Tel Aviv Pride, 2019 (Image courtesy of Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Guy Yechiel)
Let’s face it: Pride Month without the ability to celebrate in our traditional ways doesn’t feel very much like Pride.
For many of us, the festivals, concerts, parades and parties, where we gather with our friends to proudly proclaim our queerness to the world, are an annual rite of passage; being cheated of it by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is an undeniable disappointment.
Even so, Pride is more than just a party (even if it’s a really fabulous one), and while the usual festivities may be cancelled, the spirit behind them is not. The LGBTQ+ community has risen to the challenge of 2020 with inventive ways to re-channel the Pride Experience for the physically-distanced needs of our time, and although a virtual event can never deliver quite the same visceral thrills as an in-person celebration, it’s worth noting that this year’s proliferation of internet and broadcast events has made Pride accessible to millions of people who might otherwise never have had the opportunity to participate, or to hear the messages of hope and acceptance that queer people in oppressive social environments around the world need to be able to hear.
Chances are good you’ve already experienced one or more of these livestreamed or broadcasted extravaganzas, but if you are still looking to get your Pride on before the month slips away next week, there are still some big ones coming your way.
One of the biggest is sure to be “Live, Work, Pose-A-Thon!” As a part of Pride month, Disney Television Studios and FX are presenting a commercial-free one-hour virtual event, showcasing the cast and producers of “Pose” to raise awareness for GLSEN, Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, three notable organizations that work to support LGBTQ+ education, social change for sexual and gender minority people of color, and transgender equality through legal services and policy efforts.
The special will be emceed by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-award winning actor and activist Billy Porter along with co-star Mj Rodriguez, and unites the voices behind the critically-acclaimed drama series “Pose.” Featured will be music and anecdotes from Porter, Rodriguez, Angel Bismark Curiel, Sandra Bernhard, Dyllón Burnside, Steven Canals, Dominique Jackson, Jeremy McClain, Janet Mock, Indya Moore, Our Lady J, Jason Rodriguez, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Charlayne Woodard, and Patti LuPone. “Pose” supervising producer Tanase Popa serves as producer of the special.
“I’m so proud of our cast and producers for coming together to present an uplifting hour of song and stories,” said co-creator, executive producer, writer, and director Steven Canals. “In the spirit of ‘Pose,’ our goal is to celebrate joy, love and, of course, pride, from our family to yours.”
Executive producer, writer, and director Janet Mock added, “Since we’ve been unable to shoot the show we love, we jumped at the chance to reunite our ‘Pose’ family and partner with the studio and network to raise spirits and awareness about the plight of LGBTQ+ people of color during such a turbulent time. This Pride month special is a commemoration of our forebears’ efforts, a memorial for trans lives lost, and a celebration of the life-saving work of LGBTQ+ organizations.”
“Pose-a-Thon!” will air Friday, June 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on FX and Freeform. Viewers can also tune-in same day starting at 7:00 p.m. PT at www.poseathon.com.
If you’re someone who likes to make Pride an excuse for world travel, it goes without saying that this is not a good year for that – but you can at least grab a taste. Tel Aviv Pride takes place every year in June, with a surge of gay-friendly events taking place across the city and a Pride Parade that has become the largest one among all in the Middle East. In light of the Corona pandemic, that parade has been cancelled (or at least postponed), along with the rest of the four largest pride parades in Israel – Haifa, Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva and Tel Aviv-Yafo – but that doesn’t mean the whole celebration is shut down.
According to Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, “Even if we cannot hold the traditional pride parade this year, we will mark pride month with alternative events. Tel Aviv, which has already been acknowledged as the world’s most gay-friendly city, will continue to be a lighthouse city – spreading the values of freedom, tolerance and democracy to the world.”
Those “alternative events” taking place live in the city will involve over 100 drag queens and queer artists taking over the city’s streets in honor of pride month. Throughout the day on June 25, live shows will surprise passersby in central locations around the city, including open spaces, restaurants, local businesses and rooftops.
While it may not be possible for you to experience these pop-up Pride events in person, you can still experience Tel Aviv Pride vicariously through its Pride Month Virtual Tour, which will visit some of the city’s queerest landmarks and explore its queer history and culture, engaging with some of the local divas and discussing some of the open questions around LGBTQA life in Tel Aviv.
The tour takes place on Thursday June 25th at 8pm, and you can join it through this Zoom Link.
Finally, for an even more expansive experience of Pride around the world, you can join the festivities for Global Pride 2020, produced by Interpride and available through several streaming partners – including Revry, the first LGBTQ+ virtual cable network, which has teamed up with Littlstar (the livestreaming platform for PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and Android TV) to launch the first VR streaming channel for the queer community just in time for this season of Pride. You can join this spectacular worldwide event on June 27th and 28th, when Revry will livestream it for 24 hours on the Revry Now channel (available on the Revry apps) as well as on the Littlstar platform – creating a first-of-its-kind VR Pride Festival experience!
“Littlstar is excited to partner with Revry to redefine how LGBTQ+ audiences view content. Viewers can now interact with each other remotely in virtual reality, or if there is no VR headset available they can live stream it directly to their TV via PlayStation 4 which currently reaches over 100M homes,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO & Co-Founder of Littlstar.
“We’re thrilled to have Revry as one of our official streaming partners,” says Julian Sanjivan, Co-President of Interpride. “Partnering with Revry gives Global Pride 2020 an opportunity to access audiences and community members who may not otherwise be able to participate in the programming, especially where our other platforms are not accessible or allowed. Revry’s new live VR Channel on the Littlstar app brings our event live on PlayStations across the globe and universally available to anyone with an internet connection.”
