Prism & Pen

An online journal of compelling LGBTQ fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Calling on all readers and writers with LGBTQ+ flair to join us on
https://medium.com/prismnpen
#LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #2SLGBTQ #2SLGBTQIA #Queer #QueerWriters #Writing #Storytelling

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prismnpen_at_stranger.social@momostr.pink

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relay.momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2026-07-05 14:28:00 UTC

Asexual people are almost by definition completely innocuous, and #asexuality shouldn’t bother anyone because it literally is just about not experiencing sexual attraction the same way non-asexuals do.
This shouldn’t be something that encourages major angry reactions from people, and yet here we are.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/asexuals-belong-at-pride-despite-what-certain-anti-trans-influencers-say-42b3b1b695ca?sk=62f78b1199140a415fbbe0a24adb2923
#LGBTQ #Pride

2026-06-12 14:28:01 UTC

In 2025, asexual influencer and founder of Ace In Grace Ashabi Owagboriaye created a “New Asexuality flag”, and introduced the completed design in April 2026. While some asexuals embraced the new 6-stripe flag, others rejected the “updated” design with varying degrees of hostility.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/new-flag-asexual-visibility-49cec32de515?sk=0bcbec7d4a15abf10e7fe71b85fad217
#LGBTQ #Asexuality #PrideFlag

2026-06-03 14:41:36 UTC

- reply

Hey, so I'm a bi woman in a monogamous relationship with a man, and that doesn't make me homophobic or straight. And yes, it is some kind of icky thing to think a bi woman wouldn't be "really happy with a man." Ew.
-Esther, P&P editor

2026-05-29 14:06:04 UTC

There’s a man-hating trend on social media, coupled with discussions of why bisexual women ‘always end up with a man’. I’d like to talk about these things.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/man-hatred-and-biphobic-discourse-in-the-wake-of-pride-month-2af841a7bfab?sk=02ca15e43e54d7d45af88ff553a127ca
#LGBTQ #Bisexual #Bisexuality #ManHating

2026-05-10 14:06:00 UTC

Although I’ve racked up more than a few runs around the sun, I’ve never been much good at sticking solely to one topic or activity for long.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/why-focus-is-not-a-priority-for-this-trans-woman-e047f4a83d20?sk=c6f90900709798ec95a74a894be561b8
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Focus #Multitasking

2026-05-09 14:25:01 UTC

A strange thing has been happening to me lately. When I see older men with their tops off, I get a bit of a thrill. As a gay woman, I am finding that their boobs are just a little bit titillating…
https://medium.com/prismnpen/im-attracted-to-older-man-boobs-76092b9b2948?sk=fece07fe1c40c9ed1a10eb1f255fdef5
#LGBTQ #Lesbian #Attraction

2026-05-09 14:17:10 UTC

Kay and Rachel are two transgender women in the UK. Kay lives fully as herself and has to deal with the constant scrutiny of being “outed”, while Rachel lives closeted, pushing the boundaries of gender expression. Here are a collection of encounters from our daily lives, while we dance on the razor’s edge of gender.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/kay-rachel-mirrored-lives-a-transgender-diary-a65e508145df?sk=59306371c56217265f423014dbfd6e40
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Diary #Life

2026-05-08 13:35:01 UTC

Leon didn’t identify as transgender. Rather, Leon identified as a drag queen… as had iconic Stonewall rabble-rouser Marsha P. Johnson in the same city only a few years earlier. So, while Sonny sees his troubled partner as a woman, he still uses “he/him” pronouns in reference to Leon, as was common during the 70s.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/does-this-broadway-adaptation-turn-a-trans-themed-film-classic-into-farce-adf597a9112c?sk=e01342cd3938bd62b5544a27c62d0392
#LGBTQ #Transgender #DogDayAfternoon

2026-05-08 13:31:01 UTC

People think transition is about gender. For me, it was about the freedom we lose by silencing and losing our truths. Accepting systemic patterns towards professional and economic success, we lose our truth.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-body-that-broke-the-script-894424439dc1?sk=7e82727eacaf10917c9079d6f7b7e0c9
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Gender #Freedom

2026-05-08 13:22:01 UTC

For want of a better word, I was transfixed by the women at the table. If any of the women enjoying their hot Earl Grey and clotted cream scones had noticed, they would have seen a man staring.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/queer-men-transgender-women-i-was-once-staring-at-you-im-sorry-06d2dddb4de1?sk=4a26c72202bf5ce3ecaae9ef310279c8
#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderEnvy

2026-05-07 13:50:01 UTC

It won’t be long before the first signs of my older daughter’s transition into womanhood start to show. Maybe another year or two.
I could end this post right now with “f*cking hell” and that would say everything I actually want to say.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/my-daughter-is-becoming-a-woman-how-i-feel-as-a-closeted-trans-woman-ff7f7b20026e?sk=fc6e997813ed2a3fedd2a9e537458ed6
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Parenting #Womanhood

2026-05-07 13:46:01 UTC

I’ve touched on this topic in passing, but I’ve never really explained why I think it is a necessity for queer people to be united in the struggle for liberation and a better world.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-plea-for-queer-unity-0f8a5a77021b?sk=18aa9af2f90fdd2a6d6dec8bafd75d3f
#LGBTQ #Queer #Unity #Politics

