iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 30/07/2026

Thicker Than Water is happening THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 in Atlanta. A free cookout for Black affirming & chosen families. Cleopas R. Johnson Park + RICE, 11am–5pm. Performances by @angelicaross.com, 2AM Ricky, and more. RSVP at genderlib.org/cookout. Come find your people. 💛

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 12/07/2026

We are not obligated to mourn our oppressors. In fact, we must remember who they truly were and resist sanitizing their record.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 11/07/2026

Black affirming families are raising queer, trans, and nonbinary kids all across the South. And they deserve joy! Thicker Than Water. July 18, 11–5, Cleopas Johnson Park, ATL. Bring your coolers, blankets & chairs. Food while supplies last. Come find joy & connection. rsvp: genderlib.org/cookout

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 07/07/2026

Another day, another man thirsty for power who practiced on women first. This Graham Platner news isn't surprising. When you explain away white supremacist signals, you're telling the rest of us what else you're willing to tolerate. White supremacy and the patriarchy are bedfellows, y'all.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 07/07/2026

If you wondered why many didn't celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, look no further than what happened to Nolan Wells. We can celebrate this country when Black children don't have to grow up in survival mode. Until then, America, you're still on notice.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 10/06/2026

New York fam, Saturday I'll be at the iconic Schomburg Center in conversation with C Riley Snorton, a scholar who I admire so much. Join us at 12:30pm for a Prideteenth conversation & Q&A. Can't wait to see you all and celebrate the paperback release of Bloom! RSVP at raquelwillis.com/bloom

Flyer for Raquel Willis and C.Flyer for Raquel Willis and C. Riley Snorton in conversation at the Schomburg Centennial Festival, celebrating the paperback release of The Risk It Takes to Bloom. June 13 at 12:30pm, Schomburg Center, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, NYC. Free RSVP at RaquelWillis.com/Bloom.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 04/06/2026

A wildflower returns 🌺 Come June 9! I’ll be in convo with Alicia Garza celebrating the paperback launch of The Risk It Takes to Bloom + a book signing by Charis Books. Presented by Rustin Institute, SNAPCO + @genderlib.com TIME: 6–9PM PLACE: RICE, ATL. Free with RSVP: raquelwillis.com/bloom

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 02/05/2026

It’s interesting how proximity to cis folks with platforms and parasocial relationships operate as a shield from accountability. Too often visibility gets mistaken for credibility. Many would be wise to remember that cis folks will never speak to trans community dynamics more truthfully than us.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 31/03/2026

I’m both excited and heavy-hearted to share the paperback cover of my memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom. It’s available for pre-order. June 9th is the date. raquelwillis.com/bloom

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 02/02/2026

Despite extraction, exploitation, and violence, indigenous, enslaved, AND migrant folks endured and helped build this country. That’s the truer statement. But we also need to be clear that patriotism and pride in empire will not save us, will not make us more worthy, will not lead us to liberation.

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Eleonore @eleonore.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

"Our liberation is bound together, and that understanding carries risk. It’s no coincidence that King was killed at the height of his intersectional critique of racism, militarism, and economic exploitation."

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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 17/01/2026

“They definitely expanded their efforts,” said @raquelwillis.com of @genderlib.com, suggesting that anti-trans efforts to sway Dems toward skepticism on trans youth in sports added to the anti-trans crowd’s numbers Tues. there were transphobic signs from both Dems and gay cis people at the crowd

theguardian.com

‘They’re here to antagonize us’: trans advocates say hostility at rallies is up as supreme court hears key case

As high court considers trans kids’ participation in school sports, tensions run high between opposing protest groups

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 19/01/2026

MLK’s dream was never this small. A reflection from outside the Supreme Court on trans youth, civil rights, and the work that never ended. Subscribe, if you vibe.

open.substack.com

MLK’s Dream Was Never This Small

Why the Supreme Court’s trans athlete cases belong in the civil rights story

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 11/01/2026

New York Was Never My Center. A life update on ambition, belonging, and coming home. open.substack.com/pub/raquelwi...

open.substack.com

New York Was Never My Center

A life update on ambition, belonging, and returning home to the South

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 05/11/2025

MY MAYOR MY MAYOR MY MAYOR MY MAYOR MAMDANIIIIIII

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 04/11/2025

With Zohran Mamdani on the verge of winning the NYC mayoral race, after Cuomo and so many others leaned on post-9/11 era Islamophobia to discredit him, it feels cosmic that Dick Cheney died today. The arc of empire bends toward reckoning.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

In the audience tonight is Charlotte Bennett, one of the 13 women that Andrew Cuomo is credibly alleged to have sexually harassed while they worked in his government. She can't speak for herself because Cuomo's lawyers have hounded her. So I confronted him.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 23/10/2025

People say Cuomo beats Mamdani because he has more experience. But if that experience includes a record of sexual harassment, retaliation against colleagues, and weaponizing antisemitism & Islamophobia. But what kind of experience is that, really?

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 17/10/2025

CUOMO: I’M THE REAL DEMOCRAT IN THE RACE NEW YORKERS + ZOHRAN:

Meme screenshot of Sandy Cheeks, the squirrel character from SpongeBob SquarePants, leaning out over a wall with a tired, unimpressed expression. The white caption text at the bottom says, “NO, YOU AIN’T.”

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 14/10/2025

I’ve been saying forever that true love feels like a D’Angelo song. So wild that he passed. 🙏🏽

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 14/10/2025

Rest in power, Mama Major! 💜🙏🏽 It was a blessing to live in the same earthly timeline as you. A true freedom fighter, you never stopped reminding trans people—especially Black trans people—of our worth and our power. Because of Major, our foundation is unshakeable and our liberation inevitable.

