Prism & Pen

The Story You Rarely Hear: Transgender Schools in a Muslim Country How Transgender students in Pakistan are reclaiming education

Under British colonial rule, Hijra communities were criminalised and labelled “deviant,” forcing many further into poverty and exclusion. The stigma that persists today is a shadow of that period.
Yet the community endured.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Muslims #Islam

All My Gay Male Friends Rave About Sex in the Morning. Why Don’t I? Why do you think they’re called nightclubs?

I’m more likely to be in the mood when it’s dark.
Maybe that’s just because it’s the only time I have time.
Spoiler alert: the desire for morning sex is the same with gay men as it is with straight men.
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#LGBTQ #Sexuality #GaySex #Desire #Biology

Where Does Gender Dysphoria Begin and Misogyny End? Here’s some messy truth about internalised misogyny

Some days, I look in the mirror and think: I do not look feminine enough. Then the harder question arrives. Do I actually not look like myself, or have I simply failed some misogynistic beauty standard women are taught to chase from birth?
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Gender

All Women (Not Only Trans People) Are Affected by Gender Surveillance ‘Bathroom debates’ encourage everyone to police the feminine conformity of neighbors and coworkers

Short hair raises suspicion.
Athletic bodies invite scrutiny.
Neutral clothing becomes a signal of doubt.
Height, voice, posture — all become clues in a spontaneous investigation.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Gender #Femininity #BathroomPolice

The Reality of Being Queer in Western Sydney This is my personal story of homophobia and survival

Lurking in the cold shadows of Western Sydney’s alleys is a darkness of the soul.
It is a darkness that makes gay and trans children hide. The fear does not come from a monster underneath their bed, but for fear of their neighbor.
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#LGBTQ #Australia #Sydney #Homophobia

Would I Press a Magic Button To Stop Being Asexual? Happiness and contentment with being who we are

If you were to ask me if I’d be fine with never having sex or being in a relationship for the rest of my life…? Yes — that’s exactly what I want.
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#LGBTQ #Identity #Asexual #BeingYourself

My Queer Life in Gaza: Thin Walls, Thinner Silences A confirmed scandal

I live in #Gaza, in a displacement camp where privacy is theoretical. Hundreds of families share thin walls and thinner silences.
In a place like this, masculinity is not a private identity, it is a public performance.
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#LGBTQ #Queer #War #Identity

I Wish There Was a Magic Button To Fix Society, Not My Queerness I want a society where terms like ‘gender’, ‘sex’, and ‘sexuality’ aren’t even necessary

I love being transgender. It’s a unique and wonderful experience — not many people get to live life on both sides of the gender divide. It’s part of who I am, but I don’t love the way society treats me for it.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Society #Bigotry

Change Doesn’t Always Come From Within Or, there’s no magic button

As a 16-year-old baby Queer who didn’t fit in, I’d have been sorely tempted, but as I got older, the impulse would fade. Sitting where I am now, a 59-year-old #Queer who is sure of who I am, the magic button to normalcy seems almost cliché.
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#LGBTQ #MagicButton #ThoughtExperiment

Transgender — Stop Gatekeeping Yourself Dr. Z knows everything

Dr. Z is a well-known or at least growing name among #transgender women. She makes videos, offers courses, documents, a community, everything that can somehow help trans women, no matter what stage of their own journey they are currently at.
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#LGBTQ #Advice #Gatekeeping

Queer or Not, How Can We Fight To Stop the Slaughter in the Middle East? This Queer person considers a lot, but what can I do?

When you ask me “How do we fight Trump and Netanyahu’s cruel slaughter?” What can I say? At the moment our “leftist” government tuts at America and Israel in the lightest terms possible while sending jets and warships to the region.
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#LGBTQ #UKPolitics #MiddleEast #War

I Stopped Blaming My Transness For Other People’s Flaws How I learned to stop taking the blame for other people’s limitations.

I am writing this article from the point of view of a trans woman, but if you are queer, neurodivergent, disabled, or just someone who has diverged from the societal norm in any way, I am sure you will see your own story in here somewhere.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Identity

Updating Our Survival Systems: A Queer Guide to the Anti-DEI Workplace Words from a transgender woman with 15 years of Fortune 500 Project Management experience

I spent over 15 years as a senior technical project manager at SAP, overseeing massive IT rollouts for Fortune 500 companies.
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#LGBTQ #DEI #USPolitics #Workplace

The Queerness of Best Friends: My Experiences Influence My Teaching On ‘Ghost World’ and us

“Queer” is a term that defies its definitions. To bind it to one or two meanings seems to defy its nature.
In my ‘Queering the Graphic Novel’ course, I asked my students to view the film Ghost World.
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#LGBTQ #Queer

Would I Press a Magic Button To Become Cisgender? An older gay transgender man, I’ve often wished for a cisgender body

