This Trans Waitress Had The Perfect Response To A Child Asking 'Are You A Boy Or A Girl?'

The Internet has fallen in love with a transgender woman who had the perfect response to a child’s question about her gender identity.

While working at her restaurant in Minneapolis, waitress Liv Hnilicka experienced something that can be a common experience for trans or gender-nonconforming individuals — a child wanted to know whether Hnilicka was a boy or a girl.

According to a post on Hnilicka’s Facebook, the girl’s father asked the waitress if she wanted to answer his child’s question, as he “didn’t want to speak for [Hnilicka]” — the perfect response a father could have in this situation.

Her answer to the child’s question — and the child’s subsequent response — are heartwarming, the say the least:

“I heard you asked if I was a boy or girl. I think the important thing to remember is that everyone can be anything they want to be in this world. And it’s also important to try to be the best selves we can be for our family and friends. And even to strangers. So to answer your question, I was told that I was a boy when I was little and now I live my adult life as a girl. It sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty simple. Do you have any questions for me?”

While it may seem like a simple answer and ignore some of the nuances of the spectrum of trans experience, its simplicity exhibits an amazing way to talk about being transgender to a child.

She explained on Facebook:

Bravo, Liv! We could all learn a thing or two from you. 

Hnilicka wanted to include that if readers feel inspired by her story, you can support transgender individuals by donating to Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Transformative Justice Law Program, Minnesota Trans Health Coalition or Broadway Youth Center at Howard Brown.

Also on HuffPost:

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What it’s really like in the Serbian refugee camps

I have been down to see the refugees and migrants here in Belgrade three times now. Each time with a different level of depth and different insights.

Yesterday I shared my experience about meeting a gay refugee from Iraq while here in Serbia. But GSN also wanted me to share the wider picture I had discovered.

What I have seen has surprised me. What I have seen has left me more informed. What I write here is based on my own eyes, my own contact, my own conversations.

Serbia has many refugees and migrants. In volume it is a flood of people. Many are genuinely fleeing war and conflict: I have met Syrians, Egyptians, Eritreans, Iraqis and Afghanis. But this is a diaspora of the near Middle East and North Africa – all seeking a better life, free from tyranny, free from threats and free from oppression.

Everyone asks why there are so many young men? And they are young, typically between the ages of 13 to 35, I would say.

I now know that for many the money to flee was raised by their families and they were pushed to go – as they are seen as having the best hope of getting work and setting up home.

They are the first stage of getting their families out and making home for women and children who can follow later. Some have already lost everything and are alone in the world. Others have family scattered across the world.

Some ask why don’t they stay and fight? The simple truth is their parents, their families have begged them to get out and to see if somewhere in the world will take them and let them be the people they were born to be.

I met one person whose father had been a live-in home help to a British family for many years in Egypt. He had tended the English graves in lower Egypt. Now persecution and threats against Egyptian Christians has forced his family to leave.

They have no contacts in England as the family they worked for had lived and died in Egypt during the end of our colonial era. If you are British, like me, perhaps we might reflect on our own legacy around the world and remember why we are a destination of dreams, of choice and why people risk everything to get to Britain.

But back to Serbia and the temporary camp in Belgrade. Tents have been provided by residents and by the Serbian Army. You share a tent with your fellow travellers, at least four to a tent. They are cramped and tight spaces.

NGO and resident groups have been providing some food, there is invariably an ambulance and a small medical team to provide help and guidance and a check-up. The water fountains are running and portable toilets have been provided.

These people have not been sidelined to the fringes of the city, this is next to the main bus station and railway terminus here in city center.

It is fairly depressing, it is not as clean as it should be, but I felt no fear as I walked through and spoke to people.

What is upsetting is how directionless the young people are. They don’t speak easily, they are nervous, I sense their trust is shattered. They may be in groups but they are not close to those they are traveling with. They have been thrown together merely by the shared endeavor of ‘getting out’.

I would not have the courage to set out on the journey they have done, unless driven by fear or extreme need. I would not wish anyone to live as they do.

They do not know where they are going or what lies ahead and many are losing hope and frankly don’t care.

On the up-side the Serbian government, not known for its compassion, has handled this situation well with direct facilities and assistance for the people themselves.

