Pride Under Pressure

The Prompt

In 2025, LGBTQIA+ rights are under increasing threat. They are being restricted by policy, attacked through rhetoric, and challenged in places that should offer safety. But queerness cannot be erased. It resists. It reinvents. It endures.

This Pride Month, we invite you to write into that pressure. Share a story — whether personal, fictional, or somewhere in between — about what it means to hold onto your identity when the world demands that you let it go. What does it look like to live authentically when being seen can feel dangerous? To love when love itself is debated? To resist when the cost of doing so is deeply personal?

Your piece can be raw or hopeful, quiet or defiant, messy or triumphant. What matters most is that it feels honest, grounded in the emotional reality of being queer in a time when that very identity is politicized. We are looking for writing that doesn’t just reflect the moment but speaks from within it.

This is your chance to celebrate Pride not just as a party, but as an act of truth, resistance, and power.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:

• A narrative rooted in LGBTQIA+ identity or experience.
• Between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
• Submitted to the Pride community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.
• Submitted before June 6, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
• Your work must be original and unpublished.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $500
• Second Place: $200
• 15 Runners-Up: $15 each
• 10 Honorable Mentions: Badge

For your story to be eligible, it must be between 1,000 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines.

Stories published on Vocal and entered into the Challenge up until June 6, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Pride Under Pressure Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+, visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and reside in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need a Stripe account created and connected to receive prizes. Entrants located outside of these countries will not be eligible to win.