Author: Read with Pride

Let’s be real, fashion has always been a bit of a safe haven for queer creatives. From the studios of Alexander McQueen to the runways of Marc Jacobs, the industry has historically made space for us when other industries wouldn’t. But wanting to work in fashion and actually breaking in? That’s where things get interesting. …

Career in Couture: Breaking into the Fashion IndustryRead More

Here’s the thing about fashion: it’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be an extension of who you are, not a costume you wear to fit someone else’s vision of “acceptable.” And yet, for decades, queer folks have been told our fashion choices are “too much,” “too loud,” or “too gay”, as if being …

The Final Look: Why Being Yourself is the Ultimate TrendRead More

The first time Marcus reached for James’s hand during the benediction, his palm was sweating. Not from nerves about holding his boyfriend’s hand, they’d been together for two years and had survived meeting each other’s families, assembling IKEA furniture, and a truly disastrous attempt at adopting a rescue cat. No, this was different. This was …

The Open Door: A Brooklyn SanctuaryRead More

There’s something achingly beautiful about Rome at twilight: when the golden light catches the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica and the ancient stones seem to glow with a thousand whispered prayers. But for Marco and Alessandro, that beauty comes with a price: the constant weight of secrets, the careful choreography of stolen glances, and the …

Vatican Shadows: Longing in the Eternal CityRead More

The call to prayer echoes across the medina just as Youssef’s phone buzzes with a text. “Meet me at the usual place? 7pm.” His heart does that familiar flutter, half joy, half fear, that’s become as routine as the five daily prayers themselves. Welcome to part three of our Sacred Hearts series, where we’re exploring …

Minaret Whispers: Faith and Love in MarrakechRead More

When Tradition Meets Truth David’s hands trembled as he lit the Shabbat candles, the familiar prayer catching in his throat. Beside him, Amit waited quietly, his presence both comforting and terrifying. It was their first Friday evening together in David’s apartment, and the weight of centuries seemed to press against the windows of their modern …

The Sabbath Kiss: Tradition and Truth in Tel AvivRead More

There’s something about Bangkok at dawn that feels like a permission slip to start over. Maybe it’s the way saffron-robed monks move through the morning mist, their alms bowls catching the first light. Or maybe it’s the incense curling up from street-side shrines, carrying prayers you didn’t know you needed to speak. For Kiet and …

Saffron Robes and Rainbow Hearts: Love in BangkokRead More

The confessional booth smells like old wood and half-forgotten prayers. Father Miguel presses his forehead against the latticed screen, listening to Señora Herrera confess to gossiping about her neighbor’s daughter. Again. He murmurs the familiar words of absolution, but his mind is somewhere else entirely: on a smile that makes his collar feel too tight, …

Confessional Secrets: A Padre's Heart in Buenos AiresRead More

The flute calls everyone, regardless of gender, regardless of form. In the ancient stories of Krishna, the blue-skinned god doesn’t just break rules; he dances through them, laughs at them, and transforms them into something far more beautiful than rigid boundaries could ever allow. In a modest flat in Delhi’s Hauz Khas, Rohan keeps a …

The Flute's Song: Krishna and Queer Devotion in DelhiRead More

Part 7 of the Sacred Hearts series The jacaranda trees were in full bloom the first time Thabo walked through the doors of the Rainbow Church. Purple petals carpeted the pavement like a lavender blessing, and he took it as a sign. After twenty-eight years of hiding, of praying himself straight, of pretending his heart …

Under the Jacaranda: The Rainbow Church of Jo'burgRead More

Kenji’s hand found mine as we stepped through the towering torii gate at Nezu Shrine, and I felt something shift: not dramatically, but quietly, like taking off shoes you’ve worn too long. The red lacquered gate marked more than an entrance; it was a threshold between Tokyo’s relentless pulse and something older, gentler. Something that …

Kami and Kinship: Finding Peace in a Tokyo ShrineRead More

The tambourines start at 5 AM in Lagos. Not the gentle kind either: the aggressive, holy-ghost-fired-up kind that rattles through aluminum roofs and makes windows hum. By 6 AM, three different churches on Chukwudi’s street are competing for God’s attention, each one louder than the last, each congregation more convinced that volume equals virtue. Chukwudi …

Lagos Hallelujahs: Finding Grace in the NoiseRead More

When Marcus first told his grandmother he was getting married to another man in a Lutheran cathedral, she laughed, not from disbelief, but from joy. “Of course you are, älskling,” she’d said in her lilting Swedish accent. “This is Stockholm, not the dark ages.” And that, in a nutshell, is what makes Sweden’s approach to …

Northern Lights and Altar Vows: Inclusivity in StockholmRead More

When Love Hides in Plain Sight There’s something about the Greek islands that makes secrets feel both heavier and lighter at the same time. Maybe it’s the way the sea holds onto whispers, or how the narrow cobblestone streets seem to remember every footstep. In the village of Agios Nikitas, where the white-washed church of …

Incense and Iconography: A Greek Island RomanceRead More

The bells of St. Brigid’s rang out across the Dublin sky just as they had every Sunday morning for the past 147 years. But today, Cillian Murphy stood at the iron gates of his childhood parish for the first time in eighteen years, and everything felt different. His partner Eoin squeezed his hand. “We don’t …

Emerald Vows: Breaking Chains in DublinRead More

“The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” , Rumi When the Soul Recognizes Itself Mehmet first saw Kerem at the Hodjapasha Dance Theater on a February evening, when the ancient stones still …

Dervish Dreams: Spiritual Union in IstanbulRead More

There’s something about silence that either reveals everything or hides it completely. For Marcus and Owen, the quiet of the Philadelphia Friends Meeting House became the place where they could finally stop hiding. Finding Refuge in the City of Brotherly Love Philadelphia’s history with the Religious Society of Friends: the Quakers: runs deep. It’s woven …

The Silent Circle: Quaker Love in PhiladelphiaRead More

Part 17 of the Sacred Hearts series: Stories of faith, identity, and love across religions and borders The Weight of Temple Square Daniel had memorized every crack in the ceiling of his childhood bedroom. Twenty-eight years old, lying in his parents’ basement apartment in Draper, and he still knew exactly which water stain looked like …

The Salt Lake Struggle: Hope Beyond the TabernacleRead More

The wind across the Saskatchewan prairie carried memories Koda had tried to forget. Standing at the edge of his grandmother’s land, he felt the weight of twenty years pressing against his chest: twenty years since he’d left this place, this identity, this version of himself behind. He’d built a life in Vancouver. A good life. …

Spirit of the Great Plains: Two-Spirit HealingRead More

Part 18 of the Sacred Hearts series Raj had been coming to the Gurdwara in Southall since he was seven years old. He knew every corner of the building: the way the light filtered through the windows during evening prayers, the worn spot on the carpet where his grandmother used to sit, the kitchen where …

Equality at the Gurdwara: A London UnionRead More