Hey girl, I see you over there. I see you in the ways that others can’t—both the ways that render you invisible to the majority of society and the ways that make you stand out. You want to be yourself and yet, you want to disappear. That’s normal. Don’t concern yourself with what this all means right now. You are a chrysalis, a green slinking caterpillar of a queer kid, still needing the safety of your cocoon before you let…
Twenty-year-old Spencer Ray is rooted deep in the heart of East Texas. While he’s entering his senior year as a business management student at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Ray has found more than a career path in the Piney Woods—he’s found pride and strength in his identity as a bisexual, transgender man.…
Houston Splash, often referred to as Black Gay Pride, is an unapologetic celebration of Black and Latinx LGBTQ Pride. In a world where Black and Brown bodies, especially queer Black and Brown bodies, are blatantly targeted and demeaned, spaces like Houston Splash provide our community with the opportunity to embrace our holistic selves. Consequently, this challenges the oppressive norms prevalent in our everyday lives. Therefore, every year during the first week of May, generations of Black and Latinx LGBTQ community…
“You can’t do that!” Don’t worry, those aren’t the words of a pessimistic friend or an unsupportive family member. No, those are the words of pint-sized kindergartener me, telling a grown man at the park (who was part of a pack of motorcyclists, I might add), that he could not throw trash on the ground. I don’t remember the incident myself, but I’ve been told that my mom’s friend, who was watching me at the time, was terrified of what…
High school sophomore Niko Gonzalez is a one-man revolution. At age 16, this openly trans and gay teenager is sending ripples through his Catholic school and diocese, challenging restroom regulation, and simultaneously paving the way for future generations of queer students.…
I was born in Tennessee on a bright Thanksgiving morning, surrounded by the same Appalachian Mountains my family had called home since the 1790s. My mother is Mediterranean and Hispanic and hails from the Northeast, but my father’s family has thrived for nine generations in the deepest part of the South. As a little girl, I played on my great-papaw’s 87-acre farm, fishing, shooting, and eating grapes off the vine. Life’s pace is different here. I was gifted my first gun…
For some in the Black community, the LGBTQ experience is a touchy subject—for others, it’s an untouched issue. Our silence and suppression has taken a toll on both of our communities, leaving many of our people struggling in uncomfortable gray spaces or even completely in the dark when it comes to questions of identity. “Black Like Us: A Candid Conversation About the LGBTQ Experience,” an upcoming facilitated community dialogue that will be held in collaboration with the University of Houston…
I identify as a queer, southern, Indigenous American woman. My father is Indigenous American and my mother is of European descent (my maternal grandmother would want you to know that she's Czech and makes an excellent stuffed cabbage). I am an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, a tribe that is currently and actively fighting a 130-year-old battle for federal recognition.…
Texas Latinx talent takes center stage this February 1 through 4 at Houston’s Stages Repertory Theatre during the inaugural Sin Muros Theatre Festival. Headlining this four-day event is the world premiere of the ancestral autobiography Purple Eyes, written and performed by queer Latino playwright Josh Inocéncio. Inocéncio, who is also a member of the Sin Muros task force committee, speaks on the festival’s intent. “We were looking to consciously represent diversity. A Latin theatre festival that pushes for female voices,…
Crowded around a makeshift table in the middle of the gallery, we began to pour wine and feast on spaghetti. Surrounding me were seven other students who, like myself, had chosen to study abroad in Athens, Greece, as well as eight local elders. The night marked the last of our semester-long traditional marble carving class and celebration was in the air. Towards the end of the night, our instructor, Demetris, asked us to share the marble carvings we had each…
