Recent years have seen a rise in mainstream discussions centered on queer Black masculinity. Frank Ocean’s lyrics hinted at his queerness before the rapper opened up about the subject. Actress and writer Issa Rae’s Insecure questioned how women view Black men who have had sexual experiences with other men. Jaden Smith disrupted traditional notions of masculinity by playing with gender presentation before ultimately coming out as queer in 2018. And, perhaps the most landmark cultural production about the subject, director…
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Veer Queer is now a Spectrum South podcast! Veer Queer kicks off this new season with a live episode featuring trans activist and model Jessica Zyrie.…
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Spectrum South and Veer Queer have officially joined forces to bring you more queer southern content each month! To celebrate, we hosted a live event to kick off the podcast’s brand-new season on January 24, 2019, at Sharespace Preston. Hosts Julien Gomez, Mai Ha, and Endesha Haynes sat down with special guest Jessica Zyrie for a conversation on her experience as a trans model, QTPOC activism, and southern roots.…
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Creating a business is no joke. Between articles of incorporation and business bank accounts to mission statements and target audiences, it’s enough to make your head spin and send you down that dreaded rabbit hole of self-doubt and insecurity, only to spit you out the other end questioning your entire purpose in life. Dramatic? Maybe a smidge. But I think we can all agree that self-doubt is evil and has no business in business—we don’t know her. Here’s what we do…
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Veer Queer is now a Spectrum South podcast! VQ kicks off its new season with trans activist and model Jessica Zyrie.…
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Finding your identity within the LGBTQ community can be confusing to say the least. When I started to question my own identity in college, I anticipated finding guidance and opportunities for growth. Instead, I wound up exhausted. What began as an exciting journey to self-discovery soon became a downward spiral that resulted in feelings of doubt and a sense that I didn’t belong.…
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Jade Yumang grew up as free a spirit as they come. Bouncing around his mother’s beauty salon in the Philippines while his father worked overseas, Yumang was allowed to be as openly himself as he wanted. The majority of his mother’s friends and salon coworkers were queer and, for a young boy and budding artist discovering himself, this environment was more than favorable for his personal growth.…
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Veer Queer is a Houston-based podcast that focuses on centering the voices of queer and transgender people of color (QTPOC) across the South. Catch up with the Veer Queer crew on seasons 1-3 of the podcast!…
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I’m an artist, and Workout! With Erica Nix started out as performance art. I used to dance for a punk rock band and, instead of go-go dancing or dancing in this cute, sexy way, I would do aerobics and act crazy on stage. I’d weigh myself afterwards, get pissed off, and throw a huge fit and hump food, spray Cheez Whiz on people, and throw donuts. It was a lot of fun! A lot of people would come for the…
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Tattoos. From metropolises like New York and Los Angeles to small town Texas, this art form has always welcomed the most marginalized in society. Spectrum South recently caught up with Jess Swaim, a nonbinary tattoo artist based out of Conroe, Texas, to talk about their experience tattooing LGBTQ clients, navigating a male-dominated industry, and queer parenting in the small town about an hour north of Houston.…
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