I wonder if others further west would do the same. I’m sure in the UK we would be calculating the cost of the tents, the toilets, the healthcare and complaining about the state of the camp rather than understanding the journey, the trauma and addressing the future.

The Balkans does not have a strong economy, getting a job is not easy and while in Serbia they know they are not in the EU and that is a direct ambition of most of these people.

Refugees or migrants? Well whilst the troubles in the Middle East and across North Africa are as they are, I find myself thinking who cares? And to those who say they are young healthy men, they should have stayed and worked and fought, then come with me next time.

I have looked, visited and cried far too often over the last few days to take the tabloid nonsense about these people. If you are complaining about this wave or migrants and what they may mean to you, then understand their story. Ask if you would you put your son through this in order to escape and give some hope to your family and your future?

Ed Fordham is a campaigner for the Liberal Democrats in the UK and for LGBTI rights.

The post What it’s really like in the Serbian refugee camps appeared first on Gay Star News.

Ed Fordham

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Celebrating Bisexuality Day

Today, HRC celebrates Bisexual Awareness Week and marks Celebrate Bisexuality Day.
HRC.org

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Here’s Our RECAP of the SCREAM QUEENS Premiere Everyone is Talking About

[SPOILERS]

Last night was the debut of Scream Queens, a new horror-comedy series from Ryan Murphy. The man who brought us Glee, American Horror Story and other beloved shows is taking a stab at blending the highly-stylized vision of Coven with the murderous mysteries of Asylum and sort of acid-tongued barbs that one might expect to come spewing out of Sue Sylvester’s mouth.

Your enjoyment of Scream Queens depends largely on your tolerance for Murphy’s schtick. You’ll need a high threshold for camp and enough power to suspend loads of disbelief. Scream Queens is, frankly, the Ryan Murphy-est thing Ryan Murphy has done so far.

Working with a mix of some of his favorite actors (Emma Roberts, Lea Michele) and new faces (Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Jamie Lee Curtis), Murphy (along with frequent collaborators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan) is bringing to life a slasher with a sense of humor. A Red Devil is terrorizing the fictional Wallace Univeristy campus and appears to be targeting the wicked Kappa Kappa Tau sorority.

In typical Murphy fashion, there’s a ton going on, so we’re here to recap the thrills and chills each week. As someone who has spent a lot of time watching hazing-themed videos online (wink), I feel I am uniquely suited to this task.

It’s a double episode tonight, so we’ve got plenty to discuss. Without further delay, let’s dive in to a super-sized recap.

We begin our story, 20 years ago in 1995. Yes, 1995 was 20 years ago. Let that just set in for a hot minute. Already scary, right?

The ladies at Kappa Kappa Tau are throwing a big ol’ bash, when it comes to the attention of the sorority president that one of the girls has up and given birth upstairs in the clawfoot tub of their finely appointed sorority house. The pres is disgusted by this development, plus, TLC’s “Waterfalls” is on, and that’s her jam! She and her sisters head back down to the party, leaving the new mommy chilling in the tub with a friend. When the pres and her flock return to the bathroom, the new mommy is dead and her friend is seriously shaken. That baby though? Totally still alive and very, very important, so pay attention.

Fast forward 20 years to today, where Kappa Kappa Tau is being ruled with an iron resting bitch face by Chanel (Emma Roberts). This HBIC is like a WASPY-er version of the character Roberts played on Coven. She’s 100 percent attitude and acerbic one-liners and also capes and pumpkin spice lattes, and I know I’m not supposed to, but I sort of love her. She’s got what Janice Ian (the character from Mean Girls, not the singer-songwriter) would call an “army of skanks” comprised of ditzy Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande), the inexplicably ear-muffed Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) and the high-strung Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin). Chanel Prime has a lot to deal with already, as the new dean has requested a meeting.

Dean Munsch (played by true scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, in a role that could easily be parlayed into a career resurgence, a la Jessica Lange) has got it out for the KKT gals. Since ascending to power following the death of her predecessor, Munsch is determined to bring down Chanel and her sisters. She even brings up an incident last year, wherein the former KKT president was killed when someone slipped hydrochloric acid into her spray tan after she berated Chanel. Suspect!

