Columnists and Letters

Read op-eds, thoughts, reflections, and opinions on LGBT subjects and life in general.

Paul Hagen

Editor Paul Hagen Asks: Does Anyone Ever Outgrow Childhood — Or its Artifacts?

Looking at the walls of my home today — generously sprinkled with framed photos, prints, posters and the like — it’s strange to remember a time when I didn’t own a single...

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Kevin Phinney

First on Your Travel List: Know When to Go Commando

Kevin is anxious to find time to enjoy Amsterdam’s less-family-friendly pleasures, but ends up finding a state of freedom more total than he bargained for. That Amsterdam would...

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Wade Rouse

Wade Rouse Asks: If Clothes Make the Man or Woman, Can They Unmake a Vacation?

Wade and his pal Trish spend a year planning to look fabulous on vacation, only to end up arriving without a thing for her to wear. The four of us stood in silence as the luggage...

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Paul Hagen

Lessons Learned: Visting Relatives Can Make A Gay Wedding Even More Gay

When I was a freshman in high school, my then-best-friend Pete had an older sister who was (more-or-less openly) a lesbian. It was something that he and I joked about: I suppose...

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Wade Rouse

And . . . Voilá! Wade Rouse Explains His Pen Name of Viola Shipman

When Wade begins writing fiction under a female pen name, he’s forced to consider what womanhood means to him. “What’s he doing up there? Where’s Viola? That’s a man!”...

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committee

Design by Committee

David lands on a committee to redesign a lobby, and chaos ensues. My most memorable experience working with interior designers came in the course of doing volunteer work. I’d...

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valentines mailbox

Diary: Love, Wade

Wade remembers crafting a valentine mailbox in school that attracted the attentions of a fellow student who liked him — and a bully who did not. In my grade school, it was...

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Wade Rouse

Dark Blue Marcia

Wade regretted lying to the women who helped him pass as straight over the years — until one of them asked for help in return. A beard is any person who — with or without...

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david dean bottrell

“You Love Me?”

David looks at a life through the eyes of a person he loves: his outspoken, gay, octagenarian neighbor, who is still very much alive and loving. My 85-year-old neighbor, Bernie,...

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Paul Hagen

My Night of Surprises with Frances McDormand and Shakespeare

It did not start out as a good night. my then-boyfriend Jonathan and I had fallen into a pattern of fighting — particularly about whether we were spending more social time with...

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Kevin Phinney

Kevin Phinney Finds A Meaning for Christmas All His Own

After a childhood of unhappy holidays, Kevin wasn’t sure why people people said that Christmas was for kids — until one child brought out the kid in him again....

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Wade Rouse

Puppy Love Brings Wade an Unexpected Yuletide Gift

Wade is convinced Gary has gone too far with an unexpected holiday gift for his parents, but their reaction turns out to be the real surprise. “No!” I said to Gary and the dog...

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