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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Last Notes

2026-07-05 14:28:00 GMT

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 GMT

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

2026-06-06 14:10:36 GMT

- reply

Yeah. And?

2026-06-06 14:06:01 GMT

Dave is, for the unaware, a gay married #man who has had children via surrogacy, yet he allies with #MAGA.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/gay-conservative-dave-rubin-excuses-maga-homophobia-d3aacc43432e?sk=2ca42c10c19e1484e45d1b7757541a6c
#LGBTQ #USPolitics #DaveRubin

2026-06-03 14:41:36 GMT

- 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 GMT

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

2026-05-27 14:12:08 GMT

Pride is a celebration of queer and trans identity, yes. But Pride should also be a commemoration of #LGBTQ+ people’s historic and ongoing struggle for equal rights.
#Pride has a lot in common with the Fourth of July.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/pride-is-like-the-fourth-of-july-part-celebration-part-commemoration-91e1abbad2be?sk=1452b39fc27741d83ece7ec03c0b3ff2
#IndependenceDay #Celebration #Holiday

2026-05-17 14:19:01 GMT

This is the umpteenth time I’ve started counting the days until I stop again. Until the effects — physically — become too obvious. Then it’s time to stop again so as not to draw attention. So what makes me happy is also something that makes me infinitely unhappy at the same time.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/as-a-closeted-trans-woman-taking-hormones-on-off-isnt-working-c9a254ad5bc1?sk=99a1bdbe3466d831ca8d0652120f3581
#LGBTQ #Transgender #HRT

2026-05-17 14:17:01 GMT

I don’t pass as a woman, and I’ve become accustomed to stares and occasional paused conversations when I walk by. I’m untroubled by most of it. I try to keep a benign smile on my face and act like I don’t give a shit.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-trans-woman-in-a-library-books-an-unexpected-compliment-650706c3a863?sk=c4a4462580ff53006908a6ef3eb1d360
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Compliments #Life

2026-05-17 14:12:01 GMT

He’s back. Standing in the corner of the room. It’s been over a year since I saw him last. I’m frozen, unable to move.
He comes closer and hovers over me. I can feel his hand as it brushes across my naked back. I can imagine his smile.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/beelzebubba-a-gay-mans-demon-dog-and-grief-099d04946734
#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction #HorrorFiction

2026-05-17 14:06:01 GMT

Half Man, produced by Thistledown Pictures and Mam Tor Production for the BBC and HBO, is one of the most poignant series I have ever watched. It fascinates, repulses, and grips me in equal measure.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/review-of-half-man-disrupting-working-class-gay-men-tropes-7d4bbc75926d?sk=acd9e3fb6d64e830b172820784bbbdc4
#LGBTQ #TVSeries #QueerTV #HalfMan

2026-05-16 14:28:00 GMT

The fire didn’t come
With trumpet or flame.
It came dressed in paper,
With numbers and names.
It came for the children
Who already knew fear,
For the rooms where their mothers
Had whispered, “I’m here.”
It came for the healers,
The records, the doors,
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-fire-and-the-rain-poetry-c8f95cc1609e?sk=ef41065dfbe78865b32befd41009189d
#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #TransRights

2026-05-16 14:25:01 GMT

US. UK. Germany. Italy. Hungary
These aren’t five national stories. They’re one story.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/queer-liberation-was-always-a-coalition-d6d8a531e4a2?sk=6522056b83e2601950e355740dc2bd41
#LGBTQ #HumanRights #Politics #QueerLiberation

2026-05-15 14:12:13 GMT

My love was a pomegranate, bound to rot in the fiery heat. I was going to make Her a pie. I dreamt of Her at night, my Darling my Love, of forehead kisses and strawberry picking...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/pomegranate-pie-6d9fa0d385e5
#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #WLW

2026-05-15 14:06:07 GMT

This isn’t a fishing expedition by a lone U.S. Attorney.
It’s the most aggressive step yet in a coordinated federal campaign that began with President Trump’s January 2025 executive orders. And it’s the first time the United States has used a federal grand jury, rather than an administrative subpoena, to seek the records of pediatric transgender patients.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/when-feds-came-for-trans-kids-82a592abc1e5?sk=e34df559b75071e56241634de69ba3ad
#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Transgender

