This Week in P&P, Queer Writers Denounce Cruelty and Ask You To Help
Prism & Pen Weekly Digest, 9 February 2025
by James Finn
This week in Prism & Pen, queer writers call out the cruelty of the wealthy and powerful — cruelty directed not just toward our fellow queer folks, but toward marginalized people everywhere… as fascism ramps up.
(P.S. to P&P writers! Please remember that engaging with the Digest by clapping, highlighting, and commenting helps promote your writing and the writing of your colleagues.)
This week’s highlights:
- Kaylin Hamilton notes that the road to fascism in the U.S. and the U.K. is lined with “liberals” demanding civility, and it’s nothing new.
- I remember a gentle gay man treated with horrifying cruelty merely because his parents brought him from Mexico to Detroit as a baby. I believe my story powerfully illustrates Kaylin’s.
- Rand Bishop compares the Harvey Milk era to today’s, noting that coming out is as vital now as then.
- Gino Cosme calls out the cruelty of the Trump administration, while urging you to take action against the de-funding of HIV treatment and other critical medical care.
- A high school librarian explores the casual homophobia that kept her closeted in high school.
- A transgender woman recently called a fa**ot by a stranger on a public bus vows to never shut up.
And don’t forget fiction! Evan Purcell’s YA novel about a gay teen fighting demons is close to wrapping up, and it feels a lot more relevant with Trump and Musk in the Oval Office!
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* P&P Highlights *
The Road to Fascism Is Lined With Liberals Demanding Civility
… The thing is, when one of those “sides” wants the other groups wiped off the face of the planet, hearing them out isn’t balance, it’s tacit support. It’s the platforming of harmful ideas as if they’re equal to marginalised peoples’ demand for rights and respect.
It’s the legitimisation of fascism, plain and simple.
Past and present, liberals have excelled at this.
My Boyfriend Wasn’t ‘Illegal,’ but My Nation Destroyed His Migrant Friend
As Christopher rubbed his bleeding wrists, a man in an unfamiliar uniform barked orders he could barely understand. Christopher’s Spanish wasn’t much better than Pablo’s. He was now in Mexico, a place he had never seen except as an infant, and he was frightened and bewildered.
Kind people at the shelter fed him, but he couldn’t stay, he told me, because it was too dangerous, made worse by how bad his Spanish was. He couldn’t make heads or tails of Juárez street slang.
So, he did what young gay men sometimes do when they’re desperate…
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
Not only are queer and trans folks like us living in dark times, without question, it’s getting darker.
The forces that would just as soon erase us now occupy the seats of power. And, naturally, this leaves us wondering what we should do next.
Should we try to make ourselves less conspicuous in the hopes they will leave us alone? Or, should we stand in the light, link arms, and declare our common humanity in one, united voice?
Elon Musk’s Words Have Consequences: How to Fight Back for HIV/AIDS Care
I’ve lost count of how many messages and voice notes I’ve received. Clients, activists, and friends living with HIV in the U.S. and North Africa are terrified.
This isn’t just another reckless tweet from Musk.
For the LGBTQ+ community, it’s a gut punch with life-threatening consequences. And it doesn’t stop at HIV/AIDS relief.
Programs tackling malaria, tuberculosis, maternal health, and clean water access are at risk, and many have already been shut down.
Homo Suspicion: Why I Didn’t Identify as Queer in High School
That fall, their new favorite game was placing each other under “homo suspicion” — an extension of the 1990s insult “that’s gay.” One of the guys would say something strange, or effeminate, or even caring, and another guy would cry out, “homo suspicion!” Then there were parameters to having the suspicion lifted, mostly douchey things that I ignored…
It was just a silly thing, until it became akin to a witch-hunt. Adam, in particular, was keen on figuring out who at school was actually gay.
I Got Called a Fa**ot on a Public Bus. That’s Why We Must Never Shut Up.
