Los Angeles Blade, Volume 07, Issue 23, June 09, 2023

(Graphic design by AZER Creative)

JUNE 09, 2023 • VOLUME 07 • ISSUE 23 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOCAL

Migrants dumped at Calif. church after charted jet flight from Texas

SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom expressed outrage after a group of 16 migrants were transported by a private chartered jet from Texas via New Mexico and Attorney General ROB BONTA in Bakersfield discussing best practices were left at the doorto eliminate the staggering rise of step of the offices of hate and extremism, June 3, 2023. the Sacramento Cath(Photo Credit: Office of the Attorney General) olic Diocese on Friday.

“Today Attorney General Rob Bonta and I met with over a dozen migrants in Sacramento, Governor Newsom said in a news release. “These individuals were transported from Texas to New Mexico before being flown by private chartered jet to Sacramento and dumped on the doorstep of a local church without any advance warning.”

“We are working closely with the Mayor’s office, along with local and nonprofit partners to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity, and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases. My Administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating

this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” the Governor said.

The Attorney General said in a separate statement: “Today I met with over a dozen migrants who were brought to Sacramento by private plane, with no prior arrangement or care in place,” said Bonta. “We are investigating the circumstances by which these individuals were brought to California.

We are also evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants. While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida.

“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting. We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings.

California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience,” Bonta added.

Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento noted: “Within each of the 16 migrants transported to Sacramento on Friday we recognize the humble presence of Jesus, and we

hear His call to stand by them. The urgency to respond was heard by Catholics and people of good will. We are thankful to our partner organizations who took up the holy work of hospitality, dedicating their time and resources to ensure that every migrant did not feel alone and abandoned.”

According to Diocese officials, the migrants arrived with everything they own stuffed in their backpacks. Migrant rights advocates say that the sixteen Venezuelan and Colombian nationals were lied to and intentionally deceived.

Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faithbased community organizing group that has been assisting the migrants told the Associated Press that the migrants had already been processed by U.S. immigration officials and given court dates for their asylum cases when “individuals representing a private contractor” approached them outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, Carmona said. They offered to help the migrants get jobs and get them to their final destination, he said.

“They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” Carmona said, adding that the migrants had no idea where they were after being dropped off in Sacramento.

Late Sunday the Los Angeles Times reported the documents appear to show that the flights were arranged through the Florida Division of Emergency Management and that it was part of the state’s migrant transportation program, according to a spokesperson with the attorney general’s office who did not want to be identified.

LAPD responds to anti-LGBTQ+ protest at valley elementary school

LOS ANGELES - Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Community Station responded to an assistance request from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s School Police Department to keep dueling groups of protestors separate at Saticoy Elementary School early Friday morning.

(Screenshot/YouTube KTLA 5)

The two groups of protestors numbered approximately 120 people, many carrying signs and waving American national flags and LGBTQ+ Pride flags. One group of parents had taken to social media and distribute flyers to protest the scheduled June 2, LGBTQ+ Pride event at the school located at 7850 Ethel Avenue in North Hollywood.

Earlier this week, the LAPD announced that investigators were looking into an incident where a small LGBTQ+ Pride flag located outside of a classroom of a trans teacher at the elementary was destroyed in an act of arson.

At today’s protests, KTLA’s Kimberly Cheng spoke with peo-

ple advocating for parents of LGBTQ+ kids and their allies as well as those opposed. Cheng also interviews LAUSD Board Member Kelly Gonez who told KTLA that there were only two sentences in a book read out loud at the Pride assembly and that the school district was standing by its LGBTQ students and faculty.

A spokesperson for the LA LGBT Center, Terra Russell-Slavin, said in a statement: “I am beyond disappointed to read about the events unfolding at Saticoy Elementary School—and not just from where I sit as the Chief Impact Officer of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

To be completely frank, I am more so concerned as a lesbian mother who’s raising a child in Los Angeles County.

The rhetoric we’re seeing from ‘concerned parents’ at Saticoy Elementary mirrors the dangerous misinformation campaigns that have been lodged against our community by farright activists and religious extremists. For the past few years, they’ve planted seeds in the public imagination that LGBTQ+ people are attempting to ‘indoctrinate’ or ‘sexualize’ children.

