Prism & Pen Goes to the Olympics! And Lots More Queer Stories.
Prism & Pen Weekly Digest 4 August 2024
By Kaylin Hamilton and James Finn
More out queer athletes are competing in the Olympics this year than ever, even though transgender women have been unfairly, categorically barred. So why are all the usual public transphobes outraged anyway? And what’s with outrage over queer people commenting on the world through Opening Ceremony art? Why are we labeled as particularly disrespectful when the art in question is as much our human heritage as anyone else’s? Also, I bet you missed the OTHER queer scene from the Opening Ceremonies, but P&P has you covered — with insightful analysis from a queer Egyptian who loved the LGBTQ books in the little-noticed library sketch.
And that’s just the beginning of our Olympics coverage! Plus, like always — authentic queer lives, love, and some sizzlin’ fiction. And just to stay topical, we offer words of love and cheer from our very own gay bear of a childless cat lady!
Prism & Pen brings you authentic queer voices every morning…. Come read with us!👇
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* Discover P&P Diversity in Four Stories *
Why Is JK Rowling Calling a Cisgender Female Olympian a Man?
No transgender women are competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from going on an anti-trans witch hunt.
Instead, they picked boxer Imane Khelif — who looks a little bit too masculine for their liking — and targeted her instead.
After Khelif beat her opponent, Angela Carini, after just 46 seconds in the ring, Rowling and others claimed Khelif must be a man.
The problem with that?
Well, there are many problems with that, obviously, but among them …
10-Year-Old Simone Biles Superfan Gay-Bashed Repeatedly on YouTube
“Jim, you gotta check this out,” a friend messaged me the other day. “You won’t believe how people are gay-bashing this little kid just because he loves gymnastics and dancing. You HAVE to do a story.”
He sent me a link to a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers, adding: “Just read the comments! Pick a short. Any short. It’s too horrible.”
Frankly, even though I don’t need any more horror in my life, I’m delighted my friend sent me the link. Because BEFORE I read the comments, I watched several videos and experienced tremendous positivity and joy.
Da Vinci, the Last Supper and Sodomy at The Olympics
The Olympic Games in Paris kicked off last Friday with the Opening Ceremony, and they will be the center of the world for the coming weeks. Host countries have often used the games to push the best aspects of themselves for a boost in advertising, which in the case of Paris might seem a little overdone already, but this time they garnered some very bad press right from the start.
From Same-Sex Marriage to Pride: Is Thailand Truly an LGBTQIA+ Paradise?
Throughout my 15 years of living in Thailand, I’ve always known this country to be a safe haven for foreigners in the LGBTQIA+ community. I remember the first time I went to DJ Station, a popular gay nightclub in the Silom area of Bangkok. It reminded me of Babylon from one of my favorite shows, Queer As Folk …
That’s not to say Thailand is a flawless, queer utopia. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve the legal rights of people who do not identify as their assigned genders.
* This Week’s Essays & Creative Non Fiction *
How One Influential Right-Wing Homophobe is Attacking Corporate America
Podcaster, erstwhile filmmaker Robby Starbuck’s X account has nearly a half million followers. And, of late, the extreme right-wing influencer has been using his voice to expose progressive corporate workplace initiatives, with the goal of shaming companies into regressing to pre-woke policies and attitudes.
This last May, Starbuck used X (formerly Twitter) to attack Tractor Supply Co. for practices that are standard for many large companies, including having a DE&I council and holding LGBTQ+ awareness trainings for employees.
The influencer’s campaign was an immediate success.
Learning to Deal with Vulnerability While Learning To Be a Woman
The hardest lesson I have had to learn as I continue my transition journey from living as a man to living as a woman is vulnerability. I never felt it as a man, but I am feeling it constantly as a woman.
I feel that vulnerability in so many ways.
Controversy Over Trans Participation in School Sports Hits My Alma Mater
The former track and field and cross country coach at my alma mater, Lake Oswego High School (Lake Oswego, Oregon), has filed a lawsuit against the local school district and school board on First Amendment grounds. Parks’ complaint further alleges that the district “conducted an unlawful, retaliatory investigation and subsequent firing, in violation of his 14th Amendment rights to due process.”
The controversy came to light in May, when Parks sent a letter to the Oregon School Activities Association. In his missive, the coach expressed some unabashed and novel opinions about transgender participation in Oregon high school athletics.
