One of my favorite aspects of art and performance is putting related pieces into conversation with one another, enriching the conversation surrounding a given topic. I’m so very happy with the way OUTsider Festival’s programming is facilitating those sorts of conversations, and I only wish I had the opportunity to participate more fully this year. […]
OUTsider Fest: Queerness Past, Present, and Future
The creators of OUTsider Festival in Austin really did their homework as far as covering a large scope and breadth of queer art and performance in the programming. Which on the one hand, is refreshing and inspiring. But on the other hand, means that there is just so, so much to discuss. Festivals, conferences, art, […]
OUTsider Fest: Khmer Classical Dance
I never feel quite so Western as in those moments when I’m confronted with Asian modes of performance. So it’s only fitting that the second night of OUTsider Festival in Austin featured a performance by Prumsodun Ok, a practitioner of Cambodia’s Khmer classical dance. I think it’s important to be aware of and claim those moments […]
OUTsider Festival: Narcissister and Gay Wax Museum
I wasn’t sure what to expect when headed to see Narcissister for the opening night of OUTsider Festival in Austin. Narcissister’s name is what it sounds like; the complication of our cultural understanding of the narcissist juxtaposed with the idea of sisterhood, and how being a “sister” relates to the identities of women of color […]
What’s in a Name?
As it’s gotten closer to Valentine’s Day, I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships and love and labels. My partner and I are polyamorous. But not in the sense of the traditional poly narrative. Polyamory seems to have become more prominent in the cultural consciousness of late, but a lot of our discussions about it still […]
Leelah Alcorn and LGBTQ Teenage Suicide
Perhaps I’m cynical, but sometimes it feels like there’s a cycle. One or more LGBTQ teens kill themselves, the media has their heyday, people get up in arms for a few weeks, and then we all return to our lives. Until the news cycle catches wind of another heart wrenching story.
Nothing, however, ever really changes. Or the changes don’t ripple far enough to save troubled teens like Leelah. This article by Mintpress News compares the rash of deaths of transgender individuals to a genocide, highlighting its rampant and violent nature.
Every year we celebrate the Transgender Day of Remembrance, but does the list of names ever really get smaller? And that list doesn’t take into account the transgender individuals whose lives were lost due to violence against themselves, like Leelah’s.
Surviving Abuse
I have a lot of complicated emotions surrounding the coverage of Leelah Alcorn’s suicide in the media. I’m not transgender, but I am queer and the child of conservative Christian parents who did not deal well with my coming out. They cornered me in my room and wouldn’t let me leave. They threatened to turn […]
Austin’s Forbidden Fruit
Since sex toys are sold as “novelty” items, the materials they are made of do not have to be regulated by the FDA If sex education is bad in this country, sex toy education is worse, leading to thousands of emergency room visits each year. If you’ve ever been to a home sex toy party […]
Book Review: Not My Father’s Son
Not My Father’s Son, a new memoir by bisexual actor Alan Cumming, is at once poignant, honest, heart-wrenching, hopeful, humerous, devastating, and affirming. That may seem like too many contradictory emotions all at once, but in the book, Cumming details a particularly difficult and emotional span of time in his life. The book centers around […]
What Counts as Sex
Overall, I really like my new therapist. She’s open to the queer/kinky/poly stuff, and though she’s cis/straight/married/etc she seems excited to learn. Plus, she’s Canadian so there’s not the weird religious vibe about it you sometimes get with Americans. Just more of a “Hey, that’s not my experience, but what’s it like for you?” There was […]