More than 500 Pride organizations around the world have submitted more than 1,000 pieces of content for Global Pride which will include messages from former US Vice-President Joe Biden, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and artists Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert, Kesha and Todrick Hall amongst many more. You can see the full line-up here.
Viewers with a PlayStation VR will be able to watch the stream in a custom virtual world, and viewers without VR headsets can view the stream on billions of mobile device at live.littlstar.com. If you’d rather opt for a “normal” 2D livestream broadcast, you can do it on the Revry Now channel on the Revry network available online (watch.revry.tv) and in all major app stores.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A proud gay dad from Brooklyn is going viral on social media as he and his three kids keep people laughing with their funny videos.
CBS2’s Cindy Hsu doesn’t usually play on the job, but with this family, she couldn’t help it. All you have to do is watch their hilarious videos on TikTok with their dad, Jose Rolon.
“It’s really fun and cool to do,” 7-year-old London said.
London, her twin sister, Lilah, and their 8-year-old brother, Avery, started making the videos with their dad after COVID started, oftentimes about everyday life.
“Despite us being an LGBTQ family, a Latinx family, even if you didn’t fit the mold of either of those things, I think a lot of parents just found it really relatable,” Rolon said.
The family has more than a quarter million followers on social media and can be found at NYCGayDad. They often hear from parents who appreciate the messages in the videos about compassion and empathy.
“‘Wow. My son is struggling, but you are able to show me what’s possible,’ or ‘I can show my son what is possible for his life,’” Rolon said.
The family has also suffered great loss. In 2013, Rolon’s husband, Tim, died of a heart attack in his sleep. Their son, Avery, was a baby, and the couple’s surrogate was 11 weeks pregnant with their twins, Lilah and London, so Rolon became a single father of three.
“It doesn’t matter what your family make-up is. I think you can look at our family and realize that our family is no different from yours. We just might be a little bit more colorful,” he said.
“We have cool uncles,” Avery said.
You can always check them out in the videos.
“They say it takes a village. It takes a city, it takes a planet for all of us to raise our children together to support one another,” Rolon said.
The kids say the videos will put a smile on your face.
Two-time Olympian Brooke Crain was set to speak to Visalia Unified students about suicide prevention and healthy lifestyle choices — at least that’s what she thought.
But when a Visalia administrator censored what she could say, the Olympian dropped out.
In a text message to Frank Escobar, VUSD director of student services, Crain asked if she could share her coming out story because of the impact it had on her mental health, she said.
In response to Crain’s interest in sharing her story, Escobar told her that the subject was “kind of a sensitive area” for the VUSD school board.
“I think you can definitely reference it [coming out] in regards to aspects of MH (Mental Health). What we want to steer away from is encouraging or advocating for students to that choice,” Escobar said in the text message to Crain. “That’s where the board draws the line.”
The district is now denouncing the comment.
The text messages were shared by Crain who said she can’t talk openly without telling her full story.
“I kind of have a lot that I have gone through… I am a professional BMX racer and I am also a two-time Olympian,” she said during an interview with Visalia Times-Delta. “But I also am gay and lost my dad last July to suicide.”
Crain is a Mt. Whitney High School graduate and competed in the 2012 and 2016 summer Olympics. Since her father’s death last year, Crain has advocated for suicide awareness and recently hosted a youth BMX racing clinic in the Central Valley.
In 2018, Crain came out to the world. She married BMX rider Rachel Jones last year.
“I didn’t think that I would ever be able to be who I was in the sport as well as come out as being openly gay,” she said. “That was the start of my mental health journey.”
Crain’s goal is to advocate for LGBTQ+ youth and raise awareness on suicide because both are special to her, she said.
Board President Juan Guerrero said Escobar’s comments were “unfortunate” and added that Crain has a platform she can rely on at VUSD.
Administrators apologized Thursday afternoon.
“VUSD would like to go on the record and state incorrect statements about the district were made by Mr. Escobar in a text message exchange between him and Ms. Crain,” said Kim Batty, the district’s spokeswoman. “Mr. Escobar was not authorized to speak on behalf of board nor the district on this manner.
“VUSD embraces diversity among all students, staff and families. VUSD apologizes for any pain this text message exchange has caused Ms. Crain.”
The school district first asked Crain to speak to high school students via Zoom during a virtual assembly. Those plans quickly changed when the district asked Crain to pre-record a video that it would then play for students.
The video was never filmed, and Crain didn’t attend the planned virtual assembly.
Brian Poth, CEO of The Source LGBT+ Center in Visalia, said it was “disappointing” to learn about Crain’s experience with VUSD.
“Students should be hearing messages that are pro-equality, especially with our area’s history,” he said. “I thought we had come much further.”
Poth added that Crain is welcome to speak to youth who attend The Source.
“It’s really important that LGBT kids have LGBT role models,” he said. “Being authentic and being visible and telling your whole story is part of good mental health.”
LGBT youth are nearly five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth. Each time an LGBT child is victimized — physical or verbal harassment or assault — the likelihood of self-harm doubles, according to The Trevor Project.
“It’s 2021… That’s the problem with what these kids are dealing with — these are their educators,” Crain said.
Visalia Unified’s history with the LGBTQ community
In 2000, a former student filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were harassed for their sexual orientation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network joined the suit in 2001. VUSD settled the lawsuit in 2002.
