In-Queer-ies of the Modern Gay

People always used to think that there were only two genders: male and female, and of those genders, the “normal” way to live was heterosexually. However, these ideas and definitions have been changing greatly. Generally, babies are born with either a vagina or a penis. This means the baby is biologically born as a female or a male, respectively. However, one in every 400 pregnancies results in what some call a “sex abnormality,” this means that one in every 400 babies is born with a penis AND a vagina. This child is biologically called “intersex.” At this point, the parents typically must decide whether they want their child to biologically identify as female or male, even in some cases, they may choose to have their infant operated on to remove one of their genitals. One common misconception with gender and sexuality is that they are the same thing. This is FALSE! Biological sex is how you are biologically born - what genitals you have at birth. Gender identity is how you id...

Hello friends! In complete honesty, I was planning on doing an entirely different post this week, but seeing as I injured my dominant arm earlier in the week, I had to change what I was planning on writing about, since I now type twice-as-slowly. That being said - I decided to give you a queer-dominated playlist to enjoy, with some facts about each queer artist featured. ...A "Gaylist", if you will! So please, enjoy the Spotify playlist below, accompanied by some queer-musician fun facts! Lady Gaga: It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Lady Gaga fell onto this list. She has been a strong advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights since she hit the charts in 2008. Her song, “Born This Way” has become, some may say, an LGBTQIA+ anthem for this generation. Frank Ocean: Frank Ocean has widely become known as a queer icon, being one of, if not the first openly gay rapper in this generation of LGBTQIA+ individuals. His album “Blond”, was noted for adding to the lesse...

I know that gender identity can be a tricky thing for some people to understand. But the best way to view it, I think, in question, is to think about it this way: I want you to think to yourself about what symbols, colors, or objects come to mind when I say a word - Girl. You probably thought about the color pink, doll houses, dresses, and beauty. Boy. You probably thought about the color blue, toy cars, sports, and strength. Now what made you think of these things? The answer, whether you realize it or not, is probably because we have been trained by society to believe that those things strictly belong in those categories. But what put them there in the first place? Why were they put there? The answer is completely unclear. There are more and more people defining their gender identities by the day. So, it's best for you to know what all these terms mean: The Gender Identities:       Transgender vs. Cisgender: Most of you are probably familiar ...

LGBTQIA+ rights and freedoms are one of the most popular topics in society today. It seems like every day you can scroll through Twitter and find a different celebrity sharing their "Coming Out Story". I think this is a truly beautiful thing, and I feel so blessed to live in a society where when people can reveal their truths, and they are welcomed into the Queer* community with open arms and a colorful flag of your choosing. *Don't worry, we will be discussing the use of this term Everyone should be allowed to live as exactly who they want to be, and let's be real, who honestly cares who you do or don't lay down with in bed at night? However, as the popularity of LGBTQIA+ rights continues to sky-rocket, there are probably some terms and sexualities in the community that you've never heard of or that you may be confused about. ...And that's where I come in! (A fair warning that there is a lot of sarcasm present in this article, but please don'...

Hello, friends! I hope you all are having a very gay day! My name is Ali, and I'm 21 years old, born and raised in Kansas. Right now I am in my junior year at Washburn University where I'm studying creative writing and public relations. Throughout this semester, I'll be using this blog to guide you through the ins-and-outs of LGBTQIA+ culture in modern times, while also educating you on what you need to know about LGBTQIA+ history. On a more personal note, you may be wondering why I felt the need to run an entire blog based on this topic. If you hadn't guessed by the title of this introductory post, I'm not straight. For a lot of queer people, they may say they knew from a young age that they were different; they didn't feel like they fit in the same way with their peers. While this is somewhat true in my case, for most of my life, I never second-guessed my heterosexual identity. I don't know why. This is something I'm still trying to figure out toda...