might think of social media, despite its many ethical problems, as a kind of queer cartography, demonstrating and bringing into being the possibilities for a kind of queer connection that both learns from and looks beyond the algorithmic. That is, we might come to understand ourselves as deeply connected—as social media already knows we are—along unexpected axes, and take up the issues facing LGBTQIA+/Queer people around the world as our own. Whether we read, share, like, retweet, donate money, or start a petition, this affective orientation to each other requires us not only to bear witness; it requires concrete action.
Johana Medina León’s death was not the first death as a consequence of ICE detention, and it will almost certainly not be the last. Alirio Andrade was not even the last queer Chilean to be attacked that week. While social media has no doubt helped to publicize cases like these, which would otherwise likely have been swept under the rug, these technologies can be crucially important to social justice fights in other ways as well. The juxtaposition—by a faceless algorithm—of their deaths with news of other queer-phobic attacks in our communities and in distant parts of the world, lays bare the logics of racism, misogyny, and queer-phobia that continue to oppress LGBTQIA+/Queer people and other marginalized groups around the world. Despite its many limitations and ethical dilemmas, social media—taken as an inspiration for new kinds of queer sociality—can be part of the solution.
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