The lawsuit alleged that gay and lesbian students faced routine harassment, with the settlement including training for Visalia Unified staff and high school students.
To learn about Tulare County Suicide Prevention Task Force and LOSS Team, visit the task force’s website.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800-273-8255, connects people in crisis, whether or not they are having suicidal thoughts, with skilled, trained crisis workers who will listen to their problems and tell them about mental health services in their area. It is free of charge and available at any time.
Sophie Turner shared a cryptic message and a sticker of ‘Gay Pride’ to celebrate Pride Month, saying ‘time is not straight and neither am I’.
Taking to Instagram, the ‘Game of Thrones’ star put a ton of other stickers on her post that seem to hint at her truth … including hearts with text for “BI PRIDE” and “GAY PRIDE” and another sticker saying, “MOVE, I’M GAY.”
Fans started guessing about the ‘Game of Thrones’ star, who won hearts of fans with her stunning beauty and outstanding acting skills.
The actress post came after a large number of celebrities have been coming out recently as gay, lesbian, trans and non-binary … including Colton Underwood, Kehlani, JoJo Siwa, Elliot Page and Demi Lovato … and it sounds like Sophie’s itching to join them.
Undoubtedly, Sophie’s all about celebrating Pride, as she added, “ITS MUTHA****** #pride month babaaaayyyyy.”
The actress has joined the cast of the HBO Max series “The Staircase.” Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Juliette Binoche, and Rosemarie DeWitt would also star in the show.
The eight-episode series is based on the docuseries of the same name as well as various books and reports about the case of Michael Peterson (Firth), who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001.
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas tied the knot in May 2019 in a Las Vegas wedding. They’ve already started a family … remember, Sophie gave birth last July to a daughter named Willa.
New York Weather: CBS2 6/3 Nightly Forecast at 11PMCBS2’s Lonnie Quinn has your weather forecast for June 3 at 11 p.m.
Police: 1 Dead, 2 Injured After Home Invasion Gone Wrong In BrooklynOne man is dead and another is in critical condition following a triple shooting in Brooklyn. Police are calling the incident a home invasion gone wrong; CBS2’s Ali Bauman reports.
More Than 100 Cats Rescued From New Jersey HomeMore than 100 cats have been rescued from a home in New Jersey.
Police Seek Suspect Accused Of Vandalizing Black Wall Street GalleryNew video shows a suspect accused of vandalizing the Black Wall Street Gallery in SoHo on May 31, 2021. (Credit: NYPD Crime Stoppers)
Bird-Friendly Decals Installed On Liberty Park Bridge To Help Prevent Bird CrashesThe Port Authority is installing bird-friendly decals on the glass sky bridge in Liberty Park’s World Trade Center campus.
Vaccine Buses To Be Parked At Popular Nightlife DestinationsThere’s a new initiative to get young adults vaccinated in New York City.
Racing Fans Urged To Take The LIRR To Belmont Park SaturdayThe MTA is asking racing fans who are heading out to the 153rd Belmont Stakes on Saturday to take the train.
New York Lawmakers Call For Funding For Youth Violence Reduction ProgramNew York lawmakers are calling for funding for the youth violence reduction program “Stand Up to Violence.”
Long Island Police Looking For Person Who Shot Cat In Glen CovePolice on Long Island are looking for the person who shot a cat, leaving it paralyzed; CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis reports.
Federal Regulators Set Safety Standards For Infant SleepersAfter the deaths of more than 100 babies were linked to unregulated infant sleep products, federal regulators are now setting safety standards.
Connecticut Lawmakers Warned About Excessive Drinking At CapitolConnecticut lawmakers are being warned about excessive drinking while in session.
Thursday Marks Ten Years Since Lauren Spierer Went Missing In IndianaPolice in Bloomington, Indiana, say they are still searching for Lauren Spierer, a college student from Scarsdale who went missing 10 years ago Thursday.
Broadway Flea Market Returning To Theater District In OctoberA Broadway favorite is coming back to the Theater District.
‘Monster Jam’ To Be Full Capacity At MetLife StadiumThe first full-capacity event at MetLife Stadium has been announced.
Man Charged With DWI After Crashing Through School FenceA Long Island man was arrested after crashing his car through a fence and onto a school field.
Long Island Lawmakers Pushing For ‘Blue Alert’ Text SystemThere’s a push from lawmakers on Long Island for what’s called a “Blue Alert” system to send text messages to residents about nearby violence against police officers. They hope it’ll lead to faster arrests; CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reports.
Only On CBS2: Tenants In Harlem High-Rise Want Safer WindowsSome residents in Harlem say new windows installed at their high-rise are creating a health hazard, welcoming pigeons and mosquitos into their homes. Several say their pets have even fallen out of these windows and died; CBS2’s Lisa Rozner reports.
City Leaders Promise Changes To Keep Hell’s Kitchen Residents Safe Amid Spike In CrimeThere’s a new effort to combat rising crime and homelessness in Hell’s Kitchen. City leaders made a surprise visit in the neighborhood and promised changes to keep residents safe; CBS2’s Dave Carlin reports.
1010 WINS Radio Legend John Montone RetiresJohn Montone is dropping the mic. The 1010 WINS radio legend is calling it a career after decades of covering New York; CBS2’s Dick Brennan reports.
