Pride
Hollywood Flashback: Meet Drag King OG Gladys Bentley
Standing proud in tux and top hat, Gladys Bentley was a trailblazing blues singer and pianist who flouted gender conventions long before Janelle Monáe rocked a three-piece suit. At 16, Bentley ran away from her family home in Philadelphia — where her parents, worried about her masculine tendencies, were subjecting her to hormone treatments — […]
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A Lesbian Actress Playing an Anti-Gay, Anti-Trans Superhero on ‘The Boys’? Count Her In!
Valorie Curry has played a lot of characters over the years with whom she had almost nothing in common — a murderous cult member in Fox’s The Following, a paramedic who moonlights for the mob in Amazon’s The Tick, a cryptid researcher in 2016’s Blair Witch sequel — but few have been quite as starkly […]
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Cole Escola’s Twisted History of Mary Todd Lincoln Hits Broadway
The off-Broadway comedic hit Oh, Mary! is moving to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre starting June 26, and, while it’s gaining a bigger platform, Cole Escola, the show’s star and creator, wants to keep the zany hit show pretty much as is. “It’s going to be bigger, better, bolder …” Escola says, before dropping the act. “It’s going […]
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‘The Acolyte’ Creator Doesn’t Believe Her New Star Wars Series Is “Queer With a Capital Q”
In 2019, Leslye Headland, fresh off two Emmy noms as co-creator of Russian Doll, was walking the blue carpet at the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premiere when she was asked if she had any Star Wars ideas of her own. Headland responded that she’s had Star Wars stories in mind since childhood and, […]
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Wayne Brady Brings Pansexuality to Reality TV, Along With His Blended Family
It’s Wayne Brady’s first Pride Month since announcing his pansexual identity in August, but not much feels different for the actor and Let’s Make a Deal host. “I think the only difference is my own visible stamp of myself saying, ‘This is who I am,’ and celebrating this month going forward and every other month […]
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Marlon Wayans on Standing Up to LGBTQ Hate: “The Worst People Now Have a Megaphone” (Exclusive)
Pride Month has an unofficial grand marshal this year: Marlon Wayans. The venerable comedy star (with sojourns into drama — remember Requiem for a Dream?), 51, did not expect to cause a stir when, draped in a rainbow flag, he posted an Instagram tribute to Kai, his gender nonbinary child. In it, he wished his […]
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The Man Who Helps the Stars Come Out
I came of age in my personal and professional life at a time when AIDS, that other pandemic, also came of age. Those were scary times. You couldn’t be your true self back then and if you tried, chances are the virus would find you. Almost everyone I knew during my coming out process are […]
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Who’s Laughing Now? A New Doc Delves Into the History of Queer Comedians
In the making since 2019, Page Hurwitz’s new Netflix documentary, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, taps a throng of queer notables — from Wanda Sykes, Rosie O’Donnell and Lily Tomlin to Joel Kim Booster, Fortune Feimster and Bob the Drag Queen — to show how LGBTQ funny people have left their mark and challenged others’ perceptions […]
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‘Inside Out 2’ Makes Hollywood Debut, Tribeca Festival Takes Over NYC and This Week’s Best Events
Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, Tribeca and Pride. Despicable Me 4 premiere Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Joey King, Chloe Fineman and Miranda Cosgrove walked the red carpet at the New York premiere […]
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Get Ready with Sasha Velour: Behind The Scenes With the ‘We’re Here’ Star for L.A. Pride
“My outfits are always in service of the performance,” We’re Here star Sasha Velour says about how she chooses her attire for a big gig for Pride Month. Ahead of taking the stage at the Los Angeles Pride in the Park concert event on June 8 — headlined by Ricky Martin — the RuPaul’s Drag Race […]
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25 Queer Films That Emerged From the Sundance Film Festival
Many of the most important queer films in cinema history share a birthplace: the Sundance Film Festival. Organized by the Sundance Institute, the legendary annual fest in Park City, Utah, has boasted international and U.S. premiere titles as varied as the groundbreaking New York ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning in 1991, Donna Deitch’s 1985 lesbian […]
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Don Lemon Speaks Out Against Anti-LGBTQ Legislation: “We Cannot and Will Not Be Legislated Out of Existence”
Don Lemon hosted the seventh annual Native Son Awards on Friday in New York City, where he spoke out against all the anti-LGBTQ legislation that has come to light this year, nationwide book bans and how corporations have bowed to extremists. He began by saying that while he may not be at CNN anymore, he’s […]
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