My apologies for the lateness on this final roundup for One Rainbow Apart 2020, friends!
Coming into this I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for participation. I was honestly going to be happy just having a few folks linking in, but you all completely surpassed that by writing such beautiful, emotional, inspiring, and sexy as hell content that just kept on coming all month long. And I am so, so thankful for all of you opening up and sharing yourselves so genuinely.
Over the past 30 days I have read heartwarming stories of people learning to love and accept themselves for who they are, deeply affecting recollections of the adversity we all face for how we identify and/or who we love, and several empowering coming out posts that had me smiling and tearing up.
50 links is amazing, and for next year I’ll be sure to get the paid version of InLinkz in June so that we can have room for even more content submissions.
Now, a few quick things before we get to the last round-up: first I want to give a big shout out to Delilah Darkholme for allowing me to use that incredibly hot pic of them as the header image. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and subscribe to their OnlyFans for more outstanding content. I’ve been subscribed for a few months now and have been enjoying the hell out of their work!
Second, if you’d like to check out the posts that I wrote these past couple of weeks check out And Ignorance Persists: An Open Letter to A Mental Swtich, Draped In Sex, and Twink Boxer Briefs, Why Did I Forsake Thee!?
Finally, please know that I fully plan to keep the momentum from One Rainbow Apart going through a brand new weekly meme prompt called “Queer And Far“, which will be starting up here early next month! So keep an eye out for more information on that as well as how to participate going forward!
Identity is Complicated by Queer Courtesan
“I got interested in BDSM and ended up dating a trans man long-distance. Eventually, we moved to the same state and lived together for several years, but both of these things opened my eyes to a large portion of the world I’d never had access to. I learned a lot about gender and dysphoria and how my body related to his and vice versa.”
Unbalanced by bluesubmission
“I am bisexual, but because I am married to a man that means that people see me differently than I actually am. It drives me insane that it even matters, that we live in a world where people who might actually be just like me are judged and treated differently because of how they present themselves to the world.”
5 Characteristics of the Best Sex Shops by Super Smash Cache
“I’ve worked with many great sex shops over the years, and many shitty ones. It’s no mystery: the retailers I link to over and over again are the ones who give back to their workers, shoppers, and community. Find out what that means for you, the consumer.”
Hope for the Future by sub-bee
“If I want to be more femme one day in a cute dress and be called a good girl, then the following day wear a cute suit and tie and be called a good boi, then I can. I don’t have to conform to society’s ‘norms’.”
- Also by sub-bee: Free From Section 28 – “This meant my entire school life was spent in an education system that denied a big part of my identity, not that I understood that at the time. Just imagine how damaging that is for a child.“
Pride Inside – 5 Ideas for Celebrating Pride From Home by Mx. SkeleKitty
“If you’re looking to celebrate for the rest of June – or hell, the rest of forever – what does Pride look like when we can’t leave our houses & get together with our peers? For me, it’s not much different than any other year… I’m no stranger to celebrating in the privacy of my own space. So, if you’re new to having to celebrate at home – luckily I have some practice!”
I Don’t Want You to Look at Me and See a Woman by Sarah Brynn Holliday
“What I didn’t expect—naively, perhaps—were people’s comments about how they still see me as a woman; that being femme and agender are incompatible. Such comments show a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between gender expression and gender identity, sure, but they also show a fundamental misunderstanding of me.”
- Also by Sarah: Coming Out As Non-Binary Helped Me Reconnect With My Queerness – “Since coming out as agender, though, I’ve rediscovered that sense of pride in myself. Life feels more electrified: from the newfound confidence I feel walking down the street to the enthusiasm I have to actually write blog posts, everything feels energetic and invigorating. I’m finally giving myself permission to honor my queerness again.“
It’s Queer Being Queer by Victoria Blisse
“I’m having more dreams of sexual interaction with women. I used to have them periodically, but always brushed them off as weird, like the dream where I was hot tub sofa shopping with Wayne Rooney or shagging Simon Cowell. In recent months I’ve been having proper queer dreams. Where I wake up feeling sexy and sensual and happy and fulfilled.”
Queer by Persephone Raya
“Every anti-trans and anti-nonbinary argument is a regurgitation of anti-gay rhetoric. Everything that is being said now about the most marginalised within our community was being said about the “good Queers” not 20 years ago. In plenty of places it’s still being said now.”
Identity by Floss Does Life
“I think it’s important to know that for many folks labels can be affirming and rather than feeling restrictive they can be liberating. It’s easy to say they don’t matter, but the truth is for many of us they do and people fought and lost their lives to get us to the point we are now. Where many folks can use their chosen label without little or no fear of reprisals.”
My Pride – The Update by HappyComeLucky
“Queer on the other hand feels different to that. The way it has been used, abused and reclaimed has changed over time. Different people and different groups define it differently. Maybe that is one aspect that makes it less easy to claim for me.”
I Can’t Describe My Gender Identity In One Word by On Queer Street
“I feel like non-binary limits me to this liminal space between ‘man’ and ‘woman’, and that isn’t how I see my gender at all. It’s part of the reason that ‘they/them’ pronouns don’t work for me, because (to me) there’s a gender neutrality about them. I use ze/hir pronouns because they imply – to me at least – a very specific gender identity. A gender identity that is very queer and a little more masculine than feminine, which feels very right to me right now.”
A Multi-Faceted Identity by Gemma Beryls
“I’ve always related myself to a gem – that’s where my name, my blog theme and part of my entire concept of who I am comes from. I refract differently in different scenarios. Yes, some of that is masking, trying to fit into the mold of what I need to be at that moment. But a lot of it is internalized to what I have been repeatedly learned to be correct.”
Why A Rainbow? by Quenby
“A rainbow is not discrete
Not 6 distinct colours
But an infinite spectrum
Stretching from one edge to the other
Within that there is endless room
Space for each of us to find our place
Labels and boundaries are arbitrary
As one colour blend into the next“
- Also By Quenby: Queering Attraction – “Fuck sleek hourglass silhouettes
Or a flawless faceI want squishy bellies and stretch marks
Big boobs, small boobs, one of eachThick thighs and epic ass
Rough hands rubbing scarred skin“
My Though Process on Identifying as Queer by Vanilla Free Sex
“Perhaps that’s what I’m looking for with the word queer, a sense of belonging. A community to turn to and be a part of. That feeling of having something in common with others. I feel so different from my irl people that I feel so alone sometimes.”
My Pride is Enough by Witch of the Wands
“I could pass for cis, but I am not. These days being referenced as a lady or woman makes my skin crawl. I did not want to go back to it. Being able to have this was a freedom I wished I could go back and give my younger self. I fought so hard to get to this point with myself that I wasn’t going to go backward.”
The Pride of Finding and Feeling Right by Anne Stagg
“This cock represents me and the joy I feel being open and authentic about my experience. It’s also my way of standing up to those who would rather trans and non-binary bloggers be silent about our truth. I will not be silent.”
Bisexuality, Shame, and the Kiss That Never Was by Molly Moore
“What happened that afternoon between V and I has without a doubt cast a long shadow in my life. Feeling ashamed of my desires definitely had an impact on the decisions I made about the relationships in my life. I suspect if I had better understood my sexuality, my Queerness and my kinky self at a younger age my life would have ended up looking very different.”
Bi erasure prevents me from coming out by Isabelle Lauren
“I’ve been gaslighted enough in my life. I don’t need people to challenge my sexuality. Or dismiss me like I know my parents would. As if I’m not a grown-ass woman who can make up her own mind about her sexuality. I shouldn’t have to prove I’m bisexual.”