"Transgender Murder Memorials: A Call for Intersectionality and Trans Livablity" - "The number of transgender folks in the United States lost to murder increases every year. These murders have recently gained more recognition, with the memorials moving from trans-run organizations and communities to mainstream LGBTQ groups. Using visual culture and discourse analysis of four transgender murder memorials, I argue there are problematic trends of centering a white and cisgender audience, and lack of acknowledging trans livability."

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Lazarus Letcher