#gay friendly travel products

[gaytravelinfo]

GAY TRAVEL INFORMATION'S TOP 10 ESSENTIAL TRAVEL PRODUCTS

Here is a curated selection of travel essentials, hand-picked by Gay Travel Information, to ensure your journeys in 2025 (and beyond) are as seamless and enjoyable as possible! 1.) Wrangler Smart Luggage Cup Holder and USB Port, Navy Blue, 2 Piece Set Product Description Featuring the Wrangler EL DORADO Smart Luggage set with the 3-in-1 Cup holder, phone holder, and USB port for charging…

[waitmyturtles]

(Source)

The Lower House (House of Representatives) will be hearing Thailand’s marriage equality bill at 9:30 am Bangkok time (10:30 pm Eastern for those of us in the States). The bill, if passed, would still have to be approved in Thailand’s Senate.

(Source and source)

Below the fold is Bloomberg.com's report on the happenings (source):

Bill to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage in Thailand Heads to Parliament

Bill is supported by most major parties, needs king approval

Thailand would be first in region to codify marriage equality

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat, March 26, 2024 at 2:00 PM PDT

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage could face a vote in Thailand’s parliament as early as Wednesday. If it passes, the country will be the first in Southeast Asia to establish marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

The House of Representatives will take up the legislation, technically an amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code, for second and third readings when it meets at 9 a.m. Lawmakers may vote later in the day.

The bill would legalize marriage for same-sex partners aged 18 and above, along with rights to inheritance, tax allowances and child adoption, among others. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s administration has made it a signature issue, and advocates say it would also burnish Thailand’s reputation as an LGBTQ-friendly tourist destination.

Taiwan and Nepal are the only places in Asia that currently recognize same-sex marriage, and recent efforts elsewhere in the region have had mixed results. Hong Kong has yet to comply with a 2023 court order to establish laws recognizing same-sex partnerships, and India’s Supreme Court refused to legalize same-sex marriage, saying it’s an issue for parliament to consider.

The Thai bill would change the composition of a marriage from “a man and a woman” to “two individuals,” and change the official legal status from “husband and wife” to “married couple.”

Thai laws have protected LGBTQ people from most kinds of discrimination since 2015, but attempts to formalize marriage rights have stalled. In 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld the law recognizing marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. Last year, a bill to recognize same-sex civil partnerships failed to clear parliament ahead of elections.

Rights advocates have higher hopes for the bill pending now, noting that it has broad support from most of the major parties. If it passes, it will need to be approved by the Senate and endorsed by the King. Then it would be published in the Royal Gazette and take effect 120 days later.

Srettha’s government has also promised to work on a bill to recognize gender identity, and the health ministry has also proposed legalizing commercial surrogacy to allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children. Thailand is seeking to host the WorldPride events in Bangkok in 2028.

Legalizing same-sex marriage could have positive effects on tourism, which contributes about 12% to the nation’s $500 billion economy. In 2019, before the pandemic froze international tourism, LGBTQ travel and tourism to Thailand generated about $6.5 billion, or 1.2% of gross domestic product, according to industry consultant LGBT Capital.

Formal recognition could boost the reputation of a place already considered one of Asia’s best for LGBTQ visitors, said Wittaya Luangsasipong, managing director of Siam Pride, an LGBTQ-friendly travel agency in Bangkok.

“It will become a selling point for Thailand and raise our strength in the global stage,” Wittaya said. “It will create a relaxed and safe atmosphere for tourism and help attract more and more LGBTQ visitors. We could also see more weddings by LGBTQ couples, which could generate income across industries and local communities.”

[thwipsthrown]

oh i guess i should make a lil mobile-friendly rundown of the muses written here + relevant links, huh?

remy "the gambit" lebeau: combo of the comics & x-men 97 & headcanon. professional wifeguy. cat dad. bi, femme-lean. heavily affiliated with @hopedefined but not single-ship. moderate muse. channing tatum + various 97/comics caps. playlist // pinterest // found on wire @/gxmbit.

gwen "ghost spider" stacy: e65 or insomniac-inspired or tasm or mcu, depending on the thread, but inspiration from all sources regardless + headcanon. queen of pushing people away. dimensional traveller. what makes this gwen stacy the outlier? she/they. bi. high muse. jesse mei li + various comic/animated sources. playlist // pinterest // found on wire @/stacysghost.

peter "spider-man" parker: tasm/insom fusion or tasm + nwh vanilla, + headcanon. king of the guilt complex & losing everyone he cares about. most assuredly not a child. substitute teacher. ethnically and religiously jewish. bi. high muse. andrew garfield. playlist // pinterest // found on wire @/parkersbite.

harry osborn: tasm happy ending au, vanilla available on request, + headcanon. rich kid. probably needs to go to rehab. and therapy. oscorp's ceo. gay, demi-romantic. moderate muse. dane dehaan. playlist // pinterest.

harry osborn: mcu insert + headcanon. new money. got dusted, only to return and find out his mother died from the illness they share (and is only just showing itself). definitely needs to go to rehab. college sophomore. oscorp's heir apparent. bi. moderate muse. aidan gallagher. (same playlist/pinterest as tasm harry.)

billy kaplan-maximoff: mcu based with comic influences. died william kaplan, born billy maximoff. product of the westview hex. looking for his brother. estranged from wanda (but still open to interactions!). besties with a ghost, apparently. remembering being william. gay. high muse. joe locke.

TEST MUSE(S):

gwyn "spider-man" stacy: entirely headcanon based. literally bewitched by one panel from spider gwen: shadow clones. interpolation from gwen-65 + a little of peter parker-616. fc rudy pankow.

[effieandtim]

From Jonny's Time interview from 2022

Hollywood hasn’t historically been friendly to openly gay actors: in the past, it was likelier you’d find “straight people playing gay roles, winning awards for it, and then being told that they’re brave,” says Bailey, “which is so demoralizing.”

Jonny has been on record that he thinks people should be able to play whatever and that the conversation should be about giving out gay actors more roles not if only gay actors should play gay roles. But when straight actors play gay roles multiple times I start to judge them, I'm judging Paul and Josh because this movie they're doing won't be their first gay role for either of them.

hmm see i get your point and i think it’s well within your right to judge them for this especially bc it will be more than once - it’s a valid criticism but i just levy it at the production too and the awards more.

bc again it goes back to the same conversation - who can play what characters.

having said that, i think we all agree that there’s something different when you watch queer actors in queer roles and fellow travelers has been such a good example of it.

not saying that straight actors would disrespect those characters, but at the end of the day, the internal struggle regarding their sexuality is something that they would never be able to relate to and thats just a fact i think

it’s not their lived experience and i like those actors who at least acknowledge that fact and dont speak over those who have experienced that struggle

edit: in case anyone is reading this out of context, we’re talking about andrew scott being snubbed for all of us strangers and the consequent conversation about paul being a straight actor getting a nom for playing a queer character while andrew being a gay actor not getting a nom for a queer character even though the film is all about him

[enfyswanders]

London, Part 1: June 17-22, 2024

It's been a long time since I traveled alone without having work or family or a con or something to guide my agenda. I landed in London with tickets to a couple of shows, but otherwise just open-ended days I could spend as I like. This is my favorite way to travel, whether alone, with my partner, or with a friend. I love being able to sleep as late as I like and do whatever the mood strikes each day.

The day I arrived, I took it easy. I took a shower and a nap, then found a place with fantastic steak & ale pie for dinner and wandered to a local park that had a beautiful Japanese garden. I was surprised to find the sun rose at 5 a.m. and set around 10 p.m. each day - earlier and later than I'm accustomed to, even in the height of summer in Maryland.

Another happy surprise were the intersex-inclusive pride flags prominently displayed when I entered my hotel, the Premier Inn (London Kensington - Olympia).

Side note on Premier Inn: I stayed at several of them during my travels. They're a budget hotel chain in the UK that's very queer-friendly, clean, secure, comfortable, quiet, and I had very good experiences at every location.

Once I had a good night's rest, I asked myself: "What do I want to do today?" And the answer to that question was "Go shopping." I was keen to check out Camden Market, a sprawling collection of small, quirky shops and restaurants in London. One of my favorite clothing stores, Psylo, is there, and I wanted to buy myself a cool outfit. Which I did!

I also got an artsy photo taken of my eyeball to gift to my partner.

I had lunch at The Cheese Bar. It was fantastic.

