Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Pride.
A Bulldog in a Rainbow Cape. Runner-Up in Pride Under Pressure Challenge.
The morning I walked out of the house in that white denim jacket and tight black jeans, I felt like the most flamboyant gay man ever. I was ready to dip on stage and take it right up the ass (figuratively, of course). On the way home though, the aggressively protective masc dyke came out to play and I was ready to punch out a light if needed.
By Oneg In The Arctic8 months ago in Pride
My Personhood is Not Political. Runner-Up in Pride Under Pressure Challenge.
I came out of the closet as nonbinary for the first time to my best friend, then to my parents. Shortly after, I came out again, to my sister. Then to my other siblings. And I’m still coming out, on a regular basis, to this day.
By Raistlin Allen8 months ago in Pride
Accept who you are, respect where you have been, and expect how to get where you are going.
Pride holds two polar opposite meanings. Pride, defined as unreasonable self-esteem and haughtiness isone of the deadly sins. In contrast, pride is also considered a deep-seated, dignified and noble gift of grace, that offers a feeling of satisfaction associated with time, place and circumstances or people.
By Katherine D. Graham8 months ago in Pride
Brutal ignorance: A lethal confinement!
SID was a crucible of the AI era. He was at a point where old ways and the most things that went with that, held him a hostage to a strange kind of falsehood . He was savagely incongruous and tensely tired of chiming with the inner chorus of his mind. Ironically, he felt utterly absent in his body and paying sustained focus on self, was making him uncomfortable. The essence of his impulse was being called out into an oblivion and a dissociation with self was impinging upon him. Something like : I am this or was I That; I could be there, or why am I here. Thereby, strongly led by his unconscious mind he was irrepressibly sensing a defeat. And, somehow, the brewing tension and confusion was showering hard on him. And one day, he hung himself down in loathsomeness. His self-deprecating rage gave full vent into his feelings. He was unable to understand the “whys,” behind such a conflation rendered unto his soul. Alarmingly he was least suspicious of the underlying basic design —intolerably —erasing his sovereignty over himself. All his tender emotions towards friends and family seemed withdrawn. He was caught up in the worldly strife. Shocked that such a thing could enter his mind, he vehemently tried to banish them. It was of no avail. Something forced a conviction upon him and it started taking control over his senses. He was pursuing a code of conduct and trying to tell a doleful tale. Since childhood he had barely survived taking any appeal through the humdrum of daily life. Characteristically, his feelings casted a doubt on every corner of life and, every now and then, a fury accorded out of no where, pressing hard upon him. In an impulse of editing himself, he had battled his soul to meet a happier version of self. Day in and day out, amid many juggling dialects, he had dramatically reshaped himself and many a times subjected self to an intense scrutiny. One dreadful day he had led his ego-identity lead the way. He caught the last glimmer of hope casted by the early rays of the dawn, and with weeping eyes tried putting an end to his life. The gloomy weather ,upon his supposed departure, seemed to arrest the pathways of Heaven, making the atmosphere even more darker. It seemed ,as though, he wanted to fly like a bird. Perhaps a final farewell would put an end to the mortal dilemmas of fitting in and been taken as a gaming stock. He thought to himself. For a considerable time he appeared wholly at loss. Thereabouts his parents sought him a companion with the hope that the union in marriage would procure him peace. Being angry with dependence his impatience grew and he started alienating himself further. Suffice to say, SID found himself suffering more duly along that good grace of obedience. He was a melancholic victim to a self imposed annihilation, so to say. He knew suicide was a sin but he couldn’t stop himself. The last time he attempted that horrid vile was a month ago. Then he senselessly popped pills to induce another attempt at self sacrifice. Yet again, somehow, his emotions kept the sparkle in his eyes alive. He didn’t die. Then, unwilling to do anything else, he attempted to gain control over his feeble mind. Some time after, he sought the advice of a neurosurgeon who set him down for a thorough inspection through an AI awakening device. He was promised that his shining qualities would emerge and very soon he would be intuitively modified. And so, given the prospect of high spirits, SID admitted himself sanatarium run by an AI neurosurgeon called Steve. Years had passed since SID and Steve had last met. Steve had moved on to become a neurosurgeon. Major part of his scientific research had focused on crafting biological robots to bring about mind and body synthesis. Now he was part of a unique project wherein —breakthroughs were being made in gender transitions. He had set up a lab. It was a sort of a mind observatory simulated under AI technologies that would track every thought down to its subcellular neuronal levels. The neurosurgeon analyzed the brain 🧠 with high-throughput automated microscopy. And with those spyglasses, the AI system bionically ( with the help of nano ( tiny,) anthrobots) tracked every single-cells’ multi-mechanics to lay out a quick sequence of the workflow at molecular levels. This information was sought and manipulated for corrective purposes. It was more towards “mind-body,” rehabilitation. The age of AI, with its quantum leap into futuristic technologies, was meant to remodel thought structures, in itself. Past many years had been a time of trial for SID but this year was bringing sudden surprises. SID landed up at Steve’s lab. He undressed quickly and got into bed,hoping to meet the neurosurgeon soon. And if an effect was to meet premonition : a