Trans Dignity, Queer Stereotypes, Humor, Film, Lit, & Love
Prism & Pen Weekly Digest — April 21, 2024
by James Finn
How have film, literature, and cultural expectations shaped you? Have you ever pushed back against a stereotype only to find yourself reinforcing its harm? Are you tired of a seemingly endless assault on the lives, dignity, and human rights of transgender people? Have you ever considered humor as an effective tool for pushing back against anti-LGBTQ spiritual abuse?
All that and more in this week’s Prism & Pen — plus fiction as always. Let’s welcome Drew, a new P&P writer with a haunting vampire tale, as Evan Purcell knocks a short sci-fi/horror piece out of the park. Elle Fredine gives us another “gay detective” story, and Grayson Bell’s sci-fi epic is ready to reveal very important secrets.
Read stories for free by clicking underlined links. Want more daily stories from across the rainbow? Follow us on Medium, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Mastodon, or Bluesky! Want to help support P&P? Click here to join Medium.
— Editor’s Picks —
Supreme Court Allows Criminalizing Trans Kids’ Healthcare in Idaho
Not a lawyer myself, I don’t deeply care about preliminary injunctions per se. However, as a former transsexual teenager — still trans, no longer a teen — I do care about trans kids.
Today I have less emotional energy than usual for worrying about preliminary injunctions in the abstract, given that the U.S. Supreme Court has just now made it more difficult for trans kids to grow up to be trans adults.
And yet, we have to be knowledgeable about how the court process works. It’s important not just for LGBTQ rights but also for reproductive rights, to give one important example.
Our Queer Marriage Will Be Loving but Not Legal: Thanks, UK Government
Same-sex or same-gender couples have been able to enter into a legal civil partnership in Scotland since 2005, and get legally married since 2014. Transgender people are included in that, but we face an extra hurdle that other Queer couples don’t.
If we want to be married as our correct gender, we have to have a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
Being misgendered on my wedding day would put a bit of damper on the joyous occasion, to say the least. So I set about researching the process to get a GRC for our wedding.
But oh boy, getting a GRC isn’t easy …
The Most Beautiful Gay Film Nobody’s Ever Heard Of
It was the first time I went to the theatre alone. I was 17, old enough to see whatever I wanted. I was a sensitive young dreamer, lusting for poetry and beauty, and I finally knew where to find it — the local arthouse cinema.
Like most queer kids on the cusp of escaping suburbia, I was thrilled at the prospect of a few unaccompanied hours, gazing at a screen and dreaming of all that lay ahead of me in “the beautiful noisy world”.
I forget if I chose the film because it was by the same author who wrote The Hours… or if I’d already heard whispers of the queer romance. But either way, it snuck into my heart, and in so many ways, it defined me.
Gay Men Aren’t Really Like That Harmful Stereotype! Mary.
Can pushing back against stereotypes reinforce harm? I think so! I believe I have perspective to share as a cisgender gay man who has lived out more than a few limp-wristed stereotypes.
Let me tell you a story about how I once pushed back against gay stereotypes — to harmful effect — because I flirted with group-think propagated by very nice, thoughtful, well meaning people.
Spotting harm isn’t always easy when everyone in a conversation comes from a place of love and respect.
Have I confused you yet? Let me put this car in reverse and explain how I, a moderately effeminate gay man, got seduced into pretending my reality wasn’t real.
How Gore Vidal Queered Himself
In the LGBTQ+ community, Vidal will always be remembered for his pioneering gay novel The City and the Pillar, published in 1948 when he was 23. It is always in print, continues to be read, and remains controversial. Before it, he considered a career in politics. He knew after City, this would be impossible, but he published it anyway…
Jason Epstein’s horrified remark about “polymorphous sexuality,” together with Lou Robson’s about “sprinkling homoeroticism” all over poor Ben-Hur… may provide some clues as to why the literary establishment continues to show their distaste for Vidal’s freer, more purely creative, queerer, and literally fabulous “off-year” novels. Each of them, indeed, is a fantasy, and each is informed by his innately queer, Kinseyan perspective.
Can ‘Saved!’ — a Christian Satire — Help the Marginalized Resist Dogma?
Saved! reminded me of the time a youth pastor played a “game” where the older teens had to lick peanut butter out of each other’s armpits to win an iPod; I was also reminded of the sermon where another pastor said we could cure cancer if we could only find a way to use 100% of our brains.
Seeing Saved! placed these ludicrous scenarios into a larger context. As serious as the pastors took themselves, when their teachings were seen through the lens of even gentle satire, their mandates appeared to shallow, vindictive, and self-serving.
The form of Christianity that Saved! so powerfully critiques is the one that values unconditional control far more than generosity or goodwill.
The Death of Lesbian Bars? Here are 7 of the Best New Ones in the World.
After many years of mourning, we are officially stepping into a Sapphic Epoch. The death of lesbian bars — four walls of permanent space owned by, and catering for queer women — around the US and the world, hit national headlines in 2020 through the The Lesbian Bar Project.