Proud Gay Dad In Brooklyn Keeps People Laughing On TikTokJune is Pride Month, and in celebration, CBS2’s Cindy Hsu introduces you to a proud gay dad who’s going viral on social media. He and his three kids keep people laughing with their funny videos.
Public Memorial For George Floyd In Minneapolis Being DismantledA public memorial for George Floyd in Minneapolis has been dismantled to allow for traffic to begin moving through the area; Christiane Cordero reports for CBS2.
At Least 1 Dead After Triple Shooting In BrooklynA triple shooting in Brooklyn left at least one person dead Thursday; CBS2’s Ali Bauman reports.
New York Weather: CBS2 6/3 Evening Forecast at 6PMCBS2’s Lonnie Quinn has your weather forecast for June 3 at 6 p.m.
Erosion Shuts Down Beach Access At Jersey ShoreThe rain put a damper on plans to hang out on the beach down at the Jersey Shore over Memorial Day weekend, and now erosion means beach access is shut down in some areas. As CBS2’s Meg Baker reports, this comes as restoration work was just finished to fix the same problem.
I strongly oppose flying the pride flag on state of Wisconsin property. The citizens of this state are not obligated to approve of the gender identity, sexual orientation or lifestyle choices made by people who declare themselves to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Many citizens of this state believe the LGBTQ lifestyles are wrong on religious grounds, and many others — myself included — believe it is reckless in the extreme to abandon norms for marriage, gender roles and sexual restraint that have been in effect for so long. The surge in out of wedlock births and absent father households since the “sexual revolution” are all the proof of harm anyone should need.
Lastly, I note that voters as a whole have not granted government the right to aggressively promulgate the approval and legal standing of LGBTQ lifestyles. To redefine pivotal, longstanding traditions for marriage, families and the complementary roles of men and women without so much as a referendum is profoundly undemocratic.
Hans Noeldner, Oregon
Follow along as Phil Hands shows you how he draws his recent Mendota Marsh comic strip.
The drama Pose portrays New York City’s African-American and Latino LGBTQI and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture scene from the 1980s through the 1990s.
FX Networks
This June marks the 51st Pride Month, a time to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex community that spans races, ages and geographical lines.
The first LGBTQ pride march took place in New York on June 28, 1970. It was a two-fold occasion, marking the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, protests that spurred the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
While some will return to pride parades in person this year, there are plenty of brilliant LGBTQI films and TV shows to stay in with. CNET staff has rounded up a bunch of options that portray a range of stories and experiences.
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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
This compelling documentary investigates the mysterious 1992 death of Marsha P. Johnson — a black, trans and gay rights activist and veteran of the Stonewall uprising of 1969. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson uses archival interviews with Johnson, as well as new interviews with Johnson’s family, friends and fellow activists. This is a must-see movie for those who want to learn more about gay, trans and black history, but also for those who believe Johnson was murdered and want justice.
— Bonnie Burton
A Single Man
Colin Firth is George Falconer, a middle-aged English college professor (who’s also English) living in 1962 Los Angeles in this 2009 movie based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel of the same name. When the film opens, it’s been eight months since his longtime partner Jim (played in flashbacks by Matthew Goode) died in a car wreck. Still deeply in mourning, George goes about his day on autopilot while connecting with his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore) and meeting Kenny, an attractive student (Nicholas Hoult).
It’s a moving story that doesn’t shy away from the cruel homophobia of the time (we learn Jim’s family did not allow George to attend his funeral). Directed by fashion designer Tom Ford, the sets, costumes and music are stunningly gorgeous.
— Kent German
Pose
Pose, created by American Horror Story’sRyan Murphy, is a TV drama about New York City’s African-American and Latinx LGBTQI ballroom culture scene during its heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s. Pose was inspired by the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning. The series, which has completed its third and final season, also tackles the HIV/AIDS crisis. It features the largest cast of trans actors as series regulars on a scripted show, including Our Lady J, MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Angelica Ross and Hailie Sahar. Pose also stars the one and only Billy Porter as the ballroom grandfather Pray Tell. Janet Mock also writes, produces and directs Pose episodes.
— Bonnie Burton
God’s Own Country
The title of this 2017 British film refers to a popular nickname for the English county of Yorkshire. But as you’ll soon learn after the opening credits, the Yorkshire you see on screen looks like anything but glorious. Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor of The Crown) lives a bleak, hardscrabble existence running his family farm after his gruff father has a stroke. When he’s not tending sheep under perpetually somber skies or suppressing his emotions, he’s binge drinking in local pubs and having rough, secret sex with other men.
But that all changes when he’s forced to hire Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe Ionescu (Alec Secăreanu) for extra help. Johnny is hardly welcoming at first — his use of a racial slur provokes an all-out fight between them — but something deeper soon grows. You’ll notice similarities between this movie and 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, but God’s Own Country stands on its own by telling a spellbinding story with outstanding performances.
— Kent German
Schitt’s Creek
One of the remarkable aspects of the amazing Schitt’s Creek is that it’s no big deal one of its main characters is openly gay. David Rose’s sexuality is written into the script as completely normative. David doesn’t need to come out of the closet. He’s just out. And everyone is fine with it.
This shouldn’t be remarkable, but it is. Because his sexuality isn’t an issue, his search for love is funny, quirky and complicated — like it is for the rest of the cast. The award-winning Schitt’s Creek is aspirational, hilarious and wonderful, just like David.