These outrageous lies have, sadly, taken hold throughout our country; the backlash we’re facing is among the worst chapters in our movement’s history. There are more than 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on the books this year, accompanied by an increase in threats to LGBTQ service providers and schoolteachers, the banning of books that tell our stories and history, and the criminalization of our access to healthcare.

The Pride celebration scheduled at Saticoy Elementary School was meant to celebrate LGBTQ+ community members and families like mine. My wife and I are proudly raising our child to be accepting, welcoming, and loving to everyone—

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and hope that his education reflects those same values of basic human dignity and decency. The fact that this is somehow a controversial or ‘hot-button issue’ is not just alarming, it’s deeply saddening. Families like mine deserve to be included and represented in our classrooms and our school events. My child should not be educated to be ashamed of his mothers. I am not a threat to anyone by loving my family.

As the Chief Impact Officer of the Center, I know that if this kind of anti-LGBTQ+ demonstration is happening here in Los Angeles, this fight is only getting uglier in other parts of our country. That’s why we have to confront ignorance and hatred head-on, and make sure we don’t give it the oxygen to proliferate. We should be leaders of this movement and a safe haven for queer and trans people everywhere—and we should be using our example to help families across the country fight for their rights and their safety.

I hope LAUSD knows they can always rely on the Center to intervene in situations like these—and I hope the parents protesting Pride at Saticoy Elementary can come to an understanding that there is nothing dangerous about LGBTQ+ people. On the contrary: The real danger is the homophobia and transphobia that result in organizations like ours needing to house, feed, educate, and celebrate youth displaced by their families simply based on their identity. If we really care about our youth, we will nurture them with examples of radical love and acceptance—which is exactly what the spirit of Pride is all about.”

A spokesperson for the LAPD said that the protests were mostly peaceful although acknowledged there was heated rhetoric between the two groups.

By BRODY LEVESQUE

LOCAL

Go ernor, AG,

State Superintendent arn against book bans

SACRAMENTO Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond sent a joint letter to all county school superintendents, district school superintendents, and charter school administrators cautioning against book bans.

The letter released on Thursday, June 1, outlines pertinent educational civil rights and corresponding legal mandates school administrators are required to follow to preserve freedom and ensure access to diverse perspectives and curricula.

California

igh School Students

(Photo Credit: Office of the Go ernor/California epartment of ducation)

“In the first half of this school year alone, 1, 77 books were banned nationally, with teachers and librarians threatened with prison time for shelving the wrong book,” said Governor Newsom, Attorney General Bonta, and Superin-

tendent Thurmond.

“As state leaders elected to represent the values of all Californians, we offer our response in one shared voice: Access to books including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and especially, those that may challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths is a profound freedom we all must protect and cultivate.”

The joint letter sent Thursday highlights case law and constitutional precedent that restricts the removal of books from libraries and schools; the responsibilities of school administrators to provide students exposure to various world views; and the legal mandates that require school administrators to provide an unbiased curriculum to students and preserve freedom of speech.

Additionally, the joint letter informs local educational agencies that if they remove or ban instructional materials from classrooms or libraries, they may be requested to provide information to the Attorney General’s Office for analysis.

While other states ban books, California is improving education outcomes and investing tens of billions of dollars to improve literacy. California outperformed most states — including Florida and Texas — in mitigating learning loss during the pandemic, and through historic levels of school funding, the state is building a cohesive structure of support for educators and students that reflects a focus on equity, inclusion, and academic success.

Equality California’s Executive Director Tony Hoang responded to the letter in a statement: “At a time when over a dozen states have already passed laws banning books and censoring school curriculum, we

applaud this clear and forceful guidance from the highest offices in our state unequivocally demonstrating their commitment to providing unfettered access to an inclusive and accurate education for all students.

Across California, we are witnessing a growing number of school districts considering and passing policies to censor curriculum, books, and other materials discussing racism and even the very existence of LGBTQ+ people. These actions create a hostile learning environment for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized students and send them the harmful message that their history and experiences should be ignored.