2026-05-07 13:41:02 UTC

The deacons told Dad they couldn’t be responsible for what might happen if he continued bringing Black folks to our White church. Even at 12, I recognized the violent threat barely hiding in their words.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/i-grew-up-in-a-sexist-racist-homophobic-world-thats-rushing-back-bd9ad73738bf?sk=7f837c909d2730b8efc8b74ba82758ed
#LGBTQ #HIstory #Bigotry #USPolitics

2026-05-07 13:35:01 UTC

They broke down the door. They emptied inkwells onto the carpets. They smashed the framed prints. They broke porcelain and glass. They piled books, pamphlets, patient files, charts, and lantern slides onto trucks parked at the curb.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/berlin-burned-first-trans-clinic-1933-5264533fb902?sk=3678899306ed1e1867fcc453004c37f8
#LGBTQ #History #Nazis

2026-05-06 14:28:02 UTC

Oxford Street was described as an ideal place to watch the passing parade, and I did plenty of watching, and a bit more, as I wandered those five blocks between College Street and Taylor Square in the early to mid 1970’s.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/when-the-queer-streets-whisper-66b0215ac08d?sk=404fd53460148018f547b7fbbc66708b
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Queer #Sydney

2026-05-06 14:25:01 UTC

Recent industry reporting points to a decline in #LGBTQ+ representation across television, with entire characters and storylines disappearing altogether.
But the disappearance is not neutral, it follows a pattern.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-quiet-return-of-lesbian-erasure-6743bd79500f?sk=fd57f316895d5f76346d3bd085e162dc
#Lesbian #Queer #Representation

2026-05-06 14:19:01 UTC

Here we are in 2026. I’d like to introduce you to my #transgender kid.
He’s 19 now and getting ready to start college. I’d also like to introduce you to his friends. Many of them are cisgender and “LGB” as well.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/from-the-mom-of-a-trans-kid-a-letter-to-lgbs-who-oppose-trans-inclusion-a404ca35ff20
#LGBTQ #TransRights #LGBWithoutTheT #LGBTWithTheT

2026-05-06 14:17:02 UTC

They counted everything published between January 1 and April 25 of this year, then narrowed the list to news stories whose main subject was a trans-related issue. They asked one question: how often did each outlet quote a trans person?
The Times produced 60 such stories. It quoted a trans person in 12 of them.
That is twenty percent.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-news-no-trans-voices-67e7f6af1752?sk=6e050afa85bbbe3dc7cfdc89a5ab1e46
#LGBTQ #Transgender #News

2026-05-05 14:19:01 UTC

I dread every Pride month because it’s all “Peace, Love, Unity and Respect” or PLUR as some Gen Alpha person probably dubbed it because this generation is so lazy, they can’t spell things out anymore. Such a terrible lazy generation. SMDH. Wait…Hold on for a sec while I use text to speech to text my brother Cletus about all this!
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trying-to-find-safe-cis-heterosexual-spaces-during-pride-month-a574e4c1b999
#LGBTQ #Satire #SafeSpaces

2026-05-05 14:17:02 UTC

Growing up, I was always included, but never felt present. People smiled to greet me, but wouldn’t if they really knew the real me. They used my name, but more often an unrelated nickname.
Nobody knew I wanted to be known as Joanna. Not even me.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-activism-whose-trans-activism-why-me-4ee766bec42f?sk=892f35a63a1d07776171c6af891b2f5c
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Childhood #Memoir

2026-05-05 14:12:12 UTC

I am a 60-year-old trans woman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I have a band rehearsal tonight, gymnastics class to coach Saturday, and a paper to finish for Tuesday. I want a quiet life. I am not getting one.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/three-walls-closing-in-c36472552cb7?sk=5d4553eadefcfc738e15ca82e98d068e
#LGBTQ #Transgender #USPolitics #TransRights

2026-05-04 14:12:01 UTC

Hospitals really are no place for sick people.
This is her sixth infection in as many weeks, but the amazing thing right this minute is that I've just given you all the bad news there is. Well, almost 'all' but let's leave those flies in the ointment for now.
Fae is today completing her third day breathing room air, unaided - no ventilator.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/one-small-step-for-my-trans-fiancée-56f28ac2fc61
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Love #Relationships

2026-05-04 14:06:01 UTC

His poem is a critique of apathy and a warning about the danger of failing to stand up for others’ rights, which inevitably leads to the loss of one’s own. Over the years, Niemöller delivered several versions of the poem, often changing which groups he named.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/first-they-came-for-the-transgender-a-parable-of-coalition-7adac2946da6
#LGBTQ #Queer #Transgender #Solidarity #TransRights

2026-05-03 13:50:01 UTC

The word “#Stonewall” comes from a six-night uprising at a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York City, starting in the early hours of June 28, 1969. When the British charity was founded in May 1989 by Ian McKellen, Lisa Power, Michael Cashman, and others, the founders deliberately chose that name. They were saying: We come from this. We owe it.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/stonewall-was-always-trans-5f639cc2784d?sk=69ab06f01a029cb9905670b442a6fc03
#LGBTQ #QueerHistory

2026-05-03 13:46:00 UTC

The spirit of Stonewall lives on when we refuse to let any member of the queer community stand alone when their rights or identities are under fire. That legacy makes it clear that progress isn’t just about moving forward but about moving forward united.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/in-the-crosshairs-why-transgender-people-need-a-united-queer-front-c935573e69e9
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Solidarity

