Tag Archives: Featured

New LGBTQ-Themed Children’s Book Aims To Foster Acceptance With Lesbian Fairytale

A Kickstarter campaign for an illustrated children’s book, which is aimed at 5 to 10 year olds, had generated nearly $30,000 this week.

What makes this story a fantastic one is that the book is follows the love story of two women.

The Maiden Voyage, will follow a fisherman’s daughter, Ru, who inherits a treasure map from her father and joins the crew of the adventurous Captain Freya. Captain Freya and Ru develop a strong bond on the high seas as they try to escape a gang of pirates, and that bond eventually turns into love.

Maiden Voyage is the follow-up to Promised Land, a children’s book released in February that centres around the love story of a farmer’s son and a prince.

In a statement sent to NBC News, co-author Jaimee Poipoi said

“It’s important for young people to feel included, that they have a place in the world and something they can relate to. If they can identify themselves within a story, that empowers them to be who they are.”

Poipoi said Maiden Voyage was a project he “just could not say no to.” He said he hopes it will lead to “more respectful discussions about what equality is and what it may look like.”

Maiden Voyage is expected to be released in June 2018, just in time for LGBTQ Pride Month.

 

Netflix Casts Ellen Page In New Comic Adaptation Of ‘The Umbrella Academy’

Ellen Page is set to star in Netflix’s upcoming superhero series The Umbrella Academy.

Page is the first to be cast for the adaptation of the Dark Horse Comics novel written by Gerard Way.

The Umbrella Academy follows the story of a dysfunctional family of superheroes. Its estranged members — Spaceboy, The Kraken, The Rumor, The Séance, Number Five, The Horror and The White Violin — will be forced to team up to solve the mystery of their adoptive father’s (Monocle) mysterious death. However, with their clashing personalities and divergent abilities, a teamwork would be a miracle.

The original comic series was critically acclaimed for it’s unique take on superheroes, one that does not showcase them as selfless saints.

According to Variety, Page will play the role of Vanya, the only one of Reginald Hargreeves’ adopted children who has no supernatural abilities. Meek and insecure, the family’s black sheep struggles to find her place in the world.

The 10-episode drama will premiere in 2018, with the pilot script adapted by Jeremy Slater.

‘Barbelle’ Is The Queer Canadian Web Series You Should Be Watching Right Now

Barbelle (on the YouTube channel KindaTV) is a female written, directed, and produced web series featuring a cast of queer characters.

It’s a great acid-tongued comedy set in the Canadian music world of now, which follows the story of a newly famous pop star duo whose meteoric rise to stardom has led to a blitzkrieg on their personal lives.

A kind of rowdy anti-romance love story it is officially described as “A lesbian Spiceworld in Toronto, and a love letter to the Canadian music scene.”

It stars Gwenlyn Cumyn and Karen Knox as Alice and Veronica, respectively, the queer duo and music hit-makers Barbelle.

Things kick off two years into the duo’s fame and hit songs. They announce to their record company that they’re breaking up.

That is, as a couple. They are, however, obliged to continue as a music duo.

It’s one nasty, zinger-filled breakup. Veronica accuses Alice of putting boring stuff on Instagram, ruining their hot brand. Alice accuses Veronica of going on the CBC radio show Q to praise a book she hadn’t even read.

Into this fraught scenario comes Lulu (Cynthia Hicks) a teen star brought in to help the former lovers write new songs.

Karen Knox, who is terrific as Veronica, has called Barbelle “a story that follows two queer pop musicians as they navigate the ups and downs of celebrity in the digital age.”

It’s that, but joyous and flinty in its wicked humour. A total pleasure to snack on.

Gemma Arterton And Adèle Exarchopoulos Romance In French Drama ‘Orpheline’

The film Orpheline – while puzzling at first — stars four actresses (who don’t look alike) playing the same character, Sandra, through multiple stages of her life (the eldest of which is played by Blue is the Warmest Color‘s Adèle Exarchopoulos).

It also stars Gemma Arterton who plays Tara, a convicted bank robber who is adjusting to life on the outside world after seven years behind bars.

Arterton character also ends up as a potential love interest for Sandra.

Directed Arnaud des Pallières, Orpeheline won a positive response after debuting in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016.

Arterton, who accepted the role after winning wider acclaim for roles in Quantum of Solace and St. Trinian’s, previously expressed her regret at not being more discriminating in her choice of film roles in the past.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she admitted to appearing in some projects that, deep down, weren’t really to her taste – prompting her to consider independent film over mainstream blockbusters.

“Sometimes I’ve not put my foot down, I’ve been like: “Oh, thank you so much for the work! I’d better do it.” Rather than: “No, I don’t want to do that. No one makes films about women who want to run away.”

