Lex / 18 / Part-time student, part-time nomad / UK
“This Friday evening is spent on a windy beach alone, collecting shells, crying in silence as the sun sets and my hands grow cold from writing in the North Sea breeze. She will never read the letter I wrote, but it is good to say goodbye.”
Kylie Sparks / 30 / Actor, writer / The Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles
“My partner Logan (who took this photo!) and I were celebrating one of my good friend’s birthday and I needed a good #onbrand photo to capture the evening. What better way to spend a weekend than drinking champagne and playing billiards?”
Heather Mangione (right, tank top) / 31 / Community Relationship Manager / Airspray Queer Dance Party at Electric Haze in Worcester, MA
“This is how my friends and I have spent the third Friday night of every month for the past three years. I host a queer dance party. On average, 200+ people attend! There is glitter. SO MUCH GLITTER.”
Laura / 26 / Grant writer, volunteer “comic book specialist” / Brooklyn, NY
“Pictured, left to right: Caroline, Isabel, Laura, Caroline, Saluda (the dog flopping around in a Hawaiian shirt on Caroline’s lap), Valerie (sitting in the front), Laura, Kate, Katie, Lydia. Yes, approximately half of us have the same names.
We have a recurring “Bad Lesbian Movie Brunch,” and this time we branched out and made it a Bad Lesbian Movie Night instead. We watched Out at the Wedding, which was extremely 2007 and worse than anyone remembered. But we also ate a lot of mac & cheese, drank some beers, cuddled under multiple sherpa-lined blankets, and generally had a great time regardless!”
Maggie McGill / 23 / Communications Coordinator, Fat Positive Youtuber / Washington DC
“I spent this Friday in the studio apartment of my first DC friend, a girl that graduated from my college the year before I started there. I met her through my partner! She makes us really delicious obscure cocktails and we just sit around and talk and drink and listen to records. I thought I wouldn’t find any friends after graduating, but I’ve definitely made one! Every night spent here is meaningful and makes me feel like I have my own little queer community.”
Steph Rivas, Yvonne Marquez, Gloria Delgadillo / 24, 26, 26 / Digital Designer; Autostraddle Senior Editor; Union Organizer / Urban Outfitters
“Steph invited us to go eat at Urban Taco, this upscale-ish restaurant that serves tacos. Since we’re self-identified bougie bitches when it comes to food, we said yes, because that place is fucking delicious. It was a pretty chill Friday night out and we were laughing and talking and Steph was telling us about how she had the perfect wind down the other night when she watched the Bachelor and put on an amazing face mask she bought at Urban Outfitters. It just so happened that Urban Outfitters is around the corner from Urban Taco so we decided to go after dinner to check out those face masks. We meandered all throughout the store looking at shoes and this fucking sick Selena shirt. I was slightly appalled but also really wanted it. I found a pink hat that I thought said “Pussy” but it actually said “Stussy” and then Gloria put it on, along with some fake glasses that made it look like she had a unibrow, and we were like YES!
There was a photo booth in the corner and of course we had to commemorate this Friday night out with our comadre. We squeezed into the tiny booth, Gloria had to sit on my lap and we paid $5 to take silly photos. We didn’t really like the photos the photo booth took so we took our own selfies with Steph’s phone. We bought our face masks and then went to Sprouts afterwards because Gloria wanted to make her own face mask. She heard on the internet you can mix activated charcoal and Elmer’s glue to make one. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work, y’all and is bad for your skin. Gloria made her rogue face mask and Steph and I put on our 3-step black head nose strip remover while we listened to Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” on repeat. It was the perfect Friday night.”
Jay/ 22 / My bedroom
“I spent this Friday alone reorganizing my bookshelves and putting some recent art up on my door/walls. Also trying to figure out what to do with all these toothpick flags (had queer Indigenous studies terms/concepts) left over from a baking project for a queer Indigenous gathering two days prior. It was lovely to take some time to reorganize and appreciate the things I had created lately.”
Alex / 33 / Librarian / Chicago, IL
“Beauty and the Beast. No, really. He’s a fabulous, kinky, Bear and I’m the beauty, obviously. This is how my Bestie and I celebrated his birthday because we are hip AF.”
Erin / 28 / Parent and student / Home base
“I had made plans to go to a concert tonight, mostly because I love the band but also because I wanted to send in a really exciting picture. But, I spent the gloriously warm day out biking with my kids and I also wrote a major final exam and I am so tired. So, here’s what I am actually doing tonight. This is what six people’s laundry looks like when it’s all folded at once for the first time in at least a week! Once it’s put away, I’m probably going to fall asleep reading this book.”
Mary / 22 / Gambier Island, BC, Canada
“My two favourite friends/coworkers/roommates and I are playing Arkham Horror (night 2!) because literally the only things we do is play board games and watch Canada’s Worst Driver. We’re accompanied by a puppy and a large bag of white wine, unfortunately not pictured.”