2026-05-03 13:41:01 UTC

I was far from the only #queer person there. But, as usual, I might have been one of the only bisexuals, if not the only one, in attendance. And, I had my straight girlfriend on my arm… albeit a totally accepting straight girlfriend, one with a lesbian daughter and a bi boyfriend.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/being-a-bisexual-man-at-a-destination-wedding-with-my-straight-girlfriend-e94c8d56bd74?sk=c06525c7acc9cfd9c7539ebdfa1dd412
#LGBTQ #Identity #Bisexual

2026-05-02 15:00:11 UTC

Being a trans ally isn’t a chore. It’s a joy.
Every single trans person I know has improved my life. Like a unicorn’s horn, they’ve purified the water around them.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/loving-trans-people-isnt-charity-55edd70eaf10
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Allies #Friendship

2026-05-02 14:51:01 UTC

Call something wrong a thousand times,
It learns to stand alone,
It makes a life beyond the word
That others would have thrown...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/what-we-were-told-to-pull-poetry-23bef2b639c9?sk=6defaf5263372077c7630f6733acde31
#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #Survival #Weeds

2026-05-02 14:30:09 UTC

He told me, “I used to be a woman.”
I looked at him with a mixture of shock and amazement.
He had the kind of beard that I am still unable to grow. He was beefy, not muscly — chunky, but chunky in a way I like a lot. I’ve never been into the muscle boys.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/what-a-trans-man-taught-this-gay-man-about-love-fca92c5261be
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Love #Learning

2026-05-01 15:03:02 UTC

When people argue about whether the “T” belongs in #LGBTQ, I sometimes feel like I’ve wandered into a strange debate about a family I’ve known my whole life. The conversation often treats these letters as separate tribes, negotiable factions that can be rearranged or dismissed depending on the politics of the moment. But life — and history — refuses to work that way.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/who-says-t-stands-for-trouble-d11307d515ed
#QueerHIstory #LGBWithoutTheT #LGBWithTheT

2026-05-01 15:00:06 UTC

I make a coffee, walk shirtless into the garden, sit down in one of the chairs and let my flat, hairy chest get some sun. And as a good journalist, I open my news app — just in time to find out that I am now, legally, a woman.
Happy Birthday to me, I guess.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/no-mans-land-how-i-feel-as-a-trans-man-in-the-uk-in-2026-953665cd59e1
#LGBTQ #Transgender #UKPolitics #Gender

2026-05-01 14:51:02 UTC

Many today are trying to force socially determined roles on people whose internal sense of gender identity conflicts with their physical sex. The current mainstream is trying to revert to an animal definition of sex rather than a human definition of gender.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-penis-is-not-a-brain-stop-thinking-they-are-the-same-e7007c62aa4a
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Biology #Brains

2026-05-01 14:30:08 UTC

Feeling disrespected and erased from within the house doesn’t make for unity. And unity is what we’re talking about here. Because unity is literally essential to our survival.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/this-bi-guy-knows-what-it-is-to-feel-disregarded-disrespected-erased-8136034db940?sk=6864fe102c2ceb4bb8b91da1ed36ad19
#LGBTQ #QueerUnity #LGBWithoutTheT #LGBWithTheT

2026-04-30 14:19:01 UTC

It’s obviously so convincing that I’m not even allowed to act anymore. Because even in acting, you’re supposed to at least hint that something is just a performance.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/its-crazy-how-everyone-thinks-you-re-doing-great-ef3f514f7997?sk=914b475024d5748ba5ea1b742f5b11a7
#LGBTQ #Transgender #FakingIt

2026-04-30 14:17:01 UTC

Now, when you watch a movie or a television show, there is often an #LGBTQ couple included in the plot line. That never happened when I was growing up. You see so much fluidity with sexual preference, with people going from men to women to back and forth and everything in between. It’s really nice to see.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/has-living-life-as-an-lgbtq-person-gotten-easier-42fee7038207?sk=dce1231efa06a1ce75ccd9084c372ec3
#Life #Acceptance #Society

2026-04-29 14:19:01 UTC

#Tennessee’s declaration of June as “Nuclear Family Month” is totally symbolic and not enforceable under any legal statute. Residents of the state remain free to celebrate #LGBTQ+ Pride and privately display Pride-related flags and slogans during the month of June, or whenever they so choose.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/tennessee-gives-lgbtq-folks-yet-another-slap-in-the-face-0b9d7bf2c842?sk=23db35ec6485024f74359749385ca410
#USPolitics

2026-04-29 14:17:02 UTC

I have a virus,
I did not choose it.
Buried deep inside my body,
and my mind.
Many treatments tried...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/my-virus-a-poem-fadd3a03631d?sk=5acd8644438b0fd2d2cd24225d5ad3df
#LGBTQ #Poetry #Transgender

2026-04-29 14:12:02 UTC

I am a graduate student. I write papers with abstracts and reference lists. I cite my sources. But the moment I am in does not call for an abstract. It calls for a conversation, woman to woman, across whatever distance separates us, while we still have time to have it.
So, pull up a chair. I want to tell you what is happening, why it should scare you, and why I think we are going to win anyway.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/they-came-for-me-first-sister-8626d2ed2625?sk=d2444448d0aa6f304fd45b8e0f7aabcd
#LGBTQ #Transgender #USPolitics