There were some truly wild shops in Camden Market that were visually impressive:

I had a ball exploring the shops and little eateries (I even got a Pasteis de Nata, a kind of custard tart I fell in love with in Portugal a few years back), and I could've spent an entire day there, but I was restless and eager to see more stuff, so I ended up wandering to the nearby London Zoo. It was a pretty sweet zoo with lots of different animals and habitats represented. There was a free-roaming tamarind inside the rainforest building, which was cool to see up close. (I have a video, but Tumblr limits you to uploading only one video per post, boo.)

I wandered through Queen Mary's Rose Garden after that, and stopped by the gorgeous Daunt Books, which specializes in travel books.

London definitely has an amazing bookshop scene. The next day, I visited 10 more of them, focusing on occult bookshops. I found my books in stock at a few of them (squee!) and chatted with the owners as I signed them.

I was also delighted to see Pamela Colman Smith's fireplace at Treadwell's:

And Gerald Gardner's original meeting place at the Atlantis Bookshop:

I loved visiting these bookshops, especially if they carried my friends' books. It warmed my heart to see their books in another country.

I also teared up a bit visiting Gay's The Word, the UK's oldest LGBTQ+ bookshop, which was featured in the movie Pride (2014). I was thrilled to see they carried my friend Tamsin's book.

I also checked out the Vagina Museum. I'd followed them on social media for years, so it was really nice to visit and support them in person. It's small, and in kind of a rough location, but it's worth a visit.

That day, I had the best fish and chips of my entire life at The Crown & Anchor, which I mistakenly thought was the pub in Ted Lasso when I found it on Google Maps (turns out they renamed a different pub with that name for the show). Holy crap, I want to eat that specific fish and chips the rest of my life. Every other time I had fish and chips on the trip, it failed to live up to this one. I got spoiled early. It was so buttery and crisp and utterly perfect.

The next big trip highlight was seeing a production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It's a reconstruction of the Globe from the Elizabethan era. I sprung for a seat with a cushion(!) on the second level, and I had a great view of the fantastic production. I'm so glad I got to see this specific play, because it's my favorite. The cast was amazing, and seeing it in that theatre was a deeply moving experience, like stepping back in time.

They also had one of the rare original folios of Shakespeare's plays on display:

As if that experience didn't give my brain enough happy chemicals, afterwards I went to Dopamine Land. Dopamine Land is a temporary exhibit/experience available all over the world, where you wander through about 10 different rooms that stimulate and soothe your senses in different ways, including a giant, adult-sized ball pit. I really liked the first room, which was all mirrors and color-changing dangling lights.

The next day, I visited Tate Britain with my friend Beckett, who has been an online friend for the past decade, and is both a fantastic musician in her own right and also a big supporter of my band, the Misbehavin' Maidens. She and her wife met me at the museum and we got to do one of the LGBTQIA+ tours. It was a super interesting tour focusing on a handful of pieces by queer artists, with queer themes expressed in the pieces. Apparently, each of the LGBTQIA+ tours is different, so I'd definitely go back and do it again.

Another highlight of Tate Britain was seeing The Lady of Shallott painting by John William Waterhouse, which I think was on the cover of one of my English Lit textbooks in college.

After the museum, we went to a pub and I had my first Sticky Toffee Pudding! It was delicious - served with salted caramel ice cream. (I developed a preference over the course of the trip, though, to have it served with custard.)

My first Tube ride made me giggle, incidentally:

[idontknowanametouse]

Genshin cringe headcanons part 1: the travellers

This post reclaims the term "cringe". If you use it as an insult or is triggered by it, please, DNI

-

Name: Aether

Gender: trans man, he/him

Pictures of character:

Appearance: white, ethnically english, athletic, has braided long blond hair and brown eyes, scars through his body and face (including burn scars)

Age: chronologically unknown, but is phisically, mentally and psychologically 16

Sexuality: gay

Personality: kind, friendly, easily excitable, protective, joyful, hyperempathetic, trusts people way too much, knows how to read people very well, cries easily, can befriend anyone.

Area of greatest ability: travelling, communicating

Likes: travels, talking, being around people, sweets, gazing at the moon, helping others, being productive, mora

Dislikes: being manipulated, old creepy spaces, when Paimon screams, not knowing what people are talking about

Fears/triggers: the heavenly principles, being alone, someone touching the place his wings used to be

Kins: slime, light, yellow, cooking, stars.

Family: Lumine (biological twin sister) Paimon (found family lil sibling) Dainsleif (found family uncle)

Relationship status: has a crush on Lyney

Friends: basically 99% of vision ielders in Teyvat (non-vision holders don’t like them very much, so Aether’s close circle is limited to vision holders)

Disabilities: autistic and non-verbal, communicates through sign language.

Belief: believes the cosmos to be a god.

-

Name: Lumine

Gender: trans woman, she/her

Pictures of character:

Appearance: white, ethnically english, athletic, has tanner skin than Aether, short blond hair and blue eyes, scars through her body and face (including burn scars)

Age: chronologically unknown, but is phisically, mentally and psychologically 16

Sexuality: lesbian

Personality: sincere, grumpy, very protective and kind in private, brave, bold, just, hypoempathetic.

Area of greatest ability: Fighting

Likes: fights, listening to stories, hunting (it can be fatui, abyss mages or just some animal), meat, being around her friends, glaze lilies

Dislikes: people who are cruel, people who think of themselves as superior, the heavenly principles, being defenseless, bad parents

Fears/triggers: not being able to fight back, losing her family, friends or girlfriend, cruelty towards children

Kins: painting, nature, white, galaxy

Family: Aether (biological twin brother) Paimon (found family lil sister) Dainsleif (found family uncle)

Relationship status: dating Ayaka

Friends: surprisingly, she gets very well with vision holders and will refer to them as her friends. However, the same can’t be said about those that look on a bad way to them on the streets and later want her help

Disabilities: autistic and non-verbal, communicates through sign language

Belief: is an atheist

-

Name: Paimon

Gender: agender, she/they

Pictures of character:

Appearance: white, ethnically english, has albinism, white hair, blue eyes, has atrophied legs

Age: chronologically unknown, but is phisically, mentally and psychologically 6

Personality: chatty, communicative, easily excited, petty, naive, egohistical, very worried about her friends even though they doesn’t show it.

Area of greatest ability: learning languages

Likes: food, learning different languages, bright colors, when people are nice to them, talking, hearing Aether and Lumine's stories about other worlds

Dislikes: being yelled at, not understanding things, when she can't help Aether and Lumine

Fears/triggers: the heavenly principles, memory loss, losing her family, being called useless

Kins: plushies, food, sky, rainbow, glitter.

Family: Aether and Lumine (found family older siblings) Dainsleif (found family uncle)

Friends: she says they’s friends with everyone she talks to, but is specially close to Sigewinne, Itto, Diona, Klee, Yaoyao, Qiqi, Sayu Nahida

Disabilities: autistic, hyperverbal, hypermobile, has way too weak legs to walk on her own and uses a rollator when not flying, if human would be diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease and ehlers-danlos syndrome

Belief: believes a little bit in every religion they ever came across

-

Name: Dainsleif

Gender: nonbinary transmasc, he/they/it/zyr/ey/shadow

Pictures of character:

Appearance: white, ethnically german, pale, tall, has blond hair, blue eyes, eyebags, his scar looks like a Chemical burn one

Age: 554 chronologically, 54 physically

Sexuality: unlabeled

Personality: enygmathic, curious, kind, comprehensive, quiet, very attached to his principles.

Area of greatest ability: writing

Likes: sparing, talking about home, being around his niblings, gazing at the stars

Dislikes: the gods, talking to other people, the Abyss Order, being unable to help his people, sweet food

Fears/triggers: cataclismic events, giving up to corruption, things that resemble the destruction of Khaenri'ah

Kins: blue, black, painting, cleaning, space.

