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    Cooper Koch lands first-ever Emmy nomination for 'Monsters'
    Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez on Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, earned his first-ever nomination at the 2025 Emmy Awards.Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment delivered three times a week straight (well) to your inbox!The 28-year-old actor, whose birthday is tomorrow, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. It's safe to say that celebrations can start early this year.Ryan Murphy's Monsters series for Netflix centered on the Menendez brothers was nominated in 11 categories overall:Outstanding Casting For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieOutstanding Period CostumesOutstanding Picture Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieOutstanding Period Or Fantasy/Sci-Fi HairstylingOutstanding Period Or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieOutstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieOutstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieOutstanding Limited Or Anthology SeriesOutstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MovieMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menndez Story is streaming on Netflix.
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    Cole Escola reveals who they want to star in an 'Oh, Mary!' film
    Moi, Mary?Tony winner Cole Escola appeared on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, where they discussed Amy Sedaris, wigs, and a potential Oh, Mary!' movie.Poehler and Escola spent the better part of an hour talking about Escola's successful Broadway play, Oh, Mary!, before asking who they would like to see star in a movie version of the play.Oh, Mary! is a comedic play about wannabe-cabaret-performer Mary Todd Lincoln in the days leading up to Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Escola originated the role of Mary Todd and wrote the play.While Escola said that if there are any talks about making the play into a movie, they are "out of it," they were happy to answer Poehler's question about who they'd like to see star in it.After Poehler told Escola that Amy Sedaris suggested Oscar-winner Linda Hunt (to which Escola agreed), they offered some of their own suggestions."Cherry Jones could do it. She can do anything. She could play Lincoln, too; that would be really chilling," Escola said. "Or a Muppet. Miss Piggy as Mary Todd Lincoln, and then everyone else is human.""Actually, cut this, I'm gonna be talking to Disney tomorrow," they joked.Poehler also asked if Escola could cast a current politician in the role, whom they'd want. Escola quickly answered."Lindsay Graham. He'd probably learn a lot about himself. He might, like, wake up, like, 'Oh my god,'" Escola said, launching into an impression of the South Carolina senator."Oh my god, I've been so bad! I'm sure sorry, everybody," they said with a southern drawl. "You know, playing this part has taught me that it's not okay to judge, lest you be judged One of you men better not spank me. And I better not pay you to do it!"Escola made history in 2025 when they won the Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Oh, Mary! They became the third nonbinary actor to win a Tony, following Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee, who won in 2023. Escola is the first out nonbinary actor to win an acting Tony for a play.Newell won Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Shucked, and Ghee won for Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Musical for Some Like It Hot.Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess is currently starring as Mary Todd Lincoln in the play on Broadway. Beginning August 4, RuPaul's Drag Race star Jinkx Monsoon will be taking over the role.
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    LGBTQ Talent and Drag Excellence Celebrated in 2025 Emmy Nominations
    The nominations for the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards are officially here, and LGBTQ talent is shining bright across categories from acting and hosting to reality TV and makeup design. The annual ceremony, airing September 15 on CBS and streaming via Paramount+, continues to reflect the growing influence and impact of LGBTQ voices on television. Among [...]The post LGBTQ Talent and Drag Excellence Celebrated in 2025 Emmy Nominations first appeared on GLAAD.
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    2025 Gayming Awards Celebrates Queer Excellence in Gaming and Television
    Earlier in July, Gayming Magazine presented the 2025 Gayming Awards in Los Angeles, celebrating LGBTQ trailblazers and media from the past year. GLAAD was on-site at the star-studded event, held in West Hollywoods famous gay bar The Abbey, to bring you all the details. This years ceremonies were hosted by drag artist and Twitch streamer [...]The post 2025 Gayming Awards Celebrates Queer Excellence in Gaming and Television first appeared on GLAAD.
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    'Things Like This' filmmaker: 'Everyone deserves love' no matter size or sexuality
    Max Talisman is a filmmaker determined to carve out space for stories that feel as raw and real as the streets of New York City where he shot his first feature. A writer, director, producer, and actor, Talisman wears many hats for Things Like This, his debut film that refuses to fit neatly into the boxes of romantic fantasy or predictable queer tropes.The film follows two men, both named Zack, whose unexpected connection forces them to navigate the long-term emotional aftermath of growing up queer. Its a romance, but not the glossy, idealized kind. Instead, Things Like This leans into the messy, vulnerable, and sometimes painful truth of forging intimacy while carrying the scars of the past. The film also eschews traditional rom-com tropes by portraying a full, dynamic romantic relationship between a fat man (Talisman) and a thinner man (Joey Pollari). Joey Pollari and Max Talisman in 'Things Like This'Courtesy MPX ReleasingShot entirely in New York City over just 18 days, the project is the first release from Talismans own production company. He not only directed and produced the film but also stars in it, shouldering the creative and logistical weight to ensure the story stayed grounded in authenticity rather than falling into clich.Talisman began writing the script in 2017, after nearly a decade working in film and television and realizing how rarely someone like him, a queer man, was allowed to exist at the center of the frame. With Things Like This, hes determined to change that narrative. Out spoke with Talisman about the tone and inspiration behind the project, and what he hopes queer audiences will carry with them after the credits roll.Youve described the film as exploring the idea of the "in between." Is there a specific scene that, for you, captures that in-between moment most powerfully.Max Talisman: I think theres a few moments. Theres a sense of trying to flirt with someone but not totally knowing they are queer. Is this a vibe and are we catching this together? [Laughs] I think we see it in the struggles of the characters accepting themselves both as queer people and as adults. I just thought when writing it, like, I screw up all the time. We're messy and we are growing all the time.I read that you might have originally started writing this as a horror concept. Is that true, and are there any scenes in the film that still reflect that darker, horror-inspired vision?The film itself wasnt horror, but I was writing a horror film and it kept devolving into comedy. Then I thought I have to kind of listen to what's happening here and just write a romantic comedy because that's what I think my subconscious is having me do anyway.Did any films, rom-com wise, inspire the tone of the project?I think most of them are straight films from the 90s in the early 2000s that really created the rom-com genre. As a queer person, I had to find myself in it. My goal with this film was to create something that felt nostalgic and felt wonderful to exist in the world with these characters. I wanted straight people to be able to find themselves within the lens of these two gay men, but [they] can also relate to these experiences. I think the films that informed me the most are movies like Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary like all of those quintessential [films].What production challenges did you come across, and what did you learn from those?My brain naturally works in a very creative way, and it can work in this technical aspect of producing and production as well. I just don't enjoy it as much as the creative stuff. I've been a creative person since I was young. So the stuff that we came across was just sort of everyday stuff that happens on a film set, like you're running over time, or like that kind of thing. As a producer, it was my job to be aware of that. As the creative, I was like, I didn't want to be aware of it. I think it was the juxtaposition of producing and being the creative that were sometimes challenging. Cast of 'Things Like This'Courtesy MPX ReleasingWhat directorial choices, whether in camera angles, pacing, blocking, or opportunities for improvisation, did you feel were most essential in preserving your vision for the film?I think giving actors the freedom to feel like they could play is something that was so important to me. I also think my vision was coming from an actor's standpoint of wanting to collaborate with these other actors and really just being sort of a team leader in that way. I wanted the actors to always know they had a safe place to play and a safe time to explore. I would also say the soundtrack. It was really important as a director for me to capture the film musically in a way that felt authentic and felt like something that I think people would want to be listening to while going on this adventure in New York City.There's been a lack of queer content recently, so this film came at a great time and we hope we receive more like it. What is this film saying, and what do you want queer audiences to walk away with?I think it's obviously a horrible thing that there's less queer content this year than there was last year, and there's less queer content from last year than there was the year before. As queer creators, were told we have to make something different, and then we have these straight films and Im not sure how many times Ive seen a knockoff of the movie Taken. Sorry [laughs]. I think it's important for us as queer people to be reinventing this because these are the questions we are asked. What was most important was telling this from a size perspective, and also making it clear that everyone deserves love no matter who you are. You deserve to feel like you are valid in that search for love.... Moving forward, I want to explore so many things as a writer. I think because my lens is that of a queer man, that's where it will always start. Theres a lot of different aspects in this world right now that I think are important to explore.Things Like This is now available to stream on digital and DVD/Blu-ray. Watch the trailer below.
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    25 queer poets to read now and forever
    25 Queer Poets to Read Now and ForeverNational Poetry Month takes place in April every year, but queer poetry can, and should, be read all year round!Queer poets can be traced back to at least Ancient Greece, where Sappho wrote about her overwhelming feelings for women. With a legacy like that, it's no surprise queer people still love the written word.From seasoned legends to literary giants to exciting young poets, these are 25 of the best queer wordsmiths to read.Audre LordeSelf-described as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," Lorde is a leading queer and feminist voice in the world of literature, especially poetry. She's quoted in an interview with Callaloo as saying: "My sexuality is part and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes from the intersection of me and my worlds..." Read some of her work here.Danez SmithDanez Smith is a queer, poz writer and performer from Minnesota. Their book Don't Call Us Dead (2017) was a finalist for the National Book Award, and [insert] Boy (2014) was the winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Their 2020 book Homie won the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. Their most recent book of poems, Bluff, was released in 2024. Read selections here.Adrienne RichA lesbian and feminist pioneer, Rich's poetry has become a part of the American literary canon. Her collections, such as A Change of World (1951) and Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems 1954-1962 (1963), explore identity and have been praised critically. Read some of her work here.Allen GinsbergAllen Ginsberg is celebrated as one of the great queer voices of all time in writing. A leader of the Beat Poetry movement, he first rose to prominence with Howl and Other Poems. Read some of his work here.Andrea GibsonAndrea Gibson is a contemporary slam poet who's risen to international fame online through video content. The artist explores themes of gender identity, love, life, and death in their work. They've released seven books, including Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns, Pansy, Take Me With You, and You Better Be Lightning. They also released seven albums of spoken word poetry, including When the Bough Breaks, Yellowbird, Flower Boy, and Hey Galaxy. In 2023, they were appointed Poet Laureate of Colorado by Governor Jared Polis.Gibson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021 and passed away on July 14, 2025, surrounded by their wife, family, and friends.Take a look here.C.P. CavafyC.P. Cavafy is a 20th century Greek poet, known for his highly homoerotic and sexually explicit poetry. While he remained mostly obscure during his lifetime, he's now come to be revered as one of the great gay poets of the past hundred years. Read here.Eileen Myles OUT 100 honoree Eileen Myles is a modern legend in the world of queer literature. Known for such classics as Chelsea Girls and Cool For You, she'll release a new book this year: Evolution. Read some of their poems here.Elizabeth BishopWhile she remained somewhat obscure for much of her career, the lesbian poet Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer Prize for her second collection of poetry, Poems: North & South/ A Cold Spring. Read some here.Federico Garcia LorcaThe Spanish poet was a contemporary of such artists as Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. His work often incorporates elements of fantasy and folklore. Read some of his highly-acclaimed work here.Frank O'HaraO'Hara was active in the mid-20th century in New York City. He was also a respected art critic and curator. Read some of his work here.Frank BidartFrank Bidart's early work focuses much on the concept of guilt, but his status as canon in American literature was solidified by some of his later pieces, like Desire, Star Dust, and Watching the Spring Festival. Read some of his work here.Ifti NasimIfti Nasim was a gay Pakistani-American poet who moved to the States to escape persecution for his sexuality back in his hometown. He became known for establishing Sangat, a group which supports LGBT south-Asian youth. Hear some of his poetry here.Jack KerouacKerouac was a prolific French-Canadian poet active in New York City in the mid-20th century. He's best known for his 1957 masterpiece On The Road. Read some of his work here.James BaldwinBaldwin is known as one of the great, proud gay artists of all time. His work is unabashedly queer and intersectional. While he's best known for his novels, like Notes of A Native Son and Giovanni's Room, he was also a celebrated poet--read some selections here.John Giorno Giorno was in Andy Warhol's first film, Sleep, and the two had a romantic relationship. A poet and visual artists, he also counted names like Patti Smith and Robert Rauschenberg as friends. Read some of his pieces here.Photography: Paul AlbertsJune JordanJune Jordan was a pioneering poet, playwright, and essayist who worked for women's rights, civil rights, and sexual freedom. Jordan's work is now for its accessibility--she often wrote in vernacular for a sense of immediacy and familiarity. Read here.Photography: Wikipedia.Michelle Tea Tea is a queer postpunk poet based in Massachusetts. She's known for pieces like Valencia and Rose of No Man's Land. She's received a Lambda Literary Award and was Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. Read here.Photography: Gretchen Sayers.Pauli Murray Murray was a civil rights and women's rights activist, a lawyer, an author, and a poet. She often contemplated issues of sexual and gender identity. Her volume of poetry is titled Dark Testament and Other Poems. Read more here.Photography: Associated Press.Richard Blanco Blanco immigrated to the States from Madrid--his work has received prizes including the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize, the PEN/American Beyond Margins Award, the Tom Gunn Award, the Maine Literary Award, and the Paterson Prize. Read some of his poems here.Photography: WikipediaSaeed Jones Saeed Jones' poetry explores race, power, and intimacy, among other concepts. His debut collection Prelude to Bruise (2014) received critical acclaim. He's gone on to win several presitigous awards and now works as literary editor at Buzzfeed. Read some of his work here. Photography: Drew Reynolds Tommy Pico Pico is an up-and-coming Brooklyn-based poet originally from the Viejas Indian reservation. Read some of his poetry here.Photography: Greg VaughanWalt Whitman Walt Whitman is one of the great poets of all time, and a champion of homoeroticism in the literary form. He's celebrated for his collection Leaves of Grass as one of the great world poets in history. Read selections here.Photography: Wikipedia.Lee Mokobe Mokobe is a trans South African poet and speaker for TED Talks. He's performed alongside such artists as Chance the Rapper and Mos Def. Watch his poem about his transness here.Photography: @leemokobe/ @andymkosiRickey LaurentiisRickey Laurentiis is the author of Boy With Thorn, which won the 2014 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Read selections from his work here.Photography: @RckylrntsAlok Vaid-MenonAlok is a gender non-conforming performance artist and poet who rose to worldwide social media fame under the moniker 'DarkMatter.' Read some of their work here.Photography: @alokvmenon on Instagram.
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    Rene Rapp is scared of '16-year-old bisexual' fandom, thinks lie-detector operator is gay
    Got a question for Rene Rapp? She will answer it.Rene Rapp appeared in a new "Lie Detector Test" video from Vanity Fair and, as expected, unleashed her unfiltered self when asked chaotic questions about a wide range of topics and Hollywood celebrities.Does someone like Rapp need a lie-detector test to share honest answers? No. Are the fans loving this interview and already creating memes with each of these answers? Yes!Between assuming that the lie-detector test operator is gay, being afraid of her "white 16-year-old bisexual" fans, and holding space for the lyrics in her upcoming album, Bite Me, there's a lot to unpack here, so let's get to it.Rene Rapp stans Beyonc, and then plays 'f*ck, marry, kill' with three iconic albums from Queen Bey.The Vanity Fair interviewer asks, "So you are of the mindset that Beyonc can do no wrong?""Correct," Rapp answers.Interviewer asks, "Fuck, marry, kill: Cowboy Carter, B'Day, Lemonade.""First of all, that's so fucking rude," Rapp says (and she's right). "Okay, this is so not fairI would, I would marry B'Day. I would fuck Lemonade, 'cause that'd be like a crazy fuck." Despite not wanting to do it, Rapp reveals that she'd have to kill Cowboy Carter if that's the only option left."But I love Cowboy Carter," Rapp explains. "I'm a southern baby to my core, and some of like my favorite Beyonce songs are on that album. But like you can't I'm not putting that in the ring with like B'Day and Lemonade."The interviewer asks if Rene Rapp gets advice from Frank Ocean about scheduling new music releases.The interviewer begins by asking Rapp if she ever feels pressured by fans to release new music."No, not at all," Rapp quips. "Somebody tells me to release something, and it's gonna wait another six months No matter who it is; on my team, fans Anybody. Y'all are gonna have to wait for that shit longer."The interviewer asks, "You don't love your fans?""No, love y'all, but don't pester me," Rapp says.The interviewer presents a photo of Frank Ocean. "Have you ever asked this person, Frank Ocean, for advice on how frequently to release music?"Rapp laughs out loud and briefly pauses before answering that question. "That's so fucked up. Why would you play with me like that?" she argues. "No, but it damn sure seems like it. Yeah.""Have you ever criticized him about how infrequently he releases music?" the interviewer asks.Rapp replies, "No! I mean, obviously, I want it. Obviously, I want it all the time. But I like to be edged, you know?"In case you don't know, Ocean is notoriously secretive and selective about when and how he releases music. After taking four years between 2012's Channel Orange and 2016's Blonde, the singer hasn't released a new LP since then.Rene Rapp is scared of her '16-year-old bisexual' fandom.The Vanity Fair interviewer asks, "Are you ever scared of your fandom?""All the fucking time," Rapp says."Why?""I'll tell you why: Have you ever seen a rabid bunch of white 16-year-old bisexuals unhappy?" the pop star explains. "It's the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my entire life."Rapp explains, "I've had so many fights with people and no one, no one has ever managed to hurt my feelings the way that people in my fandom have." She turns to the camera and explains, "Y'all are so intense. With all the love in the world, y'all scare the shit out of me."Rene Rapp recalls 'Mean Girls' closing down on Broadway and shares thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter.When asked by Vanity Fair if she was "secretly happy" that the Broadway production of Mean Girls closed down on Broadway as a result of the lockdown, the musician confidently says that that she was "publicly very happy."The interviewer then presents the photo of another celebrity. "This person, Sabrina Carpenter, was also in the Broadway cast of Mean Girls with you. Do you think she was happy it was shut down?""I would say, like, perhaps not," Rapp says. "She did, like, three days [of the musical], or something? And had like moved her whole life to New York. And then it sort of shut down, so I would say that it was, more than likely, rather inconvenient."The interviewer poses another question, "If Sabrina called you and said she was returning to the show, would you consider going back?""I don't know that I'm doing a threepeat," Rapp responds. "I think I'm maxed out."The interviewer: "Maxed out on Mean Girls?""I've done a few!" Rapp says."So you do not value the opinion of Sabrina Carpenter?"Rapp bursts out laughing, looks straight at the camera, and teases, "I do not value the opinion of Sabrina Carpenter."Now that's a soundbite!Is Rene Rapp "sad" about the breakup between Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter?The Vanity Fair interviewer asks if Rapp feels "sad" about the news that Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan broke up."Um, no. Look at her! She's great," Rapp replies."So you think she can do better?""She'll be just fine," the singer says.The interviewer questions, "Barry He can't do better?""That's a boy, you know?" Rapp responds."Would you ever set her up with someone?""Yeah, I mean, totally," Rapp declares. "I don't know [who], but I would work on it."The Rene Rapp vs. Boston feud continues.The interviewer asks if Rapp hated having to apologize for her 2023 song "I Hate Boston.""It wasn't a sincere apology at all. So, like, no," Rapp replies.The follow-up question is, "So you still hate Boston?""It's not my favorite neck of the woods," the pop star explains. But you know, I do wanna go to Cape Cod. So, like, maybe I don't hate it if I wanna go there? It was just a little bleak where I went."Rapp is shown a new picture. "Tell me, was this picture of you and your girlfriend, Towa [Bird], genuine? Or part of damage control to the city of Boston?""I was just drunk, so there wasNo thought behind it," Rapp reveals. "She honestly looks super good there."Rene Rapp would apologize to Boston if Ayo Edebiri asked her to.The interviewer asks, "If a fellow celebrity from Boston wanted an apology, would you give it to them?""Who's a celebrity from Boston?" Rapp wonders."Ayo Edebiri.""Oh Ayo's from Boston?!" Rapp asks, then remembers: "Oh, wait, yes. If she wanted it, I'd have to give it to her."Rene Rapp can't tell Matt Damon and Ben Affleck apart. (At least not instantly.)"What about these people?" The interviewer asks, still referencing the Rapp vs. Boston feud. "Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Would you apologize to them?"Rapp replies, "They look so much alike, so I thought that was one person, I'm gonna be so honest.""I mean, no, I'm not apologizing to a man," the singer adds. "I didn't do anything to them. They also They look alike. I love Ocean's Eleven. When he's young in that Cute!"The interviewer explains, "Matt Damon is in Ocean's Eleven. Ben Affleck is not."After some back and forth of Rapp attempting to determine who's who in the photo, Rapp asks, "And he [Affleck] is not at all affiliated with the insurance company, huh?"The insurance company "is Aflac," the interviewer remarks. "Very different.""Judd is gay."The conversation moves forward with another discussion about whether or not Rapp has undergone media training."Yeah, I actually have. People have tried," Rapp reveals.The Vanity Fair interviewer asks, "How's that working out for you?""I just don't like itI hate being told what to say. It's not my favorite thing," the pop star explains. "It's a bunch of, like, answers that are kind of like premeditated to make it seem like everything is great, so that people like you more, because you seem like a happy-go-lucky girl."The interviewer says, "So not being media trained, we've established that you can say whatever you wanna sayIn that case, say the most intrusive thought you have in your head right now.""Right now?" Rapp asks, barely pauses, and says, "Judd is gay."For context, the screengrab above shows Judd. You might recognize him from other "Lie Detector Test" videos posted by Vanity Fair.Judd seems puzzled by Rapp's assumption, but thanks her."It's a compliment, by the way," Rapp says. 'I like gay people."Judd asks, "Am I going out, then, later?""You can come out! Yeah, you can come out," Rapp decides.Is Pope Leo XIV a Rene Rapp fan?The conversation becomes about whether or not Rapp has something against the Midwest, which immediately escalates to how she feels about Pope Leo XIV. The interviewer asks, "Do you think this Midwest man, Pope Leo, is a Rene Rapp fan?""He's new," Rapp acknowledges. "It's not, 'Is he?' It's, 'Should he be?'"The interviewer insists, "Is he?""I don't really know enough about my boy to know if he's with us like that," Rapp quips. "I keep seeing things, different headlines I don't really know what he's about."Rapp continues, "But I do know that he just called for a ceasefire, so he has like 10 points. That's kind of all I know about him. And he's American.""He's from Chicago," the interviewer adds."He's from Chicago?!" Rapp exclaims. "Love Chicago!"Rene Rapp is asked about the 'Midwest Princess' herself, Chappell Roan."So what do you think about this Midwest Princess?" the interviewer asks while presenting a photo of Chappell Roan. "Is she a Rene Rapp fan?"Rapp gushes, "Ugh! I mean, she is a Rene Rapp fan 'cause I love her, and I'm a Chappell Roan fan.""What's your favorite song of hers?"Rapp says, "'California.' Really good ballad. Really good.""Would you ever wanna do a duet with her?""Of course, if it's 'California,'" the singer replies. "I love that song. I think that song is so, so good."For context, "California" is the 13th track on Roan's debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.Lastly, Rene Rapp hopes that the gays will be 'holding space' for the lyrics of her new album.The interviewer recalls that "the queer community famously held space for the lyrics of 'Defying Gravity'" last year, and then asks: "Do you think they will also hold space for lyrics from your upcoming album?""I should hope! I hope so," Rapp says. "If I've done anything right, then hopefully."Referencing a song from Rapp's 2023 album Snow Angel, the interviewer asks, "What about these lyrics? 'You're so fucking annoying, you could poison poison.'""Mmm. I feel like space is immediately held. I'm holding as we speak," Rapp says.Rene Rapp releases her sophomore album, Bite Me, on August 1. The singer's full "Lie Detector Test" interview with Vanity Fair can be watched below.
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    30 pics of 'Love Island USA' host Ariana Madix serving bicon bombshell
    Beloved. Bicon. Bombshell.Since making her reality TV debut on Bravo's Vanderpump Rules and being a finalist on Dancing With the Stars, Ariana Madix made cameo appearances in the fifth season of Love Island USA and was ultimately chosen as the show's official new host starting with season 6.The American version of the dating show originally from the U.K. became an even bigger success since Madix joined as host. Ratings kept rising to new heights over the course of Love Island USA season 7, with new all-time records being broken for the series.In case you didn't know, Madix is a bisexual woman who has spoken up about the importance of more queer-inclusive dating shows. "I think there needs to be way more," she told Out during a red carpet interview. "And by more, I mean two, or three, or four, or five, or 10 queer dating shows." Fingers crossed we will be watching!Following the huge success of Love Island USA season 7, the premiere of Love Island: Beyond the Villa, and the upcoming second season of Love Island Games on Peacock, let's look back at some of Ariana Madix's most iconic looks and moments over the course of another unforgettable season of the Peacock series.
