When Harrison Guy assumed the role of co-chair of Mayor Turner’s LGBTQ Advisory Board in the summer of 2017, many of Houston’s LGBTQ community members saw him as the new kid on the block. Little did they know, he’d been on that same block for well over a decade—they’d just never walked on his side of the street.…
While hip-hop artists have changed over time, the message behind the music has, for better or worse, stayed relatively consistent. It’s the same narrative told over and over to a new beat: a man raps about his abilities to get a woman (often in degrading ways), or a woman raps about getting herself a “good man.” Plain and simple, hip-hop remains predominantly heteronormative.…
The article describes two women, Adele Densmore, 21, and Ruth Latham, 18, the former of whom presented masculine (in her brother’s clothing). The two of them lived in nearby St. Joseph, Missouri and, per the article, were a romantic couple for all intents and purposes. There is some confusion, though. For example, the piece describes Densmore as the one who preferred to dress in men’s clothing, while the accompanying sketches label Latham as the one wearing a top hat with…
Healing can be a spiritual process—one that looks different for everyone. In this week's episode, Veer Queer interviewer Kevin Anderson sits down with spoken word artists Eboni Rose and Jus Marvin and singer Rechatter Brady to discuss their artistic journeys and how quarantine has (or has not) sparked creativity.…
I lost my mother at a young age. I didn’t lose her physically, but like many queer folks, lost my relationship with her—all understanding, love, and support. Because of this, I’ve long dreaded Mother’s Day, a time when scrolling through social media means seeing the endless posts from those praising their mothers for loving them—something I’d spent years trying (to no avail) to drag out from my own. This year, however, I decided to make a change; I celebrated my…
Dear Mom, I know you don’t always think I see you for all that you genuinely are. More than as my mother, my children’s Nonna, or my rock—but as a human being. At times, you may think I only see you through a critical lens—that I bring up what you are not, the ways in which I wish you were different, or that I make comparisons between you and other moms. Perhaps I do. But I want you to know that,…
I have always loved God. Yes, at times, I couldn’t stand to be around organized religion. And yes, at times, I even wanted to embrace Agnosticism or Atheism, simply because of the pain I felt from having religion weaponized against me. But even still, I could not escape the joy and validity of my relationship with the divine. As I have made peace with my queerness, I have also begun to re-embrace those aspects of religion and the church that…
The "new normal" of COVID-19 is hard, y'all. And it's definitely taking a toll on our collective mental health. Veer Queer interviewer Deondre B. Moore sits down with Kevin Anderson, founder and CEO of the T.R.U.T.H. Project—a Houston-based non-profit that educates and mobilizes LGBTQ communities of color through social arts that promote mental, emotional, and sexual health—to discuss coping with quarantine, tele-therapy, finding accessible and safe creative outlets, and more.…
In 1996, in a Washington DC queer bar called Escandalo (which translates to “scandal” in English), the transgender ranchera artist Teresita La Campesina gave a performance of the Lola Beltrán song “Puñalada Trapera.” A heart-wrenching ballad that rebukes an ex-lover for stabbing the narrator in the back (so to speak), it is one of the few remaining recordings of Teresita’s live performances. She was never given the opportunity to record an album of her own. The rendition is pretty classical…
Every once in a great while, a television show will come out that truly reflects our lived realities, our silent thoughts, and our hidden truths and, suddenly—just like that—we know that we are not alone. For me, Showtime’s Work in Progress is that show.…
