I have spent my life building a “Lineage of Resistance.” Through my studies at SVA and FIT, and through every brushstroke and shutter click at HARD NEW YORK, I have worked to engineer a world where the queer body is celebrated, not hidden. I viewed my art as a “Liberation Technology”—a tool to help my community bypass the shame that society tries to hard-code into us.
MY TURN: Why I’m Fighting Back Against the Corporate “Execution” of Queer Art – By Maxwell Alexander, MA(FIT)/BFA(SVA) Artist, Activist, and Editor-in-Chief, GUY STYLE MAG
But on July 9th, I felt the cold, automated blade of corporate erasure at my own neck.
The Attack on My Identity
I received a notice from Shopify and Apple Pay that didn’t just threaten my business—it attacked my soul. They didn’t just flag a product; they looked at my Fine Art and Homoerotic Art collections and categorized them as “Pornographic Imagery Without Artistic Value.”
Think about that for a second.
To a trillion-dollar corporation, my years of academic rigor, my degrees from the world’s leading art institutions, and the lived experiences of the queer men in my portraits were reduced to “zero value.” They tried to strip away my “Constitutional Armor,” using the same dehumanizing language that the “Epstein Class” uses to invalidate minorities and justify fascist cruelty.
It Wasn’t Just About a Store
When they threatened to cut off my ability to process payments, they were performing a digital execution. In 2026, if you can’t process a payment, you don’t exist. By labeling queer desire as “porn,” they weren’t enforcing a policy; they were trying to erase a culture.
They expected me to be afraid. They expected me to quietly “clean up” my shop, delete my history, and hide my art to stay in their good graces.
They picked the wrong artist.
Why I Pushed Back (And Why We Won)
I didn’t just send a support ticket; I sent a reminder of who I am and what we represent. I stood on my MA and BFA credentials not as a boast, but as a shield. I forced them to recognize that Queer Art is Fine Art. After I challenged their “review,” they quietly retreated. They didn’t apologize. They didn’t admit they were wrong. They just sent an automated note saying I was “compliant.”
But “compliance” isn’t enough.
This Is for All of Us
I am coming forward now because this isn’t just about HARD NEW YORK. If they can do this to an artist with a platform and a degree, they are doing it tenfold to the younger queer artists who are just starting out.
I am doing this so that:
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No queer artist has to wake up to an email telling them their life’s work has “no value.”
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No minority-owned business is held hostage by the “Shadow-Banning” of payment processors.
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The corporate elite understands that our beauty is not a “violation of terms.”
The Fight Is Just Beginning
The statutory clock is ticking. I have sent a formal Preservation Letter to Shopify and Apple. I am making sure they cannot “delete” the evidence of their bias. Whether we meet in a courtroom or on the front lines of public discourse, I will not let this stand.
We are not “pornographic.” We are a lineage. We are a technology of freedom. And we will not be silenced by an algorithm.
Join the Resistance.
Published by HARD NEW YORK – Homoerotic Art Gallery To the artists, the dreamers, and the queer souls: Your value is non-negotiable.