Family: Aether, Lumine, Paimon (found family niblings)

Relationship status: was dating Halfdan before the Cataclysm

Friends: today, the only person it says are zyrs friends are his old knight comrades

Disabilities: autistic, PTSD, depression, aphantasia, partially blind on his right eye, hypocondriac, chronic pain due to the curse, uses a cane to walk

Belief: is an atheist

-

All pictures are made with this picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1931531

[darkcomedies]

there a lot of great, detailed replies in the notes of this explaining the connotations of You/Thou in Shakespeare’s time, but very few analyze the significance of Hamlet + Horatio’s changing use of the pronouns throughout the play beyond “gay” (which, yeah. same. very that.)

my interpretation: it’s to chart their relationship throughout the play (among other stuff)

so. the first, often ignored cut line that Hamlet says to Horatio is: “Horatio— or do I forget myself?” and Horatio responds: “The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.” (1.3)

my bold claim here is that Hamlet uses “you” to refer to Horatio at first for two reasons. Reason 1: he doesn’t know Horatio that well.

as a gay Hamlet truther myself i know this is extremely controversial. i personally think they might be, at most, the equivalent of work/school friends— sharing a lot of the same spaces, being around each other for years, but not really having deep conversations. we don’t have much evidence beyond how immediately comfortable Hamlet seems around him to suggest otherwise…

…here’s what we know from the text: they’ve definitely known each other in some capacity for a long time. (Something… I don’t know what… tells me Horatio potentially knows Hamlet more than Hamlet knows Horatio) they canonically attend the same university. they’re friendly with each other, they even joke a bit. Horatio traveled to Denmark from Wittenberg to attend King Hamlet’s funeral, so he either knows that the King passed away through the news/gossip mill, or heard that Hamlet’s father died through their friendship. (Horatio states that his reason for attending is “I came to see your father’s funeral.” which feels slightly more personal.) Horatio states that he thinks he’s seen the King once before, but this is very likely just him revving up to tell Hamlet that the one time he did see the King was the previous night. as a ghost.

so, Hamlet maybe uses “you” for Horatio because he just isn’t comfortable enough using “thou.”

“but hamlet still calls other lower class characters they he doesn’t know ‘thou—” Yes! He does! which brings me to Reason 2: Hamlet respects Horatio.

Horatio is definitely not of royal blood and potentially isn’t even that upper class (his cohort group, at this point, has essentially been guards/servants, he even calls himself one.) YET. Horatio is incredibly intelligent and well spoken (he speaks in verse!). He’s a fucking scholar of philosophy. He’s respectful, he’s calm, and he’s logical— Hamlet is in a fuckin tornado of emotions right now, of course he respects those traits. Enough so to use language that would let Horatio know that Hamlet views him as an equal.

“but if he respects Horatio so much, why did he switch to thou?”

okay so i’ve got a heartwarming interpretation of this, and an upsetting interpretation. i genuinely believe the “””””true””””” (⚠️THERE IS NO SUCH THING⚠️) interpretation lies somewhere in the middle depending on the production/my mood when i read it.

let’s start with the upsetting one: emotional manipulation.

yeah:( if you’ll notice, Hamlet starts using “thou” after his big long “Horatio you are fucking awesome” speech. which is followed by him asking Horatio for an insane favor. after that, Horatio does become something of an errand boy (with a hint of treason!) to Hamlet in a way, so “thou” would naturally slip in if Hamlet starts viewing him as another servant. if your read of Hamlet is particularly conniving, using “thou” is definitely going remind Horatio of his place in their relationship. (what are you gonna do, say no to a prince? the future king, if we play our cards right? if you do this ooooone thing for me…)

moving to heartwarming: Hamlet realizes how much he likes and trusts Horatio.

if they don’t know each other well, the two have immediate chemistry— a lot of shared lines and fun banter. Horatio is the only other person who’s “equal” to him who believes that Hamlet’s dad was murdered. Hamlet lowkey doesn’t really have anyone else beyond Horatio— he is alone. Hamlet loves to talk to himself, and Horatio doesn’t seem to mind being talked at, so he’s a great troubleshooter who swore not to tell anyone anything Hamlet says regarding treason stuff. Horatio is deeply loyal to Hamlet in a time where it feels like everyone he loves is betraying him. he’s loyal to Hamlet BEFORE being loyal to Claudius, the current king. (you get the idea that Horatio is really into feudalism by how he acts, so this is huge.) if your read of Hamlet is more gentle, perhaps Hamlet switching to “thou” is his way of indicating that Horatio can be more comfortable around him.

so here’s where i get… mid. i don’t know if i have an original, detailed thought regarding Horatio’s switch to “thou” post Hamlet’s death. very popular, very common interpretation is… gay. which, yes. “sweet prince” is very personal. “thou” is very personal. suicides for love are very common in Shakespeare’s work. yes. who among us has not been in AP Lit while gay?

for the sake of the sake of it: consider the philosophical, mortal concerns Hamlet (the play and person) have. when Hamlet dies, he isn’t a prince. he isn’t a king. he isn’t a person. He is the “quintessence of dust.” he’s the same as Horatio would be if he got to drink from the cup— dead. as cliche as it is, death is the great equalizer. he’s “thou,” now, because he’s dead.

so, long tdlr; Hamlet uses ‘you’ for Horatio, because he doesn’t know him well, but respects him. he starts using ‘thou’ because he starts to view Horatio as less than him, or because he realizes he close he feels to him. Horatio uses ‘thou’ because he’s gay, or because death is what finally made Hamlet his equal.

thanks for letting me pretend to be a professor on your tumblr post. or sorry. ah.

can someone who knows about you/thou divide in shakespeare help me out bc I just skimmed through all of horatio and hamlet’s interactions to find that hamlet consistently refers to horatio as “you” in act one, but starting with his very heartfelt speech in act 3 scene 2 praising horatio, he consistently uses “thou” until the end of the play (which does, sadly, imply that “o, I could tell you— but let it be.” is not actually directed at horatio…) more interesting to me is that horatio only ever uses “you” to refer to hamlet until after hamlet has died, when we get “goodnight sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” does this have to do hamlet with hamlet being dead? or?? what are the general connotations of you/thou at this time (bc I know it has changed over time). why did the changes happen as they did or does literally none of this matter ?

[noisycowboyglitter]

Blending Identities: Merging the Colorado Flag with LGBTQ+ Pride Symbols

The Colorado state flag, reimagined through an LGBTQ+ lens, represents a powerful symbol of inclusion and diversity in the Centennial State. This vibrant adaptation retains the iconic elements of Colorado's flag while incorporating the rainbow colors synonymous with LGBTQ+ pride.

Buy now:19.95$

The traditional Colorado flag features a red "C" filled with a golden disk, set against a backdrop of horizontal stripes: blue at the top and bottom, with white in the center. In the LGBTQ+ version, these elements are transformed. The "C" might be rendered in a spectrum of pride colors, or the entire flag background could be overlaid with a subtle rainbow gradient.

This fusion of state identity and LGBTQ+ representation speaks to Colorado's progressive stance on equality and human rights. It symbolizes the state's commitment to fostering an inclusive environment for all residents, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The flag serves as a rallying point for LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their allies, often seen at pride parades, equality marches, and community events throughout the state.

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Moreover, this reimagined flag embodies the intersection of regional pride and LGBTQ+ advocacy. It celebrates Colorado's natural beauty and outdoor lifestyle while affirming the state's diverse population. From Denver's vibrant LGBTQ+ scene to the inclusive communities in mountain towns, the Colorado Flag LGBT design represents a state where all are welcome to live authentically and proudly.

When considering good gifts for gay guys, it's important to focus on the individual's interests and personality rather than stereotypes. Like anyone, gay men have diverse tastes and hobbies.

Consider gifts that align with their passions, whether that's art, music, travel, cooking, or fitness. High-quality grooming products, stylish accessories, or unique home decor items can be great choices for those who appreciate aesthetics.

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For the tech-savvy, the latest gadgets or smart home devices might be perfect. Book lovers might enjoy LGBTQ+ literature or memoirs by gay authors. If they're into pop culture, consider merchandise from LGBTQ+-friendly shows or artists.

Experience gifts like concert tickets, cooking classes, or spa days can create lasting memories. For activists, donations to LGBTQ+ charities in their name can be meaningful.

Ultimately, the best gift shows thoughtfulness and understanding of the person's individuality, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Buy now

[gayfriendlybarsnearme]

How To Find LGBTQ-Friendly Businesses And Services In Your Area

It’s no secret that LGBTQ rights have made significant strides in recent years, but some businesses and services are still reluctant to openly declare themselves as “LGBTQ friendly.” As a result, it can be hard for the community to find merchants and services that truly understand their needs. Fortunately, there is a new high-tech guide that helps make the process of finding LGBTQ-friendly merchants and services much easier. In this blog post, we’ll explore the features of this unique tool, how it works, and what kind of impact it has on the LGBTQ community.

What is LGBTQ?

If you’re looking for a high-tech guide to LGBTQ friendly merchants and services, look no further! This comprehensive guide will help you find businesses that cater to the LGBTQ community, whether you’re looking for nightlife, shopping, or professional services.

