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"Revel in your faggotry!” This was the commandment given to us at the beginning of Xrysalis: Gathering of Queer People of Color, an event taking place last week in the Redwoods of Mendocino County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

The weekend had some ground rules: no white or straight people were allowed to watch us partying, dancing or doing drag. We would be, if only briefly, entirely free from the white heterosexual gaze. – a new experience for many of the 50 participants

Instead, Xrysalis was reserved for radical faeries of color.

According to William Stewart, a member of the Groundswell Institute, which hosted the event, the radical faerie tradition can be traced to the Gay Liberation Front. The word “faerie” was a reclamation of being swishy, Stewart explained, and a form of rebellion against hypermasculinity.

As a movement, radical faeries are supportive of communal sex, communal living, and communing with nature, positioning themselves at odds with the consumerist, monogamous marriage equality movement. Many people involved with Groundswell have been involved with “gatherings of radical faeries” at Wolf Creek, Oregon and Short Mountain, Tennessee – bacchanalian gatherings of hundreds of queers in nature. Others have lived in radical faerie houses in cities.

Located on 200 acres, the venue looks like a kids’ campground – but there are tell-tale signs that something else is going on. Condoms and lube are available in the dining hall. Clothing is optional, and the bathrooms are gender-neutral (and will soon have group showers and a sauna). And it’s not unusual to see goats or alpacas being cared for by a farmhand wearing little more than nail polish and a jockstrap. It’s a beautiful sight, and the fresh goat milk is delicious.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/31/xrysalis-festival-lgbt-radical-faeries

Just read the whole thing.

(Who knew straight guys were raping flaming gays of color with their eyes?)