Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato Cancel North Carolina Shows Over HB 2

Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato have cancelled their upcoming shows in North Carolina in protest against HB 2, the state’s newly passed anti-LGBT law.

Other artists including Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Cirque du Soleil, Boston, Pearl Jam, Blue Man Group have also cancelled shows in the Tar Heel State because of HB 2.

Jonas posted the news on his Facebook timeline on Monday afternoon. Writing “#RepealHB2”, Jonas posted the below note.

Lovato posted the same note on Twitter.

Democratic lawmakers in North Carolina on Monday introduced a bill that if passed would repeal HB 2.

The post Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato Cancel North Carolina Shows Over HB 2 appeared first on Towleroad.

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The Newest Opponents Of North Carolina’s Anti-Transgender Law: Faith Groups

“We will not tolerate on our campus discrimination against any child of God, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The post The Newest Opponents Of North Carolina’s Anti-Transgender Law: Faith Groups appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/04/25/3772581/faith-opposition-hb2/

Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas cancel NC tour dates over anti-LGBT law

www.glaad.org/blog/demi-lovato-and-nick-jonas-cancel-nc-tour-dates-over-anti-lgbt-law

180,000 Signatures On Petition Demanding Repeal of North Carolina HB2 (Video)

www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/4/25/180000-signatures-petition-demanding-repeal-north-carolina-hb2-video

Harvey Fierstein to reprise role of Edna Turnblad for NBC’s live production of Hairspray

Harvey Fierstein is stepping back into the drab housedress of Edna Turnblad for NBC’s Hairspray Live!

It’s a role he’s very familiar with since he played it on Broadway and won a Tony Award for his performance as the reclusive mother of a curvaceous young woman who challenges prejudices in 1960s Baltimore after winning a spot on a local dance show.

The role of Edna has traditionally been played by a man in previous incarnations of Hairspray on stage and screen.

Divine played the role in the original 1988 John Waters film opposite Rikki Lake as the daughter, Tracy.

Then in 2007, John Travolta was Edna in a hugely successful musical remake in which Nikki Blonsky played Tracy.

Fierstein starred in the 2002 Broadway production and won a Tony Award for best lead actor in a musical. Bruce Vilanch is among the actors who have also played Edna on stage.

Although Tracy has yet to be cast – the tradition has been for the role to go to an unknown – it was also announced Monday (25 April) that Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has been added to the cast as Motormouth Maybelle, the owner of a local record store, who was portrayed on the big screen by Ruth Brown (1988) and Queen Latifah (2007).

‘Harvey Fierstein created the role of Edna Turnblad on Broadway in an indelible Tony-winning performance that demanded to be memorialized on film, and we’re happy he wanted to step into her shoes one last, unforgettable time,’ NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a statment.

‘We’re also so grateful that the incomparable Jennifer Hudson will play Motormouth Maybelle and we know her rendition of I Know Where I’ve Been will literally stop the show.’

Hudson, currently starting on Broadway in The Color Purple, is no stranger to show- stopping musical numbers. Her powerful rendition of I’m Telling You I’m Not Going is considered the high point of her Oscar winning performance in the feature film version of Dreamgirls.

The TV musical, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, will be directed by Alex Rudzinski who received great acclaim earlier this year for Grease Live!

The show will air on NBC on 7 December as part of the network’s tradition of doing a love musical during the holiday season.

It follows live productions of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan and The Wiz.

The post Harvey Fierstein to reprise role of Edna Turnblad for NBC’s live production of Hairspray appeared first on Gay Star News.

www.gaystarnews.com/article/harvey-fierstein-reprise-hairspray-role-edna-nbcs-live-production-musical/

RuPaul’s Drag Race Has Sort Of Killed Drag For Queens Who Are Not On The Show

It’s no secret that RuPaul’s Drag Race has seriously changed the drag scene since it premiered eight years ago. If you’re a drag queen today, or you know somebody who is, the pinnacle of success seems to be getting on the show, being put in front of a large drag-loving audience and then traveling the world to show them your act. But for the queens who haven’t yet made it on the show? The struggle is real.

Related: Latrice Royale, Mimi Imfurst and Coco Peru Discuss The Impact ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Has Had On Drag Entertainment

**SPOILER ALERT** RuPaul‘s Drag Race season 8 fan favorite, Thorgy Thor, talked with us after her recent elimination and shared her take on how the show has changed the drag scene. As a queen who started doing drag before the show started, she has been around long enough to see how drag has changed.