Why the New Disability-Inclusive LGBTQ+ Pride Flag Matters
Did you know July is Disability Pride Month, right after LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June?
Did you know that there’s a Disability Pride flag?
And, did you know a new disability-inclusive LGBTQ+ Pride flag was revealed at this year’s London Pride?
For disabled queer folks like me, it’s a big deal.
This Popular New Chicago Queer Bar Is Dedicated to Alice Walker
‘Be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast.’ …
… Reads the opening line of Alice Walker’s soul-soothing 1973 poem. “It really just speaks to everything that we are,” says Renauda Riddle, co-owner of the Chicago bar Nobody’s Darling:
‘We move to our own beat, we are all about doing things the way we want to do things. We feel like we’re outcasts, because we don’t have any industry experience, we’re doing this our way, not because someone says this is the blueprint…it’s our blueprint.’
Renauda and Angela Barnes — friends for many years — were golfing during the pandemic when they decided to co-create a queer cocktail bar. “The time was right and the numbers were good,” Riddle told me over Zoom, and in May 2021 they served their first craft cocktail.
‘Weird’: The Anti-LGBTQ Agenda of Project 2025
I became aware of Project 2025 when Thomas Zimmer blogged about it in February. He wrote that the foreword by Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, “much like most of the report, oozes a visceral disdain for the lgbtq community, and for trans people specifically.”
Oh, no.
I peeked at Project 2025. Yes, by the second paragraph, Roberts was already on to “the toxic normalization of transgenderism.”
How weird.
Attention: The Olympics Opening Ceremony is Seducing People to Read!
Recently, the whole world’s attention was driven toward the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics: The first of its kind, staged out of the box instead of in stadiums.
While everyone’s debate is about “mocking” Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting, that debate technically means nothing, as the painting is just a product of Da Vinci’s artistic imagination …
However, this article goes beyond that debate to a different scene in the opening ceremonies — the library queer scene, which preceded the Da Vinci drag queen scene by just a few shots.
Prepare for a Seesaw Ride When Escaping the Trans Double Life
“What can I get you, sir?”
The cashier’s final word sent my gut heaving. A sucker punch, considering I was used to blotting out the “sirs.” I hadn’t planned for my normal defenses to go AWOL; they should have filed notice.
Nails painted an iridescent blue, bag over my shoulder, and hat and sunglasses obscuring my face — all I wanted was a burrito bowl. Instead, he served up a side of dysphoria, his words without malice.
Gay Uncle, Childless Cat Ladies: A Tale of Fun, Love and a Bit of Sass
Picture me, your friendly neighborhood bear, stepping into this role with pride and a sprinkle of glitter. It’s not just about spoiling the nieces and nephews (though, let’s be honest, that’s a huge perk). It’s about being a role model, a confidant, and the coolest family member on the block. Okay, maybe my straight older brother is way cooler than me (#facts), but let’s just roll with it.
My Life in 5 Songs: A Foreshadowing of Gender Nonconformity
Lsjaffee (Writer, Educator, Over-Thinker)
Never underestimate the role music plays in the psyche of humans with empathy. But realize 95% of popular music falls into three basic categories:
Falling in love
Falling out of love
Sexual pleasure.
Listeners inevitably hear lyrical content that can be applied to their own lives. Sometimes, certain words stick for reasons that aren’t fully understood.
Who Cares If I Am Transgender
It has taken years to overcome my lifetime ignorance and blind rejection of my gender. I now know with absolute certainty that my gender is transgender female.
Yes, I know I am not a biological female and I am OK with that.
But many people aren’t happy that I even exist.
Burma Shave: Covert Gay Verses by the Side of the Road in the 1960s
You, dear reader, are much too young, no doubt, to remember the little strings of Burma Shave signs that proliferated along US highways in every state in the 1960s. The signs presented verses in successive lines of 2 to 3 words, often in couplets, usually rhyming.
Wikipedia reminds us that “Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs.”
I Don’t Care Why I’m Gay — I Wouldn’t Change If I Could
Once again America’s LGBTQ+ community has become the scapegoat for all of the country’s problems. And the anti-gay rhetoric is only going to ramp up in the final months before the US election.
The right-wing Christian conservatives want to silence queer voices and send us all back into the closet. They believe sexuality is a choice, that we could change if we want to. Our community pushes back with, “It’s not a choice! We were born this way.” But is that true?
