Allan Clarke is a Muruwuri man and an investigative journalist with the ABC. He has previously reported for BuzzFeed, NITV and SBS. The Mardi Gras magazine recently published his article about the First Nations history of Mardi Gras, commemorating 40 years of black queer protest and celebration.   How important is the Sydney Mardi Gras …

Asexuality is an often neglected identity group. Asexual people can have a complex relationship with their history of sex, raising questions about consent.

This story was first published on Staying Negative, a website that aims to emotionally engage and inspire gay/bisexual men, including trans men, through the sharing of personal stories. Read more about how you can share your story here. Content note: this story discusses mental health and suicide.   I was born and raised in Melbourne. Even before …

Every Wednesday night, inner-west Sydney came to life as lesbians bowed down to the drag kings. But what happens when a social scene fades?

He’s been paddling in the pool for 20 minutes, locking eyes with every member of the water polo team. I’m reclining by the edge of the water with my shirt unbuttoned. When he gets out to sit on the grass, I get up slowly and walk towards the showers. A few minutes later, he follows me …

Alex Andrews is an Australian feminist from Melbourne and the Founder of Get Hairy February.

Hair is one of the first markers of culture and queerness visible to the naked eye. For queer women of colour, reconciling these aesthetics can be hard.

Angela Serrano speaks to Panti Bliss, an Irish drag queen and marriage equality activist. Panti is Ireland’s foremost “gender discombobulist” and “accidental activist”.

Indulging in queer film, music, events and all entertainment is just part of celebrating Mardi Gras. So, when Queer Screen’s 2018 Mardi Gras Film Festival rolls around, we get pretty excited. With a long list of diverse films, it can be tricky to choose what to catch. We’ve compiled a list of our Archer Magazine …

Transitioning a relationship out of monogamy takes patience, transparency and hard work, and comes with the challenge of unpacking jealousy and insecurity.

My very first images of masculinity and femininity came from the pictures that hung in my family’s prayer area, inside a small hallway closet with doors that opened like an accordion. Inside I saw gods and goddesses, either balanced on one leg in a dance pose, or standing with their palms together in prayer. At six …

I had not walked into the barbershop for three months, but the barber remembered my face. He is a Turkish guy in his late sixties. His strength and agility dance in his hands. He is a quiet man with a wide smile that appears every so often. His grin is like a slice of light, …

I’ve found myself in this middle ground through no fault of my own, so I may as well carve my own space within it, one day at a time.

As a sex worker and queer woman, Tilly Lawless doesn’t always find safety in traditional community spaces.

For most people in the LGBTQIA+ community, finding the right words to describe our sexualities and identities can be a difficult process. In my own experience, more than one word fits. My identity is multidimensional, and different words reflect different aspects of that identity. While this may seem like my identity itself shifting, it isn’t. …

I keep interrupting him to ask if the condom is still on. He pauses for a second. “Yeah dude, I’ll let you know if it comes off.” We started speaking on Grindr two hours ago and now I’m in his apartment in Carlton North, long hairy legs sprawled open around his neck. Something about the …

This story was first published on Staying Negative, a website that aims to emotionally engage and inspire gay/bisexual men, including trans men, through the sharing of personal stories. Read more about how you can share your story here.   I was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, but when I was about six months old, my mum left my …

This year was an incredibly tough one for so many of us. Here in Australia, unprecedented levels of homophobia and transphobia, brought on by an unprecedented postal survey, made this year much more difficult than perhaps it should’ve been. Many of us will be celebrating as we move into 2018, including those of us who …

When I realised the man in the bed next to mine thought I was a cisgender man, I thought it might be safer to play along, in case his reaction to the truth wasn’t positive. Worst case scenario, he could turn violent or aggressive. Even though he showed me no aggression whatsoever, I was instantly …

Finding a home in a new place is difficult, especially when your rights to that home are constantly called into question, writes Tina Dixson for Archer Magazine #8, the ‘SPACES’ issue.   The most common question I get asked in Australia is: “Where are you from?” It is asked at a party, by an Uber …

“You faggot, may god damn you. Alas, life is nearing end.” I will never forget these exact words from a Facebook comment, written tauntingly on a picture of a person who looked neither masculine nor feminine. What upset me was not only the comment’s homophobic language, but the fact that the man who commented is …

What’s missing from the entire analysis of these protests is the queer community, and how international voices from either side of the political spectrum undermine and erase Venezuela’s queer, indigenous history.