Editor's Letter: GAY TIMES’ March issue is all about work – just don’t call us boring

From the end of DEI to the struggles of the sex industry, we’re examining what it means to be queer in the workplace in 2025.

Words by Megan Wallace

The cost of living continues to soar and the housing crisis plods on, collectively robbing us of our dignity, making our need to earn a wage all the more desperate. As social structures and state support crumbles, there’s little more certain than the inevitability of having to work – even as the job market shrinks and many of us struggle to find employment. 

Nothing ignites our feelings quite like the realities of wage labour – the constricting, constraining realities of clocking in, the desperate job hunt, and the economic vacillations that make our livelihoods so vulnerable to shifts in the market. 

Within this bleak landscape, GAY TIMES is looking at the often overlooked realities of being queer in the workforce.

To begin, Nico Lang investigates the state of DEI in light of President Trump’s recent executive order attacking such measures within federal agencies. As Lang explains, LGBTQIA+ individuals are protected from workplace discrimination under federal law. So, it’s up to companies as to whether they want to respect the law – or toe the Trump line.

Elsewhere, we delve into the sex industries. In an expansive feature, Nick Levine interviews a range of professionals – from sex toy sales assistants to gay sauna operators – about navigating a career within the sex industries and the queerphobia and stigma they may face from wider society. 

We also interview Helena Whittingham – the founder of Lover Management, which represents artists and influencers in the sex space – about the implications of renewed digital censorship for those working in the pleasure industries. 

Finally, writer and organiser Eliel Cruz highlights the Black leaders helming the LGBTQIA+ nonprofit sector in the US – exploring their bold visions and the unique challenges they are facing amid the second Trump administration.

In addition to this suite of features, we will be adding more explorations of working life to magazine.gaytimes.com every week until the launch of our next issue.