All the while, a prolific Sapphic scene was emerging in the shape of monthly and pop-up parties. Pre-and post-pandemic, I travelled the world documenting it all, capturing the diversity, dynamism, durability and deliciousness of global dyke scenes.
Of course, we’ve always had our stalwart lesbian bars — New York’s Cubby Hole is 30 years old, and Chicago’s The Closet has been pouring spirits since 1978…
For now, let’s look at sexy new dyke bars on blocks all around the world.
— Essays & Creative Nonfiction —
Samba by the Shore: Get to Know Gay Uruguay
Uruguay. Some of you may know of it as the country that legalized gay marriage and marijuana back in 2013.
Others may know that the gourd-like mates (also common in Argentina), from which people sip an energizing herbal substance, are as ubiquitous on the capital city’s streets as Furbies on a 1990s elementary school playground.
But there’s so much more to the country than this, as I discovered when I lived there for a year when I was 23 — particularly when it came to gay culture.
My Bear Buddy’s Got an OnlyFans Account! Do I Tell Him I Know?
Alright, buckle up for this one! So, picture this: I stumbled upon my best buddy’s top-secret stash on an NSFW X account. He is not full monty, as he keeps his mug hidden, but I know those customized tattoos, and I seen that body naked in the locker after gym more than once.
I had no clue this bear was harboring a wild side. But no romantic sparks flying from either of us; he’s always been like a brother to me, helping me navigate the jungle of life, especially after my train wreck of a first relationship. People sometimes mistake our bromance for something more, but that never happened, not even when we’ve been deep in the booze. And trust me, we’ve been there, done that.
I Haven’t Dated (or Slept With) Anyone Since Realizing I’m Pansexual
For most of my life, I thought I was straight. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized I wasn’t “jealous” of beautiful women and that I am demisexual and pansexual. And as much as I want to experience having sex with somebody other than a cis man, I’m not sure I ever will.
There are 4 main reasons for this: Covid, autism, demisexuality, and low self-esteem.
Fragile Masculinity or Trans and Fragile about It
Fragile masculinity or fragile about masculinity?
Today, fragile masculinity is a well-known concept in the public consciousness — the notion that a man can feel as though their masculinity is threatened or being called into question. Sometimes, such fragility can manifest in predictable ways, such as in the male passed over for promotion in favour of his female colleague. Here, the man may become embittered and view the success of a woman as an attack on his male ego, unable to stand a woman bettering him.
On the other hand, another man in the same circumstances may harbour no issue over his colleague’s gender, but he may feel embarrassment and shame for his secret hobby of knitting.
Longing for the Unspoken Kinship of Girlhood at a Concert
In the throes of the pandemic, as my entire identity began to shift and adjust to the world I was growing to inhabit, Lana Del Rey became my oasis of femininity.
For the first time in my life, I was actively consuming media that, while far from gendered, still had an aura of girliness to it.
My music taste for the longest time hadn’t ventured much beyond soundtracks and the occasional fringe Christian rock (Switchfoot, The Fray, etc…. pretty much the only part of Christian culture I still cling to).
Lana was different.
My Bi-Lie. Hiding LGBTQ Truth.
I didn’t know why I liked Laura the same way I liked Daniel in 3rd grade…
Even when I realized I had romantic feelings for girls as well as boys, I never admitted to it. Those were things for the mental diary in my mind. I was even scared to put it down on paper. You know, unless it was to write poetry about it, so that no one actually knew who the object of my obsession was. Growing up, I hid my truth and was even cautious around other people.
Hiding your truth hurts you, deeply.
Trans and Afraid of Bodily Reality
Ever since starting HRT, I try to avoid looking at the bottom of my wrists, where blue veins now twist out like the branches of a tree under my skin. Veins brought near to my skin’s surface with the removal of testosterone in favour of estrogen. Whenever my gaze gets snagged in their web, I feel myself flush and grow faint.
Having such an intimate view into the innards of my body, the piping that keeps things in check, feels invasive.
When I go to get bloodwork, an uncommon occurrence before my transition, I swear I can feel the blood leave my body, travelling outside of the veins into the hollow tip of a needle to be pumped into a tube.
The Safest and Most Dangerous Places To Travel if You Are Queer
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to visit a number of countries already. I am also gay. One shouldn’t have anything to do with the other, but it does.
Lucky for me I’ve never had any problems while traveling. I have even taken part in Pride celebrations in a few countries including a march in Istanbul. Just a few years later, the Turkish government banned Pride events across the country…
Many places in the world make it illegal for someone to simply identify as LGBTQ+ or even to fly a rainbow flag. Not only are things not getting any better in the world, they are actually getting worse.
Transgender Body Parts: How Many of Our Bits Need Retooling?