But before Munsch can revoke KKT’s charter and shut them down, Kappa Kappa Tau national president Gigi Caldwell (Nasim Pedrad) shows up to make the save. Gigi, you see, is stuck in the ‘90s, because something traumatic happened to her then and froze her psyche. (My money? She’s the friend of the dead new mom from 1995.)

Meanwhile, our last-girl-standing is en route to campus. Her name is Grace (Skyler Samuels) and she’s just, like, you know, a normal girl. You know she’s a normal girl because she wears floppy hats. This is not the first time Ryan Murphy told us a character is just like, you know, normal by putting them in stupid hats.) She’s driving to campus with her dad (Oliver Hudson) and they’re listening to the PLAYLIST he made about Grace going to college. He’s very into playlists, you guys. Like, they have a very specific conversation about playlists and how he makes them and that is a thing you should know about him. Get it? Grace’s dad. Playlists. Don’t forget.

You also should know that Grace’s mom died when she was young and her mom was in a sorority and now Grace wants to join a sorority because plot to feel close to her. “Don’t do it!” her dad pleads, but, nope, she’s gonna do it anyway. Kids, right?

She’s also dragging her roommate Zayday (Keke Palmer) along for the ride. The two show up at the sorority house with a bunch of other potential new pledges, only to learn that Dean Munsch and Gigi have decided that since tolerance and global community are so hot right now, they’ll open up KKT membership to anyone who wants to join.

Without the ability to tout its exclusivity, most of the girls flee the house, leaving behind a motley crew of remaining potential pledges, including Grace, Zayday, Hester “Neckbrace” Ulrich (Michele), and a few others I bet we shouldn’t get too attached to (like a candle vlogger, a deaf Taylor Swift fan and a very butch lesbian).

This upsets Chanel Prime to no end, so she runs off to her main slam piece and all-around big man on campus, Chad Radwell (Glen Powell). Surprise! He doesn’t really care about her problems, and he can’t be wasting his time on some president of a loser sorority. Then, despite her pleading, Chad’s right-hand man, Boone (Nick Jonas), steps in to underscore just how wonderful Chad is. To be honest though, it’s kind of hard to follow what he’s saying when I can’t stop looking at his arms in that polo.

New plan! Chanel takes the housemaid Ms. Bean (Jan Hoag) out to coffee. After berating her barista, Pete (Diego Boneta), for not making her pumpkin spice latte to her exact specifications, she reveals a plan to pretend to dunk Ms. Bean’s head in the deep fryer (you know, the deep fryer that all highly-competitive sororities full of perfect looking skinny girls has) to scare the new pledges away. But! The fryer won’t be on. It’ll just be pretend. So fun!

Also in the coffeeshop is Grace, who, duh, just wants normal, everyday, regular coffee, because she’s just like, a normal girl, you know? She and Pete make some flirty-flirty, and he reveals that he’s only a barista by day, but by night he’s an investigative reporter for the school paper, which is definitely not a thing. It’s not like campus papers have a Spotlight team, let’s be real. Slow your roll there, kiddo. He starts to warn her to stay away from Kappa Kappa Tau, but then it’s revealed by Chanel that he was like obsessed with her last year and she had to get a restraining order. Suspect!

Flash forward to that evening and the Chanels tell Chanel Prime that Ms. Bean has put up a murder collage of Chanel in her quarters featuring pictures of Chanel with the eyes crossed out and stuff like that. Real menacing. Chanel marches down to the kitchen with all the pledges in tow to teach them a lesson in demanding respect. Then, she goes to dunk Ms. Bean’s head in the fryer, which, SURPRISE!, is not off like it was supposed to be, so Ms. Bean’s face gets all extra crispy original recipe and then peels off. Gross. Then she is dead. R.I.P., Ms. Bean. I hope you’re enjoying that pumpkin spice latte in the sky.

The girls panic, obviously, but Chanel Prime realizes quickly that all the girls are now implicated, and if any of them try to snitch, the sisters will circle the wagons and pin the whole thing on the stool pigeon. Not exactly the finest logic, but sure. It’s enough to convince the new pledges to go along with this. They roll up the body and carry it down to a walk-in freezer.