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    Meet the returning queens of 'Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale'
    Asian excellence in a Battle Royale.The first-ever edition of Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale is here!Hosted by Paolo Ballesteros (a.k.a. Mama Pao), this new All Stars-like series features a sensational cast of 12 queens who have competed on other Drag Race shows around the world and are now ready to enter this Battle Royale for the crown.The queens of Drag Race Philippines might be at the center of this competition, but they will now face opponents from around the world for a chance to snatch the crown. Pop Off Ate!Scroll through to meet the returning queens competing on Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale, and watch the new series when it premieres on August 13 only on WOW Presents Plus.Arizona Brandy 'Drag Race Philippines' Season 2Representing: Drag Race Philippines season 2Original run: Runner-upInstagram: @arizonabrandyArizona Brandy is a vibrant drag queen from Makati and the first runner-up of Drag Race Philippines season 2. Arizona has become a fan favorite for her fearless spirit and unapologetic authenticity. Now returning for Slaysian Royale, she's determined to avenge her season and rise as a symbolic leader for the underdogs, representing resilience and heart in the drag community.Bernie 'Drag Race Philippines' Season 2Representing: Drag Race Philippines season 2Original run: 3rd/4th placeInstagram: @barrantesbernieBernie is a seasoned performer from Mandaluyong City and a proud trans woman whose journey on Drag Race Philippines season 2 inspired fans. Back for Slaysian Royale, she's ready to bring experience, passion, and pride to the mainstage.Brigiding 'Drag Race Philippines' Season 1Representing: Drag Race Philippines season 1Original run: 6th placeInstagram: @brigidingBrigiding is a bold and vibrant drag queen from San Juan City who blends glamour and energy like no other. Hailing from Rampa Bar and part of the Divine Divas trio, Brigiding is ready to conquer Slaysian Royale and show the world she's more than a fierce competitor she's a brand.Ivory Glaze 'Drag Race Down Under' Season 3Representing: Drag Race Down Under season 3Original run: 9th placeInstagram: @ivoryglazeIvory Glaze is a Sydney-based drag queen of Chinese and Dutch descent who competed on Drag Race Down Under season 3. Known for her sleek looks and quick wit, she's back for Slaysian Royale to spotlight queer Asian excellence and rewrite her legacy.Khianna 'Drag Race Philippines' Season 3Representing: Drag Race Philippines season 3Original run: Runner-upInstagram: @khiannawithakFresh from season 3, runner-up Khianna from Cagayan de Oro is back and bolder than ever. Even though her season has just ended, she's ready to face the pressure and push further, fly higher, and rep Filipino excellence in Slaysian Royale.Kitty Space 'Drag Race France' Season 2Representing: Drag Race France season 2Original run: 9th placeInstagram: @kitty___spaceOriginally rising to fame on Drag Race France season 2, Kitty Space is a Paris-based queen with proud Vietnamese heritage and a flair for the futuristic and avant-garde looks. Now ready to launch into Slaysian Royale, Kitty Space is on a mission to celebrate Asian identity while proving that drag, like space, has no limits.Madame Yoko 'Drag Race Belgique' Season 2Representing: Drag Race Belgique Season 2Original run: 8th placeInstagram: @madameyokolsyRepresenting Drag Race Belgique season 2, Madame Yoko is a bold blend of Vietnamese flair and Luxembourgish elegance. Refined yet rebellious, with a commanding stage presence and a love for high-concept fashion, Madame Yoko is here to challenge expectations and claim her crown with style and substance.Siam PhuSri 'Drag Race Thailand' Season 3Representing: Drag Race Thailand season 3Original run: 7th placeInstagram: @siamphusriFresh from Drag Race Thailand season 3, Siam Phusri is the definition of fierce finesse. With deep Thai roots woven into every stitch of her Runway looks, she's a queen with a passion for storytelling. On Slaysian Royale, she's ready to elevate Southeast Asian excellence and prove she's not just a beauty, but a force.Suki Doll 'Canada's Drag Race' Season 2Representing: Canada's Drag Race season 2Original run: 9th placeInstagram: @ _thesukidollThe polyglot queen from Canada's Drag Race Season 2, Suki Doll is a visionary designer with an avant-garde edge known for serving couture with cultural depth and a commanding presence. On Slaysian Royale, Suki isn't just representing her heritage, she's redefining what it means to be a global drag icon.Sum Ting Wong 'RuPaul's Drag Race UK' Season 1Representing: RuPaul's Drag Race UK season 1Original run: 7th placeInstagram: @issumtingwongSum Ting Wong, a British-Chinese-Vietnamese drag performer, made history as the first Asian queen on RuPaul's Drag Race UK season 1. She is now ready to defy expectations and showcase her charisma, talent, and fierce personality to snatch the crown on Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale.Vias Deluxe 'Drag Race Philippines' Season 1Representing: Drag Race Philippines season 1Original run: 7th placeInstagram: @vinasdeluxeKnown as the "National Mouth of the Philippines," Vias Deluxe is a queen of comedy, charisma, and chaos. Now back for Slaysian Royale, Vias is ready to prove the world hasn't seen the full extent of her "deluxe-ness."Yuhua 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 10Representing: RuPaul's Drag Race season 10Original run: 12th placeInstagram: @yuhuahamasakiYuhua is a Chinese-American drag queen, singer, and actor known for her sharp wit, bubbly personality and fashion sense on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10. Always proud of her Asian heritage, she's out to prove she's a queen to watch out for in Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale.Watch: Meet the Queens of 'Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale'
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    Why OutTavelers are falling hard for Maines coastal, LGBTQ+ charms
    The salt-sweet air. The wind-kissed harbors. The wildflower-lined trails that seem to whisper, youre exactly where youre meant to be.Maine knows how to hold a moment. But come June, the cobblestone streets of the Pine Tree State hum a little louder with Pride. Somewhere between a butter-drenched lobster roll in Ogunquit and a delicious cocktail in Portland, I realize: Maine doesnt just show up for Pride. She plans for it. And more importantly, she means it. The state is crafting a love letter to us OutTravelers. Explore our curated Maine itinerary below and plan your escapade today at VisitMaine.com. Ogunquit, MainePhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismOgunquit: Romance, cliff walks and lobster rolls that are worth the hype!Start your adventure in Ogunquit, which fittingly translates from Abenaki as beautiful place by the sea. This coastal gem isnt just picturesque its powerfully LGBTQ+. For generations, Ogunquit has been a beacon for OutTravelers seeking saltwater therapy, seaside art, and that just-right mix of relaxation and flirtation. Footbridge BeachPhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismWalk the Marginal Way, a 1.25-mile paved coastal footpath that hugs the Atlantic and feels more like a runway for the soul than a hiking trail. Benches appear exactly where youd want to sit hand-in-hand, hair perfectly tousled by the ocean breeze. Its one of New Englands few public paved cliff walks and easily one of its most photogenic. Footbridge Lobster at Perkins CovePhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismAt the trails end, Perkins Cove awaits a storybook harbor where lobster boats gently rock beside boutiques and time feels beautifully suspended. Stop at Footbridge Lobster, a family-run shack opened in 2009, where lobster rolls are served fresh from daily catch just butter, buns, and the kind of simplicity that feels decadent. Perkins CovePhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismFor a more elevated moment, head to MC Perkins Cove, where pan-seared scallops and sweeping ocean views set the scene. Named one of Food & Wines most romantic restaurants in Maine, its serving casual coastal chic the kind of place where a toast at sunset could easily turn into a proposal. Perkins CovePhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismBefore you leave, dont skip Perkins Cove Pottery Shop. Once a studio for high-fired stoneware, its now a LGBTQ-owned treasure trove of ceramics, serveware, and garden dcor that feels as artful and inviting as the town itself. Brian Pu RuizPhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismPortland: Coastal cool meets comfort.About 45 minutes north via I-95, Portland welcomes you with rainbow crosswalks, cobblestone streets and a food scene thats quietly world-class.Start your day at Rambler Caf in Deering Center, where your latte comes with fresh flowers literally. As Maines original flower caf, Rambler combines espresso and blooms with ease. Order the pistachio rose latte, grab a seat by the window and pretend youre living the first act of your very own rom-com. (And yes, the barista who makes your heart race will absolutely notice you.) While Rambler is currently under an exciting remodel, its grand reopening is scheduled for November this year.Back on Congress Street, things heat up. Jewel Box crafts cocktails like love spells. The bar, a dimly lit treasure trove of vintage glamour and moody charm, was a James Beard semifinalist for a reason. Here, LGBTQ+ locals and curious travelers sip gin tonics garnished with rosemary smoke and trade stories in candlelight while the city buzzes just outside.A few blocks away, Regards offers a new kind of coastal romance one built on bold flavors and shared plates. This restaurant brings Los Angeless culinary playfulness to the Maine coast, and somehow, it works like a long-distance love finally coming together. The arroz negro crab rice is earthy and elegant, while the grilled caraflex cabbage is crunchy poetry. And the hamachi collar? Lets just say: I caught feelings.With that, its time to loosen the belt and unplug. Hop on the ferry just 17 minutes from downtown and set sail for Peaks Island. Once a Victorian vacation hideaway, today its unpaved roads, breezy bike rides and pastel porches feel like stepping onto the film set of Mamma Mia! but with a more LGBTQ+ cast.Rent a cruiser or golf cart and take your time exploring the island loop. Discover hidden beaches, pop into local art galleries, or swing by the Umbrella Cover Museum, where humor and whimsy are always on display. Youll leave sun-kissed, maybe a little in love, and definitely googling How to move to an island?Beyond rainbow flags, Maines welcome is year-round hand-stitched into its scenic hikes, chic restaurants, and thriving LGBTQ-owned businesses. With support from inclusive creators and strategic partnerships including the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, travel influencer Brian Pu Ruiz, and viral travel couple Gabi and Shanna Meit-Sciarra of 27 Travels Maine invites you on an escapade, with something rare: a place thats both a getaway and a coming home. Gabi and Shanna Meit-SciarraPhoto Courtesy of Maine Office of TourismMaybe the greatest luxury for OutTravelers sometimes isnt five stars or champagne brunch (although theyre arguably just equally as important). Maybe its ease. Safety. A kind of quiet joy in Maine that says: Youre seen. Youre safe. You are home. YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!Start planning your Maine journey any time of year at VisitMaine.com!
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    Need an escape from American anxiety? Consider Colombia.
    If you, like me, are among the millions of Americans who feel our existence is threatened by the rightward political shift in the United States, then you may already be considering a temporaryor permanentescape from this country. As a writer and digital nomad, I recently had the opportunity to spend two months in Colombia, which provided a taste of what life could be like outside the U.S. After my time there, I can offer several reasons to consider Colombia as a possible haven for a temporary respite, or even a permanent relocation.Affordability is a key reason to consider living in or visiting Colombia. Travel and Leisure magazine recently reported that the cost of living in Colombia is about 54% lower than in the U.S., and rent is about 79% lower. Despite the recent economic turmoil, the dollar remains strong and can go a long way in Colombia. With some modest budgeting, I was able to live comfortably on $1,500 - $2,000 USD per month. Rent for a nice one-bedroom apartment in a fashionable Medelln neighborhood averages $750 a month. Lunch at a neighborhood caf offering the menu del dia (special of the day) costs around $4, including a soup, salad, entre with rice, fresh-squeezed juice, and tip! A pedicure that normally goes for at least $35 in the U.S. will cost about $11yes, including tip! While I stayed in sprawling Medelln, with its approximately 4 million inhabitants, I rarely paid more than $5 for an Uber ride, and less than a dollar to ride public transit. Michael Dru Kelley (center) and friends escape to a nearby luxury resort in the mountains of Colombia, and the view from a luxury Airbnb.Courtesy Michael Dru KelleyAccessibility is another primary reason to consider Colombia for temporary or ongoing living. According to Monica Robeldo, a Colombian immigration attorney based in Medelln, U.S.- and most foreign-born citizens can enter Colombia with a 90-day visa, which can be extended for 90 more days via an online application, allowing for non-residents to spend up to 180 days, or six months per calendar year, in Colombia. This liberal permit allows one to return for up to six months every year, provided all processes and deadlines are met. For longer stays, Colombias immigration regulations include visitors visas for various purposes, including medical and dental treatments, digital nomads (those who work remotely, exclusively for a foreign company), students, and some journalists. The typical duration of these visas is one to two years. These Colombian visas cannot be renewed, and every subsequent visa needs to fulfill the requirements of each visa category.One can obtain a Colombian residence visa only after accumulating continuous time on any of the immigrant visas. Residency can be established after three years for same-sex marriage or domestic partnership, two years for parents of Colombian nationals, and five years for real estate or business-based visas. However, immigrant visas can be revoked if you leave Colombia for more than 180 days in a calendar year. The resident visa can be revoked if you are absent from Colombia for two consecutive years. All visa types require certain health and other related insurance coverages. Its best to seek the advice of a local, experienced Colombian immigration attorney. Michael Dru Kelley with his Spanish Professor (left) from Spanish by Yeni, Medellin.Courtesy Michael Dru KelleyAbundant beautyfrom the climate to the people to the cultureis the best reason to consider visiting, living, or investing in Colombia. The country has stunning vistas and rich biodiversity, as its borders encompass parts of the Andes mountains, the Amazon rainforest, the Equator, and include both Caribbean and Pacific coasts in the northern end of South America. Medelln, where I was based, is known as the city of eternal spring, (la ciudad de primavera enterna) because it sits about 6,000 feet above sea level, and boasts year-round temperatures that typically range from the 60s at night to 80s during the day, with ample sunshine and rain.Despite a well-entrenched class system, my experience with the Colombian people showed me a people who are generally happy, healthy, and thriving regardless of their position in life. In this country of 50 million people, eating healthy food, exercising, and seeking out ones own happiness is a priority. Enjoying life is a way of life. Colombias proximity to the rainforest, along with rolling hills and valleys curated for local agriculture, means an abundance of the freshest produce, meats, eggs, and dairy products. Many of my meals were not just affordable, they were also some of the most delicious foods I have had anywhere in the world, packed with ingredients that were good for my body and soul.Colombiaand especially Medellnis also sensible in its receptivity and inclusivity of LGBTQ+ visitors. While the Colombian Constitution is heavily influenced by Christian overtones, modern Colombian societyand lawembraces diversity. Marriage equality has been legal nationwide since 2016, and reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is protected by a 2022 ruling from the Constitutional Court. My experience with Colombians tells me they are welcoming to all people, lifestyles, and gender expressions. They value both the sanctity of life and the quality of life. I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe, and was delighted to see the many options for gay clubs, bars, and saunas throughout the city. Cuisine of Medellin, and Michael Dru Kelley (right) with travel friend visiting Medellins famed Communa 13Courtesy Michael Dru KelleyMy experience in Colombia was life-changing, including taking my first steps in learning Spanish, improving my yoga with world-class yogis, and expanding my horizons on almost every level, from cooking to love-making. Plus, after nearly 10,000 daily steps on some of the steepest hills Ive experienced, my mind, body, and spirit were rejuvenated. If you need an escape for a short vacation or the rest of your life, I highly recommend Colombia.
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    Georgia Community Rallies to Reinstate Celebrated Librarian Fired Over Inclusive Book Display
    Blackshear, GA, native LaVonnia Moore found her purpose working in the Okefenokee and Three Rivers Regional Library Systems (TRRLS), quickly advancing from 10 hours a week as a part-time employee in 2010 to running her own branch as the Pierce County Library manager until she was unexpectedly ousted from her position on June 18, following [...]The post Georgia Community Rallies to Reinstate Celebrated Librarian Fired Over Inclusive Book Display first appeared on GLAAD.
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    July 16, 2025
    Hello Out readers, the 2025 Emmy nominations are here!It's been a great year for TV, and now we know who to root for at the upcoming 77th Primetime Emmy Awards!One of this year's most pleasant surprises is seeing Cooper Koch take home his first Emmy nomination for playing Erik Menendez on Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. In total, the series was nominated for 11 awards.This year also has several historic nominations for queer stars.RuPaul continued her domination of the Emmys with a record tenth consecutive nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.Bowen Yang earned his fourth nomination for SNL, making him the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmys history.The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey also made history as the first nonbinary actor to be nominated for multiple Emmys.The 77th Primetime Emmys will take place on Sunday, September 14.Keep reading to find out this week's Woman Crush Wednesday and all the best pop culture news!- Mey RudeNeed an escape from American anxiety? Consider Colombia.Meet the returning queens of 'Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale'30 pics of 'Love Island USA' host Ariana Madix serving bicon bombshellRene Rapp is scared of '16-year-old bisexual' fandom, thinks lie-detector operator is gay'Things Like This' filmmaker: 'Everyone deserves love' no matter size or sexualityCole Escola reveals who they want to star in an 'Oh, Mary!' film25 queer poets to read now and foreverCooper Koch lands first-ever Emmy nomination for 'Monsters'Emmy 2025 nominations: LGBTQ+ nominees to root forWoman Crush WednesdayThe Traitors and Bachelor star Gabby Windey is finally getting her own show! Windey, who is married to Robby Hoffman, will be the host of the new show Love Overboard. The show will take place on a yacht filled with "sexy singles" who have to face challenges and see who remains on the boat.
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    6 gagworthy milestones 'RuPaul's Drag Race' just crossed at the Emmys
    The queendom is gonna need a bigger shelf for these many awards.It do take Nurve for a drag competition series by far the biggest mainstream platform for queer and trans talent on TV for many years to be snatching these many nominations at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, but RuPaul's Drag Race continues to put the ding in everything.Now that the 2025 Emmy nominations have been announced, it feels like the perfect time to zoom out and outline the several sickening milestones that Drag Race has just reached. Spoiler alert: With 99 noms, Drag Race is still the one.Explore six gagworthy Emmy Award milestones that RuPaul's Drag Race has just reached in 2025. The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is scheduled to air Sunday, September 14 on CBS and Paramount+.'Drag Race' has now been nominated 99 Emmy Awards overall.Since 2015, the overall Drag Race franchise has reportedly earned a total of 99 nominations at the Emmy Awards.RuPaul broke an all-time record in the Outstanding Host for Reality or Reality Competition Program category.With 10 nominations in Outstanding Host for Reality or Reality Competition Program, RuPaul now holds the record of having the most nominations in this category, breaking the tie and making RuPaul the sole record holder. RuPaul also holds the record with the most consecutive nominations.RELATED: RuPaul breaks all-time Emmys record with 10th nomination for Reality TV HostThe most nominated reality show at the 2025 Emmys is Well, 'Drag Race,' of course!With a total of 10 nominations at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, Drag Race is the most nominated series out of any other reality show in 2025.'Drag Race' has expanded its records for most nominations, and most consecutive nominations, this year.Drag Race also topped itself (likely story!) by breaking its own record for most nominations, as well as most consecutive nominations, in the Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program category: A total of nine nominations over the years.Fun fact: RuPaul's Drag Race has been nominated every single year since the Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program category was created.This year's nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Series was a first for 'Drag Race.'Even though the series has dominated the reality TV categories at the Emmys for several years, Drag Race actually received its first-ever Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Series at the 2025 Emmys ceremony.Hey Siri, play "Kill the Lights" by Alex Newell, DJ Cassidy, and Nile Rodgers!'Drag Race: Untucked' nominations? Emmy voters are clearly not just getting half the story.The tuck is undone! RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked has now earned an overall total of 16 nominations at the Emmy Awards nine of them consecutively in the Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program category.
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    Kevin Spacey demands release of Epstein files
    The Trump administration continues to flip-flop on its stance regarding the release of Jeffrey Epstein's files, including an alleged list of clients. The list is said to have been created by Epstein, a convicted child sex offender, who died in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges. After many in President Donald Trump's inner circle pushed for Epstein's alleged client list to be released, the Justice Department and FBI released a memo earlier this month claiming that a "systematic review" of the documents relating to Epstein included "no incriminating 'client list.'" The memo continued, "(W)hile we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein ... no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."This announcement was met with broad backlash, including from Kevin Spacey, the disgraced Oscar-winning actor who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. On July 15, the 65-year-old actor posted to X: "Release the Epstein files. All of them. For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can't come soon enough. I hate to make this about me but the media already has." (@) The files are said to contain a list of influential individuals who were involved in the disgraced financier's international sex trafficking ring. The Justice Department and the FBI's July claim that there is no client list contradicts what Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February, when she stated that she planned to release "a lot of flight logs" and several names related to Epstein that month. However, no additional documents have been made public to date.Spacey's name was mentioned in a Manhattan civil lawsuit filed by one of Epstein's alleged victims, which was unsealed by a federal judge in January 2024. NPR reports that Spacey, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, the magician David Copperfield, Prince Andrew, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Vice President Al Gore, among others, were named in the 2015 lawsuit as either associates, affiliates or victims of Epstein though this does not incriminate them.Spacey has faced separate credible accusations of sexual assault by actor Anthony Rapp and others. Spacey was found not liable a New York civil case relating to Rapp's allegations, and he was found not guilty of sexual assault by a U.K. jury in a separate case in 2023.
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    These hotlines are still available for LGBTQ+ youth after Trump kills 988 services
    The Trump Administration is ending the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifelines LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services but there's still help available. The federal government revealed it will be closing the program that provides emergency crisis support to queer youth considering suicide effective July 17, several months ahead of its initial October 1 closure deadline that was first revealed by leaked budget draft in April. While Congress can reverse the cuts, it's unlikely under a Republican-controlled House and Senate. There are still several existing lifelines for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis, whether it involves mental health, substance use, sexual health, or domestic violence. Here are some of the hotlines available within the U.S.The Trevor ProjectThe Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.Trans LifelineTrans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. Find more information at https://translifeline.org/LGBT National HotlineThe LGBT National Hotline provides a confidential safe space where callers of any age can speak about sexual orientation or gender identity/expression issues. It can be reached at 888-843-4564 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. PST (2 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST) Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. PST (Noon to 5 p.m. EST). LGBT National Youth TalklineThe LGBT National Youth Talkline provides youth ages 25 and younger a space to talk about relationship concerns, family, bullying, school issues, HIV/AIDS anxiety, safe sex information, suicide, and more. It can be reached at 800-246-7743 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. PST (2 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST) Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. PST (Noon to 5 p.m. EST). Crisis Text LineCrisis Text Line has previously partnered with FOLX Health for queer-specific services. It is available by text, web, and WhatsApp in both English and Spanish, connecting those who reach out with a live, trained crisis counselor within five minutes. You can seek support by texting HELLO or HOLA to 741741, or through WhatsApp by messaging 443-SUPPORT or 442-AYUDAME for Spanish.The Pride InstituteThe Pride Institute has helped LGBTQ+ people recover from substance use disorder, sexual health issues, and mental health conditions since 1986. Reach out at 952-934-7554 or at https://pride-institute.com/National Runaway SafelineThe National Runaway Safeline Provides assistance to runaways, including resources, shelter, and transportation. By calling or texting 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929), you can connect with a trusted, compassionate person who will listen and help you create a plan to address your concerns. Live chat is also available at https://www.1800runaway.org/youth-teens/get-helpNational Domestic Violence HotlineIf you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233 or by chat at https://www.thehotline.org/here-for-you/. Other resources can be found here.National AIDs HotlineThe National AIDs Hotline provides resources to people living with HIV, and can direct callers to test sites, medical care, prevention services, housing, and more. Call 800-342-AIDS (800-344-7432) or 800-243-7889 for Spanish. Click here for more hotlines in your state.
