What does it mean to be a dad, anyway?

We spend so much time establishing that transmasculine people can be fathers that we almost never discuss what kind of fathers they might be

By Jude Ellison S. Doyle

Identity

Television made me want to be white. Now, it’s making me happy to be a queer Muslim

PERSONAL ESSAY: Inside one Palestinian American’s journey to self love

By Tariq Raouf

Queer View Mirror

Why ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ keeps winning over new generations

Being in a dark room full of like-minded weirdos is a supremely liberating experience

By Mira Miller

Love Like Mine

Love at first lust

A young writer explores a lasting love denied… or is that deferred?

By Jamie Valentino

Photo Essay

A moving love letter to queer Indigenous folks

Artist Jenny Irene Miller discusses her and filmmaker Alexis Anoruk Sallee’s project “Dear Kin,” exhibiting in Anchorage, Alaska

By Jenny Irene Miller

Xtra Weekly

Topline: Lights! Masks! Guest list! Just do your best at TIFF, darling!

Covering the Toronto International Film Festival has reminded me of the power and beauty of being in a room with other LGBTQ2S+ people

By Paul Gallant

Love & Sex

Despite lockdowns, my queer friend group grew during COVID-19

I needed new queers in my life, and against the odds of the pandemic, I found them in abundance

By Russ Martin

My Safe Space

I figured out my IRL drama watching ‘Vanderpump Rules’

As my own life began to feel less real, I found myself needing a dose of reality during the pandemic

By Sadie Graham

The Xtra Long Read

Suicidal ideation, my intrusive visitor

Culturally, we fear talking about suicide. But for Niko Stratis, speaking openly about suicidal ideation was the only way to end its stigma

By Niko Stratis

My Safe Space

In the darkness of the pandemic, I found light in a WhatsApp group chat

A writer with borderline personality disorder found a virtual space free from stigma and brimming with humour

By Miranda Newman

Xtra Weekly

Topline: Coming outs and clarifications

Coming out is a process. It’s okay to do a little beta testing first

By Mel Woods

Identity

I came out later in life. I’ve never felt more free—nor more alone

Before I could find belonging among fellow queers, I first needed to learn how to belong to myself

By Alena Papayanis

My Safe Space

How queer-friendly Shabbat helped me fully embrace my Jewish heritage

When I bring in Shabbat, I get to do so with other queer Jews—not because I have to, but because I choose to

By Emily Zinkin

Books

First Lady Nancy Reagan befriended gay men, then betrayed them

The legacy of the Reagan presidency’s callous handling of the early HIV/AIDS crisis still haunts us today

By Daniel Sanchez Torres

Dispatch

After a year in isolation, returning to Pride was an exercise in finding joy

L.A.-based writer Jon Higgins reflects on Pride Day at Universal Studios, and the thrill of being surrounded by community again

By Jon Higgins

Dispatch

How I survived lockdown with my parents after coming out to them as trans

As India battled through yet another wave of COVID-19 outbreaks and I couldn’t leave home, I told my family who I really am

By Urmi Bhattacheryya

Queer View Mirror

Degrassi’s Paige Michalchuk was complicated, to say the least, but her journey was my journey

Best known as half of “Palex,” the series’ first bisexual deserved a better ending than she got

By Mira Miller

Love Like Mine

The physics of a failed relationship

We were like two subatomic particles moving in space, never really able to be in the same place or time

By Alena Papayanis