GOOD ADVICE/BAD GAY is coming to a close. No regrets here—we’ve had a great run.
Two years into the mutual aid fundraiser that my anonymous gay therapist friend and I made at the beginning of the pandemic, our subscribers have sent over $30k to the orgs, projects, and people listed below. Bad Gay and I hope you’ll continue supporting them to the extent that you can. As for our gratitude, there are no words, other than that I feel very lucky to know BG’s true identity (and home address). Best of luck to you all, but they still have to give me advice when I’ve done something stupid.
Before I share BG’s parting message, a little housekeeping.
All subscriber funds through the end of the month will be sent to Food Not Bombs. After this post goes live, they’re getting the roughly $2,680 that’s currently in the bank. Anything that trickles in between now and October 31st will be sent there as well.
As of November 1, EYE will be keeping subscriber funds to pay my student loans (Dark Brandon or not, I’m still pretty deep in the red). You are welcome to unsubscribe! In fact, I encourage it! Send that $5 to someone who really needs it, or buy yourself a nice PSL with all the fixings. DAVID will remain free, though I’ll never turn a jaundiced eye on your financial support. I may even occasionally reward subscribers with exclusive content. In fact, I almost certainly will.
GOOD ADVICE/BAD GAY will continue to be paywalled, though I’ll probably unlock posts here and there. You can always subscribe to get full access to the archive, which will be available in perpetuity, or at least as long as DAVID exists.
And now, your farewell message from my dear BG. It’s been an honor to have been assumed to be you for all this time! (BG is not me. I am not BG. Not all gay people are the same. I don’t give advice, usually.)
Dearest readers and advice-seekers,
In the depths of a strange time for the world, my dear friend David and I concocted GOOD ADVICE/BAD GAY to connect to each other and to all of you, to have a few laughs, and to put money directly into the hands of organizations and causes that mean a lot to us. We are extremely proud of the $30,578 we were able to raise over the past two years.
We used David's platform to develop a very particular bit of fun—advice tinged with truth-telling, warm disdain for queer antics, humor, and genuine calls for all of us to see ourselves a bit better so we can do a bit better. Bad Gay, despite my credentials, was only my clinical voice in part. There is a therapeutic lens underneath the glibness in the columns, but Bad Gay has David's voice in it, too. We spend a lot of time dissecting the communities we love, the people we love (both parasocially and actual-socially), and the patterns of gleefully ill-behaved queerness that we, I think, both believe is our inalienable right: to exist and be messy and learn.
Thank you to the advice-seekers, the readers, and the subscribers who helped us get funds to the people that need them, and most especially to David. I would be remiss, as I wrap up, not to remind all of you to dig in and ask yourselves, whenever possible, "What is my commitment to suffering?"
Have fun, keep fucking up, and we'll see you around.
Bad Gay
GOOD ADVICE/BAD GAY MUTUAL AID RECIPIENTS
Free Ashley Diamond (As of this summer, she is now free!)
Find me on Twitter. Get my second novel, X, right here.
GOOD ADVICE/BAD GAY: Farewell