Today we meet Katie Johnson, a bisexual Muslim who wears the niqab (hair and face covering). As a person of devout and outward signs of faith, Johnson sometimes gets erased from what we think of as queerness. I was excited to speak with her about how her faith and sexual orientation have impacted who she is today, as well as to expand the conversation on queers who cover.…
If you binge romance novels, if you love realistic queer representation, or if you’ve ever fallen into a fugue state while scrolling through updates about the Royal Family, I’ve got excellent news—Casey McQuiston’s debut novel, Red, White & Royal Blue, will check each of those boxes for you, and it’s quickly becoming the hottest romance read of 2019.…
Black History Month has always been about telling the stories that have gone untold—the triumphant stories of the societal impact and progress made by those who were not always accepted as members of society themselves. In school, we often learn of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, and Madame CJ Walker. As the years go on, we hear these same stories over, and over, and over again. And while these stories are important to celebrate and…
I may have only come out two years ago, but I’ve known myself forever. I knew that I didn’t care how love manifested in my life, just that it would be abundant and diverse. My parents attended Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas, and I spent a large portion of my childhood near the campus. Situated on winding roads with crunching leaves, the campus was conveniently located near the home of my grandmother, who took care of me after…
Cassandra Alicia, the 29-year-old founder of the popular Chicana feminist social media page Xicanisma, isn’t afraid of making her 106,000 Instagram followers uncomfortable. In fact, her tagline is “dismantling oppressive isms through tears.” Her Instagram posts highlight an array of social justice issues through photos, art, memes, and screenshots. One post, for example, is in the popular bingo meme format that points out how violent anti-sex work rhetoric can be, especially in light of recent events where a border patrol…
“This is just a phase, right?” “I mean you’re not really queer, you’re dating someone of the opposite gender!” “I’m worried you’d cheat on me.” “You want to have a threesome?” If I had a dollar for every time I heard one of these phrases—along with countless other cliché remarks—I’d be the richest bisexual woman in history. Well...maybe except for Angelina Jolie.…
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.…
My connection to my “half” southern heritage has always felt tentative. Growing up, my identity was deeply rooted in my Pacific Northwest upbringing. Despite moving back and forth between Washington state and the D.C. area, my middle school and high school years in Bellingham, WA shaped my sense of place and belonging. During these years, it was easy to romanticize my southern heritage, to see the South as a distant and foreign place, and to laugh and gently tease my…
Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Fiona Dawson, a dynamic documentarian, bisexual advocate, and speaker at the 25th annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet on November 4. Her recent work, which centers around trans military members, is especially near and dear to my heart as a child of veterans. The short documentary, 'Transgender, at War and in Love,' was nominated for "Outstanding Short Documentary" at the 37th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and is now used in…
The last time Dan and I had spoken seriously was during our road trip out West where we spent three summer weeks crisscrossing national parks and mountain towns. The journey was our Americana rite of passage, as well as my graduation trip—Dan still had two years left to go, but I had finished undergrad just two months prior. Over a thousand miles away from home in Houston, we buried—or so we thought then—the rumors about each other’s sexuality, particularly mine.…
