Featured

A photograph of yellow, purple, and white flowers in a field of grass.
Politics & News

Fighting for the Queer Youth: In Loving Memory of Nex Benedict

A photograph of Gwen, an Asian woman with red hair, glasses, and light skin. She's wearing a shirt with fur lining and multiple necklaces. Gwen stands in front of an informational poster entitled "Reducing the Risk of COVID-19."
Campus

How a Queer Disabled Student is Fighting for Health, Safety, and Education

A photograph of a fence along a path to the beach. Each fence post has an individual's name in blue or red letters.
Politics & News

Seeking Safety: LGBTQ+ Migrants Fight for Asylum

A photograph of Dylan Mulvaney, a white woman with light blonde hair. She is wearing a blue patterned blouse and matching skirt. She leans towards the microphone mounted on a clear podium and speaks excitedly into it. Behind her is a large open doorway and a blue screen.
LA
Models of Pride Keynote Speaker Interview: Dylan Mulvaney on Trans Representation, Social Media and the Power of Cringe

At the Models of Pride event hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Dylan Mulvaney received the Model of Pride Award and was interviewed on stage by Phillip Picardi, the center’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Dylan spoke candidly about the struggles of being an influencer and the impact on her mental health, her hopes for authentic trans representation in film and television, and her advice to LGBTQ+ youth facing adversity. 

also for monday article: A photograph of Hayley Kiyoko, a white and Japanese woman with tan skin, in a denim outfit on a stage. She has her arms raised in the air. On stage with her are a Black masc person in a brown hat and green shirt and a Black person with long black hair in a gray outfit. Behind her, the wall has a blue wave design. At the bottom of the stage, the audience members raise their hands excitedly.
Community
LGBTQ+ Youth, Lesbian Jesus and a Therapist (in training): The LA LGBT Center’s Models of Pride

On Saturday, October 14, the Los Angeles LGBT Center had their 31st Models of Pride, an event meant to offer a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth and expose them to queer role models. The event included workshops on topics such as sensory art, voguing, and “Dungeons and Dragons” for participants to attend in between speakers (including keynote speaker Dylan Mulvaney!) The main event space — located at the California Science Center — had a welcoming display of colorful inflatable chairs and booths from queer organizations and popular brands like NYX Cosmetics.

A digital illustration of a side profile of various characters. Crowley, a white masculine person with red hair and black round sunglasses, is in side profile in the top left corner. To his side, is a small Aziraphale, a white white-haired person with a haloe in a cream coat. Beneath him, is a rainbow flag. On the right side, there are two white masculine people. One has white hair, andone has dark hair. Various question marks and hearts surround them.
Arts & Entertainment
Queerbaiting to Queer Couples: The Evolution of Queerness in 21st Century Media

2023 has truly been a great year for LGBTQ+ representation in media. From movies like “Bottoms” to TV shows like “Heartstopper” and “Good Omens,” we are living in the very recent development of what Them calls “a golden era for LGBTQ+ representation.”

A black and white still where a white blonde woman sits on a couch while a masculine-presenting white individual sits next to her. Her legs are draped over their legs, and they smile at each other. Above them, the devil is a stereotypical caricature with horns and a goatee smiling gleefully.
Arts & Entertainment
“Glen or Glenda”: Feeling Seen Through Art

“Glen or Glenda” is a 1953 transgender exploitation film directed by Ed Wood. It was made incredibly cheaply and quickly and is full of out-of-date ideas and terms about gender and transitioning, with film critic Leonard Maltin describing it in his 2004 movie & video guide as “possibly the worst movie ever made.” That being said, as a transgender woman, I have never felt more seen while watching a film than while watching “Glen or Glenda.” The movie’s critical panning has held it from the fruitful examination it deserves due to its radical stance on gender as it relates to the self and society.

A photograph of a smiling Alex, a Latino man with light brown skin and black hair wearing a gray suit and American flag socks, sitting on a couch with a smiling Henry, a white man with blonde hair, wearing a black suit, blue slash, and Union Jack socks. The photograph reads, "Love who you want. It's good foreign policy."
Arts & Entertainment
What “Red, White & Royal Blue” Gets Right About Being Queer in Politics — And What It Doesn’t

“I am the First Son of the United States, and I’m bisexual. History will remember us.”