— Natalie Weinstein
Milk
This 2008 biopic tells the story of Harvey Milk, the gay rights activist and first out elected official in California who was assassinated in 1978 shortly after being elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Sean Penn, who won an Academy Award for the role, is tremendous, and he’s backed by equally strong performances from his co-stars and a brilliant (and Academy Award-winning) script.
Harvey’s political awakening, his advocacy for San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood and his transformative effect on the LGBTQI rights movement are the film’s heart, but it also truthfully shows the cruel legal threats facing gay people in the 1970s and how they fought back. Three decades after his death, Milk’s inspirational lessons on organizing, advocacy and fighting for quality are just as important. “You gotta give them hope,” Harvey said. Milk shows just how we did it.
— Kent German
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
Neurotic gay 20-something Nicholas, played by Australian comedian Josh Thomas, becomes the guardian to his two younger teenage sisters after their father passes away from cancer. One sister is on the autism spectrum and the other sister has anger issues, which often means plenty of cringe-worthy but honest socially awkward moments that make Everything’s Gonna Be Okay so much fun to watch.
— Bonnie Burton
Happiest Season
If you like your Christmas movies with a dash of substance, Happiest Season is one of the best new gems to slide onto your holiday viewing shelf. Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis star as loving couple Abby and Harper, who encounter a single spanner in their relationship: Harper hasn’t come out to her conservative family yet. Delivering all the warmth of a Hallmark card with none of the cheesiness, and bolstered by a stellar supporting cast including Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie and Dan Levy, Happiest Season is a smart, modern Christmas movie with emotional punch.
— Jennifer Bisset
Pride
This 2014 British film tells the true story of a group of gay and lesbian activists who raised money for the National Union of Mineworkers as they faced Margaret Thatcher’s government during a miner’s contentious strike from 1984 to 1985. There’s a culture clash between the activists and the working-class residents of a small Welsh town, but the two communities come to understand one another. Funny, sad and touching, the film shows the importance of building alliances in the struggle for rights and equality.
— Kent German
Derry Girls
Riotous comedy Derry Girls takes us back to 1990s Derry, Ireland, where the teenage woes of Erin and her friends play out on a backdrop of the Northern Ireland conflict. In the final episode of season 1, Clare comes out to Erin as a lesbian, which produces one of the best lines of the show — “Your gayness is staggering!” After a couple of rocky moments, the gang make a sweet statement of love and support to Clare via a brilliantly awkward dance routine. The entire show draws from the same well of sweet, feel-good charm.
— Jennifer Bisset
Boys Don’t Cry
Just as relevant now as when it came out in 1999, Boys Don’t Cry is a brilliant film about the painful struggles of Brandon Teena, a young transgender man looking for acceptance in rural America.
— Sarah Tew
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Set in France in the late 18th century, Portrait of a Lady on Fire tells the story of a forbidden affair between a female aristocrat named Héloïse and the female painter Marianne commissioned to paint her portrait. But there’s a catch: Marianne must paint Héloïse without her knowing. She observes Héloïse by day as her companion so she can paint her portrait in secret. Eventually, a romance between the two blossoms in this breathtakingly beautiful tale.
— Bonnie Burton
Blue is the Warmest Color
French teenager Adele seems to be boy-crazy, but when a mysterious blue-haired university student named Emma enters her life, everything changes. The film is notorious for its graphic lesbian sex scenes, but Blue is the Warmest Color is more than that. It’s a romance between two girls with very different views on their own sexual identities. Emma is out as a lesbian, whereas Adele prefers to keep her sexuality a secret.
— Bonnie Burton
Homecoming season 2
Season 1 of this Amazon Prime Video original series has Julia Roberts playing a conflicted counselor who falls for a soldier she’s helping to forget his painful past. But it’s season 2 of Homecoming that shows its queer side. Janelle Monáe plays the lead as a woman who temporarily loses her memory and spends the entire season trying to remember why she woke up on a boat floating in the middle of a lake. She eventually discovers that she has a long-term relationship with another woman who may or may not be the cause of her memory loss.
— Bonnie Burton
Moonlight
Moonlight chronicles the life of Chiron, who grows up poor, black and gay in a rough neighborhood in Miami. The film shows the three defining chapters in Chiron’s life, including his neglected childhood; his ongoing struggles with his sexuality, unstable family life during adolescence and finally his ultimate fulfillment as an adult. To say this movie is emotional and moving is an understatement.
— Bonnie Burton
Sense8
Imagine waking up one day to discover your consciousness is suddenly linked to other strangers around the world. That’s the fate of eight individuals in the sci-fi series Sense8. The characters — who span from straight, gay, lesbian, poly and trans — can see and feel each other’s thoughts, emotions and experiences. Sense8’s showrunners are also Matrix movie creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski, both trans women. It isn’t just the impressive representation of LGBTQI characters and storylines that makes this show remarkable. Its sci-fi premise is also original and unexpected.
— Bonnie Burton
All in My Family
US-based gay filmmaker Hao Wu documents his traditional Chinese family’s process accepting his decision to have kids via surrogates. All in My Family is an interesting glimpse into Chinese culture and how it views homosexuality. It’s also a touching look at how Wu comes to terms with his chosen life in America as opposed to the life he was born into in China.
— Bonnie Burton
Gentleman Jack
Set in 1832 Yorkshire, Gentleman Jack is inspired by the true story of charismatic landowner Anne Lister, who attempts to revitalize her inherited home and marry a wealthy heiress. This lesbian romance is also full of drama involving Anne’s day-to-day encounters with servants, tenants and various industrial rivals.
