Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Taking refuge in gay spaces

We go to gay bars to get away from everyone else, so the shooting in Orlando was an assault on our places; places that exist specifically because the general public pushed us to find spaces out of their sight. ...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Pink dollars and averages

Winter is a nice time to reflect on how much prep we put into summer bodies. While the rest of humanity uses the cover-up months to get snuggly with their own bodies, we chomp away on Wasa rye with cottage chee...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Sex and dating in the rear-view

Dating was my worst thing. I love my husband very much, but I am also grateful at the prospect of never having to go on another first date again. From people who arrived with their brother, to those who wore so...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: There’s no monopoly on faith

One of the things I detest even more than deviled eggs is the implicit perception in religious and political circles that LGBT people are on one side of a binary and religious people are on the other. It is axi...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Being polite in shitty company

South Africa, whence I hail, and whence I write this, is a fairly bizarre place. It largely parallels the American South in many key ways, but the repair job is much newer, the anger more raw, and the wounds le...

Simon Williamson: Why we need our own things

With all the disdain expended on the idea of safe spaces on campuses and universities, a lot of reasoning has been lost regarding the absolute luxury of a space wherein we don’t have to defend ourselves, like w...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: The daily lives of queer people

I am from a pretty violent country. South Africa is a bit New Orleans-ish, in that crime is terrible in certain places, and the middle classes who live in much safer areas than the mean think that the problem i...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Starving before summer

I hail from the land of Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron, and (formerly) Oscar Pistorius. Indeed, the welcoming embrace of South Africa will envelop me again next month as my husband and I go back for Christmas ...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Empty Sails

Last week’s elections, especially the non-discrimination ordinance failure in Houston, upset me. But before we deal with being on the wrong side (again!) of a bullshit way of getting rights for a small group of...