Nearly 2 in LGBTQ+ young people said that hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQ+ people at school made their mental health worse. The link between supportive school environments, access to affirming resources, and youth mental health could not be clearer.

This guidance from the Governor, the Attorney General and the State Superintendent is a welcome counter to the vile and hateful attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups. Any school district that attempts to ban books or erase the experiences of LGBTQ+ people will be forced to answer to the state’s chief law enforcement officer.

California will continue to lead by example by cultivating and protecting access to books that are vital to prepare youth for civic participation, instill values needed to maintain our democracy, and teach about subjects that are a very real part of our shared history and understanding.

That is what makes California stronger each and every day.”

By LA BLADE STAFF

City of edlands, California on t be flying a Pride lag during June

REDLANDS, Calif. - A protracted and contentious battle to alter the city’s existing flag policy has left this San Bernardino municipality as one of only a few jurisdictions in the state that will not being displaying the LGBTQ+ Pride flag during Pride month this June.

Earlier this month, the city council in a 3-2 vote, rejected a change to allow the display of any flag other than the national flag, state, local and the POW MIA flags. Consideration of a resolution to amend the City’s Flag Display Policy, which was continued from the March 21 City Council meeting at which the council deadlocked on the matter ending in a 2-2 tie, was fairly acrimonious with public comments harshly critiquing and change to allow the Pride flag being flown.

Many of the comments included a variation on the sentiment of “Sexual preference has no business in the displays of city and state.” Other were a bit more harsh stating opposition such comments such as “No flag that represents sex with minors, or any other political flag should be flown along side the US and State flag.”

Others attacked Redlands City Council Member Denise Davis, the city’s first openly LGBTQ council member. In ad-

dition to the opposition, there were more than 20 members of the public who spoke in favor of the raising of the rainbow flag for the month of June and also advocated calls for greater inclusivity of the LGBTQIA community in the city.

Redlands City Hall

(Photo Credit: City of edlands, California/ acebook)

The city had in previous years flown the Pride flag during June. But after Redlands Mayor Eddie Tejeda voted against revising the policy, the audience loudly chanted “coward.”

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“It is my opinion that if we adopt changes to our flag policy, that we do so at our own risk In this case, it will demonstrate favor of one group over others,” Tejeda said.

“For these reasons, I will change my vote and not support changing our flag policy.”

In an interview with KTLA, the city’s queer councilmember, Davis, told the station she believes the decision sends the wrong message.

“I think that those visual cues of inclusion are really important to a community that has been historically marginalized,” Davis said.

If the policy had been approved, it would have been the third year the pride flag would have flown at City Hall in June, said Traci Lowenthal.

“To fly the pride flag this year feels especially important,” Lowenthal said. “At least 17 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the U.S. That is an all-time high. Whether banning healthcare or discussions of LGBTQ identity in classrooms, our LGBTQ community members receive one clear message over and over again: ‘You are not wanted.’“

By LA BLADE STAFF

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LOCAL

SoCal school district vetoes social studies curriculum over LGBTQ

TEMECULA, Calif. - A contentious and at times acrimonious Temecula Valley Unified School District School Board meeting ended with the board vetoing the social studies curriculum proposed for the district’s elementary schools. At issue was pushback on LGBTQ+ issues by the three conservative members.

Board Member Jennifer Wiersma, is one of the three backed by the Inland Empire Family Pac, a far-right group that opposes LGBTQ+ rights, transparent sexual education curriculum, and so-called ‘Critical Race Theory’ although that material is not taught in K-12 schools anywhere in the United States.

During the discussion, Wiersma told other board members and the audience: “I don’t want my rd grader studying an LGBTQ issue. I don’t want them going into gender ideology.” Wiersma, supported by the other two conservatives, Danny Gonzalez and Dr. Joseph Komrosky, signaled that they were also opposed to any curriculum that included lessons or information about former openly gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Milk along with LGBTQ+ ally, George Moscone, the 7th mayor of San Francisco, were assassinated by a homophobic former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White in their offices at city hall on November 27, 1 78.