— Bonnie Burton
Everything Sucks
The teen drama Everything Sucks tells the story of Kate Messner, a high school sophomore who’s coming to terms with her sexuality as a lesbian. Set way before social media and cellphones, Kate’s journey is an accurate view at how hard it was to be a lesbian teen during the mid-1990s.
— Bonnie Burton
Into the Dark: Midnight Kiss
When five friends meet up for New Year’s Eve in Palm Springs, booze, drugs and sex are on their minds. But as this LGBTQI thriller reveals, relationships can get tricky when friends and lovers don’t tell the truth. Midnight Kiss is a stylized horror film full of revenge, regret and blood.
— Bonnie Burton
Feel Good
Feel Good features Canadian stand-up comedian Mae Martin, who reflects on life, love and sobriety in this semi-fictitious drama. We see her struggle with addiction, as well as her romance with a woman named George who has never been with another woman before.
— Bonnie Burton
I Am Not Okay With This
Teen girl Syd not only has to come to terms with the recent loss of her father, but also deal with her budding sexual identity. That’s not even the biggest issue in I Am Not Okay With This. Syd suddenly has superpowers and isn’t sure how to use them.
— Bonnie Burton
Queer Eye
Queer Eye features loveable gay experts Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk and Karamo Brown, who travel to different US cities (and sometimes Japan) to help people get their lives together. The Fab Five provide help to people from all walks of life who could use some advice about fashion, home decor, food and life in general. But it’s not really about the makeover on the outside, but the transformations in people’s hearts and minds that truly make this a gem of a series.
— Bonnie Burton
Sex Education
Sex Education is about virgin Otis (the son of a sex therapist), who teams up with his friend Maeve to run a secret sex therapy business at their high school. It doesn’t matter if you’re a misfit, a popular kid or even a bully — you need sex advice. One of the more touching storylines involves Otis’ best friend Eric, who must deal with the expectations of his family about his own sexuality and gender identity. The show is painfully awkward at times, but overall pretty accurate.
— Bonnie Burton
The Half of It
When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for an inarticulate jock at her high school, she doesn’t expect to also fall for the object of his affection — another girl. The Half of It feels like a lesbian Cyrano de Bergerac tale with heart-wrenching moments and a dash of teen comedy.
— Bonnie Burton
Laerte-Se
After living as a man for almost 60 years (and having three kids and three marriages), Brazil’s most brilliant cartoonist Laerte Coutinho finally introduces herself to the world as a woman. The documentary Laerte-Se gives a candid look into Laerte’s everyday life, as well as her transformation.
— Bonnie Burton
Last Ferry
In the thriller Last Ferry, a young, inexperienced gay lawyer travels to Fire Island in the off-season looking for romance and friendship, but instead finds himself in trouble after witnessing a murder. This intriguing thriller has plenty of twists and turns all the way to the surprising end.
— Bonnie Burton
Legendary
This reality show on HBO Max attempts to portray modern-day LGBTQI ballroom culture, in which “houses” of dancers compete for prizes and the ultimate title of a reigning house. While New York City’s traditional ballroom scene once was primarily dominated by African-American and Latinx members, the new show also includes cisgender women, white and Asian-American voguing masters. Legendary feels more like an introduction to ballroom culture for those who have never seen voguing outside of the series Pose and Madonna’s famous Vogue music video.
Drag queen royalty RuPaul makes wearing wigs, false eyelashes, sequined gowns and high heels into an extreme sport with popular reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Watch new and legendary drag queens from all backgrounds battle it out for the crown as they compete in costume, acting, dancing and performing challenges, which always end in them lip syncing for their lives. The series is more than drama and dance trauma, however. It also celebrates friendship, as well as some very moving moments of self-discovery and hard work it takes to be a successful drag queen.
— Bonnie Burton
New movies coming out in 2021: Netflix, Marvel and more
As Virginia gears up for its primary elections on June 8, several candidates have health care reform lined up in their agendas. Ballots for attorney general, governor, and lieutenant governor consist fully of Democrat candidates, while district seats in the House of Delegates are up for contest across both parties.
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The gubernatorial election has six candidates, including current Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who cast the tie-breaking vote to expand Medicaid in the Commonwealth in 2018. At the 2021 Virginia State of Reform Health Policy Conference, he said the pandemic underscored the need to expand. affordable health care.
“[COVID-19] has really exposed so many of the inequalities, the inefficiencies in our society. So much of the work we have to do to make sure no one falls through the cracks.”
Also running for governor is Sen. Jennifer McClellan, who plans to invest $30 million in maternal care. She released an extensive plan to rebuild equitable health care in the Commonwealth, including extending health care coverage to 88,000 uninsured children and facilitating new Virginia Safe Communities grants to support LGBT+ youth, and investing in behavioral health programs. She wrote:
“It’s time to finally prioritize mental health in the governor’s agenda. When I’m governor, Virginia will lead the nation through reforming behavioral health access and quality by providing needs-based funding to localities, a new focus on behavioral health equity, investing in and strengthening our community service boards and private providers, increasing resources for crisis intervention, and getting more behavioral health professionals in our schools by lifting the cap on state funding for these and other support personnel.”
Lieutenant governor candidate Del. Hala Ayala would be the first woman of color in statewide office, as well as the first woman to serve as Lieutenant governor. Her health care goals include expanding Medicaid and increasing telehealth access in rural communities. She has racked up a number of endorsements, including Gov. Ralph Northam, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring.
