LGBTQ Breaking News Service

New York’s Fire Island, often referred to as America’s first gay and lesbian town, has been a summer destination for the LGBTQ+ community since at least the 1940s. Its protected beaches, picturesque boardwalks, and vibrant nightlife has made it an idyllic destination, and safe space, for queer New Yorkers wanting to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Still today, an enormous rainbow flag continues to welcome visitors at the ferry docks, proudly proclaiming the area’s identity as a gay sanctuary.

The island is currently home to 17 different small beach towns—including Ocean Beach, Fire Island Pines, and Cherry Grove—and the latter is one of the island’s most popular gay getaways. Now, Cherry Grove’s history is getting its very own exhibit. Titled Safe/Haven, a new showcase from Manhattan’s New York Historical Society explores gay life in Cherry Grove during the 1950s and beyond—doing so through a collection of 70 enlarged photographs, on view until October 11th.

According to the museum, many gay men and women traveled to Cherry Grove well before the Stonewall era. In the 1950s, many flocked to Cherry Grove to find “opportunities for sexual exploration and self-expression—behavior that was both stigmatized and criminalized in the straight world.” And while Cherry Grove has since gone on to be a popular summer destination for all New Yorkers, its popularity during the early days of the gay pride movement was clearly even more poignant and meaningful.

Photographs in the exhibit depict Cherry Grove visitors partaking in elaborate costume parties and wearing fabulous, retro ensembles on the beach. During the ’50s, early guests to the island even included some high-profile names such as writer Truman Capote, poet W.H. Auden, or novelist Patricia Highsmith. Whether the town played host to stars or normal folk, however, the exhibit clearly proves a summer at Cherry Grove has always resulted in scrapbook-worthy moments, long before Instagram.

Safe/Haven is a free exhibit and takes place place outdoors in the New York Historical Society’s rear courtyard (at 170 Central Park West). A timed-entry ticket is still required to maintain social distancing, and can be secured here.

By Ana Dascalescu

Posted on June 1, 2021

Hey there, are you looking for some great stuff to watch this weekend?

June is almost here and so is LGBT History Month, so I went and did a roundup of the latest…and greatest inclusive shows and movies out there.

I bet you’re gonna love them, so don’t go anywhere!

If you find something good, please like the video and subscribe to our channel – it helps us bring you more content like this!

Halston

I’ll start off with the biggest show to come out these days – Halston.

Somehow, even though it’s a Netflix exclusive, the app didn’t think to recommend this one, but fortunately my TiVo Stream 4K picked it up based on my watch history….and here we are!

Halston is the true, although exaggerated story of one of the most famous fashion designers of the past.

He might be unknown now, but back then he was huge, hanging out at Studio 54 with superstars like Liza Minelli and Andy Warhol. Overall, this is a miniseries with a lot more style than substance…but it does have style in spades.

Ewan McGregor shines brighter than even Liza Minelli so, if you love fashion and drama, give it a chance.

It’s A Sin 

If you already tore through Halston and you’re looking for more, there’s another new series that’s pure glamour…and a lot more soul!

It’s A Sin is a British ensemble series made by Channel 4 and available on HBO’s apps.

What’s special about it is…well…pretty much everything.

The story follows a group of gay friends navigating the AIDS crisis in the 80s – and each character is more likeable than the next.

Remember when show creators paid lip-service to the gay community by having like a single, gay best friend to the main character? You know, the sassy one who never actually gets a good plot of their own?

Well, It’s A Sin proves those days are gone. Everyone gets their chance to shine and all of the stories are going to keep you glued to the screen.

Even better, most of the cast belongs to the LGBTQ community, with actors like Olly Alexander, Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry.

Just prepare a big box of napkins, because the end will literally kill you. Well, not literally, but you’ll see what I mean.

Since June is all about LGBT history, let’s see more of the shows that chronicle the complicated, sometimes heartbreaking history of this community and the difficulties they faced. Some of these are pure dramas, some of these are a bit more fun – but all of them are super fresh, educational and entertaining at the same time.

