Natural Pursuits is moving! We transferred from our old domain, naturalpursuitsmagazine.com to this new domain, www.naturalpursuits.com. Getting here was a huge pain in the ass, but we’re excited about this fresh start and the opportunities it brings.

Through Natural Pursuits, we strive to promote acceptance of our bodies and queerness through the artful nudes we create at our events. Our mission is to offer a safe and inclusive space for our community to explore and express our identities. However, we recently learned that our payment processor, Stripe, determined that displaying our bodies in a non-sexual setting violated their terms of service, which resulted in the termination of our payment processing agreement on April 24, 2023.

This censorship was a blow to our mission and the hard work we’ve put into this project, but we refused to let it defeat us. We navigated a complex landscape of high-risk payment processors and domain transfers while trying to maintain the quality of our content and the trust of our members. Five years ago, Natural Pursuits was created to celebrate and showcase the diversity and beauty of the queer community, and we’re excited to continue doing so on this new platform.

We’re grateful for your support and invite you to join us on this next chapter of our journey towards promoting acceptance and fighting against censorship in all its forms.

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GET INKED

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This Sort of Censorship is Nothing New

While I was figuring all of this out, I was reminded by a friend that censorship has long been part of being a queer creator. Throughout history, queer artists have faced significant censorship and persecution for their art. From painters to authors and photographers, their work was deemed “inappropriate” or “unsuitable for general audiences,” further perpetuating the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ+ community

In the world of painting, artists such as Francis Bacon, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dali faced difficulties displaying their work to the public due to its explicit nature. Queer authors like Gore Vidal, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin faced significant challenges in getting their work published due to its gay content—in some cases, their work was banned entirely. Photographers such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Catherine Opie also faced censorship for their queer-themed work. 

We are living in a time when our work is being censored and books depicting our lives are banned. These policies and attitudes that further perpetuate the idea that queer content is “inappropriate” or “unsuitable for general audiences” and reinforces the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ+ community. It’s essential for us to keep fighting to have our work seen and heard  and to continue to support and celebrate queer art and artists and fight against censorship in all its forms.

Sincerely, 

Phillip Miner

Founder, Natural Pursuits 

P.S. To counter the censorship, enjoy some photos of queer joy! 

Photographers in order: Bradley Roberge, Marc Ludwigsen, Ramuel Galarza, Josh New, and Mychajalo Denek