by Walter Holland
In 1996, I was on the beach at Fire Island Pines. It was an exquisite summer day, and the sea was dazzling. But the beauty of the day belied the reality underneath: The Pines had become one of the epicenters of the HIV/AIDS epidemic…
by Charlie Ceates
I technically have two coming out stories: coming out at school and coming out to my family. I’m grateful that I have more than one, because the former is a bitter memory…that I rarely revisit, even though it taught me a valuable lesson regarding trust. Luckily, I also have the memory of what it was like coming out to my family…
by Emily L. Quint Freeman
One May night in 1969, along with seventeen others, I broke into the Selective Service office in Chicago’s South Side. We stuffed over 40,000 draft records into sacks, dragged them to the adjacent parking lot and set them on fire…
by Jennifer Perrine
The Ramblers’ square dance lessons began with a question that might have proved daunting in another environment: Boy or Girl? Despite being nonbinary, I almost always default to “girl” when these are the only two options presented, a defensive habit meant to put other people at ease, but the other dancers made it clear my answer would in no way reflect on my gender…
by Scott Remer
I FIRST QUESTIONED my sexuality in tenth grade. I found myself liking a friend more than straight people tend to like their same-sex friends. It came as an unpleasant surprise. Adolescence is normally a time for doubt and reevaluation, but I wasn’t expecting to have to grapple with such a fundamental aspect of my identity…
by Jack Calvin Hanna
As a child my mother loved my gay friends. She always asked about them and encouraged me to play with them, stay overnight at their homes, and bring them to ours…
by Charlene Bryant
East New York, Brooklyn, didn’t really give you a lot of opportunities to explore your sexuality. The East conditioned you to explore methods to stay safe, to stay alive…
by Robert Hamilton
After several months of not seeing each other, I thought I would just be happy to see my friend, and he would be just as happy to see me…
by Justin Estoque
In the church, I was surrounded by an abundance of male erotica in the form of paintings and statues of half-naked saints and the crucified Christ.
by Ian Jenkins
Few parents have to go to court to win parental rights. Parentage is assumed for almost everyone—but if your kids are carried by a gestational surrogate, a judge has to grant you custody. The process usually goes so smoothly that the “intended parents” don’t need to appear in court. But we did…
