I have always wanted to be both man and woman, to incorporate the strongest and richest parts of my mother… — Audre Lorde

Being women together was not enough. We were different.

Being gay-girls together was not enough. We were different.

Being Black together was not enough. We were different.

Being Black women together was not enough. We were different.

Being Black dykes together was not enough. We were different.Each of us had our own needs and pursuits, and many different alliances. Self-preservation warned some of us that we could not afford to settle for one easy definition, one narrow individuation of self. At the Bag, at Hunter College, uptown in Harlem, at the library, there was a piece of the real me bound in each place, and growing.It was a while before we came to realize that our place was the very house of difference rather the security of any one particular difference.