Elsewhere on campus, the dean is schtupping Chad. Their post-coital mutual exposition reveals that Chad’s got some serious mommy issues (watch out later this season for Chad’s mother to be played by the incredible Julia Duffy, who crushed it as Patrick’s mom on Looking). We also learn that the dean is a former radical feminist who’s confronting what it means now that she’s become the symbol of authority. I don’t know, she gets to be boss, smoke joints and bang hot college dudes, so I think she’s got it pretty well figured out, no?

Having failed to get the girls to bring in the authorities, Grace turns to Pete, and the two agree to work together to bring down Kappa. Pete tells her he saw them move the body, and they should go check it out. Except, TWIST!, when they get there, the body is already gone. And right behind them are Chanel Prime and Chad, the latter of whom is all kinds of turned on by the idea of a dead body. Ew.

Chanel Prime is rightfully fully-freaked by all this and rallies the other Chanels together to take a blood oath to keep all this secret. It’s too much for #2, who decides she’s calling her mom and going home. As she packs, she gets a text message from an unknown number, and thus begins one of the best scenes of the whole evening.

The text asks if she’s brave enough to open the door, which she does, only to reveal a very brightly colored Red Devil. He comes in, asks her if she wants to “dance with the devil” (a phrase the last KKT pres used before that whole spray tan incident). Then he texts her that he’s going to kill her, to which she responds back via text “Wait whaaaaaaat?!?!?” Then he stabs her, but she manages to fight back long enough to fire off a tweet asking for help. The whole thing plays out without any shrieking or audibly calling for help; just texting and tweeting. You know, because millennials. It’s one of the night’s most inspired sequences, and, honestly, a mercifully short stay from Ariana Grande who, bless her heart, seemed dizzyingly in over her high-pony here, acting-wise. R.I.P., Chanel #2. I’ll miss your go-go boots the most!

The remaining Chanels (Chanel Prime, Chanels #3 and #5) get the new pledges ready for some good old-fashioned hazing, except Grace is NOT having it. So Chanel Prime offers to take her out for coffee, while her other minions have the rest of pledges buried in the lawn up to their chins. It’s all fun and games, until the Red Devil appears, revs up his ride-on mower and plows right over the deaf Taylor Swift fan’s head. Yikes. (Also, whew. That character was one-note and an unnecessarily cruel target, even for this show.) R.I.P., Tiffany (Whitney Meyer). I’m glad you’re not here long enough for the show to inflict further insult on the deaf community!

Well, the secret’s out now, so Wallace University’s campus is flooded with reporters and investigators. That means the pressure’s on to get rid of Chanel #2’s body. Luckily, Hester knows all kinds of ways to get rid of a body, because she is a complete weirdo. She helps the Chanels move the body to the freezer of no return, starts to call them all “mom” and mumbles a bunch of mumbo jumbo about souls trapped in the body.

Gigi has hired Denise Hemphill (Niece Nash) as a private security detail to keep watch on the house. Denise does not have a gun, but she does a walkie-talkie, if you need help. Sure this kind of private security is essentially useless against a crazed murderer, but, I must say, Denise is exceptionally competent at being useless. More Denise, please!

Grace’s dad is all up in arms about the beheading at his daughter’s campus, so he visits the dean. Munsch convinces him not to worry (all the while trying to seduce him), but he’s only satisfied after telling her that he is a professor (convenient!) and he would like a job on campus, so he could be closer to his daughter. Totally cool. Very normal thing that happens.

Pete and Grace have been keeping themselves pretty busy. They’ve figured out that they need to break into the dean’s office and into the creepy basement nook at the KKT house to look for more clues. Grace busts into the secret nook and finds all kinds of relics relating to the baby-mama death in 1995. There’s the bath tub and, what’s this? Oh, it’s the track listing to a playlist for the party? A PLAYLIST? Did I hear you say playlist? Playlist.

She’s surprised by Chanel Prime, who catches her in the act and adds a little more background about how the 1995 death of the new mother was covered up by Ms. Bean AND Munsch. Whoa.

Then, just in case you weren’t already thinking it, Grace wonders aloud to no one in particular whatever happened to the baby. She didn’t exactly immediately wink into the camera after that, but, you know, she might as well have.

Chanel is keeping herself occupied by bonking Chad, which is getting harder to focus on when he keeps saying weird things about choking her and having sex with corpses. She’s already too distraught and he’s not being supportive. So she breaks up with him and sends him home.

