S L I C K: I Bet It Does
Made me want to / and I did tap / that ass / many times / made it mine.
the speakeasy
Viola Davis Is Iconically Queer Again in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”!
The “Ma Rainey” Trailer Drop is THEE most important Black queer pop culture news this week, and I’ve broken down 5 reasons why… then I shall be proceeding directly to my fainting couch.
How Reading A Queer Latina Writer Helped Me Understand My Mother’s Story
Growing up, I felt I wasn’t enough. Not white enough. Not Latina enough. I’ve tried to look to my mother’s story as my own missing piece. I’ve made her story into a key that will unlock a feeling of place and belonging. As a writer, I look to stories to guide me.
The Angsty Buddhist: Growing Up Kinda-Sorta Buddhist
At my Catholic all-girls middle school, I liked to tell people I was Buddhist. It was my feeble attempt at preteen rebellion. I enjoyed interjecting, “Oh yeah? Well, I don’t believe Jesus was real because I’m Buddhist!”
Growing Up With “Mucho Mucho Amor”: How Walter Mercado Defined My Life
I grew up in a conservative family so I never really knew the words to describe who I was but when I saw Walter Mercado in his finery and elegance, I knew I was like him.
Con El Aceite de Coco Nos Sanamos: Lessons From My Elder
In Ifa, a Yoruba-based religion, we believe that when we die, we are reincarnated into our same family lineage. I’ve imagined all the ways in which it would be possible that my grandmother was once my sister, or my aunt, a friend in a past life or even a version of me. We depended on each other in so many ways.
The Labyrinth Closet
We’re always coming out. As an: anime fanatic, manga-collecting Pokémon plushie hoarder; as a giddy, youthful ray of sunshine and not just the dense, American Dream-deprived immigrant, prompted over-thinker — I realize I am more than any of these individual rooms at all times.
Monica Roberts Remembered Us. Now We Remember Her.
Every time I crossed paths with Monica Roberts, I was always surprised by how tight she held me as we hugged — Now, so many young Black trans people can look to her as an ancestor. Every trans journalist is indebted to the space Monica has carved out for us. Every trans person owes her a great deal for forcing the world to see us in our unmistakable worth.
S L I C K: Duckling
First I became a cloud-woman. Min had always liked watching them as a child, one of her only good memories from that period. I lifted up my skirts, let her lap up my water. Her mouth was covered in dew when I kissed her.
Straight, No Chaser
In the U.S., mass graves have been uncovered as developers unearth land for future projects. People claim we are experiencing the pandemic collectively — but economically, politically, and geographically, we are not. Look where we get buried. Look at who gets buried.
Letting Go of Latinidad
This Latinx Heritage Month, I’m calling for non-Black Latinxs to reflect on the ways in which we’re aiding white supremacy and how we can instead be accomplices for the liberation of Black people.
Year of Our (Audre) Lorde: September’s Afterimages
I am safe nowhere, the Black women in my family of origin and family of choice are safe nowhere. It’s a fact we’ve known but one that feels all the more threatening in the wake of continuing violent injustice for Black women.
“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves
Seeing as the modern police force is an evolution of slave catchers, for a film trying to make a point about how the horrors of the past still exist in the present — it comes across as both ahistorical and like a serious misstep.
Queer Arabs Taking Up Space: An Interview With Zaina Arafat
Zaina Arafat’s You Exist Too Much is the bi Arab romance novel l didn’t know I needed. We chat about the book, first-gen traumas, sexual ambiguity and Arab parents.
Find Yourself In The Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival
When I was younger and even admittedly sometimes now, I excused the lack of representation on the screen. Last weekend I attended the Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest and got to spend the entire time looking at fully realized, multiple versions of myself on my television. You can do that too, this weekend!
Mud Wrestling Showed Me How To Want
Our thighs slapped against the tarp as we threw each other across the floor. Our eyes and ears were painted in mud like two casts of the human form. The thing that pulled me into the ring that night was desire itself.
“Set It Off” Is the Queer Tribute to Black Women’s Friendship We Deserve After a Summer of Black Mourning
As Cleo, Queen Latifah had never been better. Young, mighty, unadulterated, sweet to her friends, sexy in the way that only studs can be — an energy that radiates beneath the pores and melanin, the quiet, intoxicating confidence that comes from truly owning your shit.
Anatomy Of A Mango: Seed
Because of the positive affirmation I received during sex, I began to believe it was all I was good for. When people wanted me, I assumed it was my job to provide joy for other people. I gave myself to a lot of people in that way. I had to remember that I had a right to pleasure as well.
NIECY NASH DONE WENT AND GOT GAY MARRIED
Yes. Niecy Nash got gay married. Love wins!!
14 Knuckles: Femme Top Revolution
There’s a difference between domination as a way to take control or claim power over another person — the way certain lovers have done with me — versus domination as a way to provide comfort and care, and to grow one’s power without harming anyone else.