photo of Thomas Chinarro, a white man with light brown, short curly hair, round glasses, a loose short-sleeve, off-yellow button up shirt, and black pants, standing in front of the ocean
Community
Queer Next Up: Thomas Chinarro

Thomas Chinarro (he/him) is a 19-year-old British & French singer-songwriter. Previously featured on emerging artist Opaline’s track “To Be Yours,” his new single “violets,” written and performed with mac gray…

photo of Zar, a smiling Singaporean-British man with short black hair. He is wearing a yellow blazer with tons of pride pins over a darker yellow sweater. behind him is a yellow background.
Community
Queer Next Up: The Pin Prick

Zar (he/him), from The Pin Prick, is an artist whose online shop features inclusive rainbow enamel pins and accessories.

I'm an educator at our local aquarium, and a few weeks ago, I had a band of young girls come up to me and listen attentively as I taught them about whale vertebrae and feeding patterns. One question seemed to prompt the next, and they stayed with me until the end of my shift. After I said goodbye, a young girl chased after me and shouted down the hallway. hey! I turned around to answer any lingering whale questions, but to my surprise, she just gave me a big hug. And she told me, "i want to be just like you when i grow up." In my search for "queer joy." I usually find myself coming up short. Because it would be amazing if I felt pride and joy in my identity, but usually I just wish that I could be like everybody else. It's exhausting to feel so often like a square peg in a round hole, but sometimes all you need is a whale cart. Sometimes it's just one thing that makes all the rest okay, and if "queer joy" feels like a million miles away, "queer getting by" or "queer keeping-my-head- above-water" is just as important. My guess is you're reading this in search of queer joy and I'm sorry I can't make content to fit that bill. but you being here searching for it is really beautiful, too.
Art & Illustration
Whale Cart

Created by Zoë Collins (She/Her) This piece was originally published in our Spring 2022 print issue “Reflections of Radiance.“

photo of Rhiannon, a white nonbinary person with colorful makeup and a red Protect Trans Youth shirt
Community
Art as Activism with Rhiannon Salt: Disability Pride (Month) Spotlight

Photos and Artworks by Rhiannon Salt (They/He) **Content Warning: brief mentions of abuse and toxic relationships, mentions of dissociating and other symptoms of chronic illness and mental illnesses** This article will highlight the moments when the CW is relevant, but…

Collage of words colored by a disability pride flag gradient on an almost black background. The words cluster around “disabled & queer” and include ADHD, Latine, cancer survivor, Black, nonbinary, autistic, chronically ill, mad, transgender, sick, lesbian, Deaf, Marfanoid, low vision, OCD, aromantic, Filipinx, acespec
Community
Disability Pride Month: An Introduction

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) As we leave June’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we are welcomed by July’s Disability Pride Month. First celebrated in 1990 in Boston, Disability Pride is essentially a celebration of the bodies and minds we have. This…

cartoon illustration of a tall metal gate connecting stone walls. the archway reads "queer community" and is guarded by a cop next to a sign reading "must be this queer to enter." in front stands a group of three kids looking confused
Opinion
Back in My Day, We Stayed Closeted in Middle School

Illustrated by Steph Liu (She/Her) This article was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“ Personally, middle school is neither a place nor a period of my life I ever need to revisit,…

digital illustration of a tiger roaring and bearing its teeth against a textured gray background interspersed with yellow chains. Written in red text across the illustration is “SHAKE YOUR CHAINS TO THE EARTH LIKE DEW YE ARE MANY, THEY ARE FEW”.]
Art & Illustration
The Mask of Anarchy

Illustrated by Chrys Marr (She/They) This illustration was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“

photo of a brown nonbinary person looking.off camera in front of green foliage. they. have glasses, shouldere length black hair, and. a blue and pink striped shirt and matching necklace
Creative Writing
I Don’t Get To Choose Who I Love: An Essay on Bisexuality

Photo by Zoë Colliins (she/her) I used to wonder if there was something wrong with me. I had an affinity for all genders but was often told that it was impossible because, eventually, I’d have to “choose” my future lover…

the word "femme" in dark pink on a pastel pink and orange background, surrounded by a pastel progress pride flag, lipstick, high heels, and talking lips
Archives
Femininity in the Queer Community: An Analysis of Too Femme To Fit (Winter 2002)