There is so much to this interview that make it worth a full read, but Thorgy’s thoughts on how the show has changed the scene can be summed up with this quote: “The goal now is to get on TV so more people see you, and it just so happens to be RuPaul’s Drag Race has sort of killed drag for queens who are not on the show. I’ve heard this over and over, and felt it for seven years.”

Before you jump to conclusions, please read the full interview below. Thorgy breaks things down in a way that is easily digestible and is not meant to be an attack on RuPaul or the show. Enjoy!

Queerty: Hi Thorgy, how have you been since your elimination?

Thorgy: Good. Busy. I had been doing a viewing party in Brooklyn every single Monday and I knew I was getting eliminated this week, so I just had to have the balls to show up and watch it with everybody, and I did. I got received very well and everyone was screaming.

You were one of the fan favorites this season and I’ve seen some pretty angry responses online since you were eliminated. It’s sad to see fans redirect their anger at other queens still in the competition. How do you feel about fans getting angry at Chi Chi DeVayne and Derrick Barry over your elimination?

Oh, is that’s what’s happening? You’re literally the first person to mention it. I didn’t know fans are really hating on Derrick and Chi Chi. I wish they would stop. I wish they would stop hating and stop directing outward toward any of them.

Every character is like a Pokemon… we’re doing our own thing and then we’re pinned against each other in this really intense, horrible competition, which is just like RAAAA! [laughs] We’re just trying to show off our individuality and I think we’ve all done that, so stop hating everybody.

Everyone likes to find their favorite and then shit on everyone else. There’s nothing fun about that.

You were a fan favorite this season, so when you got eliminated, I was definitely shocked.

Yeah, it was a little crappy to watch. It was like UGH. Honestly, when I saw the episode, it was a weight off of my shoulders to be honest. I knew it the whole time when I got back. I didn’t win. Everyone the whole time was like, “You’re my favorite. You’re gonna win. You’re top three. I’m gonna jump off a bridge if you don’t win.” So I was just like, “Oh, thank you,” knowing how well I did. [laughs] I’m not upset. I don’t regret anything.

You are so talented and it showed during your time on the show. Why do you think you second guessed yourself so much, and has that changed since filming?

I have a lot of ideas, so it’s really hard for me to edit when I have so many ideas. The reason why I like this industry so much, and why I do it wholeheartedly, is that I’ve always felt that being a drag artist and an entertainer is the perfect career for people like me who can’t control their creative ideas.

I always thought it was an attribute that was kind of revered and celebrated, and something for people to be jealous of. I was always kind of proud that I was a crazy person and I was artistic and I can’t help it.

If I was a banker or anything else I would fail at it because I couldn’t keep my attention with very mundane things, so doing this is an outlet. It’s embraced me and worked very well for me.

RuPaul’s Drag Race has changed drag so much and has brought it more into the mainstream than ever before, so much so that some people are complaining that it has killed drag. Do you think drag is dead and, if not, what do you think is next for the artform?

No, I don’t think drag is dead. Drag is fun. [laughs] I just feel like the days of YouTube and all these television shows have made it so that people can sit at home and watch, rather than coming out. For me it was always about getting people to come out to the show. Support the queens. Tip the girls. It was that kind of industry. Come out. Come out to the live shows. Now that you can watch everything on TV, it’s kind of killed the going out of it all.

The goal now is to get on TV so more people see you, and it just so happens to be RuPaul’s Drag Race has sort of killed drag for queens who are not on the show. I’ve heard this over and over, and felt it for seven years. People would come to New York, and if Adore Delano was in town they would all flock to that show. Meanwhile, we’re begging and begging for bigger budgets for the clubs and trying to find more money to do better shows in New York. People will pay a $25 ticket and flock to go see one of the Drag Race girls, but they’ll never come out to see all the local girls.

See that and struggling for $50 a night in Brooklyn always pisses you off a little bit. So now it’s a goal to get on TV, that’s why I tell all my girlfriends to audition for the show. I did it, and I’m very happy, and now when I go do a show people come out again.

RuPaul’s Drag Race hasn’t killed drag, but it’s changed the game a whole bunch.

I was a pre-YouTube queen, pre-Drag Race, so I’m sure you could go out there and find some horrible, horrible pictures of me looking terrible with makeup on. Now girls come out who have quit their jobs to become a drag queen, and I’m like, “You’re a fool! What are you talking about?” When I started I was always playing music and running around like a crazy person. I was thinking about myself as a drag artist.

