I won’t ever forget the role that Curve Magazine played for me as a closeted teen.
At 16, I was strolling the magazine aisle of Barnes and Noble when the cover with The L Word cast members stopped me in my tracks. I immediately plucked it from the shelf and carried it to the nearby fireplace, where I spent the next few hours poring through pages featuring more lesbians than I’d ever imagined were possible.
My favorite feature was probably the Lipstick and Dipstick advice column, wherein a charmingly insightful butch-femme duo responded to reader questions on navigating queer life and relationships (the two had great banter with one another).