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile ” asked Komrosky, referring to Milk.

Curriculum that deals with LGBTQ+ history is mandated under California’s FAIR Education Act, which was signed into law on July 1 , 2011, and went into effect on January 1, 2012.

It amends the California Education Code to include the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful reference to contributions by people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community in history and social studies curriculum.

Voting against the proposed elementary school social studies curriculum due to its inclusion of Milk will leave 11, 7 students without a social studies textbook for the next academic school year.

The frustration was evident in the testy public comments, many taking aim at the conservatives on the board. In a video of the meeting, one audience member can be heard shouting “ ou’re not qualified ou’re not qualified ’ at the board.

In a statement, Edgar Diaz, the president of the Temecula

Temecula Valley school board meeting May16, 2023.

(Screenshot/YouTube Temecula Valley School District)

Valley Educator Association said: “We’ve never experienced this before. I’ve never heard of a top performing district or any district say you know what we are going to withhold these materials.”

The pilot social studies program, which included material approved by the California Department of Education, was approved by 7 Temecula Valley Unified Schools teachers who had taught the material in 18 elementary schools.

During the discussions, Board Member Allison Barclay, who voted to approve the new curriculum, told fellow members and the audience: “It was piloted, we followed every policy, and procedures. The options were out there for parents.

Thirteen-hundred family’s kids learned from this curriculum.

We did not receive any complaints.”

The California Education Code has been updated over time to ensure that the contributions of members of underrepresented racial, ethnic and cultural groups to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States are included in history and social studies lessons.

To this end, California Education Code’s Social Content statute requires that instructional materials: Portray accurately and equitably the cultural and racial diversity of American society Demonstrate the contribution of minority groups and males and females to the development of California and the U.S. Emphasize people in varied, positive, and contributing

roles in order to influence students’ school experiences constructively Not contain inappropriate references to commercial brand names, products, and corporate or company logos The three member conservative majority also alleged that district parents lacked having had sufficient opportunities for input into the new curriculum. In the mission credo of the Inland Empire Family PAC, it states the group was created to ensure parents are the final decision maker in the education of their children, not the Government.

School Board Member Steven Schwartz, who joined fellow board member Barclay said: “Parents didn’t respond. Whose fault is it that parents didn’t respond It’s their fault. Not our fault and not the teacher’s fault.”

The Temecula Valley Unified School District released the following statement: “The district is currently extending the window for viewing and feedback on textbook materials that were piloted and recommended by our teachers. We will continue to gather additional community and parent feedback for the board.

At this time, we are not looking at changes with the publisher since TCI is a CDE approved curriculum that complies with the FAIR Act. TCI is also our approved Social Studies textbook at the middle school level.

We are working with TCI and our pilot teachers to provide additional parent community nights to share the materials again and provide an opportunity for additional questions.

We want to ensure that parents and community members have as much information as possible and are able to provide even more feedback.

We are also working with the Riverside County Office of Education and CDE to explore next steps if the curriculum is not adopted. Our goal is to ensure we are compliant with the Williams Act and ensure the high quality instruction for students in TVUSD continues.”

A spokesperson for the Temecula Valley Educator Association said that there will be rallies On June 6 and June 1 to support the the new social studies curriculum.

Requests for comment from Dr. Joseph Komrosky, Temecula Valley Unified School District School Board’s president went unanswered.

By BRODY LEVESQUE

Study: Awareness condoms cannot be used as evidence for arrest

LOS ANGELES - California Senate Bill 233, which went into effect in January 2020, ensures that the possession of condoms or HIV prophylactics cannot be used as evidence to arrest or prosecute a person for sex work.

However, a new study of people engaged in sex work in Los Angeles County from the Southern California HIV AIDS Policy Research Center and the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that 80 of respondents were unaware of the law. In addition, about 80 carried condoms while working despite the perceived risk of criminalization.

Researchers interviewed 25 adults about their experiences in sex work, including interactions with law enforcement, sexual risk behaviors, and condom-carrying practices. Respondents reported learning about the risk of carrying condoms from their own interactions with law enforcement and from their peers engaged in sex work.