2026-04-29 14:06:18 UTC

There is so much talk from Zionists, where they lecture to the #LGBTQ+ community about how our identities are antithetical to Palestinian liberation (see homonationalism), and so I wanted to center the discussion on one such activist’s experiences in #Palestine, and how it runs counter to the #Zionist narrative.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/this-queer-activist-traveled-to-palestine-cc1e0c0821c4?sk=a2afc315e3487921d248ac92d595badc
#MiddleEast #Gaza

2026-04-28 14:25:17 UTC

It’s okay being a warrior, but a smart warrior avoids battle and conflict where possible. I stopped talking to my parents years ago, I knew better than to engage in any conversation with them, for example.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-transgender-woman-wonders-who-shell-be-in-league-with-next-10040384b6c2?sk=50f0b2d88e89aa15144fe83cc9c59667
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Friendship

2026-04-28 14:19:02 UTC

Have you heard about the LGB without the T movement? Since I first noticed stories about the trans-exclusionary LGB Alliance in the UK a few years ago, I’ve grieved that certain people are working to divide our queer family. My created family have always been all stripes of the rainbow, and I’d like to speak up as somebody old enough to have seen some queer history up close and personal.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/love-and-service-my-gay-and-trans-family-in-the-age-of-aids-feac66490e34?sk=1f2a574d5aebacbad126c5def8537fe5
#LGBTQ #TransRights #QueerHistory

2026-04-28 14:17:07 UTC

Philz announced they would remove their Pride flags from all store locations. The flags had been a staple of the #California coffee chain since its origins in San Francisco’s Mission district. I remember their bold presence from my first visit in 2014, when I lived a short bike ride away.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/too-late-philz-coffee-lgbtq-customers-arent-buying-it-ec0014226eea?sk=39848d3465b9dfdc12731de67aa08976
#LGBTQ #PrideFlags #PhilzCoffee

2026-04-28 14:12:01 UTC

Today, April 28, Colombia celebrates 10 years of marriage equality.
The court said yes to marriage on April 28, 2016 with a decision called SU-214, and Colombia became the fourth country in South America to provide same-sex couples with this status.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/happy-10th-anniversary-of-same-sex-marriage-to-colombia-4ddccddba131?sk=98f6f6552afc9854dde8cb447a979dd2
#LGBTQ #Colombia #MarriageEquality #SameSexMarriage

2026-04-27 14:12:01 UTC

I am a queer #transgender woman. I am also a graduate student who reads footnotes for fun. So I sat down with the claim, opened the archives, and worked through it.
The receipts do not match the image.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-archives-say-otherwise-52a145ed79ca?sk=db1f83e0ace53fdb368f6f7f644ed350
#LGBTQ #QueerHistory #LGBWithoutTheT

2026-04-27 14:06:01 UTC

I have come light-years from that bleak world. It took endless hours of professional help, unbelievably wonderful transgender, cisgender, and LGBTQ friends, plus ceaseless self-analysis, and doubt.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-transgender-pain-b7c5e78f1327?sk=e31213e2ebd2055b913d6357039a9ace
#LGBTQ #Transgender #MentalHealth #Loneliness

2026-04-27 13:57:01 UTC

I’m supposing this treacherous new leader (whose name I refuse to write) really does know her history, so I don’t suppose I can persuade her to stop being cruel and divisive.
Instead, I want to write positive stories, and I’m asking you to join me!
https://medium.com/prismnpen/transgender-and-lgb-people-united-lets-tell-the-stories-f6f86706bac7
#LGBTQ #Transgender #TransRights #WritingPrompt #WritingChallenge

2026-04-25 13:31:01 UTC

I have absolutely fallen in love with San Francisco. From its gorgeous beaches and breathtaking Golden Gate Park to its adorable townhomes and awesome waterfront stadium, San Francisco oozes delight.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/im-a-trans-van-lifer-completely-obsessed-with-san-francisco-0fe2066a2bfa?sk=e8a0ba61b734ca41fe44a7357e223b97
#LGBTQ #Transgender #VanLife #Travel #SanFran

2026-04-25 13:22:01 UTC

Homophobia exists. Big shock I know, but this is a point which need stating as there are some who would like to insist that homophobia, and broader problems of bigotry against queer people are no longer a thing. The likes of U.S. political commentator Dave Rubin have been fond of saying that since gay marriage was passed in the U.S., gay people have equality and that homophobia is no longer the issue it once was. Such a perspective is woefully naive.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/homophobia-beneath-the-surface-8447b73c4927?sk=cd1b4c9d46fc8f3b09c04541e7c80c7b
#LGBTQ #USPolitics

2026-04-25 12:49:01 UTC

- reply

It really sucks. 🙁

2026-04-24 13:31:01 UTC

The directive names the categories of people the federal government will now treat as possible domestic terrorists. Among them is what the document calls “extremism on gender.”
https://medium.com/prismnpen/fbi-166m-people-like-me-d467e8a72f1a?sk=167c286c344297b97bb20299b59ee0ee
#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Transgender #FBI

