I was probably 13 years old. It was near the end of middle school, during a wintry holiday vacation back home in Connecticut. I was at my best friend Kate’s house, sitting in her bedroom, and listening to her dish with other girls from my class. Honest, unfiltered talk. Complaints about boys. “Wait a minute,” […]
Category: Big & Bright
Queer life in Texas
Posted inCulture
Come Inside Texas’ Gayest Campground
While ghosts and goblins haunted courtrooms — casting their wicked spells on queer Texans — a small haven in the woods of Stockdale leisurely gathered around a campfire on Halloween weekend, naked and unafraid. Camp Nackte, one of four currently functioning LGBTQ+ campgrounds in Texas, sits nestled between farmland and in a thicket of mesquite […]
Posted inBig & Bright
Looking For Queer Community Outside the Bar? There’s a Walking (and Hiking and Yoga and Line-Dancing) Club For That.
It was the summer of 2024. Ash Gordon, a barber from Austin, was ready to hit the road for Queer Camp, when all of his friends and campmates backed out at the last minute. “I was really terrified because I was going to this event alone, there were projected to be 100 people there, and […]
Posted inEditor's Letter
Texas Is a Lot More Queer Than You Think. I Am Too.
I think I need to start at the beginning, because I’ve never talked about this publicly. During freshman orientation at McGill University, I ended up on a pedestrian-only stone street strung with pink decorations: The Gay Village in Montreal, Canada. There’s a Saint-Pierre-Apôtre Church with a Chapel of Hope dedicated to AIDS victims. Rainbows. Murals. […]
Posted inNews
Houston Erased Texas’ First-Ever Gay Pride Crosswalk in the Middle of the Night
A pile of broken, colorful concrete pieces was all that remained of Houston’s rainbow crosswalk as the sun rose on Monday. Construction crews tore up Texas’ first gay pride crosswalk, a beloved feature of the historically LGBT Montrose neighborhood, in the early hours of the morning. The crosswalk, which originated as a memorial for a […]
Posted inBig & Bright
Everybody Say ‘Thank You, Khalid!’ for Reviving the Male Pop Star
Today is a good day to say, “thank you, Khalid!” for saving male pop music. His latest album, “after the sun goes down,” which dropped at midnight on Friday, Oct. 10, has earned him the crown of least problematic favorite in a genre populated with headline-grabbing “this is going to ruin the tour” DUIs, monkeys […]