I sat in my usual place, earbuds in, shutting out the world with the hypnotic rhythms of liquid drum’n’bass as I scrolled through my Medium feed on my phone.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary — until I noticed two young men approaching. One had a concerned look on his face, while the other was preoccupied with something on his phone. The first man, the one with the concerned expression, started speaking.
I took out an earbud. “Beg your pardon?”
“Why can’t you keep your bullshit at home?” he snapped. “Why do you have to show off that you’re a f****t? There are children here!”
* Writing Prompt about Cruelty *
As Landmines Kill Kids, How Do Queer Writers Expose and Counter Cruelty?
by James Finn
Writers, with the Trump/Musk administration promoting abject cruelty, we queer writers have an opportunity to turn public opinion. Because most folks are not okay with hurting people! Especially not when those people are relatively weak and powerless. Please read the prompt if you haven’t yet, and think about how your writing can be part of the solution! 👇
I woke up this morning to news so cruel I had trouble accepting the reality. The U.S. government under the leadership of Donald Trump and Elon Musk (my government whether I like it or not) has shut down land-mine clearing in Cambodia. This is part of Musk’s war on USAID, the world’s largest distributor of food aid to hungry people.
I’ve been following that story closely, because the right-wing war on USAID has already snatched HIV meds out of the hands of more than 20 million people worldwide, including over 6 million children.
* This Week’s Essays & Creative Non Fiction *
And To Think That I Saw a Hooker on Mulberry Street!
I have never been in favor of censorship or book banning. But after going to the website of the freedom loving women’s group “How to Barbecue a Book” my mind has been changed.
Or was it “Mom’s for Liberty”? I can’t remember.
Anyway, there clearly is an organized effort by the groomers among us to turn our children into sexual perverts.
Their weapon? The public library.
An Appeal To My Readers and a Short Fiction Story: A Boy Child Growing Up Gay
Before my short story, FIRST THIS:
I will donate ALL my royalties from writing for this platform to support the FIGHT!
So many of us are dealing with our emotions and grief, which reflects the chaos and atrocities that t-RUMP has already perpetrated against our LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants and asylum seekers, brown and black sisters and brothers, and U.S. citizens in general. And I fear that this is just the beginning.
5 Powerful Ways Older Gay Men Can Reclaim Their Sexuality
Last week, a client broke down in his session.
“I feel invisible. Like I’ve aged out of being desirable.”
These words came from a 65-year-old executive who’d shaped successful businesses but felt crushed by gay culture’s obsession with youth.
His words hit home.
Ten years ago, I sat on the other side of a similar conversation, voicing the same fears to my own therapist. I was barely 35.
How Can I Be The Light? A Response to a Queer Prompt about Cruelty.
An editor at Prism & Pen asked us the above question. I have written before about how teachers can support their LGBTQ+ kids, particularly trans kids. But I would like to touch on how those outside of the schools (like me now that I’m retired) can be a light for LGBTQ+ kids in these horrendous times when we have a raging homophobe as president.
There are many things we can do, from talking to public officials about protecting our LGBTQ+ youth, to becoming active in support organizations, to attending protests against homophobic policies.
Finding The Light During Dark Times: Guidance I Learned From A Gay Man
He was in my office only because he felt increasingly “inexplicably” stressed. He had asked his internist for a pill. “Instead, my doctor referred me to you. I’m not sure why. I mean, at least he’s a real doctor.”
I said he seemed irritated to be at a therapy session, and he shrugged impatiently.
I asked about his work and he said he had a choice to make. He was in “a career that can eat you alive” so “I have to decide if I’m a shark or a dolphin. What should I choose?”
A Soundtrack for Regrets and No Regrets: My Love Life in Songs
Life’s a playlist, a blend of regrets and no-regrets, where every song shapes who we are. Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” insists on living without regrets, but let’s be real — regrets happen. It’s how we deal with them that defines us.
These songs? They’re part of my life’s soundtrack, some heartbreaks, triumphs, and lessons learned along the way.