If you are transgender and actively transitioning, you may feel that many parts of your body need to be adjusted so that your body can be aligned with your gender as much as possible. Re-tooling what you may see as your physical birth defects takes a lot of commitment, time, pain, and, sadly, money.
If you throw on the added emotional and social pain transgender individuals experience then, if you are cisgender, you begin to have a sense of how powerful the drive is to make all of those changes is for a transgender person to just be themselves.
Would I Identify as Nonbinary If I Were Younger?
I’ll admit that I didn’t quite know what to make of it when I first heard about people identifying as nonbinary less than a decade ago. I didn’t really understand and thought that most people picking that label were probably intersex, which made sense to me. After all, why should intersex people be forced to “pick” a gender — or, more often than not, have one chosen for them at birth?
But if I had learned about the false dichotomy of the gender binary when I was a teen, I suspect that nonbinary is a term I would identify as. At the very least, I could have saved myself so much stress and so many years of trying to perform femininity because I thought I “had to.”
5 Questions For Writers To Explore Being Transgender
Hey everyone! It’s Step-Hen-ie, here today with five storytelling hacks for writers who want to include trans, non-binary, and intersex characters in their stories.
I’m trans, I’m neurodivergent, and for over a decade, I was an editor for award-winning and best-selling authors. I collaborated with indie writers like Stacey Trombley on Naked, debut writers like Madeline Reynolds on the queer magic love story of Illusions, and established writers like Kelsie Leverich who’d already hit the NYT list. We published books that pushed the boundaries of identity, orientation, and self-empowerment.
The Best Date of My Life Began in the Gay Section of the Bookstore
Last summer, I went on a date with a lovely ginger fella at an outdoor wine bar at the Grove in Los Angeles. When I found him in the promenade of the shopping center, he said it was a tradition that whenever he met somebody there, he always bought them a book from the Barnes and Noble.
So we strolled into the fluorescent bookshop predictably overflowing with literature from every genre imaginable, and I was immediately seized by the paralysis of choice — I had no idea what I was going to pick.
We rode the escalator to the second floor and suddenly we discovered a little square table that was clearly the “queer literature” section. While I admit I’ve never been as much of a bookworm as I’d like to be, the riches on that table brought forth so many memories and stories from me.
— Short Fiction —
Fang Bang: A Queer Vampire Tale
The vampire had his fangs drawn and his body was dressed in a long black trench coat.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he began, pointing to the open doorway as Edith and Edward rushed out of the living room. “Was that locked?”
The gorgeous vampire stood before them with confidence. Adam was brown skinned and his head was bald. He had high cheekbones and eyes that were usually dark. And he was happy to have their attention. Their evening was now ruined as he announced his presence
Edward stood there concerned, Edith stood there furious, and the love triangle resumed.
The Cornfield: A Gay Sci-Fi Short
“I’m quitting drama.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Jonah is going to play football instead.”
Jonah. He’d just referred to himself in the third person. Something was wrong. “What did you say?”
“I said I’m going to play football.”
I took a long look at him. He hadn’t changed, not physically, but the way he sat… The way he moved… The way he shoveled in his lunch… It was like the boy in front of me was a stranger wearing Jonah’s face.
The Gay Detective: Death Writes the Final Chapter
“Ian went for coffee.”
Ian, my partner, had decided the beverage produced by the courtyard café downstairs wasn’t fit to drink. So, he’d gone in search of a decent brew.
Harry cocked an eyebrow. My cue to explain our presence at yet another crime scene.
“Ian met him at a book fair — Carlton Hemingway, author. No relation to Ernest. Carl was excited about his new mystery. Wanted to talk procedure.”
“So, you two came over and found him splattered on the pavement?”
Editor’s note: Elle’s gay detective appears in other stand-alone stories. If you enjoy the characters, you’ll find links inside, and another story will appear in P&P next week.
— Fiction Series —
The Medellan Conspiracy
By Grayson Bell
Lots of mysteries fill this story! Why do two different humanoid species share a planet? Why are the two groups so different from one another, yet similar enough to bond romantically? Finally, an ancient document written in Latin might start providing answers, if only Ardyn and Jevan can avoid being murdered by a group determined to enforce secrecy.
Everyone gathered around Laeyral and looked at the display. Words they recognized began forming on the screen. “Eraebos, is this language in any way related to the current Medellan language?” Laeyral asked.
“Yes. Analysis indicates that the current Medellan language must be, in part, an offshoot of this language. They share many of the same prefixes and suffixes,” Eraebos replied.
When the title of the document was finally translated, Ardyn stared at it for a moment, while his mind flashed back to the caves they explored.
We Know the Truth.
Read Episode 57: Ellspeth
Read Episode 58: Ambassing
That’s all for Prism & Pen this week, folks, so happy reading!
Writers, have you seen our new prompt courtesy of Jonny Masters? Truth: I Feel Lonely Even Inside My Chosen Queer Communities.
We’ll see y’all next Sunday for another Digest. ❤️
