We are excited to announce that we are now accepting submissions from the public for this platform. We believe that it is important to amplify the array of voices and experiences within our LGBTQ community. Like all human beings, LGBTQ individuals exist in the spaces intersecting multiple identities that include race, religion, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sex, and other identities. Here is a platform where you can tell your stories freely, and read stories from other people who are like you.

We are open to receiving Fiction, Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Personal Essays, Fun Listicles, and any writing with a literary inclination. If your submission falls outside of the above listed, feel free to submit it for a review. Submissions will be guided by themes which will be announced bi-monthly (every two months).

The first theme for the year is “First Love”. We are looking for submissions that examine First Love from diverse angles – Happy, Sad, Angry, Nostalgic, Disappointing, Hurtful etc. Please remember that your submission can be in any of the genres listed above.

Submissions are open to queer, queer-friendly and queer-ally people from the 14th of January till the end of February 2019. However, submissions may close if we reach our publication cap for this theme. Submissions must be in accordance with the current curation theme.

All submissions must follow the guidelines below and should be emailed to info@crime.moviesandrave.com

1. The subject line of your email should state the writer’s name and title of the work. (If you want to be anonymous, your subject line should state ‘Anonymous’ instead of a name).
2. In the body of your email, indicate the genre your submission is (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, personal essay, opinion piece, illustration etc.), as well as your Name, Country of Origin, Twitter handle (if you have one), and a short bio (optional). Personal details can be left out if the submission is anonymous.
3. Your submission must be attached to your email. Please do not paste submissions in the body of your email.
4. We accept Fiction, Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Personal Essays, Fun Listicles, and any writing with a literary inclination. While we encourage LGBTQI+ themed submissions, other submissions are also welcome, but must be socially conscious, and resonate with the work that The Initiative for Equal Rights does.
5. Our suggested word count is not more than 2500 words for fiction/non-fiction, and not more than 1,500 words for opinion pieces, poems and others. Submissions must be read through and presented in a professional manner possible, with a minimum of typos and grammatical errors.
6. When we receive your submission, we will review it before responding to let you know if it has been accepted. Please refrain from sending reminders. We reserve the right to refuse submissions.
7. Be advised that we will edit your work and make some changes that could sometimes include the title.
8. Submissions which contain offensive slurs, sexually graphic or lewd content, hate speech, inaccurate information, sexist, misogynist, racist, tribalist or homophobic language will not be published. There is absolutely no way we will ever publish a piece with hate-talk in any form.
9. You retain copyright of your submission after it has been published on our platform.
10. Once we have reached our submissions cap for a theme, submissions will not be accepted until a new theme is announced.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the team via info@crime.moviesandrave.com. Good luck everyone — we are excited to see your entries.