By Rahul Kumar – (content warning: child sexual assault) Some lessons arrive not through instruction but through violation, and they etch themselves into the architecture of who we become. They do not knock politely at the door of innocence; they break in, rearrange the furniture of the soul, and leave footprints that never fade...

By Finn Evans – I truly understood the importance of representation, of sharing and uplifting stories by marginalised communities but also preserving them...

By Nonbinarium – Rather than focusing solely on struggle, I am interested in portraying queer lives as complex, joyful, vulnerable and fully human. My paintings affirm that diversity is not an exception but an inherent part of humanity...

By Mr Strange – You can create something beautiful and resonant from almost nothing. You don't need an abundance of resources and training. You need resourcefulness, imagination, and intention...

By Zoe Dawn – My nails dig into her back / Pain from a gentle place can grow wings / so my scratches create doorways / for her feathers to unfurl...

By Dirk Does Art – The feelings blossom. He feels and embraces them, the abundant vines creep over, like a new being discovering that he is magic, he is whimsical, different from the others...

By Julia Langer – For me, to call yourself a 'drag king' is political. It is a way to question the boxes society puts us in, and invites everyone around you to question it too...

By Haley Osier – Jonathan has probably never felt his body move without him like this, how the pockets of fat pulse, push, and pull against the skin, willing you to stretch with them, daring to expose you...

By Wesley Orion – I have just woken up / and seen the world set aflame. / Little did I know / I was carrying the match / and was being taught how to strike it...

By Kat Joplin – I feel very gifted by being queer... If I wasn’t queer, I wouldn’t have these options to be a drag queen, or these interesting ideas. Queerness has given me powers of the imagination...

By Jevrier Zapata – My art is unapologetically gay. It is a space where I can exist freely, openly, and authentically. What was once a source of shame has become a source of power...

By Namkeen Peshawri – I hid my first lipstick inside the pocket of my shalwar. I wore it only in places where no one knew my family. It was not vanity; it was permission. A single stroke of colour reminded me that joy can be an act of resistance.

By El Jae – A woman with a voice as smooth as her liquor-loving name warns the crowd: You are privy to magic tonight, my dears!

By Sam Moe – Why did you take me to the woods to begin with? Cones and deep green pines, baskets of pepper herons, skeletal jays, red bones. Come here, my love. Come home...

By Nat Hagee – (content warning: abuse and trauma) The first time I realized family could feel different, there was no dramatic speech and no movie-moment music playing in the background. I was simply around people who talked to each other...

By Andrew Lapin – I wonder sometimes if you, Versula, were there too. If underneath you knew I was in the wrong costume, if somehow you knew I didn’t need a necktie but a necklace. Were you there, watching that show and taking notes on how you would make your performance matter?

By Noah Arhm Choi – What if I lived in a world where fear wasn’t a rear view mirror changing how fast or slow I drive. What if I could be feminine and still be safe...

By Alyx Ander – Drag’s a piece of shit / When you look at it / Drag’s a laugh, burlesque’s a joke, it’s true / You know it’s just a show / Keep ‘em laughing when you go / Just remember, make them fall in love with you...

By Stix Eris – She wrings her sweaty hands together. For the millionth time, she picks and prods at anything that might give her away; anything that might reveal her as anything less than a woman...

By Lenie Maré – Sometimes love does not arrive around the corner. Sometimes it arrives from another continent, at an unexpected age, through a screen you were about to put down. And sometimes you answer...

By Leonardo Cossari – My dick voted yes before my brain made it to the ballot. I gave him the look. He took me in slowly...