Graphic by Kelly (She/Her) “Is there a name for women who like women?” my six-year-old daughter asked me recently. “Not like a friend ‘like,’ but like they want to marry each other,” she clarified, in case I wasn’t sure what…
“Don’t Say Gay”: The Would-Be Impact of Florida’s HB 1577
Two days ago, on Thursday, February 24th, the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill by a 69-47 vote aiming to limit discussions of sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. The official name of the bill is HB 1577, the…
Rejecting ‘Born this Way’: Critiques of an Intrinsic Queerness
Graphic compiled by Zoë Collins (she/her)Photos by Hans Beimler As queer people, there are narratives and talking points that define our humanity from day one. Our rights to live, love, and thrive are considered up for debate. We are exposed…
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…
Just Say “They”
Illustrated by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) Most of us have that one thing that makes us tick, that specific issue that most folks don’t really get but generally understand because they, too, have their own pet peeves. Every time, without fail,…
Quarantining in the Closet
Graphic by Nick Griffin (He/Him) The day UCLA sent us home, I felt the identity I spent months cultivating, months accepting, recoiled into hiding. The validation I received from queer circles at UCLA, those that accepted who I am and…
Clothes and Deconstructing the Gender Binary
Illustrated by Nick Griffin (He/Him) CONTENT WARNING: transphobia, internal transphobia, enbyphobia, transmedicalism You never really liked looking at yourself in the mirror. Dressing rooms always made you uncomfortable. Bathroom mirrors were the worst. To be fair, self-confidence wasn’t exactly your…
Being Queer in a Small Town during COVID-19
Photos by Jaden King When UCLA announced that online instruction would begin Week 10 of winter quarter and last until April 10, ultimately to be extended throughout the remainder of the academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I contemplated…
Taylor Swift and the #MeToo Midterms
“It is difficult to imagine that Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court over the weekend had no effect specifically on how Swift and other young victims of sexual misconduct view politics.” Content Warning: Sexual Assault and Harassment Country-turned-pop star Taylor…
A Skirt Does Not Equal Damsel in Distress
The words “feminism” and “femininity” are only a few letters away from the same. Some people, however, force these two words to live in feuding worlds, as if someone cannot be feminine and a feminist, a person who truly believes in gender equality. This is, first of all, completely untrue, and second of all, the fact that so many people insist that the concepts of femininity and feminism need to be spread apart is actually a lingering sexist view in today’s society.
