I saw the Indigo Girls perform live the same year I came out to myself.
We attempted to draw boundaries to keep our friendship intact.
I didnt sleep at all.
Our boundaries didnt hold.
Girls are more open to different types of abilities,shed said.
Unpacking all of this is another essay.
The narrator was claiming wrongdoing, at least to a degree.
Queer women the ones I loved, the ones I idolized could be imperfect, even villains.
I, in turn, could hold culpability in the fallout with my friend.
Ray and Saliers, friends since childhood, started making music together at their high school in Georgia.
It would be so much easier.
Id even said it myself.
This illusion that now that I was with a woman, it was going to be perfect.
The romanticization of women loving women is fed by many factors.
[Its a] very old holdover.
Its a nice thought that removing men from the equation would also mean an end to violence.
Of course, its not true.
Fantasy is, I think, the defining cliche of female queerness, she writes in the award-winning book.
When Ray and Saliers putShaming of the Suntogether, Ray was fresh out of a seven-year relationship.
In other words, the muck.
But for most of their early career, they were written off or mocked by many mainstream outlets.
And yet, the Indigo Girls never had to be Dylan or Mitchell.
They were creating a legacy in their own mold and already connecting with the listeners who needed them most.
She saw them perform a few years later, and would ultimately tour with them throughout her 20s.
And theyve built this world along with other queer singer-songwriters like Tracy Chapman, k.d.
I was a Black, queer child being raised by severely abusive white supremacists.
I felt their music like loving arms wrapped around me.
Pruitt finds the entire way the band operates inspiring not just their songs, but their activism as well.
This year alone,more than 150anti-LGBTQ+ billshave already been introduced around the country.
Courtshave blocked some, butroughly 50have passed or are being considered.
(Line 3 was completedin October 2021, but efforts to mitigate its effects remainin full force.)
In September, they helped organize aWater is Life festival and concertto benefit the continued battle.
And throughout the fall, they campaigned for Georgia gubernatorial candidateStacey Abrams.
They are so rooted in gratitude, community, love, and kindness.
Theyre just the OGs.
I soaked up the story of someone hurt by another woman, whom she forgave but didnt forget.
College-aged me needed this song.
The current me still needs it.
Country Radio demonstrates the transportive power of song and the human experience of yearning for something better.
In the second verse, the narrator closes their eyes and surrenders to the music.
Its a powerful, life-changing gift, and still necessary in 2022.
As Carlile said in September, The Indigo Girls go where theyre needed, and we need them.
We did, and we do.
This article was originally published onNovember 21, 2022
