gay

Over time, by choosing to love myself, I have come to see that I’m not responsible for the way that people perceive me.

It took me 22 years to embrace my actual identity and understand that what I thought was an attraction to men was actually an outright addiction to the male gaze.

Even if we wore the same color, the nail polish would always look different on me. I would always be the “unacceptable” gay, and he would be the “acceptable” gay.

I came to the conclusion that men don’t prioritize the sexual pleasure of their partners, but rather, their focus is largely centered on their own sexual gratification.

Being in an environment that actively undermines your identity can cause so much angst and dread that the only solution is to escape.

The second a gay man wears a dress, the universe explodes. So instead, queer men often focus our energy on these pop divas — the only acceptable way to express our femininity.

There was such a lack of queer representation in these superhero franchises that I could only relate to a character’s grief and agony. I was grasping at straws to find the faintest connection between my life and that of a hero.

Nothing can genuinely depict coming out and the effect it’ll have on you — the mixed emotions of peace of mind and distress, the combination of happily ever after and Shakespearean tragedy.

Pride is a political statement. But it’s also more than that. It’s about surviving against the odds. It’s about celebrating and showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.

For a long time, I looked back on my wild preteen fantasies about making love to women with a big question mark.