A typo in my great-uncle’s obituary held the key to understanding him.
gay
Posted inNonfiction
‘Stay Away From Him. He’s Dangerous.’
“For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man—but the police knew his real name.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
My Brother’s Dinner With The President Of Sears
“Along with fire, my brother loved the sound of breaking glass. He seemed to enjoy chaos in all forms. I thought it was unfair that I had to be my brother’s keeper. I just wanted to be the younger brother in a normal family, and Jon, I thought, was keeping us from being normal.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Haphephobia
“The day I told her I was gay, the hugs changed. They became longer and tighter, like she was trying to hug the sin out of me.”
Posted inNonfiction
Woodstock: My Queer Love Story
Kate Walter went to Woodstock in 1969 with her boyfriend. She went back in 1994 with her girlfriend. She’s not going back again.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Semi-Fluid States: The Rigid Line of Straightness
Minda Honey interrogates her sexuality and questions the future of straight-by-default.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Poor, Gay, Black, and Southern: America’s Hidden H.I.V. Crisis
If you have H.I.V in New York or San Francisco, you can life a long, healthy life. Not so if you live in the Southern United States and you’re poor, black, gay and/or bisexual.
Posted inEditor's Pick
America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic
Ground zero in the AIDS crisis happened on June 5th, 1981, when the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report identified five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in previously healthy white men in Los Angeles. The sixth case — a gay African-American man who had contracted PCP and cytomegalovirus — went undocumented and that critical omission […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness
The gay community has made large strides in terms of legal and social acceptance in the last few decades, but the rates of depression, loneliness and substance abuse among gay men have remained unchanged. Hobbes examines why.