While a few respondents said they avoided carrying condoms due to their concerns about police interactions, the majority still carried condoms as a way to resist police control and to protect (Screenshot/YouTube) their health, the health of their clients, community, and colleagues in sex work.

“Most of the people surveyed were aware of being targeted for sex work by law enforcement if they carried condoms at a time when condoms could no longer be used as evidence,” said lead author Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, Co-Director of the Southern California HIV AIDS Policy Research Center at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “This study highlights the need for interventions that raise awareness of

06 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

the legal rights of people engaged in sex work and oversight of SB2 implementation among California police officers.”

“People engaged in sex work report that much of the knowledge they have about the risks of carrying condoms came from members of their community,” said study author Bianca D.M. Wilson, Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. “It is important that people engaged in sex work lead interventions, advocacy, and outreach efforts to ensure that accurate and current information is disseminated.”

This project was made possible by support from Sex Workers Outreach Project Los Angeles SWOPLA and East LA Women’s Center. Support was also provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Office of Women’s Health and Unique Woman’s Coalition.

By LA BLADE STAFF

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LOCAL

Elon Musk to lobby for criminalizing healthcare for trans youth

ization of gender affirming care, SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk anti-trans conservative media comstarted Pride Month with a series of mentator and University of Toronto transphobic tweets that constitute Professor Jordan Peterson tweeted, his most extreme attacks agains the “Prison. Long term. Without Parole. community to-date and included No Mercy. And maybe for the complia pledge on Thursday that he will ant ‘therapists’ and the butchers they be “actively lobbying to criminalize” enable.” Musk replied, “Absolutely.” healthcare interventions for transMedical societies that develop and gender youth. publish clinical practice guidelines for Also on Thursday, Musk respondthe treatment of gender dysphoria in ed “Totally agree” to a tweet from a minor patients do not generally rectrans-exclusionary LGB account that ommend genital surgeries before the said, “LGB don’t even want Pride ELON MUSK in a recent interview with The age of 18. month anymore. We just want to be Babylon Bee, a conservative Christian news Access to the interventions proseparated from the TQ+.” anti-left satire website. (Screenshot/YouTube) scribed in these guidelines, which are And then on Friday, the Twitter supported by every mainstream sciowner intervened on behalf of anentific and medical body, have been shown to dramatically ti-trans pundit Matt Walsh when the platform took steps to reduce rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicides limit the reach of his “documentary” attacking the communiamong trans youth. Studies show rates of post-treatment ty, and then he re-tweeted Walsh’s video. regret are exceedingly rare.

The New Republic named Walsh “Transphobe of the ear” Musk has long been known as an online provocateur, ofin 2022, noting that he stood out in a crowded field of hate ten taking aim at institutions like Hollywood, big businesses, purveyors, having “raised his profile by spreading grotesque and the mainstream news media that he believes promote conspiracy theories about grooming” and pedophilia in the a left-leaning agenda without providing room for dissenting LGBTQ community.” voices.

Responding to Musk’s promise to fight for the criminal-

However, the tech billionaire has increasingly aligned himself with more extreme right-wing politics and conservative political figures like Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who launched his 202 presidential campaign last week with a Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by Musk just days after signing some of the most extreme anti-trans laws of any state in the country.

Likewise with his public statements concerning the transgender community. A few years ago, Musk courted controversy for mocking and complaining about the practice of calling trans and nonbinary people by their preferred pronouns. This week’s anti-trans tirade was markedly more extreme.

Last year, Insider noted Musk’s comments about gender pronouns in its coverage of a Reuters report that the South African born entrepreneur’s 18-year-old transgender daughter had filed papers in a California court to legally change her first and last name and request a new birth certificate.

Per Reuters, the teen said that she no longer wished to be “related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”

A month later, the elder Musk publicly declared his support for the Republican Party. In an interview with the Financial Times, he said the reason for his estrangement from his daughter was “full on communism” in elite colleges and universities.

By CHRISTOPHER KANE

WeHo presents key to the city to LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

WEST HOLLYWOOD - West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne kicked off LGBTQ Pride Month 202 by presenting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a key to the city.

