The Shoulder Check Problem

A couple of days ago, there was a discussion that sort of flashed past my timeline. An author of gay romance who is also a gay man was expressing the frustration over a sentiment in an m/m group that was posted—“women write the best m/m”—and how unwelcoming it can feel to gay men writing gay …

Just Another Baseball Game

By now, you've likely heard about Thom Brennaman's "accident." He said something homophobic on a hot mic. It went on the air at a baseball game. And, happily, there were consequences for him. He's been suspended, is my understanding. And the Reds put out an almost-decent apology, even. I say "almost decent" because if they'd …

Judging for Yourself

Both the Lammies and the RITAs have announced their finalist lists for the year. Now, before anything else, I want to make sure I begin with a simple declarative here: there are some really great things that are happening on both lists. And there's some buts. I don't know how coherent I'm going to be …

Not All Catholics (or Christians, or…)

Recently, I shared a post on my Facebook about a Denver Archbishop preaching hate in the form of conversion therapy (which is widely debunked and incredibly harmful, just to make that clear). I dismissed him with a series of invectives, and then edited the post after someone asked why I'd share the post in the …

#PrideMonth — Family Values

I live in a bubble. More specifically, I live in a queer, lower-case-L liberal bubble. I often hear people refer to living in a bubble as a bad thing, and I do understand why. The bubble gives you a skewed view of what you think most people think. Talking about queer rights in my bubble doesn't …

#PrideMonth — Closets

I saw a lovely post yesterday that reminded everyone celebrating Pride to remember that being out is not synonymous with pride nor queerness, and it reminded me of conversations I've had over the years about the whole notion of "coming out," and the how the single most misunderstood thing about "coming out" when I have …