Calling All Writers! Big (Special) Queer History Prompt!

A Prism & Pen writers prompt

7 min readApr 14, 2025

Queer history is being suppressed, and it’s time to write about it!

It’s writing-prompt day at Prism & Pen, and this one’s special. See the flames in the photo above? That’s not just a metaphor. Books about queer people and queer subjects are being banned all over the United States, in school libraries and public libraries. In a few cases, books about queer people have been literally burned.

You can read about the extent of the problem by clicking the photo below, which is real, depicting a recent book-burning bonfire in Nashville, Tennessee — led by pastor Greg Locke, one of the most infamous haters of queer people in the U.S. He’s very busy firing people up, pun intended, over book banning. And he’s far from alone.

The federal government under the leadership of Donald Trump has been very busy in recent weeks actively scrubbing queer history from official web sites, plus threatening educational institutions with loss of funding if they don’t do the same.

But the federal government can’t silence all of us!

Residents of Nashville burn books about queer people and Black people. Click the photo to read a Georgetown University analysis of the current book-banning wave sweeping the U.S.

In this age of book burning, let’s share queer history!

First, I want to call your attention to the header image again. See the item on the right, “Queer U.S. Timeline”? That’s a link to a story by
Jean Elizabeth Glass
— a monumental effort on her part to put together a concise and truly inclusive sketch of key events in queer history from the colonial era until now. But even though she spent months researching and writing, she’s asking for help making the timeline even more complete. THAT’S WHERE YOU COME IN. Can you please share your expertise by suggesting items that need including. The comments section is open. Click to read and contribute!
Second, we’re holding that spot on our homepage! We want to include similar timelines for other nations and regions.
Esther Spurrill-Jones
has expressed an interest in doing a timeline for Canada.
Kira Ry
is interested in perhaps tackling parts of eastern Europe. Would anyone like to reach out and help? And how about your area? Can we get a timeline for the UK? How about India, Japan, Mexico, Colombia, or Brazil, just for example?
Third, let’s make the next two or three weeks on Prism & Pen a queer-history storytelling bonanza! And I mean ALL kinds of history — from your own personal queer-history, to stories from the more distant past. What you remember hearing or reading from queer folks who came before you? How can you share those stories to inspire people today?

In this age of book burning, let’s share queer history!

That’s our new Prism & Pen writing prompt for at least the next two weeks. It’s time to tell our stories!

If you write for Prism & Pen already or you’ve ever wanted to, we want to hear YOUR stories about the queer past — well known, unknown, or somewhere in between.

Friends, family members, allies — we want to hear from you too, as always. Why does queer matter to you, if it does? What can you share to shine a light in today’s troubled times?

Quills out, editorial support available! Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, P&P editors can help you make your story look sharp and professional.

For everyone, please remember that our prompts are meant to inspire rather than restrict. Whatever you’d like to write about queer history, P&P is here to help you find an audience.

Of course, you don’t have to submit stories based on our prompts. You can submit stories about anything in the LGBTQ universe, whenever you like. Please do!

Prism & Pen

Calling All Writers! Big (Special) Queer History Prompt!

A Prism & Pen writers prompt

Queer history is being suppressed, and it’s time to write about it!

In this age of book burning, let’s share queer history!

In this age of book burning, let’s share queer history!

A Comprehensive Queer History Timeline of the United States

As inclusive as I can make it.

You tell your stories, we’ll help you share them.

New Prism & Pen Submission Guidelines

Last updated April 25, 2024

Published in Prism & Pen

Written by James Finn

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