Tallying the Very Real Cost of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bigotry and Discrimination
What shouldn’t be at issue is that certain factions and special interests felt it was worth investing $215M on an issue that applies to and affects a tiny, already marginalized and persecuted fragment of the population. And, sadly, that investment bought enough votes to defeat the feckless candidates targeted by those ads.
And, according to trans activist Erin Reed, all the sturm and drang over transgender prisoners only applied to health services provided to two inmates nationwide.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are Essential for a Civil Society
I returned to my former employer two years ago to speak at their annual Pride celebration. It was the 10th anniversary of the LGBTQ+ Pride employee resource group that I was a co-founder. Scanning the audience, I was delighted to see how the event had grown.
I was invited as a panelist on the group’s origin, successes, and challenges in its early years. It was gratifying to reconnect with familiar and unfamiliar faces in the audience. The presence of numerous company leaders affirmed support for this employee resource group.
Emilia Pérez Is Mediocre Trans Representation
If you have been following the 2025 Oscars, you’ve probably heard about Emilia Pérez (2024), the film about a transgender crime lord who stages her own death so she can start over a new life as her preferred gender…
A film with this subject matter is naturally going to earn some criticism. We are currently undergoing a global moral panic toward transgender people, and so a big-budget movie that centers a transgender character so prominently will receive a lot of negative reactions, especially from far-right actors.
Yet this film also generated much criticism from people on the left…
Who are Crossdressers, Drag Queens, Feminine Men and Trans Women?
What if a person uses makeup and shaves body hair — who are they? What if they wear a dress and lingerie at home? But what if it is done not at home, but on stage — then what? And what if they take HRT and plan an upcoming gender-affirming surgery? Who are they?
Yes, it can be complicated. Let’s figure this out together.
You Don’t Have To Make Peace With Anti-LGBTQ+ Family Members
My full extended family voted for policies and a President who intends to remove transgender people’s existence. I haven’t had the correct words to speak in weeks, as my shock at the hatred, discrimination, and apathy from my family has reminded me that keeping my distance from them is the safest option for me and my children.
Family members who think nothing of voting against my rights, and my children’s, rights to exist safely and peacefully in this world are not people I intend to keep relationships with.
I Cannot, Not Be Transgender
I wish every day that I wasn’t vilified in the press, made a gender outlaw by the federal government and increasingly under state governments, damned to hell by religious zealots, and made to feel the potential shame from certain family and friends if I were to come out.
I will not get any of my wishes.
I am transgender and I am under assault.
What Could a Trans Woman Possibly Know About Womanhood?
My phone buzzed. A message from an acquaintance. No words, just a link to a TikTok video.
I clicked it. A young woman appeared on my screen, her expression lightly amused. Someone off-camera asked, “What do you think of trans women?”
She scoffed. “They’re not women. Why are you looking at me like that? What could they possibly know about being a woman?”
I Finally Saw an Intersex Movie
A few years back, I was hired to ghostwrite a book on gender and sexual identity by an out lesbian.
Of course, I was thrilled, but the client and I didn’t quite click... Worse, whenever I tried to write about the different genders, she would have odd reactions, asking “Are you sure?” and “Is this really a thing?” All of this despite claiming she wanted the book to be all-inclusive.
But the worst moment came when I added a section about intersex people.
* Fiction Series *
Demons Are Coming Out!
I stared in Marnie’s eyes, really studying her. Her expression was devious. Evil. Demonic.
But then again, that’s how she usually looked. If I haven’t made it clear yet, my younger sister was a pretty awful person. (By “pretty,” I mean “absolutely.” And by “awful,” I mean “horrendous.”)
But was she bad enough to actually team up with an earth-destroying demon?
That’s what I was trying to find out.
Read in P&P:
He’s Covered in Bird Poop— Part 28
Making the Most of My Last Days on Earth — Part 29
Something Happened to My Sister — Part 30
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!
