The Gay & Lesbian Review / Worldwide is currently open for submissions across all of its nonfiction and poetry categories, with a special emphasis on its weekly online column, Here’s My Story. LGBTQ+ writers from all backgrounds are warmly encouraged to submit work that reflects the depth, complexity, and diversity of queer life. They are open year-round and publish a few poems in each issue.

Here’s My Story column is open to a wide variety of themes, from coming-out stories to unforgettable romances. They’re also actively looking for pitches and submissions (especially from LGBTQ+ writers from BIPOC/Global Majority communities, Disabled and neurodivergent voices, and folks from rural or working-class backgrounds) that explore:

• Chosen families & intersectionality: How race, religion, class, disability, and cultural heritage intersect with queer identity.
• Autonomy: A first gender-affirming haircut, shopping for a new wardrobe, or your evolving relationship with your body.
• Queer joy: The everyday happiness and normalcy of living authentically.
• Aging & generational divides: Connecting with queer elders or navigating the uncharted territory of aging in the LGBTQ+ community.
• Pop culture awakenings: Seeing yourself in a specific movie or television series, book, song, any piece of art, or niche fandom long before you had the vocabulary to define it.
• Family building: Queer parenting, adoption, and beyond.
• Navigating queer spaces: Stepping into a gay bar for the first time, mourning the loss of historic venues, or finding community in unexpected places.
• Professional code-switching: Deciding when, how, or if to come out at work, and the exhaustion of repeatedly having to come out to new people.
• Healthcare: Navigating a medical and therapeutic system that often lacks structural LGBTQ+ competency.

Of course, all LGBTQ+ writers are warmly encouraged to send them a pitch or submission, even if your personal essay falls entirely outside the categories listed above. 

Please send personal essay submissions and pitches for the Here’s My Story column to the web and social media editor at sam.dapanas@glreview.org. (For poetry submissions, please see the writers’ guidelines on our website.) Be sure to include a brief cover letter and links to previously published work.

Click here to read submission guidelines.

• DEADLINE: Open year-round
• FORMAT: online
• SUBMISSION FEE: None
• PAYMENT: All writers receive a free subscription and can give up to four gift subscriptions to friends, family, or colleagues.
• ISSUE FREQUENCY: weekly
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 4-6 weeks
• SUBMISSION METHOD: email
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes
• FORMS: Poetry and Nonfiction (personal essays, memoirs, travel & nature writing, flash nonfiction, etc.) 
  
• LISTINGS: Chill Subs, Duotrope
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn

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