West Hollywood Mayor SEPI SHYNE kicked o LG T Pride Month 2023 by presenting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a key to the city. (LA Blade photo by Simha Haddad)

The presentation of the key took place on the Heart Nightclub stage in front of hundreds of invited guests, less than a couple of weeks after The LA Dodgers Major League Baseball franchise apologized for shunning the LA Chapter drag group.

After their public apology, the Dodgers offered the sisters the Community Hero Award for their twenty-seven years of service in the community to be presented at LA Dodger ‘Pride Night’ on June 16 at Dodger Stadium.

“Tonight is so important,” Mayor Shyne told The Blade. “The sisters were discriminated against, and we all rallied behind them. This jey to the city symbolized the love that we have for each other no matter what. We will always stand together united.”

The Mayor, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath who is a former Mayor of WeHo, along with representatives from the Sisters drag group, Assemblymember Rick Chavez bur, and California State Senator Caroline Menjivar, with Los Angeles LGBT Center Chief Executive Officer Joe Hollendoner, LA Pride President Gerald GarthBoard had attended a meeting with Dodgers President and part-owner Stan Kasten and other stakeholders on Monday, May 22, to work out a solution.

Supervisor Horvath, who had facilitated the meeting, later told the Blade that important dialogue between the Dodgers and other parties had commenced. “I was honestly moved and grateful by the commitment in the room by all the parties, especially Dodgers President and part-owner Stan Kasten,” Horvath said.

Sister Unity, a spokesperson for the drag group, told The Blade that the sisters’ work has never been about accolades.

“Our work has never been about awards,” said Unity. “We love to dress up this way, it’s fun, and the glitter is so pretty. But then, when we saw just how much need there is for our work, how on any given night there are between five and seven thousand unhoused LGBTQ+ children who have been thrown out of their homes, the need for our work fueled us along with our delight in dressing up.”

Unity also shared that the Dodgers incident as well as Shyne’s presentation of the key, marks a cultural shift both in the

LGBTQ+ community and in America.

“As drag queens twenty-seven years ago, we knew we weren’t likely to get a lot of accolades. In a community that is already fringe, we were the fringe of the fringe. We are risky. We stick our necks out by being ‘this’ queer. We never expected the amount of support that came to us after what happened with the Dodgers. The fact that we were stood up for by so many members within and without the community marked a big change. They trusted us enough to stand up for us. Drag is now not only accepted at nightclubs. It is accepted politically in boardrooms and meeting rooms in all these prestigious institutions.”

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have been creating positive change since their first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, 1 7 . Since then, the Sisters have established Orders in places such as London, Paris, Wales, and more. They have devoted themselves to community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity, and spiritual enlightenment.

The Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence made their debut in Southern California in 1 5 in Diana Ross’s video with RuPaul promulgating joy launching their decades-long commitment to social activism. They work to strengthen community through drag activism by raising much-needed funds for community charities and by bringing about a better understanding of gay spirituality. They also work to unite LGBTQ communities and raise drag awareness among individuals, businesses, and organizations that are often ignorant or even hostile to members of the drag population.

By SIMHA HADDAD

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023 • 09

NATIONAL

Unprecedented times for companies facing anti-LGBTQ backlash Experts weigh in on how firms should respond during Pride month and beyond

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com The precipitous rise of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in America has increasingly put corporate allies in the crosshairs of fraught culture war battles, creating unprecedented challenges for firms as they navigate business decisions during Pride month.

Concerns follow recent cases in which Target Corp. and Anheuser-Busch InBev suffered financial and reputational damage first, when their outreach to LGBTQ customers provoked backlash, and again when the companies backed down in response to their anti-LGBTQ critics.

How should firms approach Pride month promotions in a climate where even the most minor or anodyne move can inspire right-wing calls for boycotts, or even threats of violence? What obligations do companies have to their LGBTQ customers, many of whom have long objected to brands’ tendency to offer performative demonstrations of support for the community to boost their sales in June?

Three experts spoke to the Washington Blade to address these and other questions.

Target became the target of anti-LGBTQ backlash and protests following misinformation over its Pride merchandise.

