Category: Read with Pride – LGBTQ+ blogs and articles

When Secrets Bind Stronger Than Blood There are stories that slip beneath your skin like ink, stories where longing becomes legacy, where the past refuses to stay silent, and where family lines blur into something altogether more dangerous and true. Legacy of Longing explores the fragile, electric space between step-son and step-father when hidden journals …

Legacy of LongingRead More

EXPLORE MM ROMANCE WITH COMPLEX FAMILY DYNAMICS AT READ WITH PRIDE – Your destination for authentic gay fiction exploring the boundaries of love, family, and desire. The Absence That Shapes Us Every boy without a father carries an echo: a hollow space that shapes how he moves through the world. That absence becomes a lens …

Echoes of the Father: When Father-Figure Becomes Forbidden DesireRead More

Understanding Shared Secrets in Blended Families In the complex landscape of modern LGBTQ+ family dynamics, some of the most profound connections form in unexpected places. When two people living under the same roof discover they share a secret about their sexuality: unknown to the rest of the family: a unique bond emerges. This is the …

A Mirror in the HallRead More

Understanding Different Forms of Desire in Blended Families EXCLUSIVE READER OFFER: Explore complex family dynamics and MM romance in our collection at Read with Pride. Sign up today for immediate access to emotional, authentic LGBTQ+ fiction. In blended families with same-sex parents, we often assume automatic understanding. Two mothers raising a son, surely they understand …

The Anchor: When Step-Family Becomes Your Safe HarborRead More

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Explore Complex Family Dynamics in MM Romance 20% OFF select titles featuring blended family narratives. Browse our collection of gay romance books exploring forbidden attraction, step-family tension, and psychological depth at readwithpride.com/store/dickfergusonwriter. The Psychology of Idolization and Desire When a young man raised by two mothers encounters his new step-father’s son, the carefully …

Shattered PedestalsRead More

Exclusive MM Romance Collections Available Now at ReadWithPride.com Discover compelling gay fiction exploring forbidden bonds, family dynamics, and cultural identity. Browse MM romance books featuring outsider narratives with complex family structures and intense emotional depth. Current offers: Sign up for the Read with Pride newsletter to receive exclusive discounts on LGBTQ+ ebooks featuring themes of …

The OutsiderRead More

EXCLUSIVE READER OFFER: Explore complex MM romance narratives with emotional depth at Read with Pride. Browse our curated collection of gay fiction that challenges boundaries and explores authentic queer experiences. The Modern Blended Family: Where Love Gets Complicated In 2026, family structures have evolved beyond traditional definitions. Two dads. Two moms. Step-brothers. Step-parents. The modern …

Tangled Roots: When Family Lines Blur and Forbidden Attraction Takes HoldRead More

readwithpride.com Look, when someone tells you there’s nothing new under the sun when it comes to queer history, just point them toward Benedetta Carlini. This seventeenth-century Italian abbess was out here having mystical visions, running a convent like a boss, and carrying on a passionate love affair with another nun, all while the Catholic Church …

Improper Acts: The Life and Loves of Benedetta CarliniRead More

readwithpride.com History has a funny way of trying to hide the queer stories, doesn’t it? We’re told that medieval convents were these austere, silent places where women dedicated their lives solely to God. But tucked away in dusty manuscripts and hidden in the margins of ancient texts, there’s a different story, one filled with longing, …

Love in the Cloister: The Secret Letters of Medieval NunsRead More

readwithpride.com Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention in LGBTQ+ history: the nunnery. Yeah, you heard that right. Behind those ancient stone walls and beneath those modest habits, countless queer women found something radical, freedom. For centuries, when society demanded that every woman must marry a man, bear his children, and submit …

Safe Havens: Nunneries as Sanctuaries for Queer LoveRead More

readwithpride.com Imagine being trapped in a convent at fifteen, your entire life mapped out by your family, prayers, silence, and a lifetime of servitude. Now imagine saying “absolutely not” and breaking out to become one of the most legendary soldiers in Spanish colonial history. That’s exactly what Catalina de Erauso did in 1607, and her …

Beyond the Habit: The Bold Life of Catalina de ErausoRead More

readwithpride.com Picture this: It’s 1760, and Denis Diderot just penned one of the most scandalous novels about convent life that would make even modern readers blush. The Nun (La Religieuse) wasn’t just another tale of religious devotion gone wrong, it was a full-blown exposé of forbidden lesbian desires, psychological torture, and the hypocrisy festering behind …

Forbidden Desires: The Reality Behind Diderot’s ‘The Nun’Read More

readwithpride.com Behind the thick stone walls of 17th-century Spanish convents, where silence was golden and obedience was law, women found ways to love each other. These weren’t just friendships: they were intense, passionate bonds that the Church nervously called “particular friendships.” And when Sister Feliciana de San Jose’s relationships with her fellow nuns caught the …

Under the Inquisition: The Trials of Sister FelicianaRead More

readwithpride.com Behind the stone walls and stained glass windows of Victorian convents, something fascinating was happening. While society outside obsessed over propriety and scandal, nuns were forming deep, emotionally charged bonds that today we’d recognize as intensely romantic: yet at the time were simply called “particular friendships.” These relationships existed in a fascinating gray area …

Victorian Veils: Romantic Friendships in the ConventRead More

readwithpride.com Behind the cloistered walls of convents around the world, something remarkable has been happening. Women who dedicated their lives to God have been discovering another kind of devotion, one that doesn’t fit neatly into the vows they took. These are the stories of modern ex-nuns who left their religious orders to pursue the women …

Leaving the Order: Modern Love Stories of Ex-NunsRead More

readwithpride.com The Church has always had a thing about controlling who loves whom, how, and when. But while most people know about the persecution of gay men throughout history, there’s a lesser-known story hiding in dusty ecclesiastical archives: the Church’s obsessive documentation of women’s intimate relationships, especially within religious communities. For centuries, Church authorities didn’t …

Regulating Love: The Church’s Records of Female IntimacyRead More

readwithpride.com History loves a good escape story. Whether it’s prisoners tunneling out of medieval dungeons or lovers fleeing disapproving families, there’s something universally thrilling about breaking free. But what about when the escapees are two nuns, bound by vows of chastity and obedience, who decide that their devotion to each other matters more than the …

The Great Escape: A 14th-Century Tale of Two NunsRead More

readwithpride.com When we talk about LGBTQ+ history, we usually focus on the modern era, Stonewall, marriage equality, Pride parades. But queer people have always existed, even in the most unlikely places. Like, say, the Vatican in the 11th century. Meet Pope Benedict IX, possibly the most scandalous pope in the entire history of the Catholic …

The Three-Time Pope: Benedict IX and the Scandals of the VaticanRead More

readwithpride.com When we think about LGBTQ+ history, medieval saints probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. But hidden in the archives of ecclesiastical correspondence lies some of the most passionate, intimate writing ever penned between men, and it’s all perfectly preserved in the official records of the Catholic Church. Meet Saint Anselm of …

Sacred Bonds: The Intimate Letters of Saint AnselmRead More

readwithpride.com If you think modern scandals are wild, buckle up for one of the most jaw-dropping stories from Vatican history. We’re talking about Pope Julius III, a 16th-century pontiff who decided that the best use of his papal power was to make his teenage companion a Cardinal. Yes, you read that right. A Cardinal. The …

The Cardinal’s Favorite: Pope Julius III and Innocenzo Ciocchi del MonteRead More