One of the pleasures of living in Florida is the variety of birds who dwell or visit the Sunshine State. In my suburban neighborhood, I can see all kinds of birds, from backyard species like crows or jays to birds of prey. Most interesting to me are wading birds like the anhinga, cormorant, egrets, herons, white ibis, and the magnificent wood stork (our only native stork). Imported species like Egyptian geese, Muscovy ducks, parrots and peacocks also inhabit our hometowns, though not without controversy.

As LGBTQ+ people, many of us grow up alienated from our biological families. In the bad old days before PFLAG, most of us hid our sexual orientation and/or gender identity from our parents or grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, or cousins. Often, when our family members did find out, they rejected us for being who we are. Since marriage equality is a recent phenomenon, most of us lived our lives without the benefits that legally-sanctioned, opposite-gender spouses take for granted. Instead, we in the LGBTQ+ communities created new forms of relationships that were for us what biological families, heterosexual marriages, or parenting were for others. We call those relationships families of choice, as opposed to biological families we were born into and grew up with. Queer authors and activists have written extensively about this topic, most notably Kath Weston in her dated but still-relevant book Families We Choose (1991). In it she writes, “Gay (or chosen) families dispute the old saying, ‘You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives.’ Not only can these families embrace friends; they may also encompass lovers, coparents, adopted children, children from previous heterosexual relationships, and offspring conceived through alternative insemination.”

I spent Election Day 2024 in one place where politics was not discussed: At a polling place where, as I usually do, I served as a poll worker.

One of the most ridiculous customs of the 21st century is a gender reveal party, one in which parents claim to reveal their unborn infant’s gender.

A few years ago, actor Haaz Sleiman caused a stir when he came out on social media as “a gay, Muslim, Arab-American man. And I’m going to take it even further — not only am I gay but I’m also a bottom. Not only am I a bottom, but I’m also a total bottom, which means I like it up you-know-where. And I say this to all the homophobes living in the United States of America and across the globe. Why not? If you ever come to me to kill me just because I’m gay, I will destroy you. I might be gay, and I might be a nice guy but don’t get it twisted because I will f**k you up.”

SAGE — Senior Action in a Gay Environment — began in New York City in 1978 as an organization designed to improve the lives of LGBTQ older adults.