With so many businesses now offering LGBTQ friendly products and services, it can be hard to know where to start. This guide will help you narrow down your options and find the perfect merchant or service for your needs.

First, let’s define what LGBTQ stands for: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer. This acronym encompasses a wide range of sexual orientations and gender identities, making it one of the most inclusive acronyms in the English language.

If you identify as LGBTQ, or if you’re an ally of the community, here are some merchants and services that might interest you:

Nightlife: There are plenty of LGBTQ friendly bars, clubs, and lounges to choose from across the country. If you’re looking for a night out on the town with friends or a date, check out one of these establishments!

Shopping: More and more retailers are becoming inclusive of the LGBTQ community. Whether you’re looking for clothes, cosmetics, or home goods, there are plenty of stores that will welcome you with open arms (and wallets).

Professional Services: From lawyers to wedding planners to therapists, there

What are some of the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community?

There are many challenges faced by the LGBTQ community, but some of the most prevalent ones include:

-Discrimination: whether it be in housing, employment, or simply everyday interactions, discrimination against LGBTQ individuals is all too common. This can make it difficult for members of the community to find safe and welcoming environments.

-Violence: hate crimes against LGBTQ individuals are unfortunately all too common, and can range from verbal abuse to physical violence. This can make members of the community feel unsafe and reluctant to openly identify as LGBTQ.

-Healthcare: many healthcare providers are not well-informed about the unique needs of LGBTQ patients, which can make it difficult to get quality care. Additionally, some insurance providers do not cover treatments related to gender transition or HIV/AIDS prevention, making healthcare even more inaccessible for members of the community.

What are some LGBTQ friendly merchants and services?

Some LGBTQ friendly merchants and services are:

-The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)

-The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

-The National LGBTQ Task Force

-PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)

-SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders)

How can I find LGBTQ friendly merchants and services?

If you're looking for LGBTQ friendly merchants and services, there are a few different ways to find them. One way is to search for "LGBTQ friendly" businesses on directories and review sites like Yelp or Google Maps. Another way is to look for businesses that have earned an LGBTQ Friendly Certification from an organization like the Human Rights Campaign. You can also ask friends or family members for recommendations. Finally, you can check out lists of LGBTQ friendly businesses compiled by publications like The Advocate or OUT Magazine.

We offer a new high tech PWA guide to safe travel and local merchant interactions specifically for the LGBTQ community, simply called “THEAPP”. Our app/guide for the LGBTQ community is FREE to use and gets over 490,000 visits per month with over 3 million hits. Merchant Participation is as little as $12.50/month with an annual subscription.

Sign your business up at: https://app.lgbtq.one Click on the "Add A Business" button. Or just give us a call and we will get you all set up to reach out to the expanding LGBTQ community.

Bill Thompson 

bill@lgbtq.one

1-800-LGBTQ-01

[kokokumaduy]

The Chatuchak Night Market Singapore returns from Tuesday, 7 February to Sunday, 2 April 2023. The market operates from Tuesdays to Sundays from 4.00 pm to 10.00 pm. The night market invites visitors to explore all manner of handicrafts, art, clothing and indulge in culinary delights from a carefully curated mix of local and Thai exhibitors who are also part of Thailand’s OTOP. OTOP stands for ‘One Tambon (meaning sub-district) One Product’. The OTOP program aims to support the unique locally made and marketed products from each sub-district all over Thailand and sold domestically and internationally. Furthermore, the handpicked Thai exhibitors boast a minimum of 3 to 5 stars in terms of food quality. Beer Chang is the official Beer Partner of Chatuchak Night Market Singapore. With 180 stalls, there’s a whole range of exciting F&B from Thai Hor Fun to local favourites such as succulent pork leg, claypot vermicelli, kway chap to the colourful look choob (ลกู ชบุ ), a miniature fruit-shaped mung bean dessert that is always Instagram worthy. For friends looking for Muslim-friendly foods, the night market has brought in exhibitors from the Southern part of Thailand. The exhibitors will carry delectable street food from banana roti to Hoi Tord Chumpon, an oyster and mussel omelette to Gai Kratik, Thailand’s version of the well-loved chicken satay, Hatyai Chng Tng dessert and more. You can even rent traditional Thailand chut thai (literally translates to Thai outfit) to complete your experience while you enjoy and soak in the atmosphere of the night market. Location : The Grandstand South Carpark on Turf Club Road in Bukit Timah, at 200 Turf Club Road Enjoy and have loads of fun! @rosettemedia @rosett_asia @growpublicrelations @chatuchak.sg . . . #love #instagood #fashion #beautiful #happy #art #photography #style #travel #life #cute #hiso #luxury #lifestyle #SGLifestyle #like4like #photooftheday #picoftheday #instamood (at Chatuchak.SG) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoYjSLxSwr_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lastoneout]

"But [New Farming Sim] includes combat!!" Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon came out for the Nintendo DS in 2006 (and Harvest Moon DS had mine dungeons as did Magical Melody, which both came out in 2005)

"Okay but [New Farming Sim] has you save the town from an evil company!!" Harvest Moon: Save The Homeland came out in 2001

"What about using the copper/bronze to silver to gold system for upgrading tools and crop/animal product quality?" The Olympics first used bronze/silver/gold as a medal system in 1904, and crop quality has been a thing in Harvest Moon since A Wonderful Life in 2003, while animals could give gold eggs/milk in Save The Homeland

"But there's a weird traveling merchant!" Yep, just like in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

"Well those games are for kids SDV is the first one to have adult themes!!" I mean SDV took it a bit father than the genre had before, and I appreciate that, but uh....In A Wonderful Life your wife can leave you if you suck too much and you die at the end of the game. In the early HM games there's bars, characters die, your animals can get sick and die. In one of the DS games you can kill the entire town, and in I think a GBA one you can let your dog kill the mayor. Also in one of the handheld ones if you build your fence out of golden wood apparently everyone in town starts insulting you all the time. The newer entries are much more tame and family friendly but the early games? Whooo boy.

"The junimos-" May I introduce you to the Harvest Sprites from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, who in Harvest Moon DS can even be hired to work your farm for you!

"Well you have to complete tasks or offerings to save the town and/or it's magic" *points at the Harvest Goddess from Harvest Moon DS, DS Cute, Magical Melody, ect. ect.*

"But the four seasons and growing crops-" Okay, are you sure you actually want to play another Farming Sim? Because that's basically a foundational part of the genre itself, all of them are like that. We gonna attack Animal Crossing next??

There are a lot of things SDV did for the first time. Plenty to praise it for, no doubt. 'Farming Sim' as a genre title wasn't used all that much before SDV, and SDV let you be gay when HM/SoS and RF didn't(except in like one game kinda but only the Japanese version and you had to be a girl), we wouldn't have a lot of newer games in this genre without SDV not only becoming so popular but also making it so accessible....but please STOP acting like it's the first Farming Sim ever made when 1) it absolutely is not, and 2) when Eric Barone himself, the guy who made it, talks openly about how heavily he was inspired by Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, and for the love of god stop getting mad at Coral Island(or any other new original Farming Sim) for standing on his shoulders or god fucking forbid getting mad AT HARVEST MOON/STORY OF SEASONS AND RUNE FACTORY for making new games and "copying" when they CREATED this genre in the first place!!!

"[New Farming Sim] is copying Stardew Valley!!" Harvest Moon came out for the Nintendo 64 in 1999

Edit: My apologies, Harvest Moon came out for the SNES in 1996

[covenlegacy]

Hoseok personality reading??

A lone creative wolf.

He is handsome, attractive, sociable and kind. Friendliness, benevolence, gentleness and courtesy come from him. He thrives in a warm environment and greatly appreciates love, friendship, and good professional relationships. He is sensitive, tactful and attentive to others. He has a subtle ability to give and take. His smile and kind word are able to act on others simply therapeutically, liberating and instilling confidence. It also often happens that he is characterized by an increased curiosity for other people, a sincere interest in them without any special reasons (less often - in self-knowledge). This person enjoys reading all sorts of psychological notes and puts them into practice. He can do practically nothing, be silent, be dressed somehow - all this will go unnoticed. But at the same time, people will say that he is an intelligent, neat, kind and sociable person. It is very easy to project what you want onto him, hear words that he did not say and attribute feelings to him in accordance with your expectations and desires. It always has an element of mystery, mystery, but not tense or disturbing. Rather, this is due to the fact that sensitive and creative, he always remains a little secret for himself. He is not at all characterized by typical male self-confidence in the spirit that I am my own boss, I know everything about myself, an open book. He knows that there is still a lot in him with which he can surprise both himself and those around him.

