Identity

The Name You Give Your Child Is a Gift, Not a Lifetime Label
My husband and I thought hard on what we’d name our baby girl. He wanted a name that began with a ‘z’ along with a hippie-style middle name. After perusing a baby names book, we chose Zoey Rain to anoint our bundle of joy. Potential careers for her future flooded my mind with such a unique name — rockstar goddess, thriller author, award-winning actress. All sorts of creative careers came to my mind.
By Zada Kent5 years ago in Pride
It's Ok!
It’s ok. In a society where we are constantly challenged and pressured to submit and stand under labels and categories we often find ourselves seeking and longing for approval and validation. Everyone wants to be loved, liked, accepted and welcomed. Like the theme song to a TV Sitcom “Cheers” we want to go where everyone knows your name and always glad you came”. If this theme song was reality and everyones experience, then we will live in a perfect world. Since this is not the case, true acceptance, love and validation must be found within each and everyone of us.
By william kelly5 years ago in Pride
Trans Pride
It is hard to say the exact moment that I loved him, them, the person before me bound by titles and gender expectations. Our society brainwashes us to believe that we all need to subscribe to our pre determined groups based on our sex organs at birth. Luckily I have never been the type to follow blindly and without question. For the beginning of my dating years I became a straight passing part of our society. I was never in a closet that resembled the closests of people whom I had seen struggle before. I have always liked, loved, understood and pursued women, all my life. I have never been secretive about It and I am also never extremely forthcoming with my private endeavors. My closet was my own built of repressed self reflection. Had I chosen this internal redoric that homosexuality is Synonymous with being a sinner damned to hell.
By Miranda Jules5 years ago in Pride
on maps & queerness. Top Story - June 2021.
Every Wednesday afternoon, my sweet therapist reminds me there’s not a roadmap for my life, and every Wednesday afternoon, I nod along reluctantly while I spend the rest of the week still secretly seeking. I've spent most of my life thus far desperately searching for a model, a checklist, a map that even with all its winding roads and detours still ends at a fixed destination, a summit with a panoramic view of all the trails that led me to this accomplished endpoint.
By Emily Long (she/they)5 years ago in Pride
Cis or Cisgender— What Is It?
There are enough genders out there that no one can seem to agree on the actual number of options. Depending on which website or medical professional you ask, you can get answers from a dozen or upwards of a hundred.
By Zada Kent5 years ago in Pride
A Folk Tale
A Folk Tale The sky is an early morning orange as the light crests the purple masa out at the skyline. Jackrabbit’s scurry and red-tailed hawk’s circle. The air is thick and sweet with chaparral in the warm breeze.
By Diane Albright5 years ago in Pride
Coming Out as Single
I’m just 1 person who does a lot of coming out. In today’s society, it isn’t just those in the LGBTQ+ community who find themselves in the position of deciding whether to come out or not. When we meet new people, those people make certain assumptions about us partly based on context and partly based on society’s norms and expectations.
By Kate McDevitt5 years ago in Pride
Being Unapologetically Me. Top Story - June 2021.
Growing up, I was never confident in myself or my sexuality. I was always chasing people around, desperate to be accepted which got me in some pretty messed up situations. I always put my faith in the wrong people and got let down every single time. When I got out of my hometown, I realised that the world is so much more accepting than I realised. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have to be afraid to be myself and I started being unapologetically, me.
By YesItsMocha5 years ago in Pride
The Queer Rave Revolution
Incensed, possessed and enchanted by the music, in ceremony and communion with each other, we become one with the rhythm, releasing and freeing our spirits. Being in the present moment and feeling alive in every single part of our body and soul - this is the essence, and the beauty of raving. The healing power of music and dancing in union with one another is undeniable. Raving, sharing music, making art, dancing and creating safe spaces for QTIBPOC to also do the same, are my passions. Queer Rave is an event, community and platform that I have created to bring all of these worlds together. I am passionate about diversifying and shaking up the club/ music scene, and Queer Rave proudly creates a safe space and platform where underrepresented DJs can grow as artists and showcase their incredible talents. My passion and enthusiasm for raving, DJing and art has been recognised and funded by DJ Mag and AZ Mag, sponsored by Pioneer DJ, and UK artist/singer Greentea Peng who is collaborating with us to create our first Queer Rave event… but my journey has not been without it’s bumpy roads.
By Xilhu Ese 5 years ago in Pride
Being Gay in 2008
It all started with pure innocence. It all ended with trauma. I spent the past 5 years coping with surviving life in secondary school. It was hard and there were times where I thought I was so close to seeing the light. Yet here I am. Still hopeful that I will be able to move on. Since I am finally transferring, I know that there is still an exit at the end of the tunnel where I can start afresh. Forget all that is behind me and move forward. I can finally leave that hell hole of a school. I honestly can’t wait!
By Cai and Denz5 years ago in Pride
Ichthys Out Of Water
It’s hard being a gay Christian. It’s even harder to walk away from Lynn’s dimples and piercing blue eyes. I never stood a chance.
By Tami Weaver5 years ago in Pride
At Home with Self-Advocacy
For most people, going away to college is a life event that exists in the liminal space between exhilaration and terror. The myriad fears that rear their anxious heads come to taunt us all, in some form or another: will I make friends? Will people like me? Will I embarrass myself? Will I fit in? As I prepared to go away to college in 2013, similar anxieties haunted me, but one question loomed larger than the rest: will I be able to room with other girls, or will I be forced to room with guys?
By Chloe Crawford La Vada5 years ago in Pride