Pose

Pose on Netflix also focuses on the HIV and AIDS outbreak, but goes up to the 90s and moves the action to New York. Are you fascinated by vogueing? Then there’s no better show than Pose, which features rival groups as they compete against each other to see who’s got more glamour. 

Pose goes from glitter, sequins and laughter to drama that’s going to make your heart leap into your mouth, so give it a shot!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

In the mood for a movie? How about a classic?
Hedwig and the Angry Inch came out in 2001 but somehow, 20 years later, is still fresh as fuck.

This musical is one movie you can see over and over again, and still find new details and a new perspective.

Hedwig, a genderqueer artist, teaches her boyfriend Tommy all about music and being in a band – only to have him completely steal the show and go on to become a rockstar.

The movie is a series of songs cut by flashbacks into Hedwig’s troubled, but fascinating past, and she’s a hero like no other. I don’t wanna give out any spoilers but, if you ever felt like bad luck wind just blowing at your back, you’ll get a lot of comfort out of Hedwig’s story.

Angels in America

Speaking about bad wind, I can’t think of a darker story than this classic from 2003.

Angels In America is one of the best, and most underrated HBO specials in history.

Based on a play that got the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this is 6 hours of content you won’t forget for 6 decades.

It’s one of the best stories about the AIDS epidemic, set in 1985, and follows six New Yorkers whose lives intersect and change in unpredictable ways.

If you want to get a good look at the political and social climate back then, and how they shaped the LGBT community, give Angels in America a chance. I don’t wanna spoil it for you but you should know some major players are shown on the screen, people whose influence is still felt today. Al Pacino, for example, plays Roy Cohn, the famous right-wing fixer who represented the former US president….you know who… back in the 70s, when he was doing his …thing…. as a real estate mogul.

I suggest you watch this series like it’s 3 movies, so in about 2 hour chunks, just so you get the most out of it. Somehow, even though it’s pretty recent, it has that dark, glamorous vibe of the 90s…and feels a bit like a David Fincher flick.

Boy Erased

Just as heavy-hitting is also this movie from a couple of years back.

Boy Erased is based on the true story of a gay man’s experience in conversion therapy, and what this controversial, barbaric program does to him and his family.

You might know Lucas Hedges, the actor playing the main character, from Manchester by the Sea and Lady Bird…and his performance here is no less memorable.

He’s joined by Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, so there’s plenty of talent to go around.

Moonlight

I’d follow Boy Erased with Moonlight, just because I think it’s important to see the same issue from different perspectives.

While Boy Erased has a white, religious perspective, Moonlight shows how struggling with sexual identity intersects with the African American Identity and hood culture.

Moonlight has the main character surrounded by lots of people but the sense of isolation and loneliness just comes at you from the screen.

If you need a break from this tension and want something a bit…lighter to celebrate LGBT History Month, I got just the thing for you, thanks to my TiVo Stream 4K.

How about some SciFi and fantasy?

Sense8

This dongle surfaced Sense8 for me – if it weren’t for the constant recommendations, I would not have watched it, since it got cancelled abruptly.

If you missed it, you should know it’s made by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who made the Matrix…so this should give you some insight about the level of mindfuck it puts on screen.

Sense8 explores themes like sexuality, identity, and politics in a way I haven’t seen before or since.

8 people from around the world, previously total strangers, are now telepathically and emotionally linked. Even though they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away from each other, they can feel and learn what the others feel and learn – and they have to find out how this happened and where they got their powers from.

Umbrella Academy

On the fantasy side, I think the Umbrella Academy is probably one of the most binge-worthy shows in recent times.

If you’re older than, say 30, it’s also going to make you reflect on your age and all that. Remember the emo band My Chemical Romance? The lead singer, Gerard Way, actually wrote the comics that The Umbrella Academy is based on.

This show also features Mary J Blige as a time-travelling assassin, so this show keeps on giving when it comes to making you feel somewhat old.

