“Hi,” he said. “How’s it going? Has the world ended yet?” Terry Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch It’s kind of been feeling like that lately. At least for me. And probably a little bit for Adam, too, who has to edit all of my work before it’s posted…
Author: Erika Grumet, MSW
World AIDS Day, Part 2: Stories
Missing the World AIDS Day Gatherings With the COVID pandemic in its third year, most people are starting to meet in person again. That means that people who want to honor and celebrate those we lost to AIDS can do so in person. Carefully and with many precautions, perhaps even more than usual to protect…
World AIDS Day: A Tale of Two Pandemics
In the time of AIDS, when condom use was necessary… I am quoting John Ginoli, the founder of Pansy Division, the first openly gay punk band. Someone who had been at the forefront of the queercore movement in the 90s. It was on an episode of the podcast Out in the Bay that I listened…
Trauma Strikes, the Fight Continues: Club Q
Deja Vu Six and a half years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to flashing blue lights and news of a shooting at an LGBTQ club here in my adopted hometown of Orlando. A gunman had killed 49 people at Pulse. I felt it as a trauma. Those were my friends;…
More Book Bans are Coming
This is the latest article in a series on censorship laws and book bansbeing passed around the country, but particularly in the author’s adopted home-state of Florida. To read previous articles on the same topic:After “Don’t Say Gay” and “Stop Woke”From Pride 2022 to “Don’t Say Gay”“Don’t Say Gay” is Bad, Not Just for LGBTQ…
It’s not Gay Christmas without Rocky Horror
The Gay Christmas Equivalent of the Peanuts Movie Perhaps my love for “Gay Christmas” should have been an early clue about my queerness. I love a good Christmas movie, but Halloween just isn’t Halloween without Rocky Horror Picture Show. There are lots of reasons why the film would never be okay if it were made…
After “Don’t Say Gay” and “Stop Woke”
It’s October. We’re celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. Two weeks ago we celebrated National Coming Out Day. We’re finally starting to feel as though autumn isn’t too far off. And kids have been back in school for a month or two already. They’re well on the way to thinking about their grades–report cards, tests, essays. Everything…
Conflict (Caturday Questions)
Big Cat, Little Cat (Adam has left posting this week’s Big Cat Little, Little Cat up to me. I hope I’ve done as good a job as he does.) Can’t We All Just Get Along? Most of us who love to read have a favorite genre. A kind of book we reach for before anything…
National Coming Out Day: Advice to my Younger Self
October 11 is National Coming Out Day. (We’ve also got World Mental Health Day on October 10 and, on October 14, the forty fifth anniversary of Anita Bryant, singer and notorious homophobe, getting hit in the face with a pie.) National Coming Out Day is sort of contemporary take on second wave feminism’s mantra “the…
Bi+ Visibility is Cause for Celebration
Pride Month in June celebrates the entire LGBTQ+ community including bi+ people. There are some struggles unique to the bi+ community though, and September has been set aside to honor them. The month of September is Bi Visibility Month., which includes Bisexual Awareness Week is celebrated from September 16-23, and concludes with “Celebrate Bisexuality Day” on…