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    Queerest Emmys ever? 2025 nods abound with LGBTQ+ milestones
    History is being made at the 2025 Emmys!This year's Primetime Emmy Award nominations feature several queer performers and stars making history.Queer performers are breaking records and blazing trails this year, proving that when it comes to TV, LGBTQ+ people know how to excel.Despite some queer history being made this year, the 77th Emmys do have a diversity problem. Twenty-four actors of color earned Emmy nominations, the lowest number since 2019, when 22 were nominated.Several queer stars have already changed the game with their nominations and could make more history if they win. Here are some of the outstanding queer nominees.RuPaulThe Drag Race host made history this year as the most-nominated reality host ever at the Emmys. RuPaul earned his 10th nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program, making him the sole record holder for the most nominations. He also holds the record for most consecutive nominations.Bowen YangSaturday Night Live star Bowen Yang earned his fourth acting nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. This makes him the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmys' history. Sandra Oh is the most-nominated Asian actor overall with 14 nominations and one win.Bella RamseyNonbinary The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey became the first nonbinary performer to earn multiple Emmy nominations. They earned their second nomination for playing Ellie in the hit HBO show. Other important nominations for nonbinary actors include Carl Clemons Hopkins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Hacks, and Emma Corrin for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for The Crown.Ayo EdebiriThe Bear star made history in two ways this year. Ayo Edebiri, 29, is the youngest Black woman to receive three Emmy acting nominations following this year's nod for her role as chef Sydney. She also became the first Black woman to be nominated for both acting and directing in the comedy categories in the same year. Edebiri is nominated for directing The Bear episode "Napkins."Tramell TillmanSeverance star Tramell Tillman is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the most nominated series of the year. If Tillman takes home the trophy, he will be the first Black actor to win an Emmy in that category.Colman DomingoColman Domingo earned his second Emmy nomination, this time for playing Danny in Netflix's The Four Seasons. The announcement was a full-circle moment for Domingo, as he learned of the nomination while filming the upcoming third season of Euphoria. "Maybe it's a good luck charm, being here with my cast from Euphoria," Domingo told Deadline, referencing his previous Emmy win for season 2 of the show.
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    How drag artists can protect themselves from far-right attacks
    As drag shows across the country continue to face threats and violence, a group of survivors has used their own experiences to compile a book of resources helping other artists protect themselves.Qommittee, a national advocacy network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of high-profile hate crimes such as the Pulse and Club Q mass shootings, has published the Drag Defense Handbook. With over 40 pages, the document demonstrates how drag artists and organizers have successfully fought back against harassment and bans. Veranda L'Ni, whose Drag Queen Story Hour was protested by White Lives Matter Ohio and the local Proud Boys chapter, was one of ten or more drag artists who sat down and shared their experiences. In 2023, one protester threw a Molotov cocktail at the Community Church of Chesterland where L'Ni was scheduled to read. Aimenn Penny, 20, pleaded guilty to using fire and explosives to commit a felony and violating the Church Arson Prevention Act, and was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison."More so than ever, we are fighting for our existence. Across the country, we're being told that we shouldn't be here, legislatively and physically," L'Ni tells The Advocate. "We are not going to back down. We have always been an entity within society. But what Qommittee has done has allowed us to take proper steps to protect ourselves, to understand our First Amendment rights, to understand that we have the ability to go into public spaces and know exactly what to do.""It applies to more than just drag performers," she adds. "This can apply to anybody who is feeling oppressed or being told that they're they shouldn't be in these spaces."The handbook contains information on what immediate steps one can take when facing threats or harassment, including how to handle bomb threats. While working with authorities can be crucial, L'Ni recognizes that some "don't have that ability, and maybe don't want to speak with local law enforcement," so the book's recommendations cover community coalitions as alternatives.The handbook also includes information about one's First Amendment rights, including keeping up with court rulings and responding to false "grooming" allegations. The majority of these fallacious accusations spread on social media, so the book features tips to protect oneself from doxxing and online harassment.Jack King Goff, who was asked to resign from his teaching job after students discovered his drag persona, helped to inform the cybersecurity section. The drag king was harassed online by Moms For Liberty, which has been designated as an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other conservative commentators to the point where his teacher's association "could not ensure my physical protection" if he returned to the classroom. Goff's key recommendations to protect one's information online include using a VPN, data removal service, and password manager. He notes that nowadays "it seems that the majority of people's time is online instead of in real life, so protecting ourselves is just as important in those digital spaces.""It can be a very isolating experience, and the last thing we need right now is for more people to be isolated," Goff says. "In order for big change to happen, it's not going to come from one person. It's going to have to come from a a collective that comes together, has a similar or shared goal, and is able to get the job done."Goff hopes that the Drag Defense Handbook "shows those who feel alone that they aren't, and also empowers them with the tools that they need in order to keep themselves and the ones they love safe and protected." To L'Ni, the resources could help make queer communities more self-sufficient and less reliant on institutions that are not pro-LGBTQ+."We have our drag mothers and drag fathers and aunties and whoever else that takes younger drag performers under their wing," L'Ni says. "But now we actually have peer support from drag performers around the nation who've dealt with these ridiculous threats and discriminatory acts."
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    5,000 users leave trans subreddit in wake of transmasculine controversy
    Reddit often provides a space for those searching for community, especially for queer and trans people. One of the most popular spaces for trans folks is the r/trans subreddit, which currently has more than 600,000 members. On Monday, the subreddit was the subject of controversy after a user named Tyler (@itsurbro7777) made a post attempting to raise awareness for rarely discussed issues he feels transmasculine people face.In a post uploaded to the subreddit last week, he shared statistics from scientific journal articles about the violence that transgender people face, writing, "trans masc people very disproportionately face sexual harassment and assault, with most studies saying almost half of trans mascs/men experience sexual assault at some point in their life." from trans He continued, "I've also seen multiple studies claim that trans men also face the most violence in general out of everyone in the queer community. I am confused as to why this isn't more common knowledge. This should be very frequently discussed. We should all be angry. We should be supporting and uplifting our trans masc and trans male brothers; it's not only the dolls that need protection." Tyler went on to write that he feels transmasculine people don't receive as much media coverage as transfeminine people do. "The purpose of this post is to raise awareness of the issues trans men face, and point out that the trans community largely completely ignores trans men's struggles, and then says 'well trans women have it worse' as a dismissal when issues facing trans men are brought up," the post reads. "Please stop ignoring us. Please educate yourselves on what trans men go through. We absolutely have to talk about all this more and push for change."A few days later, Tyler tells Out over Reddit DMs that the moderators of the subreddit "randomly removed" his post after it had been up for a week. He says the moderators' stated reason for the removal was that the post was "divisive" and engaged in "oppression olympics," which he says minimized and invalidated his experience. When Tyler challenged the moderators' removal, he says a moderator told him to "stop bitching." And when he reported that incident to other subreddit moderators, he says they did not believe him until he showed them screenshots of the interaction. His post was deleted (but later restored), and he says he was banned for three days.As the subreddit scandal made its way across the broader platform, the r/trans subreddit lost more than 5,000 members. Moderators attempted to stem the user hemorrhage with an apology. When Out contacted the r/trans subreddit moderators for comment, they replied with a statement saying they removed the moderator who responded "inappropriately" to Tyler's message."We cant ensure that a community of more than 600,000 members has absolutely nobody being horrible to each other in it and is completely free from outside hate," the statement reads. "We can, by use of automation, manual review, or a combination of these, remove inappropriate content and, if required, ban users from the community. We have a very strict set of rules and run r/trans as a safe space." The statement goes on to say Reddit moderators pride themselves on being able to remove a large amount of hate and bad behavior before users see it.However, the statement continues, "this has devolved into a hate campaign, with our team members receiving multiple death threats, [which] goes completely against everything r/trans as a community and our moderator team stand for. Reddit's first rule is 'Remember the Human' and sadly this seems to have been forgotten."When asked if he planned to continue using Reddit's online communities or seek out others, Tyler said it was his initial plan was to stay in the r/trans subreddit. But he says moderators are still deleting posts, have not taken tangible steps to improve the subreddit, and sent out "a nothingburger of an apology." He also says moderators have added post flairs which highlight and label certain categories of content to posts tagged with "transmasc." At this point, Tyler says he will likely leave the r/trans subreddit unless the moderation team makes genuine changes including addressing issues with the specific moderators who made him feel unwelcome. "I have been on Reddit for years, but all of this has caused me to receive a lot of hate, even violent threats in my DMs," he says. He adds that his original post was never intended offend anyone or suggest that trans men have it harder than trans women, since he doesn't believe that's true. Nevertheless, "I have learned that the erasure of trans men and our issues is much more widespread than I ever thought, and it is more important than ever to push for change and make sure we are taken seriously," he says.
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    Every Rusical winner in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' herstory
    This one's for the Rusical stans!Over the years, the musical challenges better known as "Rusicals" on RuPaul's Drag Race have been inspired by a wide range of themes, stories, and references.For instance, Rusicals have referenced stories like Pitch Perfect, Moulin Rouge, Footloose, and The Sound of Music. When it comes to themes, they've varied between throwing shade, being on an airplane, and using social media. There have also been Rusicals that focused on celebrities singers like Cher and Madonna, politicians like Donald Trump, and even an entire Drag Race production referencing Faye Dunaway's performance as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest.Not all Rusicals have been well-received by the fans. However, if you're a musical theater girly, there's always plenty of exciting elements to look forward to.Scroll through to see every Rusical winner on RuPauls Drag Race, which is streaming on Paramount+. All seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars are also streaming on Paramount+.Courtney Act 'Drag Race' Season 6The first-ever actual Rusical in the series took place on Drag Race season 6. It was about the journey of Good Penny (played by Courtney Act) to becoming Bad Penny (Adore Delano). Given that they were both Idol alumni, the stakes were very high for those two queens. In the end, though, Courtney was the winner of this Rusical.Watch: 'Shade: The Rusical'Ginger Minj 'Drag Race' Season 7The Glamazonian Airways Rusical featured a very of-the-time theme: fun/exciting onboarding videos from airplane carriers. At the time, everyone was obsessed with the Virgin America safety video from Todrick Hall and this Rusical on Drag Race season 7 leaned all the way in.Watch: 'Glamazonian Airways'Chi Chi DeVayne 'Drag Race' Season 8Most of the queens were doubting Chi Chi DeVaynes chances at doing well in the Rusical for Drag Race season 8. Nonetheless, she did an incredible job at the B*tch Perfect Rusical and ended up winning the challenge.Watch: 'B*tch Perfect'Shea Coule 'Drag Race' Season 9The original casting drama for a Rusical happened on Drag Race season 9 both Shea Coule and Nina Bonina Brown wanted to play the character of Blac Chyna in Reality Stars: The Musical, which has also been referred to as Kardashians: The Rusical. Ultimately, Shea was picked as the Rusical winner, which had Nina feeling even more upset.Watch: 'Reality Stars: The Musical'The Vixen 'Drag Race' Season 10, Episode 2Drag Race season 10 didnt have just one Rusical, but two! The first one was PharmaRusical, which is arguably one of the weirdest Rusicals in the history of the series. The challenge ended with The Vixen as the winner and Kalorie Karbdashian-Williams being asked to sashay away.Watch: 'PharmaRusical'Kameron Michaels 'Drag Race' Season 10, Episode 8The second Rusical of season 10 was Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical. Though this one was also a bit weird, it was campier and funnier than PharmaRusical. Unbeknownst to most, Kameron Michaels had a history of doing Cher impressions, which worked in her favor and helped her secure this maxi challenge win.Watch: 'Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical'Silky Nutmeg Ganache 'Drag Race' Season 11While we were still struggling with the Trump administration at the White House, season 11 of Drag Race poked fun at the presidential Cheeto with Trump: The Rusical. The production was heavily inspired by Grease one of Mama Rus favorite films and focused on the women surrounding Trump. In any case, the winner turned out to be Silky Nutmeg Ganache, who played Oprah.Watch: 'Trump: The Rusical'Gigi Goode 'Drag Race' Season 12Some fans remember Madonna: The Rusical as the episode that prompted Jans infamous face crack. But generally speaking, the overall fanbase praises this Drag Race season 12 challenge as one of the best Rusicals of all time. Gigi Goode, Jan, and Crystal Methyd all placed high in this maxi challenge, but Gigi was deemed the winner.Watch: 'Madonna: The Rusical'Ros 'Drag Race' Season 13Ros did an excellent job on Social Media: The Unverified Rusical and won the challenge. In turn, this Rusical led to Symone and Kandy Muse having to lip sync for their lives and though Symone won, Kandy was saved in a last-minute decision from Mama Ru.Watch: 'Social Media: The Unverified Rusical'Lady Camden 'Drag Race' Season 14Drag Race season 14 runner-up Lady Camden had sort of a fight with Bosco to play the lead role of Saltine in Moulin Ru: The Rusical. Bosco ended up with the role, but landed in the bottom, was eliminated, and got saved by the chocolate bar twist. Meanwhile, Camden actually won the Rusical in the role of Mama Z.Watch: 'Moulin Ru: The Rusical'Anetra 'Drag Race' Season 15Even though Rusicals always had a special place in the hearts of musical theater fans that watch Drag Race, it was really season 15s Wigloose: The Rusical that changed the game for this kind of challenge in the series. Despite being filmed many months before conservatives began to rile up the anti-drag bills they were planning, the Rusical aired right in the thick of it, making the whole thing incredibly well-timed. In the role of Mama Bacon, Anetra won this challenge.Watch: 'Wigloose: The Rusical'Plasma 'Drag Race' Season 16Plasma blew her competition out of the water on The Sound of Rusic from Drag Race season 16. Not only was this New York City queen in every single scene of the production, but she delivered on every line, every move, and every nuance. The hills were definitely alive for Ms. Plasma!Watch: 'The Sound of Rusic'Sam Star 'Drag Race' Season 17Sam Star's second maxi challenge win on Drag Race season 17 came during the "Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical."Sam played a character named The Wicked Witch, who pulled from a mixture of parodies like Nessarose (from the Wicked novels by Gregory Maguire), The Wicked Witch of the East (from the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz released by MGM), and Cher Duh!Watch: 'The Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical'Detox and Alyssa Edwards 'All Stars 2'The first-ever All Stars Rusical was HERstory of the World, which took place on All Stars 2. This Rusical told the story of many famous and inspiration women throughout history, from Helen of Troy to Annie Oakley to Princess Diana. Unfortunately, Ginger Minj and Katya fell in the bottom 2 this week, whereas Detox and Alyssa Edwards were the top 2.Watch: 'HERstory of the World'Shangela and BenDeLaCreme 'All Stars 3'Divas Lip Sync Live, directly inspired by the VH1 Dias Live specials, was another Rusical that combined the stories of various famous women. Here, each contestant played a particular pop diva with Shangela (as Mariah Carey) and BenDeLaCreme (as Julie Andrews) being the top 2 of the week./Watch: 'Divas Lip Sync Live'Jan 'All Stars 6'Jan was able to get her full Rusical redemption on All Stars 6 as she played Lady Gaga in the Halftime Headliners Rusical that parodied the halftime show performances taking place at the Super Bowl. Another standout performance came from Trinity K. Bonet as Beyonc.Watch: 'Halftime Headliners'Kandy Muse 'All Stars 8'No more wire hangers! Kandy Muse also got a Rusical redemption on All Stars 8 with her performance in "Joan: The Unauthorized Rusical." Kandy's scene had very much to do with a scene in Mommie Dearest where Joan Crawford (played by Faye Dunaway) yells out, "No more wire hangers!"Watch: 'Joan: The Unauthorized Rusical'Jorgeous 'All Stars 9'Hellotis! It's your girl, Jorgeous.After being seen as a fabulous young queen and lip sync assassin in season 14, Jorgeous came back to All Stars 9 the "Chari-Tea" season with a vengeance.Jorgeous played a killer doll named Morgan (inspired by the title character of M3GAN) in the "Rosemarie's Baby Shower: The Rusical" challenge, and earned yet another win here!Shannel 'All Stars 9'Drag Race season 1 pioneer Shannel was one of the top 2 winner for the "Rosemarie's Baby Shower: The Rusical" challenge of All Stars 9.Despite doing well in various challenges, it took a while for Shannel to win a maxi challenge, and fans were thrilled to see this OG diva getting another chance to shine.Watch: 'The Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical'Jorgeous 'All Stars 10'Jorgeous, in the role of Pam, slayed her second Rusical challenge on Drag Race "Starrbooty: The Rebooty" while competing in bracket 2 of All Stars 10.Given that Jorgeous had just won the All Stars 9 Rusical challenge the year before, this was a fierce back-to-back victory for the pickled queen.Lydia B Kollins 'All Stars 10'Lydia B Kollins competed on All Stars 10 immediately after filming season 17 of Drag Race, which clearly felt like quite a ride for the queen. Despite not landing in the bottom for the season 17 Rusical, Lydia didn't win it, either leaving it up in the air how she would perform on All Stars 10.Well, if you wanted a twist, you got it! Lydia shot up to the top in "Starrbooty: The Rebooty" alongside Jorgeous as the top 2 queens of the week. Kudos to this diva!Watch:'Starrbooty: The Rebooty'
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    What is 'soft swapping' and how is it different for LGBTQ+ couples? Sex experts explain
    Youve likely heard of polyamory, swinging, and ethical non-monogamy, but what about the term 'soft swapping'?The practice has been around for a long time within the swinging community, but it gained popularity when it was featured on the reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which showed Taylor Frankie Pauls TikTok video where she talked about her and her friends being into soft swinging, also known as soft swapping. Pauls marriage eventually ended in divorce, but she managed to popularize the term, which she said in a TikTok live referred to swapping partners where you just hook up but you dont go all the way.Soft swapping can either be a relationship model or a way to dip your toe into ethical non-monogamy on your way to swinging or polyamory.The soft in soft swapping means that penetrative sex is off the table. But what does that mean for the queer community, where penetrative sex doesnt look the same as it does for straight couples? We talked to experts to break down what soft swapping is, whether or not its common for LGBTQ+ couples, which sexual activities are on the table, and what the downside is.So, what is soft swapping?In an open relationship, both partners are able to date and have sex with people outside of the committed relationship, but with soft swapping, partners become intimate with people within a friend group or swinging community, and sexual contact is limited. This is different from hard swapping or full swapping which refers to swinging where penetrative sexual activity is allowed.Soft swapping is a form of consensual or ethical non-monogamy (ENM) where a couple explores sexual play with other couples, or within a community of other couples. Its a lot like swinging but tends to have more boundaries set out about what is allowed and often will restrict partners from having penetrative sex outside the relationship, Emma Hewitt, a certified sex educator with Adulttoymegastore and the host of the podcast the Electric Rodeo, tells PRIDE.Is soft swapping common in LGBTQ+ relationships?Historically, swinging in general has been considered a very hetero activity. You know the stereotype. The husband puts his key in a bowl at the party and whichever wife pulls his keys is who goes off with him for a good time, Hewitt explains. Whether this party practice was ever actually popular or just a good trope for a comedy sitcom is up in the air, but what we do know is that how society learnt about swinging was definitely through a heterosexual lens.But statistics show that the LGBTQ+ community is more likely to participate in non-monogamous relationship models than their straight counterparts. According to a 2018 study on open relationships, 32% of gay participants, 5% of lesbian participants, and 22% of bisexual participants report being in open relationships, while only 2% of heterosexual participants say the same.LGBTQIA+ folks likely are as into soft swinging as straight folks, if not more, but we just havent heard as much about it. How queer people define sex tends to be different to how straight people do. While sex is often defined as penetrative sex by straight people, the definition is much more diverse for queer folks so how they define swinging or soft swinging is likely different too, Hewitt says.What activities are allowed, and which are not?The parameters are fairly clearly defined for straight folks looking to spice up their sex life with soft swapping: just stay away from PIV sex. But what activities arent allowed when youre dating in Queerland?In straight swinging circles, a soft swap usually refers to any non-penetrative sexual play, she explains. "So, it might involve kissing, touching and oral sex. But in queer circles, these boundaries may look different depending on what the swinging partners determine to be sex.Sex and relationship therapist Aimee Evnin-Bingham advises discussing your desires for soft swapping openly with your partner and then deciding together what sexual boundaries youre both comfortable with. Couples should decide on what they feel comfortable when opening up their relationship. It may differ on what is allowed depending on the relationship boundaries, she says.This means deciding together how you define sex and what sex acts are permitted within the agreement you have with your partner, and which ones are not. This also may be a good time to discuss how you both define cheating so that you know how to stay within the bounds of your commitment to each other.What are the benefits of soft swapping?Soft swapping can feel like a safe way to explore open relationships and have sexual experiences with new people without committing to swinging, polyamory, or other forms of ethical non-monogamy. According to Evnin-Bingham, since soft swapping is often done when both partners are in the same room, it can give someone feeling insecure a sense of control because they know what their partner is up to, while for others, it can spice up the bedroom.It may be exciting to see their partners soft swinging with other people. It can broaden your desire and you can learn more about what you like and what you don't like, she reveals.Hewitt agrees and says that soft swapping can also be a way to explore kinks, fetishes, and fantasies that their partner may not be interested in without completely opening up your relationship.The risks vs. the rewardsEven if you are in a stable relationship, jealousy can rear its ugly head and spell the end of your relationship. And if you end up falling for someone youre soft swapping with, you put your whole relationship at risk. This is exactly what happened to Paul when she developed feelings for someone outside of her marriage who she was soft swapping with.Soft swinging shouldnt be considered a band-aid for a relationship that is already in trouble. If you have trust issues with one another, its likely to put more strain and pressure on an already struggling relationship and can be a contributing factor to relationship dissolution, Hewitt says.What should you do if you want to try it, or if your partner does?If youre the one interested in trying soft swapping, have a conversation with your partner and be open about why you want to open your relationship in this way and how you think the experience will benefit you both. It can also help your partner feel less insecure if you remind them that you want to explore this with them, and not just as a way to skirt around monogamy.Then, give them the time and space to consider your request and be ready to accept it if they wont want to give it a try. Give them time to process and do some research about soft swinging if they arent sure what it means and dont hurry them into answering then and there. This isnt something that people should dive into on a whim, Hewitt explains. If they arent interested, respect that. Its ok to ask if its a conversation you can return to in the future but dont nag or pressure them if its something they dont want to do.And if your partner is the one who brings soft swapping up to you, try to keep an open mind and allow yourself to really think about it before you give an answer. Remember that it needs to work for everyone involved. If you are doing it because your partner wants to, but you dont, or vice versa, you are likely setting yourself up to fail as resentment inevitably kicks in, she says.Tips for soft swapping safelyIf youre going to start soft swapping, its important to make sure you are taking care of both your emotional and physical health.Like with most things in life, and sex, communication is key. Consider setting up regular check-ins to make sure you are both still happy, and be prepared to be open about how youre really feeling.Set up clear boundaries. Hewitt warns that setting up blanket rules for soft swapping wont be enough, instead you and your partner need to be specific about which sex acts are allowed with other partners and which are off the table since the way you each define sex and cheating may be different. Then, be clear about your boundaries with potential soft swapping partners.Talk about the future. After play sessions, you and your partner should talk openly about whether your needs are being met or your boundaries are being pushed so that you can decide together if you want to continue soft swapping.Safe sex is paramount. You are your partner need to be on the same page about your comfort level around fluid bonding, contraceptive use, and STI risks before you start soft swapping. Get tested regularly, consider going on PrEP, and talk openly about these things with anyone you and your partner may swap with.Sources cited Emma Hewitt, a certified sex educator with Adulttoymegastore and the host of the podcast the Electric Rodeo. Aimee Evnin-Bingham, a sex and relationship therapist.
