Lesvos Refugees, a Gay Man’s Gospel Roots, and Trump’s Trans Love
Prism & Pen Weekly Digest, 16 March 2025
by James Finn
This week in Prism & Pen, we look at humanitarian contradictions on the island that gave us the word lesbian. We examine a bizarre-but-true tale about Donald Trump, Marla Maples, and a transgender film star. A man who works to reconcile faith with queerness explores his evangelical roots as a traveling family musician. Cops eject teenage lesbians from a restroom for “looking” trans, even as the soi-liberal governor of California eggs on hatred of trans people.
Then, two independent filmmakers, in New York and Beijing respectively, share truly powerful stories about art and love that offer hope for dark times.
Also, cruise with Emma Holiday as she crosses the Atlantic, dancing like Cinderella … as her true transgender self.
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* P&P Highlights *
I Was a Gay Teen in a Traveling Gospel Band When My World Exploded
Ezra grew up on the road, child of a family gospel-music group driving from church to church to evangelize the American south, afraid to take off his gay and neurodivergent masks. Today, he and his husband are leaders in a church pioneering reconciliation of faith and queerness. In this painful story, he shows us how it all started.
Trump Once Complimented a Famous Trans Model at an AIDS Fashion Show
Lsjaffee (Writer, Educator, Over-Thinker)
And now, writes this respected American journalist and professor of journalism, Trump is banning drag shows from Kennedy Center and de-funding AIDS treatment and prevention. This is a wild ride of a story, exploring the trans heroine at the heart of ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ and her improbable interaction with Donald Trump and Marla Maples. You won’t read the story behind this journalism anywhere else; it’s breaking on Prism & Pen.
I Live on an Island of Lesbians & Refugees
When Clay isn’t traveling the world reviewing nightlife for queer women, she lives on the Greek island of Lesvos where the word lesbian was born. She’s struck and torn by the two worlds on that island — one of privilege that she shares, the other of desperate refugees and their inhumane treatment. Here, she writes with poetic transcendence about planting a foot on each side of that gulf.
Transphobic Male Cops Force Young Lesbians from Walmart Women’s Room
When I heard this story that first broke on TikTok, I figured it would generate big headlines. It didn’t, so I wrote this piece about cops bullying a pair of teenage lesbians, “accusing” one of being a transgender woman …even after she partially disrobed. This is where we’re headed (where we are right now in some spaces!) if the American people don’t stop the hatred emanating from the White House, other corners of American conservatism, and even from the Democratic governor of California.
As a Bisexual Librarian, I Just Took On a Queer Book Challenge
Anna is a mother and a high school librarian on the front lines of the culture war targeting queer people. How will she deal with one of her favorite students, a devout Catholic teenager, who’s working to deprive queer students of a book written to help them understand themselves and their world?
Did My Gender Transition Shut the Whole World Down?
At the beginning of COVID, Logan was a secretary for a public school system in the American south. Since then, he’s begun to transition, he’s moved across the country to seek freedom with his transgender wife, and he’s taken a job working to support unhoused people in crisis. This story is a poetic recounting of a remarkable journey.
How My Movie’s Failure Led to a Blessing from a Lesbian Holocaust Survivor
Before Jamie became a professional actor and independent filmmaker, he was a high school student inspired by a visiting Holocaust survivor — so inspired he eventually wrote a play that was made into a film that … trivialized his artistic vision. Tragic? In a way, “But now,” he writes, “it’s become a story about how I learned to be my most authentic self, to let go of anyone who demeans me, and to build communities where we lift each other up.”
Queer Love Sparked a Chinese Martial Arts TV Series That Inspired Me
Eki is an independent filmmaker based in Beijing who’s been writing reviews of beautiful, queer-themed films little known in the West. In this review, he tackles a television series that has gained some fame outside Asia. But if you haven’t read Eki’s review of Word of Honor, chances are you’re missing some important perspective. Whether you know anything about Word of Honor or not, I think you’ll find his write-up valuable and lovely.
