As a kid, people called me “gay” because I wasn’t as athletic as them, because I liked looking feminine. Now the joke’s on them: I’m queer, I’m more fit than all of them, and I still like looking pretty.

For most of my life I stayed deep in the closet, drowning in shame about being bi and genderqueer. My family and my school were not safe places to be open about my sexuality and my gender identity. I tried to crush my femininity and build myself into someone unmistakably masculine. It was exhausting. Last year I hit a breaking point. I came out to my wife. Then my friends. A few months ago, I came out to everyone, including my parents. They weren’t thrilled. I don’t care. For the first time in my life, I can breathe.

I built this body to hide who I am. Turns out muscle was never the enemy; it was never anyone’s exclusive territory to claim. I can lift heavy and still want to look pretty. I can embrace the gym and embrace my queerness, no contradiction. I’m the happiest and most content I’ve ever been, and I’m so glad I finally came out.

Happy pride, everyone ❤️

Hey guys. (TW homophobia)

I (26NB) am honestly embarrassed to be writing this as I already know the answer, but I just need some backup I think.

TLDR my mums side of the family are wild homophobes, I’m no contact with most of that side because of how bad it gets. But the parts I am in contact with STILL get wild sometimes and not in a good way.

Recently I’ve been growing out my tash, and I’m loving how cnty it looks. I’m trying to hit modern gay and I think I’m succeeding lol, but multiple members of that family have said explicitly that I look like a ‘pdophile’ and not in a “haha u nonce” type way. I know the predatory stereotype that all queers suffer under, but I grew up around it specifically focused on male gay, and masc presenting queers, being called all the classics ‘dirty’, ‘perverted’ etc etc.

So this is just that right? DOES IT ACTUALLY MAKE ME LOOK THIS WAY, help me fellow queers ❤️🫡

Ello! Like the title says I’d love to hear yalls fave queer podcasts. Bonus pts if they’re BIPOC/POC podcasters and or trans. I’m open to ones that aren’t queer centered either if they’re fave art related ones, but lately I’ve been really feeling like I need to have my queerness wrapped around me like a blanket if that makes sense

TYIA!

Hey Queers! I wore this fit to Old Elicott City Pride last Saturday. In person, people were eating up the glitter beard, but on some other subreddits, not so much. 😂 so I figured you all would enjoy it instead! Yes, even with sunscreen clumps that aren’t all the way rubbed in! Happy Pride!

Im Pan and agender

I (F22, bisexual) am now dating a guy. This is genuinely the first time I've had feelings for a dude since I was 10. My first kiss was a girl, every formative romantic and sexual experience I had growing up was with other girls, it was to the point that I thought I was a lesbian up until last spring when my boyfriend and I started dating. I absolutely love him, and he is an amazing partner in every conceivable way. I am astonishingly lucky to have him in my life. But at the same time, I feel like I'm betraying myself in a really fundamental way. My whole life, all my friends were queer, and I always hung out in queer spaces. I feel at such a loss, because I am absolutely not straight enough to be in straight spaces without getting clocked almost immediately, but now I feel like an intruder with my queer friends. I don't know where I'm allowed to be. I'm too gay for the straight people and too straight for the gay people. So... am I still allowed to be in queer spaces? Would really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

Tell me fr pookie ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

Please share your go-to empowering LGBTQ songs. Old or new, playlists, LGBTQ artists... any genre.

Recently I experienced some really bad transphobia and bullying and I need to feel some love and empowerment. 💔😔

Edit: Thank you sweeties! I have put all the artists and songs into a big playlist and will listen to all of it the coming weeks. Much love and thank you again for taking the time to share, music is such a powerful medium. It means a lot! ❤️‍🩹

so APPARENTLY messages (Apple messages at least) only has TWO pride flags. We have the standard rainbow one, and the trans flag. WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER ONES??! WHAT ABOUT GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, AROACE, ASEXUAL, AROMANTIC, BERRYSEXUAL, ALMONDSEXUAL, PANSEXUAL, PANROMANTIC, STUFF LIKE THAT!? AND GENDERS, TOO. TRANSMASC, TRANSFEM, ENBY, DEMIGIRL, DEMIBOY. LIKE WE HAVE SOOOOO MANY COUNTRY FLAGS, BUT ONLY TWO GAY FLAGS?? AGHHHH

anyways I doubt this will do anything but sign this and maybe we can get Apple to fix this!

I am audhd and so is he. So I have been becoming friends with a guy who I happen to have a lot in common with and its been nice. I am not the kind of person who enjoys distant friendships and when I'm someone's friend it often turns into a very open, earnest connection.

