PHOTO GALLERY: Queer in the Bedroom

Tara / 24 / St. Louis, MI / Nanny, Writer

“My room makes me feel safe, and it’s a place of work, play, and sleep. My favorite item in my bedroom is my rainbow dragon, Taran. An honorable mention goes to my Napoleon Storm Trooper mousepad.”

Valerie Anne / 30 / Astoria, NY / Copywriter, TV Recapper

“My room is literally always a mess (I cleaned for you… sorry about the AC/wires) but it’s home. I feel comfortable in the chaos. I know you can’t really see my bed (just my mermaid blanket and Wishbear) but this is where I’m usually sitting when I’m in my room, writing or watching TV, and I love my nerdwall in all its glory.”

Alex / 31 / Connecticut / Education

“My room is and always has been my safe space. There’s not much else to say. I have a quote from Marilyn Monroe on the armoire across from my bed. It’s the last thingy I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I wake up.  “Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then will who Sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chi up, and most importantly, keep smiling because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”

Olivia (she/her) and Clark (they/them) / 19, 21 / Reno, NV / Student, Pet Sales Associate; Student, Research Lab Assistant

“We’re living in a converted garage/studio with our four (4) rats and hedgehog (not pictured), so technically our entire house is our bedroom. Clark has filled the house with plants and Olivia has filled it with rats, yet neither of us plan to stop seeking out more any time soon.”

Daisy (with Sionnain via FaceTime) / 21 / Maine / Student

“My favorite item in my room is my “Be Rad” sign that I made. I look at it every night as I climb into my purple flower bed (lovingly coined PFB), and it reminds me to be my most rad, unapologetic, authentic self: a queer person with Cerebral Palsy who wears a lot of bowties and backwards hats, has a deep passion for chocolate chip pancakes, and is realizing every day how much more I have to learn and grow.”

Julia Johnson / 27 / Seattle, WA / After School Teacher

“I love this bedroom because it is the first one my fiancée (not pictured) and I decorated together.  It’s spacious, quiet, and serene even in the middle of the city, with lots of light, and the books represent an wonderful mix of our interests.”

Grace / 23 / New York, NY / Artist, Digital Content Producer

“I get the most amount of creative work done and the least amount of practical adultish work done in my bedroom. It’s a space where I feel the most comfortable when beginning new creative/art projects, and can often be found littered in photographs, sketches, embroidery string. I surround my space with my own artwork and artwork from other artist friends who inspire me.”

Brook / 36 / Sydney, Australia / Student

“The view from our bed, the mingled clutter of our lives together. Marceline is holding my temporary engagement ring while Bubblegum has the ring that my girlfriend’s mother gave to me shortly before she died.”

Emily / 21 / Bellingham, WA / Student

“I’m slowly but surely taking away the things that overstayed their welcome, and am learning what it means to live in a room that feels more like me. Right now that looks like making a home for queer art and late night face timing with my long distance girlfriend.”

Stacy / 28 / Edmonton, Canada / Waitress in a Band(s)

“My bedroom is, and always has been, my safest and most personal place, and the place I want to spend most of my time in. I feel like I’ve never grown out of the teenage need to cultivate such a private and personal space, while still wanting my friends to come over just to lay on the floor.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten really into plants. I have about 35 in my room, and they’re absolutely my favourite part. I have many surrounding my bed, so I think of them before I sleep, and they’re the first things that I see when I wake up. That, and a NSFW poster of Prince in the shower. Both equally important for my mental health.

Kat and Ellie / 28, 26 / Sydney, Australia / Retail, Nanny, Interior Design ; Executive Assistant, Script Coordinator

“Ellie: We were in a very long distance relationship for almost a year and a half before Kat moved from LA to Sydney so that we could live together. So the fact that this is our bedroom, in our apartment, that we live in together, makes everything about it my favorite.

Kat: Our bedroom is a very tiny space, no closets, and shaped like a parallelogram. The process of measuring and finding furniture and measuring again and shifting things wasn’t easy, but I loved everything about it. I’m lucky we get to nest together after all that time apart.”

Juliette / 19 / Canberra, Australia / Arts and Visual Arts Student

“The entirety of my ‘house’ is visible in the first picture, so as you can imagine my bed often doubles as a couch when my friends come over. My favourite part of my bed is my Parks and Recreation ice-cream pillow which has cartoon gummy penises on it.”

Christina C / 29 / Washington Heights, NY / Public Health Person

“I wanted space to dance and light for my plants/soul. The best thing about my room is the bench seat.”