My Growing Gay Life as a College Student in China
After high school, which I wrote about here, I became increasingly aware of my sexual orientation. However, the town where I grew up was too small, and I couldn’t bear the gossip, so I kept it a secret from my family and friends. Then I moved thousands of kilometers away to a small city in the north to attend college.
Perhaps it was the unfamiliar surroundings, or maybe it was the desire to escape the long-standing anxiety and shame that weighed heavily on my heart. Naively, I wanted to change, and the first step was to try not to hide myself anymore.
“Diverse Problems” at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris
A bombastic opening ceremony — at least in my eyes — that was also strongly characterised by diversity. Paris, or rather France, showed the world what it is really like. It showed what is hushed up but must not be concealed.
I’ve read endless criticism of the opening ceremony in the media and social networks (especially X). Above all, the diverse — especially queer — part was what many did not want to see. Could it have been shorter or organised differently? Yes, perhaps. But would that have changed anything?
Je Ne Regrette Rien: This Gay Man Has No Regrets Either!
I just finished the movie “La Vie En Rose,” the story of Edith Piaf, a French singer best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France’s greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.
I have watched the movie a fair number of times, and each time the tears flow, the sobs arrive, and the feeling of dark despair, on her behalf, settles over me …
Is Austin’s LGBTQ+ Community as Embracing as It Claims To Be?
As I entered my thirties, I found myself at a crossroads. After two years of caregiving for my father during his battle with colon cancer, followed by his passing in April 2020 amid the pandemic, I was left grappling with a sense of disorientation and loss. The bustling life I once knew in San Francisco felt worlds away from the quiet, reflective space I now inhabited.
Needing a change and searching for a fresh start, I set my sights on Austin, Texas…
Little did I know that this move would bring a series of unexpected trials and self-discovery.
* Fiction Shorts*
The Gay Detective: Curiosity Killed the Cat Burglar
Lennie Cavanagh, cat burglar and middle-rank jewel thief, died early Sunday morning. Tangled in his spare rope, hanging off a fourth-floor fire escape. His toes inches above the pavement.
“What’re the odds? Another foot an’ he’d a’ been home free.” Harry shook his head. “Must’ve been having a real bad night. Not like Ol’ Lennie to be so careless.”
Harry’s sergeant, Ed, rounded the corner of the elegant brownstone. “Building manager says the complex is empty. Replacing the water mains. Tenants are all abroad or staying with relatives.”
One of the crime scene techs who’d worked his way up the fire escape to the fourth floor waved. “You gotta get into this apartment. I’m sending pictures.”
* Fiction Series *
The Medellan Conspiracy
Election results come in and the implications of what happened start to hit home. Jevan and Ardyn finally take Camran on a tour of Vestos. Ardyn visits a former mentor.
With the assistance of the Athla’naa, Amundsen and his cronies were eventually apprehended, but not before they ravaged two more voting centers. Aramys ordered security techs to help protect all the other voting centers, in case there were other groups of unaccounted Sevens out there. Thankfully, the rest of the day passed quietly.
They later learned that explosive devices were also found at several voting centers throughout Donarvon, but they were discovered and disarmed before they could go off. Aerys was uncharacteristically pacing before his station while they waited for the final results of the election to come in. “How did they make it across Donarvon to each of those centers so quickly?”
Read Episode 87: Implications
Read Episode 88: Soren
Her Witch, Her Demon
A witch and a Royal Demon are falling for each other, in a world where such is utterly unacceptable. Can they keep their secret safe and their love alive?
“Tag,” said one of the security men in black suits when Rexadan and Nyx reached the front door.
Fumbling through the pocket of his blazer, Rexadan fished out the thin plastic card Jakubs had given him after spilling everything he knew about the Durug. He’d probably hoped that Rexadan would spare his life after that. He’d hoped wrong.
Nyx hadn’t expected that the Durug would be very high on security. Then again, they were an outlawed society. Even if most demons held their extremist views, they still couldn’t do that in the open without any repercussions from the Witch Council and Demon Circle. The Witch Council and Demon Circle had been bitter enemies for thousands of years. But if there was something they both agreed on, it was that the Durug was bad news.
That’s it for this week!
Happy reading! Keep shining the love, and send your stories to Prism & Pen.
We need you all!
