Kids and LGBTQ Identities
It’s no surprise for me to point out that we live in a society that centers straight, cis people. From the time we’re born, we’re bombarded with messages from family,…
How To Survive My Birthday
I was born just before sunrise on the day after Thanksgiving in 1980. The story goes that I was two weeks late making my grand entrance into this world and…
An Effective Queer Revolution Cannot Center Alcohol
A few months ago, I posted on Instagram about the link between alcohol and oppression. The quote I chose to highlight this point was by the late Jean Swallow, editor…
Bye-bye Binary
There's this thing that's inside of me that I really need to get out into the open. It may not make sense to everyone but, to the people who know…
Future Eyes
When I look at myself, I see the flaws. The way the squishy part of my hips slightly spill over the waist band of my jeans, the crooked shape of…
Tomboy
Yesterday I saw/heard two interviews with Lena Waithe. For those of you who don’t know who she is, she recently was the first black woman to win a comedy writing Emmy for co-writing the Thanksgiving episode in season 2 of Mater of None. Her new series, The Chi, just debuted on Showtime so she’s been doing the interview circuit.
I am 37 years old and I came out almost 21 years ago. I have seen things change drastically in that time, including myself. Coming out before the age of the internet meant that I had to find all of my gay stuff in bookstores and video stores. Seeing women who looked like me in media was a rare treat, and it only ever really happened in movies I rented. Growing up my film and TV role models were Vada Sultenfuss from My Girl, Jo on the Facts of Life, Valerie Bertinelli’s character on One Day At A Time and, Alex Mack on The Secret World of Alex Mack. The thing is, as each of these characters grow up, they also grow out of their tomboyish-ness. (more…)