Emily / 24 / Treaty 6 Territory and Métis Homeland, Saskatoon, SK / Nanny

“This room came furnished and decorated when I moved in six weeks ago, and had weird vibes. I was talking about it to a couple of friends at a bar and some queer witchy folks a few tables down overheard and offered to come do some cleansing spells. So, that gave me the motivation to rearrange the furniture and change the decorations before they come over and it already feels infinitely better.”

Robin / 32 / Boston, MA / Teacher

“My room is my peaceful sanctuary. It’s pretty uncluttered except for some self-care essentials.”

Laura M / 30 / Cambridge, MA / Engineer and Staff Writer at Autostraddle

“We have six pillows on our bed now, because we just threw two out.”

Heather / 25 / Elkton, MD / School Psychology Grad Student

“Every morning my maps remind me where I’ve been and where I want to return and what I need to center in my life, all the places I now have roots and the bravery I had to summon up to go there — they keep inertia from settling in and make waking up at 5:45 (!!!) to tend to my strange and magnificent kiddos more doable.”

Riese and Tinkerbell / 35, Age Withheld / Ypsilanti, MI / Autostraddle’s CEO and Founder; Muse

“After many years of cramming desks into tiny New York bedrooms and running Autostraddle from my mattress in Oakland while using a chair as a desk, it’s nice to have a bedroom wholly dedicated to being a bedroom.”

Megan and Laneia, with Penny and Emily / 33, 36 / Chandler, AZ / Trader Joe’s Professional; Autostraddle’s Executive Editor

“I love the thrift store bird painting on the wall and Megan loves the dogs on the bed and we both love the blackout shade that turns our room into an underwater cave.”

March’s theme will be announced on Friday!

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102 Comments

  5. fox mulder and ruth bader ginsburg! everyone on this website is so good at naming cats. next queer irl gallery– queer pets?

    • Wait…as an owner of one of the many photos of fairy lights you mean to tell me I FINALLY got something right as a lesbian?! Hahaha :D

    • It’s not just lesbians

      All my straight friends have Christmas lights

      I’ve never gotten into it but apparently it’s trendy in a decidedly pinterest way

      • I’ll have you know I put Christmas lights up long before Pinterest! It actually always makes me think of the bit in “Easy People” by The Nields: “In my house we see by Christmas lights and your TV // and that seems to be enough // to see what we want to see”.

    • Hello queer early childhood professional! Whenever I go to trainings I often think, “I wonder if anyone else is queer?” And so far I haven’t found many, any? So yes, “Hello!”

  12. Hey Bee from Sacramento! I am also living in Sacramento! We should meet up! We also have a NorCal straddlers group and I have been trying forever to get an IRL meetup going there!
    Love everyone’s pets and plants! I missed the deadline for this but I think I might post a picture of my room in the comments later.

  13. It never would’ve occurred to me to take multiple pictures and now there’s so much I wanna share with you! The poem on my wall. The Converse piggy bank my old nanny kid and I painted together. The fox pillow, the quotes, the way everything turns pink from the salt lamps at night. The framed pic of the porcupine in love with a cactus. It’s all there, and you can’t see any of it!

    Next time :-D

  14. Erin, 28, Ontario – judge you? Who would do such a thing? You tell me and I’ll punch them in the nose (unless immediately after the photo was taken you won at connect 4 then danced round the room gloating until your kid cried. Then I think I’d consider judging you pretty harshly).

  15. Weird I had that same exact desk and chair combo in college, out here in SoCal, that Col had. You definitely made it cooler & more gay than mines ever was.

  20. Loving how many other early childhood educators I see!

    Firm believer that I have the best, most emotionally fulfilling job ever

  22. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! i love this project so much!!!! also everyone with a beer on their bedside table: i love you especially

  23. Um, so, Megan…I can has move in with you? ?

    You had me at night sounds…

    I will have to come back and read the rest of this later, this is excellent! Thanks for another great article ?

  27. I love this! It is so exciting to see myself up here with all you amazing people and I echo Queer Girl’s sentiment that I wish I would have taken more pictures. Next time.
    I also now want to purchase all the fairy lights, make my own curtains, and buy more books so I can be as amazing as you all.
    I love seeing you beautiful humans. You are awesome and your hair looks really good today :)

  28. Pigeon of Kent! Your Ghostbusters prints! Well, the one, and I can’t make out the one below fully but it also looks like Ghostbusters.

    and Kells the Librarian-ISH! Yay for more FL straddlers.