He returns to his room and climbs into his twin bed, beside his buddy Boone, who is lying awake in his own bed. Boone asks if he can climb into Chad’s bed with him, and Chad reminds him that last time he asked to climb into bed with him, Boone tried to touch his wiener. That’s right, Boone’s a gay. And thus, the Nick Jonas Gaybaiting Express continues to chug along. (Not that we are complaining. At all.) Boone swears he’s not going to try to touch him again, and Chad agrees to let him in the bed. Excuse me while I just take a minute to fan myself for a moment.

This is of course when Chanel comes back around to take Chad back, only to find him in bed with Boone and Boone sporting a huge “broner.” Chad tries to explain, claiming “Everyone loves me — men, women, animals at the zoo, plants probably.” Then she tries to make up, and he breaks up with her.

Across campus, Pete has a little success in the dean’s office, finding a file folder with a list of names, before getting bopped on the head by the Red Devil. He wakes up the next morning hung up outside with a sign taped to him that says “MYOB” which is apparently short for “Mind Your Own Business,” because millennials.

He and Grace rendezvous back in his room, where she finds the Red Devil costume in his closet. He tries to explain that it’s the school mascot costume, which is a weird detail to just now reveal in the episode, but, sure, whatever. Then she grills him about when he was born, which, surprise!, aligns with exactly how old the baby born at that 1995 KKT party would be today. Then he says “I thought you were the one person in this school who thought I was a good guy,” which is exactly the kind of RED FLAG good guys don’t ever need to say. Grace has had enough, so she bolts.

The Chanels are all drinking their pumpkin spice lattes, when Boone approaches. He tells Chanel Prime that he wants to come out on his own terms, and he wants to be the first gay guy to pledge Kappa Kappa Tau. They DO have to take everyone now, remember? Chanel Prime thinks this is a great way to boost her cred with the all the gays that will serve her throughout her career, but Chanel #5 is not having it. She’s aggressively against the idea, almost to like Kim Davis-level. It’s like, alright already, just do your job, amiright? #topical

Later that night, Denise is posted outside, and she’s visited by her friend Shondell, who snuck away from her post at the Best Buy parking lot. As she describes in hands-down the best line of the night: “Not one bad thing has ever happened in a Best Buy parking lot.”

Inside, the girls are watching a mysterious car parked outside, which Grace reveals is her nosy dad being overprotective. Gigi volunteers to go out and talk to him, only to realize that he’s playing a series of songs that are all-male power ballads from 1995. Almost like a curated list of songs that he’s playing. Like some kind of play-list. PLAYLIST.

The two get flirty-flirty, and it actually makes a lot of sense for them to hook up, because she loves cheesy, ’90s-style alt rock and he’s got a whole Rufus from Gossip Girl thing going on. They drive off together to probably makeout and listen to Eve 6, or whatever.

The girls inside get a scare when Chanel Prime comes running down shrieking that she was attacked by the Red Devil upstairs, but managed to escape. Denise runs in to see what the commotion is all about, but once the girls decide they should go back upstairs to catch the killer, Denise drops some common sense on them like “No way, that is crazy. You dumb girls are so stupid.” All of which is true. She offers to stay downstairs while the girls go upstairs to find a message scrawled on the walls that just says “SLUTS WILL DIE.”

Denise goes back to meet Shondell in the car, only to find her stabbed through the neck. Screaming and panicking, Denise tosses Shondell’s lifeless body out of the car and speeds off.

Now, bless you, Ryan Murphy, for making the next stop on the Nick Jonas Gaybaiting Express an extended shirtless workout montage. Thank you, thank you, thank you. After a few gratuitous shots of Boone pumping iron, he’s confronted by the Red Devil, which he faces with a fair amount of nonchalance.

Flash to a splayed out Boone in his briefs, surrounded by candles with his throat slit. R.I.P., Boone. Thanks for giving me so many reasons to keep this episode forever on my DVR for easy access!

Wait just a minute, though. Because we go to the morgue to see the Red Devil remove Boone’s body from a drawer, only to have Boone end up being very much alive and wearing only a fake gash across his throat.

As Chanel #2 (R.I.P.) might say: Wait, whaaaaaaat?!?!?