But, if you move past that, it’s one of the most subversive…and impossible to predict superhero shows ever.

The very first episode shows 43 women around the world going from normal to suddenly…. extremely pregnant and giving birth at the same time, at the same hour….so you know what follows is pure insanity.

Lost Girl

But if you’re looking for more oldschool fantasy, something like Buffy maybe…or even The Vampire Diaries, check out Lost Girl.

This is one of the first shows to heavily feature LGBTQ people, and not just in secondary characters or predictable plots.

It’s a great urban fantasy series that ran in Canada from 2010 to 2016, and really works if you wanna scratch the vampire itch. 

Lost Girl isn’t about vampires…though it kinda is…at least thematically. You see, the main character is a succubus, which explains her predatory nature and the abundance of sex scenes. This succubus works as a detective in a world populated by supernatural creatures. The plot is decently light, with equal parts romance and noir vibes..

I love it because you can binge the first season in like a day, with twists and turns that keep you glued to the screen…but you can also like pace yourself and watch it like a “monster of the week” type of show. If you saw the Dresden Files series or love hardboiled detective, strong female cop themes, you should give it a chance.

And I saved the best for last!

Thank God for my Tivo Stream 4K surfacing great content from any streaming app, cuz otherwise I’d have missed this platform.

Revry

Revry is the first LGBTQ+ streaming app, and they have a lot of fresh content. I binged a web series called Before I Got Famous in a single night, and can’t wait for more.

Before I Got Famous is a pretty hilarious look into both the gay dating scene and the pressures faced by Asian Americans. It follows a Chinese dude who moves from China to the US thinking he’s going to become a Hollywood movie star overnight – well, you can imagine how that might go. From what I’m seeing, Revry is gearing up to celebrate Pride next week, so I bet they have some good stuff on the way.

Did I miss a great movie or show?

Let me know in the comments below and who knows, I might do a part 2 of this. Also hit like and subscribe, your support goes a lot farther than you think…this really helps me make more content like this!

Thanks and catch you next time!

LGBT History Month – Did You See This?! #Streamland

Reuters -The U.S. Supreme Court heads into the last month of its current term with several major cases yet to be decided including a Republican bid to invalidate the Obamacare healthcare law, a dispute involving LGBT and religious rights and another focused on voting restrictions.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has 24 cases left to decide after issuing two rulings on Tuesday. There also is speculation about the potential retirement of its oldest justice, Stephen Breyer. Some liberal activists have urged Breyer, who is 82 and has served on the court since 1994, to step down so President Joe Biden can appoint a younger liberal jurist to a lifetime post on the court.

In the most notable of Tuesday’s decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously endorsed the authority of Native American tribal police to stop and detain non-Native Americans on tribal land.

The Supreme Court’s nine-month term starts in October and generally concludes by the end of June, though last year it continued into July because of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking during an online event for students on Friday, Breyer hinted at the court’s complex deliberations that go into deciding high-stakes cases at this time of year.

“It’s complicated by the fact that you are dealing with eight other colleagues. … You’d better be willing to compromise,” Breyer said.

RELATED CONTENT: Obamacare Gave More Breast Cancer Survivors Access to Breast Reconstruction

Republican-governed states have asked the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act, a law signed in 2010 by Democratic former President Barack Obama that has helped expand healthcare access in the United States even as Republicans call it a government overreach.

It appears unlikely based on November’s oral arguments that the court would take such a drastic step. But if the Obamacare law were to be struck down, up to 20 million Americans could lose their medical insurance and insurers could once again refuse to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. Obamacare expanded public healthcare programs and created marketplaces for private insurance.

Another major case yet to be decided is one that pits religious rights against LGBT rights as the justices weigh Philadelphia’s refusal to let a Catholic Church-affiliated group participate in the city’s foster care program because it would not accept same-sex couples as prospective foster parents.

The conservative justices appeared during the November arguments in the case to be sympathetic toward the Catholic group’s claim that its religious rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment had been violated. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has taken an expansive view of religious rights and has spearheaded several rulings backing churches in challenges to COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions.

