Relationships
Their place.
Ann peeked anxiously out of the window, her brilliant white nets still fresh from their recent wash, the sweet scent reaching her nose. She fingered them gently, pulling them back into place; the breeze had misplaced them slightly and now they weren't hanging right. Ann had become very particular over her nets the past 15 months, how they hung, the way they smelled how they may look from the outside. The outside, the beautiful, scary and forever changed outside. Ann stepped back slightly, this window had been her prisoner and saviour all at once; allowing her glimpses of the normality that slowly started to grow again, hesitant first meetings through the window, opened just enough to have a conversation until fear had made her close it, lock it and step away again when the second wave came, then she simply peered through it longingly, waving at neighbours and watching the world creep back to life once more, while she felt trapped and left behind. Forgotten.
By Claire Lamb5 years ago in Pride
You Deserve to Feel Special
Peter dropped a stack of paperwork the size of a textbook on Aleesia’s desk with an audible ‘thump’. She scowled at it, as it joined the other scattered papers over her desk, before turning her glare at the man hovering over her desk. “What is this? Ad hoc?” She at least managed to keep her tone even. The last thing she wanted was to start some workplace drama with one of the project managers.
By Kassandra Cherry5 years ago in Pride
Thank you for Loving out Loud, Femme:
Recently I've been sifting through words I wrote in college and high school. Yes, I'm one of those folks that have saved every journal, and most papers I wrote during recent past lives; I'm so glad I did. Finding words from my younger selves has been like finding little brass keys, which unlock doors to portals that lead me home.
By Sur Ren Dirt (she/they)5 years ago in Pride
So What are you Really Saying?
Last week, we officially launched our podcast, Soul in Love! We have so many stories we want to share with the world! From our struggles to our experiences to our ups and downs, but mostly all of the things that have kept us Soul in Love for nearly a decade! Black and LGBTQ+ love is so important, and we decided to share our love story while also highlighting other Black and LGBTQ+ couples.
By Bryce and Val Marie Henderson5 years ago in Pride
Looking
His profile picture drew me in. He was ruggedly good-looking, wearing an old camo hat. He had beautiful blue eyes and a scruffy beard, and His plain t-shirt highlighted his broad shoulders and toned chest. His jeans fit just right and looked dingy as if he had been working outside in a dirt pile. His work boots were well used. You could see the veins on his hairy arms, and it was evident from his picture that he was a blue-collar guy.
By J. Delaney-Howe5 years ago in Pride
All Lights Coming At Us from the Sound!
And there is the wedding tonight on the beach, all the guests dressed up and it rains and I’m there to film, given a camera older than myself to hold and thank god it’s a short ceremony because I almost drop it it’s so heavy. Everyone looks up and the bride comes down from the big winding stairs in the reception hall, where the ceremony relocates during the storm. And she walks to where her husband stands, where I stand with my arms shaking under that heavy thing, recording this moment in sharp black and white. The camera drifts to Erin, her standing in the corner, pinned up, her blue dress, her face soft in all the light coming in through the windows—it’s still sunny even though outside it thunders. The bride begins to speak and I focus back on her, and she says I do and she’s kissed, and she and the groom have their first dance and they eat; Erin and I sneak out to the beach when we notice it stops raining. Now it’s dark, two hours of wedding gone by the same way all weddings do. We take off our shoes and run out to the water, the sound lit up with the skyline of the city and all those apartments on the water.
By Bobby Crossroads5 years ago in Pride
Sunshine under the Rainbow
Being "gay" was grounds for damnation in the community and church that I grew up in as a little boy. The thought of the word would mentally transport you to a deep dark place of fire and brimstone or gloom and doom with a final resting place in the pits of hell. My parents were never vocal on the issue directly as right, wrong or indifferent, however, I can remember the preacher in the pulpit quoting the scriptures of abomination against God and the kids in the neighborhood being outright hateful towards anyone that was “that way”. By the time I was a teenage boy, I fit well in the category of homophobic and there was nothing you could do to change my views or convince me to want to have anything to do with this “those people”.
By Michael C Burrow5 years ago in Pride
I think about Sex with Women all the Time
I have written about coming out as bisexual a few times, however, one thing I have not talked about is the fact that I think about sex with women all the time, even when my husband is with me. When I discuss this with others, they think it means I'm unhappy in my marraige. I'm writing this today, because I want to be open about that, and I also want to make clear that no, I am not unhappy, and no I am not a cheat either!
By Carol Ann Townend5 years ago in Pride
