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Well, here we are. Labor Day weekend has arrived, which means we’ve reached that unofficial little line between summer and whatever comes next.
The pools are closing. The students are back. The sun is setting earlier. And somewhere in Pittsburgh, somebody has already ordered multiple pumpkin spice lattes despite the temperature outside suggesting otherwise.
Summer always seems to come with this promise of freedom. Go somewhere. Try something. Stay out late. Meet somebody new. Be a little more yourself.
But we deserve that freedom in every season.
The freedom to dance with the person you love. The freedom to walk into a room without having your identity completely figured out. The freedom to talk openly about your body, your health, and your experiences without squeezing them into somebody else’s ideas about gender. The freedom to simply exist as yourself.
That’s where this week’s joy lives.
In people refusing to hide, communities making room, and those wonderful moments when being yourself stops feeling like an act of courage and starts feeling beautifully ordinary.
Happy Monday, Pittsburgh. Let’s slay the week.
SLAY OF THE WEEK: Crowned. Seen. Sovereign.
This week’s crown belongs to Pittsburgh activist and self-proclaimed Endo King Kits Blanc, who is making sure people understand something important. Endometriosis has no gender.
Kits is a trans man living with endometriosis, and his experience with the disease has been complicated, painful, and too often dismissed.
After years of pain and multiple surgeries, Kits began sharing what living with endometriosis actually looks like for him.
As Kits puts it: “No memes. No skits. No acting. Just real life with endometriosis.”
That visibility matters because conversations around endometriosis are so often intensely gendered. Kits is making space for trans people with the disease and for anyone who has ever felt overlooked, unheard, or alone in navigating it.
Kits wants other Endo Warriors to know they aren’t fighting alone. He’s using his voice online and his volunteer work in Pittsburgh to challenge stigma, connect people with resources, and create spaces where people can feel seen.
Now that’s a slay.
READER JOY: Dance Like Everybody’s Watching
Ryan sent us a Reader Joy this week that feels almost impossibly simple. And that’s exactly why we love it.
Ryan and his husband went to the Electric Feels dance party at Mr. Smalls last weekend. Mr. Smalls isn’t a gay club, as Ryan noted, but that night something happened that he’d never experienced before.
At 34 years old, Ryan danced in public with another man for the first time. His husband. And nothing bad happened.
No hate. No hiding. No worrying about whether they were being too affectionate or too obviously together. Just two husbands dancing.
Ryan wrote: “It felt so nice to just be a couple in love without having to hide it 😊”
That’s it. That’s the joy.
Sometimes queer liberation looks like marching down the street with thousands of people. And sometimes it looks like dancing with the person you love and realizing, somewhere between songs, that you aren’t thinking about anybody else in the room.
Ryan, thank you for sharing this one with us. Here’s to many, many more dances together.
SHARE YOUR JOY
One of our favorite parts of Slay Weekly is hearing from you.
Has something brought you joy recently? Maybe you made a new friend, started a new job, got engaged, finished a creative project, met an adorable dog, found an amazing queer-owned business, or simply had a moment that reminded you why you love this community.
Big or small, we’d love to celebrate it.
Send us an email and tell us what’s bringing you joy. Your story could be featured in an upcoming issue of Slay Weekly and help brighten someone else’s Monday.
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Queer Joy in the World: A Place to Just Be
Starting college comes with approximately seven billion questions.
What am I studying? Where are my classes? Who are my people? And, who the hell am I?
Luckily, you don’t need all those answers on orientation day.
QBurgh’s Kalliyan Winder recently visited the University of Pittsburgh’s Rainbow Alliance, where LGBTQ+ students are building something every queer person deserves: a place where you don’t need to explain yourself before you’re allowed through the door.
As one Rainbow Alliance officer put it: “We aim to create a place where you can just sort of exist as you are.”
We love that.
The Rainbow Office in the William Pitt Union gives students somewhere to study, make things, hang out, meet other LGBTQ+ people, and maybe learn a little more about themselves along the way.
Sometimes you discover who you are by meeting somebody who gives you a new possibility for who you could be.
You can try a label. Change it later. Ask questions. Make a bracelet. Make a friend. You don’t need to arrive with a perfectly articulated identity and a five-year queer plan.
Their advice for students looking for community?
“Just put yourself out there.” The rest can come later.
Read & watch more on QBurgh.com →
So maybe that’s what we’re carrying out of summer with us; you don’t need permission to be yourself.
Not from a doctor who doesn’t understand your experience. Not from strangers on the internet. Not from everybody else on the dance floor. And certainly not from some imaginary queer rulebook that says you need to have yourself completely figured out before you’re allowed into the community.
You can be figuring it out. You can change. You can hurt. You can heal.
You can walk into the room without knowing anybody. You can dance with your husband. You can tell the truth about what you’re going through. You can simply exist as you are.
And hopefully, somewhere along the way, you’ll find people who make doing that feel a little easier.
Summer may be unofficially ending, but that feeling of freedom doesn’t have to go anywhere.
Carry it into fall. Wear what you want. Love who you love. Try the new thing. Tell your story. Take up some space.
And if the music is good? Dance.
Happy Labor Day, Pittsburgh. Take care of each other out there. We’ll see you next Monday.
Talk soon.
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