Twelve Queer Blogs to Watch

Between breathless reviews of Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime performance, shaky “It Gets Better” videos and rants against Prop 8, mainstream queer blogs can be more trite than transgressive. White, cisgendered males dominate online dialogue in LGBTQ spaces, and there seems to be little room for niche sexualities, gender nonconformity and the kind of boundary-pushing art and culture that resist heteronormative assimilation.

The interweb can be an overwhelming, scary place—it is, after all, a series of tubes—so we’ve compiled a user’s guide, in no particular order, to the alternative queer blogosphere. Whether you fit in your blog intake while wasting time at a boring desk job or while huddled under the covers with your iPad at 3 a.m., you’ll want to bookmark this dirty dozen (alongside Where the Girls Go, of course) for the best of online reading for the modern queer.

1. Everyone is Gay

Remember Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber? That Tumblr that proved the mop-topped tweenage heartthrob is making millions off a meticulous swagger that was stolen from an entire adorable generation of twinky dykes? Its creator, Dannielle Owens-Reid, has paired up with fellow lesbian Kristin Russo to offer hilarious, off-the-cuff advice for young queers feeling their way through the growing pains of budding sexuality.

2. DapperQ

Butch, androgynous and masculine-presenting female-bodied folks face unique challenges in a world that prizes gender normativity. DapperQ is a comprehensive guide to menswear as a social statement—and where to find a button-down shirt that doesn’t suffocate your boobs or biceps.

3. Queers Without Borders

Looking for tired rehashings of arguments for gay marriage? Go fish. This radical leftist blog takes on all forms of oppression—racism, misogyny, economic injustice, colonialism—as queer issues, calling for a reframing of the queer movement around solidarity with and liberation for all people.

4. TransGriot

Today's LGBTQ news gets a smart, irreverent spin from Monica Roberts, a Houston-based transwoman of color. Roberts pays particular attention to trans and Black issues, and she steps fearlessly into potential controversy with blog entries like Naw China, We Haven't Forgotten What Today Is (on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations) and her recurring Shut Up Fool Awards.

5. Homoground

Queer and allied musicians get play on Homoground’s head-bopping podcasts, and the site’s mixtapes are curated by LGBTQ-friendly artists and organizations. (Check out WTGG’s Homoground mixtape of our favorite queer D.C. bands.) Video interviews with rad rockers round out the multimedia mix.

6. Original Plumbing

This digital version of a quarterly zine published by transmale artists Amos Mac and Rocco Kayiatos is required reading on transmasculine sexuality, art, culture and health. Keep a lookout for interesting viewpoints from recurring bloggers like Inmate 12004, who submitted anonymous reflections on being a gender-nonconforming person in prison.

7. Jesus in Love

Gay spirituality and visual art collide in a meaty blog that dissects both modern and aged works, confronting the intersection of religious imagery and queerness. Wade through the wordy posts for fresh perspectives on topics like a gay interpretation of the Passion of Christ and Joan of Arc as a cross-dressing warrior saint.

8. Queer Fat Femme

Bevin Branlandingham is a self-identified queer fat femme from Brooklyn whose upbeat blog contextualizes and celebrates all three of these aspects of her identity. Follow her for body talk, femme fashion and a nonstop stream of charming anecdotes.

9. Genderfork

This user-centric online community celebrates genderqueer, transgender and otherwise gender-variant individuals. Though it’s mostly populated by younger queers, readers of any age and gender expression will find something to muse on in the blog’s wide variety of photos, personal reflections, affirmations and advice.

10. Bully Bloggers

Queer nerds unite! Bully Bloggers features a bunch of over-educated academics analyzing queer elements of pop culture and going all sexy-professor on the hottest political topics of the day. If you miss those gender studies textbooks that you Craigslisted after your college graduation, you’ll delight in posts that use words like “lexicon,” “racialized” and “subaltern.” Extra love goes out to one of my personal heroes, Bully Blogger author Judith “Jack” Halberstam.

11. The Gang's All Queer

You never know what you’ll find on The GAQ, but chances are it’ll be gorgeous, thought-provoking, maddening or some combination of these. Curated by Mekhi Baldwin, the blog features art—in the broadest sense of the word—by, for and about LGBTQ people of color.

12. Gays Against Gaga

“Some of us aspire to create our own culture, not just settle for being a target market,” declares this self-proclaimed haven for dissenting queer voices. While you’ll find plenty of posts dissing Ms. Poker Face, this blog rips mainstream gay culture a new one, gathering the best takes on intra-community discrimination, the perils of “It Gets Better” and the way gay men talk about women.

Did we miss any good ones?

Do you have a rad queer blog?

Let us know in the comments!

Gay computer photo by Wendy P.

Christina

When Christina isn't writing for WTGG, she's assassinating dance floors in purple high-tops, causing bike accidents, taming the wilderness, practicing her beatboxing and begging Erykah Badu to cast her in a music video. A big, 90's-inspired ball of sass, Christina's greatest mission - driven by a dilettante interest in science - is to try everything once (maybe twice) and find out how the world works. She's the queirdest girl you know.