The Pride 30

At The Rumpus we pride ourselves (ha!) on celebrating queer voices year-round. Genuine inclusion has always been a guiding principle for this magazine and Debbie and I are proud to continue publishing in that tradition.

In recent years, younger people have reached out to me to get my advice as a “queer elder.” The first few times this happened I instantly bristled (pure vanity) but also felt a frisson of excitement. I love dispensing advice and I love being fifty-one and I love being seen as an elder in the queer community. This isn’t the first time my being an elder (A VERY YOUNG ELDER) has come up but each time someone refers to me as such, I go through the same cycle and eventually arrive at understanding what a privilege it is to age, particularly when you are queer.

So many of the queer people in my generation simply did not survive the cruelties of this world, the callous indifference of this country toward the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, and the bigotries of various administrations who either were silent about the issues facing queer people or actively hostile and doing everything in their power to eradicate us. Their bigoted efforts were and always will be in vain because queer people have always been a part of this world. We always will be a part of this world. And we show up in many different, vibrant ways. We live our lives as best we can. Sometimes, we’re out and proud. Sometimes, we can’t risk being out but we love who we love as best we can. We raise children or we become gunkles and gaunts and we create chosen families. We march in Pride parades and dyke marches. We hang pride flags outside our windows until the weather wears them to tatters. We put bumper stickers on our cars or office doors or laptop covers. We wear rainbow vests and hats and shoes and pins. We seek each other out in bars and night clubs and at soccer matches and WNBA games. We show up when and where and how we can. And when we tell our stories, we do so in unique and memorable ways.

For this year’s Pride Month, we have selected thirty pieces from our archives to highlight the many LGBTQIA+ writers who have contributed to The Rumpus over the years. Among these pieces, you will find a range of the amazing work we publish in fiction, criticism, essays, and interviews. We hope you enjoy what you find in this list. And if you’re looking for a way to support The Rumpus, you can do so with a membership that helps support our efforts, pay our staff, and pay writers well. You can find membership options HERE. And if you sign up for a Rumpus membership during the month of June, you will also receive a black Rumpus bandana (IYKYK).

Happy Pride and happy reading! Taste the rainbow, if you will.

1. The Turning of Celestial Bodies by Jinwoo Chong 
2. Rules by Bryan Washington
3. Grace by Brandon Taylor
4. Bye, Baby by Melissa Febos
5. Fiction roundtable with Deesha Philyaw, Torrey Peters, and more  
6.  Self Made Man #32 by Thomas Page McBee
7.  VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Samantha Irby, by Deesha Philyaw
8. My Son’s Tutu by Allyson McCabe
9. Lessons from a Life: Alexander Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, by Latanya Mcqueen
10. Eros of Mind: Notes on Researching a Novel by Caro De Robertis
11.  Felt Space by Lee Anderson
12. No Straight Lines: A Collection of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall
13. The Queer Syllabus: “The Outing” by James Baldwin by Denne Michele Norris
14. The Weight of Our Living: On Hope, Fire Escapes, and Visible Desperation by Ocean Vuong
15. Boy’s Club by Edgar Gomez 
16.  An Other Man by Alejandro Varela
17. Field Medicine by Claire Rudy Foster
18. We Do Not Belong Everywhere by Max Delsohn
19.  Heat by Shaan Amin
20.  Everyone You Meet Is God in Drag by Robert Julius 
21. Pigeon Manifesto by Michelle Tea
22. Tyler by June Glass
23.  Making it by Krys Malcolm Belc 
24. Casket Sharp by Saeed Jones and How Men Fight for Their Lives by Saeed Jones
25. Self-possession by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
26. I Like My Oatmeal Lumpy, or How I Came To Rap The Humpty Dance in front of New York’s Literary Elite by Marie-Helene Bertino
27. My Mother, My Daughter by Samantha Irby 
28. Poetry by Zefyr Lisowkski 
29. Star Champions by Venita Blackburn 
30. Loving Renee Back by Cavar