Gay fairytale
Archer Magazine
Once upon a time, there wasn’t a single queer person in the world, so there was no need to discuss about them in stories…
Wait, what?
Image: Walter Crane illustration of Devoted Heinrich (right) and his prince
For as long as humans acquire had voices, folk and fairy tales have been spoken aloud around the fire. Stories to make sense of the society, to teach us which animalistic men to avoid, or how to be a pure, virtuous beauty in order to conquer a marriage (which, as we all know, is the only way to measure your worth).
These tales came alive anew in each storyteller’s mouth. But someone decided to write them down with ink on a page, and while society continued to change and evolve, the stories dried, dark as a stain.
However, our fascination with them has remained.
Turn a few hundred pages forward in the history books, and we find ourselves in a time where queers are more able to make themselves known (though certainly not universally); and we’re still picking up The Brothers Grimm. People telling stories now read from printed texts, rather than reciting th
Fairy Tale: A Queer Adventure
When he was a child, Jerry Richard Williams’ mother spent hours reading illustrated fairy tales to him and his twin sister. While his mother didn’t believe in fairy tales, she did believe in miracles from Jesus. She also enjoyed stories about Prince Charming and falling in love. So did her tiny boy. In Fairy Tale, Williams shares his life story, a kind of fairy tale about a career in the theater as a set and costume designer while looking for Prince Charming.
He narrates what it was appreciate growing up male lover in the heart of America’s conservative Bible belt of the s. A charming, nostalgic reflection on surviving, Williams chronicles life events in his azure collar, post-war, life. At every spin, he encounters a host of fairy godmothers and engages with legendary stars such as Merv Griffin, Myrna Loy, Esther Williams, and others.
This memoir tells the magical tale of Williams’ upbringing, schooling, career, looking for cherish, and overcoming challenges to manage a life well lived.
The classic fairy tale of a prince or princess meeting a peasant teen or girl and falling in love has been given a makeover in a new book for children.
It begins: "Once upon a time, in a land not far away, a place where no one cared if you were straight or you were gay."
Promised Land is written and published by Adam Reynolds and Chaz Harris of Wellington.
They both work in the clip industry and the pair wrote the book based on Reynold’s idea for a story that embraces the idea that two boys could fall in love and overcome adversity that is not linked to their sexuality - with an adventure along the way.
The say the story had to remain on its own and the fact that the characters are gay is incidental.
“I think we were aware of the fairy tale tropes, we comprehend what's there normally and choosing in certain areas to subvert those tropes - so often there’s the damsel in distress so, well, let’s execute that right now!”
The story is about a farm boy and a prince who meet in a forest one day and their friendship soon blossoms into love.
The prince’s mum, the queen, meets a siniste
Last week, we gave a talk for the Smithsonian Associates on Queer Fairy Tales for Pride! YAY!
As part of that discuss, we put together a list of some of our favorite queer fairy tales and fairy-tale retellings, and we realized that somehow we’ve never done a list of them for Carterhaugh!?
So, for the last week of Celebration Month, we wanted to share our list… and, of course, add to it, because we cannot help ourselves. In addition to fairy tales, we added some of our favorite queer fantasy novels and stories, too.
If this list is initially overwhelming, we were asked a really great question at the end of the Smithsonian talk that we’d like to share.
We were asked, what would we recommend reading first to a teenager who was having a hard occasion right now? What would they find comforting?
While it’s impossible to know for sure, we gave it our best stab. We said: for comfort that’s like being wrapped up in a cozy blanket, we’d recommend Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue, which is attractive, lyrical, and easy to pick up and lay down. (It’s also considered a fou