Throughout history queerness – membership of a sexual or gender minority group – has been denigrated and demeaned. Queer people have been and continue to be subjected to social stigma and legal discrimination all around the world. Today in America, queer people increasingly enjoy legal equality and increased safety, but rarely are we celebrated for the positive contributions we have brought society. In this Platform, James Croft (who is gay himself) will explore how LGBTQIA+ people have, in enthusiastically embracing their own identities, thrown open the floodgates of sexual and gender experimentation for everyone.