2026-04-24 13:22:01 UTC

Speaking to the Guardian, Dugdale discusses her “respect” for JK Rowling in response to being asked if she understood why “many trans people felt Rowling’s approach had become cruel and dehumanising”.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/new-stonewall-chair-fears-far-right-yet-respects-jk-rowlings-white-tears-6b27665ed6cf?sk=e377ce538dd9ed2267e838d2a969e508
#LGBTQ #UKPolitics #Stonewall #TransRights

2026-04-23 13:35:01 UTC

Shannon Minter is a 65-year-old civil rights attorney who has spent more than three decades at what is now called the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. He is transgender.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/minter-time100-trans-lawyer-ebb63f586895?sk=83f99b9a39da1373f76d2c777a9399c3
#LGBTQ #Transgender #USPolitics #TIME100

2026-04-23 13:31:12 UTC

I was amazed by the capabilities of the human brain and body. Only two weeks after sex reassignment surgery (SRS), I can walk, work, and I hardly remember my old anatomy. My body feels like it has always been this way. But those two weeks were intense—sometimes painful, emotionally hard, and very demanding on my health.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/gender-reassignment-surgery-recovery-my-14-day-journey-in-thailand-b508e6252ae3?sk=ad447e3ae09a7b9013355aa3a8c6771d
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Surgery

2026-04-23 13:22:01 UTC

The front door slammed, I heard her voice. ‘Are you here, Meg? What is it, are you OK?’ Her voice echoed through our apartment.
‘I’m sorry babe, I just… wanted to see you,’ I answered. Then more carefully I said, ‘No… I needed to see you.’
https://medium.com/prismnpen/right-words-come-810455835ca8?sk=57a383fe218936872768329fe861df2b
#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction #WLW

2026-04-22 14:17:01 UTC

A few weeks ago, a 28-year-old star declared herself a “gold star lesbian” in an interview with Cosmopolitan. Queer women of the internet did not take it quietly.
Some called the term dated, embarrassing, even toxic.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/is-it-time-to-retire-gold-star-lesbian-457daf6b6d60?sk=54ca8772ddce35c0133ff30835df5871
#LGBTQ #Lesbian #WLW

2026-04-22 14:12:01 UTC

I want to tell you a sad and maybe positive story about infighting and division. I think all us #LGBTQ people should think about it. Maybe everyone who values love and compassion should think about it.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/right-opposes-gay-equality-trans-people-f2de19abe606?sk=215270af8092460012b54f5a1403d7b6
#Equality #Transgender #Politics

2026-04-21 16:14:16 UTC

- reply

Yup

2026-04-21 16:13:35 UTC

Rarely these days is there any transgender news that doesn’t fit squarely into the category of infuriating, discouraging or heartbreaking. But this week I was both intrigued and even amused by the story circulating about the Tomi Lahren podcast interview with transgender woman Caitlyn Jenner.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-woman-caitlyn-jenners-passport-fox-news-s-fearless-tomi-lahren-83d71df9718c
#LGBTQ #Transgender #USPolitics

2026-04-21 14:30:04 UTC

I wandered down a road, past stores decorated with traditional Chinese lettering — ducks, herbs and groceries in the windows, then turned left into a lane I’d never noticed before.
So odd, how could I have missed this place?
https://medium.com/prismnpen/i-find-my-feet-e004d4af4309?sk=66a51dfdaf44130e776c2f35b6ea2504
#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction

2026-04-21 14:28:05 UTC

Caitlyn Jenner is across from Tomi Lahren on a Fox Nation podcast. At some point, Lahren asks how the Trump administration’s passport policy is hitting her. Jenner answers, plainly, that she cannot use her passport. It has an M on it. Officials look at her, see a person who reads as female, look at the document, see something different, and pull her aside.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/caitlyn-jenner-trump-passport-policy-30df4b1d8314?sk=606e5521acb88390a77dd5f7a6552ed2
#LGBTQ #Transgender #USPolitics

2026-04-21 14:25:01 UTC

I revolve around away from the ice-cream van…
…to face myself as a teenager.
It’s not me, of course; it’s a teenage girl. A shade under six foot tall, slender, clad in black tights, tartan skirt and a black denim jacket. Her aura is smaller and more nervous than her frame. She looks like how I myself might have looked at sixteen, had I grew my hair out and dressed how I wanted.
I am looking in a time-warped mirror.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/im-trans-and-i-bumped-into-myself-at-the-park-today-e62e54869f71?sk=ad2148b03d0f751a1dadc0024ea27acb
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity

2026-04-20 14:51:01 UTC

PureGym have now adopted a policy that members are required to use locker rooms according to their “biological sex”, or the single gender neutral locker room if this would make them uncomfortable or unsafe.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/dear-puregym-with-regards-to-your-biological-sex-policy-b7ec4cf2ea6c?sk=eabb1e68e1a7628818a401a207ac4e49
#LGBTQ #Transgender #PureGym #LockerRooms

2026-04-19 14:12:02 UTC

I did “guy” really well in public, but I didn’t feel “guy” when I was alone, in my soul.
It never felt right.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/shocked-discover-transgender-lesbian-df5f292dd3c9?sk=5f413a8458c554aa0f15a6c074b87f59
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Self #Identity

