Playwrights Jeremy O. Harris, Matthew Lopez to Receive HRC Honors

The authors of the acclaimed Slave Play and The Inheritance, respectively, will each receive the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Award.

www.advocate.com/news/2020/1/27/playwrights-jeremy-o-harris-matthew-lopez-receive-hrc-honors

Bowen Yang opens up about undergoing conversion therapy as a teen

In a profile in the New York Times, SNL’s Bowen Yang, 29, has opened up about his parents’ intial reaction to him being gay.

His mom and dad found out about his sexuality when they read an AIM conversation between him and another guy. He was 17 at the time.

Unfortunately, they did not react well, with his father paying for him to undergo so-called “conversion therapy.”

“They just sat me down and yelled at me and said, ‘We don’t understand this. Where we come from, this doesn’t happen’,” he recalls.

His parents grew up in rural China but emigrated first to Australia, where Yang was born, and then to Canada and the US.

“I’d only seen my father cry when my grandpa died and now he’s sobbing in front of me every day at dinner… And I’m thinking: ‘How do I make this right?’

“This is the worst thing you can do as a child of immigrants. It’s just like you don’t want your parents to suffer this much over you.”

Related: Gay comic Bowen Yang joins SNL, becomes its first Asian cast member

He agreed to see a therapist to appease his parents, despite thinking it “completely crackers” at first.

He says, “I allowed myself the thought experiment of: ‘What if this could work?’”

“The first few sessions were talk therapy, which I liked, and then it veers off into this place of: ‘Let’s go through a sensory description of how you were feeling when you’ve been attracted to men’.

“And then the counselor would go through the circular reasoning thing of: ‘Well, weren’t you feeling uncomfortable a little bit when saw that boy you liked?’

“And I was like: ‘Not really’.

“He goes: ‘How did your chest feel?’

“And I was like, ‘Maybe I was slouching a little bit’.

“And he goes:‘See? That all stems from shame’.

“It was just crazy. Explain the gay away with pseudoscience.”

Conversion therapy is the discredited practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity through psychotherapeutic means. It doesn’t work and usually does far more harm than good.

It has now been banned on minors in 19 US states, most recently Utah, as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Yang says he soon realized the sessions would do nothing to change his sexuality. He went to study at NYU and came to fully accept his sexuality.

He began to make a name for himself posting lip-syncing videos to Twitter and hosting the queer-flavored comedy podcast, Las Culturistas.

He began writing for Saturday Night Live in 2018 and became a regular cast member in 2019. In doing so, he became the show’s first resident Chinese-American cast member.

Although Yang’s now one of the most high-profile gay Asians in the US, he says his father still doesn’t fully accept his sexuality.

“Like my dad every now and then will be like, ‘So, when are you going to meet a girl?’ And I’ll just calmly be like, ‘Dad, it’s not going to happen.’”

“I mean, it’s OK. Both my parents are doing a lot of work to just try to understand and I can’t rush them. I can’t resent them for not arriving at any place sooner than they’re able to get there.”

Related: Bowen Yang’s Chinese “trade daddy” a home run on SNL

After the story appeared in the New York Times, several other media outlets reported on it, with some painting a picture of Yang having a “strained” relationship with his folks. He took to social media yesterday to reassure people this was not the case.

In an Instagram story he said that while being interviewed, he’d thrown in “about a dozen lil addenda about my relationship with my parents being loving and beautiful and nuanced that didn’t make the cut.”

In a separate posting, he said, “There is a mildly cloying Western fascination with Asian family dynamics (which I get!) and modulating gayness onto that always lurches things into pure melodrama.

“I promise it’s not as sad as I made it sound and things are chill and great and good. I’m sure that mirrors other people’s situations too.”

 

 

www.queerty.com/bowen-yang-opens-undergoing-conversion-therapy-teen-20200127?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Jaden Smith Congratulations ‘Boyfriend’ Tyler The Creator on Grammy Win

Jaden Smith, the son of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, congratulated “boyfriend” Tyler the Creator following the rapper’s Grammy win for best Urban Contemporary Album for Igor on Sunday night.

