Where the Hope Comes From

Every time Pride Month rolls around, I find myself thinking about—long-time readers, prepare to be unsurprised—the whole non-inheritability of queer culture thing all over again. The sheer volume of "I don't even know what I don't know" that comes to most queerlings when they realize they're different, but by virtue of the people around them, …

Happy Pride Month

Before anything else: Happy Pride! To all my fellow queer folk: you matter and the world is better for queer people being in it. Lesbian, Gay, Genderqueer, Bisexual, Bisexual+, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, Two Spirit, Pansexual, Nonbinary... I say "Queer" most of the time because of how large an umbrella I want …

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 …

When They Don’t Get It

This week, I was super lucky and was asked to step in at the last minute to talk to a local writing group about queerness, as a replacement. Now, before anything else, I want to say it was a really good overall experience, it went about as well as I ever expect it to, and …

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 …