Representation matters. The way we and our communities are portrayed matters. In observing queer characters in books, movies, and on television, we see options for who we can be and validation of who we already are. As human beings, we are in constant need of affirmation that we are not alone—that our thoughts and experiences aren’t isolated.…
“What’s past is prologue.” One of the first lines uttered in director Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991) is from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but it is redeployed here by the character Viola Peazant. Used as a means of creating distance between herself and the islands from which she hails, the quote grounds the discourse of the film to follow. The past is a place, both physical and psychic, and how much of that place we carry forward with us…
Imagine that you find yourself attracted to someone. Imagine the urgency with which they occupy your thoughts, the impulse of being drawn to them. And yet all the while, you remain incapable of vocalizing the force that belies your attraction to them. How did we become entangled like this? To desire another is to be left speechless with nothing to rely on but the language of want, a language that becomes imperfectly processed through the body. Moving between snow-covered dreamscapes…
The nights are getting longer, and drinks are beginning to shift from pumpkin to peppermint. The temperature is dipping down into cold weather (and then up, and then down again, because Texas). That can only mean one thing—the season of cheesy Hallmark-esque holiday movies is now upon us. This year, everyone who is tired of the same rehashed heteronormative storylines has a reason to rejoice! Let It Snow, which debuted on Netflix earlier in November, has an absolutely adorable queer…
The annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival returns to screens this November 14–18, boasting a programming lineup teeming with films made by and about LGBTQ people. “We wanted every single side of the spectrum to be represented,” says Michael Robinson, Houston Cinema Arts Society marketing and communications manager. “Not just, ‘Oh okay, cool, we have the one queer film.’ It really was making sure [queer identity] was something that was represented in a lot of different avenues.”…
It’s almost midnight. I’ve just walked out of the movie theater, but I haven’t quite returned to reality. There were only three of us at the screening, the last one of the film’s run at the River Oaks Theatre in Houston. This cinema, with its opulent 1940s interior, always has a profound effect on me. It’s in the way that it displaces me, more so releases me, while keeping my being intact. I can still respond to the blend of…
As Señorita Cinema, the world’s only all-Latina film festival, gears up for its return to Houston this November 1–3, founder Stephanie Saint Sanchez promises attendees “can absolutely expect to see things that they haven’t before.” Launched in 2007, the biannual festival was born from Saint Sanchez’s lifelong love affair with filmmaking. She begged for a video camera for her 13th birthday and, after finally getting her hands on one, has been obsessed with creating film ever since. But as her career…
I wish I could remember how I met her, the one and only queer Asian woman I’ve ever seriously dated. The one who, although our relationship wouldn’t last longer than a year, floats through my mind perhaps more often than proportionate to what we shared. I do remember the first time we interacted. It was outside at a mixed performance venue and bar at a time when I was just coming to terms with my queerness. I had just finished watching…
A heart must believe in something. Whether it believes in a higher power, in one’s dream, or in the strength that is exuded from one’s own gifts and talents, a heart must beat for something greater than itself. A heart beats within the halls of St. Peter United Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. St. Peter United is dedicated to the acceptance and visibility of all people. And etched within every stone, there lies a legacy. It is a legacy not…
After an eight-month hiatus at the end of season five, the LGBTQ cartoon favorite Steven Universe is back in action, now as a feature-length musical movie. Written, directed, and produced by series creator Rebecca Sugar (she/her and they/them), the movie marks not an end to the show, but rather a fresh look at this era of children’s programming. Steven Universe has provided great queer-positive family programming since 2013, and the new movie is no exception.…