My Boyfriend Just Won A Grammy

— Jaden (@jaden) January 27, 2020

It’s not the first time Jaden has referenced Tyler as his boyfriend and fans are still unsure if it’s true or an ongoing gag.

can you tell me if they are really boyfriends or not?

— 𝔖𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔱 (@Pedrospiritt) January 27, 2020

That’s probably because he is?

— 𝐍𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐀 (@DaScorpioQueen) January 27, 2020

Jaden told fans during a 2018 concert at Tyler’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival in Los Angeles that rapper Tyler the Creator, the festival’s host, was his boyfriend.

Said Smith to the crowd: “I wanna tell you…Tyler doesn’t want to say, but Tyler’s my mother f***ing boyfriend and he’s been my mother f***ing boyfriend my whole f***ing life! … Tyler The Creator is my mother f***ing boyfriend! It’s true!…Tyler The Creator is my f***ing boyfriend, if you take anything away from this f***ing show, that’s what you take away!”

Tyler was seen in the stands smiling and gesturing to Smith. It’s unclear if Smith was joking, but he followed up the statement with a tweet that read, “Yup @tylerthecreator I Told Everyone You Can’t Deny It Now.”

In August 2017, Tyler revealed that he had a boyfriend in his teens during an interview on Know Wave’s Koopz Tunes radio podcast.

Said Tyler after the host suggests that he’s more open-minded than he’s been in the past: “I had a boyfriend when I was fifteen in f**king Hawthorne. If that’s not open minded, I don’t know what is.”

The lyrics to several songs in Tyler’s 2017 album Scum F**k Flower Boy sparked speculation that he was coming out as gay.

Said Tyler in his Grammy acceptance speech: “I never fully felt accepted in rap and stuff. So for y’all to always stand by me and get me here, I really appreciate that. And I don’t know if he’s here, but I really want to thank Pharrell Williams, because again, growing up, feeling left of center to a lot of stuff that I saw on TV, that man has allowed me to be comfortable with myself and has opened up doors that you guys could not imagine, before I met him and when I met him.”

The post Jaden Smith Congratulations ‘Boyfriend’ Tyler The Creator on Grammy Win appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Jaden Smith Congratulations ‘Boyfriend’ Tyler The Creator on Grammy Win

Billy Porter wows red carpet with meme-perfect, motorized hat

 

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A post shared by Billy Porter (@theebillyporter) on Jan 26, 2020 at 6:52pm PST

Billy Porter’s Grammy’s outfit is destined for meme immortality. Turning up yesterday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Porter sported a glittering turquoise suit. However, it was his headwear that caught most people’s attention.

The matching turquoise hat featured a silver fringe that opened and closed via a remote control mechanism.

Related: Billy Porter first man to star on the cover of Allure – and it’s amazing

The Pose star’s outfit was designed by Scott Studenberg, with Sokol Millinery creating the hat with some mechanical engineering from Sm00th Tech. Porter worked with his regular stylist, Sam Ratelle.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter was quick to react.

When I’m out with my friends and my social battery dies pic.twitter.com/qtK69OGael

— its 2 things ion like… (@ItsKweenKay_) January 27, 2020

Of course, Porter wasn’t the only star to wow on the red carpet. Gay rapper and singer Lil Nas X wore a bright pink Versace cowboy creation with gold studs and harnesses adding an S&M twist.

Lil Nas X went on to win Grammys for Best Video and Best Pop Group Performance.

The night’s big winner was Billie Eilish, who won five awards, including best new artist and song of the year. The 18-year-old also became the youngest person to win the Grammy for album of the year for her debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go.

Lizzo was another big winner on the night, scooping three Grammys, including best pop solo performance for her global hit, “Truth Hurts.”

Related: Lil Nas X becomes first out gay man to win Country Music Award

www.queerty.com/billy-porter-wows-red-carpet-meme-perfect-motorized-hat-20200127?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29