Casey McQuiston’s debut romance novel “Red, White & Royal Blue” has recently been adapted into an Amazon Prime movie, bringing the love story between the American First Son and the Prince of England to the big screen. The film is a winding tale of controversy and copulation, but ends happily with Alex Claremont-Diaz (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry Windsor (played by Nicholas Galitzine) stepping into Alex’s childhood home to start the next chapter of their lives together.

A digital illustration of a young masc person with tan skin and dark hair wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. They stand in front of a weapon rocket that has a rainbow ribbon tied around it. Behind them, a city is burning. They ask, "This makes it ok, right?"
Politics & News
Rainbow-washing Genocide

Every June, corporations unabashedly participate in rainbow capitalism by putting out rainbow logos and pride product lines without taking any meaningful action to support LGBTQ+ causes. We have grown quick to call out such corporations for their performativity, so why don’t we call out other forms of rainbow-washed oppression — especially when it comes to justifying the mass murder of an entire populace?

The cover of "Little One," an EP by Amelia Day. It is divided into eight sections with each section being in a different color of the rainbow, colored in with crayon and watercolor paint. It reads "Little One. Amelia Day" in various crayon colors; there is a smiley face in the "O". All around the centered text are black and white images of Amelia, a white girl, as a young child.
Music
Childhood, Silliness, and Photo Albums: An Interview With Amelia Day on “Little One”

Despite being classically trained, Amelia Day doesn’t limit herself to just one genre of music; she dabbles in folk, jazz, soul, and indie alike. Her acoustic guitar combined with imagery like “maple street, matcha tea” and “I left your heart out to dry on a clothin’ line stretched across central time” creates a listening experience full of familiarity and warm, golden light. She splits her time between Nashville and Seattle and has generated a fanbase spanning the American South to the Pacific Northwest. 

An edited photograph of Jericho, a person with brown skin and short black hair smiling with their hands tucked behind their head. They are emerging from a pink lotus flower. Behind them is a gradient of color ranging from brown to white to blue to purple.
Community
Why I Hesitate to Introduce Myself With Pronouns

I know who I am. I know what inspires me, what ticks me off, and what I love. I know why I believe the things I do, who I want to be, and how I navigate the world. My ears are pierced (twice), I wear cool shoes, and I have never felt more myself than I do now.

A photograph of Kabalikat Kore members against a blue wall. From left to right, top to bottom: a femme person with brown skin and long black hair wearing round glasses, a masc person with brown skin and blonde and black hair wearing a dark blue shirt, a masc person with brown skin and short black hair wearing a dark gray shirt, and a femme person with brown skin and dyed brown hair wearing glasses and a light flannel.
Campus
Interview with Kabalikat Kore – Honoring Queer Filipinos During Filipino American History Month

Filipino American History Month is celebrated in October. UCLA has a vibrant Filipino community on campus, with fifteen Filipino-focused student organizations that focus on the academic and personal development of Filipino Americans at UCLA. Kabalikat Kore (KK) is one such organization at UCLA that celebrates and uplifts queer Filipino Americans, giving them a space to meet and socialize with one another. I spoke with Miko Dinulos (he/him), the External Vice President of KK. Miko is a second-year psychology major from Ventura County. We chatted about the importance of Filipino American History Month and the queer Filipino experience.

A Netflix poster for "XO, Kitty." Besides the title, it reads, "From Jenny Han, a new 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' story begins..." and "Only on Netflix | May 18." Five young people stand in front of a city with blooming cherry blossom trees. From left to right, there is a young man with light skin and dark hair in a jean jacket, a young man with light brown skin and dark curls wearing a dark gray shirt, a young woman with light skin and brown hair in a white tanktop, a young woman with light skin and black hair wearing pink, a young man with light skin and black hair wearing a mint jacket.
TV
Commitments to Queerness: A Review of Netflix’s “XO, Kitty”

“XO, Kitty,” the spinoff of Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” was released in May of this year with decent ratings; with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% and an audience score of 58%, the show has started off on the right foot. That being said, with all the good aspects of the show, there are also bad ones. Let’s start with the good.

Welcome to OutWrite!

Established in 1979 at the University of California, Los Angeles, OutWrite Newsmagazine is the oldest queer college publication in the United States. OutWrite strives to build a growing educational platform through a multi-media approach that uplifts and empowers the often silenced voices of the incredibly diverse queer community. We aim to challenge dominant cisheteronormative narratives through an unapologetically anti-queerphobic, anti-racist, and progressive lens.