Qstack News 02/25/26
A bimonthly digest of queer happenings around Substack
Qstack | The LGBTQQIP2SA+ Community, Directory, and Platform of Substack creators is a reader-supported newsletter and depends on paid subscriptions to highlight the diverse creative talent of queer writers. All content will always be free, but if you want to support your fellow queers by amplifying our voices, please subscribe or upgrade.
Have a question for a queer coach—about identity, relationships, work, creativity, community or becoming more yourself? We invite you to submit your questions to the Qstack monthly feature, Ask a Queer Coach, where Transformational Coach and Associate Editor Keith Aron gives his best coachy take on sticky, scratchy or sludgy life situations. Big crossroads or small stuck places welcome. Submissions can be anonymous. DM Keith directly.
🚨News & Announcements
eXis is a queer magical realism coming-of-age novel by Gon Vas, originally serialized on Substack. “The Turkey,” the opening chapter of eXis Vol. 1, won First Prize in Substack’s Writer’s Contest (Spanish edition). The first print edition launches with a collectible run of 50 copies, plus an unpublished chapter and additional material, including author notes and an explanation of the soundtrack that accompanies the story.
After a profound loss, a young man begins to read signs outside the real.
Along the way, he uncovers a shared story: the one you had forgotten.
Read eXis: readexis.substack.com/p/part-1-andreas
Book giveaway: readexis.substack.com/p/do-you-want-to-win-the-printed-edition
Portrait of Pride—a user-generated film through Crowdsorcery—has released a teaser reel, and is seeking additional contributors from the Qstack community to include in the project with an expected release in Pride Month, 2026.
Don’t delay! We know you have something on your phones!
No moment is too small. No words need to be spoken: show us what Pride looks like.
Quiet moments like self-care rituals, time with partners and loved ones, and life out-loud.
Louder moments like coming out, standing at the altar, or marching in a Pride parade.
To submit, visit crowdsorcery.io/pride
Armistead Maupin is back after a fall on Christmas Eve - Glad you are OK, and looking forward to many more episodes from you and Christopher Turner!
PRISM—“Well-being isn’t simple - and our stories aren’t either”—is a newsletter devoted to honest, intimate takes on the whole array of health issues—physical, mental, and social. With such notable Substack contributors as—
Rebecca Woolf of the braid (“Intimacy is the kink I didn’t see coming: What Heated Rivalry taught Rebecca Woolf about wanting more”)
P.E. Moskowitz of Mental Hellth (“In order to get happy, I had to get cringe - And come out as a Soup Queer”)
Alex Dobrenko` of Both Are True (“Clawing out from a data-driven shame spiral: Turns out the metrics won’t save you”)
and Cory Bradshaw (“Don’t fall in love with your robot: What OnlyFans and AI have in common”)
—they are always looking for pitches from new writers. LINK to PITCH FORM
PITCH US
If your idea is personal, fearless, and a little off-center, send it our way.
Prism publishes personal takes that explore well-being. We go for honest, accessible, and entertaining storytelling that dives into corners most people avoid.
WELCOME to Anne-Marie Zanzal—the Coming Out Coach—as the newest supporting member of Qstack - so glad to have you with us! Anne-Marie writes the Coming Out & Beyond Coaching newsletter, “a tender, honest space for queer folks—especially those coming out or questioning later in life—who are navigating identity, relationships, faith, grief, motherhood, and the quiet longing for a life that finally fits.”
❤️🍊💛💚💙💜🩷🩵🤎🖤🩶
Got a big announcement, an article or event, a special offer, a new book published?
Message MTF or Keith Aron
❤️🍊💛💚💙💜🩷🩵🤎🖤🩶
You can also Post about it in the Qstack Chat!
Qstack Digest 02/25/26
A Love Song that Honors the Gifts of Transness
For Valentine's Day, Sebastian Barr re-published a post reflecting on "Always," a song written and performed by Beverly ("Glenn") Glenn-Copeland—who came out as trans in the 1990s and was diagnosed with dementia a couple years ago—with his long-time creative and romantic partner, Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland, and electronic musician/composer Time Wharp. As Sebastian notes, "Always" is an intimate love song between Elizabeth and Glenn, but it's also a love song to trans people. The track is part of TRANSA, an inspiring compilation of collaborations between 100 artists across the spectrum of sexual and gender identities that celebrates transness "and what trans people offer the world."
A Letter to a Friend
Michael Horvich’s correspondence with a young friend in Brazil takes us back to the old days of pen pals by snail mail, reaching across the world to someone we have not—and may never—meet in person. It’s such a sweet and intimate exchange, reminding us that some of our best writing is addressed to just a single reader.
UR Cute
Another letter to a young friend, this one from Gail Marlene Schwartz of Writers in Relationship about the power of love, and how making ourselves vulnerable might hurt us but is also essential to access some of the deepest parts of love and our humanity.
Whoring Up A Storm
We were tickled pink to stumble upon the podcast FAME WHORES—Frederick Woodruff and John Calendo—who endearingly skewer everyone and everything they bloody well feel like, including the new movie Pillion, Prince Albert piercings, dildoes, and Pam Bondi.
How the American Healthcare System Arose
Drawing from Paul Starr's book, The Social Transformation of American Medicine, Emily Pittman Newberry of WW II Baby Substack breaks down the history of how healthcare in America evolved into the complicated system it is today. Emily does an amazing job at explaining how we went from a hodge-podge of domestic medicine, physicians and lay-healers to an intricate web of corporate medicine, big insurance and government bureaucracy.
RIP Self-Optimization Culture
This post from Undividing with Karl Dunn (author of the gay divorce memoir, How To Burn Down a Rainbow) is worth the click for the “swing project” alone (not what you’re thinking—even better 😜), but also gives voice to something many of us are feeling. More Undividing, more caring, less perfectly structured time and lives, yes please!
LIGHT YEARS - Episode 1: The Oxford Hotel
LIGHT YEARS is an autobiographical fiction trilogy by William je Groth spanning twenty years of life - from age thirty to age fifty. It's called "Fiction...but also true" because that's exactly what it is. “I've changed names. I've condensed timelines. I've taken the chaotic, messy, beautiful tragedy of real life and given it the shape and structure of fiction.”
Thank you so muxh.
Thank you, Qstack 🌈
Thank you for the note about the launch of eXis and for helping bring this story to more readers. I truly appreciate it.