I downloaded Grindr as soon as my first iPhone was out of its box. Being able to use the gay dating and hook-up app, which paved the way for the likes of Tinder and Bumble , was one of my main motivations for getting my first smartphone when I was This probably sounds incredibly sad, but growing up in a place without a thriving gay scene made me desperate to find others who were like me. Although I did have some pleasant exchanges with other gay men, I was surprised by the coldness of most interactions.

Young (gay) Americans - in pictures



Caught on Vimeo
For example, is a Twink the same thing as a pup but share different characteristics? The inspiration for this post came from a recent conversation that I was involved with at a bar. When I saw the attractive young man he was talking about, I nodded my head in agreement. His bit of insight then led to an hour long conversation about the larger topic of gay twinks and pups — plus a few other labels thrown in for good measure — like wolves and otters. Related: Learn about queer otters.


Gay teen describes experience in so-called gay conversion camp
The gay world is often represented as some sort of monolithic whole that has the same culture. That is a lie. It is actually broken down into a handful of substrata to which each gay belongs.



Three years ago, the young man who would later be known as John Doe 1 shuffled into the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan. It was still wintery in April, and his state-issued jacket was poor protection against the drafts coming through the broken windows, shattered by men who had passed through before. The rituals of intake were familiar.