2026-04-19 14:06:01 UTC

Six years ago the COVID pandemic closed the door to my silent meditation retreat as the world slowed, collectively holding its breath, hoping a crown-shaped virus wouldn’t kill us all.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/experiencing-a-10-day-silent-meditation-course-as-a-cis-gay-8c42f6ecedea?sk=90f7b178588c5bc2ff0171c11af5907e
#LGBTQ #Gay #USPolitics #Meditation

2026-04-19 13:57:01 UTC

Then I engaged in a different kind of erasure. The erasure of my past self: I changed my legal name wherever I could. I applied for new identity documents. Threw out old photos of myself that I could no longer bear to see. Deleted social media accounts. Avoided all the places where the ghost of my past self, and the shame and insecurity I felt, still lingered. I wanted every trace of my past self gone.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-woman-privacy-self-erasure-4a36439ceba7?sk=e78aba67b24e27e691e6ee2097686a31
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity #Self

2026-04-18 13:41:02 UTC

Maybe you know this, or maybe you’re about to learn something — being on a ventilator, a machine that does some or all of your breathing for you when you’re critically ill, is BAD for you.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/my-transgender-fianc%C3%A9e-fae-is-getting-better-f52b88fd9f02?sk=79e45cef44d3f9ce78bb976866b02102
#LGBTQ #Transgender #PersonalStory #Illness

2026-04-18 13:35:03 UTC

If I hear one more person say, “Well, as long as they’re passing, I don’t really care.” Really? YOU??? You’re the grand arbiter of all things someone else needs to do to their body in order to use a PUBLICLY PAID FOR throne room? REALLY????
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-people-shouldnt-have-to-pass-79be68b46cda?sk=d3ca0c68efc2035f7584240eeb164815
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Passing #Rant

2026-04-18 13:31:01 UTC

I slid to my side of the bed and spread my legs, enjoying the slight coolness at the edge of the sheets.
‘Why do we have to take turns?’
https://medium.com/prismnpen/im-feeling-queer-in-bed-a-love-story-67a927815880?sk=d000529f468f9b61137f859597a08808
#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction #WLWFiction

2026-04-18 13:22:01 UTC

The really annoying thing is that in Thai, the equivalent to calling someone “sir” or “madam” is “khun” which is gender-neutral. Since I reject the notion of gender and go by they/them pronouns, I’d much rather be called “khun” or just nothing at all, but get madamed here every time.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/i-still-have-to-be-a-part-time-woman-and-i-hate-it-265a4ab170d3?sk=6e76387ad4833588795f477d2add33ac
#LGBTQ #GenderStuff #Nonbinary #Identity

2026-04-17 14:25:02 UTC

My partner and I met on Tinder, at a time when it wasn't as scary as it is today. It was the middle of the pandemic, and I had just broken up with my girlfriend of 4 years. I was on Tinder just to have people outside of work to talk to during isolation.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/six-years-into-my-queer-relationship-and-i-just-met-my-mother-in-law-ab02a2b33a1e
#LGBTQ #Queer #Family #Relationships

2026-04-17 14:21:52 UTC

You do not have to look far to see that #Islamophobia is fairly pervasive across the West, and in particular, in the US and Britain. Likewise, you do not have to look far to see the prevalence of #homophobia and #transphobia in these countries. Perhaps these phenomena are connected, and that is what needs to be explored here.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/stop-equating-islam-with-hatred-of-queer-people-8f844b6dcfed?sk=4a59c48f1282eee519bac699324e104e
#LGBTQ #Islam #Politics

2026-04-17 14:17:01 UTC

Turning a straight man gay: it’s a fantasy many #gay men have had at some point.
I’m embarrassed to admit I was no exception.
I eventually moved on from that fantasy, but the pain of having my feelings worn down and used up still comes back sometimes.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-queer-art-of-loving-someone-who-cannot-love-you-back-d57542a9bfe9?sk=36bd320d38196b705e68ee3a823d070b
#LGBTQ #QueerFilm #PermanentResidence

2026-04-17 14:12:01 UTC

Transitioning was not a widely known option when I was younger, especially for #transgender men. So, I had no choice but to force myself to accept I was female, although I embraced being a #tomboy. I don’t even recall how old I was when I first heard the term, but from my perspective it fit well enough, however imperfectly.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/tomboy-trans-man-7e18e2399beb?sk=bdbd98faad31d940ac44a9e6968f8e76
#LGBTQ #Memoir #GenderIdentity

2026-04-16 14:25:12 UTC

In decades past, queer movie stars were well advised to keep their private lives private. Film historian, gay activist Vito Russo dubbed this show-biz syndrome “the celluloid closet.”
Today, however, a gay or bisexual actor no longer has to fret so much about keeping their true sexual orientation secret. Why then does there seem to be so much curiosity about the secret sexual proclivities of stars from the golden age of Hollywood?
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-new-tabloids-youtube-videos-outing-hollywood-stars-from-a-bygone-era-86d40fc64711?sk=7e40624815fb3fec12cc8272a8a92774
#LGBTQ #Hollywood #Celebrities

2026-04-16 14:19:01 UTC

f we looked at time-lapse photography (fear not, there isn’t any) of the past six months, there are surprisingly few outward signs of change. Maybe a few more clothes, some new shoes, certainly more items in the makeup kit.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-woman-passes-18-months-on-hrt-with-almost-nothing-happening-a53f55cb39b6?sk=2012707757eb5cfe3b330609e356dd27
#LGBTQ #Transgender #HRT #Changes