With various states enacting new Republican-backed voting restrictions in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, the court is preparing to rule in a case concerning Arizona voting limits.

Republican proponents of Arizona’s restrictions cite the need to combat voting fraud. A ruling by the Supreme Court upholding the restrictions could further undermine the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

The court also is getting ready to decide a closely watched case involving the free speech rights of public school students. It involves whether a high school that punished a cheerleader for a foul-mouthed social media post made off campus on a weekend violated her free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The court has taken up major cases on gun and abortion rights for its next term, which begins in October.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

Six years after same-sex marriage became legal and a decade after repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” some LGBT Americans are still struggling to get their Social Security and veterans benefits.

It’s a test that President Joe Biden’s administration faces: how to prove its commitment to LGBT equality, including by deciding whether to appeal court rulings extending Social Security death benefits for spouses previously locked out of them or by improving the process for veterans seeking to upgrade dishonorable discharges under DADT to secure more federal services.

The questions display the link between a political issue involving civil liberties and the personal finances of clients. Roughly 3 million LGBT Americans are 50 or older, and one-third live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, according to advocacy group SAGE and the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. The administration’s actions will determine whether older LGBT adults and veterans get benefits that other Americans may take for granted.

Bair Financial Planning

“These are benefits that any other couple, a straight couple, don’t even think about,” says financial advisor Marci Bair of San Diego-based Bair Financial Planning. “They have to put extra cost and energy into securing those benefits that are a right to them.”

Bair and advisor Lauren Sigman of Robertson Stephens’ Denver office warn longtime LGBT couples of the impact to government and employee benefits if they don’t get married. Besides the difficulties with Social Security and veterans benefits, they’re navigating barriers to child custody and tax-advantaged exchanges of property if they divorce, she says.

“We need to have a uniform application of these laws across the country,” Sigman says. “We have civil procedures and we need to be able to have those applied equally to all people… You feel like a second-class citizen, and you are.”

Robertson Stephens

Supporting veterans
An estimated 114,000 veterans dishonorably discharged under DADT before its official end in September 2011 may use some Veterans Affairs Department clinics, but, due to their discharge status, they do not get access to the department’s full healthcare advantages or to other benefits such as home loans, burial services and the GI Bil’s educational support, according to Jennifer Dane, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, the largest LGBTQ military and veteran nonprofit.

Dane’s organization is calling for inclusion of a provision in the next Congressional defense authorization bill to expand VA benefits to the group while praising earlier Biden administration actions lifting the Trump administration’s ban on transgender servicemembers and combating LGBT discrimination. Currently, it takes an average of 2½ years, plus administrative and attorney fees and other costs of $5,000 to $10,000 for veterans to upgrade their discharges, Dane says.

Just 4% of the LGBT veterans have managed to do so since the repeal of the policy, according to Dane. Notwithstanding steps taken by the VA and the Department of Defense, which oversees the discharge review boards of each military branch, to make the process simpler, it poses steep costs and paperwork requirements, she says. States like New York and New Jersey have expanded benefits, and the organization can help LGBT clients find pro bono counsel.

“There’s just an added tax on discrimination,” Dane says. “It’s a financial one but it’s also an emotional impact… It’s a systematic failure, that we’re basically taxing a person for being gay.”

In addition to the difficulty upgrading their discharges, LGBT veterans in general often confront problems with health disparities, barriers to home loans and challenges with pension access for spouses of late veterans who had been with their partners prior to marriage legalization, according to Dane.

In an email response to a Financial Planning inquiry seeking additional data on LGBT veterans whose benefits remain affected by the prior DADT policy, VA spokesman Randal Noller said that the agency “has no jurisdiction on discharges; that’s entirely a Dept. of Defense issue.”

“However, it is important to know that VA stands ready to provide all veterans the benefits they have earned,” Noller said.