I started doing numbers where I painted my body red and walked in slow motion in the streets for two hours. Then there was this other piece where I did pocket-to-pocket where my whole outfit was made out of a bunch of pockets. I would encourage people that got near me to take something out of their pocket and trade it with something in one of my pockets, like pictures of them and their children that they took out of their wallet or one time I found keys in there. That’s the school that I come from, and now any girl who quits their job and watches Miss Fame’s makeup tutorial on YouTube comes out, looks gorgeous and wants to get paid.

So Drag Race has killed the excitement of being a little sloppy because now the expectations are so much higher. It seems to be really saturated with everyone looking like Miss Fame, and everyone wants to get paid. You laugh, but it’s true. We watched it over the years. It’s over-saturated, it’s too much, gurl.

You’ve auditioned for the show time after time, so first of all, congrats on finally making it! Other than the typical “be yourself” advice, what thoughts can you share with queens who are auditioning for future seasons?

Put all your heart and your soul into your audition video. Bring out those outfits in the back of your closet that you keep, you know? You’re like, “Not yet. Not yet.” I would say, if you want to get on the show, it’s more competitive than ever now, so whip out those looks in the video because nobody is going to see your audition video.

Also, just really show your personality. They’re booking you because of you because of something you think they want you to be. Really be true to yourself. Be honest. Be yourself and really go for it.

Who are you rooting for to win?

My opinion has changed a lot, even being on the show. I was kind of intuitive that certain girls were being treated and set up a little different than other girls during the show. I think Bob the Drag Queen and Kim Chi are absolutely going to be in the top two and I think one of them is going to win, but I’m secretly rooting for Naomi Smalls. I just fell in love with her.

Now that you have a worldwide fan base and a very strong brand, what are your future plans for yourself and for continuing to build your brand?

Cool. Good question. Well, I don’t have some big master plan. I’m a very artistic person and I’m also a Gemini, so I pick everyone else’s brains around me. I try to surround myself with really intelligent people and that’s who I’m asking. Like, “What do I do now? What would you do?” So, I’m learning as I go. One step at a time.

Right when I got off the show it got very, very saturated really quick. Everybody wants to see Thorgy and I’m like, “Relax! We don’t have to do everything all at once.” So, it would be one show and another show. I want to pour my heart into things that I really care about, so I can create great works.

I want to do a stage adaptation of Shel Silverstein poems with multimedia things, and I want to change costumes with every poem he wrote and turn into the characters. I want it to be a children’s show and I’d love to tour with that. That’s just one idea. Another idea is doing 80-piece orchestra called the “Thorchestra.” I want to do it at Carnegie Hall, why not? And tour with it.

I want them all to be these big projects where I actually do want people to buy a stupid ticket. Come! Dress up for the red carpet of the Thorchestra at Lincoln Center. It’s a reason for people to go out and dress up and feel special, like, “I got a ticket. I saw that.”

 

Tune in every Monday at 9/8c to LogoTV to watch the latest episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

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Straight Man Spills All The Details About Being A Gay Phone Sex Operator

A heterosexual father who once worked as a gay phone sex operator is opening about the experience.

“It was at the off-the-wall shit coming out of these people’s mouths,” the man, speaking anonymously, tells Cracked. “I remember, for example, the first time a caller busted out with the word ‘man-pussy.’ I ask, ‘Your what?’ He replies, ‘My man-pussy. You know, my asshole.’”

Related: Male Sex Workers Reveal The Truth About Their Lives And Clients

The man took the job back in 2000, after responding to classifieds an ad for “actors/actresses wanted” to work at “a nondescript call center” in Miami. It wasn’t until he arrived for the interview that he learned he was auditioning to have sex with strangers over the phone.

Part of the interviewing process included reading the line “I want to eat your big banana” in a sexy voice and with a totally straight face.

“Many of the others auditioning giggled,” the man says. “Each was turned away. But a few others and me managed to do it totally deadpan. That was it–we were hired.”

Once hired, the man had to go through extensive job training.

“We were taught the basics, with emphasis on creating illusions using your voice and getting into character,” he explains. Training also included “professional pointers on how better to simulate a throat-job” and multiple sexual harassment and safety seminars.

