LGBT - Kiley Pike

Rainbows in an Era of Gray

Photographing rainbow flags that I encounter around Norfolk during the month of June has become a tradition for me in recent years. I began doing so because seeing them always brought me a sense of joy and of solidarity, and sharing that is something I consider worthwhile.

Pride

Always Chasing Rainbows

Years ago, a sighting of even just one rainbow flag or sticker around and about the neighborhood would hearten me, as they'd typically been quite rare. These days, however, I find my spirit and sense of support bolstered by the number of HRC and rainbow stickers on vehicles on the

LGBT

National Coming Out Day: Don't Let Go

From a distance, I could not be certain, but was hopeful. "Is that two dudes, perchance, holding hands?" I wondered, as I arrived on the block on which my building sits. And it was. "Will one of them let go as we get nearer to one another?

LGBT

Expressions of Pride 2017 in Norfolk, Virginia -- and Particularly in Ghent

A few years ago, I began flying on my porch a flag bearing the Human Rights Campaign's equality emblem, inspired largely by the feeling of solidarity and support I experienced when seeing that icon displayed on vehicles I observed while driving, and hoping to provide a similar feeling of support

LGBT

Time-Travel Tuesday: A Night Out in Richmond

In today’s installment of time-travel Tuesday, we’re turning back the clock to 1982 (for the bedspread; I jest, I jest!) and to 2003 (for the person sitting on the bedspread, and the one positioned behind the camera). Thirteen years ago, July 26 fell on a Saturday, and both

LGBT

The Marvels of PrideFest, the PrideFest Bubble, and the Importance of LGBT Visibility

One, amongst many, reasons that I so enthusiastically support and attend PrideFest and its companion events is that, in Hampton Roads, the event creates an unparalleled level of visibility for the LGBT community and an unrivaled safe space. It also creates so much and so many freedoms: to hold hands

LGBT

A Relative Stranger Who Was Dear to My Heart: Becoming Better-Acquainted with "Our Own," An LGBT Newspaper Based in Norfolk, VA

When first I moved to Hampton Roads in 1998, I'd never been in a gay bar, save for one impromptu visit with friends to a place in Charlotte, NC several years prior. After the elapse of a few to several months as a resident of the region, I managed to

LGBT

William & Mary Undergrads Delve Into Archives to Help Document Virginia's LGBTIQ Past

Yesterday, I journeyed to Williamsburg, VA to hear the student presentations associated with the William & Mary Mattachine LGBTIQ Research Project "Documenting the LGBTIQ Past in Virginia." Charles Francis, President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC Basically, a number of undergrads -- seven of whom presented yesterday

LGBT

Street Slurs: The Return of the F-Word Ended My Longest-Ever Winning Streak

Sometimes, the inability to remember is symptomatic not so much of a faulty sense of recall as it is of a scar not subjected of late to a new injury. In this particular instance, I would attribute more to the latter than the former my uncertainty with regard to the

LGBT

Finding One's Tribe: LGBT Documentaries "Coming of Age in Cherry Grove" and "Straight Acting"

I initially intended this post as a quick shout-out for two LGBT-related documentaries I'd seen in the last few days and enjoyed, though since I wound up straying into review territory for at least one of them -- which was perhaps inevitable, considering the subject matter of the second film