5 Short Stories for Pride Month
Curated for readers with commitment issues
Every June I find myself inundated with lists of LGBTQ+ books for the discerning reader, and every June I add a ton of titles to my to-be-read list. Sometimes they sit there until June returns, staring resentfully at me as I studiously avoid making eye contact.
This year, to save us all from this awkward situation, I’ve curated a short list of short stories written about various queer experiences from various times. Some of them are fluffy tales of love where nothing bad happens, others are speculative gender nonconforming thought experiments, and yet others are earnest deathbed confessions. I encourage you to pick and choose, and read only what you can safely consume.
With drastically shorter reading times, no words wasted, and impactful narratives, hopefully even the most time pressured among us have the opportunity to partake at leisure in these short stories.
Spoiler Policy: critical spoilers ahead, although knowing the plot does not detract from the experience of reading these stories. For a list of titles without spoilers, please scroll to the bottom of the article.
Content Warnings: discussion of underage sex, one count of child molestation, death, coming out, homophobia, unrequited love, requited love, happy endings, unhappy endings, ambiguous endings, naked parents. The child molestation will be tagged in the relevant section.
“Lihaaf” by Ismat Chughtai
Content warning: act of child molestation in the story, mentioned herein.
Published in 1942 in the Urdu language journal Adab-i-Latif, this short story (translated in English as “The Quilt” by M. Asaduddin) raised a furious storm of criticism against the Padma Shri winning Indian author, embroiling her in a court case for obscenity. She was summoned to Lahore to defend herself, won the case, and never did issue the apology that was demanded of her.
“Lihaaf” is narrated by a woman of unspecified age recollecting her memories as a young girl staying in the house of a relative called Begum Jaan. Begum Jaan’s husband is cheating on her with “firm-calved, supple-waisted boys” and Begum Jaan is none too pleased with the situation. The young girl relates the story of how the wife seeks solace in her companion, a masseuse named Rabbu. Our young narrator is as repulsed by Rabbu as she is fascinated by Begum Jaan, and eventually gains an inkling of how close the two truly are.
“These doctors are crazy… There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just the heat of the body,” Rabbu would say, smiling while she gazed at Begum Jaan dreamily.
There is something deviously vulgarian in the way this story is written. Ismat Chughtai often wrote about class conflict, and it is clear here that Begum Jaan, while a woman that has been forced into marriage at a young age, is not an innocent victim. She exerts sexual control over Rabbu, who is not of equal status with her, and frightens our child narrator by holding her tightly and touching her ribs. A modern reader may well still be upset by “Lihaaf”, and understandably avoid it. Yet there is something powerful there — an uncomfortable interplay of layers of power and desire that draws the eye.
“Lihaaf” can be read online for free.
“The World Well Lost” by Theodore Sturgeon
Content warning: homophobia, slurs.
Loaded with longing and poetry, this piece of speculative fiction was published in America in 1953, the same year an Executive Order was signed by President Eisenhower to fire federal employees with “sexual perversions”. Into this landscape came Theodore Sturgeon, with a short story about homosexual love that was rejected outright by his editor, but eventually published as a milestone in the treatment of gay love in scifi.
The story begins on Earth, with two interplanetary refugees known as the loverbirds being denied asylum. They have fled the recluse planet Dirbanu, and Dirbanu breaks its famous silence to demand their return and promises to open diplomatic channels with humanity if they comply. So the loverbirds are captured, and their flight home is chartered by a crew of two. We have Captain Rootes, a vocal homophobe, and Grunty, his silent companion with a rich inner dialogue full of passionate language that pines for the Captain. To Grunty’s horror, the loverbirds turn out to be telepathic — and they’ve discovered his secret. Disinterested in being outed to his beloved, Grunty decides to murder his charges…until they reveal some secrets of their own.
“His words said, Why must we love where the lightning strikes, and not where we choose? And they said, But I’m glad it’s you, little prince. I’m glad it’s you.”
The contrast of Grunty’s inner workings to the face he presents to his companion is a gorgeous and devastating metaphor for closeted folks. He is capable of so much feeling, and keeps it all locked away. He lies, and lies, and lies to survive. The puzzle of the loverbirds and the connection he makes with them is deeply satisfying. We are left at the end of the tale with Grunty, his poetic musings, and a sort of tender romance, doomed to silence.
“The World Well Lost” can be read online for free.
“Coming of Age in Karhide” by Ursula K. Le Guin
Content warning: naked parents, underage sex.