  30. Col, i feel like we are the same person
    -three letter name
    -18 year old student in chicago
    -loves yellow

    • Hello! I just saw this (I know, I know) but wow! Truly an amazing coincidence; do you go to school here?

  31. so awesome to see some other Charleston, SC folks on here. (we should have an autostraddle meet up, even if its super small!)

    Such a great post, this was very interesting. thanks! :)

  34. I don’t know what’s the coolest : the bedrooms, the people, the kids (the little one standing in a blue onesie is so so so cute !), the cats, or the job’s name.

  35. I stayed up until 2:20 AM reading this, and I probably feel more refreshed now than I will when I wake up because this was amazing

  36. I thought the caption said “Bicycle Eater” instead of “Bicycle Fixer” and I was so impressed. Still an amazing room, though!

  37. ADORABLE. WAVING. DOG. !!!!!!!

    These are some of my favourite posts; I love being able to see how vast this community is! <3

  39. I love seeing everyone’s spaces and it makes me feel happy and proud that I am part of this awesome community <3

    Also I've realised my bedroom was pretty minimalist in comparison to most, apparently I don't give enough credit to the Virgo side of my Virgo/Libra cusp!

    Can't wait for the next assignment!

  41. Thanks for letting me visit your wonderful bedrooms, y’all! Not gonna lie, my favorite part was meeting all your pets. :-)

  44. Everyone with stacked book bookshelves, you have inspired me and a LOT of new stuff is on my Amazon wishlist!

  46. So beautiful!!! I love all the little window gardens people have! My room does not have enough good light for that but I wish!
    Side note: Where are the +1 buttons??? I want to +1 everyone’s comments!

    • For the record, now that the button is back (YAYYYYYYYY!!!) I liked everyone’s comment cause this post just makes me so happy!

  48. i love how many of us have the same ikea herb-ish wildflower vaguely witchy bedspread cover. you can’t tell in the picture but i’m sitting on mine in my picture, and the person above me is wrapped in the same blanky. synchronicity!

    also, sionnain: seeing other thoughtful queer bookworms from long island makes me feel slightly less alone in the world, even though i haven’t lived there in so long.

    • Ocean! It was, in a lot of ways, not the easiest place to grow up queer, but it was even longer ago for you. I think you’ll be happy to know that I’m running a queer book club for high school kids, and the queer kids I know who are growing up here now are so amazing. They give me hope.

      • yay! i am so glad things have gotten better. i met my first girlfriend in the 90s because she saw the rainbow sticker on my riot grrrl lunchbox and we used to make out in the food court at roosevelt field and people were so mean to us but we did it for the closeted queer girls and cos we liked each other. Anyway, you rule!

  49. Lots of cosy bedrooms! I definitely don’t feel at all weird about having cats, random stuff on the walls and fairy lights in my room anymore, although I am per definition an adult.
    I live in Norway, and over here everyone pretty much has the same layout when it comes to bedding. Thus, I am intrigued by what seems to be duvets with no cover at all? Is this a common thing in the US?

    • Yes! Cultural differences in bedding are interesting. I noticed in Europe people use duvet covers but no top sheet sometimes. We (my corner of America) sleep between two sheets with then an uncovered duvet/quilt/comforter/blanket on top.

  50. Shout out to Jordan rocking that #blackjoymixtape gear!

    Also,I have better room inspiration now than pinterest could ever provide.

  52. Vest collector is a title I would like to aspire to and probably could.

    But those trans Pride flags being used as DIY decorative curtains.
    Brilliant, I love it.

    When AS gets to queer in the bathroom tho call me up.
    Need to show off my duct tape patching of the hole in my wall.
    I feel it represents my life right now.

  54. I now want a dating app that shows pictures of bedrooms instead of (or in addition to?) bedrooms. You learn so much more about people from their effing cute bedrooms. Call it Slumbr?

  55. one thing I’ve learned from this is that we queers have really really cool names. :)

  56. my girlfriend and I are ready to close our Somerville-Jamaica Plain divide and Uhaul it to Roslindale.

    That’s one of the lesbian-est sentences I’ve read in a while.

  57. These galleries are so captivating and calming and I’m even more excited than usual to go to bed now.
    This whole series gave me serious bedspread envy, however. I need to up my game.

  58. I really enjoyed this series! I’ve lived in my new place (my first apartment all to myself) for nearly a year and haven’t yet finished decorating my bedroom, so I definitely drew some inspiration from these lovely humans.

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