I spent the first eighteen years of my life in a country where it was illegal to be myself. I found out I was bisexual in seventh grade and from there it was just a matter of hiding it until I got out; that was just the reality. In Pakistan, homosexuality is treated a lot […]
In the summer of 2020 we launched a GoFundMe to support Black LGBTQ+ creatives and raised £25,000. I can’t believe that was nearly two years ago, time flies when you’re in a pandemic. We pledged £10,000 of funds raised to award 10 Black LGBTQ+ creatives to create a project of their choosing. The first 5 […]
Youth worker, social media maverick, and founder of Exist Loudly, Tanya Compas has teamed up with Instagram as part of their Black Perspectives initiative, inspired by Instagram’s ongoing commitment to champion and support young Black creators to grow and make a living on and off the platform. Tanya has launched Erasure; a two-day bootcamp where […]
On a Balmy Thursday night, I make the long(ish) journey to Stratford East theatre, to see Yummy. Lured by the promise of babirye bukilwa’s writing, malakai sergeant’s direction and a sparse but intriguing show summary – I hurry. The 30-minute play is a part of Stratford East’s Burn It Down series, where theatre makers respond […]
“Saw u at Taraweeh bro, ain’t you gay lol” – Anonymous The above is quoted from a recent Twitter meme that typifies the kind of responses many queer Muslims face during Ramadan. It represents the absurd assumption that going to mosque to engage in the nightly communal prayer of Taraweeh makes no sense if you’re […]
Popular Nigerian Drag Queen, James Chukwueze Obialor (AKA James Brown), recently posted that they gifted themself an education abroad this year. Since then, James’ social feeds have been flooded with congratulations from people who might have previously ridiculed them (and other queer Nigerians) for their sexuality. James has been an internet celebrity ever since they […]
A few days before the release of her book, Eloghosa Osunde took to Twitter to announce that she would give out free copies to anyone who could guess some elements of her book and say what we were looking forward to the most. I replied that I wanted to read about an alternative universe that […]
When a daughter loses a mother, the intervals between grief responses lengthen over time, but her longing never disappears. It always hovers at the edge of her awareness, prepared to surface at any time, any place, in the least expected ways. – Hope Edelman Losing a mother forces upon you uncomfortable levels of maturity and […]
Since I was a child, I’ve never enjoyed visiting salons. I would rather have my mother give me a haircut at home with scissors than go to the barbershop. The thought of sitting in front of a mirror with linen wrapped around my neck and watching my hair being taken off in bits or manipulated […]
Financial anxiety refers to obsessive and often debilitating fears around money. For working class people it may seem unnecessary pathological to view money worries through a medical lens as it’s something most of us are forced to come to terms with from a very young age. Coming to terms with something is not the same […]
