Rae Perks on the difficulty of coming out and finding a label for yourself that feels entirely right.

Sometimes, queerness is associated with sexual freedom and experimentation, often in the form of promiscuity. This assumption is used in very different ways: on the one hand, it’s an idea perpetuated by those who fear queerness as a threat to the ‘natural order’, chaotic and radical, lacking structure. But on the other hand, this sexual …

Content warning: this article discusses suicide.  In 1926, a headline in the New York Times newspaper boldly asserted that: “Only man is gay in bleak Greenland.” Fast forward nine decades later and this article remains a common Google result for anyone who is curious to learn what — if any — gay scene exists in …

Now in his 50s, Peter Waples-Crowe is a powerhouse community figure in the Aboriginal LGBT community, managing a career in public health alongside a significant body of visual art that reflects his unique intersections. After catching up over cigarettes outside the State Library of Victoria, and reflecting on the sombre irony of smoking tobacco products …

We all live under patriarchy, and its pull towards entrenched gender roles is strong.  When working against this pull, being a ‘good man’ cannot be a fixed point.  It’s not an end status that one can attain, and then finally rest.

Depending on when it was you asked my parents about their children, they would tell you they had three girls and three boys or, more lately, two girls and four boys. When I was born one of twins, the attending physician wasn’t sure if I was a boy or a girl. I would later learn …

It’s early for a Sunday, still morning, but already it’s been a day of firsts. This is my first indoor climb and first time with the Climbing QTs: ‘A queer, trans and gender diverse space open to anyone interested in a safe and friendly atmosphere to climb and socialise’, co- initiated and run by Riley …

Genderfication: Non Binary ART in a Linear World is the Leftover Collective’s performance of an anonymous Jacobean text from the 16th century that challenges the audience’s understandings of binary gender. All performers have the same speech – however the language pronouns and the structure of each have been shifted. Each speech is now unique, with …

Some things crystallise only after you’ve gotten enough distance from them. In this case, writing this piece has demystified something that was largely a magical experience for me: I was sent as an Australian delegate by the Kingdom of Thailand to the LGBT+ Travel Symposium in late June. Held over two days, the symposium was …

“Magic can give us the opportunity to think of the world in a new way, inspiring us to consider things differently and break our assumptions.” Creatrix Tiara talks about their show, Queer Lady Magician.

Kris Kneen on bisexuality and coming out (again) and presumed heterosexuality.

I was about 16. My mum and I were at Sam’s house. She’s a friend of my mum’s, and I loved visiting her. Her house was filled with mismatched antiques and eclectic treasures from around the globe; patterned rugs covered the hardwood floors, lush Japanese blankets draped the couches, while the smell of incense made …

During the marriage postal survey, I was drowning in a sea of talk about relationship coupledom and romance. Even in my poly subcultures, I often struggle to relate to the competitive search and play for multiple catches in the little dating pool. Queerness is often imagined as existing through coupledom. When I was first trying …

There are places that overflow with queer energy each and every time I pass by them. There’s the park in southern Sydney where I had my first gay kiss. A street in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg North where I wore a dress in public for the first time in my life as a trans …

Wading into the deep end of the pool as a trans woman athlete has been fraught with problems. I was only three years into my transition when I made the decision to return to sport in 2004. Prior to this, I had been a competitive athlete since my 5th grade of school. All I had …

The normalisation of rape fantasies in the gay community, especially online, testifies to a concerning culture of breaching consent becoming erotic.

A good friend of mine recently asked me to write a piece on the way that depression has impacted my life for a friend’s blog. Thinking about it, I came to realize that the psychological illnesses I have incurred over the years are situated within the history of postcolonial trauma. My ancestral heritage goes back …

The word fat is one steeped in stigma, but many fat people are reclaiming the word. Fat people are multivalent, sexy and fashionable, too.

There are several problems with being a writer: one is that you’re convinced everyone cares about what you have to say, and another is that even if your opinion or situation changes, your words are there on the internet, available for anyone to read or find when they Google your name. Around three years ago, …

Once, while discussing a friend’s sexual experiences and motivations at the pub, he swivelled the conversation into a comparison with my own sex life. When expressing that sex didn’t seem to play as a big a role in my self-image as it did for him and others more widely, he asked, in that case, why …

I loathe horror films. I was never able to sit down and watch the trailer for films like Paranormal Activity or The Conjuring. That small glimpse is enough to keep me up at night and afraid to look in mirrors (because everyone knows that’s when the creepy thing appears behind you, especially if you have …

At the moment, my partner and I are in the room not going out. We always live in fear. I studied engineering at university. I worked as an elevator technician until I left Iran. I really liked that job. I would like to start my own small business, that is my goal. When I was …