The Arc of Liberation
In his new memoir, Where the Pulse Lives, John Loughery has captured what it was like for him to come out just as the Stonewall riots cracked open the oppression of LGBT people.
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Reclaiming Nepal’s Six-Gender Heritage
IN THE BUSTLING Kathmandu Valley, nestled among ancient shrines and crumbling stupas, lie quiet but potent testaments to a forgotten truth. Long before the rise of Western gender vocabularies or activist hashtags, Nepal recognized not two, but six—or even seven—distinct gender identities.
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Thoughts and feedback from our readers.
MorePoetry from the Nov-Dec 2025 Issue
Poems by Shanley Smith-Poole, Jonathan Bracker, and Patrick Kindig.
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Bruce Vilanch, Comedy Writer to the Stars
Many of Vilanch’s vivid anecdotes are almost surreal, and he acknowledges that most of the shows would have been forgotten had they not been granted new life on YouTube. Along with his stinging wit, Vilanch is a tremendous raconteur. His new memoir is essential reading for any retro TV enthusiast.
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The Subversive World of After Dark Magazine
AS A CLOSETED TEENAGER in the late 1960s, I came across a glossy 50¢ magazine at a Boston newsstand that spoke to me in a coded language I intuitively understood. It was called After Dark and marketed itself as “the national entertainment magazine.” It could just as well have been labeled “the national gay entertainment magazine,” assuming you could connect to its subtext, which wasn’t all that “sub.” If you were gay the magazine practically winked at you. But you could also place it on the family coffee table and, as a friend once remarked: “It’s the perfect magazine when you don’t want to de-gay your apartment.”
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We Were There
THE EXHILARATION of visiting Queer Lens: A History of Photography at Los Angeles’ Getty Center begins at the museum’s front steps, which have been painted in rainbow stripes with the words “Celebrate Love” sweeping across them.
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An Activist’s Advice for Activists
MUCH LIKE her four-decade careers in literature and activism, Sarah Schulman’s The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity is an act of radical compassion.
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Kaomi Moe: Co-ruler to Hawaii’s King
Now more than ever, it is crucial for queer people to see themselves reflected in public spaces as valued members of society—past, present, and future. Equally important is the broader society’s need to understand that gender and sexual diversity are not “woke” concepts but essential parts of our shared history and humanity. I cannot imagine a better teacher than Kaomi Moe to convey these truths.
MoreAn Immigrant’s Husband’s Appeal to Readers
MY NAME is Jonathan Alderete Loussaief, and I live in Grand Prairie, Texas. My husband’s name is Bilel Loussaief, and he is a gay Tunisian citizen. We fell in love and lived together for two years. Unfortunately, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] picked him up at work on July 26, 2019, and brought him to a detention center. …
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