“Our bosses repeatedly drilled into us that a serial killer could be targeting us at all times,” he continues. “Keeping us safe was a huge priority, even if only for liability reasons. So we were strictly forbidden from ever making any outside contact with callers or giving them any real information about ourselves. And believe me, there were many callers that tried.”

Related: AL’s Antigay Governor Is One Dirty Talker, According To Leaked Phone Sex Tape

Because of FCC regulations surrounding 900 numbers, several words were off-limits for operators.

“Everything was codes and euphemisms,” the man says. “‘Blowjob’ was out, but ‘tongue bath’ was OK. ‘Sex’ was a no-no, so we’d call it ‘wrestling.’” Instead of asking, ‘How big is your dick?’ I’d ask, ‘How tall are you lying down.’”

Customers, however, could say whatever they wanted.

“The actual callers could reply with the most uncensored, filthy stuff they could think of,” he writes. “It was our job to roll with it, and a good amount of the time they didn’t even notice. A little moaning and flirtatious giggling goes a long way.”

The man was eventually fired after arriving late to work.

“One time, I came in 12 minutes late,” he recalls. “When I got there, they already had someone covering my shift, and they told me I was done there. That was that.”

Despite identifying as straight, he says working as a gay phone sex operator opened his mind to the idea of experimenting with other men.

“When you have guys getting off at the sound of your voice, it’s great on your ego, and it’s easy to lose yourself in the role,” he says. “I wouldn’t call myself bisexual. But months into the job, I found myself becoming more and more let’s call it ‘heteroflexible.’”

Related: The Surprising Results In A New Study On Male Escorts

 

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What To Watch On TV This Week: Shady Puppets On ‘Drag Race’

Check out our weekly guide to TV this week, and make sure you’re catching the big premieres, crucial episodes and the stuff you won’t admit you watch when no one’s looking.

— The library reopens tonight on RuPaul’s Drag Race. First, the reads come fast and furious out of felt mouths when, you guessed it, the gals get puppets! This is not your momma’s puppet show, and the fake version of the queens start to get a little too real. On the runway, the final five need to create three looks for the first ever Book Ball. See who makes the top four tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on Logo.

— Eileen (Martha Plimpton) is still processing her son Kenny (Noah Galvin)’s coming out on The Real O’Neals, so when he’s cast as the romantic lead in the school play, she spots an opportunity to play out her heteronormative fantasies for her son. Will life imitate art? (No, no it won’t.) Regardless, it’ll be funny to see her try Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

— The custody battle between April (Sarah Drew) and Jackson (Jesse Williams) was just a fake-out for the real throwdown between Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) on Grey’s Anatomy. The ex-wives duke it out in an epic fight for the future of their daughter Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

— Nina Garcia comes to Project Runway All Stars Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Lifetime to strike fear in our remaining designers. This week, they’re tasked with creating a print with a little help from a few more surprise guests. Catch up with what you’ve missed recently on the show in the video above.

— It’s the return of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) on next week’s Game of Thrones. After his season-long absence, how will his visions affect the battle for power in Westeros? Find out Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO. (Miss the premiere? Get caught up with our recap.)

What are you watching this week on TV?

The post What To Watch On TV This Week: Shady Puppets On ‘Drag Race’ appeared first on Towleroad.

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HRC Mississippi Visits Ridgeland High School GSA

Post submitted by: Harry Hawkins, Field Organizer HRC Mississippi

Recently, HRC Mississippi Faith Organizer Daniel Ball and I attended a meeting of Ridgeland High School’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). We discussed the important work that HRC Mississippi will be doing in the coming months, including our upcoming Repeal HB 1523 Rally on this Sunday, May 1, at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. 

The meeting was also a chance for both of us to tell our stories of why we do this work.

Gay-straight alliances play a central role in facilitating safe and welcoming environments for LGBTQ students in middle and high schools across the nation. They also provide opportunities to educate straight allies on the dangers of homophobia and transphobia, and the serious implications harassment and discrimination present to LGBTQ Americans – particularly youth. 

HRC Mississippi is proud to share our work with this inspiring group of young leaders and advocates. To learn more about our work in the Magnolia state, click here. 

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-mississippi-visits-ridgeland-high-school-gsa?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

N.C. Democrats File Bill to Repeal HB 2

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” says Darren Jackson, lead sponsor of the bill.

www.advocate.com/politics/2016/4/25/nc-democrats-file-bill-repeal-hb-2