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This, by Erin Reed, is a good analysis of the Alliance Defending Freedom’s war on trans people and its use of a gullible/complicit media. A ban on gender affirming care is not the endgame here. With attacks on gay people rising through book bans and Don’t Say Gay or Trans bills, all LGBTQ+ rights are… [more]
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There’s an article in today’s (Glasgow) Herald claiming that a ban on conversion therapy will “criminalise parents”, throw psychotherapists in prison and have you arrested if you question your child’s gender or sexuality. It’s nonsense, and it’s based almost entirely on baseless claims by the Christian Institute – the same Christian Institute that the same… [more]
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Happy New Year when it comes. I hope your 2023 is full of love, laughter and joy. [more]
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(Content warning: slurs) Many LGBT+ people who’ve come out have been told by friends or family, with some bafflement, that there “weren’t any signs” that they were gay or trans. And I think that’s really interesting, because I think there are two main reasons for that. The first is that the signs people expect are… [more]
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This, by Cat Valente, is a superb piece about the inevitable ruin of social media – a pattern that repeats again and again. I’m so tired of just harmlessly getting together with other weird geeks and going to what amounts to a digital pub after work and waking up one day to find every pint… [more]
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Here’s a photo from the GRR Bill debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday. The response on Mumsnet, aka Prosecco Stormfront, was swift. “They can’t help themselves,” one poster wrote. “…it’s typical male pattern aggressive sexualised behaviour”. Others agreed, until they realised that the protester isn’t a trans woman; she’s an anti-trans woman, Elaine Miller of For… [more]
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I read a lot of books this year. Here are some of my favourites. Orpheus Builds A Girl, by Heather Parry This tale of a man who believes he can cheat death is gloriously gothic, beautifully written and by the final act had me reading from behind my fingers. I’m Glad My Mom Died, by… [more]
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After writing a very honest and often horrific account of her teenage experiences online, a trans woman I know was approached by a sympathetic journalist who wanted to share her story: amid the “debate” over banning conversion therapy, the journalist wanted to make her readers aware of its horrors and lasting damage. My friend was… [more]
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Thanks so much to everybody who came along to my book launches this week, to the wonderful people at Argonaut Books in Edinburgh and at Category Is Books in Glasgow, and to my excellent hosts Kirstyn Smith and Louise Blain. Book people really are the best people, and I had the best time on both… [more]
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An absolutely blistering piece by Ben Miller on the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs: I have been expecting a mass shooting at a gay bar for at least a year. This is not because I’m clairvoyant, but because I am a gay person with eyes and ears. The mass-murder at Club Q in Colorado… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