I know applying logic to a Ryan Murphy show is a sure way to drive myself completely insane, but I’m particularly dumbstruck by how this last twist could conceivably be carried out in reality. If Boone was faking it, how did he get to the morgue? He fooled not only the frat bros that found him, but, presumably, cops, a medical examiner, and a coroner who all couldn’t tell he wasn’t actually dead? Seems like a mighty big leap of logic.

OK, fine, sure, whatever, but what do you guys make of the rest of the bunch? Who’s behind that mask? If I had to make guesses now, I’d say that Gigi is the friend from the 1995 party who stayed with the new mom and the baby, and clearly Grace’s dad was there, because PLAYLISTS. I’m not sure I buy Pete as the baby or the killer, because it just seems too early and too obvious.

What do you guys think? Did you enjoy the premiere? Who do you think is terrorizing Kappa Kappa Tau?

The post Here’s Our RECAP of the SCREAM QUEENS Premiere Everyone is Talking About appeared first on Towleroad.

Bobby Hankinson

Here’s Our RECAP of the SCREAM QUEENS Premiere Everyone is Talking About

Gay marriage law will be coming to the Jersey states

A same-sex marriage will be coming to Jersey states after being approved by the island’s government.

The self-governing British crown-controlled islands off the coast of France will vote on the draft legislation by January 2017.

England, Wales and Scotland already allow same-sex couples to marry, while there are currently no plans for it in Northern Ireland.

The legislation will put forward two types of marriage, civil and religious, as well as retaining civil partnerships alongside other changes to the marriage law.

If legalized, religious groups will be able to opt out of blessing same-sex marriages.

Christian May, chairman of equal rights campaign group Liberate, told the BBC: ‘We’re not trying to erode marriage in any way, we’re trying to bolster it by offering it to all people who are in love.’

The post Gay marriage law will be coming to the Jersey states appeared first on Gay Star News.

Joe Morgan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-marriage-law-will-be-coming-to-the-jersey-states/

Roland Emmerich Thinks You Won’t Hate “Stonewall” Once You Actually See It

Director Roland Emmerich

Roland Emmerich is very aware of the controversy behind his upcoming film Stonewall, but still isn’t above stoking said controversy with a few quotes that will get tongues wagging this week.

His retelling of the events that led to the historic Christopher Street riots and what many people consider the birth of the modern queer rights movement will open in select theaters September 25.

Queerty sat down with the out director, best-known for his end-of-civilization blockbusters, at the real-life Stonewall Inn in the heart of New York City’s West Village and talked about his partial self-financing of the movie, his “straight-acting” lead character and the intense criticism of the film based off of the aforementioned trailer.

Queerty: Why did you decide to tell the story through the lens of a fictional character?  

Roland Emmerich: I think maybe because I needed a character I could somewhat identify with.  Secondly, around the time that I decided to do Stonewall I started getting involved with the Gay & Lesbian Center and their homeless youth program, and I started realizing how hard it is for kids in the countryside to come out. They get thrown out. I met a guy who was a young kid from Kansas, and I asked him what it was like growing up in Kansas, and he told me a story of how his father was a football coach in high school and he had a secret affair with the quarterback.  I asked him ‘what would’ve happened if he’d found out?’ and the kid said, ‘well it would’ve been really bad.’ That’s what made it click for me and helped me to understand. You know, when I [figured out that] I was gay, I was terrified, absolutely terrified. I also grew up in the countryside and have the nicest parents, it was all great, but I was still a lonely and terrified kid. That’s what made it work for me. It’s fictional. It’s not this kid from Kansas, it’s not me, but it’s a character that I can sympathize with.

Do you think that this is an important movie for LGBT youth to see?

If they have the money. [Laughs] Well, you know we will probably make a screening for them anyway in Los Angeles, but I would love to see…I think for them it’s not as important as it is for some parents to see it. It’s always like important that a lot of straight people see it too, because it is because of them that we still have more problems being accepted.

