Which National Pulse Memorial & Museum Design Would You Pick?

www.advocate.com/art/2019/10/03/which-national-pulse-memorial-museum-design-would-you-pick

Director of Gay Conversion Therapy Drama ‘Boy Erased’ Wishes He Had Chosen Streaming Release Over Theatrical

Joel Edgerton, director of the gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, told Indiewire he wishes he had chosen a streaming deal with Netflix over the movie’s standard theatrical release, which generated $11.8 million at the box office, barely enough to cover the film’s $11 million budget. Plus … no conversation.

Said Edgerton to Indiewire: “We had a really interesting debate about which way to go. Focus had this incredible track record with putting out these LGBTQ films like ‘Brokeback’ and ‘Milk,’ so I felt we were in the right hands. We wanted to create a face-to-face scenario where we’d have face time with audiences and have Q&As and generate discussions. To me, it felt like that was the right way to go.”

But Edgerton said that upon reflection he would have preferred the conversation that is generated when the film is released simultaneously everywhere in the world, rather than a city-by-city theatrical rollout: “The moment you put something on a streaming platform, everybody in every household in all these countries can see it at the exact same time. You don’t get that chatter — and this was sad for me — of, ‘When is this film coming to my country?’ or, ‘I have to drive five hours to see it,’ or, ‘I just can’t afford the time and money.’”

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Director of Gay Conversion Therapy Drama ‘Boy Erased’ Wishes He Had Chosen Streaming Release Over Theatrical

HRC Endorses Steven Reed for Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama

HRC announced its endorsement of Judge Steven Reed in his bid for mayor of Montgomery, Alabama.

In 2015, Reed made clear his commitment to LGBTQ equality in Montgomery should he become Mayor. When Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore instructed probate judges and their staff to disregard a federal court’s ruling on marriage equality, Reed was the first of them to speak out against Moore and in favor of marriage equality. When Moore attempted the same stunt the next year, Reed said, “Judge Moore’s latest charade is just sad and pathetic. My office will ignore him and this [anti-equality ruling].” If elected, Reed would be the first Black mayor in Montgomery’s history.

“Steven Reed is the only candidate for Mayor of Montgomery who is certain to be an ally to the city’s LGBTQ community,” said HRC Alabama State Director Carmarion D. Anderson. “Reed has long been willing to speak up loudly and publicly for the LGBTQ community. The Human Rights Campaign is proud to endorse Steven Reed, a strong LGBTQ ally, and fight alongside him to achieve a more fair and equal Montgomery.”

“I’m humbled to have the support of the Human Rights Campaign,” said Judge Steven Reed. “I’m proud to share the principles of equality, inclusion, and fairness that this organization upholds.”

In 2014, HRC launched Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. In 2019, Texas became a Project One America state, in recognition of HRC’s long-term commitment to the state. HRC Alabama continues to work to advance equality for LGBTQ Alabamians who have no state-level protections in housing, workplace or public accommodations. Through HRC Alabama, we are working toward a future of fairness every day — changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.

Carmarion D. Anderson was recently announced as Alabama State Director in September 2019. She is a vibrant and visible trans woman of color with a passion for inclusion in the world. As the Alabama State Director within HRC’s Project One America, Carmarion becomes the first trans woman person of color to serve in a leadership role with HRC in the organization’s history. Carmarion was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, with family roots in Natchez, Mississippi. Before joining HRC, Carmarion worked in the field of Public Health and Education, managing both local and national prevention initiatives focusing on HIV/AIDS and other health disparities that impact marginalized communities. Carmarion also brings a wealth of experience in faith spaces with her, currently serving as the National Co-Minister and South Region Coordinator for TransSaints ministry of TFAM (The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries). In addition to this role, Carmarion previously served for 15 years as an associate minister at the Living Faith Covenant Church, Dallas, Texas. Carmarion is the founder and former Executive Director of Black Transwomen, Inc., a national non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization with a mission to uplift the voices, hearts, and souls of Black trans women.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-steven-reed-for-mayor-of-montgomery-alabama?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Pastor Prays to ‘Cleanse’ Church After Appearance by LGBTQ Speakers

The Colorado minister reportedly tried to shut the presentation down.

www.advocate.com/religion/2019/10/03/pastor-prays-cleanse-church-after-appearance-lgbtq-speakers

The world needs a gay superhero more than ever, and it’s about to get one

I grew up yearning for superheroes.

At 8, my dad took me to the cinema to watch Batman battle the Joker on the big screen, and I was hooked. The mystery. The cunning. The brilliant mind and body that wouldn’t quit no matter the odds. The cool car. The existential torment.

I consumed an animated version of X-Men every Saturday morning in the living room. The X-Men were all unique, but they worked as a team. They were the built-in group of friends I didn’t always have at school. I also understood their persecution.

These experiences, etched in memory, helped me begin to devise a moral compass and guided my own budding code of ethics.