Representatives for the Defense Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Social Security benefits
The other crucial issue relating to benefits for LGBT clients before the Biden administration revolves around court decisions last year expanding access to Social Security payments to spouses whose partners died before they were married the requisite nine months and longtime partners who couldn’t legally marry before the 2015 Supreme court ruling.

Class action cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether district rulings in Washington and Arizona to extend benefits to the spouses will stand, notes Peter Renn, counsel in the western regional office of LGBT equality advocacy group Lambda Legal.

“This is supposed to be part of the social safety net, yet there’s been a hole cut out of that net through which many LGBT folks had been falling,” Renn says. “We very much hope that the Biden administration will stand down on those appeals and permit same-sex surviving partners and spouses to have equal access to the same financial protections as everyone else.”

Representatives for the Social Security Administration and the White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Advisors of LGBT clients who could be eligible for membership of the classes in Thornton v. Commissioner Of Social Security and Ely v. Saul can help LGBT clients apply through the Social Security Administration website, according to Naomi Goldberg, deputy director of the Movement Advancement Project, a research nonprofit advocating for LGBT equality.

Besides those two cases, observers are closely watching a case in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit called Rolfingsmeyer v. Office of Personnel Management on the question of whether spouses of federal employees married less than nine months can receive survivor annuities or death benefits, Goldberg notes.

Older LGBT clients are two times as likely as others to be single and living alone, four times less likely to have children and more likely to be living in poverty, homelessness and have poor mental or physical health, the SAGE and National Resource Center stats show.

Furthermore, many have lower Social Security benefits to begin with due to employment discrimination that hindered their careers and earnings, Goldberg says. Advisors could be in a position to help some of the 1 million same-sex couples in the U.S. gain access to benefits.

“This is not a small population,” she says. “Social Security and the survivor benefits are a key part of what retirement looks like for most older Americans.”

Lessons for advisors
Assisting clients with receiving benefits they’re entitled to is a part of financial planning, according to Bair. In 2019, she and fellow advisor Laura LaTourette of the Family Wealth Management Group started a Pride Advisor Business Community for LGBTQ+ Advisors under LPL Financial to connect LGBTQ advisors and allies for collaborative efforts to make practices and the industry more welcoming to all clients and planners.

Advisors should assess whether they’ve gained eligibility for every possible benefit, whether it’s Social Security, veterans services or others, Bair says.

“Don’t make assumptions; make your office a welcoming place,” Bair says. “We can’t really do the work well if we don’t understand our clients and who they love and what’s important to them.”

Favorable court rulings and other advances have come at long last for clients who have in some cases been together for decades without getting the same benefits as straight married couples, says Sigman. It ought to be as simple as ensuring both parties of a business partnership have the same rights under a commercial agreement, she says.

“No one cares whether, frankly, you’re a martian and I’m an earthling,” Sigman says. “So I just never really understood why this was so controversial.”

Topline

A long-shot bill to prohibit any standard besides the American flag from flying at U.S. embassies gained a handful of new Republican cosponsors on Tuesday – the first day of Pride Month.

Key Facts

Tangent

The bill comes the same day Biden signed a proclamation declaring June LGBTQ Pride Month, urging U.S. citizens to “recognize the achievements of the LGBTQ+ community, to celebrate the great diversity of the American people, and to wave their flags of pride high.”

Crucial Quote

Duncan said in a statement that “no other flag or symbol can portray our American values” better than the American flag, while Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), an original cosponsor of the bill, said, “The U.S. Flag is the preeminent symbol of American exceptionalism and should never be used as a prop to promote any agenda or political ideology.”

Chief Critic

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, also a progressive candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022, attempted to defy a ban on “unauthorized flags” at the Pennsylvania State Capitol by flying an LGBT flag at his Capitol office, only to announce hours later it had been taken down. “I can’t say I am surprised, but I am deeply disappointed that the flags were removed, on the literal start of Pride Month,” he said in a statement.

What To Watch For

The bill will likely not even make it onto the House floor – much less pass – given the Democratic majority in the chamber. But, if Republicans take the majority in 2022, the bill could get consideration.