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    How Kendall's leaked nude videos ruined his 'Love Island' relationship
    Kendall Washington shared new details about how his leaked intimate videos had an impact on his relationship with Nicole Jacky particularly after their explosive confrontation at the Love Island USA season 6 reunion during his appearance in the series premiere of Love Island: Beyond the Villa.Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment delivered three times a week straight (well) to your inbox!Episode 1 of Beyond the Villa promptly reminded viewers that things quickly went south for Kendall and Nicole between the Love Island USA season 6 finale and the explosive confrontation they had at the reunion. Even though he is straight, Kendall's leaked naked videos went viral and unleashed a flood of antigay comments due to which body parts he showed in the resurfaced leaks."Obviously the video is not OK. Nobody deserves that. That is fucked up," Nicole said at the season 6 reunion. However, she added that the leaked content was filmed "in the hotel room before you go on the show; [sending it] to someone on a dating app."On Beyond the Villa, Kendall was able to tell his side of the story. "Last time I spoke with Nicole was when we broke up," he said in a confessional. "We walked off stage and I flew back to Dallas. I started working, and we tried to talk things through And then the reunion aired."According to Kendall, they "had a phone call" after the reunion aired, which was "the last time we spoke." (@) (@) The next scene from Love Island: Beyond the Villa episode 1 circled back to Kendall at a table with his season 6 costars Kaylor Martin, Liv Walker, and Connor Newsum. "I feel like I had no backbone in that," Kendall told them.Liv replied, "What you went through was Don't say you don't have backbone, that makes me upset.""You didn't let it drag you down," Connor agreed.Kaylor also sided with Kendall. "When you love someone, you don't do that on camera," comparing Nicole's reaction to the things that Kaylor only found out from her Love Island partner, Aaron Evans, at the reunion.RELATED: 20 sexy Love Island contestants who came out as LGBTQ+Peacock's new Beyond the Villa spinoff premiered after the Love Island USA season 7 finale on Sunday night. As previously reported, the show centers on the superstar islanders of season 6 as they reunite in Los Angeles to spend a few days together now, outside of the villa, and almost a full year after their season ended.Even though Nicole wasn't featured in this first episode of the spinoff, she has been named as a cast member in it, which means that more on-camera developments about her breakup with Kendall might be featured in the spinoff.Love Island: Beyond the Villa is streaming on Peacock.
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    'Drag Race's Xunami Muse moves to Panamacites 'complicated' U.S. 'situation'
    Xunami Muse, a crowned Miss Congeniality and beloved queen in the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise, shared a statement to announce that she's relocated to Panama explaining that her "situation in the United States was a difficult and complicated one." While filming season 16 of Drag Race, Xunami disclosed that she had been legally residing in the U.S. under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.Earlier on Wednesday, Xunami shared an Instagram post in Spanish that, translated into English, reads:"Watch out world!I have something to tell you. From now on, I will be living in my beautiful land of Panama. You heard that right, I left the States! And the reason is simple: To be able to explore the WORLD! My situation in the United States was a difficult and complicated one, but it introduced many blessings into my life. This August, we're touring Europe, and then in November, we're playing Australia!And so I'm going to take this moment to tell you that if you want to see me in your countries, send me a message via this email teamxunami@gmail.com and let's make it a reality! There are so many countries I would love to visit to share our love of DRAG!Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina, Spain, England, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the Philippines, Japan, China, Thailand, Canada, South Africa, and, well, wherever the art of drag is celebrated!I hope to eat your meals, dance to your songs, and learn the dirty words of your languages! [laughing emojis]. I just touched down in my beautiful land of Panama, and I will spend it with my family, fighting here for our thing, reconnecting with my roots, and lots of practice for the Haus of Aja tour!!! I love you, and thank you so much for all the love and good vibes you always share with me.More details later. But, for now, FROM PANAMA TO THE WORLD!!!"See on InstagramXunami Muse's latest Instagram post announcing this relocation to Panama has been filled with emotional and supportive comments from RuPaul's Drag Race alumni, fans, creative partners, and beyond.Below are responses from Geneva Karr, Leexa Fox, Alyssa Hunter, Jorgeous, Morphine Love Dion, Lucky Starzzz, Raja, Kandy Muse, and Symone.Nicky Doll, Dahlia Sin, Luxx Noir London, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige, Marko Monroe, Gigi Goode, Plane Jane, Denali, and June Jambalaya were also among the top comments under Xunami's post.You can read their responses below.Famous for her infectious laughter and sense of humor even while facing adversities, Xunami subsequently replied (in Spanish) to a few fans asking her questions (in Spanish) via X posts. The following exchanges have been translated into English.A fan asked, "If you leave the United States, can you not return?""I really don't know," Xunami responded. (@) Another fan wrote, "I can already imagine @XunamiMuse as the patron saint of drag in Panama. Periodt. This is gonna be fun.""BUT OF COURSE!!! The Panamanian Nicky Doll [laughing emojis]," Xunami replied. (@) Another fan commented on X, "Chiqui [a term of endearment] nooo!!!! Panam is a mess at this moment. USA is a better option.""I prefer fighting in my homeland than to fight in foreign territory! I'm not here for other people's business anymore, I'm here for my own! [laughing emoji; heart emojis]," Xunami wrote. (@) An emotional discussion about DACA was one of Xunami's standout moments in the werk room of Drag Race season 16 which filmed in 2023 and aired in 2024. During those scenes, Xunami disclosed her legal resident status in the U.S. under DACA and explained to her fellow costars what that meant."I really didn't know, like, what I was gonna do, if that hadn't gone through. It was during the Obama administration," she explained in the werk room. "We literally would not be able to be here if it wasn't for that. So, thank you, Obama!"Xunami went on, "DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and it is a law that came to effect to grant kids with no papers a work permit and a Social Security Number so that they can be another member of this society. DACA is why I'm able to legally work and also be on Drag Race.""We're not citizens," she noted. "We're kind of in limbo. We're legally here because we were already here, but we don't have the full rights of a citizen."Xunami also broke down while discussing what being on Drag Race meant for her."When I got the call for this, I literallyI was, like, bawling," she said. "I was like, 'I'm finally having a shot to live my dreams,' you know?"Xunami also discussed the fan reaction to her DACA segment on Drag Race in an exit interview from February 2024."A lot of people who are of the same experience have been saying things like, 'Thank you. I feel seen.' For me, there was a fear of just even letting people know, right? There are so many people who are malicious," Xunami told Out at the time. "Although we are protected, we're not fully protectedBut at that moment, it just felt like, 'Yeah, this is what we go through.' It was really nothing other than that, you know what I mean? Sharing our reality in that moment and showing our humanity. We love the drag, and we love the aesthetics, and the glam, and all of it but who are these people?"'RuPaul's Drag Race' alumni and fans are also reacting to Xunami Muse's update via X.Kandy wrote in an X post:"It's a very bitter sweet day today, please respect my privacy- but my best friend & drag daughter has officially moved out of the united states and has relocated to her beautiful home in Panama- while I will miss you so much, I cannot wait till u finally discover the world [mending heart emoji]." (@) X user @CTprogressive_ replied to Kandy's post, "DACA queens are self-deporting now [broken heart emoji] I hate how this country treats immigrants. She deserved better."Kandy re-posted that X user, adding:"It's the harsh reality of living in the United States." (@) Drag Race season 12 winner Jaida Essence Hall wrote:"Love you @XunamiMuse." (@) Xunami's season 16 costar, Mirage, wrote:"Love you Xunami can't wait to come visit." (@) YouTuber and content creator @GreenGayYT wrote the X post below, which was then re-shared by Kandy."Thinking about when Xunami spoke on s16 about being DACA recipient & the blessings that came from that policy. But now we have Trump who plans on getting rid of it entirely. Can't imagine any immigrant feeling safe in the states at all [frowning face emoji]." (@) Xunami Muse will soon be going on the Haus of Aja tour along with her drag family Aja, Kandy Muse, and Dahlia Sin across Europe and Australia.For tickets and more information about the Haus of Aja tour, you can visit Xunami Muse's Linktree. Tickets for the European tour dates, as well as the Australian tour dates, are all available for purchase.This story is still developing
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    Star Trek has a black hole of queer love, but out actors hint at hope
    Fans can expect to see action, drama, romance, mystery, parody, and even zombies in the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday. But sadly, after a nearly two-year wait since season 2's cliffhanger, the only sexual action these space travelers find in the final frontier are of the stereotypical boy-meets-girl variety.Actress Jess Bush, who plays nurse Christine Chapel and identifies as queer, told Out last week she would be all for having LGBTQ+ couples hook up in the series. I would love for our show to represent queer love on screen, Bush said. I think that that would be wonderful!And Bush, who spoke with Out during a break from filming the second half of season 4 in Toronto, hinted that LGBTQ+ fans may see themselves represented as lovers in a future episode. I can't say too much, because I don't want to reveal anything, the Australian actress teased. Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas in season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Marni Grossman/Paramount+Chapel did have one line in the first season of Strange New Worlds in which she acknowledged having dated a woman in her past, which many queer fans took that to mean the character is bisexual in this iteration. By contrast, nothing about Majel Barrett's portrayal of the character in the original series, filmed in the late 1960s, would suggest Chapel was anything but straight.In fact, LGBTQ+ representation in Star Trek has been as rare as gold-pressed latinum. Over its nearly 60 years of TV episodes and movies, the iconic franchise has almost exclusively stuck to cis-het romances, with rare exceptions:In 2016, actor John Cho revealed to Out that he was playing Sulu as a gay man with a male partner and a daughter in one of the sequels. The last sequel, to be clear.There was an out transgender character in season 1 of Strange New Worlds, a deliciously nasty villain played by nonbinary actor Jesse James Keitel... who got away and was never seen again.Star Trek: The Next Generation boldly portrayed Commander Will Riker falling in love with an agender/nonbinary alien, in violation of their societys norms. Riker and the aliens romance ended in a heartbreaking forced conversion therapy.Two alien women risked banishment by their race for daring to fall in love on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That is, until one of them packed up her Space U-Haul and left without so much as a Vulcan salute.Then Star Trek: Discovery gave us the first out gay couple to serve on a starship portrayed by Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp as well as a nonbinary character and their transgender boyfriend, played by Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander. That streaming show was canceled last year after five seasons.Paramount+ announced this summer that Strange New Worlds will be canceled, too, after a five-episode fifth season. Carol Kane as Pelia and Martin Quinn as Scotty in Star Trek: Strange New WorldsMichael Gibson/Paramount+One thing Star Trek fans can always count on, however, is its enduring message that we will survive the struggles of todays world and can hope for a better tomorrow, where everyone is accepted for who they are.There's still darkness. There's still war. There's still all the same things that humanity grapples with today, said Melissa Navia, who portrays the Starship Enterprises pilot. But at the heart of that, we see the best of what humanity can be when we work together.Navia has spoken openly about how she personally embraces the queer energy and gender fluidity of her character, fan favorite Erica Ortegas, without feeling the need for a label. Given the mounting attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, Out asked her last week how the shows inclusive message still resonated and what lessons can be learned.It's our differences that make us stronger, she said. And it seems so basic and universal, and yet it seems that people on a fundamental level miss that or fight that for all sorts of reasons. Star Trek, at its core, [says] that it's our differences that make us stronger, and without embracing that, we are not going to reach the future that we want, and the future that is Star Trek.Navias other out queer costar, Celia Rose Gooding, pointed to the message in Keep Us Connected, a song the actress belted out in the season 2 musical episode, Subspace Rhapsody. Melissa Navia, Jess Bush, Celia Rose Gooding at Outright International GalaCourtesy AuthorOur differences, our diversity is what keeps us connected, Gooding told Out, and then cited a phrase that the original TV show established as the basis for Vulcan philosophy many generations ago. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations is, I think, a core quality of Trek, and I think our present 2025 world could learn a lot from that.Gooding plays Nyota Uhura, the talented communications officer, who this season grows in confidence while also growing out her closely cropped hair. Uhura also explores a cis-het romance with a guy, and this does not sit well with Ortegas. Because, at least for now, this is where the series is not-so-boldly going.But the crew does have fun and exciting adventures along the way. See for yourself as season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams on Paramount+ starting Thursday.Below, check out the Strange New Worlds junket, which also includes interviews with Babs Olusanmokun, who plays Dr. Jospeh M'Benga, about the respect he has for his queer costars, as well as newcomer Martin Quinn, an actual Scotsman who plays Montgomery Scott, a.k.a. Scotty, about what he wore under his kilt and why he hated wearing it so much.
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    How queer activist JP Karliak landed the 'Smurfs' Gargamel role
    JP Karliak is having a pinch me moment.The voiceover actor, queer activist, and self-proclaimed snappy dresser best known to a lot of LGBTQ+ comic fans as the voice of nonbinary shapeshifter, Morph, in Marvels X-Men 97 has his name attached to one of Julys biggest theatrical releases, and hes playing not one, but two lead villains. And not just any villains, either. He gets to ham it up as one of the greatest cartoon villains of the 1980s: Gargamel, the evil wizard of the Smurfs universe who makes his long-awaited return to the big screen with Smurfs on July 18.While you likely may not be familiar with his face (or his signature electric blue hair), just take a peek at Karliaks impressive IMDB and youll see that, odds are, youve very likely heard his exceptional vocal talents embody some of the most popular characters of the pop culture pantheon, including Wile E. Coyote, Spider-Man, Willy Wonka, the Tin Man, and Boss Baby (taking the reins from actor Alec Baldwin). But what makes Smurfs a feather in his cap is not just the fact that hes among a star-studded cast that includes John Goodman, Rihanna, Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, and Kurt Russell (just to name a few), but the fact that an everyday voice actor like himself scored two lead villain roles in a single big-screen project. Smurfs poster of Gargamel and Razamel, both voiced by JP Karliak (right)Paramount Pictures; Tommy Flanagan (provided)Every part of it is a pinch me, jaw-dropping moment. Karliak tells Out. Because it doesn't happen to us workforce voice actors. It just doesn't. So it's been really cool.How Karliak landed the role isnt the typical I auditioned and got the part story youd expect. In fact, he never even had his sights set on the part of Gargamel at all. He actually earned the role by capturing the attention of executives with his sheer talent during a standard table read. With Smurfs, I was brought in along with a bunch of workhorse voice actors to do a table read and scratch, which is basically just laying down a track that they can storyboard with to work out stuff with the executives and the script before they do the inevitable celebrity casting, explains Karliak. Later, I was brought in for individual sessions not even starting with Gargamel. It was for a few different characters and they really zoned in on Razamel, Gargamel's brother. Karliak goes on to explain that, even though the executives seemed dazzled by his take on Razamel a voice he says he came up with on the fly he never imagined a no-name voice actor having a shot at nabbing the role of the main big bad. He assumed the studio would pursue a Jim Carrey-level A-lister. The whole time Im thinking, I love that they love what I'm doing, but they'll give me something like Smackity Smurf in the back row and I'll have like two lines.But while he was on a honeymoon with his newlywed husband in Athens, Greece, Karliak got a surprise phone from his agent that made that romantic trip extra special. He found out he actually scored the role of Razamel. Fast-forward to some time later, while in the midst of a recording session, Karliak once again impressed executives with his uncanny ability to transform into whatever character he imagines on a whim, this time channeling original Gargamel voice actor Paul Mitchell, which paved the way for some unexpected and unimaginable double duties on the film.We were recording a scene where Razumel and Gargamel talk to each other. And they didn't have the scratch of Gargamel, Karliak recalls. And they were like, Oh, we would have to go and get it. That'll take an hour. I was like, Do you want me to just do it? And so I just did the back-and-forth conversation. And they were a little mind-blown. A month later, they were like, Yea, you're both of them. Razamel and Gargamel (JP Karliak) and Papa Smurf (John Goodman) in Smurfs from Paramount Animation.Paramount PicturesGargamel and Razamel are just two more villains Karliak gets to add to his ever-growing roster of iconic evil-doers. Between his memorable take as Green Goblin in the animated Spidey and His Amazing Friends and following in the footsteps of Mark Hamill and voicing the Joker in two video games (Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and DC: Dark Legion), its pretty clear that the voiceover powerhouse has an affinity for villainy.I've always gravitated towards villains, he confesses. I've always found them to be my favorite characters.But not just any villain. Karliak has a particular soft spot for baddies of the flamboyant variety, and Gargamel certainly fits the bill. My number-one villain is Skeletor [from Masters of the Universe]. I definitely lean into those villains that are queer-coded and have that sort of mincing villainy, which I love, shares Karliak. I never identified with He-Man or that ultra masculinity. Villain-wise, I was never a fan of Shredder [from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles] either, because he is so masculine and so tough and everything. I was like, No, not me. Give me Cobra Commander. [Laughs] Gargamel is so much in that same vein as well.Speaking of queer-coded, theres no denying the apparent queerness of the Smurfs, especially the original 1981 cartoon. For decades, fans have theorized about their sexuality and have poked fun about how the mostly all-male population of shirtless blue twinks all perfectly fit most of the gay archetypes (Papa Smurf is the daddy, Hefty is the muscle queen, you get the picture). And its pretty unanimous that the swishy and self-absorbed Vanity Smurf is the queerest of them all (he even took the number 12 spot on Rankers list of gayest cartoon characters). While Karliak admits that there's certainly some fun to be had with how the Smurfs match up with those classic gay tropes, this new iteration is more in line with the recent canon, with Smurfette no longer being the lone female. But even in the original mythology, Smurfs were never known to physically reproduce their infants were delivered by storks from an unknown location. So, in the new film, dont expect to see any romances.I think the Smurfs whole sense of affection is platonic, says Karliak. I think anything that they almost feel like the archetype for like demisexuals or aroace [aromantic asexual] individuals where it's just like, they're just trying to build really strong, beautiful friendships. And it's really not about sexual attraction. And I think that's beautiful. I think there's something to be celebrated in that. Razamel (JP Karliak) in Smurfs from Paramount Animation.Paramount PicturesSmurfs isnt the only new project Karliaks fans are looking forward to. The voiceover wonder is also set to return to the X-Men universe, reprising his role as mutant superhero Morph in season 2 of Disney/Marvels critically acclaimed X-Men 97. Due to the secrecy surrounding the project, he couldnt say much, but he did offer an update. I have an ankle bracelet that will inject a poison into me and kill me if I say more, he quips. So we've wrapped season 2. I think it's coming out next year. Fingers crossed. And we've started work on season 3. As far as what you can expect to see, at the end of season 1, we tease the arrival of Apocalypse. So, of course, all of us are in far-flung different times, dimensions, all sorts of stuff. So it's going to be a wild and wacky journey, but I think you can still expect to see a lot of the beautiful relationship building that we did in season 1.As for his hopes and dreams beyond X-Men 97, Karliak says that Skeletor is his white whale the last iconic villain of his dream-role wishlist, but until then, hes always keeping his eye for new original characters, especially those of the queer variety. I would love to be involved in a project where I'm brought in as the villain who's never been heard of, original character, hopefully a queer story of some kind and being a part of that. That's the dream, shares Karliak, who also served as a voice and casting director for a totally original animated drag musical fantasy thats available now and its loaded with RuPauls Drag Race royalty. I will say the very first project that I've cast and directed is called Maxxie LaWow: Drag Super-Shero, he shares, enthusiastically. It's an animated movie thats on all streaming platforms for purchase. And I'm very proud of this cast that I was able to pull together, but it features Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Mont X Change, Ros, Heidi N Closet, Lorraine Newman. It's a stellar, diverse, very queer cast.When hes not out at comic conventions promoting his creative endeavors or blowing away executives with his brand of vocal wizardry, Karliak is also an activist who spends a lot of time helping others in the community achieve their acting dreams. In 2021, he founded Queer Vox, a nonprofit academy for LGBTQIA+ voice actors. His goal? Per his official website: to train and showcase queer voiceover talent while championing true representation behind the mic.I run a nonprofit that advocates for queer and trans voice actors, called QueerVox, he says. We're encouraging our actors to lead with their talent first. We're also training them in gender vocal work where, not only are they able to attune their daily voice to being more gender euphoric and aligned with their identity, but also to be able to manipulate it so that they can play other gender identities, like cisgender people, and continue to get work in sparse times. Our community has been denied the opportunity to not only play ourselves, which seems like such a no-brainer, but unlike our cis straight compatriots Jared Leto who get to play all sorts of queer and trans roles, we don't get to play cis or straight roles," he continued. "And I consider myself a prime advocate for that because I have had the passing privilege of being able to voice Alec Baldwin and a bunch of other characters. So I really try my best to blow people's expectations out of the water when I walk into the room with my blue hair and my blue nails and be like, 'This is who you cast for your big military man.'Smurfs is now out in theaters. Watch the trailer below.
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    Cooper Kochs Emmy nomination earned him a surprise prison call
    Cooper Kochs Emmy nomination interviews included his chat withVariety being interrupted by a call from Californias Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. On the other end of the line sat Lyle Menendez, who was calling to offer his congratulations on Kochs nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series or Movie for playing Lyles brother, Erik, in Ryan Murphys Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.He was jealous that I was at Wimbledon this weekend, Koch told Entertainment Weekly later, still laughing at the surreal timing. He called to send his congrats and was very, very sweet.The nomination for Monsters puts the 28-year-old into heavyweight company with the likes of Colin Farrell (The Penguin), Stephen Graham (Adolescence), and Jake Gyllenhaal (Presumed Innocent), and Brian Tyree Henry (Dope Thief) but Kochs focus remains on the real-life brothers who inspired the limited series.In May, a judge resentenced the brothers to life in prison with the possibility of parole, and theyll plead their cases before the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations parole board in August. This is sort of like the end of an era with it, said Koch in his EW interview. What a great way to put it to bed. Hopefully that will also go with the brothers getting released by the end of the summer.If the Menendez hearings go their way, Kochs first order of business is a long-teased tennis match against Lyle, who bragged about his skills during that prison call with Variety.Although Koch received a nod for his role as Erik, Nicholas Alexander Chavez who played Eriks brother Lyle, did not. His omission, alongside Ari Graynor, who starred as defense attorney Leslie Abramson, left Koch feeling devastated, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.Apart from Kochs Lead Actor nod, the show did go on to grab another 10 nominations, including Supporting Actor and Actress for Javier Bardem and Chlo Sevigny as the Menendez parents, as well as Outstanding Casting, Picture Editing, Sound Mixing, Hairstyling, Period Costumes, Makeup, Music Composition, and Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series.Tune into the awards on September 14 on CBS to see who wins!
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    Heroes of the Resistance: Post-Pride Summer Edition
    Welcome to the latest edition of GLAADs Heroes of the Resistance, where we compile heartwarming news about leaders and changemakers who are paving a pathway towards acceptance and inclusion despite a hostile climate for LGBTQ people. The legislative session has come to an end in most states across the country and the proposal of extreme, [...]The post Heroes of the Resistance: Post-Pride Summer Edition first appeared on GLAAD.
