Kiki Shu created Always & Forever, the warm, mustard-backed cover art for this issue. According to Shu, the artwork is “a digital illustration made with a limited, layered color palette; it was drawn on an iPad in Procreate.” I asked the artist some questions to learn more about their illustration and art practice. What were […]
When the Motif editors invited me to help put together an issue for Pride month, I was initially doubtful. Don’t get me wrong – I was flattered that they liked my weird, rough-around-the-edges short story collection enough to reach out, much less to imagine me (full of ADHD and whatever is the opposite of prolific-ness) […]
I was 19 years old, a year on hormones, when Max Spit advised me to change my name on my ID if I wanted, but never my gender. “If I go to prison,” he said, explaining why his license still had his birth-assigned F, “and it says I’m male, I’ll be raped until I die.” […]
June may be a great time for smooching (etc. etc.), but a lot of us gays are out here desperately seeking friends! Luckily, Rhode Island has many opportunities for would-be BFFs and for any queer (or queer-friendly) looking to commune with like minds. It’s all about figuring out which piece of the LGBTQ+ fruit salad […]
The following article is derived from an interview with Lyric Sullivan, a PVD resident currently majoring in art history at MassArt who has a deep interest in what symbols and iconography mean within an historical context. In the 1970s, at the request of Harvey Milk, artist, activist, and organizer Gilbert Baker was asked to create […]
As the Israeli military continues to carry out its violent assault on Rafah — where over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering — queer and trans Jews organising for a free Palestine in Providence take to the streets and speak out: There can be no Pride while the state of Israel continues its campaign of […]
“Are you choking on the vomit of consumerist ‘gay pride?’— Darling spit that shit out — Gay shame is the answer.” So reads a hand-written flyer produced by the Gay Shame movement in San Francisco in the 2000s, according to author and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore on FoundSF.org, a San Francisco digital history archive I […]
Wanderground Lesbian Archive & Library A note from Wanderground Lesbian Archive & Library: “Wanderground collects and provides access to a broad selection of New England-based publications, artifacts, and personal memorabilia from the period 1950-2000. They offer community gathering spaces in order to preserve the vibrant past of local Lesbians, encourage present-day learning and discovery, and […]
I first met Samantha (not her real name) in late 2019, mere months before the pandemic would cause perpetual change and adaptation. At the time, a career promotion left me with some free time and a desire to give back. I had coached Little League in the summer and handed out backpacks in the autumn […]
We’re John Kotula and Anthony DiPietro. A mutual friend put us together. We’re both writers who celebrate Pride. For several weeks we have been in dialogue by text, email, phone, and once over coffee. John Kotula: Anthony has a new book of poetry, kiss & release, which looks at relationships and sex, drawing on his […]