As I reached my teenage years and recognized my attraction to other men, I came to relate to superheroes in a different way: Like many of them, I fought to keep my identity secret to help protect both myself and those I loved from the forces of darkness and prejudice and even violence. One day, I knew I would defeat the forces of evil that kept me down.

But no matter how much I admired superheroes, I knew I could never be one. Because every tights- or armor-clad hero—male or female—was different than me in one crucial way: They were straight.

Today, something impossible has happened, something that this closeted kid eating buttered popcorn and watching Superman swoop over Metropolis could not have dreamed. This October, a queer superhero comes to television with her own series on The CW—Batwoman, the first-ever explicitly queer female superhero to hit the screen.

Starring Australian stunner Ruby Rose (of Orange Is the New Black, John Wick, and The Meg fame) as Kate Kane—a cousin of Bruce Wayne fighting both her own demons and evildoers on the streets of Gotham—The CW series will air on Sunday nights beginning October 6.

Finally, LGBTQ people have pushback against the age-old cinematic trope of the queer villain, giving audiences a character we can really root for 100 percent.

And yet amid that anticipation and the joy of knowing that queer kids everywhere will have one of their own in the spotlight, a question plagues me. What if I’d had a queer superhero to look up to growing up? What if, at an early age, I learned that I could be gay and still be the best, strongest, most caring and respected person, the guy/girl who swoops in to save the day?

Whether symbolizing truth and honor like the Justice League or daring to live authentically like the X-Men, superheroes represent society’s saviors and the saints. Audiences flock to superhero blockbusters to partake in the battle between good and evil.

And we don’t want to simply spend a couple of hours in a darkened theater with our favorite characters. Deep down, we want to be like them in everyday life. Wearing a Wonder Woman tee or a Superman emblem on a tie doesn’t just make a fashion statement. It says This is who I aspire to be like. I want to make the world better.

Who hasn’t wanted to teleport or swing from building to building to save citizens in peril, or maybe just avoid traffic? Who hasn’t wanted to save a queer kid, or innocent immigrants for that matter, from being bullied or abused? Who hasn’t secretly yearned for the power to stop a war?

Seeing only cis-gendered, white, straight superheroes as I was growing never stopped me from loving them or rooting for them. Their heroism demanded my empathy even when I didn’t see myself reflected. Yet, now as an adult, I realize what a difference seeing a gay hero would have made not just to me, but to the rest of the worldwide audience.

Straight kids would have learned to empathize with—and root for—a queer person. Even if queerness was presented incidentally, viewers would develop some idea of what it means to be LGBTQ. Imagine the effect a gay Iron Man or a trans Spiderman would have on homophobia or transphobia. Imagine a vulnerable kid witnessing an audience cheering on a queer hero and realizing: Maybe one day, they will cheer me on too. 

The cinematic landscape of 2019 has changed so much from the one I grew up during the ’80s and ’90s. Girls have Wonder Woman. African-Americans rejoice in Black Panther, a vision of a black man as a figure of hope and glory. Now, thanks to Batwoman, queer kids—young and old—can behold a vision of an androgynous lesbian heroine, bound and determined to save the world from those who would do harm.

Soon, audiences will be rooting for a gay woman to capture the villain and snag that kiss from the girl. Batwoman’s sacrifices define who she is and present her as a role model to the world, someone who represents not just the best of a community, but the best of all. We, too, can save the world.

One day, in the not so distant future, we may depend on it.

Batwoman airs on The CW Sunday nights beginning October 6.

Check out the First Look Trailer:

David Reddish is Queerty’s entertainment editor.

All photos compliments of The CW.

www.queerty.com/world-needs-gay-superhero-ever-get-one-20191003?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Christine and the Queens Calls Out Taylor Swift for Exploiting Queer Culture to Sell Things

Christine and the Queens (aka Héloïse Letissier) accuses Taylor Swift of appropriating queer culture “to sell things” in a new interview with Cosmopolitan.

Said Chris of Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” video: “I’m conflicted. I guess somewhere, young gay men might watch that Taylor Swift video and feel a sense of relief. Five years on [since she entered the industry] and you can tell that being queer has been glossed out as this super-fancy accessory. You can tell that the queer aesthetic is being used to sell things. The mainstream needs that life because it’s so vibrant. But I think the core of the queer aesthetic cannot be sold.”

Chris, who identifies as pansexual, said she has been accused of the same thing: “When I changed my name from Christine to Chris on the second album, some people said, ‘That’s a cool marketing thing you did.’ It was so painful. I’ve been singing iT [an early song, which she’s said is about ‘wanting to have a dick in order to have an easy life’] for the past five years. It’s never been marketing for me. It’s about jumping into the unknown and saying things loudly.”

The post Christine and the Queens Calls Out Taylor Swift for Exploiting Queer Culture to Sell Things appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Christine and the Queens Calls Out Taylor Swift for Exploiting Queer Culture to Sell Things