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    Nicki Minaj drags 'miserable' SZAsinger claps back with receipts
    Nicki Minaj is no stranger to taking digs at people on social media, and recently, SZA got caught in the crossfire after Minaj seemed to have interpreted one of SZA's posts on X to be about her. Last week, the Queens rapper uploaded a barrage of posts to X, discussing Jay-Z, Roc Nation, and Megan Thee Stallion. She laughed at Megan and Roc Nation after a judge denied their request to dismiss Megan's 2024 lawsuit, where her employee alleged that she had sex with a woman in a vehicle that he was also in. Minaj also taunted Jay-Z, claiming he owed her money from the sale of the streaming service Tidal, which Minaj had a stake in. (@) Then, Minaj set her sights on SZA after Minaj posted about SZA's former manager, Terrence "Punch" Henderson, president of the Top Dawg Entertainment label, and said he was "bullying" her after she "rejected his business proposition on more than one occasion. She poked fun at him, claiming not to remember his name and giving him the nickname "minus 30 million." (@) SZA, who is currently signed to TDE and was managed by Punch up until December, uploaded her first post to X in about two weeks, given that she's currently on a stadium world tour with Kendrick Lamar. The post reads, "Mercury retrograde .. dont take the bait lol silly goose. (@) This caught the attention of Minaj, who felt the tweet was about her, so she responded to the post, telling SZA to "go draw [her] freckles back on" and said she sounds "like a fkng dead dog." Minaj responded to the same tweet again, saying, "Shut up ugly," and in a separate post, continued to make fun of SZA, saying she was "looking & sounding like she got stung by a fucking bee." (@) This spat continued to be a focal point for Minaj as she and her fans continued to harass SZA online, uploading post after post about SZA's appearance, her status as a celebrity, and her music sales. (@) (@) Minaj and her fans continued to upload posts, one of which SZA responded to. A Barb (Minaj's fan army) posted to X and wrote, "you really dont wanna start this girl if you was crying before, you really gon cry now when the bar(b)z get at you." SZA replied saying, "I get bullied by millions online every day then step my ass out onna packed stadium tour where ppl show me REAL love. IN REAL LIFE. My parents are healthy and Im the most successful I ever been. GET SOME FUCKING PERSPECTIVE n BARK AT THE WALL !!!" (@) SZA then goes on to confirm that her original tweet about Mercury being in retrograde was not about anyone in particular. "I wasnt even talking about or to anyone I had just got off stage talkin bout retrograde," she wrote. (@) SZA decided to remove herself from the conversation as Minaj continues to post about her, Jay-Z, and Roc Nation. She shared a post that says, " lemme go back to being calm, shy, and meek. Y'all have a blessed night! See you tomorrow for night 2 Paris!!" (@)
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    What is micro-cheating? How to spot the signs and what to do according to dating experts
    So regular cheating isnt enough, now we have to worry about micro-cheating, too? Yep, thats right theres a new kind of dating indiscretion on the block and there is a real possibility that you either have or are doing it, without even realizing it or at least knowing it has a name. Discussions about micro-cheating frequently pop up on social media and have even inspired some catchy ditties. @iamkayleeroseThis is what #microcheating looks like and yes it still counts as #cheating But folks are divided on whether or not it counts as infidelity and ultimately that is up to you and your partner. But if that's a boundary that you require in your romances, then it's a good idea to understand what it means, what the signs are, and what to do about it if it crops up in your relationships. To answer these questions and more PRIDE spoke with the experts. Julia Simone Fogelson, an AASECT certified sex Therapist; marriage and family therapist Layne Baker, and Anthony Canapi, MFT, LGBTQ+ dating expert, and founder & CEO of Best Man Matchmaking. Heres what they had to say about micro-cheating and why LGBTQ+ in particular may need to know about it. What is micro-cheating, and where did the term originate?Have you ever asked for someones number, and saved it in your phone under a different name? Or do you find yourself flirting with friends and then feeling the need to delete it? Even if youve never followed through and gotten physical with the other person, what youre doing are some of the many ways someone can micro-cheat. Micro-cheating is when a partner engages in intimate, non-physical and often online, behaviors with people outside of their relationship that leads to a slow erosion of trust and psychological safety within their relationship, Baker tells PRIDE, adding that the term is credited to Australian psychologist, Melanie Schilling.Ultimately, the real issue with micro-cheating is secrecy, explains Fogelson, It's small, secretive acts that a partner would find emotionally inappropriate, she tells PRIDE. So things like sending or receiving flirty texts, inappropriate pictures with other people or emotional connections outside of the relationship.Is micro-cheating a problem?Most would argue that cheating is a major problem in a relationship, and for the most part, the experts agree that micro-cheating is also detrimental to your relationship. Micro-cheating compromises trust, intimacy, and emotional safety, even when the behaviors involved are subtle or non-physical, Canapi tells PRIDE. Regardless of intent or severity, micro-cheating can deeply affect a partner, particularly when they are someone considered a top priority in one's life.Fogelson recognizes there is some nuance here, It depends on the context of the couple were dealing with, she says. Some people can be very forgiving towards one-off actions that can be passed off as a misunderstanding. However, repeated acts of betrayal or secrecy can make it hard for even the strongest of relationships.The issue here, Baker adds, isn't about the specific behavior itself so much as it is knowingly doing something that would be emotionally harmful to your partner. That is the betrayal, which makes it problematic.Are LGBTQ+ people more likely to engage in or be victims of micro-cheating? While Canapi aknowleges there are no peer-reviewed studies indicating that LGBTQ+ folks are more likely to micro-cheat or be the victims of it, he points out that the dynamics of queer relationships could lead to greater instances of it.Because of the closeness and emotional intimacy of your friendships, flirting may be more commonplace, he explains, and the less rigidly traditional relationship structures can also create more space for micro-cheating to occur. These ethical, nonmonogamous, non-traditional structures can create ambiguity around what constitutes micro-cheating, as the definition often depends on boundaries that are individually and mutually defined, he says. Fogelson largely agrees, explaining that queer folks oftentimes have more complex and nuanced dynamics than our straight and cis counterparts. For one, dating circles can often be smaller. Unless you live in a big city, its quite likely that you could have shared exes or tight-knit friendships that can blur the lines slightly, she explains. Also, LGBTQ+ relationships require stronger communication as we need to define our own norms in a relationship from scratch. Hence, theres more potential for micro-cheating to take place.What are the signs of micro-cheating?So how do you know if your partner is stepping out on you, micro-style? Well, the indicators are not that different from standard cheating signs, just dialed down, says Fogelson.Partners will usually exhibit increased secrecy around phones, social media, and certain people. They might have an over-investment in someone outside of their relationship. Another common sign is getting defensive when asked questions or flipping the blame, she explains. Trust your instincts, says Baker, if you suspect something is up, you may be picking up on subtle sighs. Maybe you observe they have cagey behaviors around their phone use when you're in the room or seem disengaged when you do spend time together. If your gut is telling you that your partner seems to be acting differently, it's important to pay attention to that feeling, she says. Even if your partner isn't micro-cheating, you're concerned that they might be... and that speaks to a deeper trust issue that needs to be addressed for both/all of you.What behaviors qualify as micro-cheating? Canapi breaks down other behaviors to be on the lookout for.Texting or DMing someone in a secretive manner- to the point where the one micro-cheating is hiding these behaviors from their partnerRegularly fantasizing about someone else and emotionally distancing from your partner.Confiding in someone else about your relationship problems instead of your partnerFlirting "just for fun" with someone at work, school, or sociallyLiking old or suggestive photos of someone you find attractiveCommenting flirtatiously or using heart/heart-eyes emojis under someones picturesKeeping a dating app profile active just to see whats out thereDeleting messages or clearing chats to hide interactionsSaving someones contact under a fake name or suggestive nicknameLying about who you're texting or hanging out withGoing out of your way to see or run into someone you're attracted toDressing up more than usual when you know you'll see a certain personDownplaying or denying the importance of another person when your partner asksWhat should you do if you suspect or catch your partner engaging in it?Now that you know what micro-cheating is and what to be on the lookout for, the question becomes what do you do if you believe your partner is engaging in it and you want it to stop?All the experts agree communication is the key, but the approach really matters. Dont start with accusations or detective work, says Fogelson. Approach it with honesty and sensitivity. Explain something that youve noticed and how its making you feel. But turn the focus to restoring connection in the relationship rather than trying to out or punish your partner.Being confrontational will only escalate the action at hand, warns Canapi. Having a sincere conversation about what you saw, how you feel, and talking about how this affects the relationship will go light years.What does it mean if you're doing it?f reading this is making you realize youve been micro-cheating Fogelson says it's a tough thing to put your partner through but don't be too hard on yourself. It doesnt mean that youre a bad person, it usually means youre craving something like attention, validation, or excitement. That being said, the approach to get those things is not healthy, so it's time for some self-reflection and ask yourself what you're missing that is making you behave this way. This level of introspection can help to start the conversations you need to be having with your partner, she adds.What you may discover, says Canapi, is that you are not satisfied in your relationship, that you're not fully committed, or that you're avoiding something deeper in the relationship like having lost the attraction you once had for your partner, or that your needs or boundaries are not being respected. Knowing the why is the first step to understanding what to do next. Is your relationship doomed if one of you is micro-cheating?Heres the good news, if either you or your partner have been micro-cheating it does not mean your relationship automatically ends. Lots of couples bounce back from it once the root cause is addressed, assures Fogelson. The main time when relationships spiral is when theyre dealt with poorly. If handled well with good communication, however, it can make your relationship stronger and give you clarity on what you both want.Really it just comes down to both how you and your partner feel about what has occurred and your desire to work through it. Ultimately, you get to decide your own level of tolerance for micro-cheating in your relationship, says Baker. Some partners may choose to work through the issues that led to those behaviors, and others may decide that micro-cheating is a violation of their core values and cause to end the relationship. It's important to take the time to process the impact of micro-cheating on you and your trust in your partner, and decide for yourself if that rupture is repairable.Experts cited: Julia Simone Fogelson, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, IAPST Certified Psychosexual Therapist, sex and relationship expert at Private Sugar ClubLayne Baker, Licensed Marriage & Family TherapistAnthony Canapi, MFT, LGBTQ+ dating expert. Certified professional matchmaker, dating coach, and founder & CEO of Best Man Matchmaking
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    From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating
    Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald knew they were in for the adventure of a lifetime when they joined the NBC reality competition show Destination X. But they didn't know they'd also find love, the pair tells Out in an exclusive interview.Destination X, hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, features a group of contestants who are transported around Europe while blindfolded. They have to use clues to guess where they are, and the person whose guess is farthest from the correct answer is eliminated.Even though the game was every person for themself, Bross and Fitzgerald teamed up on the show's first challenge after bonding over both living in Texas. However, when Fitzgerald won an advantage and almost saved fellow contestant Biggy instead of Bross, the two lost trust in each other. By the time Fitzgerald was eliminated last week and Bross this week, they were back in an alliance, but were nothing more than friends. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald smiling at each other on the show.Michael Krosny/NBCIn her intro on the show, Bross says she came into the game hoping to find Mr. Right. She was always looking for a husband, but she never got past a certain point when dating men.She had gone on dates with two girls she "kind of had crushes on," but when they weren't compatible, she assumed she must be straight."But then I had so many relationships with guys where I just didn't feel that we could relate on an intellectual or emotional level. It almost was like, something's off here," she says. "And I only ever really wanted to be in relationships with men who I constantly needed to get approval from. It was like I was constantly working to be their idea of what a good girlfriend should be.""And yeah, every guy I met I did think was my husband," she says. "And maybe it was so easy to let go of all my husbands because I was going to have a wife."For a while, Ally did think she might've found Mr. Right when she began a showmance with contestant Shayne Cureton, and the two even continued dating for a short time after the show. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Shayne Cureton.Andrea Pattaro/NBCAfter being on Destination X, Bross and Fitzgerald started hanging out simply because they lived eight minutes from each other in Austin, Texas."I had found her Destination X water bottle on the bus, and I nabbed it. And I was like, 'I'm going to bring it back to her.' So I brought it back to her, and then we started hanging out a lot," Bross says.That first hangout included spending time eating crab rangoon and watching lesbian singer Chappell Roan's performances. Fitzgerald jokes that the sapphic pop "kind of put the seeds in" for their blossoming romance.Bross didn't fully realize her feelings for Fitzgerald until the two went on a trip together for a YouTube series they started together called Where the F Are We?. The series, like Destination X, features the pair taking each other on blindfolded journeys where they must guess their location. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald on dates.Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald (PROVIDED)On a trip to Finland, Bross says, her feelings for Fitzgerald solidified."While we were in Finland, we were staying in this tiny little cabin that had just these two little twin beds. And I don't know if it's in the Finnish air or something, but I just suddenly had such a big crush on Mack," she says. "I was feeling like, 'Wait, this is way bigger than what it was before.' Before I knew I really wanted Mack to like me, I really wanted her around all the time. I was sad when she would leave my house. But it was really in Finland where I realized I had feelings for her."Bross reveals that it was a drunk airplane ride where those feelings were revealed.The two were separately filming content for their YouTube videos when she filmed herself "basically admitting my feelings for her" on camera.Bross had planned not to say anything, but when the pair started going through their videos together, her confession came up."I was so exposed," Bross says. "She watched it, and I was like, 'Oh my God, it's so embarrassing."Before dating Bross, Fitzgerald always identified as asexual and didn't believe in love. It wasn't until she thought about her feelings for Bross that she changed her mind. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and at a state fair.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED)"Once that was put on my radar, then I kind of had to ask myself what all of those little butterfly feelings were and kind of confront that," Fitzgerald says. "Then it was like, 'Oh, this is what people are talking about, this is the butterflies.'""And then it was all of a sudden all I could think about was Ally and all I wanted to do was talk to Ally," she says.However, before they did anything, Bross had to break up with Cureton. She flew to Indiana to break up with him, then went to her grandparents' for Thanksgiving before returning to Austin and Fitzgerald.As soon as she did, Fitzgerald kissed her ("it was very smooth, I'll say," she brags)."And then I felt like everything inside of me exploded in a way that had never happened when I'd ever kissed anybody," Fitzgerald says. "And so then I was just like, 'Holy shit, this is what people are talking about. Fireworks and butterflies and... I don't know.' I still can't stop thinking about it even though we're together."Fitzgerald says that for most of her life, she thought everybody was "making up being in love." She even said that "coming home and having somebody be there" was her "absolute worst nightmare.""And then it's just like after even just one kiss, really, I was like, 'Oh, I was wrong.' Love is real. It's really good. It feels amazing. I don't want her to ever leave." Once they started dating, they immersed themselves in sapphic culture, watching things like The L Word, Blue is the Warmest Color, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love. They bought carabiners in every color and love to share clothes.They also took part in another long-held lesbian tradition: Uhauling."I kissed her and never left her apartment," Fitzgerald jokes."Yes, she never left. And now I live in her house," Bross adds. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and hugging in front of a forest.[Amanda Kioko] (PROVIDED)Bross says that coming out to her family and friends was "emotional," but happened quickly for her.She has a gay great uncle who has been with his husband since before she was born, so Bross knew her extended family would be accepting, but she was still nervous."I'm the only granddaughter, and I didn't really know what everyone was going to say," she reveals. "My family has met a plethora of boyfriends that I said were going to be my husband. And they would always be so shocked when I would break up with a really nice one."Bross came out to her family over a long text. Her father said he knew how open-minded she is, and he wasn't surprised. Her mother was more surprised, but "not in a negative way," Bross says."All of my friends were like, 'This makes sense. Duh, you're bi or queer or pan or whatever. We've all known this about you.' I was like, 'Really? Because I didn't know that. This is news to me!""Coming out in general, no matter how you think people are going to react to it, it's scary. It feels so personal," Bross says. "And I was still coming to terms with the reality of it myself and facing a lot of comphet and things that I didn't really know how to explain until I did a bunch of research. Like, why am I feeling like this, you know? So it was even scary just internally. Once I say this to my family, this is real, right? And the whole world tells you to be one way. And yeah, it's scary to think that maybe you're a different way. But now it's the most beautiful thing in the world."Fitzgerald says that before this relationship, she never felt like she "was really attracted to anybody else." She'd get crushes on guys, but when they started dating, she'd just want to be best friends."And then girls, I never felt attracted to, which is why I landed on asexual, somewhere around that spectrum," she says. "But then this is obviously not asexual, and so I understand that there's a spectrum.""I don't really care to figure it out because I know how I feel currently," she adds. "And hopefully this is forever, so it's not like I'm going to need to figure that out. But yeah, I'm happy with just being in love with Ally and that being the whole story."While Bross and Fitzgerald haven't publicly discussed their relationship before, some fans online have begun to suspect they might be more than just friends. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald looking lovingly at each other.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED)Fitzgerald says it feels "cool" to see people rooting for them, even if it's just "12 people on Reddit." It encourages her to see that the fans "are already accepting and supportive and excited about this."Bross understands where the fans are coming from. As soon as she realized her feelings for Fitzgerald, she was starving for sapphic representation, including "real-life examples of people who have maybe experienced what I feel like I'm experiencing.""So when we have young girls who are in high school DMing us on Instagram like, 'Is it true? Are you a girl kisser? Are you and Mack together?' It does make me really happy. Because even just the last eight months, anytime there's any mention of a queer couple, we're like, 'We got to watch that. We're watching that. I'm tuned in."Bross says that being part of the queer community has "been really liberating."Next up, the couple is going on a trip to Europe. When they get back, they're looking forward to attending Austin Pride and visiting some of their Destination X friends. They also have trips to Canada, Tokyo, and all around Asia planned.They'd love to go on another reality show, this time as a couple. "I have this fantasy pipe dream in my head that we could both go on Traitors at the same time," Bross says. "There was a couple (Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen on Season 2), so come on, NBC, I know you're listening!"
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    Watch Pedro Pascal explain 'c*nty' to Vanessa Kirby
    Pedro Pascal is happy to spread some "cunty" awareness!In an interview with Bek Manibog for Pedestrian TV, Fantastic Four: First Steps star Pedro Pascal (Mr. Fantastic) helped his costar Vanessa Kirby (Invisible Woman) understand a piece of queer and internet culture.After asking how the two stars would describe each other, the interviewer noted Kirby is becoming a "social media icon" for her "force-field-snatched cunty fierceness face." The Mission: Impossible star seemed shocked."Oh my god! I don't know if that's a good thing," Kirby exclaimed."Cunty face is good, babe. Cunty face just means fierce, fabulous, beautiful, strong," Pascal jumped in. "It's good. It's good."At the end of the interview, Manibog turned to Pascal and noted that he has been "very vocal about trans rights," and asked if he had a message for the community."You inspire me," Pascal said. "You are a symbol of courage, and you inspire fear in those that are afraid of being their true selves. And I think that that's the threat, is your joy and your radical bravery in living your life in joy."In 2021, Pascal's sister, Lux, came out as trans. "Mi hermana, mi corazn, nuestra Lux," (My sister, my heart, our Lux), Pascal wrote on social media.A few years later, Pascal emphasized that he'd do anything to protect his younger sister."She is and has always been one of the most powerful people and personalities I've ever known," he said. "My protective side is lethal, but I need her more than she needs me."At his 50th birthday party this year, Pascal was seen wearing a "Protect the Dolls" shirt designed by Conner Ives.The shirt, which signals a demand to protect trans women, has raised more than $70,000 for Trans Lifeline.Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby talk queer icons and language with Bek Manibog for Pedestrian TV.
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    'Drag Race All Stars 10' finale clip reveals returning queen lip syncing for the crown
    Editor's note: This story contains mild spoilers from the grand finale of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10.Aja, Bosco, Daya Betty, Ginger Minj, Irene The Alien, Jorgeous, and Lydia B Kollins are joined by a returning queen in the grand finale of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 as part of this Tournament of All Stars twist that was teased throughout the season.Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment delivered three times a week straight (well) to your inbox!Episode 11 featured a Talent show that ended with another maxi challenge win for Bosco and the reveal that two judges picked Kerri Colby, and one judge picked Mistress Isabelle Brooks, as their choices for a queen to come back to All Stars 10 and lip sync for the crown. However, as Pit Crew member Bruno Alcantara conducted a draw, viewers were not shown whose name was picked.This sneak preview of the All Stars 10 finale reveals that the returning queen is the diva and the doll herself, Kerri Colby!After almost making it past bracket 2 but falling short due to a strategic move from Mistress Isabelle Brooks Kerri Colby is now officially back to lip sync for the crown against her All Stars 10 sisters.To refresh your memory, the scoreboard for bracket 2 ended as follows:Jorgeous 7.5Lydia B Kollins 7Mistress Isabelle Brooks 4.5Kerri Colby 4Tina Burner 3Nicole Paige Brooks 1Kerri was half a point away from moving to the semi-finals in this Tournament of All Stars. Even though that journey didn't go as intended, she now has a shot at lip syncing for the crown in the All Stars 10 finale.But who will be entering the Drag Race Hall of Fame in this iconic season of All Stars? We're only a few hours away from finding out.Watch the sneak preview for the grand finale of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 and tune in for this sickening episode dropping this Friday on Paramount+.
