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 […]
Category: Culture
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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 inSports
Vergil Ortiz Jr. Might Just Be the Most Thoughtful Fighter of the Century
Professional boxer Vergil Ortiz Jr. is standing in the serene, swanky lobby of a five-star hotel in late February. He orders a cup of coffee, his bruised face looking slightly out of place amid the gold accents. It’s the morning after the 27-year-old won a career-defining fight against Israil Madrimov. After 12 rounds, Ortiz Jr. […]
Posted inSports
‘Our No. 1.’ Longhorns Remember Superfan Scott Wilson, Who Never Missed a Game.
President George H.W. Bush was fond of saying, “90 percent of life is just showing up.” If that’s true, Scott Wilson knew the meaning of life. Wilson, who died Friday at 74, showed up. A Texas Longhorn superfan, Wilson spent decades attending UT games. Every one of them for 25 years. Five hundred and ninety-four […]
Posted inCulture
My Late Dad’s Memory Was an Open Wound. Then I Built My First Ofrenda.
I built my first ofrenda in 2018. The base is a set of nesting tables rescued from our garage and given a place of honor between our kitchen and living room. An old black, white, and magenta serape that lived in my car’s trunk acts as cover. The colorful blanket smells like my dad José’s […]
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 inTexana
…So Was It the Price of Turkey Legs? State Fair of Texas Attendance Dropped by 400,000
It turns out that attendance at the State Fair of Texas was not doing just fine this year. After viral posts at the beginning of the month showed fewer crowds at the fair and many online commenters blamed higher prices, State Fair representatives downplayed concerns and assured Texans that fair attendance always picks up after […]
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 inCulture
Oscar Wyatt Was Houston’s Oil-Slicked Gatsby. Step Inside His ‘Tower of Terror.’
Late last week my mom texted me, “Only the good die young.” Then, “Oscar Wyatt.” The 101-year-old oil tycoon was primarily famous for turning an $800 loan in 1955 into a pipeline company that became the Coastal Corporation — a national energy conglomerate that earned him billions. He passed away in Houston last week “peacefully […]
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 […]