The actress described her taste in films as ‘quite subversive’, and said her agents had started to understand, now, she would rather star in something smaller, but glorious.

Australians Voted Decisively ‘Yes’ To Same-Sex Marriage In Historic Result

Australia has voted decisively in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.

The postal vote was held to see if there was support to change the law, and more than 60% of Aussies voted in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Supporters of gay marriage celebrated across Australia after the result was declared.

More than 12.7 million people took part in the eight-week poll, and now the countries Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull says his government would now aim to make it law by Christmas.

The historic vote follows in the footsteps of Ireland by endorsing same-sex marriage in a national vote.

However, the public vote is not legally binding, so both houses still need to pass legislation for it to become legal.

Monday is the first day that a same-sex marriage bill can be tabled in the House of Representatives, which is not sitting this week.

A bill must pass in both houses before it can be signed into law by the Governor-General.

Hardline anti-LGBT MPs within the governing Liberal-National Coalition say they will not be conceding – even if the public gives a strong backing for equality.

Two bills will be proposed to parliament – one by a coalition of same-sex marriage supporters proposing simply to introduce the other measure, and another by a right-wing Senator proposing same-sex marriage, but with various “religious freedoms”.

A recent poll by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation found that 72% of the lower House of Representatives would support changes to marriage laws and in the Senate, 69% would approve the changes.

Laura Bridgeman’s ‘The Butch Monologues’ Is Currently Touring The UK

Over the weekend, we were fortunate to catch The Butch Monologues – a powerful and often humorous collection of secret stories exploring sexuality, vulnerability and desire taken from interviews with butches, masculine women and transmen, living world-wide.

https://vimeo.com/140568404

The Butch Monologues is a collaboration that began back in 2012, between hotpencil press: an independent publishing house co-founded by the writer, Laura Bridgeman; Vital Xposure, a dynamic touring theatre company under the creative leadership of disabled artist, Julie McNamara; and The Drakes, a group of butches, transmen and gender rebels who joined together in the spirit of masculine solidarity.

A changing roster of performers from within The Drakes, some of who have stage experience and some of who do not, performs the stories.

The stories themselves arch from the typical butch/femme dynamic, to exploring what it means to be butch, the vulnerabilities felt, and the struggles for acceptance with in the LGBTQ community, family and the outside world.

The show is currently touring the UK, and for further information please visits the show websites.

Watch Sara Ramirez’s Powerful Speech About Bi Visibility

Actress and activist Sara Ramirez gave a powerful speech about bisexual and pansexual visibility while accepting the Trailblazer Award from the New York LGBT Center.

Ramirez – who appeared for over a decade as Dr. Callie Torres on the television drama Grey’s Anatomy – is set to make her first appearance on Madam Secretary next Sunday as political strategist Kat Sandoval.

 

Senator Says Australian Parliament Will Debate Same-Sex Marriage ‘Within Days’ If Yes Vote Wins

At 10am on Wednesday the Australian public will know the results of the same-sex marriage survey, but there is already growing assumption that the answer will be ‘yes’.

And according to Senator Dean Smith, the Australian Parliament will begin a debate on same-sex marriage “within days” of a Yes vote.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “Australians will not tolerate delay.”

Millions of voters have been returning their ballots for weeks in the country’s non-binding postal vote on LGBT rights.

An incredible 78% of eligible Australians have cast their vote.

The vote has no legal basis, however, and will merely inform MPs when the issue is permitted to go before Parliament.

The deadline for returning ballots by post has now passed, meaning voters yet to have their say must return their survey in person.

Voters can deliver forms to drop-off centres run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the organisation running the national same-sex marriage survey.

Drop-off centres are open until 4.30pm across Australia, except Melbourne, which is closed for the Melbourne Cup public holiday.

Polls predict that around 60% of the 12 million Australians who have voted have backed the Yes campaign.

The gap between the two campaigns has narrowed in recent weeks, with previous polls putting Yes on as much as 66%.

All public polls conducted since ballots were first issued have shown Yes in the lead, with LGBT activists expected to be victorious when the result is announced on 15 November.

Speaking to Sky News, Tiernan Brady of the Equality Campaign said he believed equality campaigners have “confidently won the argument.

I think the Australian people have seen through it… I think the public have made their mind up.”

However a victory in the national postal ballot might not mean any laws are changed in Australia.

The ballot is only advisory, leaving decisions on whether to change marriage law to Australia’s government.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supports same-sex marriage, but many in his right-wing government are opposed to the move.

Rosie O’Donnell Claims She Knew Whitney Houston Was A Lesbian

Speaking to Andy Cohen this week, Rosie O’Donnell made claims Whitney Houston was part of a secret group of famous lesbians.

