The November Issue: Editor's Letter

Every now and then as a 44-year-old you come across someone in their 20s who doesn’t make you want to chuck a matcha iced latte in their face. Leo Reich is one of those people. I first encountered his hilarious mix of absurdist humour, biting social commentary and self-deprecation two years ago courtesy of his comedy special Literally, Who Cares? He prances around the stage in short shorts laying into every Gen-Z stereotype and somehow cleverly spinning it so the joke’s actually on you. I loved him as a pink-haired narcissist demon twink in the Lena Dunham-penned Netflix comedy Too Much and was desperate to see what the actor, writer and comedian did next. His A24-backed comedy drama It Gets Worse, which he wrote and starred in, doesn’t disappoint. In fact I’d put it up there with Girls, Broad City and Adults as one of my favourite ever laugh-out-loud coming of age comedies. Still, when we met over coffee in Hackney last month, I was fully prepared to find him insufferable.

But despite his meta attempts to come across as the literal worst, Leo Reich is a delight – our conversation spanned dating, ageing, sex, celebrity, shame, repression, mental health and so much more. Without wanting to sound too Louis Walsh on X Factor in 2005 about it, this kid is going to be a star (even if he refuses to admit it).

Talking of babies – are lesbians having less of them? Has the novelty that we are legally allowed to do stuff straight people can like get married and start families worn off? Are we dissuaded by the insane expense of fertility treatment or is it something deeper, something queerer that means more and more sapphic couples are choosing to be happily child-free? Emily Chudy investigates in what is sure to be a seminal (no pun intended) piece for the sapphic community. Send this to your lesbian friends or your partner if they/you are on the fence about motherhood at the moment.

If you do not yet subscribe to Gay Times Magazine, now’s the time because you aren’t going to want to miss any of the features in the November issue. For example, we look at the scars left on gay men whose youths were blighted by masculine performativity in sports, as JJ Croucher confronts his football pitch demons and tries to learn how to play football as an adult.

We’ve got an important dispatch from the underground drag scene in Kiev as war rages across the Ukraine. We also find out what it’s like to be trans in India right now as changes in the law mean even the lesbian and gay community is distancing themselves from their trans and non-binary siblings.

Do you think gay men are the only ones who crave casual sex? Beth Ashley isn't so sure. She wonders if it's that sapphics are simply changing the rules of the game, and are bringing more emotional intelligence and basic human kindness to the horny hookup than our cis queer boy mates are known for. It's controversial, but that's why you're reading Gay Times and not [insert less cerebral LGBTQIA+ media brand here]. Poking the bear? Us? Maybe. Because this month we also posit the provocative question: Why are straight men so hot? You know you're going to want to read this!

And as the end of year party season kicks off, we report from the front line of the London queer clubbing scene to ask what the music, the vibes, the drugs and the venues are telling us about LGBTQIA+ life right now.

Think of this issue as the ‘pre-drinks’ to the big Christmas party. We’re feeling giddy, provocative, a little bit wild and we just hope, like Leo Reich must every time he opens his mouth, that you get it.