Let’s talk about sex.

For LGBTQ+ people, who and how we bang are often integral to our identity. These factors shape our social circles, our spaces, our culture. They are pillars of our lineage, too. It’s easy to forget that not long ago, our elders were attacked and criminalized for expressing their sexuality in public. For LGBTQ+ people in other parts of the world, this is still a reality.

Homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, even asexual — remove the "sex” part, and these life-affirming labels lose all meaning. Put simply, sex is inextricable from who we are as queer people. Nothing, not even the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, can change that.

What it has changed, however, is how we go about pursuing sex. A spontaneous Grindr hookup or queer play party used to be a fun, relatively safe outing. In a pandemic, it carries a new set of concerns and necessitates more planning and risk-mitigating measures than ever. It’s been nearly two years since COVID-19 first reached the United States. We’ve made some major strides in combating the virus, such as the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and widespread testing. We’ve also lost hundreds of thousands of lives to this disease and watched as the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities for our community. If we weren’t already communicating our needs, desires, and boundaries to our friends, partners, and lovers, we sure as hell are now.

So, yes, COVID-19 has dramatically changed our world, but our community has moved in tandem. As LGBTQ+ people, our resilience has evolved, not destroyed, how we seek pleasure and express our authentic selves while keeping each other safe. That’s where Logo’s first Love & Sex Week series comes in. Our editorial team has assembled a week’s worth of riveting essays and features about the nuances of LGBTQ+ sex and dating today. We’re rolling them out over the course of this week (February 14–18), and we can’t wait to hear what you think.

These pieces thrum with erotic energy. They highlight varied identities and forms of sexual expression, from kink and BDSM to digital sex work. They speak to the myriad ways COVID-19 has altered how we go about dating, hooking up, or expressing our sexuality as safely as possible. They balance grief for all we have lost since the pandemic began with reverence for the skills, connections, and outlets we’ve gained.

Above all, this package reflects our community’s remarkable capacity for resilience. These times are scarily unprecedented, yet LGBTQ+ people still honor our desires for physical and emotional connection. I believe that is something worth celebrating.

It was an honor to help these pieces take shape, and it is my pleasure to share them with you. Happy reading.

Sam Manzella, Associate Editor