change was to come over his mind and body. SID, an 40 year old man, arrived at the lab recounting triumph through all his miseries. He had gotten tired of complaining and so he preferred a tight lipped stance. He didn’t cry yet, but he thought to himself teary eyed -“Why am I bearing all this?” He appeared grim and sullen. “Oh no, this is a trap of the flesh and soul,” he thought. Then, in a moment too soon, Steve arrived. Looking at him, SID curled up in the corner, trembling like a leaf that had dropped off from its tree. He sat alone in his room, waiting for the next event to unfold. Very soon a nurse entered the room and connected SID’s brain 🧠 with electrodes. Every neural signal emerging in SID’s brain was traced, tracked and control by Steve, then on. Very soon SID’s mind lapsed into a rapt recall of a distant memory when he and his partner Steve had posed for a Vogue magazine in its special edition titled : Gender transitioning is a mastery over the consciousness ; a priority for many. That all happened in high school but now … with that thought trigger, a complete universe with trillions of thoughts, desires and sensations streamed instantly. Everything silently got mixed up but, it all reverberated on many levels and initiated a uneasiness in SID. He felt like a helpless human trapped in his body. His melancholy had more hidden layers emerging thro’ the recesses of his mind. His thoughts switched and he got reminded of a 📖 book that he had read in high school. It was titled: Being cared for: a sheer feminine whim of a lonely heart. It was about childbirth which gave account of an acute melancholia faced by a young mother after the birth of her baby. All the while he had taken it to be a female whim. He didn’t really understand the immense loneliness of giving one’s all —risking one’s life to create an entity which didn’t really understand what had happened with its mom. Neither the baby nor anyone else c’d know what maternity could face during labor. A change in identity! Also further to that effect, birthing in places where the surroundings felt uncomfortable, the mother could feel anxiously alert; causing her to intently look at the external than the internal feels of her own body. Perhaps SID was beginning to feel the same kind of sensations. He felt pretty worried as he had stopped talking to Steve ever since high school. But once again, SID felt the pull of those haunting harmonies come back to him. “Thought policing--- who would do that?” He thought to himself. Many had died--of that, and the ordinary were not aware that thought policing did exist. And that was the reticence of the AI age into which SID and Steve had found their relationship. SID found himself squandering. Some technical catchy snags were distorting SID’s persona and that meant his whereabouts were increasingly getting switched. A stern self , a stubborn tormentor was crackling like a mockingbird within him. A slow chuckle was shifting the harmony of his thought patterns and those sub-patterns fascinatingly were transforming into an inward insight. A span of time too vast to imagine was all encompassing. That is what was strangely leading him into an estrangement. It was an obvious evolution on earth. Perhaps! But alongside such discoveries. many were dying succumbing to genetic mutations. Prevalence of cancer was not a happenstance , it was a product of inbreeding within cells. Brains were ,as if, panning and swelling through channels and signaling in and around AI generated provocation. This was adding to extra-ordinary supra human ( anthrobotic,) skills in some. Given, in that scene -- a bizarre set of aliens (shapeless in forms,) were also evolving. And within those times of perpetual elasticity, SID found himself drifting towards Steve. And with outposts blossoming like a scum over the elemental mod-podgy-gooey amalgam, a strange species of mankind was evolving into action in the cosmic night of nature. Both SID and Steve, in their own nature, were staged upon a brink of impersonal landscape and the real gossip hound were —they themselves, turning within. That's why the once known adage—“ know thyself,” was turning into a thought fallacy. One had to be careful about asking anything out of the ordinary to manifest. It was like an imprinting over the mind of people—so deep ingrained, so painfully annoying, and so passionately weaved into their beings. Minds were getting sophisticated and instantaneously humans were getting transformed into trans-mutated organic systems. With a trance-like state passed--over and above the souls, many were relying on their own electro-magnetic and echolocation in the realm of quantum biomechanics. Unimaginable! But it was happening. The unmanned hospital 🏥 was NOT truly unmanned. A secret.... All this was the grace of generative AI era. Anything could rise and be invisible to SID. Steve was part of bringing about —those Gender changes. It had become a part of living. All his endeavors had almost turned into a shape shifting phenomena. And such continual conversions were becoming more and more visible to be seen. A new age of evolution had unfolded. A sort of tangible world mixed with the invisible. Alongside, agitations were signaling off of their own native nature, and that was leading into conflicts. SID and Steve tried hard to control their emotions. But new form and habitats were having an influence over their psyche. It was a take over. Now only prayers could save the emotional niche of their dwindling entities seeping in the emerging frailties of time. However, on the flip side, SID was about to witness a unique marvel. He was admitted into a core building which was about to get remodeled into a scum pond whereby, the nearby airwaves and cosmic nets were to bring about a change in him. It was far more advanced—a gender change. It was like a seismic shift. In seeing and witnessing that, one could realize as to how deliriously quirky the evolution had been--ever since. But where was he in this gamut of things. SID wondered?! Bizarre traits and personalities were evolving and he had to cope with