September 2024 in Washington, D.C.
I’m standing beside the legend, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, at the Gender Liberation March under a white tent. Both of us are wearing flowing white outfits and warm smiles, holding hands in a moment of tenderness and strength.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 08/10/2025

We’re so close to winning a Signal Award for Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson. Voting closes tomorrow. Every vote honors Marsha’s legacy and keeps trans and queer stories at the forefront. Vote here. Takes approx. 10 seconds. Let’s finish strong. 💜 vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 30/08/2025

Any Dems still acting like the rules of decency, decorum, and precedence still apply need to be ousted with the outright fascists.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 30/08/2025

Has the demon been spotted yet? 👀

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 24/08/2025

HBD, Queen Marsha P. Johnson! Thank you for your love, light, and legacy of liberation! Celebrate her; it would have been her 80th! time.com/7295713/how-...

time.com

Marsha P. Johnson Taught Us How to Defy This Anti-Trans Wave

"Despite Trump’s attempts to erase trans people, I know he cannot because I know my community’s history."

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 30/06/2025

Back to being cisgendered tomorrow 😪 I feel like Cinderella at midnight.

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stijn123.bsky.social @stijn123.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

If a politician insists on the antisemitic notion that Jewish people have some inherent loyalty to a foreign state. If a politician presents genocide as a Jewish value. If a politician only cares about judeism when weaponized against Muslims. I can't take their stances on antisemitism seriously.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 28/06/2025

If a politician never discusses Islamophobia or anti-Blackness, I can’t take their takes on anti-Semitism seriously.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 28/06/2025

lol Zohran is all over my timelines. The new it girl for sure!

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Abby Chava Stein @abbystein.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I invited @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social to this event, and so proud of it! I originally invited him (as part of the organizing team) hoping he would speak. I wanted more people to hear him, hoping more people would support him. We decided not to have politicians speak, but Zohran came anyway.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 25/06/2025

If the Establishment is mad, you’re doing something right.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 25/06/2025

Let’s also remember how out of touch much of legacy media is too.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 24/06/2025

Vote Zohran or you’re str8!

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 24/06/2025

Trump proving once again how dangerous a stunt queen can be.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 19/06/2025

It's been five years since Brooklyn Liberation / the March for Black Trans Lives. A seismic day that shifted the course of many lives. Let’s remember that we are battle-tested + ready. The fight will be long, but our history, our community, and our collective vision of liberation will win.

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Thorn @mossonrocks68.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

This was a great overview of why Marsha P Johnson is such a beloved trancestor Also, comrade Time Magazine over here, lately, wow

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

If an 11,000-word story has a major, factual error in the fifth graf, it probably should be seen for the biased, hit-piece it is.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court delivered a new, crushing blow, upholding Tennessee's ban in a 6-to-3 decision. In allowing Tennessee to outlaw blockers and hormones, the court not only shielded similar laws on the books in some two dozen states. It effectively closed the door on extending new constitutional protections to trans people. Some advocates fear that Skrmetti could open the door to banning medical transition for adults and perhaps other health care that some conservatives oppose, like birth control or in vitro fertilization - even vaccines. The fate of a once-obscure medical treatment could have profound consequences for American law.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 18/06/2025

The SCOTUS ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti confirms what we know: this government is crooked and ignorant. Trans kids deserve care, safety, and bodily autonomy. We must remind them of their history, the sacredness of community, and that no government gave them their power—and no court can take it away.

teenvogue.com

Dear Trans Kids, You Don't Need the Government's Permission to Exist

Activist and journalist Raquel Willis offers crucial advice to trans and nonbinary youth.

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Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 17/06/2025

Beware of those that tell you trans liberation is “too much” or that you should shrink. That’s just assimilation and it has never worked for those on the margins.

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tru @thetrudz.photo · 17/06/2025

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Article excerpt (Dana A. Williams; Slate) reads: “One of the things that excited Morrison the most about joining the team at Random House was the opportunity she would have to acquire books that would document Black life and culture that reflected Black people’s interior lives, not simply books filled with public outcry against, and resistance to, racial oppression. The book that epitomized this goal of featuring Black life and culture with limited regard for whiteness was 1974’s The Black Book. Importantly, too, it put to bed the misconception that Black people did not buy books (or that white people would not buy books that were distinctly Black). And it made the point that everyday Black life was remarkable. ‘Bringing that book in the world didn’t even feel like work,’ I remember her telling me. ‘It was more than work. It was pure joy.’”

Article excerpt (Dana A. Williams; Slate) reads: “One might think Morrison’s growing success as a novelist translated effortlessly into success in editing novels by writers she admired. It did not. “It wasn’t easy getting those first novels published,” she admitted to me. The novels by Black authors who seemed to get the most attention, she saw, fell along two poles: the ones she referred to as ‘Fuck whitey’ or ‘I’m going to fix you, whitey’ books on the one hand, and ‘Let’s all live together in harmony’ books on the other. She had little interest in either approach. Those books were ultimately about white people. And what she wanted to publish, both as a writer and as an editor, were books that talked to Black people.”

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Atmos @atmosmag.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

An ode to trans lives—then, now, always. For our June digital cover, 22 trans leaders, artists, and organizers came together to share the seeds they are planting with @raquelwillis.com and form a tree of life with photographer Camila Falquez. Read more here: atmos.earth/the-fruits-w...

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