Andrew Isen is founder and president of WinMark Concepts, a firm that provides marketing services targeting LGBTQ audiences and customers, primarily for large publicly traded companies. Todd Evans is president and CEO of Rivendell Media, a firm that coordinates and manages advertising and marketing campaigns that are run in LGBTQ media. And Jack Mackinnon is senior director of cultural insights at Collage Group, a consumer research firm whose customers include many of the world’s biggest and best-known brands.

False claims on social media that an item in Target’s seasonal Pride collection a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit was offered in children’s sizes led to in-store confrontations that prompted the retailer to respond by moving merchandise to the back of stores and off the floor in some rural southern locations.

The controversy illustrates the unpredictability and arbitrariness of online flare-ups targeting individual companies, often driven partially or entirely by misinformation, the sources agreed.

“We are literally jumping from crisis to crisis to crisis,” Isen said, adding “we are in uncharted territory” where companies are “unable to foretell on an hourly basis what will blow up on social media,” and responding effectively is made more difficult when the claims at issue are “patently untrue.”

As a result, “there is a real reticence to move forward” on outreach to the LGBTQ community “until things work themselves out,” Isen said. Companies are now struggling with balancing their obligations to LGBTQ customers and their corporate

shareholders, he said.

Evans said part of the problem is proportionality. Pressures from a small and vocal contingent of anti-LGBTQ consumers are amplified by unregulated social media platforms, he noted.

For example, he said, “One Million Moms,” a division of the American Family Association that is known for demanding boycotts against companies that have embraced the LGBTQ community, only has a few thousand Twitter followers.

Isen and Evans said that while brands have long been attacked for publicly embracing the LGBTQ community, the controversy over Bud Light’s social media spot featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney marked a tipping point because of the resulting harm to parent company Anheuser-Busch’s bottom line.

Negative ramifications would have been thwarted, Isen said, had the company not reacted with a defensive posture by issuing a statement that “we never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”

“There’s no PR professional that would have recommended” Anheuser-Busch respond in the way that it did, agreed Evans.

To the extent that firms can anticipate when they may encounter anti-LGBTQ backlash, the sources agreed it is generally directed at the transgender community and anything involving minors as seen in the rise in attacks against all-ages drag performances, for instance, and legislation targeting the rights of trans Americans, especially youth.

Evans said transphobia is part of a broader reactionary moment in American politics that presents a threat to the entire LGBTQ community and “anybody else who is different.” Isen noted the political climate has been defined by a right-wing crusade against “wokeness” led by the likes of Florida’s Republican Gov. and 202 presidential contender Ron DeSantis.

Mackinnon, however, said the anti-trans backlash is distinct.

“Other LGBTQ+ issues like gay marriage are not very controversial” from a marketing and advertising perspective, but there has been a shift in recent years as “people starting to think about transgender issues on a higher level,” he said.

Misinformation can be weaponized and exploited to a greater extent when it concerns gender issues about which many Americans are still unfamiliar, Mackinnon said.

As they approach any business decision concerning advertising or outreach to the LGBTQ community, the sources agreed the Bud Light dustup may offer important lessons for companies moving forward into Pride month and beyond.

When the beermaker approached Mulvaney, “the decision to engage her was done for business reasons,” Isen said, as the company saw a valuable opportunity to tap into a broader market of young potential customers. The influencer “has a demographic following that fit perfectly into a market expansion opportunity for the brand that was in double digit decline.”

The company’s response, he said, was a problem because Anheuser-Busch seemed to characterize its work with Mulvaney as, instead, a cultural outreach effort which rang insincere and “alienated the entire LGBTQ community, bar owners in the trade, and consumers.”

“Had they stood firm and said, ‘we made a calculated business decision to engage this social influencer as we have thousands of other social influencers,’ it would have been a different story,” Isen said.

Anheuser-Busch’s major miscalculation was failing to build

12 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

a relationship with its LGBTQ customers who might otherwise be inclined to forgive the company’s decision to back down to pressure from anti-trans extremists “with its delayed response and then a really unthoughtful response,” Evans said. Engendering goodwill with the community is crucial, he said.