that sort of transformation. It was like a transcendence or transmigration. His personal existence was expanding in many elaborate ways?! Yes, modern life had threatened his identity. Imagine living in the gleams of time between eternities and being consciously aware of the glorious accidents of birth and rebirth to make the actual individual,obsolete. That was the grace of being born in an era with “anthrobots,” controlling minds subliminally. This is a tale signifying a perpetual folding and unfolding of cause and effects schemes. A planetarium like remodeler dome-halls were springing up and therein all secrets lay. It was like the effects of isolation --diverging from the mainstream mankind and everything was evolving into a weird genetic dialect. Voluntary breathe control was a potent survival strategy wherein logics prevailed at a different level of consciousness. This time was unique in itself. SID was a uniquely evolved creature himself. With insight into his destiny he had absorbed the phenomena with full frenzy. He was in many ways relishing this and was now headed towards transition. He was about to vanish due to the human folly. Some snared by others on a competing mainland ground of survival . A saga that roared life forming in the midst of the globalization , nationalism and protectionism in the whole gamut of experiencing human being or humans as beings. A unique kind of battle --a battle of "hastings" was on the rise at the sanatorium. Beings like magnetic poles were either attracting each other or pushing each other apart. A kaleidoscopic phenomena of co-geling was boomeranging on a curved stick used to flow through life's fittings. A fatal complaint and apparently contagious scheme of things were drawing people towards it. Who thought--- a tragedy was to emerge or was it a comedy of errors. Could it be a play of passion, all out, to make something big for humanity. A different species, with different minds and matter in its compositional level, was hell bent upon doing things differently ... It was a bit of stellar matter going wrong. Bodies— like physical machineries were being held like puppets. With machines making a running commentary upon the gabby brain, minds were threateningly unraveling everything ahead of time.... SID was jabbering all day long in a prophesy. No, he wasn’t in sorcery. His mind was in shards —wherein, he was caught up in the grand human saga of making associations and glancing through—as though—in one single eye gulp. His brain time wasn't human brain time. Offbeat by design, humans were getting ahead of themselves while sensing things. This was turning into a dicey situation. Rebellion was about to ignite controversy...It was percolating into choices. The severity and urgency of matters were to be handled in full repertoire of ways... There were amoral costs and benefits making a loud veto. A free will brain was at stake. New AI era was a communion of a new form and norm. A resurrection was being built upon decisions. But deceits were equally coming up as puzzled cues..... We’ve all seen that silence slowly creeping up. The kind of silence that isn’t peace, but asking for protection. The kind that says, “I don’t trust the world to hold me anymore.” SID had been dwelling in similar silence for quite many years. And now, time had come! Time had come for the big release … He wanted to “come out, “ of those cringing thoughts and feel free SID sought treatment – where his fluctuating hormones were stabilized and a surgery was imminent. Finally, SID transitioned into the sex with which he identified himself. It was male to female (MtF)transitioning. With that …evidently, SID had finally arrived. © ✍️ Madhu Goteti, June 5th, 2025
By Madhu Goteti 8 months ago in Pride
What is a kiss?
So, I have an interesting experience with pride. Because I've reached this point in my life where I've never been in a relationship. And I always wondered about myself. Why it has taken so long for me to be in a relationship with somebody romantic, not necessarily sexual.
By Amelia Ruth Thompson8 months ago in Pride
Queer Grove Podcast
Groups that have been discriminated against, ostracized, and persecuted need a safe haven. For example, the Green Book was a guidebook for African American roadtrippers. It was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African American postal worker from New York City, and was published annually from 1936 to 1966. This was during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against African Americans, mainly, and other non-whites was widespread.
By Frank Racioppi8 months ago in Pride
The Room at the End of the Hall
The house had too many windows. Ezra had counted them once, forty-two, not including the small one in the attic. Light poured in from every side, but somehow, the place still felt shadowed. Maybe it wasn't the house that was dark. Perhaps it was the weight he brought in with him.
By Robert Lacy8 months ago in Pride
I Claim my Identity
Other than the boys I played poker with at school, my only other friend was Cindy. I went to Cindy’s house a couple of times every week. I had a crush on Cindy ever since we were in kindergarten. Cindy and I were born on the same day and best friends. Her mom was friendly.
By Mindy Reed8 months ago in Pride
The Quiet Half. Runner-Up in Pride Under Pressure Challenge.
If you’re reading this, maybe you’re carrying something quiet too. Maybe it’s a part of yourself you didn’t recognize until much later in life. Maybe you’ve built a whole life, a good life, only to realize there’s a version of you still standing in the doorway, waiting to be let in.
By Kat The Girl8 months ago in Pride
Where OUT Still Means Outcast
She lifted her top without ceremony, without shame. I hadn’t asked her to. I’d only asked why she left the refugee camp—where, despite the heat and dust and overcrowding, she could access food, water, and basic medical care. I thought it was a fair question. I thought, perhaps, she would say she was lonely. That she wanted more freedom. I thought I was being kind.
By Edward Romain8 months ago in Pride
