The magazine was established in late 2007 by a group of students, including Khalid Abdel-Hadi, who was 17 at the time,[2] with various interests ranging from design and arts to politics.

[3] The online magazine sought to address homophobia and transphobia and to empower Arab youth to defy gender-binary institutions and traditions.

[4] Abdel-Hadi was photographed shirtless for the first issue's cover image, and was subsequently outed after local media reported on the magazine's release.

[2] My Kali was noted for its role in the 2011 controversy surrounding Khalaf Yousef, a Muslim cleric in Jordan who publicly came out as gay on his YouTube channel.

[6] The publication of the Arabic edition increased interest in the magazine, which in turn led to the Jordanian government blocking access to the website following a complaint by parliamentarian Dima Tahboub.