At the beginning of my transition, I was constantly misgendered, and my dysphoria was debilitating. If you had asked me then, I would have immediately and unequivocally said, yes, I will push that button, whatever the consequences.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #ThoughtExperiement

How the “Parental Rights” Playbook Targets LGBTQ+ Kids The Proprietarian Fallacy of State-Sponsored Closets

This summarized manifesto deconstructs the proprietarian fallacy, examining its historical roots, its psychological drivers, and the devastating human cost of treating human beings as property.
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#LGBTQ #Parenting #Children

I Wrote an LGBTQ+ Novel in the Age of Banning Books My thoughts on the first anniversary of ‘Hollywood Pride’

In March of 2025, I jumped into my next new beginning. My novel Hollywood Pride launched — born into the Age of Banning Books.
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#LGBTQ #Queer #QueerBooks #USPolitics #Authors

Why Would a Guy Want to Be a Woman? Why would anyone want to be transgender? Here’s my story.

Why would a guy ever want to be a woman?
I mean, seriously? Why would he? The advantages of being a guy so outweigh being a woman on so many levels. I mean, think about it.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Sexism

I’ve Spent Four Years on Testosterone as a Trans Man Has it been what I expected?

It feels so much longer than 4 years, but then I have always felt like a man inside; he’s always just been me. The freedom I feel now to be me is incredible.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #HRT #Testoterone

A Trans Woman, an Ex-Wife, a Courier, and Five Endings A story for those who like alternative endings

This is what happens when the ‘what-if’ machine runs amuck. Originally written as one piece, I came up with four other scenarios, all based in the same room, at the same time of day with the same characters.
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#LGBTQ #Fiction #QueerFiction #Transgender

Tips from a Gay Man on Aging and Sexual Performance How I keep at it

Yes, this smacks of TMI, (too much information,) and the squeamish might want to pass on this piece. But for men, STRAIGHT or GAY, dealing with aging and concern about how it will affect their sexual performance, the read might be worthwhile.
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#LGBTQ #Gay #Sexuality #Aging

A Gay Arab’s Take on the Iran-Israel War Navigating this loud, bloody mess.

I wish Iran could defend Palestine without oppressing women.
I wish Israel would stop bombing civilians and expect us to just be subdued.
I wish our southern borders were respected.
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#LGBTQ #Gay #MiddleEast #Iran #War

Heated Rivalry’s DL Obsession (or why we love closeted conservatives) What this queer sensation says about our media priorities

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most of the big name properties in popular culture about queer men portray them struggling to keep their relationship a secret or on the ‘dl’, especially in recent years as our culture becomes more conservative.
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#LGBTQ #HeatedRivalry

Would I Press The Magic Queer Button To Become A Cisgender Woman? Unequivocally, irrevocably, resoundingly, YES.

For all those fears and concerns that other trans people have, I simply do not have them. So, without question, I am smashing that magic queer/trans button to make me a cisgender woman!
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderStuff #ThoughtExperiment #MagicButton

I’m a “Fruity Boyfriend,” No Doubt About It In me, my girlfriend has a partner who actually loves to go shoe shopping with her.

Posts on social media suggest that straight women — particularly younger straight women — are expressing a preference for guys who are unafraid to exhibit their feminine side.
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#LGBTQ #Queer #FruityBoyfriend #Trends

I’m a Trans Mom with Traumatized Kids in South Minneapolis This is how weathering the ICE storm feels in my family.

In the last five years, our city has become a world-wide household name. Minneapolis has become the epicenter of the resistance. You can no longer avoid us on the 6 o’clock news. We are what’s going on.
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#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Minneapolis #Resistance

A Real Trans Woman, With Real Fake Nails What happens at the ends of my fingers doesn’t always stay at the end of my fingers

Despite my neophyte status in this gender, I know there are a bunch of types… acrylic, dip powder, gel, silk wraps, and full-cover tips. But my only experience is with home applied acrylics, so I’ll start and stop there.
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #Fingernails #AcrylicNails

The Thumotic Gorgon: A Sapphic Retelling of the Greek Myth of Medusa Sacrilege or sacred jealousy?

She was born of foam and sand, of waves crashing by the shore. The only mortal child of two sea gods, her family’s divinity constantly loomed over her, a storm in calm waters.
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#LGBTQ #GreekMyth #SapphicFiction #QueerFiction

Would I Push The Queer Magic Button? Err… Like a “choose your own adventure” video game, you’ve put me on the spot…

Seriously though, who would even give me this button?
I’d be very skeptical; no thank you!
I’ve read way too many stories in my life where the lesson is “you don’t get anything for free.”
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #ThoughtExperiment #Magic Button

Would I Press the Queer Magic Button To Become a Cis Woman? What about the the fine print?

It’s not as if I haven’t wished at least a million times that there was a button that could instantly transform me into a cis woman.
But but but. What about the fine print?
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#LGBTQ #Transgender #GenderStuff #ThoughtExperiment