personal essay

mental health

personal essay

first person

When Community Complicates Healthcare for Sex Workers

“It became a running joke between my partners and I, that I was both too stigmatized and too famous to get my needs met.”

Andre —

Jan 10, 2017

disability

personal essay

first person

Why I’ve Decided to Let Myself Get Angry (Despite What Ableism Taught Me)

“I’m a Nice Person — I have one of those irrepressibly pleasant faces that makes people want to sit next to me on public transportation — but I can be…

Carrie —

Jan 9, 2017

personal essay

the speakeasy

By the Light of “Moonlight”: How I Saw Myself in Male Intimacy

“What ultimately makes Moonlight such a heartbreaking film to me is that despite these reflections and ways I am ever-present to myself, I’m not actually in the film. And yet,…

Princess —

Dec 22, 2016

2016 election

hate crime

first person

Trump Won, So I Finally Got Out of Bed

When the election results came in, it had already been a month since I gave up on trying to fix my own mental health issues. And so it turned out…

Cecelia —

Nov 30, 2016

personal essay

recipes

How To Cook Vegducken (Or: How to Spend Thanksgiving Heartsick and Far From Home)

“I get up off the floor, reach for a long, heavy leek and a cutting board and my favorite knife, its weight in my palm like an amulet. I feel…

Maree —

Nov 22, 2016

feelings

feelings rookie

first person

Feelings Rookie: A Canyon of Grief

My problem with grief is its general shape. Grief is somehow both slippery and sharp, rolling over you with sadness then sneakily attacking your soft underbelly with its claws.

Molly Priddy —

Nov 8, 2016

bisexuality

coming out a little later

first person

Loving the Whole Me: A Bisexual Mom on Coming Out to Her Family

“I sent a short, simple message saying that although I didn’t realize it fully until recently, I was indeed bisexual, that this was an undeniable part of my identity, and…

Candace —

Oct 11, 2016

latina

latinx

first person

Queer Latinx Love is Resistance: A Collection of Vignettes

“There’s nothing more I want to remember than every moment and sensation we shared. Our grinding hips at Queer Cumbia, feeling your drunken sweat drip onto my freshly implanted tits.…

Luna —

Sep 28, 2016

latina

orlando shooting

first person

Birth of The Nintendo Generation

It was the end of my innocence when I realized that being Black or being Queer in this country could get you killed. This was the time before Hurricane Katrina,…

Mónica Teresa Ortiz —

Sep 26, 2016

bisexuality

family

first person

Impossible Machinery: On (Not) Coming Out to My Dad as Bisexual

“I feel as if I am filled to the brim, fit to spill, with how much I love her and how much I resent being a secret. It makes me…

Maree —

Sep 22, 2016

disability

fullscreen

first person

Sexts From My Sickbed: How I Learned to Love My Queer Sick Body by Getting Naked

“How could an incapacitated person feel let alone be sexy, I catch myself thinking. Now, when I have those thoughts, I take out my camera.”

Liza Mcdonald —

Sep 15, 2016

personal essay

first person

Two Weeks

“I think that adopting a dog would make me “less of a sad sack,” according to a journal entry on the day that Marty is picked up by his human…

S. Désirée Tiamat Cha —

Sep 14, 2016