Pattie Gonia

And that's what I think we need more of.

You know, we don't need more survival.

We need more thrival.

I think queerness offers that.

Okay, this answer is a little untraditional.

But I want to advocate for a definition of queerness in nature that's beyond what a species has sex with.

I want to think about queerness as a way of being.

And in that way, I think we all can remember the power of queerness, no matter who we are, whether we're straight, bi, queer, trans.

There's an ability with queerness to adapt in creative ways against all odds.

And I see that everywhere in nature.

I see that in the dandelion growing up in the middle of the concrete sidewalk in New York City.

I see that in a way that a tree twists one way and another to find light and then, oh damn, half the tree got chopped off and it still finds a way to survive against all odds.

Like that is queerness to me.

And that's queerness in nature.

And the more I see queerness in nature, the more I see it in myself.

The more I remember that queerness is nothing but natural.

And the more I remember that queerness can teach us all something.

The power of survival, the power of creativity.

That is the story of nature.

I constantly feel like I am transitioning and I feel like the biggest gift that queerness has given me is this ability to reinvent myself, discover new sides of myself.