Author: Read with Pride

readwithpride.com So you’ve seen pups at Pride, maybe caught a glimpse of someone in a hood and tail at a club, or stumbled down the internet rabbit hole and found yourself curious about puppy play. Welcome! Whether you’re a seasoned handler, a pup still finding your paws, or just exploring the edges of this playful, …

Good Boys and Consent Etiquette in the Pup WorldRead More

readwithpride.com Look, we’ve all been there, scrolling through online forums and Discord servers, wondering if there’s anyone else in your city who gets it. Puppy play might feel like this niche corner of queer culture that only exists in grainy photos from big city leather events, but here’s the truth: your local pack is probably …

Pack Mentality Building Local Queer Puppy GroupsRead More

readwithpride.com There’s this persistent myth that if you’re queer, you’ve got to pack your bags and head to the nearest metropolitan area to find your people. San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles: these cities get all the glory in our collective imagination as the only places where LGBTQ+ folks can truly thrive. But here’s the …

Rural Pride Finding Community in Small TownsRead More

readwithpride.com Let’s talk about the people who walked so we could run. The activists who showed up when showing up meant risking everything. The lovers who built lives together when the world told them they couldn’t. The queer elders who survived, thrived, and paved the way for every rainbow flag we see today. They’re the …

Silver Pride Celebrating Our LGBTQ+ EldersRead More

readwithpride.com Living at the intersection of queer and disabled identities isn’t just about navigating two worlds, it’s about existing in a space where those worlds collide, overlap, and sometimes clash in ways that create both unique challenges and unexpected beauty. For disabled LGBTQ+ folks, pride isn’t just a parade or a rainbow flag; it’s a …

Queer Disability Navigating the World with PrideRead More

readwithpride.com Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough airtime in mainstream conversations: trans masculine joy. Not struggle. Not hardship. Not the exhausting debates that seem to pop up every time we scroll through social media. Just pure, unfiltered joy. Because here’s the thing, trans masculine people are out here living their best lives, …

Trans Masculine Joy Beyond the BinaryRead More

readwithpride.com Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough airtime in our community: the messy, beautiful, complicated journey of being both queer and faithful. Because here’s the truth, you can absolutely be both, no matter what anyone has told you. For too many LGBTQ+ folks, the words “religion” and “spirituality” come with a heavy …

Faith and Rainbows Reconciling Religion and IdentityRead More

readwithpride.com Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get enough airtime in queer fiction or real life: the intersection of being out, proud, and professionally successful. Because while we’re all for the enemies-to-lovers MM romance books where the CEO falls for his assistant, the reality of LGBTQ+ folks climbing the corporate ladder is a whole different …

Pride in the Boardroom Professional Queer SuccessRead More

readwithpride.com Family doesn’t come with a one-size-fits-all blueprint. For the LGBTQ+ community, the journey to parenthood has always been creative, intentional, and beautifully diverse. Whether you’re navigating surrogacy, considering adoption, building a chosen family, or exploring co-parenting arrangements, queer parenthood is about rewriting the rules and creating families that work for you. Let’s dive into …

Queer Parenthood The Many Paths to FamilyRead More

readwithpride.com There’s something profoundly queer about loving the outdoors. Maybe it’s the freedom of standing on a mountain peak where nobody cares who you love. Maybe it’s the authenticity of a forest that accepts you exactly as you are. Or maybe it’s just that we’ve always known how to find our people in unexpected places: …

Pride in the Outdoors LGBTQ+ Nature LoversRead More

readwithpride.com Art has always been a refuge, a rebellion, and a revolution. For queer creators, it’s all three at once, a space where identity isn’t just explored but celebrated, challenged, and reimagined. From the canvas to the runway, from performance stages to woven tapestries, LGBTQ+ artists are shaping contemporary culture in ways that refuse to …

Artistic Expressions Queer Creators Shaping CultureRead More

readwithpride.com When we talk about excellence in the LGBTQ+ community, we need to spotlight the voices, stories, and lived experiences that exist at the intersection of multiple identities. Black queer excellence isn’t just about representation: it’s about recognizing the unique brilliance that emerges when people navigate the complex realities of being both Black and queer …

Intersectionality in Action Black Queer ExcellenceRead More

readwithpride.com The LGBTQ+ community has always been a kaleidoscope of identities, experiences, and expressions: but today’s youth are rewriting the rainbow in ways we’ve never seen before. They’re louder, prouder, and infinitely more diverse than any generation before them. From gender-fluid teens in Tokyo to Two-Spirit activists in Canada, from non-binary creatives in Berlin to …

Youthful Spirit The Next Generation of PrideRead More

readwithpride.com There’s something profoundly powerful about refusing to fit into boxes that were never meant to hold you. For non-binary people around the world, that’s not just a philosophy, it’s a daily reality, a form of resistance, and honestly? It’s pure brilliance. Living outside the binary isn’t about rejection for the sake of it. It’s …

Non Binary Brilliance Living Outside the BoxRead More

readwithpride.com The morning Thabo decided to tell his family, Table Mountain was wrapped in its famous tablecloth of clouds. He took it as a sign: the mountain was hiding too, just like he’d been doing for the past three years. At seventeen, he’d practiced this moment a hundred times in the mirror, but none of …

Coming Out in Cape TownRead More

readwithpride.com Seventeen-year-old Haruto didn’t know what to expect when he first stepped into the community space run by Nijiizu. He’d found the organization online after midnight one evening, scrolling through his phone while his parents slept in the next room. The website promised a safe space for young people aged 10 to 23 who identify …

Growing Up Queer in KyotoRead More

readwithpride.com Lucas had always known that Rio de Janeiro was a city of color. The way the sunlight hit the favelas on the hillside, painting them in shades of pink and orange at dawn. The electric blue of the ocean stretching endlessly beyond Copacabana. The explosion of green from Tijuca Forest creeping into the urban …

A Rainbow Over RioRead More

readwithpride.com I was fifteen when I first whispered the words out loud in my tiny bedroom overlooking Rue des Martyrs. “Je suis gay.” The city lights of Montmartre flickered outside my window like they were winking at me, telling me everything would be okay. But at that moment, with my heart racing and my hands …

Finding My Pride in ParisRead More

readwithpride.com Seventeen-year-old Marcus Chen watched the morning light filter through the Brooklyn apartment windows, catching the rainbow flag pin on his backpack. Outside, the 7 train rumbled past with its familiar rhythm: the soundtrack to every morning in Woodside, Queens. His mom was already on her second coffee, scrolling through her phone while his younger …

The New Normal in New YorkRead More

readwithpride.com Berlin has always been a city of courage: from its tumultuous history to its vibrant, unapologetically queer present. But some of the bravest hearts aren’t making headlines or walking red carpets. They’re sitting at kitchen tables, taking deep breaths, and finding the words to tell their families who they really are. This is the …

Brave Hearts in BerlinRead More