Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles already has several hits under her belt, including the hugely popular "Love Song" and "King of Anything," but her new single might be our favorite yet.

The track, "Brave," from her upcoming album to be released on July 16, was co-written by Jack...

Paul Harfleet began The Pansy Project to mark his encounters with homophobia in Manchester, UK. The artist, 39, plants pansies to memorialize the location of anti-gay abuse, usually without permission from whatever city he's in, and then photographs the flower and places it on The Pansy Project website.

Though the...

Grindr has been called a lot of things but rarely is it thought of as inspirational. However, a new portrait series may make you change the way you look at the gay social network.

Artist Ted Sterchi's latest project finds him taking photos from the app popular for helping gay...

The Westboro Baptist Church is about to get a big surprise in the form of a new neighbor who plans to give the notoriously anti-gay group a taste of its own medicine.

Aaron Jackson, one of the founders of Planting Peace, a multi-pronged charity that has in the...

Marina and the Diamonds (née Marina Lambrini Diamandis -- "and the diamonds" refers to her fans, not band members) released a live video for her single "How To Be A Heartbreaker" (click link to view) on March 8. The clip offers a glimpse of her upcoming "Heartcore" documentary,...

In my relatively short time on this fair planet, I've learned that queer people are not only dangerous but incredibly powerful.

Hardly a week goes by without a politician, religious figure or breathless talking head having a public meltdown about the "gay agenda" and our plot to take over...

There are few things that get me as riled up as being asked, "If there's a HuffPost Gay Voices, why is there no HuffPost Straight Voices?"

If the question comes from a straight person, I explain that every other section on The Huffington Post other than Gay Voices is filled...

"RuPaul's Drag Race" season five contestant Monica Beverly Hillz made history on Monday, February 4, when she revealed to the show's judges, her fellow drag queens and the world at large that she is transgender.

Though other "Drag Race" stars like season three's Carmen Carerra and season two's...

Yesterday HuffPost Gay Voices published a piece entitled "The 27 Gayest Christmas Songs." The slideshow, which featured songs and videos that we deemed "gay" by virtue of "[being sung by] LGBT artists or allies, having a queer subtext (real or imagined) or [just being] too campy to resist,"...

Though it's been nearly 30 years since Traci Lords, then just 15 years old, posed for Penthouse and starred in a slew of adult films, it's her porn past with which people still tend to associate her. Which is, in some ways, unfair, as she's garnered praise and success for...

It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since Kylie Minogue first chuga-chuga-ed onto the music scene with her cover of the '60s hit "The Loco-Motion." Since then, the Australian singer has become one of the most beloved and successful pop stars in the world and she's showing no signs...

My sexuality was not revealed to me via a burning bush or a series of angelic visitations. There were no bolts of lightning, no "aha!" moments. For as long as I can remember, from my earliest conscious memory, I have always known I am queer.

This summer was the first time I'd publicly written about my childhood and how difficult it was to grow up gay in a small, industrial city in southern Wisconsin. I didn't really think too much about it. I was, after reading some particularly vicious comments about queer people, simply sharing what I'd been through in hopes of feeling less hopeless and helpless.

And it worked. Not only was the experience hugely liberating for me, but I also learned that many others could relate to what I'd been through because they'd been through something similar. My inbox was full of stories, and I was comforted knowing that I wasn't alone, that though so many of us had been (and though so many of us continue to be) thrown by so many brutal moments in our lives, there was something powerful about acknowledging them and each other.

Tomorrow an amazing new book will reach stores and add over 100 voices to this conversation. Born This Way (Quirk Books) was edited by DJ Paul V. and inspired by his website of the same name, a photo/essay project for gay adults of all genders to submit their childhood pictures and stories and share their memories of growing up LGBTQ.

While the stories and photos collected in Born This Way range from heartbreaking to hilarious and are each uniquely told by a range of voices, from the famous (like Sen. Barney Frank and singer-songwriter Sia) to "everyday" people, it's heartening to discover how much common ground we share.

On the Born This Way blog DJ Paul V. writes:

My ultimate goal ... is to help chip away the stone of homophobia, show that being gay has never been a choice, and to help humanize, personalize, and globalize what our experiences are/were as children growing up LGBTQ. And [if it] helps stop even just ONE LGBTQ person from taking their own life, or feeling bad or ashamed or unloved, then I feel I've achieved my goal.

Below, have a look at a slideshow of stories and photos from the Born This Way book, and if you're in Los Angeles or New York, come to one of the book parties featuring those who submitted essays, like the Village Voice's Michael Musto and celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz.

I'll be hosting the New York City book party on Thursday, Oct. 11. You can get full details and RSVP to the event here. Full details on the Los Angeles book release party, taking place Oct. 9, are available here.

For more info on "Born This Way" (the book), visit Quirk Books.

Like many queer people, I love comic books (especially because they so eloquently mirror the challenges, burdens, and loneliness queer people often find themselves facing), but I've always hated origin stories. I never want to wade through the backstory of how someone discovered that she had fully functioning gills or...

In 1992 singer-songwriter Tori Amos released her groundbreaking debut album "Little Earthquakes," which explored themes of religion, sexuality, feminism, family and love in a way no other artist had previously attempted. The album won her critical acclaim and a legion of dedicated fans and in the 20 years since then...

Writer, producer and director Ilene Chaiken is best known and beloved for gifting the world with "The L Word."

The wildly popular, groundbreaking lesbian drama premiered on Showtime in 2004 and ran for six seasons. In 2010 Chaiken returned to Showtime -- and familiar turf -- with "The Real L...

I've been thinking a lot about sex lately. For those who know me personally, that probably won't come as too much of a surprise. I'm a red-blooded gay man with a hunky, virile boyfriend, and I've always seen sex as a healthy, important part of my life. But in recent...

Marina Lambrini Diamandis -- aka Marina and the Diamonds ("the Diamonds" refers to her fans, not her bandmates) -- surged onto the music scene two years ago when she released her debut album, "The Family Jewels," and snagged the runner up position on the BBC's influential Sound of 2010 poll....

On Wednesday a tragic incident took place at the offices of the Family Research Council when a man opened fire and wounded a security guard. Details are still emerging about the alleged assailant (who volunteered at the DC Center for the LGBT Community), his state of...

Over the weekend several photos of Anderson Cooper's boyfriend, Ben Maisani, kissing an unidentified man in a New York City park surfaced in the tabloids. Almost immediately my Facebook feed was filled with comments gushing sympathy for Cooper, who, it was assumed, must be locked away in his...

If I hear one more person say that he or she is supporting Chick-fil-A because "This is a First Amendment issue," I'm going to jump out of one of the Huffington Post's fifth-floor windows and swan dive into oncoming traffic.

It seems I can't open Twitter or look at Facebook...