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    Lawmakers call out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s unconscionable apathy on eve of LGBTQ+ suicide hotline shutdown
    A day before the federal government plans to pull the plug on the nations only government-funded dedicated LGBTQ+ suicide crisis line, Rep. Mark Pocan is warning that lives hang in the balance, and hes demanding answers from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.This hotline has already saved countless lives, Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said in a statement Wednesday. This shortsighted and dangerous plan undermines 988s ability to provide tailored support for a population with a higher risk of suicide and will have lethal consequences if enacted.Related: No, Canada hasnt launched a suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ AmericansAt issue is the LGBTQ+ subline of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, launched in 2022 and accessible by pressing 3. Since then, it has fielded nearly 1.3 million calls, texts, and chats.Initially slated by President Donald Trumps administration to end in October, the line is now set to terminate on Thursday, following a June announcement from HHS. Pocan said Kennedy had promised during a May House Appropriations Committee hearing that he was happy to talk about the hotlines future, but has since ignored multiple meeting requests.HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard did not answer our sister brandThe Advocates specific questions about Pocans meeting request or the urgency of the cuts, instead pointing to the departments prior statement on the issue.Lawmakers from both parties are planning a press conference Thursday outside the Capitol to demand the service remain. Speakers include Democratic Reps. Sharice Davids of Kansas, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Andrea Salinas of Oregon, Doris Matsui of California, Paul Tonko of New York, Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, and Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, alongside Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project.Related: Experts brace for crisis as Trump administrations end to key emergency resource for LGBTQ+ youth loomsIts heartbreaking, scary, and deeply harmful, Davids told The Advocate Wednesday. She said she has little confidence that Kennedy fully understands how ending the subline could endanger LGBTQ+ youth.Davids emphasized that adults should protect young people, not leave them vulnerable. Every single person is important, she said. Its unconscionable that leaders arent pushing back against this decision that will cost lives.An HHS spokesperson told The Advocate that the Press 3 option had exhausted its congressionally directed funding and that maintaining it would have resulted in massive reductions in service across the entire 988 Lifeline. The Press 3 option is managed by a third party outside of the federal government, the spokesperson said. As of June 2025, more than $33 million in funds have been spent, fully exhausting the Congressionally directed funds allocated for LGB+ subnetwork services.The Trump administration doesnt acknowledge the existence of transgender or nonbinary people.Related: Ariana Grande & Pedro Pascal among 100 celebrities asking Congress to save LGBTQ+ youth 988 hotlineContinuing the subline, the spokesperson added, would have required SAMHSA to reallocate funds away from supporting the main 988 Lifeline, thereby compromising the entire system. The agency official said that it made a critical decision to sustain the national lifeline and ensure that all individuals continue to receive culturally competent crisis support. The 988 Lifeline will continue to be a direct connection to immediate support for all Americans, regardless of their circumstances, the spokesperson said. That has not changed.Advocates warn the shutdown could devastate LGBTQ+ youth, who already face higher suicide risks. The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people consider suicide each year.Alex Boyd, the groups director of crisis intervention, called the planned cuts a major gap in service that would eliminate $25 million in federal funding for LGBTQ+-specific crisis support.Related: Advocates and health experts worry Trump's suicide prevention hotline cuts will increase LGBTQ+ youth deathsThis isnt just a liberal issue, Krishnamoorthi told The Advocate last month. It was signed into law by President Trump. Eliminating this lifeline is cruelty.The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says LGBTQ+ callers will be helped in the general 988 system. However, advocates fear that many will not receive the kind of support they can trust to understand their concerns.While other resources exist around the country, The Trevor Project has launched an emergency campaign to help keep its services running. If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
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    17 disabled LGBTQ+ celebrities who are changing Hollywood
    Happy Disability Pride Month!Just as Pride Month ends, Disability Pride Month begins. The intersection between gender, sexuality, and disability is ever present, and according to a 2019 report from the Movement Advancement Project, 3-5 million LGBTQ+ Americans live with one or more disabilities, and that includes 40% of lesbian women and two in five trans adults.The judgement from people face from society, the lack of understanding of who you are, and the way the government criminalizes your identity and punishes your differences is a shared experience for the queer and disability communities. One that overlaps in unique ways when you are both LGBTQ+ and disabled. But there are some queer disabled celebs who are using their fame and platforms to fight back against inequality, advocate for more representation and inclusion, and show the world how diverse disabled people are. So, to celebrate Disability Pride Month, lets take a look at all of the LGBTQ+ disabled stars who are changing Hollywood and challenging the status quo.Chella ManSee on InstagramChella Man is a deaf trans multidisciplinary artist who explores the intersection of gender and disability in his artwork. My disability was interpreted as a medical issue, producing conversations and resources. But when it came to my gender and sexuality, the world went dark, Man told GLAAD of the challenges of being deaf and part of the LGBTQ+ community.Ryan OConnellSee on InstagramRyan OConnell is a gay man with cerebral palsy who is best known for his 2015 memoir I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves, which he adapted into a Netflix series called Special. Special is the only show that was run by a disabled person who stars in it, and OConnell used the platform to strike back against society desexualize disabled people and take away their sexual agency. "I've often felt like a Ken doll with my private parts removed," O'Connell told Out, and argued that he wanted audiences to "see the character of Ryan as sexually viable.Jessica Kellgren-FozardSee on InstagramPopular British YouTuber Jessica Kellgren-Fozard is well known for her videos on disability awareness, LGBTQ+ history, and vintage fashion. Telling someone I am gay is instantly accepted, no questions asked, generally with a smile, the disabled lesbian content, who shares twins with her wife, told The Guardian. Telling someone I am disabled comes with, No? You dont look it, and a scrutinizing look. Nobody has ever accused every single gay person of scrounging off the state, but people have openly said that about disabled people, in front of me.Ryan J HaddadSee on InstagramPlaywright Ryan J Haddad, who is both gay and has cerebral palsy, explores the intersection of sex, queerness, and disability in his work. Most people likely know him for his role on Netflixs The Politician or his acclaimed solo play Hi, Are You Single?Ali StrokerSee on InstagramAli Stroker, who is bisexual and paraplegic, was a finalist on the second season of The Glee Project and went on to guest star on Glee back in 2013. Since then, shes graced the Broadway stage and took home a Tony Award in 2019 for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Oklahoma! And recently, shes also appeared in a number of hit shows like Only Murders in the Building, Ozark, and And Just Like That.Young people with disabilities look, you know, to television and film and theater and the media for signs of where they count and where they can make it in the world, Stroker told the ACLU about why disability representation is so important. And when we don't create representation for young people of all different kinds of people, then we send very strong messaging that they are not included in this arena."Bella RamseySee on InstagramNonbinary and autistic actor Bella Ramsey was diagnosed back in March, but the Last of Us star told British Vogue in their first interview talking about their diagnosis, that it has helped them better understand who they are. The label of being autistic has been so helpful to me because thats helped me to understand myself, but gender and sexuality-wise, labels do not feel comfy for me in any capacity, because I feel like Im putting myself into a box. I feel trapped, they said. Hannah GadsbySee on InstagramGenderqueer comedian Hannah Gadsby burst onto the scene in 2018 with her groundbreaking comedic special Nanette, where she unpacked gender, sexuality, and trauma in a hilarious and heartwarming way. Gadbsy has not only been open about their queer identity, but they also explored being autistic in a follow-up Netflix special in 2020 called Douglas. For a long time, I worried that Id been misdiagnosed. It was difficult to believe that I wasnt entirely to blame for my life being such a painful struggle, because I was so used to assuming I was a bad person. It took me a long time to get brave enough to simply share my diagnosis. My experience did not match the popular understanding of autism, and I knew I had to become an expert in neurobiology in order to untangle the myriad myths surrounding autism just to beg permission to claim that piece of my identity, Gadsby wrote in an essay for The Guardian about being autistic.Marissa BodeSee on InstagramThere are few disabled actresses who make it far in Hollywood and even fewer who are paraplegic and queer but Marissa Bode made it big when she landed the role of Nessarose in the musical films Wicked and Wicked: For Good.Bode was even able to add a moment into the film where a character tries to push Nessaroses wheelchair around without her consent an experience many disabled people are familiar with. Have had many a stranger touch my wheelchair without consent, unfortunately. Its usually a man, which isnt my favorite, but thats a conversation that was very important to include in the movie, she told Spectrum News. So maybe non-disabled people have a different perspective of how they interact with disabled people and how they assume things without fully asking. So, I think that was something I relate to and a very important addition to the film.Hormona LisaSee on InstagramTrans Drag Race star Hormona Lisa has been very open and vocal about being autistic. I really hope that by sharing my story, I can give others with autism the courage to embrace who they are, even when it feels like the world doesnt quite get them, Hormona previously told PRIDE. Sharing my diagnosis has always been something Ive been hesitant about, but Ive come to realize that being open about it is important not just for me, but for others who might feel alone in their own struggles."Aaron PhilipSee on InstagramWhen Aaron Philip started her modeling career at 16 years old, she had no idea that in two years she would become the first black, transgender, wheelchair-using model to be signed to Elite Model Management. But Philip is not just a beautiful model, shes also an LGBTQ+ and disability rights advocate who believes strongly in diverse representation in media. My goal is normalizing the presence of disabled people, women/femmes who are trans and gender nonconforming trans people, she told Dazed Digital. So that we can simply work, exist and be authentically valued in the high fashion industry and the world itself as a whole.Nyle DiMarcoSee on InstagramDeaf actor and model Nyle DiMarco came out as sexually fluid in 2015. He is best known for being the second male winner and first Deaf winner of Americas Next Top Model, starring of Switched at Birth, and winning season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He also launched the reality series Deaf U on Netflix, was the executive producer on the short film Audible, and wrote a memoir titled Deaf Utopia: A MemoirAnd a Love Letter to a Way of Life.DiMarco told Ability Magazine that the biggest reason he wanted to focus on these projects was the lack of accurate Deaf representation on screen when he was a kid. Growing up, anytime that there was a Deaf representation or Deaf storylines in TV or in film, Deaf and hard-of-hearing people were always portrayed as one-dimensional without nuance or depth, he explained. While perhaps that wasnt necessarily wrong, it just wasnt accurate or reflective of my experience or perhaps other Deaf or hard-of-hearing peoples experiences."Skyler DavenportSee on InstagramBlind nonbinary actor Skyler Davenport wowed audiences with their role in the home invasion thriller See For Me in 2022 and talked openly about the need for more disabled actors playing disabled roles. Its not that you cant be a good actor, and you cant portray it accurately. But I think people that come into this world, and for whatever reason, their beingness has decided to experience a disability...theres something so special about that, they told Forbes. It brings this little indescribable spark to the role that youre just not going to get with someone that doesnt live in that day-to-day.Bradley RichesSee on InstagramOut gay actor Bradley Riches, who stole audiences' hearts when he starred on Heartstopper, Celebrity Big Brother, and now the British soap opera Emmerdale, has spoken openly about feeling misunderstood by people because hes autistic. "Acting is an escapism for me. I feel free and understood when playing characters when, most of the time, I felt misunderstood as Bradley. I am so happy that I can show autistic people that they arent alone and that they arent invisible they are beautiful and magical, Riches, who was diagnosed when he was 9 years old, told Metro.Wentworth MillerSee on InstagramGay actor Wentworth Miller made a name for himself on Prison Break before starring in DCs Legends of Tomorrow series. Miller then came out as autistic in 2021, when he told his followers on social media how much being autistic is tied to his identity. "This isn't something I'd change immediately being autistic is central to who I am. To everything I've achieved/articulated," actor Wentworth Miller wrote on Instagram, People reported back in 2021.Josh ThomasSee on InstagramAutistic comedian and actor Josh Thomas, who has starred on Australian shows Please Like Me, Everythings Gonna Be Okay, and The Strange Chores, wasnt diagnosed until he was an adult. Despite going most of his life not understanding his disability, Thomas thinks the way his mind works has been the key to the success of his podcast, How To Be Gay, where he talks to people about their experiences being part of the LGBTQ+ community.I was more aware of the fact that [Im] bad at some stuff getting people to feel comfortable and talk about themselves I wouldnt say Im the frontrunner for that job. Which I think got us interesting interviews because Im so direct, and nobody sounds like theyre bullshitting or being performative, he told The Guardian.Bex Taylor-KlausSee on InstagramNonbinary actor Bex Taylor-Klaus has spoken openly about being AuDHD, meaning that they are both autistic and have ADHD, and the importance of learning to embrace your disability. Embrace it. It may be a nuisance, it may be hard to deal with sometimes, but you can learn to manage it. Don't ever try to get rid of it entirely. Attention deficit makes you special, Taylor-Klaus said of their ADHD diagnosis, Additude reported. Jillian MercadoSee on InstagramDominican-American model and actor Jillian Mercado is an outspoken disability advocate who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. The L Word: Generation Q star has used her fame to push for more disability representation and gender inclusivity in both fashion and television.She told The Mighty that its very, very important to see that authentic representation because its a life experience that someone who doesnt understand that authentic experience shouldnt be able to portray. It makes you feel good about who you are, and it lets you know that you can be anything that you want to be. And so thats very important to have representation to know that you can be a doctor, you can be a lawyer, you can be a mom, you can do anything you want to do.
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    Long live the kings: The drag revolution you haven't seen on TV yet
    In the summer of 1995, while some gay men were padding their hips and dressing in glamorous gowns to get ready for a drag queen pageant, one young queer femme was busy getting her mind blown open by drag kings Julie Wheeler and Buster Hymen in the gay Mecca Provincetown, MA.They were so sexy and hot, Mo Fischer recalls. After having her life turned upside down by this encounter, Fischer decided to host her first drag king contest, and her drag king persona, Mo B. Dick was born.Soon after Mo B. Dick the B stands for Bodacious because he doesn't want Herman Melville's lawyers coming after him" was busy styling his signature pompadour, learning how to create a realistic bulge, and hanging out in punk clubs in the East Village with his fellow drag kings.Times may have changed, but the popularity of drag queens has not see the 101 iterations of Drag Race were obsessed with. But their counterpart, drag kings, have yet to reach this level of mainstream popularity which is why Mo is hoping is hoping that Revry's new reality competition show, King of Drag, which he helped to cast, acted as the consulting producer, and appeared as a guest star on episode four, will be a turning point for the drag king community.Not only was Mo instrumental in bringing King of Drag to your television screens, but he also helped found the modern drag king movement. Mo has many claims to fame, but perhaps his most lasting contribution to the world of drag kinging is DragKingHistory.com, a website dedicated to preserving this centuries-old art form.Much like when JoJo Siwa tried to claim she wanted to start a new genre of music that she called gay pop, Mo says he started Drag King History after hearing from young drag kings who thought they were the first to ever do it.The reason why I started Drag King History, the website, was because I kept seeing all these young kids saying, Oh, Im the only drag king here, theres never been any other drag king and Im like, What?! Because we had a thriving scene in the late 80s and 90s," Mo tells our sister brand, PRIDE. "That was largely unknown because we didnt have social media and so were not on YouTube, were not on Facebook, were not on Instagram, so theres not that representation.Not only does Mo have the credentials he created the first weekly drag king party, the first drag king cabaret tour through the U.S. and Canada, was featured in the first book about drag kings The Drag King Book, and appeared in Venus Boyz, the first documentary about drag kings but he has also spent years studying drag king history and giving lectures all over the world in an attempt to pass the history of drag kinging down to younger generations.Drag King History has been so wildly successful that in 2020, Mo was contacted by the Library of Congress asking to archive the entire website to preserve for posterity. But how did drag kings get their start, and how is the movement different from drag queens?Earliest drag kingsIts hard to pinpoint the exact origin of drag kinging, but while Mo says the modern drag king movement started in earnest in the 1980s, there had been male impersonators and women who dressed up like men in the theaters for hundreds of years before then.Male impersonators got their start back in 618 A.D, when women would dress as men to perform in Chinese operas. In the 1660s, women were finally permitted to perform on stage in England and took on so-called breeches roles where they impersonated men. Many books and articles cite Annie Hindle as the first drag king, but in reality, she was the first male impersonator to appear on variety stages in the U.S. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were cabaret clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Paris, and London where male impersonators performed in tuxedos, but without faux facial hair or elaborate costumes, and would sing and perform alongside drag queens. In the 50s and 60s there were also male impersonators like Storm DeLarveri, who performed at the Jewel Box Revue, which was the precursor to La Cage Aux Folles.Politics and drag kinging go hand in handWhile male impersonators and drag kings share DNA, and male impersonation led to the modern drag king movement, the two are very different. Male impersonators seek to accurately imitate men in settings like the theatre and vaudeville, whereas modern drag kings create campy, exaggerated masculine personas in performances where they challenge gender stereotypes and make political and social commentary. So today, you see drag kings are much more political in their statements, in their performances. Okay, it's not just frivolity, you know what I mean? So you're going to see drag kings who are talking about genocide in Gaza and, you know, free Palestine and f*ck Trump, f*ck ICE. You see that more in the drag king community and drag queens, it's more about the shablams and splits, and everybody freaks out, right?Some drag queens add political commentary into their acts, but Mo says its a baked-in part of drag kinging because it was a way for women to gain some semblance of autonomy and agency from the very beginning. Although gay men doing drag had to contend with codes and laws criminalizing homosexuality, queer women had to deal with the addition of misogyny which kept them from voting and out of the workforce. All of these dynamic women made extraordinary strides in their life by doing this because women didnt have agency over their own lives before, shit, not until like the 70s here in America. And look at the backlash were having now, he explains.Modern drag king movementAccording to Mo, there werent many drag kings performing in the 1970s in large part because of anti-male sentiment within the queer feminist community. In the 70s theres kind of a dearth of drag king representation because that was the time of more anti-male, if you will, in the feminist and queer, lesbian worlds and stuff. It was really reclaiming your womanhood, and I think it was a tough time for butches and people who wanted to perform, Mo says.The term drag king only appeared in print for the first time in 1972, but didnt enter the popular lexicon until the 1980s when drag kings like Johnny Science, Diane Torr, and Shelly Mars started using it.The modern drag king movement, where kings broke off from male impersonators, started in the late 1980s. Many people call Mo the founding father of the modern-day drag king movement, but Mo says hes just one of the founding fathers, while Torr is the founding father, the Godfather, if you will.In fact, Mo considers himself to be one of Torrs acolytes because the person who taught him how to bind his chest, put on facial hair, and how to pack, attended a workshop put on by Torr that taught everything you needed to know to be a drag king. Back in the 80s, Torr would put these workshops on all over the world, and Science, a transsexual make-up artist, would teach women how to do their makeup and facial hair, and Torr would teach the theatricality and how to walk and hold themselves. And then they would go to strip clubs after they did this workshop, and they would walk the streets of New York City or London or Rome or, you know, wherever she did these workshops, you know. So she really took it to the next level in that respect, Mo says.At this time, drag kings and queens frequently performed alongside each other, and drag king contests were popular and are still a huge part of the drag king community to this day. Mo himself hosted Club Casanova, the first weekly drag king party, and only stopped after two years when the then-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani forced its closure. Drag Kings and gender InclusivityThere were clubs and drag venues that werent as welcoming to all kinds of drag kings, but by and large, the drag king community has always been inclusive of nonbinary, transmas, and gender-nonconforming performers and gender fuckery, Mo says.Where the drag king community has always strived for inclusivity, historically, the drag queen community hasnt been very welcoming to different gender expressions until more recently you can see this evolution in the Drag Race franchise, where nonbinary, trans, and even cis women have been welcome in recent years. Mo attributes this contrast between the king and queen communities to the fundamental differences between men and women.Testosterone, either you want to fuck it or kill it, you know what I mean? And women are more community-oriented and more convivial in that respect, he explains. Look at, my God, look at King of Drag. You know that just the show people are the constant remarks that we're seeing on social media are the inclusive, the warmth, the camaraderie, and how easy people are helping each other.Despite kings and queens sharing the stage together in the 80s and 90s, drag queens, by and large, have been unwilling to pull kings up with them as they gain mainstream acceptance and popularity. Its little kids in the sandbox, theyre not sharing their toys, Mo quips.Mo is careful to point out that while the drag queen community as a whole hasnt been willing to uplift drag kings, there are some queens who have excelled in this. He calls Sasha Velour the queen of kings for being inclusive of kings and points out that drag king Tenderoni won Alaska Thunderfucks Drag Queen of the Year Pageant in 2021. But this is the exception, not the rule.When people ask me, How come drag kings arent included? my answer is always PMS. Patriarchy, misogyny, sexism, or what I like to call the Republican agenda, he says.Rise in popularityDrag queens may be in the middle of a renaissance, but drag kings are still having to claw their way to mainstream relevance. Mo may be one of the founding fathers of drag kinging, but he is still relatively unknown, while countless drag queens have captured the popular imagination.Mo says that every few years, drag kings will rise in popularity, only to be forgotten again. For Christ's sake, weve been around for a long time, and every four years its like this big Wow look at this, drag kings are here, and so its funny, he admits. From a media perspective, theres not that consistency, and so then it becomes like oh wow, this fresh new thing and so weve been trudging along and weve had to work hard to be recognized, and visible and represented. Thats been challenging.But King of Drag, and the publicity it has brought to the drag king community, has the opportunity to change all of that. There is this prevalent thought that drag kings arent as interesting, arent as funny, arent as entertaining, and Im mean the great news is, we keep proving them wrong because we keep coming up and bubbling up in media, we keep winning awards, and we keep wining these contests.
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    A gay robot is roaming West Hollywood, dishing out compliments to strangers
    Robots are gay. Its just a fact of life. Rosie the Robot is an old school dyke, M3GAN is a campy delight, WALL-E and EVE are bi icons. And C3PO? Cmon, that shiny gold robot is gayer than the day is long.But now, there is an actual gay robot roaming the streets of West Hollywood and dishing out compliments to strangers using Gen Z slang.A robot, aptly dubbed the Rizzbot, has quickly gone viral after being spotted all over Los Angeles. Videos of the slang-slinging robot are all over social media, showing him wearing rainbow flag clothing, and we cant get enough!But who is this diva, and what is she up to?What is Rizzbot?@rizzbot_officialThe 4-foot-tall bipedal robot roaming LA is officially named Jake the Rizzbot. The AI-powered robot pwned by the Chinese tech company Unitree Robotics weighs 77 pounds, can walk and jog, and costs around $16000.The AI learning software the robot is equiped with allows it to quickly learn new skills, like a roundhouse kick. Kitted out with a large language model-based voice and camera feed allows Rizzbot to mimic slang and internet-speak, Futurism reports.After videos of his interactions with people on the street started surfacing on social media, the robot quickly went viral, with clips popping up on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter).So far, no one has been identified as the person running Rizzbot, and it remains unclear if its someone playing an elaborate prank or an ingenious viral marketing campaign for the robotics company.Why are people obsessed?@rizzbot_officialNot only does the robot walk around like a slightly awkward human, but it seems adept at roasting for complimenting everyone in sight by repeating memes and using Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang.In one video, Rizzbot comes up to someone and says, Ma homie, that beard is cold and that mustache is hard, you look clean, nephew. Gee, that black smartwatch is straight iced out, and that white tees bangin. You got that clean drip locked down, you got that boss energy G, and you rockin it with style. Props to you, you are a solid boss fo real, That, plus watching him awkwardly jog across an intersection, is hilarious.At a time when people are scared about their jobs being taken by AI and robots, and are weary of the environmental impacts of using this kind of tech, watching an AI-powered robot act like a clown for our amusement is maybe exactly what the doctor ordered.Regardless of the why, people are sharing the comical videos all over social media.@rizzbot_officialIs Rizzbot gay?@lizzinlalaYes. Again, all robots are gay. But especially Rizzbot, who has been spotted all over the iconic gayborhood West Hollywood wearing a cowboy hat, rainbow Pride arm warmers with Pride flags approached and a rainbow tutu again, hes GAY. It was also running all over LA twerking with women, and throwing out shade like its Drag Race and the library is open. What was Rizzbot doing in Austin?@rizzbot_officialSometimes you have to be prepared for the truth. Im not here to be your best friend. Im here to roast you or steal your girl. One of the other you choose. #robots #robotsontiktok #robotics #austinrobot #comedyroast @RizzbotBefore Jake the Rizzbot showed up in West Hollywood decked out in Pride gear, it was chatting to people all over the streets of Austin, Texas, wearing just a cowboy hat. Hey! My name is Jake, but perhaps better known as Rizzbot. Its nice to meet you, the robot began in one interaction. Now, some might claim that this version of Rizzbot is less gay, but its wearing a cowboy hat and nothing else. Gay. Case closed.Why does MAGA hate Rizzbot? (@) Because they hate fun. Apparently, MAGA is furious that a clearly very gay robot is insulting their tech daddy Elon Musk. The right-wing crowd came out in droves to insult Rizzbot in the most transphobic and homophobic way possible, as is their way. (@) One person posted, Great- whats next a trans-robot? While someone else commented, A China-based robot that would never be allowed on the streets of China. Gay Rizzbot is an attack on American soil. (@) Yup, because thats the problem with the United States, robots wearing rainbow colored clothing.
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    Lady Gaga's new tour features fan messages, with predictable gay antics
    Lady Gaga embarked on her highly anticipated Mayhem Ball this week, with the first stop being at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pop superstar delivered an unforgettable set of songs, including some deep cuts like "Aura" from ARTPOP and "Summerboy" from her debut album, The Fame. She also debuted a new song called "Kill for Love." (@) However, before the show began, fans were given the opportunity to participate in the show and submit messages using a form on her website, and some were chosen to be displayed on the monitors. The notes that were sent in ranged from adoration to political messages to typical gay antics. Here are some of our favorites."C'mon Monsters! Let's go! Everybody better be jumpin'" (@) To those who aren't chronically online, this message may seem like any regular old post about getting the crowd hyped. However, those who spend way too much online will immediately get the reference. This is a reference to a young boy named Staten Harry, who uploaded a video of himself lip-syncing to "Alejandro" and said the phrase heard round the world. The flamboyant young boy stole the hearts of the Little Monsters, who still love him to this day, even if he has denounced Gaga and pivoted to being a Christian influencer. - YouTube youtu.be He changed the name of his YouTube channel to StatenLwSpreading_GodsGrace and wrote a lengthy message in the description of one of his videos about how he stopped worshipping Gaga and focused on his religion. "March 28th used to be a VERY demonic day for me because its Lady Gagas birthday. a day I used to worship her and exalt her on so crazy much," he wrote. "So anyways just a little testimony of HOW GOOD GOD is and how now on March 28th im glorifying HIM not a mere celebrity."He went on to write, "I legit had thousands of pictures of her on my phone. Pictures even on my wall. My clothes. My phones wallpaper. My entire social media accounts were even based upon worshiping her. Wow.Thank you LORD for saving me. Amen.Little Monsters remind everyone that art is political (@) Some of the messages on display were political, and a Lady Gaga concert is the perfect place to share these sentiments. One message reads, "No human is illegal. Melt ICE. Fuck Trump," whereas another note reads, "F Donald Trump, trans lives matter, and FREE PALESTINE."Everyone remembers their first time (@) Alex from NYC shared a sentimental memory with the crowd that reads, "First time I ate p*ssy was to Born This Way, thanks for always being there for me Gaga!" The comment was one of the more shocking messages that made it to the stage, with one X user posting it with the caption, "CAN Y'ALL BEHAVE?! Also, is there no moderator?!" If these are the types of messages we're going to see, we say keep them coming.Gay people's bedrooms? A likely place for Gaga to be (@) Joey shared an unsurprising message, "My husband and I bone to Mayhem sometimes. We are gay. Hi everyone."Some of the messages get even more NSFW, leading fans to believe there's a good chance this idea won't last that long. "This segment will definitely be deleted for the rest of the tour, one person suggested. "RIP Voices of Mayhem. Theyre gonna silence us now," another person wrote. The next show is taking place on Friday, as she plays a three-show stop in Vegas before moving on to San Francisco on July 22.
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    Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri's new movie has a sapphic twist
    Julia Roberts's next film, the academic thriller After the Hunt, features heart-pounding drama, ever-heightening stakes, and a sapphic twist.After the Hunt comes from director Luca Guadagnino, known for his provocative and twisty films like Call Me by Your Name, Challengers, and Queer. It follows Julia Roberts as Alma Olsson, a well-respected Ivy League professor who takes a young student named Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) under her wing. When the student accuses Olsson's colleague, Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield), of sexual assault, Olsson must deal with her own beliefs, morals, and past.The trailer introduces viewers to Alma, Maggie, and Hank at a house party, where professors and students are debating which generation is more sensitive.Some time later, things turn ugly when Maggie shows up at Alma's house and says that Hank walked her home the previous night and "crossed the line."The trailer makes it clear that Alma and Hank's relationship may have blurred the lines between friendship and romance, but it also hints that Alma and Maggie's relationship may be similar."You tend to choose people because they worship you, not because of any actual merit on their part," Alma's husband, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, tells her."Maggie is brilliant," Alma argues."Is she? Or does she just think you're brilliant?" he counters.The trailer features several close-up shots of Maggie's hands embracing Alma, and the sapphic drama reaches its climax when Alma tells Maggie, "I know you have feelings for me."After the Hunt promises to have plenty of twists and turns, and like most of Guadagnino's films, it's guaranteed to be highly erotic. Now, fans know that those erotic twists might include a relationship between Alma and Maggie!In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Garfield described the film as "a very serious, grown-up drama" that is "still very, very playful.""Luca is a very playful director," he said. "Luca's like pure imagination and freedom. His creativity is this free, radical, sublime thing."After the Hunt opens in select theaters on October 10 and everywhere on October 17.Watch the trailer below.
