Category: We Two Boys Project
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Gay in the Balkans: Pick an Oppressive Religion
Like many countries previously behind the Iron Curtain, a lot of the countries of the former Yugoslavia continue to be very conservative when it comes to sexual minorities. The people of the region are fairly religiously diverse, but it doesn’t really help gay people. Serbs tend to be Eastern Orthodox, Croats are generally Roman Catholic,…
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Community, At Its Best…
As I travel from country to country seeking out the gay community, sometimes I lose sight of what we mean when we use the phrase “the gay community.” It’s a phrase I took for granted until some people I talked to in my travels expressed confusion about it. Apparently it doesn’t always translate well. So I…
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Gay in Bucharest, Romania
I have a real soft spot for Romania. People often seem baffled as to why I choose to focus so much on Romania. Even a lot of Romanians don’t understand. Well here’s why, people: It’s the foreign country I’ve spent the most time in – several weeks in a city called Cluj-Napoca and a couple…
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Gay in Budapest: Goulash Gay
Budapest is one of my favorite cities and inarguably one of the most beautiful. It’s also a city with a very problematic political environment. The country is currently being run by a far-right government led by Prime Minister Victor Orban. You may have heard some of his controversial opinions and actions toward refugees in the…
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Gay in Bratislava, Slovakia
It only took a couple hours on a train to travel from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia, but it felt like a million miles. During the Cold War, Slovakia was one half of communist Czechoslovakia; though so close to the relative freedom of Austria, they were blocked from experiencing it. The national border is even closer…
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Gay Crossing Only: Gay in Vienna
In Vienna, there are crosswalks meant just for gay people. Some green walk-sign lights have pictures of two boy stick figures holding hands and walking with a heart between them. Others have the same with two girl stick figures. Which leads me to believe that only gay people holding hands with someone they love are…
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Gay in Brno, Czech Republic
Just looking at Brno tells a fascinating story. There’s an imposing gothic cathedral on one hill and a huge castle complex (complete with moat – so cool!) on the other hill. There’s a very pretty historic center adjacent to the cathedral. The rest, filling in and surrounding the others, are the signature block buildings of…
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Open and Closed: Gay in Prague
I know what you’re thinking. Gay + Prague = Porn. Believe it not, there are gay people in Prague who have not been in porn. Even young twinky ones. Mind blown? Prague has a very healthy gay community. Prague Pride is large and conflict-free. Gay bars don’t have to hide. I saw couples holding hands…
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I Have Seen the Future and it is Queer: Gay in Stockholm
Scandinavia is well-known as a progressive bastion even among the generally progressive northern and western European countries. So I guess when I came to Stockholm I kind of expected the gay community to be strongly visible and easy to find. But I didn’t really find that to be the case. What I discovered was that…
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We Two Boys Together Clinging
In the summer of 2014, I was walking along a road in Cluj-Napoca, Romania when I saw something surprisingly poignant. There was a bit of graffiti on a wall I walked past that seemed to sum up the gay experience for most of human history – not just in Romania, but across the world. It…