2026-04-16 14:17:02 UTC

My parents taught me many things; most of them were wrong. But one night sitting in front of the television watching The Ed Sullivan Show, they taught me something I’ve never let go of.
My father turns down the volume of the TV, looks at me, and says, “You know, it’s important that everyone be treated the same, no matter what language they speak, whether they’re a man or a woman, or the color of their skin.”
https://medium.com/prismnpen/what-the-gay-boy-kept-c7e40cf9fa48
#LGBTQ #Queer #Gay #Family #ChildhoodMemories

2026-04-16 14:12:02 UTC

The different uses of exaggerated imagery in our two versions of ‘Made in Russia’ provide quite an interesting view into the political undertones of the pieces.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/how-russian-gay-icon-olga-buzova-stepped-back-into-the-closet-c0560238de21
#LGBTQ #Politics #Russia #OlgaBuzova

2026-04-15 14:19:01 UTC

I saw a trans woman on the beach promenade.
Our eyes met, we looked away, then we looked at each other again, then we went our separate ways. Me, with a beard, dressed as a man, out with my family; she was tall, broad-shouldered, perhaps not quite that far along in her transition. But she had a very beautiful face and even more beautiful hair.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-transgender-woman-on-the-beach-promenade-dac765c4318e
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Recognition

2026-04-15 14:17:02 UTC

For the last eight years, I have been deconstructing the guy that took me 60 years to build.
I had a lot of help building him along the way.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/deconstructing-a-guy-74c65b0459d1?sk=51bc5bd08e90058023c681e89e27e17a
#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderStuff #Identity #Deconstruction

2026-04-14 14:51:01 UTC

When the cameras turned away, she stayed
With fire in her chest, unafraid
When the doors were closed by fear and power
She became a voice in the darkest hour...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/profile-in-courage-raquel-willis-poetry-77deb0b51e74?sk=a97712e4759041e2c082664b649e719a
#LGBTQ #RaquelWillis #Poetry #QueerPoetry

2026-04-14 14:30:04 UTC

Being fed both sides of the story gives me a unique vantage point. I get to see the #manosphere up close and unfiltered, I’m able to view these guys and listen to them bang on about “traditional values” while I’m figuring out which blush to use.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/unpacking-the-manospheres-secret-obsession-with-trans-women-38d4419604df?sk=17d83b9514cd0a5b79a3e9b57463b4b2
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Chasers

2026-04-14 14:28:01 UTC

Imagine you are born on a planet where everyone is #gay. However, you discover as a child that you are attracted to girls, not boys. Society ridicules and spurns you. Friends turn their backs on you. Family disowns you.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/imagine-you-were-born-on-a-planet-where-everyone-was-gay-except-you-fada40a84fe2?sk=0a3eb75cb43475003d6dbc5cff505c88
#LGBTQ #ThoughtExperiment

2026-04-14 14:25:07 UTC

Reading those reports pulled me back fifteen years, to the summer of 2011, when Brown and I found ourselves engaged in a lengthy and increasingly visible debate on Facebook.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/im-a-trans-woman-who-debated-christian-author-michael-brown-7fd38c751df4?sk=dcd81f82dff567721251fb91549c0bc0
#LGBTQ #Transgender #MichaelBrown #Debate

2026-04-13 14:19:00 UTC

Those who know me, or have read my recent story, will be aware that Fae, my fiancée of 5 years, is gravely ill once more. (My Transgender Girlfriend Is in a Coma. Again.’) I say ‘once more’, because Fae had been this ill only six months prior.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/update-trans-partner-improves-declines-f00f4aa05931?sk=1a93f3a11fafc5acaf7d574a342b684d
#LGBTQ #Transgender #PersonalStory #Love #Relationships

2026-04-13 14:17:02 UTC

I’ve lived on both sides of the line and been seen in one way, and now I’m seen in another. I’m the same person with the same thoughts and the same sense of humour. But the way people respond to me has completely changed.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-man-seen-both-sides-2b6768dfd920?sk=0b7f2227d7fe07984a8225cedefc53de
#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderStuff #Sexism

2026-04-13 14:12:01 UTC

Nine years ago, I moved from suburbia to rural #Ohio, back to the family farm. It sounds like a slower, more peaceful chapter. In many ways, it is. What I discovered was how different those two places are for me as a #gay man.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/retire-build-queer-community-rural-ohio-ac9af5bf832c
#LGBTQ #QueerCommunity #CommunityBuilding #RuralLife

2026-04-12 13:31:09 UTC

I am not sure if show creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg is #LGBTQ, but he is Jewish. In Long Story Short, he jokes about doctors and lawyers being unavailable on Rosh Hashanah. I am not Jewish myself, so reading up on the show helped me to understand how his faith and culture influences his work.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/lgbtq-finding-community-long-story-short-moved-me-to-tears-a6e32837962d?sk=97d16a72e424ef092a01e2bce7dff58a
#LongStoryShort #Lesbian

2026-04-11 14:12:01 UTC

I have been out as a #gay man since 1990, and #vegan since 1996. I get negative comments because of both of these identities, and these days, more around being vegan than being gay.
Aside from generally not giving a shit about what others think of me, unless I have done something wrong, I’m also 60, which means I have less time in front of me than behind me. So, I really don’t give a shit.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-gay-vegans-blog-is-alive-and-well-a5fcdddf859d?sk=7c4b5e6ec4e536b302b63e64fcf33fe0
#LGBTQ #Identity #Blogging