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) *This article is a modern analysis of the themes and content of “Too Femme To Fit“ (Winter 2002), the ninth installment of our From The Archive series.* “If your presence disturbs me, I have the responsibility…

illustrated candy grams reading "from: Out Write, To: You"
Community
Valentines from OutWrite

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) We asked our staff members for their experiences with and opinions on Valentine’s Day. Here’s what they had to share! “I’m actually experiencing my first Valentine’s this year with my girlfriend, and even though the…

Featured Posts
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Seeking Safety: LGBTQ+ Migrants Fight for Asylum
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Campus
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Campus
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A digital illustration of a capybara with an astronaut hat on. Blue and yellow stars surround the capybara. At the top of the image is the text "paw."
Campus
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A digital illustration of a light-skinned masc person in a black cap, black leather harness, and black pants. They have a beard and short hair. They face away from the audience in a dimly lit abandoned gay bar called "Rock Bottom." The only visible light is from their phone open to an ambiguous social media. The room is lit with a deep pinkish purple.
Community
The Destruction of Queer Public Spaces Has Forced Us Online
for tomorrow's article! A digital illustration of a fem person and a masc person looking at each other from the ends of two separate lines. One line is composed of fem people's pink silhouettes, and the other is composed of masc people's blue silhouettes. The fem person has brown skin, black hair in a ponytail, a purple shirt, and a tan bag. The masc person has white skin, short brown hair, a blue shirt, and a black backpack. He looks worried. They are in a school setting approaching a bulletin board with various flyers on it.
Politics & News
Oklahoma School Bans Gender Change
A digital illustration of Barbie, a blonde white woman with blue eyes in a black and white striped top and gold hoop earrings. She looks alarmed. Another woman with a brown skin tone and black nail polish cups Barbie's cheek. The Mattel logo in rainbow is behind Barbie. The top text reads "This Barbie is GAY PANICKING." Next to Barbie, the text reads, "AGHHHHH OMH SHE'S SO PRETTY OMGHA,ASGHJK." The entire image's background is light blue.
Short Story
“What Was I Made For?”: Thoughts of a Queer Barbie
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Community
The Fight Over Flags
A digital illustration of a green chalkboard with a wooden frame. A white piece of chalk sits on the left side. In the center of the chalkboard is a drawn rainbow.
Opinion
Why Queer Education Matters
A photograph of Schuyler Bailar, an Asian trans man with light skin, black hair, and black facial hair. He is shirtless with visible top surgery scars, and he holds the trans flag above his head; the flag streams out behind him.
Community
Schuyler Bailar’s Intersectional Impact as an East Asian Transgender Man
A digital illustration of various sapphic couples from television. The largest couple on the left hand side is Amity, a white girl with short purple hair, a black tunic, a moon necklace, and pointy ears, and Luz, a Latina girl with brown skin, orange-brown hair, a half-cloak, and black studs, from "The Owl House." Amity cups Luz's face and holds her hand. At the bottom right corner are Beatrice, an Asian woman with dark purple hair in a bun and a cross scar on her cheek, and Ava, a white woman with orange-brown bobbed hair, from "Warrior Nun." Ava is smiling affectionately at Beatrice who is speaking. At the top right corner are Sydney, a white girl with short pink hair in an orange tank top and necklace, and Dina, a Black girl with dark curly hair and a white tank top, from "I Am Not Okay With This." Sydney leans against Dina and looks up at her lovingly. Various swirls and hearts surround all the couples.
Arts & Entertainment
From “I Am Not Okay With This” to “Everything Sucks”: A Lack of Lesbians in Media
A digital illustration of two women holding hands and looking at a painting of two women. The couple's clothing color palette matches the two women's clothing in the painting. The woman on the left has light brown skin, curly brown hair, a blue bandana, and a brown vest over a light blue long-sleeve shirt. The woman on the right has light skin, straight brown hair, a red beret, a tan shirt, and a black purse. The women in the painting wear a red scarf and a blue scarf respectively.
Literature
The Underrepresentation of Sapphic Identities in Literature: A Historical Analysis
An illustration of a light-skinned girl with long light brown hair in a pink sweater holding hands with a girl with brown skin and her dark brown curls tied up in a bun in a white turtleneck and red shirt. They both look backwards and up, their faces filled with worry. Blue silhouettes of people with angry faces loom above them.
Arts & Entertainment
The Oversexualization of Lesbian Relationships in Media
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Sports
A Try at UCLA Women’s Rugby — Interview with Kelsey on UCLA Athletics and Being Trans
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