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Finding Relief: Calming Anxiety and Self-Doubt in the Time of COVID-19

Posted on April 2, 2020

What a crazy time we find ourselves in. March has ended (finally!) and, in just a single month, the world has changed in ways we won’t fully realize for years and decades to come. Lives have been forever altered, destroyed, or lost completely. And now the ways in which we interact with one another, the best practices in every sector, the systems that are supposed to be there when we needed a safety net, and the planet we live on…

Queers on Screen: What to Watch While Quarantined

Posted on April 1, 2020

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.…

Queer Reads for Every Quarantine Mood

Posted on March 26, 2020

Given the current state of the world, you’re probably spending a lot of time at home right now. With restaurants and bars closed, sporting events and concerts cancelled, and the world at large on pause, we’ve entered an unprecedented state of stillness. On the bright side (if there is such a thing), this is an excellent opportunity to catch up on any books, shows, or movies that you’ve been longing to experience. Whatever your social distancing mood is, we’ve got…

No, Drug-Testing Gadgets Aren’t Solving Sexual Assault

Posted on March 19, 2020

A photo of a drink with sexual assault preventing tools.

Every few weeks, advertising for a new “date rape prevention” product pops up in my news feed—nail polish, coasters, and straws, all claiming to be able to detect rape-facilitating drugs in your drink and, therefore, to be effective tools in preventing sexual assault. The comments section is always lit up with remarks such as “What a great idea!,” or “So needed!” But few are willing to point out the many flaws with risk-prevention efforts like drug-testing tools and the negative…

The Alley Theatre’s ‘1984’ is Ghastly. It’s Also Necessary Viewing.

Posted on March 17, 2020

A photo of the Alley Theatre's production of 1984.

There is no doubt that the events of George Orwell’s magnum opus 1984 speak volumes in today’s political climate. The trouble is that both sides of the aisle will claim that the other is Big Brother and that they, the people on either side, are poor Winston. It is for this reason that out actor Todd Waite, who plays one of the party members in the Alley Theatre’s stage adaptation, offers a coy societal explanation. “For the LGBTQ community, there…

On ‘Daughters of the Dust’ and the Radical Reconceptualization of Black Female Iconography

Posted on March 12, 2020

“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…

The Rise of the Queer Witch

Posted on March 10, 2020

The season of the witch has arrived. Simply scroll through Instagram and see for yourself: crystals, herbs, spell recipes, aesthetic posts of perfectly curated altars, candles, witchcraft 101 tips and tricks, the list goes on. Walk the aisles of any bookstore, and they’re front and center: books on witchcraft, magic, the moon, astrology. Tarot is experiencing a rebirth, a reinvigoration.…

FotoFest’s ‘African Cosmologies’ Examines African Diaspora Through a Queer Lens

Posted on March 6, 2020

Photography, and the hierarchies that exist within the medium, have long been defined from a Western perspective. Accordingly, celebration and representation of the Black figure have largely been absent from museum collections, traditional gallery spaces, and other fine arts institutions. Houston’s FotoFest, the first and longest-running international biennial of photography and new media art in the United States, aims to confront and challenge “this shortsighted, albeit canonized lineage,” with this year’s exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other.…

#TheKamahAndKelseyShow: Couple Kamah Asha Wilson and Kelsey Reynolds on Love Languages, Communication, and Finding Forever Love

Posted on March 3, 2020

A photo of couple Kamah Asha Wilson and Kelsey Reynolds.

While there are many cute LGBTQ couples in the world, not many can compare with #TheKamahAndKelseyShow. That hashtag has come to summarize the relationship of Kamah Asha Wilson and Kelsey Reynolds, two Houston transplants who found their forever love in one another. When I first met Wilson and Reynolds, I was still discovering myself and my identity, and seeing them thrive within the LGBTQ community as a couple both inspired me and gave me hope for my own romantic future.…

The Gay Men Who Challenged Jim Crow: Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko, and the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation

Posted on February 28, 2020

A photo of the Journey of Reconciliation.

This February, Black History Month offers us an opportunity to remember and to learn about the civil rights movement, as well as focus on the courageous Black, queer, and trans individuals who paved the way. More and more histories are acknowledging the critical role that queer Black activists played in the movement to end segregation and pursue racial justice, from Mississippi politician Aaron Henry, to author James Baldwin, to the brilliant gender non-conforming lawyer, activist, and priest Pauli Murray. Yet lesser…

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