Known for gatecrashing the absolute boys club of speculative fiction in mid-century America with her wild notions of gender and sexuality, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote this addition to her Hainish Cycle in 1995. Set on an alien planet where people exist in a gender neutral state with complex sexual cycles, gender presentation, and polyamory, the story continued to explore the themes laid out in her iconic novel “The Left Hand of Darkness”.
The story plunges straightaway into the world of Sov, our narrator, as they recollect their coming of age. They are fourteen, and puberty is making their body foreign to them. On Gethen, the people refer to becoming sexually mature as kemmering, and relegate all sexual activity to the kemmerhouse. Individuals of Sov’s clan may kemmer as man or woman, and have sex with any gender…but once the monthly kemmer is ended, they return to being gender neutral, and go about their business. The story takes us through Sov’s first kemmer, and the ties they make during that time.
“The Thades always kemmer as women and always get pregnant,” I heard neighbors say, variously envious,disapproving, admiring. “And they never keep kemmer,” somebody would add.
As the title suggests, this is a coming of age story that navigates all the embarrassments of a changing body and early sexuality, placed in a background of a safe, sane, consensual practices that allow young people to grow into their personhood. Sov kemmers both as a woman and a man, complains about the lack of adequate pronouns in our human language, and rearranges the reader’s brain a little to exert their own authentic self. It was a bold story when it was written, and it remains bold today.
“Coming of Age in Karhide” can be read online for free.
“I am a homosexual, mum” by Binyavanga Wainaina
Content warning: death, loss of parents.
Kenyan writer Wainaina published his portentously titled memoir, “One Day I Will Write About This Place” in 2011. He released a ‘lost chapter’ after a wave of anti-gay laws passed all over Africa in 2014. The essay “I am a homosexual, mum” was his coming out against the push back of human rights for queer people on the continent.
The essay is divided into two parts. The first section deals with what might have been, as the author’s mother lays dying in a bed in Kenya, and he succeeds in reaching her from South Africa before the end. The second part relates the way it played out instead; two deceased parents and their child in mourning, grief for loss and lack of time.
“I have never thrown my heart at you mum. You have never asked me to.”
The story has a staccato rhythm that drives emotion into each sentence. It is a tale that will resonate with many: the need to tell the truth about yourself to someone that matters before it’s too late, and how monumentally impossible it can feel. The juxtaposition of wish and reality is full of anger and regret, fear and apologetic eulogy. Binyavanga Wainaina describes the desolation of having a parent in medical care, the helplessness of it, with a moving simplicity that lingers long after the words stop.
“I am a homosexual, mum” can be read online for free.
“Why I Learned to Cook” by Sara Faizan
Content warning: anxiety about introducing a partner to family, happy ending
In 2018 the anthology “Fresh Ink” was published with the intent of telling stories about diverse people. Among them is a short story by Iranian-American author Sara Faizan that captures a simple but fraught moment of tension for young gay people dating.
Yasaman and Hannah are a young wlw (women loving women) couple, and while Yasaman has come out to her parents as bisexual, she hasn’t yet told her grandmother. Hannah explains to her that she wants to meet Yasi’s grandma because she’s important to her, and Yasi goes to her grandma to tell her discreetly that she has someone she likes: she wants to learn how to cook. She spends months learning the Farsi dishes her grandmother makes, and finally she brings Hannah home to introduce the two. The meal that ensues is a labor of love in more ways than one.
“I just know she means a lot to you. And you mean a lot to me. So it’s like the transitive property in math.”
It is a refreshing taste of love’s banalities — of meetings, and greetings, and learning a lover’s world as part of the relationship. Yasaman’s grandmother is recognizable to most of us, I think: a matriarch that takes pride in her family, a mother that wants to spend time with her children, a woman that is not afraid to occupy space. She gives her granddaughter strength and courage without beleaguering the point. At the end of the day, sometimes the queer experience is just so: existing, unafraid to occupy space, and holding on to the things we love.
“Why I Learned to Cook” can be read in the anthology Fresh Ink (2018).
The journey of LGBTQ+ people, as individuals and as communities, has taken many roads over the years. Not all of these stories might resonate with you — and that’s okay. Feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments! Whether they end up on our bookshelves or in our hearts, queer stories will always be important. They will always deserve telling.
List of Titles (No Spoilers)
“Lihaaf” by Ismat Chughtai, published 1942
“The World Well Lost” by Theodore Sturgeon, published 1953
“Coming of Age in Karhide” by Ursula K. Le Guin, published 1995
“I am a homosexual, mum” by Binyavanga Wainaina, written 2011
“Why I Learned to Cook” by Sara Faizan, published 2018