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    Jennifer Love Hewitt thanks LGBTQ+ fans for 'keeping Julie James alive'
    Editor's note: This story contains spoilers for the 2025 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, including surprise cameos.When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their tracks and make a pact to keep it a secret whatever it takes to avoid facing consequences. A year later, the past comes back to haunt them, forcing them to confront a horrifying truth: Someone knows what they did last summer, and that person is hell-bent on revenge. As this group of friends is stalked by a killer, one by one, they find out that this has happened before, and turn to two survivors of the Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.Jennifer Love Hewitt has been a pop culture icon since the 1990s. As Julie James in I Know What You Did Last Summer, she brought quiet strength and palpable fear to the screen, anchoring a story about secrets that can't stay buried. Hewitt's performance struck a chord, transforming her into a superstar in the horror genre and an emblem for an entire generation.Decades later, Hewitt stars in the fourth film of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise and reprises the role that made her a certified scream queen.Out: This new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie has some fun with Gen Z slang. Was there a term in the script that cracked you up or confused you? Is there any Gen Z phrase that you're secretly using and loving now?Jennifer Love Hewitt: I have an 11-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, so I'm pretty up on things. I'm cooler than people think that I am. I think one of my favorite lines in the movie was, "This place is so beautiful, I could die." I just loved it because it's so true And about to happen.Is there a message you'd like to share directly with your LGBTQ+ fans who have supported you through the years?Oh my gosh! First of all, my deepest gratitude for keeping Julie James alive, well, thriving, and celebrated. I feel so celebrated, and I cannot thank you enough. I would want to share, especially in this climate we're in, that you're loved. You are celebrated, not for who people want you to be, but for who you are. I am here, and I am always celebrating you the way that you celebrate me. I hope you feel my love.What does it mean to you, personally, to be embraced as a 'scream queen queer icon'? How do you feel about your connection with LGBTQ+ audiences?I mean, it's the greatest compliment in the entire world. I love to see people celebrating that Julie James is coming back. They are the loudest and greatest fans ever. I just really appreciate it.Your 'What are you waiting for?!' scream is forever iconic. Do you remember filming that moment? Did you expect it to become such a defining 'scream queen' scene?I scream it at my children to finish their homework (laughs). I have to be honest. [While filming,] I was like, 'Why am I screaming in the street, turning around?' and 'Can they see down my shirt?' The camera angle was high!It was really great. At 18, I was in my head about it. But when I saw it for the first time in theaters, I liked the moment. It has literally followed me my whole life.You once popped up on Boy Meets World as Jennifer Love Fefferman, which was hilarious and meta. Do you still get fans bringing up that cameo?I actually get that moment in my career as much as I get Julie James. The last name gets me because I don't understand it (laughs). It was hilarious, and I had a blast. Brandy makes a post-credits appearance in the film, so we're excited for a chance to see you and Karla Wilson team up. Any word on a green light for a sequel? And what's the best part about working with Brandy?There has been no word on that yet, but I'm there. I would totally do a sequel, especially with Brandy. I think I just want people to know that she is as much an icon to me as she is to you.Seeing her again First of all, she looks incredible. She's gorge, and looks amazing. That character is so special to Julie and who she is, because it's Karla who accepts Julie. It's important for her to have that person. It was just so awesome.Brandy is hitting the road for a tour! Do you have a favorite Brandy song?So, my first order of business when I saw her again was to secure tickets, and could it be opening night? I also told her that I would throw my bra on stage and she was weirded out by that, but whatever (laughs). I want all of the songs, and I also told her that. And then I said, if she needed a backup singer, that she should feel free to pull me up.As a certified 'final girl,' what's one thing you should absolutely never do when being chased by a slasher?I don't understand why we run into places where there are no other people. Like, why don't we run into a crowd? Also, you pick up the phone, and you answer the door What are you doing?! Don't answer the door. Stay in your house!And call the police. Don't wait when you have a hook stuck in you. Also, stay in the crowds and stop going into the woods.I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) opens Friday, July 18 in theaters. For tickets and more information, visit the film's official website.
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    And the winner of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10' is...
    A new queen has entered the Drag Race Hall of Fame!Editor's note: this post contains MAJOR spoilers for the grand finale of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10.The RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 finale starts with seven semi-finalists finding out that an eliminated queen is indeed returning to join this Tournament of All Stars lip sync smackdown for the crown. By the end of this grand finale, one queen does officially enter the Drag Race Hall of Fame But the journey to the crown is a fierce tournament of its own.We've got a lot to cover, so let's get this started!The episode begins with the top 7 queens Aja, Bosco, Daya Betty, Ginger Minj, Irene The Alien, Jorgeous, and Lydia B Kollins dreading the idea of another queen coming back. When considering the possibilities, their guesses vary from Nicole Paige Brooks to Mistress Isabelle Brooks.But a Brooks is not back.Kerri Colby returns to compete in the Drag Race All Stars 10 finale.Kerri Colby is revealed as the wildcard queen returning to the Tournament of All Stars. (To be clear, Kerri was announced as the returning contestant for All Stars 10 in a sneak preview video shared ahead of the finale on the official social media pages for RuPaul's Drag Race.)By joining the seven semi-finalists in the lip sync smackdown for the crown, Kerri makes it an even total of eight queens vying for a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame. As shown in episode 11, two of three judges selected Kerri as their pick for the wildcard twist. Mistress Isabelle Brooks was chosen as the third pick.After a draw, Kerri scored her way back into the competition.Here's how the Rate-A-Queen system impacts the All Stars 10 lip sync for the crown.Yet another twist!The eight queens competing to win the Tournament of All Stars must go through the Rate-A-Queen system before the lip sync smackdown for the crown. This twist, first introduced on Drag Race season 16, makes its All Stars debut here.Yes, everyone is confused about how this is going to work, but there's no need to (gay) panic. Things start making sense as the episode goes on and Irene The Alien (out of drag, and sort of Overcompensating-coded) explains the concept of a seeding bracket.The All Stars 10 seeding bracket pairs up the queens per their Rate-A-Queen rankings.Long story short: The All Stars 10 finalists are ranked from first to eighth place in the Rate-A-Queen twist, which then determines how they will be paired up in the lip sync smackdown for the crown.As the lip sync tournament begins, the queens start finding out their Rate-A-Queen placements, as well as the opponents they'll be facing.Song selection includes Lady Gaga, Kesha, Natalie Cole, P!nk, Christina Aguilera, and Shakira.The queens are paired up according to their Rate-A-Queen placements, and are then given this list of songs as options for the lip sync for the crown in the Tournament of All Stars. The songs are all gay and fun, and they all come from pop stars like Lady Gaga, Kesha, Natalie Cole, P!nk, Christina Aguilera, and Shakira.The lip sync battle begins.All Stars 10 finale, lip sync 1: Ginger Minj vs. Kerri Colby 'Disease' by Lady GagaLip Sync 1Rate-A-Queen No. 1: Ginger MinjRate-A-Queen No. 8: Kerri ColbySong: "Disease" by Lady GagaWinner: Ginger MinjAll Stars 10 finale, lip sync 2: Irene The Alien vs. Lydia B Kollins 'Joy Ride' by KeshaLip Sync 2Rate-A-Queen No. 2: Lydia B KollinsRate-A-Queen No. 7: Irene The AlienSong: "Joy Ride" by KeshaWinner: Lydia B KollinsAll Stars 10 finale, lip sync 3: Aja vs. Jorgeous 'Party Lights' by Natalie ColeLip Sync 3Rate-A-Queen No. 3: JorgeousRate-A-Queen No. 6: AjaSong: "Party Lights" by Natalie ColeWinner: JorgeousAll Stars 10 finale, lip sync 4: Bosco vs. Daya Betty 'Show Me How You Burlesque' by Christina AguileraLip Sync 4Rate-A-Queen No. 4: BoscoRate-A-Queen No. 5: Daya BettySong: "Show Me How You Burlesque" by Christina AguileraWinner: BoscoAll Stars 10 finale, lip sync 5: Bosco vs. Ginger Minj 'Raise Your Glass' by P!nkLip Sync 5: Bosco vs. Ginger MinjSong: "Raise Your Glass" by P!nkWinner: Ginger MinjAll Stars 10 finale, lip sync 6: Lydia B Kollins vs. Jorgeous 'Whenever, Wherever' by ShakiraLip Sync 6: Lydia B Kollins vs. JorgeousSong: "Whenever, Wherever" by ShakiraWinner: JorgeousThe top 2 queens of All Stars 10 are Ginger Minj and Jorgeous.After advancing from their respective brackets, surviving the semi-finals, and fighting their way through this lip sync smackdown for the crown, the top 2 queens of this Tournament of All Stars are Jorgeous and Ginger Minj.Prior to the lip sync, RuPaul announces that the winner of All Stars 10 will earn the grand prize of $200,000 and a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame.But that's not all: The runner-up of the season will also receive a cash prize: $25,000.All Stars 10 lip sync for the crown: Jorgeous vs. Ginger Minj 'It's Raining Men' by The Weather GirlsIt all comes down to this!A classic gay anthem and a drag queen standard is used for this final lip sync for the crown: "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls. Both queens deliver their respective performance styles and have the judges excited for the entire lip sync.And then the time comes for one queen to be crowned as the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 winnerCondragulations to Ginger Minj, the crowned winner of All Stars 10.Condragulations to Ginger Minj for being crowned the winner of All Stars 10, and the first-ever Tournament of All Stars champion!RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars is streaming on Paramount+.
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    Drool over these rare Dominic Albano Polaroids of male beauty
    The Dominic Albano Collection, a menswear brand known for minimalist, sustainable essentials, introduces the Studio Archive, an ongoing release of original Polaroids photographed by founder and creative director Dominic Albano. Each is a one-of-one physical print, now available to collectors for the first time.The Polaroids were created as part of the brands early creative direction to define its atmosphere and aesthetic. That visual language intimate, nostalgic, and rooted in queer culture and European influence lives across the garments and photography, from the muted palette to the quiet way the fabric interacts with form.Shot on instant film at Albanos Los Angeles home and printed directly from the camera, the images have recently evolved into collectible art pieces that now bridge fashion and photography, offering collectors a tangible part of the brands visual world.The Studio Archive draws inspiration from Tom Bianchis Fire Island Pines: Polaroids 1975-1983, a poignant visual chronicle of queer life during a fleeting era of freedom before and at the dawn of the AIDS crisis. Bianchis Polaroids capture a vibrant community on the cusp of irrevocable loss preserving intimacy, beauty, and resilience on film. Like Bianchis work, Albanos images evoke a world that feels both timeless and deeply personal, honoring queer history through a quiet, contemplative lens.I never planned on selling these, Albano shares. They were just meant to shape the mood of the brand. But now they feel more like artifacts. It felt natural to finally share them. Its where fashion and art come together.Studio Archive prints are now sold exclusively at dominicalbanocollection.com.Founded in 2023, the Dominic Albano Collection is a menswear label rooted in timeless silhouettes, understated sensuality, and intentional design. The brand began with luxury underwear crafted from breathable, moisture-wicking TENCEL lyocell fabric and has since expanded into sculpted swimwear made from recycled polyester and high-clo spandex. Each drop is tightly curated and released at a deliberate pace, guided by mood, tone, and themes. With a muted color palette and a visual language shaped by nostalgia, restraint, and European influence, the Dominic Albano Collection exists at the intersection of fashion, photography, and queer culture.Dominic Albano is the founder, creative director, and photographer behind the Dominic Albano Collection. A former model turned multifaceted artist, Albano began his career in New York City, collaborating with world-renowned photographers before relocating to Los Angeles in 2019. In 2023, he launched his namesake label with a focus on quiet luxury, queer identity, and evocative storytelling.Entirely self-taught, Albano shoots all brand imagery himself, crafting a cohesive visual world that merges fashion and art through a nostalgic yet contemporary lens. With plans to expand into a full menswear range, his work continues to evolve while remaining grounded in intimacy, aesthetic rigor, and cultural perspective. Learn more at dominicalbanocollection.com or on Instagram @dominicaalbano @dominicalbanocollection.Enjoy more Polaroids from the archive ahead.
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    Fletcher is proud bi and queer women feel 'seen' in 'Boy'
    "Ive been sitting on a secret," Fletcher sings in "Boy," the first single off her new album, out today.The secret is that the sapphic singer, who has performed on stage with lesbian music stars like Hayley Kiyoko and Chappell Roan, fell in love and is now in a relationship with a man.When she released the song, discourse came quickly. Some criticized the song being released on the first day of Pride month. Others questioned why the song sounds like dating a man is something scary or sad in today's world. Some long-term fans said they weren't interested in songs about men.To be known is to open yourself up to be judged, but it also gives you permission to be free. That's how Fletcher looks as we talk over Zoom on a Wednesday afternoon. More than free, she looks happy. She looks healthy.Now that everyone knows that Fletcher is in love with a man, she's ready for her fans to get to know her more intimately than ever before on her new album, Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me?.On the new album, Fletcher sheds her messy party girl/fu**boi persona for an introspective look into where her career and life have led her. She sings about self-love and romantic love. She sings about the fires she's lit, the chaos she's caused, and the consequences of her actions.It's a departure from much of her typical music, especially the songs she's best known for, like "Undrunk" and "Becky's So Hot," where her sapphic fans can indulge in the fantasy of being wild and reckless while making out with lots of women. The songs are still 100 percent Fletcher, even if she's speaking with a different tone.Fletcher knows she's "always been somebody that's preached unapologetically and boldly being yourself," but while writing and recording her new album, she found herself on uncertain ground, she shares.For the past 10 years her entire music career her life has been marked by her romantic relationships with women. Now, she wanted to write about her love for a man. "I've had songs that have male pronouns, but that's not been the center or the focus of my career or what I've talked about," she says. "That has not been my muse. My muse has been my relationships with women, my loves, my heartbreaks, and my losses."She felt a "certain weight" in sharing this news, and didn't know where it fit in her experience as a queer woman. "I went on such a journey when I came out to my parents when I was 21 or 20, and came out 10 years ago, and just fought so hard to be seen and held in my queerness and celebrated and accepted. And so I had so many questions for myself," she recounts. "I was confused about what to do. But I know my whole thing this whole time has just been about never denying yourself a human experience, never denying yourself, no matter what body it shows up in, no matter what soul it is; for me, it's always been about energy."Fletcher knows announcing her relationship with a man wasnt brave in the sense that coming out as queer is brave, but she was still "really nervous" about releasing the song and "definitely expected a response, of course."However, the response was "much more intense and complicated than I thought that it was going to be," she says. Still, she understands why so many of her fans felt hurt or confused by the release."I do not take lightly that I have been such important representation for so many people, and to anybody who felt anger or frustration or confusion or abandoned in some way, or the rug was pulled out from underneath them, I understand all of that and I see you and I love you," she says. FletcherCarissa Gallo (provided)"I think the thing is that everybody is so deeply entitled to their response, to the feeling that it evokes, to their perception, to the way that it landed for them," she adds. "It's so valid, and I think this is such a complex and nuanced conversation."Even when she's singing about a boy, Fletcher will always be a queer woman and a queer artist."That is the lens that I view my life through. So no matter who I'm in a relationship with, no matter what body parts they have, no matter how they identify, no matter what gender they are, someone is in a relationship with a queer woman and that is the perspective that I bring, the curiosity and the open-mindedness and the open-heartedness to everything that I look at in my life is through that lens," she says. "And that is why being queer is the greatest fucking gift of all time. I wouldn't trade that for anything."However, she is aware that her candor might mean some fans looking for sapphic songs may turn elsewhere. It makes her excited that there are so many places they can turn to."There's so many people, and there's so much representation, and there's so many people to narrate what your love story looks like. And if I've been that person for a long time, I am so honored," she says. "If I'm not that person anymore, that's totally fucking OK. It just makes me stoked to see how much music there is, and how much from when I started, and how scary it was to come out as an artist 10 years ago, and where we are now. It's so powerful to see how much has evolved over the last 10 years."Other sapphic fans of hers felt seen in a new way. The majority of queer women are bisexual, so there are plenty of people who heard "Boy" and related to it. "I think it is so interesting because I have received thousands and thousands of comments and messages of people being like, 'I feel really seen,'" she shares.Fletcher has heard from "gender-nonconforming people and trans people and bisexual and pansexual people and people who have previously identified as lesbian and had an experience where they've fallen in love with someone else," who all feel validated by the song and Fletcher's message. She wants to give them a "permission slip that it's OK to continue to experience yourself and have these human experiences and learn.""And it doesn't mean that you were ever incorrect... It's just you are exploring more of you, and that'll continue to flow," she says.Fletcher is best known for being very vocal about the women in her life, so some fans might have worried that the new album would be full of love songs about men. But she's more complicated than that and so is the album. WYSLMIYRKM starts with the song "Party," where she sings that this album won't be the kind of party (or album) her fans are used to. FletcherCarissa Gallo (provided)It's definitely not. For one thing, the songs are slower and more low-key than many of her hits. These are songs that you listen to in bed with headphones on, not ones you drunkenly sing along to at a bar. For Fletcher, calming things down and taking a break from the whirlwind of her life was something she needed to do."I think I started to feel like when people would come to my shows, I would have to give them a very specific type of experience," she says. "That it would be like getting back together with their ex, or having a threesome and fucking a hot stranger, or meeting the love of their life."Being a touring artist is already demanding, and as Fletcher is living with Lyme disease, the lifestyle started to take its toll on her body. "Some of the days where I would be feeling, like, the most shitty, I would feel like I would have to step on stage and still give people the best night of their lives, even if I was having one of the hardest ones of mine," she says.In the second single from the album, "Hi, Everyone, Please Leave," she presciently sings about her love life being the subject of public discourse and says she needs to take some time for herself."I've been seeing commentary about me for years, my whole entire career of just, 'she's for the male gaze.' Even as I'm deeply in love and in multiple relationships with multiple women," she notes. "I've been seeing commentary on everybody dissecting my expression, my sexuality, how I show up on a stage, how I move my body since I was a 20-year-old woman, my entire career. And I had seen in the fall of last year, TikTok had erupted with these rumors about me potentially dating a man. And I saw everybody's feedback. I already saw the response before I wrote 'Boy,' before I wrote the song. And so I wrote this from the perspective of already having a taste of how this world would receive me."When she finally did release the song, she says the discourse around "Boy" was "a further highlight of the way that we feel like we are entitled to an artist's experience and perspective, and the ways in which they should live and create, and how they should show up with their platform, and what they should be responsible for.Despite the controversy, "Boy" is "very small piece" of the album's deeper exploration of Fletcher's "relationship with being a public person, my relationship with the music industry, the complications that I have felt since the day that I started, and all the ways that I have struggled with being an artist.""It is an album of me getting to share parts of me, parts of the way that I feel about the music industry, the way that I feel about my career, who I love at the moment. But I'm constantly in a state of evolution, and I'm not the same woman as when I started this music career 10 years ago. And I don't know what a year from now holds for me, or two years from now holds for me, or 10 years from now holds for me."A song like "Party" or "Hi, Everyone, Please Leave" might have been a more representative first single of the album as a whole, but Fletcher isnt known for taking the safe route. Sometimes you have to jump in the water head-first, get the scariest thing out of the way, and by releasing "Boy" first, Fletcher did just that.In the album's closer, a powerful piano ballad called "Would You Still Love Me," Fletcher asks if her fans will still love her "when the lights come on" and "the music stops.""This isn't a goodbye forever / It's just until next time," Fletcher says on the song's outro. "But promise me one thing, if you see me around, you'll say 'hi.' / We don't have to be strangers."More than anything, WYSLMIYRKM is an invitation inside, and Fletcher hopes it helps people understand her better. Understanding each other, she says, is paramount right now."There's so much painful stuff happening on the planet. And for there to be this much division and separation within our own community where we need each other's support, where we need each other's love, when we are trying to be ripped apart at every angle," she says. "Can we stand together of just like, I see you in that journey, you see me in this journey, I will fight for you till the day I die, and vice versa? My whole career has been dedicated to lifting up this community and showing up for this community. And whether I'm on a stage or whether I'm off a stage, or no matter where I'm at in my life, that's never something that's going to change."
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    Netflix revives 1998 cold case of a missing lesbian cruise ship passenger
    Netflix recently premiered a new true crime docu-series called Amy Bradley is Missing, and it focuses on a lesbian cruise ship passenger who mysteriously went missing in 1998 and has yet to be found. Bradley was a passenger on Royal Caribbean Internationals Rhapsody of the Seas, which was headed for Curacao, and before the boat docked, she was nowhere to be found.Adtzere "John" Mentar, the Harbor police chief, led the search for Bradley with other agencies and is still befuddled about what happened to her. "I'm telling you, if she came off the ship or fell off the ship, we would get a body," he said in the series. "She would have washed ashore " The docu-series features interviews with friends, law enforcement, and relatives (some of the last people to see Bradley) as they try to investigate what happened to her.Bradley was on vacation with her parents and youngest brother, on the cruise that her parents had won through a work contest. On March 24, 1998, her father, Ron, reported her missing in the early morning after having just seen her in a lounge chair earlier that day. Immediately, the crew was notified and began searching for her, along with local law enforcement, in the waters around where the boat had stopped. The FBI also opened an investigation, which was unsuccessful.Over the show's three episodes, the documentary team follows different threads, trying to determine whether she went overboard or if she was smuggled off the boat and no one noticed. If you're interested in learning more, the show is now available to stream on Netflix. - YouTube www.youtube.com
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    Barack Obama explains why he thinks all men need queer people in their lives
    It was only a matter of time before former First Lady Michelle Obama convinced her husband to make an appearance on her podcast. Former President Barack Obama stopped by and was a guest on the July 16 episode of IMO, the show that Michelle co-hosts with her brother. The episode mainly revolves around a listener-submitted question about how to raise "emotionally intelligent, competent men" in a world where the male loneliness epidemic exists. The former commander-in-chief shared his opinions, saying that men need a range of different role models, and gave the example of a gay professor he had in college. - YouTube youtu.be This professor, Barack said, was out during a time when openly gay folks still werent out in life. "[He] became one of my favorite professors and was a great guy, and would call me out when I started saying stuff that was ignorant, the former president said. You need that! To show empathy and kindness.He goes on to say that young men should be open to diversifying their friend groups. "By the way, you need that person in your friend group so that if you then have a boy who is gay or nonbinary, or what have you, they have somebody that they can go, Okay, Im not alone in this, he said. "That, I think, is creating community. I know its corny, but its what they need.The former president has long been an ally of the LGBTQ+ community. Back in 2015, he appeared on the cover of Out and became the first president to be featured in an LGBTQ+ magazine. He spoke about the same professor during his interview with Out, saying he was the first openly gay person he ever met.He also discussed the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Obergefell v. Hodges and expressed pride in ushering in a new era of acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. "I wasn't surprised by the Supreme Court's decision, but, like millions of Americans, I was proud and happy that it came down the way it did -- and I was honored to stand in the Rose Garden and reiterate for every American that we are strongest, that we are most free, when all of us are treated equally. I was proud to say that love is love."
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    July 18, 2025
    Hello Out Readers!We love a queer reality show! Whether it's watching the latest season of RuPaul's Drag Race, diving into The Ultimatum: Queer Love, or watching a bicon like Ariana Madix host Love Island USA.What we really love is a queer showmance on a reality show! Of course, we love watching a LGBTQ+ dating show, and have plenty of recommendations for you. But there's also something very special about a queer showmance on a show that isn't specifically about queer people.That's exactly what we got from NBC's Destination X. The reality competition show, where people have to guess where in Europe they are, featured a straight showmance while filming, but once the cameras cut, things took a sapphic turn.Destination X stars Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald tell Out in an exclusive interview that they are now dating and happily in love!"While we were in Finland, we were staying in this tiny little cabin that had just these two little twin beds. And I don't know if it's in the Finnish air or something, but I just suddenly had such a big crush on Mack," Bross says. "I was feeling like, 'Wait, this is way bigger than what it was before.' Before I knew I really wanted Mack to like me, I really wanted her around all the time. I was sad when she would leave my house. But it was really in Finland where I realized I had feelings for her."The relationship also serves as a coming out for both stars, as Bross had previously identified as straight and Fitzgerald identified as asexual.To find out more, read their entire interview!Now, onto the best queer stories of the week and our Gayest Song of the Week!- Mey RudeNetflix revives 1998 cold case of a missing lesbian cruise ship passengerFletcher is proud bi and queer women feel 'seen' in 'Boy'Drool over these rare Dominic Albano Polaroids of male beautyJennifer Love Hewitt thanks LGBTQ+ fans for 'keeping Julie James alive'And the winner of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10' is...Lady Gaga's new tour features fan messages, with predictable gay anticsJulia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri's new movie has a sapphic twistA gay robot is roaming West Hollywood, dishing out compliments to strangersLawmakers call out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s unconscionable apathy on eve of LGBTQ+ suicide hotline shutdownGayest Song of the WeekThe Gayest Song of the Week goes to Fletcher's "Hi, Everyone Leave Please." Her new album, Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me, is out today. While the album is a big departure from much of her previous music, it's her most intimate and personal album yet.
