Browsing Category

Health+Wellness

Skin Hunger: Navigating Disabled Sexuality in Quarantine

Posted on December 11, 2020
A photo of a queer, disabled person.

By Jaxson Benjamin Author’s Note: This article space centers disabled sexuality because, for the most part, we are left out of the conversation. The narratives around disability and sexuality frequently regard us as partial, lacking in sexuality, or not whole people. Rewriting sexual scripts around disability means centering the lived experiences of people with disabilities.  Does that mean that you if you don’t identify as disabled that you aren’t welcome here?  You are very welcome, whether you live with a…

Continue Reading

The ‘I Like to Move It Movement’: Move Your Body to Support LGBTQ Youth

Posted on October 12, 2020
A photo of I Like to Move It Movement instructors.

Nate Herrington is creating a fitness movement—one that’s inclusive, gets people on their feet, and gives people something to walk away with (a badge of honor on their hearts, and maybe a little sweat on their yoga mats). Herrington is the founder of the I Like to Move It Movement, a 21-day fundraiser that anyone can do from home. The fundraiser—benefitting Houston LGBTQ-focused non-profits Tony’s Place and Out for Education—has a lofty, but achievable, goal of $30,000.…

Continue Reading

Earth Toned: New Black, Queer-Owned Wellness Shop Promotes Holistic Healing

Posted on October 8, 2020
A photo of Donavyn Hightower, owner of Earth Toned.

Holistic wellness is a journey—one that Donavyn Hightower knows well. Born and (mostly) raised in Houston, Hightower, a proud pansexual, Black woman and psychology major at the University of Houston, has long been passionate about spirituality and astrology. She is now seeking to help guide others toward better mental health and healing through her new online wellness shop, Earth Toned, whose slogan is “Bigger, Brighter, Inclusive.”…

Continue Reading

Changing the Game: Trans Athletes and the Fight for Inclusion

Posted on September 11, 2020
A photo of Changing the Game.

A political war is being waged against transgender Americans, and young trans athletes are caught in the crossfire. Mack Beggs is one of four transgender athletes featured in Changing the Game, a documentary that profiles the lives of young trans athletes in an effort to raise awareness about the complexity surrounding the transphobic policies that transgender high school athletes are forced to navigate just to compete. “I think it’s many things at once,” Alex Schmider, associate director of transgender representation at…

Continue Reading

What is Queer Trauma?

Posted on July 8, 2020
A photo of queer trauma.

I’m standing in line to check out at my local grocery store. COVID-19 is breathing down my neck: as an entity, as a presence, as an atmosphere. Behind my homemade fabric face mask and my meticulously sanitized disposable gloves, I’m buying two weeks of groceries for my queer household. …

Continue Reading

Stay Active, Even If Only For Your Mental Health

Posted on April 8, 2020
A photo of physical and mental health during quarantine.

I must disclaim that I am in no way a health and fitness professional, I am a city boy who likes to be out in the city and a gym bunny who enjoys the rush of a good workout. What ever am I doing during the lockdown, then? Let me lay out some workarounds that have been good to me, physically and mentally. Perhaps, if you’re looking to get your own endorphins flowing (whether you’re a gym regular or not),…

Continue Reading

Finding Relief: Calming Anxiety and Self-Doubt in the Time of COVID-19

Posted on April 2, 2020
A photo of relief in COVID-19.

What a crazy time we find ourselves in. March has ended (finally!) and, in just a single month, the world has changed in ways we won’t fully realize for years and decades to come. Lives have been forever altered, destroyed, or lost completely. And now the ways in which we interact with one another, the best practices in every sector, the systems that are supposed to be there when we needed a safety net, and the planet we live on…

Continue Reading

Let’s Stop HIV Together: Reflections on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Posted on February 7, 2020
A photo of fighting HIV.

I’ve had the great fortune of spending most of my life doing work in community. But my passion didn’t originally stem from wanting to change the world; it came from the desire to save myself. At age 20, I was introduced to the idea of sex work, a line of work I would ultimately participate in for years to come. When I entered the industry, and therefore began having numerous sexual partners, my mentors and friends stressed to me the…

Continue Reading

Tarot and Astrology: Tools for Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

Posted on February 5, 2020

There are very few queers I know who haven’t dabbled in astrology or Tarot at some point. Beyond apps like Co-Star, The Pattern, or Galaxy Tarot, these divinations create opportunities to re-frame and reorient ourselves in the face of uncertainty. They provide space for us to get still and quiet, and to ask ourselves what we really want, what we really believe, and who we really are. …

Continue Reading