Also running for Lt. Governor is Mark Levine, who would be the first openly gay person in the country to serve in that positon. In the 2021 regular session, Levine attempted to pass HB188, which would require hospitals and practitioners to provide patients with estimates of up-front costs, although the bill did not end up passing.
Challenging incumbent Mark Herring for attorney general is Del. Jerrauld C. “Jay” Jones – Herring’s first challenger since he assumed office in 2013. In a conversation with the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association in late April, Jones said:
“I do think that the Attorney General has an incredible role to play in our health care system here in Virginia, not only holding folks accountable, but making sure that we are going to meet people where they are to help them out when they have challenges with their health care and health care system.”
To see a full list of candidates and ballot information, visit the Virginia Dept. of Elections.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) — Sarah Zent’s family wanted us to know more about her and her three small children, as well as her connection to the man charged with killing them all.
A family spokesperson talked exclusively to Corinne Rose.
“The family saw way more than they should have, and they’re going to have nightmares for the rest of their lives,” Stacey Davis said.
Davis married into the victims’ family 20 years ago and remained close after a divorce.
The family designated her as their spokesperson.
She says a relative went to 26-year-old Sarah Zent’s home on Gay Street Wednesday morning and found her and her three small children in a downstairs bedroom.
“It’s devastating. It’s just absolutely devastating. To see the scene and then to see the body bags brought out, it’s more than a single person can bear,” she said.
Zent was found next to a bed that held the bodies of five-year-old Carter, three-year-old Ashton, and their two-year-old sister Aubree.
Davis says Zent and the suspect, 21-year-old Cohen Hancz-Barron, previously had a romantic relationship but that he had been staying with Zent as a friend, convincing her he wanted to turn his life around.
“She had realized probably with the last week or 10 days that he really didn’t want to work that out, that he just was hiding from the police, and was devising a strategy to get him out of her house. So we suspect that that possibly is part of the motivation. But other than that we really don’t know,” Davis said.
She says the family is large on both sides and has a lot of support in the community, but nothing can replace what they’ve lost.
“The grandma and I sat and looked at tons of pictures of them last night, and she told me all kinds of stories about them. They really had a love of life and were beautiful children,” she said.
Davis says Zent and her sister actually lived with her for two years when they were young.
“She was ornery. Her and her sister both, they were just full of life and spunk. And even as adults they didn’t have a problem telling you how it was and you never had a problem knowing how you stood with them,” she said.
She says Zent had gotten her life back on track, regained custody of her three children, and had been doing well.
“Her life was back together. She was on a good path and she loved her babies. Her babies were everything to her,” Davis said.
A family member has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.
Turner has opened up about her sexuality in the past and admitted she hasn’t stuck exclusively with being heterosexual.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 25-year-old mum explained how she had investigated her feelings with other people before marrying her husband Joe Jonas.
“I think once you’ve found the right person, you just know. I feel like I’m much older a soul than I am in age. I feel like I’ve lived enough life to know. I’ve met enough guys to know – I’ve met enough girls to know,” she said.
When asked what that last part meant, she added: “Everyone experiments. It’s part of growing up. I love a soul, not a gender.”
While the actor received praise for opening up about her past, many were quick to point out that just because someone experiments with other genders and sexes, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are bisexual. You can always try it and if you don’t like it then that’s fine.
Sophie hasn’t commented on her latest post that talks about not being straight but it’s always nice to see someone speak their truth or show support.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rams punter Johnny Hekker and kicker Matt Gay each held video conferences with local media Thursday, discussing their first impressions of new special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, the unit’s new additions, the unit’s current mindset, and more.
Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways from those virtual conversations:
Three weeks before the march, we connected with a left-wing group of CAMP members, including Ron Austin, Lance Gowland, and Margaret and Jim Walker. They had seen the film Word Is Out, about the lives of gay people from the United States, and they liked the San Francisco Pride parade.
The CAMP members wanted to organize a nighttime street party in Sydney, starting on Oxford Street, where people could attend in costume, to avoid getting in trouble with family, school, or employers if they were recognized. They wanted it to be a nighttime festival; we talked about it as a carnival or street party. On the night and immediately after, it came to be known as Mardi Gras. We chose Oxford Street because there were several newer gay bars popular with young people who couldn’t afford other gay bars.
After the morning march, we held a forum in the afternoon to keep people engaged. And for the night protest, we decided to invite feminist and lesbian singers, including Judy Small and others. By ten o’clock, we assembled for the Mardi Gras parade at night.
It was cold, and we were standing in bloody Taylor Square outside the court — and there was no one there. We had a truck with Lance Gowland on the back and a banner I’d painted supporting gay solidarity. We sung Meg Christian’s “Ode to a Gym Teacher” and “Glad to Be Gay” by Tom Robinson. In those days, we didn’t have a lot of music to choose from.
I was wearing a country and western polka-dot dress. Only maybe ten or fifteen percent of the other people were in costumes. I didn’t know if the parade was going to be viable.
But around eleven o’clock, we had a critical mass to start the march. And we had permission from the police. We’d never done it before — so we weren’t consciously assuming that there’d be problems.
Then the police shift changed, and the Darlinghurst Police who were starting their shift viewed it as a major problem to have out-of-control gays and lesbians in the middle of the night on Oxford Street. We had only planned to march down one lane of the road. But of course, that’s not how they interpreted it. They saw it as a threat to their power, a threat to their control of the night, and a threat to their relationship with the Syndicate.