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    The GLAAD Wrap: Heightened Scrutiny and Love and Rage: Munroe Bergdorf out now, trailers for Stranger Things and After the Hunt, new music from Wet Leg and Joey Miceli, and more!
    Every week, The GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBTQ-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend.The post The GLAAD Wrap: Heightened Scrutiny and Love and Rage: Munroe Bergdorf out now, trailers for Stranger Things and After the Hunt, new music from Wet Leg and Joey Miceli, and more! first appeared on GLAAD.
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    The Gilded Age to a 'gang bang': John Singer Sargent's defiantly queer art
    John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), the greatest painter of his generation and one of the best portraitists in art history, is having a moment. The exhibition Sargent & Paris is drawing crowds at New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he has a cameo appearance in the new season of The Gilded Age.In the show, the scheming Mrs. Russell (Carrie Coon) commissions Sargent (Bobby Steggert) to paint a portrait of her daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), hoping it will help secure the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) as a suitor. Though entirely fictional, the scenario is pitch-perfect. In an era marked by extreme wealth and social ambition, Sargents models used his portraits to assert their social standing, making him the official image-maker of the elite.What distinguished Sargents work wasnt just his technical brilliance but his uncanny ability to capture the sitters souls with a theatrical flair that makes them timeless.Born in Florence to American expatriate parents, Sargent lived between Italy, France, England, and the United States, all of which turned him into a permanent outsider. A recent documentary about the artist, Fashion & Swagger, addresses the elephant in the room among art historians, Sargents sexuality. A lifelong bachelor, the film explores the queer markers in Sargents work, from his fascination with strong women, to how he chose the sitters attires and then manipulated them to heighten drama, to his depiction of male subjects with, at times, effeminate, gestures.His close friend Jacques-mile Blanche once remarked that Sargents gay life in Paris and Venice was positively scandalous. But if Sargent were indeed gay, as many now believe, he would have had to keep it hidden. He lived across the street from Oscar Wilde, whose infamous 1895 trials publicly cemented the association between artists and homosexuality. In that climate, with laws that broadened the criminalization of gay male activities, a public misstep could have destroyed Sargents career and reputation.Yet, what makes Sargent so compelling is how he pushed the envelope by subtly flaunting his queerness and causing scandals such as the one surrounding his painting Madame X,What follows are ten key moments, in life and on canvas, that reveal Sargents defiant queerness.SARGENTS INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH FELLOW ARTIST ALBERT DE BELLEROCHERecent scholarship suggests that Welsh painter Albert de Belleroche (18641944) may have been the love of Sargents life. They met in Paris and shared a studio while studying art, becoming inseparable.Eight years Sargents junior, Belleroche had an androgynous beauty, with chiseled features and a delicate mouth that Sargent captured in intensely intimate portraits which advertise Sargents physical attraction. Their correspondence, in which Sargent addressed Belleroche as Baby, reveals a deep attachment which violated what were considered appropriate interactions between men at the time.In 1883, Sargent painted a striking portrait of Belleroche and displayed it prominently in his dining room. It remained in his possession for the rest of his life. As Sargents grandnephew has remarked, Anyone looking for Sargents sexual orientation will find it in his strong and obsessive studies of this handsome young man.THE REAL SCANDAL BEHIND SARGENTS MADAME XSargents goal was to stand out at the 1884 Paris Salon, where 2,488 paintings, hung from floor to ceiling, competed for the attention of hundreds of thousands of visitors. His submission, titled Portrait de Mme ***, portrayed Virginie Amlie Gautreau (18591915), a glamorous figure in Pariss high society, in a dazzling black dress that highlighted her unique profile and lavender skin tone. The plunging neckline and a jeweled strap slipping off her shoulder, suggesting she wore no undergarments, caused a riot-like scandal with widespread media coverage and caricatures mocking it.What started as a calculated provocation concocted by two outsiders seeking recognition in Paris clearly backfired. Devastated by the uproar, Sargent repainted the strap and fled to London seeking a fresh start with a new clientele. Despite the criticism, Sargent kept the painting until he sold it to the Met in 1916, when he insisted on the title Madame X, calling it the best thing Ive done.But, beneath the famous scandal lies a deeper and rarely discussed transgression. Albert de Belleroche did at least 80 sittings as a model for Madame X. One of his portraits is clearly the basis for Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast (1883). Blending the features of Gautreau, his public muse, with Belleroche, his private obsession, Sargent slyly defied gender conventions. In doing so, he echoed one of his idols, Michelangelo, whose figures in the Sistine Chapel often fused male and female forms.THE SHOCKING NUDE PORTRAIT OF SARGENTS BLACK MUSE, THOMAS MCKELLERThe ravishing Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller (1920) is one of Sargents most arresting works. In a provocative departure from his society portraits, McKeller appears completely nude, his genitals a focal point, his tilted head captured in ecstasy.The story begins in 1916 when, tired of being typecast as the elites portraitist, Sargent accepted a commission to paint the murals for Bostons Museum of Fine Arts. Sargent, who was 60 at the time, struck a conversation with Thomas McKeller, a hunky 26-year-old Black elevator operator, and asked him to become his model on the spot.During the following years, Sargent transformed his Black muse into alabaster-white gods and goddesses for his murals. Surprisingly, Sargent featured McKellers irregular left nipple in many of them, making his identity hauntingly present.Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller was one of his most beautiful portraits. But Sargent never exhibited it publicly, though he proudly displayed it in his studio. For Trevor Fairbrother, one of the leading scholars of Sargents work, this portrait serves as compelling evidence of the artists queer desire.McKellers great-niece recently suggested that McKeller may have been gay. Well never know if they had an intimate relationship. In any case, this portrait will forever act as a coded love letter that defies time, taboo, and erasure.THE SUBLIME PORTRAIT OF SARGENTS CRUSH, DR. SAMUEL POZZIJohn Singer Sargent had a talent not just for painting, but for choosing sitters who stirred publicity. The charismatic Samuel Jean Pozzi (18461918) was a renowned gynecologist and one of Pariss most notorious men, famous for his constant flirting with men and women, including a rumored affair with Madame X no less.Theres no doubt that Sargent was infatuated with Pozzi, who embodied Sargents favorite type, dark Mediterranean men. Sargent's painting exudes sensuality and challenges portrait tradition by showing Pozzi in bedroom attire, wearing a passion red robe against a lush velvet curtain.Sargent highlights Pozzis handsome face and direct gaze while one hand tugs lightly at his belt, as if caught in the process of disrobing, with the tassel hanging provocatively below his groin.But Sargent does more than eroticize; he subtly queers the composition. Pozzis hand on his waist in the contrapposto pose is associated with queerness. His white collar and cuffs, cinched waist, and elongated, expressive hands blur the lines between masculine and feminine. The final result of his audacious composition leaves you breathless.SARGENTS NUDE PORTRAITS OF HIS VALET AND CLOSE COMPANION, NICOLA DINVERNONicola DInverno was a 19- year-old dashing amateur boxer when he showed up at Sargents door in 1892 offering to model for him. Sargent asked him in to see his physique. He must have liked what he saw, because Nicola became not only Sargents model but his valet, studio assistant, photographer, masseuse and travel companion.In an article after Sargents death, Nicola said, I was the very man Sargent wanted. He was right, Nicola was Sargents exact type. Sargent even paid for Nicolas gym fees so he remained fit.Sargent painted many portraits of DInverno. One particularly tender work shows Nicola reading in bed, an unusually intimate depiction, which shatters the rigid master-servant dynamics of the era. A watercolor from a trip to the Canadian Rockies captures their shared space in a tent, an unmistakable nod to same-sex intimacy.But its in the secret trove of male nudes, many featuring DInverno, that Sargents private desires become most transparent. These works, never exhibited during his lifetime, surfaced only after his death.In a particularly subversive 1900 study, DInverno reclines in the pose of an odalisque, an erotic posture historically reserved for female subjects, here reclaimed with same-sex desire.Completely devoted to Sargent, whom he called the greatest man he ever knew, DInverno remained at Sargents service for 25 years, until he had a fight with a Boston bartender and Sargent dismissed him from his staff.SARGENTS COUNTLESS HOMOEROTIC MALE PORTRAITSOne of the most compelling and overlooked aspects of Sargents work is the overt homoeroticism that permeates many of his male portraits, which art historians are prone to dismiss.The exquisite Young Man in Reverie (1876) and Man Wearing Laurels showcase, once again, Sargents attraction to rugged, Mediterranean, working-class men. This paintings title invokes respectable classicism but the overwhelming erotic charge in the man emerging from shadow leaves no doubt about Sargents true intentions.Sargents sexual interests were hardly a secret among his friends. One of his sitters remarked that the artist had a weakness for Venetian gondoliers, who were known for being amenable to the advances of wealthy male travelers. Sargent painted many of them with a sultry gaze. He even referred to his trusted valet Nicola DInverno as my gondolier.SARGENTS DARING GANG BANG MURALSBy 1916, John Singer Sargent had grown weary of his reputation as society portraitist. Seeking artistic freedom, he accepted the commission to paint the murals for Bostons Museum of Fine Arts. Here, liberated from societys corset, Sargent indulged in mythological themes that gave him license to paint what he truly loved, the nude male body, without any fear of pushback.Two of these murals, Orestes Pursued by Furies and the phallic Hercules Struggle with a Hydra, can easily be interpreted as a metaphor of Sargents struggle with his sexuality.Sargent also worked for 30 years in murals for Bostons Public Library. Among its most infamous panels is Hell, a writhing mass of interlocked male bodies. When Andy Warhol first laid eyes on it, he famously quipped: Thats not hell thats a gang bang!SARGENTS QUEER AND GENDER-NON-CONFORMING CIRCLE OF FRIENDSThough famously discreet in public, Sargent was known to let loose among his inner circle, many of whom were queer. One close friend recalled that during these private gatherings, Sargents favorite expression was Lala! and noted that he was very gay all the time.Among this chosen family was the unconventional Vernon Lee (18561935), the pen name of Violet Paget: a pioneering feminist, art historian, and writer who rejected the eras rigid gender expectations. Her masculine pseudonym and androgynous style were key to her public identity. Sargent captured both in his lifelike 1881 portrait of Lee, which she boasted represented her true self, fierce and cantankerous.Lee, who opposed being labeled a lesbian, lived openly with Clementina Anstruther-Thomson (18571921) as lovers and coauthors. Sargent also painted her portrait.SARGENTS DANDY PORTRAIT HAS BECOME A QUEER ICONSargent painted multiple portraits of dandies, who were connected to Oscar Wilde and came to symbolize homosexuality at a time when queerness was criminalized.Sargent was attracted and repelled by the idea of the exhibitionist dandy, a persona he wouldnt allow himself to be. In an artistic wink, he portrayed dandies with a hand on their waist as a code to reveal the queerness in others that he may have withheld about himself.One of the most famous examples is his 1894 portrait of W. Graham Robertson, a prominent members of Wildes queer circle. Sargent pursued him relentlessly until he agreed to pose. In his autobiography, Robertson campily quips: Why the great artist would be interested in a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes, I cannot imagine.Sargent selected an exquisitely tailored coat so tight and warm that Robertson nearly fainted under the studio lights. In a moment full of the kind of drama Oscar Wilde thrived on, Sargent had to grab Robertson by the lapels and rush him outside for air.Walking a fine line between mockery and homage, Sargent fills the portrait with queer codes, including a poodle with a yellow ribbon, a detail that sent London society into gossiping frenzy.THE SEXUALLY REVEALING MALE NUDESAfter John Singer Sargents death, a cache of male nudes emerged in which a restrained homoeroticism gave way to blatant sexual titillation.A striking example is Nude Man Lying on a Bed (1917), which features a naked young man sprawled across rumpled sheets and smoking a cigarette, an obvious post-coital pose that museums typically omit in their descriptions.In these male nudes, Sargent finally allowed himself to paint desire, not veiled, not coded, but open, unguarded, and disarmingly real.The full story of Sargents sexuality remains elusive, in part because many of his personal letters were destroyed to preserve his reputation. Rather than rely on the tired trope of Sargent as an asexual bachelor married to his work, I align with his biographer Trevor Fairbrother, who argues that the tension between Sargents public persona and his repressed sexuality is the engine that drives the emotional and erotic undercurrents in his work. In essence, John Singer Sargents queerness is what gave Americas Gilded Age the appearance of royalty. If you have any doubts, just check with Mrs. Russell, who, thanks to Sargent, was able to land the Duke of Buckingham after all.Ignacio Darnaude, an art scholar and lecturer, is currently developing the docuseries Hiding in Plain Sight: Breaking the Queer Code in Art. You can view his Instagram, lectures and articles on queer art history at linktr.ee/breakingthegaycodeinartThis gallery was assembled by equalpride's digital photo editor, Nikki Aye.
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    'Jeopardy!'s Ken Jennings won't support Gavin Newsom for president due to trans kids stance
    Gavin Newsom may be many people's favorite for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, but he has many detractors.One such detractor is Jeopardy! champion and host Ken Jennings. Jennings recently spoke out on the social media platform Bluesky, agreeing with trans journalist Parker Molloy that he will "never, ever" vote for Newsom due to the California governor's stances on issues surrounding transgender youth.This is correct. Any candidate cynically triangulating on trans kids is a non-starter, and now is the time to say so. Theres still so much time to advance candidates that DONT suck.[image or embed] Ken Jennings (@kenjennings.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 6:03 PMJennings shared Molloy's post, which read "I will never, ever vote for Gavin Newsom. Ever, under any circumstances. I don't care if he becomes the Dem nominee, he's still not getting my vote.""This is correct," Jennings replied. "Any candidate cynically 'triangulating' on trans kids is a non-starter, and now is the time to say so. There's still so much time to advance candidates that DON'T suck."On a recent podcast Gavin Newsom tells Shawn Ryan how the Trans sports issue opened the door for him to change his mind on GAC for Trans Youth.As someone who adored him since 2004 and voted for him 5 times, I can't wait for him to leave office.There is no way I will be voting for him a 6th time.[image or embed] Julie Rei Goldstein (@julierei.bsky.social) July 14, 2025 at 6:23 PMMolloy's post shared a video of Newsom discussing his views on issues like trans inclusion in sports and gender-affirming care for minors on a right-wing podcast. He said his opinions have changed over the years."I come to this very much more open-minded than I've ever been," Newsom says, noting that he used to easily dismiss arguments against gender-affirming care for minors because it came from "people that were opposed to just basic rights.""The natural inclination was sort of to dismiss, and now I recognize more fully and deeply and I think the sports issue really opened that door for me the nuances in the space," he says.Newsom extolled his virtues, saying he wants to "stand up for ideals and strike out against injustice." "That said, on the issue of children, this is a tough, tough issue," he adds.Newsom is one of the favorites for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. However, he's been facing backlash from the LGBTQ+ community after he began echoing right-wing rhetoric around trans athletes this spring.Newsom had conservative media personality Charlie Kirk on his podcast in March. When Kirk asked Newsom to take a stance on trans athletes, Newsom was ready to answer.I think its an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness, its deeply unfair I revere sports. So, the issue of fairness is completely legit," he said.GLAAD condemned his statement, saying in part, This podcast episode left out facts about inclusion in sports. The truth is, young people learn many life lessons playing sports: leadership, confidence, self-respect, and the value of teamwork. No one should be denied the opportunity to play sports just because of who they are. Players at all levels high school, collegiate, and professional already follow rigorous protocols to maintain their eligibility. In fact, the International Olympic Committee states that there should be no presumption of advantage for transgender athletes. Individual opinion shouldnt override these commonsense guidelines that are already in place."In May, the issue of trans kids in sports came directly to California when Trump threatened to cut federal funding for the state unless it disqualified a transgender teen girl from a high school track and field championship.The California Interscholastic Federation instituted a new "pilot entry process" that gives cisgender girls who are beaten by allegedly transgender girls a chance to advance. There could potentially be three winners per event: one transgender girl, one cisgender girl, and one boy."CIFs proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness a model worth pursuing," Izzy Gardon, Newsoms communications director, told The Advocate in a statement. "The Governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach."Newsom was also criticized in June when he cut $40 million from the state budget for LGBTQ+ health programs. Newsom had proposed a state budget that eliminated funding for the California Department of Public Health's Office of Health Equity, which is "dedicated to eliminating systemic bias that impacts health outcomes based on gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation."The California legislature restored the funding in its revisions of the governor's budget.
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    Breaking the Binary Theatre spotlights trans and nonbinary artists
    Broadway has finally begun to make more space on stage for people who don't adhere to the gender binary. Meanwhile, there are people behind the scenes who are using their power to create opportunities for gender-nonconforming individuals across the theatre industry both on and off-stage. One of those creatives is George Strus, the founder of Breaking the Binary Theatre, an artist collective dedicated to helping transgender, nonbinary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim [their] artistic license and liberty through a number of initiatives, and pay the community what theyre worth.Strus tells Out that they spent years working in the theatre industry, yet never found a space that centered the trans and nonbinary community. I was thinking a lot about the lack of opportunity a lot of the people in my community were feeling and sensing, so I decided to just do something about it, they say.The original idea for BTB was to host a single, seven-night festival that featured work entirely created by the trans community. Following the success of the inaugural festival in October 2022, Strus decided to make it an annual event, paving the way for the organization to expand with new initiatives and programs. Among those are BTB Across America, in which BTB partners with regional theaters and other community spaces to work with and develop work by local trans artists. See on Instagram Earlier this week, Breaking the Binary announced details of its fourth annual BTB Festival, which begins on October 20 and will feature a one-night-only concert performance of The Drowsy Chaperone at Carnegie Hall, starring a host of notable trans and non-binary actors. The show will be directed by L Morgan Lee, who was nominated for a Tony for her work in A Strange Loop. Emmy-winner Laverne Cox will take on the title role, with actress and trans activist Joslyn Defreece playing Underling. The star-studded cast list doesnt end there. Alex Newell, who made history as the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, is set to portray Janet Van De Graaf; Emmy winner Jonathan Van Ness joins the cast as Man in Chair; RuPauls Drag Race star Peppermint will be Mrs. Tottendale; and Betty Who is going to portray Robert Martin. More casting announcements are yet to come, says Strus, who feels lifting up trans and nonbinary actors aligns with the current political moment. Breaking the Binary Theatre participants pose during the opening night of the 2024 festival. Courtesy Breaking The Binary TheatreIn addition to the New York festival, the collective is also taking Red Ink, the last show written by the late trans activist Cecilia Gentili, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, marking BTB's first time bringing a show to the acclaimed festival. Gentili was a central figure in the LGBTQ+ activism space in New York City, who worked in top positions at the HIV/AIDS care nonprofits GMHC and Apicha, as well as co-founding a free clinic for sex workers, and DecrimNY, an advocacy group working to decriminalize sex work in New York.Gentili was a force to be reckoned with, and her play proved that. Strus saw and was moved by early performances of Red Ink, before Gentili passed away in February 2024. I always think about how she meant so much to so many people because of her vast body of work, Strus says. I knew her primarily as a theater-maker, and even in the short amount of time that we did spend together, it was clear why, because she ended up meaning so much to me, too. See on Instagram Before its international debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on July 30, which kicks off a month-long run in Scotland, Red Ink will host one show in New York City on July 25. Trans actress Chiquitita will lead the show, playing Gentili and depicting her story as a young trans girl in rural Argentina during the 1970s. The casting is fitting, Strus says, because Gentili and Chiquitita had a close relationship. It becomes this meta-theatrical moment, and its really special to see someone who was so close to her take on her words and take on her voice in this way, Strus tells Out.Strus is working with actors Sara Ramrez and Elliot Page to bring the show to life. With BTB, [Strus] is carving out an intentionally transformative space throughout the year for trans and non-binary artists to collectively dream, create, develop and build, Ramrez said in an emailed statement to Out. It has been a joy to witness so many talented artists and cultural workers shine in a space dedicated to their artistic liberty. Working with George and the rest of our team on lifting Cecilia Gentilis legacy through Red Ink is a labor of love dedicated to Cecilia and the communities she loved and fought for so fiercely.And the work isnt done for Strus; they are just getting started. In addition to BTB, theyve already made a name for themselves in the commercial theater industry, serving as a co-producer on several notable projects centered around queer voices, including the Sufjan Stevens show, Illinoise, Stephen Sondheim's final musical, Here We Are, Cole Escolas Tony-winning play Oh, Mary! (which they say has been the joy of [their] life,) and &Juliet. They also have more than 30 projects in various stages of development that theyre working on.Strus says they're proud of the ways BTB has combated a common misconception that there wasnt an abundant trans and non-binary theatre community. What BTB has been able to do is really bring that community now to the forefront, so that folks now are aware of the beautiful breadth of talent in this community, Strus says.
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    New Music Friday: Rene Rapp, SEVNDEEP, FKA twigs, and Fletcher
    Another week, another New Music Friday!Summer is in full effect, and this week's batch of new music is keeping the vibes breezy and fun with a tinge of sadness. It is the last week of Cancer season, after all.FKA Twigs just dropped the perfect summer bop, Rene Rapp's album rollout is in full effect with a gorgeous R&B ballad, and Fletcher's hotly debated new album about a "Boy" is stirring up even more discourse. Meanwhile, Blood Orange enlisted Caroline Polachek, Lorde, and Mustafa for his new indie track, The Aces can't shake a "Twin Flame," and Pentatonix singer Mitch Grassi has gone solo as MESSER. We even have new bangers from some of our favorite pop girls like Danna Paola, and Rochelle Jordan.Scroll through to listen to this week's best new bops, and follow this writer's New Music Friday playlist on Spotify."Perfectly" - FKA twigsFKA twigs brings the perfect party to her ethereal new dance track. "Mind Loaded" - Blood Orange, Caroline Polachek, Lorde, MustafaCaroline Polachek, Lorde, and Mustafa all join Blood Orange's gorgeous new track Mind Loaded.""Combust" - LauvLauv is ready to "Combust" from overwhelming emotions. "Tore In Toronto" - SevndeepSEVNDEEP's latest afrobeats-inspired hip-hop track is a sensual warning. "Dang" - Rainbow Kitten SurpriseThe music video for Rainbow Kitten Surprise's new track features an adorable queer couple. "Why Is She Still Here?" - Rene RappRene Rapp is done being the side chick in her latest R&B tinged ballad."Khe Calor" - Danna PaolaElite star Danna Paolo delivers another Latin-pop hit with her sensual new track, "Khe Calor.""Break Open" - MesserMitch Grassi's new solo project has arrived with the atmospheric new track "Break Open." "TTW" - Rochelle JordanRochelle Jordan knows how to craft a perfect, housey dance floor banger, and "TTW" is another hit in her catalog. "Hi, Everyone Leave Please" - FLETCHER"No matter who I'm in a relationship with, no matter what body parts they have, no matter how they identify, no matter what gender they are, someone is in a relationship with a queer woman, and that is the perspective that I bring," Fletcher tells Out in our recent interview with the pop star. "Sugar" - SG Lews & ShygirlThe music video for SG Lewis and Shygirl's latest track delievers the summer vibes. "Twin Flame" - The AcesThe Aces has given up on trying to put out a whirlwind "Twin Flame" romance."I Might Be The Problem" - Rio RomeoRio Romero realizes they might be the problem on their reflective new track."Say It Now" - Shadow ChildThe last track from producer Shadow Child was made for sweaty nights on the dance floor. "The Sea" - Romy, Luca PerryRomy has released a set of remixed songs as their latest project, and they're all bangers. Here's the playlist!Can't listen in the playlist above? Here's a link.Taylor Henderson is a music contributor to Out magazine. Be sure to follow 'the alphabet mafia' playlist on Spotify!
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