All Ecology Is Queer

March 07, 2025 at 01:20AM

In this wide-ranging, insightful conversation at Orion Magazine, singer-songwriter and Indigo Girl Amy Ray, and thinker, activist, and teacher adrienne maree brown discuss the meaning of queer ecology. They talk about how we must learn from our elders, the interdependence we share with all forms of life, our intrinsic, human need to find belonging, and the importance of opening ourselves up to curiosity in our relationships with others.

amb: It’s heartbreaking to be here and to feel like I can’t stand in the way of the storm. But I’m also not just gonna be a witness. There’s some in-between role of trying to be a light in the storm, whatever that looks like. I’ve really been feeling that pressure of loving people and losing them, and loving people and watching them lose their homes, loving people and watching what feels like a very unnecessary man-made crisis happening. You know, in action movies, there’s those scenes where the person’s running, and the ground is falling out beneath them? I keep having that feeling as I’m moving through the world, like the destruction is just there, right behind, and not everyone is making it. How to be an artist, how to be a lover, how to be an auntie, how to be a sister, how to be a good person, how to show up well for my life in this condition?

amb: . . . One of the things I’m always thinking about is culture shifting. If we don’t attend to creating irresistible cultures and welcoming cultures and sanctuary cultures, then we leave so much on the table. We leave entire communities on the table, and someone else is aiming for those hearts. I think about how many queer people still don’t feel safe being out, and they’re being told, Your belonging is contingent on not being yourself. Belonging is so valuable that they’ll try to risk going without what their body wants and needs, what their soul wants and needs, for their entire life. We have to create an irresistible culture of belonging that says, You don’t have to surrender anything of yourself. Actually, we want all of you.

Check out the conversation