‘Boys Do Fall in Love’ is Mine: What’s YOUR Queer Love Song or Story?

A Prism & Pen writers prompt

Boys do fall in love They make time They get love on a Saturday night And she said, Hearts beat as they dance in the street to a radio

See those lyrics? Rock star Robin Gibb wrote them for his 1984 smash hit “Boys Do Fall in Love.” I can’t remember exactly when I first heard it, but today the notes instantly beam me back to a tacky-cool 1980s Iowa gay bar, a dive with soaped-over windows and no sign to let passersby know the joint existed.

I’d been slipping inside for a few years, ever since I turned 18. Gibb’s anthem became HUGE in that space. As soon at the jukebox played the first notes, we’d all jump up and run to the cramped dance floor, grabbing partners or just crushing ourselves into a tight mass to feel the love.

We’d smile and yell, “Boys DO fall in LOVE” at the top of our lungs right along with the chorus — in something like a cross between joyful defiance and just plain joy.

We MADE it our song, even though it wasn’t. Gibb wasn’t singing about boys loving boys, but we didn’t care. NOBODY sang about boys loving boys, so that song meant what we needed it to mean.

Years earlier, in middle school, I had repurposed one of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia novels, imagining Prince Caspian into an idealized, loving boyfriend. Boys didn’t love boys in books, just like they didn’t in song, so I repurposed love stories to suit my lonely needs.

I even drafted a sci-fi story (mostly in my head) featuring gay kids my own age. I didn’t know any real gay youth, so I turned to creativity to get me through some rough years.

By the time I danced to Gibb’s anthem in that cramped Iowa bar, those rough years had already started to fade, and maybe I was singing just because I wanted to, just because love filled me with joy.

That’s my story, what’s yours?

It’s time for a Prism & Pen writing prompt!

Sieran Lane suggested this prompt: “Love songs that inspire you (or remind you of something important in your life),” and I want to expand on it just a little. How about love songs, stories, books, poems, paintings, sculpture, or any other art form?

As a queer person, how does art about love inspire or otherwise impact you? (Perhaps even negatively.) Do you seek out queer art? Do you repurpose art like I felt obligated to do as a kid? Or do you do both?

If you’re trans, does a traditional/mainstream binary in art-about-love make you feel a particular way?

What if you’re on the asexual spectrum?

What if you’re the cis/straight parent of a queer kid? How do you feel taking in a movie or a concert with your child when you know the art you’re experiencing can’t touch them in quite the same way? Have you thought about that? Do you talk about it together?

Other friends, family members, allies … you are as always invited to write too. What does this prompt stir in you?

Special shout-out to those of you (like me) who are no longer spring chickens. If you’re single, how do love songs and stories impact you if you suppose love is no longer very likely?

‘Boys Do Fall in Love’: What’s YOUR Queer Love Song or Story?

That’s our Prism & Pen writing prompt for the next couple weeks at least. I’m excited to see your submissions, to see what you’ll make of a prompt that would have drawn very different responses in 1984. We share our stories to spread love, don’t we? I mean, ultimately.

So what’s YOUR story?

It’s time to write!

Quills out, editorial support available! Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, P&P editors can help you make your story look sharp and professional.

Remember please, you don’t have to submit stories to P&P based on our prompts. You can submit stories about anything in the LGBTQ universe, whenever you like. Please do!

You tell your stories, we’ll help you share them.

Please send in your essays, poems, short fiction, memoir, or history. Don’t forget film, TV, and art reviews.

If you’ve not yet written for P&P, here are our submissions guidelines and procedures:

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