Jesus has long been a figure representing wholesome celibacy in the Christian faith, but assuming he was a real person, the odds are that he had sexual desires like the rest of us. One way Jesus could have handled those…
“Queer,” or “LGBT?”
Graphic by Liana Kindler The increasingly popular use of “queer” has become an area of contention in many LGBT communities. On one hand, “queer” has a historically negative connotation, carrying with it the weight of both collective and personal marginalization…
The Decision to Come Out
After the first time I came out to a friend, I struggled a lot with deciding whether, when, and how to tell people about my sexuality. Like a lot of people, I was hesitant for many reasons, which mainly boil…
Asexuality 2.0
Last year, I wrote an article affirming my identity as asexual and bi/panromantic. I included the perpetual onslaught of moments in my life where I was directly or indirectly made to feel that there was something inherently wrong with me.…
Queer Halloween Playlist
This year, Halloween came upon me rather suddenly, like a wisp of smoke blown over from a DTLA factory across the wind. Or something. Back home, the decaying smell of leaves as they gradually lost their livelihood and faded into…
In Defense of Valentine’s Day
Image by Dave Gunn/Creative Commons I love Valentine’s Day. There. I said it, and I’m not even slightly ashamed. I’m not ashamed of my torrid love affair with chocolate, or the fact that while I prefer daisies, I find a…
Janet Mock’s Outrage for her Trans* Identity
On February 5, Janet Mock, a 29-year-old trans activist of color and author of Redefining Realness was interviewed on Piers Morgan Live. Throughout the interview, he continually referred to her past identity “as a man,” claiming that she “was a…
Chinese Expressions of Queer Identities
Photo by API Equality-LA “May God have mercy on this falling land!” proclaimed Chinese actress Lu Li Ping in 2011, “We have to prevent this from happening in China.” Ping was reacting to New York state’s passing of legislation that…
My Struggle for Identification
Photo by ToastyKen/Creative Commons I’ve identified as queer for about five years. After a process of reckoning much the same as many other coming out stories of the kind—though in my own fortunate case, my own terror was a far…
Seeing With A New Spectrum: A Conversation About UCLA’s Vital LGBTQ Space
Co-written by Dylan Chouinard and Kim Lau “There are three kinds of gays. Party gays like to have fun and get drunk. Political gays are activist-y and fight for rights and stuff. Normal gays fall in the middle.” If that…