Related: Stonewall Writer Jon Robin Baitz Tries To Calm Down Angry LGBT Folks Who Haven’t Yet Seen The Film

Jeremy Irvine as Danny

In one of the press notes you described the character of Danny as “straight-acting,”  so I wanted to clarify that that’s true…

Well, Danny is a catalyst character, so you want to have him as sympathetic and in the norm as possible.  Because everybody who sees the film can identify with a character like that.  Maybe some people less, but the majority can identify.  You send the character on a rollercoaster with people and other characters who are exactly the opposite of him.  It’s also about acceptance and what you accept.  In the beginning there’s this crazy character Queen Tooey who at the beginning he doesn’t accept, and then at the end he has a beer with this person.  And, it’s acceptance.  [Danny] had to overcome his own prejudices.

Jonny Beauchamp as Ray/Ramona and Vladimir Alexis as Cong

This movie has been a target of a lot of criticism sight-unseen.  What would you say to those critics?

That they should go see the movie.  I mean, they have like three transgender characters in the film. One of them [Ray/Ramona, played by Jonny Beauchamp] is pretty much, together with Danny, the lead. I was pretty shocked by the whole thing.  I was saying, “You know this was a trailer that they reacted to.” I mean, do you want to see everything that a movie has to offer in the trailer?  No, you want to get the people interested, but not give everything away.

Why did the reaction shock you?

Just because I know what movie I made.  I think everybody that was involved in making the film was shocked.  There was just a screening in Toronto and a lot of the people who worked on the film came down from Montreal, and the first thing they said was, “Well what’s going on?’ I mean, I don’t know. There is the perception that because of my other films that this is a “Hollywood” movie, but it’s a totally independent movie. It’s as little “Hollywood” as you can get.

Speaking of the independent nature of the movie, $17 million is a hefty price tag for such an explicitly LGBT-themed movie.

Well, don’t forget that we shot this movie in Canada where you get a tax rebate of $3-4 million, so in cash it was probably $12-13 million.

And you invested some of your own money into this, correct?

Yes.

One of the first rules of producing is never to use your own money.

Oh, yes, absolutely! [Laughs] They tell you “Don’t do it, don’t do it!” Talk to my business manager, he thinks I’m an idiot!

So why did you do it?

Why not?  I always say well even if I lose it, why not?  I mean, I make a lot of money with my other films, and I’m just thinking this is a way to give back.

Otoja Abit as Marsha P. Johnson

The trailer was intensely criticized, and there have been some pretty harsh reviews so far.  In retrospect, is there anything that you would do differently?

No, not really. I think it’s my personal way of how I choose to tell the story. I know because of testing that the movie is liked by the audience. We tested it thoroughly. It’s also a little bit because I do all these other movies [that] I get more harshly criticized than other directors. If there was another name on this or another director, this would not happen.  So, I see it as like…whenever I screen it for a big audience, they like it. And that’s my job.

As an openly gay director do you feel the responsibility to tell more LGBT stories in the future?

Absolutely.

Are there any you have in mind?

Not right now, but they will come to me.  Right now, I’m finishing the other film I just shot.

Since you’re primarily known as a big action movie director, will we be seeing any LGBT characters in your future films?

There is a gay couple in the next Independence Day.

There is a gay couple in the next Independence Day?

Yep.

What can you tell us about them?

Nothing! [Laughs] It’s actually one of the big surprises of the film.

Rob Smith is a multimedia journalist and author of Closets, Combat and Coming Out: Coming of Age as a Gay Man in the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Army. He lives in New York City.

Watch the film’s trailer below.

Rob Smith

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/zNHrga1XNyM/roland-emmerich-thinks-you-wont-hate-stonewall-once-you-actually-see-it-20150923

29 Sinfully Fun Parade Photos at Las Vegas Pride

www.advocate.com/pride/2015/9/23/29-sinfully-fun-parade-photos-las-vegas-pride

Stonewall director: ‘Straight-acting’ white hero appeals to wider audience

Roland Emmerich has said he made the Stonewall film about a fictional straight-acting white man, Danny, to appeal to a wider audience.

Since the trailer was released last month, the the openly gay director has been criticized for whitewashing and erasing the drag queens and transgender women of color who started the 1969 riots.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last week and had a 3.6/10 rating on IMDB and 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing.

One particularly scathing review in Vanity Fair said ‘Stonewall is terribly offensive, and offensively terrible.’

‘Turns out, Stonewall is perhaps even worse than some feared it would be – more offensive, more white-washed, even more hackishly made,’ reviewer Richard Lawson wrote.