2026-05-15 13:57:01 GMT

The man behind the counter was Italian and extraordinarily beautiful, and I had gone — for lack of a better word — giddy. Giddy was not a feeling I had encountered before in relation to other human beings. Women, when I noticed them, set off something more primal than giddy. Something with edges. The pizza shop man, by contrast, turned me to jelly.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-trans-woman-coming-to-terms-with-how-transition-changed-my-sexuality-3be33457c494?sk=a3c778e967e60f367dd37a50a6076c22
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity #Attraction

2026-05-14 14:19:01 GMT

We stand apart at the bus stop
You stare for a moment then look away
I fiddle with my hair, embarrassed
Look in my handbag for my pass
Despite what you may think
I am not so different from you...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/when-it-rains-we-both-get-wet-a6ea0b0001fe?sk=7b25387229e1ad3973f6fa4702e1bc02
#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #Transgender #Society

2026-05-14 14:17:01 GMT

“I can tell what he wants from me from the way he’s looking at me,” women would say, and I used to think they were exaggerating. Then I met the bookstore man.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/when-a-man-cornered-me-i-saw-what-most-straight-men-dont-34d79356c40a?sk=7e86374f921a94dfa85486e16fc5ea5a
#LGBTQ #Gay #Predators #HumanRights

2026-05-14 14:12:02 GMT

When a #transgender person says, “I’m afraid to transition and lose everything,” they rarely talk only about material things — oftentimes it’s love, relationships, status, safety, and stability. At the same time, staying in the closet leads to losing time and yourself. Is there any way to achieve a perfect balance between those losses, and is transition only about losing something?
https://medium.com/prismnpen/afraid-to-transition-why-transgender-people-fear-losing-everything-81cfbf17f888?sk=b63b46cacf1c1166b48de9c86d21b74a
#LGBTQ #Fear

2026-05-14 14:06:01 GMT

The composer dedicated the woodwinds piece to Marsha Johnson of Stonewall. The school board shut it down.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/school-bars-kids-from-playing-music-honoring-black-queer-mothering-hero-82768b4c8c99?sk=537ec956789f49a592ef6e283863b7ec
#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Schools

2026-05-13 14:12:01 GMT

I often find my mind drifting back to 2015. It was a year of profound optimism, a shimmering moment when it felt as though the arc of the moral universe was sprinting toward justice. But history rarely moves in a straight line; it moves in a pendulum swing.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-strong-winds-of-intolerance-are-blowing-north-da52ff30ec73
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Canada #CdnPoli

2026-05-12 15:06:03 GMT

I thought how much that would hurt. How someone's pride in their own lofty moral standards could be read as condemnation of yours. How you can be part of the day, and part of the bride-tribe, but you’ll never wear the dress.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/lgbtq-labels-the-dresses-that-divide-queer-people-4a0b0795c32b?sk=9cf7c41f3ccb29a4e96f3f8c448d03a4
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity

2026-05-12 15:03:44 GMT

The 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy identifies three principal categories of terrorist threats. Drug cartels. ISIS and al-Qaeda. And “violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”
I am a #transgender writer. The strategy targets me.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/in-a-category-with-isis-dab9c744a103?sk=666093c6aa1a7b9c4e874ef10db122c1
#LGBTQ #Terrorism #USPolitics

2026-05-12 15:00:20 GMT

Inside this menacing-looking potential warrior-of-old film extra, Andy hid a secret. She — yes, she — was a woman who’d spent 55 years trapped in a body she loathed. I looked like Ragnar. I dreamed of being Lagertha, the feared shield maiden.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/i-built-a-viking-man-to-hide-my-true-transgender-self-4c073362e8a5
#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity

2026-05-11 13:57:01 GMT

The savage daughter is not organizing a network. She is simply, stubbornly present. She curses too loud. She laughs too long. She raises her voice clumsily in the song. She is not trying to overthrow anything; she is just refusing to be smaller than she is.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/savage-daughters-and-the-state-classifying-queer-people-as-terrorists-412f4b512798
#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Resistance

2026-05-10 14:06:00 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

#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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

- reply

It really sucks. 🙁

2026-04-24 13:31:01 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

- reply

Yup

2026-04-21 16:13:35 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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 GMT

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