It is difficult for this person to decide on a profession or relationship (and sometimes with sexual preferences as such). He is not malicious, but does not differ in stress resistance, as he takes everything to heart, and is easily frightened of difficulties. This is just the type of "beautiful person" who does not have to get drunk.

He personifies such traits as romance, sensitivity, dreaminess. Even if he lies, he does it, believing himself in what he says. Calculating cynicism is absolutely alien to him (but there is more than enough imagination, cut off from life). In general, this is a very bright person, kind and affectionate. He is happy when he is surrounded by friendly attention, and to his credit, he knows how to not only consume this attention, but also give it to others. He is always ready to render a service, to do something good, and suffers if his motives are misunderstood. He is the first to press the button in the elevator, not because he curries favor with his superiors, and he gives flowers to a woman not because he is sexually preoccupied. He is elegant and amiable, not because he is gay. Gallantry is in his blood. This is a seducer, a comforter, historically a courtly ladies' man. Spiritual independence, following your own path, on which there are no fellow travelers, the search for your own truth (and not socially desirable). He is characterized by a desire to escape from life, to withdraw into himself, but the reason for this is not fear, but the thirst for knowledge and finding oneself. This is productive loneliness, immersion in one's inner world, isolation from material reality, from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the needs of civilization. It is well “encrypted”, and it is useless to look for it on social networks - at best, a non-binding and formal profile will be found there. This person carefully hides his face from those around him, does not seek to make contact with them, fearing that his loneliness will be violated. He seems to be born with the knowledge of the existential truth that we are all alone, birth, death, pain, revelation - it all leaves to itself. At the same time, loneliness awakens his thought, brings depth and peace, and is one of the most inspiring states. For those who are not adapted to these energies, this seems simply impossible. Helplessness, disappointment or despair are alien to him. He understands who he is, and knows what he is doing and why - or, at least, this is the state he is trying to come to. Important qualities: prudence, prudence, insight, seriousness of thoughts, prudence, the ability to pull yourself together in time, the ability to control your emotions. Security, independence, spiritual independence and self-sufficiency. Wisdom, secrecy. Strictness, seriousness. Patience, imperturbability. Emphasized invisibility (such a person, even having outstanding external data, will consciously do everything to “dim out” the effect). He is generally not particularly concerned with socialization. Its adaptation to society can be generally very superficial - for example, at the level of a screensaver for a "desktop". It looks like it is generally accepted, but when you try to open any file, it turns out that the extension is non-standard or either does not open at all, or the language is not quite readable, and the user clearly lacks some kind of connection to download all this … and boot all this. He projects the blurring and closeness of his physical and social essence during the lonely path of spiritual ascent.

[before-i-forget-again-pod]

Hey there!

Before I Forget (Again) is an in-production queer time travel workplace comedy. Our entire main ensemble is queer (minus Larry, the token het and notorious bi-wife-energy guy, but he's rockin a 'free dad hugs' shirt at pride kind of energy), including five LGB main characters, three of which are trans and/or genderqueer, and that's without even touching on the side characters.

As previously stated, it is still in production, but we plan to release sometime in Fall of 2025, so if you'd like a queer podcast rec for later, we'd love if you'd drop us a follow!

In the meantime, I (admin Beck) will take ANY excuse to recommend The Penumbra Podcast (bisexual genderqueer detective on Mars, what more could you want?),

Where the Stars Fell (the ultimate opposites attract Sapphic romance featuring angels, demons, and the poor humans who love them, very much a la Good Omens),

and, last but CERTAINLY not least,

Starfall (a travelling acting troupe and their brand new feral guard dog, an ex-cult member named Leona with a mysteeeeerious paaaast! Canonical Aro, ace, trans, gay, and bi characters and just generally a very queer friendly, band of misfits and rejects vibe).

I am, of course, very biased towards Starfall, as a voice actor in the upcoming Season 2, but I highly recommend all of these nonetheless.

Best of luck in your podcasting journey!

hey all.

I desperately need new queer fiction podcast recomendations at the moment as I have just finished camp here and there and need something to listen to while playing video games (I have the attention span of a goldfish and need at least 3 different sources of stimulation at once or I get bored).

also for the record I have already binged the entirety of TMA (several times), HFTH (also several times), WTNV, CHNT, and started listening to Malevolent but decided that it wasnt really for me.

have a nice day!

[thedoubleclicks]

Let’s Go Shopping

HI! I miss going to conventions, artists alleys, and malls. It’s almost time for holiday shopping. I asked twitter for some suggestions of small businesses to check out, and some incredible suggestions popped up! 

Take a walk through the virtual mall with me! And then we’ll go to the food court and the arcade until my mom picks us up. 

Check these places out if you want to have a fun evening of thing-scrolling instead of doom-scrolling! Patronize these places when you need to buy things (because you have stopped helping billionaires, right?)

Tweet at me if there are more cool creators I should see! 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NecromanceHollywood - skulls in jars and on pins and stuff

https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/jadegordon?sort=new - you can order curtains, fabric, all kinds of amazing stuff made of Jade’s fabric!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/stasiab - amazing art prints of cats and mushrooms and ladies

https://www.secretplanet.ca/collections/shop-all - space travel posters, delightful pins, gifts

https://paolaspixels.com/ - the BEST D&D art, notebooks, pins, clothes

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheFaerieMarket - flowers and leaves made of fabric, v pretty

https://crystaldrawsstuff.com/ - “going to therapy is cool” sweatshirts

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SoundArtKC?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=825140170 - custom album cover art - these are cool

https://tenderlovingempire.com/ - Portland makers (food, housewares, gifts, everything)

https://shop.maidenvoyageclothing.com/collections/patches - Cryptid Gifts

https://littlerooms.com/ - space jewelry

https://hanselfrombasel.com/collections/womens-socks - cute socks

https://everydayloveart.com/product/light-in-the-dark-mug/ - art prints, kids books, mugs that are wonderful

https://shoptrashqueen.com/collections/best-sellers - amazing retro styled brightly colored extended sized clothes

https://milkandcardamomsweets.com/ - CAKE

https://fromagination.com/ - CHEESE

https://www.monkeyminionpress.com/collections/books - books, posters, magnets and more!

https://lunaseastudios.storenvy.com/ - books, posters, werewolf plushes!

https://mokuyobi.com/ - colorful backpacks and clothes

https://www.binarywinter.com/product-page/stellar-symphony - geeky ties and space cat art

https://www.unicorncraftsart.com/ - cute geekery and mask chains

https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines - anarchist and feminist zines and stickers

https://www.eclecticclay.com/s/shop - clay dogs and dragons

https://www.etsy.com/shop/StitchcraftArt - cute stitchcraft

https://phoebewahl.shop/ - feminist folk art

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WristedDevelopment - jewelry (ukuleles and unicorns!)

https://itsbodily.com/ - post-pregnancy gifts

https://littlefeminist.com/product/baby-feminist-book-gift-box/ - baby gifts

https://otherwild.com/pages/about-otherwild-ny-la - a collection of art, eco-friendly, queer, homegoods in LA. gifts for everyone. truly magical hippie-ass shit. 

https://www.geekyteas.com/ - board games, dice, tea

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LkMichiganBookPress?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=535562545 - sketchbooks

https://www.etsy.com/shop/binkysgiftys?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=742920323 - notebooks

https://decomposition.com/ - notebooks - truly the only gift I ever want

http://www.pavelspuzzles.com/ - puzzles and books for NERDS

https://thebookishtype.co.uk/ - queer bookstore for kids and adults

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCHomos - pride flag merch by and for queer folx

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TomkaStore - really pretty flower/leaf earrings

https://www.sugarandsloth.co.uk/ - CUTE stationary things and gift boxes

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NecroticPixies - queer goth nerd shirts and stuff

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SevenishMagpies - cute and clever queer nerd jewelry

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FunnyFriendCardCo - greeting cards from your funny friend

https://www.suzywebberartist.com/new-products - pretty paintings

https://www.stanleychesteralbert.com/ - skull pots, gritty ornaments

https://topatoco.com/ - merch from all your favorite webcomics and b(r)ands!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/grrrlspells - witchy gay art and accessories

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TwistedStringJewelry - guitar string jewelry

https://thedemigodexperience.com/ - self-defense weapons, gems, and sage

https://www.instagram.com/jennykayart/ - pour painting commissions :) 

https://ironcircus.com/?product_cat=all-products - indie comics publisher who makes amazing gay smut and other great things!