Laws called “summary offenses” gave police the power to arrest lesbians for kissing in Hyde Park, men for dancing in clubs, for having sex in toilets or for looking like they might. Those laws gave police total power over public space. So the police hurried us down Oxford Street. Instead of dancing, we were running.
Then we arrived at Hyde Park. A big anticlimax, right? We thought we’d have a bit of a dance. Anyway, the police confiscated the fucking sound truck. On top of assaulting us, they arrested Lance and others — so, spontaneously, we set out for Kings Cross, where a lot of gay bars were.
That’s when it became a march of around fifteen hundred or two thousand people — it grew as we went through Oxford Street. People peeled off the street and out of the bars to join us. The police reaction encouraged that.
When we arrived at the El Alamein Fountain, we tried to make impromptu speeches. But by then, it was midnight and people were dispersing. As they did, the police started arresting people. They mainly targeted lesbians — and then lesbians fought back. They were freeing women who had been thrown in paddy wagons and saving others from being arrested.
Once the fighting started, it wasn’t just the lesbians and gay men fighting police. People by the side of the road thought: “Here’s my chance to throw a metal garbage can lid at a policeman.” One of the reasons for this animosity was that the Darlinghurst Police had a reputation for beating and raping sex workers and other people.
Later, we went to Darlinghurst Police Station, where they held Peter Murphy and other people who had been beaten up. They wouldn’t let our lawyers or doctors in. On Sunday, we had Lee Holloway and Sue Hawke doing media for us in Glebe.
Sue was a lesbian at the time and the daughter of future prime minister Bob Hawke. By Monday, we brought four hundred or five hundred people to the Liverpool Street courthouse. The authorities closed the court illegally and made seven more arrests.
Summer officially arrives on June 20, which also happens to be Father’s Day. Whatever the sun or your dad may say, June is the unofficial start of summer. It’s hot out, and ice cream sounds pretty good from the start of the month on.
Wendy’s doles out big discounts pretty regularly through its app in an effort to bring you through its doors or drive-thru. In June, the deal du mois is free Frostys to help keep you cool through the steamy start of summer. Every Friday this month, Wendy’s is going to serve up a free small Frosty or Frosty-ccino through its mobile app.
All you have to do to get a Frosty on the house is to place an order through the mobile app. The freebie is available with any purchase at all, even one of the lower-priced items on the menu, like fries to dip in that Frosty.
You’ll also find some other deals in the app, like a free order of Pub Fries with a purchase, a buy-one-get-one for a $1 offer on Premium Hamburgers, or $2 off any breakfast combo. If you’re rolling out on a road trip, it’s not a bad deal to have in your back pocket.
And the president has pledged to donate up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. But those doses, also made at the Emergent plant, are not authorized for domestic use and cannot be released to other countries until regulators deem them safe. If they are not cleared for release, Mr. Biden would have to agree to donate more of the three vaccines used here to fulfill his 80 million promise.
The president has described the vaccine donations as part of an “entirely new effort” to increase vaccine supplies and vastly expand manufacturing capacity, most of it in the United States. To further broaden supply, Mr. Biden recently announced he would support waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. He also put Mr. Zients in charge of developing a global vaccine strategy.
But activists say simply donating excess doses and supporting the waiver are not enough. They argue that Mr. Biden must create the conditions for pharmaceutical companies to transfer their intellectual property to vaccine makers overseas, so that other countries can establish their own vaccine manufacturing operations.
Peter Maybarduk, the director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, called Thursday for the administration to invest $25 billion in “urgent public vaccine manufacturing at sites worldwide” to make eight billion doses of vaccine using mRNA technology within a year, and to “share those vaccine recipes with the world.”
Asked recently whether the United States was prepared to do that, Andrew Slavitt, a senior health adviser to the president, sidestepped the question, saying only that the United States would “play a leadership role” but still needed “global partners across the world.”
On Thursday, Mr. Zients said the United States was lifting the Defense Production Act’s “priority rating” for three vaccine makers — AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sanofi — that do not make coronavirus vaccines authorized for U.S. use. The shift means that companies in the United States that supply the vaccine makers will be able to “make their own decisions on which orders to fulfill first,” Mr. Zients said.
That could free up supplies for foreign vaccine makers, allowing other countries to ramp up their own programs.
It’s National Donut Day on June 4. If you had a sneaking suspicion that Krispy Kreme was going to be slinging some free donuts, you’ve got a good sense of how food holidays work.
Krispy Kreme is, of course, celebrating National Donut Day. It’s going to do so by offering you a free donut. Though, there are a couple of overlapping promotions, which could end with you walking out of a Krispy Kreme shop with two totally free donuts.
On June 4, you can grab any donut you want for free. No purchase is required. Krispy Kreme is celebrating, and you get to come out on top in that deal.
In addition to its Donut Day deal, the shop has its ongoing promotion where you can show a completed vaccination card to get a free donut every day this year. A representative has confirmed to Thrillist that this deal is still running, and you can redeem it in conjunction with the Donut Day deal. Since the free donuts for vaccinated individuals program kicked off in March, Krispy Kreme has given out more than 1.5 million donuts gratis, the company said in a June 1 announcement.
Those aren’t the only promotions happening, either. If you buy a dozen donuts on Friday, you can get another dozen of Original Glazed donuts for just $1. That makes it easy to spread the Donut Day love to co-workers and family members.
