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the writer Summer Tao
First Person

Cheers to the Birthday I Didn’t Think I’d Reach

I turned 30 last month. It was my first birthday in recent memory I actually planned for.

Summer Tao October 30, 2024 8 Comments
First Person Issues

An Essay About Poltergeist but Actually It’s About My Dead Mom

Compared to my parents’ volatile relationship, their divorce, and the financial instability that came after it, being scared of ghosts seemed like a waste of time.

Stef Rubino October 26, 2024 8 Comments
feet floating in front of a mirror
First Person

Speak Her Name and I Appear: The Bloody Mary in the Mirror

The bathroom in my grandmother’s house had no windows, so Stella deemed it perfect. She was the only one with any summoning experience. For a successful ritual, she said we needed total darkness.

Mallory October 24, 2024 2 Comments
HORROR IS SO GAY: Nancy's mom drinking in Nightmare on Elm Street
First Person Issues

My Body as Haunted House Metaphor

Horror movies, like many genres of entertainment, are deliciously, or not so deliciously, depending on where one sits, populated by tropes.

Autumn Fourkiller October 18, 2024 3 Comments
two queer people on a slip n slide
First Person

Playing Gay ‘Survivor’ in Florida Reminded Me of the Power of Play

Out-gay, Out-slay, and Out-sport are the three pillars of OUTVIVOR, a Survivor-inspired weekend birthed by OUT Sports, an Orlando queer sports league started by John Teixeira in 2018. 

Em Win October 17, 2024 1 Comment
Troye Sivan at SWEAT Tour
First Person Music

I Had a Spiritual Awakening at Sweat Tour

In many ways, the SWEAT Tour is an assertion that one’s enjoyment of sex and clubbing and music is more than a shallow hobby: It is a reminder that, amidst a terrifying world, we are allowed to make moments for pure fun.

Gabrielle Grace Hogan October 16, 2024 1 Comment
Jennifer in Jennifer's Body with blood on her mouth leans in close to Needy like she's going to eat her
First Person Issues

All Girls Want To Eat Each Other

Cannibals, like lesbians, are feared for their selective appetites.

Mallory October 14, 2024 10 Comments
collage of bee modeling
First Person

I Was Naive To Think I Could Shape It More Than It Could Shape Me

“Young and naïve, I looked towards magazines, media and the Internet to tell me about the world. I imagined what it might look like when I grew up and became a part of it, not realizing how literal or destructive that aspiration would become.”

Bee Beardsworth October 7, 2024 5 Comments
carol is so happy
First Person Pets & Animals

A Heartbeat At My Feet

Carol was the best of me. She filled the gap between who I was and who I wanted to be: an animal unafraid to make the first move, loose and generous with her attachments.

Riese September 19, 2024 29 Comments
instagram posts that visually reprseent the algorithm
First Person

The Gay Algorithm

What if TikTok really did make us all gay?

Tylea Simone Richard September 17, 2024 3 Comments
people at a play party
First Person Issues

Play Parties Let Me Explore My Asexuality

Maybe I didn’t always know I was ace, but I can’t say there weren’t signs.

Abbie September 11, 2024 8 Comments
a VHS of Super Size Me
First Person

Twenty Years Later, Still Haunted by ‘Super Size Me’

Super Size Me really fucked me up as a kid. I am a fat, bummed out person who was a fat, bummed out child, and my mother was worried.

Gyasi Hall September 5, 2024 6 Comments
a hand resting on a fat body
First Person Issues

Toward a Definition of Fat Fetish

I look at my body in the mirror. Fat, yes. But desire is a crooked hook down my throat I cannot articulate.

Autumn Fourkiller September 2, 2024 9 Comments
hands arranging flowers
First Person

The Gayest Thing I Ever Did Was Become a Florist

The art of floral design is beautifully queer-coded, and floristry is an art run and cultivated by the gays.

Korrin Wheeler August 29, 2024 3 Comments
THE CIRCLE reality show
First Person Issues

I’ve Always Loved Deception

As I begin my career as a therapist, I have to hide parts of myself.

Em Win August 28, 2024 5 Comments
feet at a bathhouse and a passport
First Person Issues

I’m Going To Keep On Cruising at the Men’s Only Club

I’ve always been struck by the mostly silent language of cruising.

Vera Blossom August 22, 2024 8 Comments
Mal on the beach in Inception
First Person Movie Features

‘Inception’ Gave Me a Way To Dream

According to my memory, I saw Inception a total of six times in theaters.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya August 21, 2024 3 Comments
a person's back
First Person Issues

When Passing Isn’t Impossible Anymore

What happens when you start to pass? And what happens when you decide that’s not the end-all-be-all anymore?

Max Gross August 15, 2024 4 Comments
gay cake toppers
First Person Lesbian Weddings

I Don’t Love Gay Marriage but I’m Officiating My Friends’ Gay Wedding

Oh, I love attending weddings. Yes, yes. Flirting with a bridesmaid is like a Top 10 activity for me. But marriage does not fit snugly into my personal definition of queerness.

Rebecca August 5, 2024 18 Comments
a bunch of bugs
Book Features First Person

Growing Up Queer With a Narcissistic Mother Was Its Own Special Hell

The twisted protagonist’s mommy issues in Elle Nash’s ‘Deliver Me’ were far too relatable for comfort.

Nico July 11, 2024 3 Comments
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From the Archives

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