‘What this really is, I think, is the filmmakers tending to their personal preferences and prejudices, and then blaming the system. Darn it, this is how it has to be, because that’s how the world is,’ he continued.

‘We simply must redirect as much history as possible through a white, bizarrely heteronormative lens, or else, the thinking goes, no one will care. People like Emmerich throw up their hands at this supposed inevitability and say, “That’s just the way it is.”‘

And that’s exactly how he did respond in an interview with Buzzfeed.

‘Some people warned me,’ Emmerich said. ‘But I said, “Well, you know, so be it.”‘

‘You have to understand one thing: I didn’t make this movie only for gay people, I made it also for straight people,’ he continued.

‘I kind of found out, in the testing process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy in. Danny’s very straight-acting. He gets mistreated because of that. [Straight audiences] can feel for him.’

He added: ‘As a director you have to put yourself in your movies, and I’m white and gay.’

Stonewall hits US theaters on Friday (25 September).

Watch the trailer below:

The post Stonewall director: ‘Straight-acting’ white hero appeals to wider audience appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/stonewall-director-straight-acting-white-hero-appeals-to-wider-audience/

Meet the Florida Christian baker who has absolutely no problem selling you a gay wedding cake

A Sarasota, Florida Christian baker has made headlines because he refuses to let his faith get in the way of doing his job and his refusal to judge his customers over their sexual orientation.

Cakes by Ron owner Ron Zammit has been baking wedding cakes in Florida for 27 years and when same-sex marriage became legal in the state in January he saw no reason to change the way he operates his business.

Zammit says his personal faith tells him that marriage is between a man and a woman but that is no reason for him to turn a customer away.

‘I don’t believe that I should judge them for being gay as well as judging someone for being a certain religion. That’s not for me to do,’ Zammit told ABC7 WWSB earlier this week.

‘It doesn’t bother me one bit or another. It’s a wedding cake, and if they feel like they love each other and want to get married, more power to them.

‘As Christians, I think that we should be kindhearted and show the love of God to people, not to be judging what they’re doing.’

Zammit says that he estimates he has baked cakes for between 20 and 30 gay weddings and believes that it has only been a good thing for his business.

‘If it’s a gay couple’s wedding, it makes others comfortable to know they would be accepted to come into a business like this and order a cake together,’ Zammit said.

Sarasota Pride chair Cindy Barnes says she is proud of her local community and is yet to hear of any local businesses discriminating against gay couples who are getting married.

‘We have not had one report of someone refusing service to anyone,’ Barnes said.

‘We are very fortunate to live in a city where they are behind us, supported us from day one, and were right with us when gay marriages were passed.’

You can watch a news report on the story below

The post Meet the Florida Christian baker who has absolutely no problem selling you a gay wedding cake appeared first on Gay Star News.

Andrew Potts

www.gaystarnews.com/article/meet-the-florida-christian-baker-who-has-absolutely-no-problem-selling-you-a-gay-wedding-cake/

Kim Davis is the subject of new lesbian erotic novella

An erotic novella loosely based on the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses is now available as an Kindle ebook.

Kim Goes To Jail: An Erotic Story is billed as a ‘timely tale of faith, prejudice, incarceration, danger and sexual discovery.’

‘Kim is a simple, small-town woman who finds herself thrown in jail in a dispute over religion and sexuality,’ the book’s Amazon description says.

‘She quickly discovers the importance of knowing friend from foe in the notoriously horny women’s wing and, with the help of her beautiful cellmate, sets out to learn the ropes.’

In one of the more safe-for-work scenes, the character narrates:

‘One day I’m standin’ on the side of the Lord against sexual perversion, and the next I’m in prison orange watchin’ a buck nekkid mulatto vixen ’bout to do impure things to herself and to my soul in one single, terrifyin’ act.’

Author Lilith St Augustine told the Huffington Post that she wanted to give ‘readers satisfaction not only with obvious pleasure but also in seeing a character do things that would be looked at as wrong to the kind of people we’re talking about.’

‘There can be pleasure in irony,’ she said. ‘Hopefully readers will get a chuckle or two while we’re at it.’

The post Kim Davis is the subject of new lesbian erotic novella appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kim-davis-is-the-subject-of-new-lesbian-erotic-novella/