* This Week’s Essays & Creative Non Fiction *
The Perfect Transgender Beer, on a Perfect Day, on a Cruise Ship as ME
Emma is OG Prism & Pen, sharing her experiences with readers almost from the beginning of her transition journey. She’s gone from self doubt and fear to teaching part time at a high school for queer kids. But sometimes, a girl’s just gotta have fun. And maybe a berth on the Queen Mary II is just the ticket!
Why Resilience Culture is Failing LGBTQ+ People
Gino is a therapist of many years who says, “The world’s obsession with resilience has reached a fever pitch.” So why hasn’t traditional resilience therapy helped many of the gay men he specializes in treating? He explains, drawing parallels to how such therapies often fail members of marginalized minorities. But he’s not merely nay-saying. He’s offering alternatives proven to be effective.
Letter To The Editor From A Fictional Black Trans High School Girl
Amy is a novelist and a fierce advocate for the humanity and decency of queer people and other marginalized people. Here, she lets one of her characters speak up eloquently and powerfully in her (fictional) high school newspaper.
Gavin Newsom’s Words Hurt Trans People — And We Won’t Forget It
A.L. Bellettiere (Anna Louise Bellettiere-Kuyper)
Did you hear about California Governor Gavin Newsom getting in bed with none other than arch-conservative Charlie Kirk … to throw trans people to the lions? Anna certainly heard, and this is her hot take, a take I’m fully on board with!
I Met a Trans Woman (Like and Unlike Me) on the Queen Mary II
Would you have imagined the Queen Mary II would offer an LGBTQ cocktail-party mixer, and that it’s quite popular on some crossings? I wouldn’t have, but Emma’s here to tell us all about it and about a trans soulmate she met in the middle of the Atlantic.
Am I Ready for My First Queer Relationship?
Only recently coming to terms with her queer identity, Jennifer asks herself if she’s ready for a relationship, listing all her obstacles and challenges. Then she finds “plenty of reasons to be brave and try it anyway.”
Musk’s Tesla Chainsaw Massacre: His Downfall & Anti-LGBTQ+ War
A.L. Bellettiere (Anna Louise Bellettiere-Kuyper)
How is Elon Musk not like Iron Man’s Tony Stark? Let Anna count the ways as she examines a global pushback to this adopted American fascist who was born in South Africa and seems (in my opinion) to yearn for a return of the brutal, systematized racism of his youth. As Anna points out, the world seems to be standing up to him, by boycotting his businesses, a true grassroots, unplanned chorus of decency.
I’m Traveling as a Gender Convertible
Crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary II, sensibly taking my advice to keep a sharpeye out for icebergs while juggling martini glasses, Emma writes the prequel to her cruise story. How to pack for two while traveling as one?
Performative Empathy Has Harmed Me as a Neurodivergent Gay Man
What’s performative empathy? If I understand Ezra correctly, it’s like talking the talk without walking the walk. He’s lived with some of that in his struggle to reconcile faith communities with the queer experience. This is (part of) his story!
The Hot Mess: My Own Trans Cinderella Story at Sea
Is any Cinderella story complete without slippers, Prince Charming, and a fabulous ball? Emma’s tale may mess with tradition, but at least she didn’t fall overboard. And I’m only half joking! She makes me want to put on a tux and glide the night away on a fantasy dance floor filled with beautiful queer women like her.
Liberals Like Gavin Newsom Will Always Throw Trans People Under the Bus
Want another hot take on Gavin Newsom’s despicable lunge to the political right? Laura, writing from the U.K., dives into Newsom’s convivial sit-down with Charlie Kirk, one of the most evil figures in American conservatism. Is it possible to be a politician and a decent human being? Maybe, but not in this case!
That’s it for this week!
Courage to all of you! Keep resisting, reading, shining your love, and sending your stories to Prism & Pen.
We need you all!