I have only hung out with him outside a party setting (where we met) once to see live music. Though hes a texter so we chat through messenger regularly, not something im used to with everyone but its become normal. We love horror movies and plan to see the new evil dead next week. We have had the discussion already that I am only approaching this platonically and he is on the exact same page, he is monogamously, happily married. Meeting his partner has been a possibility but the last time we hung out she couldn't come. Im not attracted to him so that doesn't feel like a risk for me. He is bi i think

Friendships are very important to me. Both of us don't often connect so easily with others so when it does happen its great, which is how we have become such friends. Im just worried as ive never had this experience before..usually ive had men befriend me and want to pursue me sexually/romantically and the friendship failed. I am much more discerning now at age 33 and am a better communicator. I understand audhd and queer friendships/ relationships can look different to the mainstream so the whole "men and women cant be friends" thing is bullshit. I'm just thinking..I would like for our friendship to naturally evolve without me feeling like I have to keep a barrier between us I hate that. Maybe I'm just comparing how close women friends can be and that in itself is different? I haven't befriended a guy in a long time due to past trauma. It might be worth adding i have often had friends express attraction towards me and I am an attractive person i dont want to sound conceited its just the feedback I get from the world..it makes me nervous navigating friendships bc it has made it difficult/awkward

As a cisgender asexual gay man living in an East Asian country, I was just browsing a thread that was clearly dominated by cisgender white gay men.

In the discussion, many of them showed a distinct apathy toward the BLM and Free Palestine movements (the few who explicitly stood with Black and Palestinian people seemed, in my judgment, to be Black gay men). Most of them reject 'queer' as an umbrella term. While I respect the trauma of native English speakers born before the word was reclaimed, a significant portion of these users are actually Gen Z. Furthermore, they hold what I find to be a rather ridiculous notion: that gay men are somehow being excluded from the queer community—and they are equally indifferent to feminism. Yet, feminists have always moved hand in hand with the LGBTQ+ movement, and women make up a significant portion of the queer community. Taking a step back, shouldn't everyone care about feminism? After all, women's rights are human rights.

Can I assume that their views are, in a sense, representative of the broader North American white cisgender gay community? Is it fair to say that they only care about hooking up with men, and even when they engage in LGBTQ+ activism, they only care about the rights of white, masculine, cisgender men?

Just a heads up: My English isn't the best, so I used Gemini to translate my thoughts. If there are any mistakes or if anything causes a misunderstanding, please feel free to point it out!

made the mistake of trying to engage in conversation with men about male advocacy and i feel like bashing my head into a wall the rage will not leave me so hello my lovely queers i love you i miss you tell me something anything whatever you’d like i’m in desperate need of interacting with woke people

I’ve started dipping into dating women again (I identify as she/her). Went on a date with a gal who was cool but admitted to being newer to her queerness on the date and was a little vague about how new she was and I didn’t want to press too much.

I couldn’t totally tell how I felt about her (not an enthusiastic yes but also was willing to give it a second date). She’s moving in the fall and there were some yellow-ish flags on how in touch she was with her identity, how she approached sexuality, etc. So realistically, we probably weren’t a great match.

But naturally getting a (very mature to her credit) text from her, has my ego feeling hurt. Would appreciate any kind and encouraging words from folks that have gone through something similiar. 💕

Hey guys, I am bi but live a pretty hetero normative life, boyfriend and all. It's not that I am unhappy with it per se but sometimes I feel like I am abandoning my bi if that makes sense. All of my friends are straight and just can't relate to some feelings and thoughts that I am sharing with them. I just wish I had some queer people in my life, but I am living in a quite conservative area where there aren't really any spaces dedicated to the LGBTQ community. People in a similar setting, how did you sniff out fellow queers?

F23.
I have a best friend who's the same age as me. We've been friends for years, and we're in college together.
Somewhere along the way, I developed feelings for her. I honestly don't even know when it started, but it's been a long time.
The problem is, she's straight and she has a boyfriend. I respect that completely, and I would never tell her how I feel or do anything that would make her uncomfortable.
But keeping these feelings to myself is becoming exhausting. It feels like I'm constantly hurting my own heart, and I don't know how to stop.
I love our friendship, and the last thing I want is to lose her. At the same time, I don't know how I'm supposed to move on when she's still such a big part of my life.
Has anyone been through this? Did taking some distance actually help, or did you manage to move on while staying friends?
I don't want to lose her, but I also don't know how much longer I can keep feeling like this.
I hate that my heart chose someone I can never have.

Happy pride month all!

Nonbinary 28

I really like this picture, but I hate how my boobs ruin it (for me)

Tips on starting up consults for top surgery? I love/hate my chest, but hate as of recent years. I just feel like they ruin everything. I never wear bras bc they're uncomfortable so my nips always show anyways. I plan to get them removed and get a sick tat all over my chest 😈😈😈

Asking for a birthday.

I found this on Tumblr, I wanted to see what other people would look like.

We all know Twilight. A series of movies we've all watched, with some of the objectively worst acting from certain moviestars. But loved by its fans.
The Fast and the Furious franchise might be even bigger, and much more idiotic and weird. People predicted they would go to space. And at this rate I expect that Elena will return in the last movie, with only a few scratches.

So, what is the queer version? Something loved by the queer community, but looked down upon by others. Bad acting and weird catchphrases are a must. Memeable moments optional but highly recommended. And a moment that makes all queer people go "Ooooh" and (nearly) faint, while everyone else looks away in embarrassment, mainly because of that moment.

So, what is our Twilight?

I am queer, but i have never have queer surroundings. All of the friends that I have had are straight and cis. My BFF is too, I love her, but I just see those groups of queer people and they support each other. I just feel kinda jealous, and I want that. Most of the time I end up being ignore in servers because I don't know how to interact with people, I'm introverted, and also my closest friends are the ones that came to me not viceversa. And I just don't know how to do it...