[3laxx]

Built to Last - Chapter 1

Amity hadn't dreamed to spend her summer like this. She had just graduated from a prestigious private school and had hoped she could escape to her own little adventure until her scholarship at the college starts, but instead, her parents decide to pimp up her résumé and make her a supervisor at their newest little project, a mansion in the middle of nature. She would rather be anywhere else, yet as she meets Luz Noceda, she finds construction work very interesting, all of a sudden. And that's totally not due to the fact that Luz is all her gay dreams coming true.

Heya people! I'm back with a new story!

One of my bigger projects at the moment and one of the reasons why I haven't been uploading for over a month xD I started working in my new job! Also got my first paycheck already! And I've been writing A LOT ever since the start of September! So yeah, this is kind of inspired by my work and I've written quite a bit for this already. It's basically just Luz being hot, Amity being gay, and a lot of mad blushes x)

Ao3 / FF.net

---

As Amity’s car came to a stop, she sighed, before pulling the handbrake and looking up to the mansion that was standing in front of her.

Or rather, the structural work she could see. While the shape of the mansion was already erected, with the base and all the walls out of sturdy concrete standing, there was still a lot to do.

Her parents had decided to build a giant new mansion in the middle of a huge land they had purchased, full of forest and beautiful scenery, and it was on her to oversee the construction.

It wasn’t that Amity had any idea how construction worked.

Her parents were on a business trip, like almost all her life long, and her siblings were in the middle of their studies, and focusing on this was of the utmost importance in the Blight household.

Amity was twenty now and had just graduated from an expensive private school her parents had sent her to, to enable a scholarship at a very renowned university.

So, essentially, her summer had been meant to be free and be spent by maybe relaxing for once, maybe even traveling a little, but since her mother detested holes in her résumé, she had to be kept busy somehow.

This meant that her position in overseeing the progress on their new mansion project was registered as “construction project management” and she was required to at least show up once a day and stay for a few hours.

She knew exactly what her parents' plan was.

They believed workers worked twice as fast and neatly when the customer was standing right behind them and monitoring their progress personally.

In short, her parents believed in intimidation.

It really wasn’t Amity’s style to be a fearmonger and do nothing more than to annoy the workers and create tension in their workspace. It was an issue of trust, that Amity had in the companies her parents had hired, but her parents didn’t and she couldn’t understand why.

After years of being monitored down to the littlest detail, she knew out of experience that someone breathing down her neck wasn’t something that helped along with productivity, quality, or speed.

But her parents had put her name on the project, it was all over everyone’s plans and she was an official member of the board overseeing this construction.

It wasn’t mandatory for her to show up to the site in her job description, nor was it mandatory for her to oversee any progress. But her parents had made sure to let her know what they expected of her before they had left. Amity hated that she was so intimidated by her parents to fulfill their wishes even if they weren’t here, even if she wasn’t sure if they were still on the same continent, but she was and so she had driven up here every single day and seen the mansion be built up completely in a matter of a month. Well, construction had already started when she had still been in school, so she hadn’t seen all of it.

Her parents had done that, of course.

Sighing, she got out of the car and headed up to the mansion, located on a little hill, towering above the giant property. It was a holiday getaway, her parents had insisted, even if she believed it was more to house some high-ranking guests, maybe some politicians her parents paid, to get in their good graces.

She mostly had that theory because she couldn’t remember the last time her parents had taken a genuine break from their work. Granted, sometimes they traveled to some holiday homes or some luxury hotels, but even these were sprinkled by meeting someone, having a friendly round of golf to discuss business and such things.

Her parents never acted without their business in the back of their heads.

Shaking her head, Amity freed her thoughts of her parents. She didn’t want to think of them. Coming in a few months she would move far away from them, actually near where they were building this mansion right now, and start her studies. And then she would only have to deal with them whenever they cooked up another business thing and roped Amity in, or at family holidays to keep the illusion of a happy family. She was just glad her siblings would be there with her.

Today, the interior design team would start.

The structural work was done, as far as it went, as were all the systems in place like heating, water, and gas.

Now, they had commissioned a fairly small local company building luxury interiors to do all the decorating in the entire house with floors, walls, ceilings, doing all the interior design of the sanitary rooms and kitchen, as well as all built-in furniture and whatever else Amity could think of.

It wasn’t that Amity knew what was necessary for the installation of everything, but she had self-taught quite a lot of theory through videos online due to a personal interest of hers and at least had an idea of what they were talking about.

Not that she let them in on that.

Whenever she had been there overseeing construction of the structural work, she had done her best to make herself appear as clueless as she could without sounding dumb, so they would be able to relax a little more.

If someone was looking over your shoulder who had no idea what you were doing anyway, it’d always feel more relaxed.

She hoped to at least relieve some of the intended intimidation meant by her parents.

Approaching the estate, she already saw some of her colleagues looking in her direction, some of the actual project managers, and a new site manager that she didn’t know yet. She had long black hair and a relatively tall statue, as well as a rigid posture. She was wearing a suit, too.

Did someone tell her Amity was coming?

If so, and she had decided to wear a suit just for her, that’d be embarrassing.

She appeared to acknowledge her arrival but turned back to another site engineer that Amity hadn’t had the pleasure of being introduced to yet. She looked very similar to the other one, only that her hair was really long, gray, and in a rather messy ponytail.

She also wore work pants and a simple shirt with the name of the company printed on the back and, smaller, on the chest. Amity immediately recognized the symbol on the woman’s chest as the one printed on the van next to them as well, which was a stylized owl, and read Clawthorne Sisters beneath it.

Amity had been excited for them to arrive. Now that the concrete was in place, all the drywall installations were finished and all the necessary cables and pipes were installed, the interesting part would begin. Making everything look like a home, instead of a palace of concrete and ugly pipes.

Or, well…

A house. Make it look like a house, instead of a skeleton. This mansion would never become home to anybody.

Finally arriving at the front door, Amity greeted all the project managers, engineers, and architects she already knew, who didn’t show up every day but had only come here to oversee the start of the interior design, before turning to the tall woman with a clipboard and strikingly green eyes.

“Good morning, my name is Amity Blight.”, she started and held out a hand to the woman, whose eyebrows shot up at the mention of her last name. Apparently, nobody had told her that she would be coming and Amity felt relief flooding her veins when she realized that this site manager had not dressed up for her.

“Lilith Clawthorne, it’s my pleasure.”, she greeted back and they shook hands, before she turned to the other, an equally tall woman next to her.

“This is Edalyn Clawthorne, site engineer and master mechanic of our company. You may direct any questions you have about plans, time management and schedules at me, and any technical questions at her.”, Amity nodded to that and shook the other woman’s hand as well. They seemed to be the sisters after which the company was named.

“Alright, good to know.”, she said but didn’t continue any further, so she just listened to the project managers talk for a while, before looking around and finding the master mechanic missing.

The site manager seemed to notice this.

“If you like, Miss Blight, we can head inside and oversee the progress since this morning.”

To that, Amity nodded, although a feeling of dread pooled in her stomach.

This meant producing the stress her parents wanted. They had explicitly instructed the project managers to inform their workers not to address them or interrupt their tour in any way.

In Amity’s experience, this had always resulted in tensions.

But Ms. Clawthorne was already heading inside and everyone else stepped back to let Amity in first, so she followed.

Just after the door, they each took a helmet from a prepared stand and put it on, since there would be overhead installation going on and the Clawthorne Sisters company had insisted on everyone, without exception, to wear a helmet. That had just made them all the more attractive to Amity, while she already held them in high regard judging from their portfolio and versatility in interior design and luxury decorations.

As expected, the conversations between some workers installing a floor in the entrance area quickly died out and they hunched over, focusing on their task ahead. They stopped as Ms. Clawthorne began explaining how these natural floorboards would be imported for them, ground and finished to feel natural yet soft, while Amity began looking around.

There were a lot of new faces around here since the Clawthorne Sisters had brought all their workers and replaced the construction crew almost completely, safe for a few left-over workers who cleaned up the last of their work and deconstructed some equipment they had used.

Amity mostly noted how young most of them were.

The entrance area was manned by two boys, maybe even younger than her, who were doing some of the easier tasks, managing wires to be hidden by the floorboards by tying them together and treating some sealed pipes. Down the hallway she saw a girl, around her age, managing some wires in the walls and making sure everything was neat and orderly for the wall decorations to be installed on top.

Taking a few steps away from the planning team, she peeked into the main lobby and saw three more people, two boys, and a girl, rearranging some supplies and equipment they had brought to be stashed in the wide space and not be in anyone’s way, looking just a bit older than her.

