Best of 2021: Our Picks for Queer Music

We asked our staff for their favorite queer music from 2021, and they answered! Listen to our full playlist or check out each song below.

RuPaul and The Never-Ending Struggle Of Visibility

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) After thirteen seasons, RuPaul has finally let his first cisgender, heterosexual performer on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Her name is Maddy Morphasis, and she is a cishet man that does drag! At first glance, this is…

Gays in Anime: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful – An Introspective Look on the 2019 Anime “Given”

Illustrated by Chrys Marr (She/They) **Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide** Gays. Anime. Some may think they don’t overlap, but in fact, there is a rich division of anime known for and characterized by its LGBTQ+ themes. The last few years…

Cemetery Boys: A Whimsical Celebration of Queer Latinidad

Illustrated by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) “Cemetery Boys” is the tale of Yadriel, a trans Brujo trying to prove himself to his family who is too stuck in their ways to accept him as a Brujo. A few days before Dia…

Reconciling An Empty Sky: One Queer’s Connection to Phoebe Fucking Bridgers and Her Reunion Tour

Photo by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) “FUCK THE COPS!” rings out in the crowd during an otherwise quiet performance of “Smoke Signals” during Phoebe Bridgers’ first hometown show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. After a pandemic release of her…

Bi Representation in Disney’s “The Owl House”

Image courtesy of Disney In January 2020, Disney Channel debuted “The Owl House,” an animated series created by Dana Terrace.  The pilot episode introduces fourteen-year-old Luz Noceda (voiced by Sarah-Nicole Robles), resident weird kid, who discovers a magical portal to…

Books That Aren’t Gay, but We Love ‘Em Anyway

Graphic by Ria Kotak 1) “The Illuminae Files” by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman “The Illuminae Files” is a science fiction trilogy co-written by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman and illustrated by Marie Lu. It is set in the 26th…

Representation: Queerness and Butterfly Soup

Screenshot from Butterfly Soup, a visual novel created by Brianna Lei. Trigger Warning: mentions abusive parents (of one of the characters) Do you ever find yourself clinging to representation? As a queer Asian American individual, I often find myself doing…

Five EnGAYging Graphic Novels

Image designed by Martha Cabot Over the past year, I’ve found myself gravitating toward graphic novels whenever I have time for spare reading.  Partially, this is because they are usually much quicker reads than text-heavy novels.  It also helps that…

Was “Love, Simon” (2018) The Best Teen Queer Representation?

As a queer person, I went through most of my life never really seeing representation of queer identities in popular media. The only time I did see queer people on the screen was when news stations brought up stories surrounding…