She also claims she knew Houston and her personal assistant Robyn Crawford were a couple.

I knew that they were together. I was friends with a lot of very athletic older lesbian women who were in the WNBA – all these basketball playing women.

I knew that, I knew it for a very long time. Everyone sort of knew it.

So I thought it was very surprising when Clive Davis came out and said he never discussed her being gay.

I don’t believe that for one minute.”

Rumours of Houston’s sexuality have circulated for decades, and in the recent docu-film Whitney: Can I Be Me  claimed the singer was bisexual, but not out to the public.

Watch a clip from the show below:

Ellen Page Is The Latest Actress To Speak Out Against Brett Ratner

Hollywood producer Brett Ratner has made headline news this month as six women (including Olivia Munn) have come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment and in some cases, assault. It has come to the point where Gal Gadot has refused to sign on for Wonder Woman’s sequel where she plays the starring role, if the producer isn’t fired from the project.

While multiple women have been coming forward to share their experiences of sexual harassment with the 48-year-old film producer, actress Ellen Page took to her Facebook account to share a different form of harassment that she suffered at the hands of Ratner, explaining how he publicly outed the actress as gay before she was ready when they worked together on X Men in 2006.

In the post, Page describing what she says happened when the cast and crew met before filming started.

She describes how the director pointed at her and told another woman she should sleep with her “to make her realise she’s gay”.

The actress explains that she had not come out to herself at the stage: “I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak.”

She says she felt “violated” and that no-one spoke out to defend her.

She describes it as a “public, aggressive outing” that left her feeling ashamed.

Her post also tells how she has been working since she was 10. She says she has met “respectful collaborators” during her career.

But she also talks about abusers who “want you to feel small, to make you insecure, to make you feel like you are indebted to them, or that your actions are to blame for their unwelcome advances”.

She describes another director fondling her leg when she was 16 and telling her to “make the move” on him.

I was sexually assaulted by a grip months later. I was asked by a director to sleep with a man in his late 20s and to tell them about it. I did not.”

She also criticises people in Hollywood who know that people are being harassed and “choose to look the other way”.

Now she says there must be “a long awaited reckoning”.

I want to see these men have to face what they have done. I want them to not have power anymore.

I want them to sit and think about who they are without their lawyers, their millions, their fancy cars, houses upon houses, their ‘playboy’ status and swagger.”

She calls for other people to speak out, saying:

You are breaking the silence. You are the revolution.”

New Exhibit of Censored LGBTQ Artwork to be Displayed in New York

New exhibit, Irreverent: A Celebration of Censorship, explores how sexuality has been, and continues to be, used as a tool to prohibit LGBTQ cultural artwork. Inspired by the creative and activist responses to the censorship, the show displays work from 17 artists that represent the “controversial” perception of LGBTQ work over three decade.

Curator, Jennifer Tyburczy, who is an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina and the author of the upcoming book Sex Museum: The Politics and Performance of Display said.

“On the one hand, some museums and gallery spaces are beginning to recognize the value of queer art for its own sake, and yet, major museums continue to censor queer artists from their walls.”

Jennifer Tyburczy

While she emphasized the high-profile nature of the 2010 Wojnarowicz removal after pressure from Republican elected officials, she said censorship

“… takes many forms, occurs all the time, and more often than not, happens behind the scenes. Live in the memories of the artists whose work was deemed ‘controversial,’ ‘obscene,’ ‘offensive,’ or ‘pornographic’”.

Jennifer Tyburczy

The exhibition will not just be about showing the art, but the stories of censorship will be a major focus.

They include Alma López’s “Our Lady”, a digital print that transformed Our Lady of Guadalupe into a nearly nude, proudly standing woman draped in flowers displayed in a group exhibition at Santa Fe’s Museum of International Folk Art in 2001. The work sparked violent threats against the artist, museum, and curator for its supposed sacrilegious content.

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Another censored pieces include Seray Ak work on two women in headscarves kissing, Zanele Muholi excerpt from ‘Being’ series, and one by Damla Mersin of a woman confidently posing with an embrace of her sexuality in a headscarf.

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More recently there was the removal of Michelle Handelman’s “Dorian: a cinematic perfume” video, which reinterpreted the gay undertones of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, from the Art House in Austin in 2011.

“By reflecting on the ways in which queer sex has been displayed in museums, this exhibition exposes museums and art galleries as spaces where some of the most volatile and informative battles about sexual identity, sexual practices, and the history of sexuality have been and continue to be waged in the public sphere.” 

Tyburczy explained

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Irreverent: A Celebration of Censorship will be on view at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (26 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan) February 13 to April 19.