“Huh…”, she felt herself mumbling, before turning back and feeling all eyes on her as she returned to the group, immediately feeling a blush rising.

“Is everything to your expectations, Miss Blight?”, Ms. Clawthorne asked and she was quick to nod.

“Oh, yes, everything is alright!”, she was quick to assure, but the piercing eyes of the site manager quickly realized there was a question forming, so Amity seized the opportunity, “Just… I’ve seen a lot of workers my age. Do you usually employ younger workers?” To her surprise, Ms. Clawthorne smiled at that, something she hadn’t expected to see today when she had seen the slight scowl she always seemed to wear on her lips.

“We’ve had a few workers leaving the company for their retirement lately, and my sister and I strongly agree to encourage and support the younger generations to get an education in handicrafts. We have assembled a strong team of young employees and trainees for our company and they’ve proven to be very reliable, you can be assured.”

Amity nodded at that and quickly jumped in to reassure that her question wasn’t meant as a critique or concern.

“Oh, I wasn’t worrying! I think that’s very progressive.”, she quickly said and earned a nod from Ms. Clawthorne, giving her the feeling that she had just risen in her respect before the group continued walking through the mansion. Ms. Clawthorne pointed out a few things, explained some others, and they gradually lost more and more project managers and architects to discuss plans in more detail, until just Ms. Clawthorne and Amity were left to walk through the upper level, talking about some decoration elements that would be installed up here in the master bedroom, their conversation having turned rather relaxed and almost amicable after they left all the workers and other project planners behind and had some time to get to know each other better.

Until someone came stomping up the stairs rather loudly.

Ms. Clawthorne, Lilith, as she had assured her, immediately stiffened up and Amity turned to locate the commotion, seeing a tall girl her age come barreling up the stairs with some boards on her shoulder, a wide grin on her face with white teeth that shone against her dark skin in the contrast, as she jogged up the last few steps.

The girl turned, the boards swinging around, and suddenly, Amity saw the boards coming her way, right at the height of her face.

Seemingly just before impact, the girl gave the boards a nudge while Amity was already ducking her head, and a cheerful voice that sounded like it was laughing a lot in her life, sounded.

“Whoops! Duck!”, she exclaimed and the boards went right over Amity’s head, bonking her helmet, before she dared to look up again, watching the girl stopping right in front of her, still turned sideways not to have the boards that she was balancing on her shoulder trying to decapitate Amity again.

“Woah there, that was almost bad! You good?”, the girl chuckled, her not-so-scrawny shoulders shaking in delight, before giving Amity’s helmet a knock with her knuckles. Her ears were almost ringing from the knocking and she ducked her head again, only then did the girl let off, “That’s what the helmets are for!”

Amity managed a nod but the girl was already walking past her, whistling a happy tune, while waving her hand back at them.

“Sorry again!”, she called, before rounding the corner and apparently finding a coworker of hers with which she began talking, her voice carrying away the further she went.

The young Blight was embarrassed to admit that she had stared after her toned forearms and biceps, her slim calves, and her back long after she had vanished behind a wall.

Slowly, Amity could relax her shoulders again and straightened back up, adjusting her helmet, and turning back to Ms. Clawthorne. To claim she was furious was probably an understatement.

Her entire face with a rather fair skin tone was flaming while she looked after where the girl had gone and she was shaking in anger.

Turning away from Amity, probably to shield her from her voice, she yelled after the girl, raising her fist.

“LUZ NOCEDA, COME BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!!”, she yelled and Amity couldn’t deny she had flinched before the melodic voice with the slightest Spanish accent called back.

“Just a moment, Lily! Be right there!”, she faintly called, but Amity couldn’t focus. All she could think about was her name that she had just learned, and she swore she wouldn’t forget it.

Luz Noceda.

“You wanted to talk to me?”, the girl, Luz, grinned as she came back, this time without boards, and propped her hands upon her waist. Only now, Amity could get a proper look at her.

She felt her heart speeding up when she took in her whole appearance. Luz was wearing worn-out safety shoes, some loose-fitting shorts, and a dark pullover with the company’s logo printed on her chest with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, as well as a toolbelt and a helmet on her brown, sweaty, and very messy hair.

Her face was cute and looked like she was a lot of fun to be around, her brown eyes sparkling with joy about something she had just experienced, maybe a joke with a coworker, judging from the volume at which she had been laughing downstairs and down the hall.

Well, Amity had known she was gay, but that gay?

Gulping, she took in the girl in front of her that was about half a head taller than her, then she flinched at Ms. Clawthorne’s voice winning in volume again.

“Luz Noceda! First of all, workplace safety! You know exactly to check your way when carrying big loads. And second of all, you apologize immediately! Do you know who-”

Luz seemingly shrunk more and more with each word her boss was yelling at her, and since she couldn’t bear watching that bubbliness being suppressed like this, Amity acted unthinkingly and cut into her tirade, holding out her hand.

“I’m Amity. Pleasure to meet you.”, she quickly exclaimed, a little louder than planned to interrupt Ms. Clawthorne, but her speaking up had an immediate effect.

The older woman next to her gulped the rest of her sentence and switched her gaze from Luz down to Amity, staring silently.

In contrary to her boss, Luz was apparently delighted. Immediately, her shoulders straightened again and she took Amity’s hand after taking off her glove, grinning.

“Luz. Sorry for slamming the boards on your head, I’ll take better care next time. You the architect’s intern or something?”, she replied while shaking Amity’s hand and she giggled, shaking her head, paying Ms. Clawthorne no mind while she started getting angry again, ready to make Luz three heads shorter.

“No, I’m-… Doesn’t matter.”, she laughed, waving it off, “A-And, uh, don’t worry about the boards, that’s why we wear helmets.”

Luz gave her the finger guns and clicked with her tongue, before pulling on her glove again.

“Alright then, have a lot of fun planning or whatever you guys do, I’ll do more interesting stuff.”

She winked and Amity could’ve sworn she was flirting with her. Which completely distracted her from the fact that Ms. Clawthorne’s eyelid was already twitching in uncontrolled rage.

While Luz sauntered off, Amity caught the attention of her boss again, eager not to let her be too mad at her employee. Trying a careful approach to change the topic, she softly clapped her hands together, winning back Ms. Clawthorne’s attention.

“So… I believe we haven’t talked about the bathrooms yet, am I correct?”, she inquired and Ms. Clawthorne immediately switched back to her polite way, nodding stiffly.

“Yes, Miss Blight, right this way.”, she offered Amity to walk ahead and led her down the same hallway Luz had gone, and she couldn’t stop herself from peeking inside the room Luz and a coworker of hers were preparing to work on, catching a glimpse of Luz’s toned calves flexing when she stood on her tiptoes to mark something on the wall.

Unfortunately, the door went by quickly and she couldn’t see much more of her when she had already walked past, before having to turn back to the topics her parents wanted her to discuss. Which was a lot drier planning and listening and trying to visualize complicated construction plans.

It really wasn’t that Amity wasn’t interested in learning all of this. She loved hearing about construction projects and planning where to put elements to create a harmonizing room.

But now that she had seen Luz?

Well, it wasn’t that Amity was overly starved of seeing attractive people. There were a lot of attractive people in her close environment, some of her friends for example and she couldn’t deny that most of her family’s acquaintances were fairly good-looking as well.

But something about Luz had fascinated her.

The way she moved, the way she was covered in dust and sweat and had still smelled kind of good. The way her eyes were sparkling and how she was so comfortable in her own skin, walking through her life as if she was exactly in the place where she wanted to be.

Amity was fascinated by the honest and self-assured way she was moving, behaving, and acting.

And, well, there was the fact that Luz was just ridiculously attractive to her.

She sure as hell wouldn’t forget the way her white teeth shone against her dark skin and how her muscles moved and-

“I’m afraid I must ask you to excuse me, Miss Blight.”, a firm voice suddenly interrupted her thinking and she looked up from the plan Ms. Clawthorne had spread on a nearby table, only then hearing the ringing of a phone. Mutely nodding, Amity took a step back to grant her some privacy and tried to look back at the plan, making some sense of what she saw. It was some kind of cover for the bathtub, she believed. Or was it for the sinks?

Internally groaning, she shook her head to herself. If she hadn’t spent dreaming about Luz the entire time she would have an idea of what Ms. Clawthorne had been explaining to her and she’d be able to work out what the plan was about.

But, as luck would have it, she got off her phone and turned to her with an apologetic face.