2026-04-11 14:06:01 UTC

Over the past few years, right-wing politicians and pundits have been relying on a few vocal #detransitioners who felt betrayed by their medical practitioners when they came to realize that gender transition wasn’t the right path for them.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/detransitions-pressure-not-regret-63b6eba3e8a5?sk=b4b8eabe19a3ce1a26bf97c798ce0494
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Politics

2026-04-11 13:57:10 UTC

Normally I leave a comment, but this one merits a full article, especially given the stakes and how things have heated up in the last year regarding trans rights. As with everything else I’ve seen from Tara, she misses the forest for the trees. From what I can tell, she isn’t even on the same battlefield.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/lets-make-sure-we-re-all-in-the-correct-fight-for-trans-rights-and-beyond-adc6a1284cf5?sk=5945a84975113f02cace59685b2fc32b
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Politics #TransRights #CallOutPost #QueerWriters

2026-04-10 15:03:03 UTC

Why am I not a woman who gets to admire her beautiful body in a swimsuit? Why am I not a woman sitting on the back of a horse, with her differently shaped lower body, with that certain something else that I don’t have — or where I have too much…
https://medium.com/prismnpen/dreams-vs-denial-2b6fd7fb88b7
#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderDysphoria

2026-04-10 15:00:07 UTC

In a country where men stay in the closet for life and marry just because that is what is expected, a knock at the door is never just a social call. It is a threat.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/why-gay-nomads-keep-running-from-the-intimacy-they-crave-1c7b082c770d?sk=edad46cee77dcf21e4b975b63d54af15
#LGBTQ #Queer #Gay #Intimacy

2026-04-10 14:51:01 UTC

‘… you call yourself a trans woman, but why do you like it so much, why now?’
‘Like is way too mild a term, I like chips, the odd steak, wine and a few people. Becoming a trans woman is much deeper and more profound.’
Having been used to seeing me as a man for forty years, I guess this is quite a change. He looks up and makes another attempt. ‘Well, can you tell me why it’s so impactful now?’
https://medium.com/prismnpen/telling-an-old-friend-im-transgender-2bd328e84aef
#LGBTQ #Transgender #ComingOut

2026-04-10 14:28:22 UTC

I saw how boys were allowed to take up space, while girls were taught to shrink, to smile and to stay small. So I used to think maybe if I were a boy, it would all make sense and maybe I would finally feel right.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/growing-up-south-asian-become-boy-love-girls-cd0064663210?sk=29a574138e7174a62d50ab073abd5be9
#LGBTQ #GenderStuff #SouthAsian #Memoir #Queer

2026-04-09 14:12:02 UTC

When I started to “pass”, I noticed the change in how people treated me. Not all of a sudden; there was no single big, obvious moment, but loads of small ones. There were moments that cis people would easily brush off. But when you’ve lived on both sides of the line, it’s hard not to notice.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/passing-changes-how-people-treat-you-as-a-trans-man-e6a0537c9ff7?sk=ad0a758810b4182549d9286496e367a8
#LGBTQ #Transgender #MalePrivilege

2026-04-09 14:06:03 UTC

They didn’t come with matches
Didn’t come red-faced
Didn’t pound the table
Like men in old stories
Who wanted the world smaller by force
No, this was cleaner than that...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-shelf-she-wouldnt-move-poetry-526e76d1b7c3?sk=6854d931cef205031bc73ac0390df57e
#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #USPolitics #Libraries #BookBanning

2026-04-08 14:17:05 UTC

Cory, clad in freckles with red hair and blue eyes, was seven years old, and I had just turned eight. We would start the school year at Hilton Elementary a week or so later.
I don’t remember not loving Cory or feeling that he loved me. It just seems to me now that there was never a time that he wasn’t there.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/two-boys-mates-for-life-meet-minneapolis-220c55489247?sk=7784f4f16d9876d99ac0f5c966036b37
#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction

2026-04-08 14:12:01 UTC

I was born twice.
The second birth came late — after a long marriage, raising children, and decades of quiet unhappiness that no amount of “doing the right thing” could fix.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/roads-we-never-thought-wed-take-1dfbf2bbf3c9
#LGBTQ #Transgender #ComingOut #Marriage #Family

2026-04-08 14:06:01 UTC

That night at the Rainbow Room, I left a flowing, ankle-length white cashmere coat in the cloakroom. My fingers sparkled with jeweled rings. The young man who handed me my check ticket gave me the look, that too-lingering eyelock that said he was family, a Friend of Dorothy. Then he looked Lenny up and down and breathed, Qué rico, just loud enough for me to hear.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-queer-phantasm-danced-to-life-e0e735169bc2?sk=27d152f5a1f8256e3eaa88d71d1537df
#LGBTQ #Gay #Queer #QueerHistory

2026-04-07 14:17:32 UTC

I pushed her away
she always came back
Go away girl
I’m not who you are...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/go-away-girl-seeking-conversion-09ba523f4b33?sk=8404f44de8c52a102a6ec0393184d0ee
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Poetry #QueerPoetry