This is so relevant to my life. There's a pet store down the street of me and it's constantly swamped with butches. Like, I've never seen so many butches in one place, outside of a drag show. One day a cute girl came in with a baby kitten and, long story short, I'm sure she left with a ton of numbers that day. Now I know how to up my game and stay competitive. Thanks, Mallory.

I have heard of cats successfully being lured with beef stew. On the first try, no less.

I think I speak for all of us, everywhere, when I say this is a story that needs to be told.

Does anyone here have/know/exist as a dad who... likes to send you cluttered pictures of geese, and also interesting shadows that he saw?

I think it's how he bonds?

When I was a teenager coming out as queer in the early 2000s, I loved reading, but I was beginning to lose interest in printed books, as there didn't seem to be anybody like me in them.

On my own I found books like The Well of Loneliness, which was a little bit traumatizing, but I soldiered on until a well-meaning adult recommended Michelle Tea's Valencia. It's a mostly-autobiographical novel about San Francisco queer culture in the 90s, and now that I'm marginally an adult, I cannot see how anyone in their right mind would recommend it to a struggling teenager.

"San Francisco, woo! Look at how confused, dysfunctional, underemployed, and sad everyone is! This is the adult life you have to look forward to, kid!"

I still regard books with a heavy dose of skepticism -- and have learned to probe all recommendations thoroughly. Friend: "You'll love this book, it has a great gay character!" Me: "Do they die? Horribly?" Friend: "...You know, never mind, I don't think you'll like it."

Oh, queer literature. How you tease me, you saucy minx.