“I’m very sorry, Miss Blight, but I’ll have to cut our tour short here. Some of my workers have started laser measuring the walls downstairs and I’m afraid I have to join them and the architect to work out the plans for that. Do you need me to bring you back to the front door?”

Her chance!

Quickly, Amity shook her head and smiled.

“Oh, no thanks! I will look around a bit more and get back to you before I leave, thank you.”, she excused the woman and without missing a beat, the site manager nodded and left her to her own devices.

It wasn’t that Amity had wanted her to go, but now she could maybe sneak a peek at the attractive worker, Luz, again…?

Tempted to slap herself, she furrowed her eyebrows.

Spying on workers?

How shameful. She shouldn’t do that.

Humming, Amity turned to wander out of the bathroom-to-be and down the hallway again, hearing voices getting louder the closer she drew to the room where she had seen Luz starting her work. But instead of spotting the ridiculously attractive girl, she was met by her rather sturdy coworker with slightly chubby cheeks, a kind face, and dark hair, along with the dark-skinned boy she had seen in the entrance hall already. They both talked quieter when they noticed her wandering past and Amity picked up her pace to be out of their hair as quickly as possible again.

She wondered where Luz had gone.

Maybe she had gone downstairs again to get more boards?

Amity decided that checking it out wouldn’t hurt, so she walked downstairs, past some more surprisingly young workers and some of the management board nodding to her politely, before stepping out of the entrance area again into the fresh air and breathing through.

Behind her, the work was picking up and she began hearing a drill hammering into some concrete, as well as a saw somewhere around the mansion, but she didn’t think much of it, the air was feeling way too nice after walking through the dusty construction site.

Wait a minute…

She had seen Luz carrying up boards from below. Maybe she had cut them to length?

More out of curiosity than anything, Amity stepped off the porch and rounded the mansion, peeking around a corner, only to spot the very same girl she had found herself losing her concentration to upstairs, standing by some trestle legs on which she had placed boards, cutting them with a circular saw. She looked very concentrated and was wearing some ear protection now, as well as some glasses to protect herself from the saw dust.

Amity clenched her hand around the corner of the house when she felt her heart speeding up, licking her lips when she saw how Luz was leaning forward a bit more, the muscles on her elbow coming out.

She wasn’t overly muscular or anything, and Amity didn’t like bodybuilder types anyway, but it showed that Luz had worked in this field for quite some time already, and with being on constructions like this one, she probably got all the workout she needed just by working.

Humming, Amity finally decided to stop being a creep and pretend to be on her phone like a normal human, pulling it out to pretend and tap on it a little while walking out from the corner.

She did her best to appear busy on her phone, but Luz didn’t even acknowledge her.

Better for her, because she could keep staring.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Amity could see the saw dust covering Luz’s forearms, giving them a slight sheet of dust, and she wished she could be closer to watch her cutting those boards in more detail.

But this was getting really creepy. She should stop.

Shaking her head, Amity groaned and looked up to the sky, before shooting Luz one last glance and walking back to the entrance area, putting her phone away.

Maybe she could talk to her someday. Or just listen to her again.

Grumbling to herself, Amity did one last tour of the whole house, waiting and hoping for her confidence to build up again to talk to the cute girl, but when she had walked past Ms. Clawthorne a second time, she supposed she had to wave that wish goodbye.

Bidding her goodbyes to all the members of the project management board, she walked back to her car and sat in the driver’s seat, defeated.

Now she had had the chance to have normal conversations here, the entire mansion was full of young workers instead of moody old men, and she had blown it. She could only hope Luz would be there tomorrow.

Sending a last, longing gaze to the now-abandoned saw sitting on the trestle legs, she started her car and put it in reverse.

Either this had been it or she would have another chance tomorrow.

For now, this was enough for her. But this evening she would deeply regret leaving without having tried anything because when she lied down to sleep, the pictures of an unfairly attractive girl working at the site wouldn’t leave her mind alone.

 ---

“LUZ NOCEDA!”, a voice yelled from downstairs just before the evening and the young woman currently handling the last of the wires listened up.

“Oh, that sounded like Lilith.”, she noted and Willow snorted.

“Ya think?”, she asked and Luz grumbled when she got up, shooting Willow a look.

“I don’t need your sass right now, Willow.”, she shot back at her friend who just snickered, shaking her head before going back to drilling holes into the boards for tomorrow.

“COME DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”, made both of them flinch, causing Luz to duck her head.

“You better go, she sounds seriously angry.”, Willow shooed Luz with a handwave, putting her drill into position again.

Luz quickly made her way out of the room and down the hallway towards the stairs, where she already saw Lilith standing at the base of them.

Gulping, she made her way down and Lilith glared at her, making her grimace.

“Uh, yes?”, she sheepishly responded, already scared of what she had done wrong when Lilith turned and waved her to follow. Oh, this was bad.

If she didn’t want to scold her in front of everyone, she was going to get the harshest yelling she had ever gotten. Lilith led her outside, before turning back to the young woman and holding out her finger, her face uncharacteristically red.

“Do you have any idea what you did today?!”, she hissed and Luz pulled up her shoulders, eyes wide.

“Did-… Did I, uh, what did I do?”, she carefully asked, but that only seemed to explode Lilith’s rage.

“You embarrassed us IN FRONT OF OUR CUSTOMER!!”, she finally yelled and Luz could already feel all eyes on her while her coworkers gathered on the windows to watch where the yelling had come from.

“O-Our customer?”, Luz ducked her head more when Lilith got redder.

“YOU SLAMMED BOARDS ON HER HEAD, YOU IDIOT!!”, she screamed and Luz’s heart dropped into her pants. So that fancy-dressed had been because she had been the customer.

Oh.

Oooooh.

She had… She had bonked boards on her head and then knocked on her helmet. On their… On their million-dollar assignment customer.

Gulping, Luz sunk into herself more. She had absolutely blown their assignment, hadn’t she? She had just lost the company a couple Million dollars, she had gotten all of her coworkers fired, she’d pay compensation for the rest of her life, she would-

“You’re lucky she wasn’t hurt!! This could’ve gone very differently! I don’t know what kind of guardian angel you blackmailed to look over you, but if this had been Odalia Blight you would’ve been dead and the company along with you!!”, Lilith got closer to her and her screaming suddenly dropped to a very dangerous whisper, “If this hadn’t been the daughter of our customer, I would’ve killed you on the spot. You’re lucky she’s a lot nicer than her mother.”

Gulping, Luz leaned back a little.

“I-I’m not fired…?”, she tried and Lilith finally found back to her normally pale skin color, adjusting her suit.

“Your mother and my sister would have my head if I fired you. Also, Miss Blight was very forgiving and didn’t cancel our assignment, yet. We’re allowed to continue working for now. Until that’s not clear, though, you better not step too far away from the hanging tree, because I will personally put the hangman’s noose around your neck if the Blights terminate that job. Is that understood?”, Lilith got dangerously close again and Luz gulped, rubbing her neck.

“Very graphically understood.”, she mumbled and Lilith glared at her one more time, before straightening back up and walking back to the construction site.

“If you speak to her again, it will be an absolute emergency and you will do so politely and with some respect and dignity. And now clear up your things, we’ll leave at five sharp and if you’re late you’ll sleep here.”

Grumbling, Luz patted her chest to attempt and soothe her beating heart, before running a hand through her dusty hair and shaking it out. This had been shorter than she had anticipated.

Once again rubbing over her neck, she then followed Lilith inside and sighed. She was looking forward to the days where the jobs would be mundane enough for Lilith to stay in the office and let Eda handle the coordination. Having Eda as her superior instead of Lilith was absolutely preferable.

Well, if she was lucky, she would have to focus on work so much she wouldn’t even have time to acknowledge Miss Blight anymore. Maybe she also wouldn’t come back tomorrow, after all, the rich and wealthy had other things to worry about, right?

Especially their customers, who were paying for this giant mansion.

Humming, she entered the building again and ignored all her coworkers looking at her, before starting to pack up the tools she had used and collecting her personal stuff, like her gloves and jacket.

Willow shot her a sympathetic glance and Luz clapped on her shoulder to reassure her that she was okay for now, then they all gathered around their bus to be taken back to the company so they could end the day.

The whole evening, though, Luz fretted going to work the next day, fearing the possible encounter with the Blight girl. Hopefully, she wouldn’t show up so Luz wouldn’t risk her head, her financial stability, and her dignity for all eternity.

---

Let me know what you think! <3

[noisycowboyglitter]

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