A Short Story… — There’s a tear in her stockings. A striking ladder in the midst of her barbie doll crotch. She only just realizes this before Amanda calls her onto the stage with her brawling masculine voice. “Please make welcome — my sister from another mister — Stella Van Cartier!” A double beat…

It just pisses people off… — On the 1st of February, 1960, four African American students chained themselves to a Woolworths lunch counter in North Carolina. They sat with conviction, despite the wary looks from white patrons and the complete disregard from the white waitresses. A few days later, they returned with a force of 300…

It actually enhances free speech… — There are better ways to say things and there are truer ways, too. You wouldn’t refer to gay men as ‘fags’ if you were hoping to get an important message across to them. …

You’ve gotta do more than that to be gay… — Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung once said: “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” And this is true, up to a point. You’re not a writer if you just say you’re a writer, you have to write. Of course, writers are not the only people in…

And yet, we can’t say “gay” in front of children…? — When I was 14, my Mum’s pastor tried to make me straight. He compared women to drain pipes and men to plugs, and that you can “only put a drain pipe and a plug together.” He quoted bible passages that denounce homosexuality. …

They just distract from all the amazing things you could be doing. — If I’m gonna be honest, distractions are what got me into this mess in the first place. I would distract myself from reality by aimlessly browsing social media at unhelpful moments of the day — like when I woke up or when I was going to bed. I would play…

Don’t let anyone prohibit your truth! — You cannot gain social acceptance if society doesn’t know what to accept. That’s the truth, no matter what minority you are from. It’s precisely why we have come so far thanks to the gay activists of the past who brandished their truth in the face of adversity; by donning pink…

A straight-talking guide to gender, and why genitals are not all that important. — I’m totally okay with you knowing I have a penis. It works wonderfully and it’s something I am deeply proud of. But, do you really have to know this? No, of course not! Nine times out of ten, it’s not something you need to see. So I will not subject…

Is this the beginning of the end of the pandemic? — Over the weekend, I attended the most gloriously packed event since the 2019–20 NYE. It was at Fair Day, the start of Sydney’s Mardi Gras season, and I was in amongst a crowd of 35,000 people. It was wondrous! And I don’t think I was the only one who felt…