Well, here’s my gay agenda—surprise, it’s art-based. I’m here to disrupt your mundane arts and culture happenings to bring you the latest leading queer-lensed creative endeavors. Warning—there’s nothing subtle about the queerness of these events. It’s just not in our nature.…
After an eight-month hiatus at the end of season five, the LGBTQ cartoon favorite Steven Universe is back in action, now as a feature-length musical movie. Written, directed, and produced by series creator Rebecca Sugar (she/her and they/them), the movie marks not an end to the show, but rather a fresh look at this era of children’s programming. Steven Universe has provided great queer-positive family programming since 2013, and the new movie is no exception.…
When you think of an “activist,” who comes to mind? Is it someone on the frontlines of a march? Someone starting a non-profit or excelling in a campaign? It is easy to equate charisma, volume, and power with an activist role. Perhaps that is why we typically think of activism as something that comes in adulthood, after we have earned our stripes and position of authority. But today, I am not speaking to the adults—I want to highlight activism that…
Growing up in rural Alabama was difficult for University of Houston professor Dr. Jess Waggoner. Yet, despite being surrounded by gendered expectations, they persevered and found ways to express themselves as a young, queer, non-binary person. In particular, singing in church and reading were ways they could be momentarily free. “As a fat, femme, disabled, non-binary scholar with a deep love for glitter, crop-tops, bolo ties, and camp, finding my place in the academy has not always been easy,” says…
The birds and the bees. Life and death. Why do we exist? Bringing up tough conversations with kids is always a large task. The question is not only how to address these things but when. As queer parents and allies, we may hear conflicting messages on when and how to bring up queerness. From gender identity and expression to sexual orientation, there are many schools of thought on the age-appropriateness of these socially divisive topics.…
The Opening Night of QFest Houston 2019, presented by Spectrum South, was held on Wednesday, July 24 at Rice Cinema. The evening included a screening of Jennie Livingston’s revolutionary film Paris is Burning (1990), and an after party of drinks, dancing, mixing and mingling, and performances by Stoo (feat. Luis Cerda and Ricky Lethridge) and emcee Roxanne Collins.…
Beads of sweat slide down the skin of weary travelers as the terminal’s oppressive heat overwhelms the expansive silver hall. A tall, slender man sits at the gate—in one hand, a ticket to China; in the other, a phone he has forced to sleep. Just moments before it entered its slumber, the phone was used to deliver a critical text message—revealing the man’s truth. The young man, face flushed from the persistent heat, sentenced any impending response to wait within a…
On August 1, the Pride Forum, a non-partisan collaboration between several LGBTQ organizations in Houston, took the stage at Texas Southern University’s Jesse H. Jones School of Business. Though it was balmy outside, the heat of the mayoral race was nowhere to be found—yet. Seven hopefuls met with moderators Emmett Schelling and LaKeia Ferreira-Spady to discuss the issues most important to the LGBTQ community.…
How do you navigate the chaos that is online dating? How can you make yourself stand out on dating apps? Is finding a long-term relationship online possible? Dr. Laura McGuire lays out her top three tips for digital dating in this month's Asking for a Friend!…
Queer people spend a lot of time online. To be more exact, queer folks spend 35 percent more time online than their heterosexual counterparts, and according to a recently published study from Stanford, 65 percent of same-sex couples surveyed met online, compared with 39 percent of their straight peers.…