“This is a brand that was not necessarily known for LGBTQ outreach in their marketing,” Mackinnon said, “so when they partnered – in a very small way, by the way – and dabbled in a partnership with Mulvaney , that caught some people by surprise, potentially, and they put themselves in an awkward position to explain what it was that they were doing.”

As a result, he said, for many people Anheuser-Busch’s business decision to work with Mulvaney seemed insincere or opportunistic.

Mackinnon said consumer research indicates that young people, especially, are inclined to research individual companies to assess the extent to which their support for inclusivity is sincere and baked into their corporate governance, rather than performative and motivated entirely by profit chasing.

As an example, Mackinnon pointed to cases where, following the murder of George Floyd, firms expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, only to face criticism when customers discovered the lack of diversity in their boards of directors.

“Brands should be thinking about not just what should my campaign be for this June, but where do we want to be in terms of building trust six months from now, a year from now, five years from now,” Mackinnon said.

“Most of that work is quiet and under the surface and behind the scenes, and it is essential for building a platform and a framework and a foundation to have any other effective types of campaigns,” he said.

Part of this strategy should also include clear and consistent messaging on online platforms, which Mackinnon said can act as an effective bulwark against the spread of misinformation targeting companies.

“A brand that is investing in transgender, LGBTQ+ consumers,” he said, must “be ready to know how to explain those investments and how to combat that misinformation” with quick, simple responses provided in real time.

Used properly, Mackinnon said, social media can be an effective tool for firms to build trust allowing for opportunities to engage in discussions and storytelling in a conversational fashion not afforded by other forms of corporate communication.

The ascendency of transphobia and anti-LGBTQ sentiment comes as Americans’ faith in institutions – politics, traditional media, scientific and medical expertise continues to plummet.

These conditions have primed consumers to “look to brands to speak to these issues,” Mackinnon said, “not to, like, heal the world, but to operate as influencers on the issues that are front-of-mind for people.”

Companies might, then, see not just a set of challenges but also valuable opportunities for LGBTQ outreach during Pride month. Acting thoughtfully, these firms might maximize their market caps for the month of June without alienating their LGBTQ customers while also, potentially, helping to facilitate a world in which more Americans might be down to have a beer with a trans neighbor or bring their kids to a drag performance.

NATIONAL

Anti-LGBTQ laws, drag bans loom over Pride celebrations Organizers in Florida, Texas, Montana, Tennessee coping with new restrictions

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com Sterling denied reports that suggest drag Anti-LGBTQ and anti-drag laws that Repubqueens will not be allowed to perform. lican governors have signed have prompted “We need to be proud of the beauty of our Pride organizers to reconsider or even cancel culture while keeping in mind who we are entheir events this year. tertaining,” he said. “Our standards should be The Bozanich Photography Collaborative, that which we would use around our own chilwhich organizes St. Cloud Pride in Florida, in its dren or our families’ nieces or nephews. We are statement that announced the cancellation of performing for all ages, so the youngest in the its June 10 event noted the state “has recentaudience should dictate the minimum stanly passed a number of laws that target the dards we should adhere to.”

LGBTQIA+ community” and they have “creatMiami Beach Pride took place on April 16, ed a climate of fear and hostility for LGBTQIA+ less than a week after Equality Florida and the people.”

Florida Immigrant Coalition issued a travel adviFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 17 — the sory for the state. The event took place before International Day Against Homophobia, BiDeSantis signed HB 1438 and the three other phobia and Transphobia — signed bills that anti-LGBTQ laws. ban gender-affirming health care for minors, The third annual PensaPride will take place restrict pronoun usage in schools and require in Pensacola in Florida’s Panhandle on June 24. public buildings and other facilities’ restrooms Sydney Robinson, who is a member of and locker rooms to have “separate facilities for PensaPride’s board of directors, during a June men and women based on biological sex.” De1 telephone interview with the Blade noted Santis on that day also signed House Bill 1438, the all-day festival is a sober event and “famiwhich “protects children from explicitly adult ly-friendly, open to all ages.” performances in all venues — including drag She noted drag queens typically perform shows and strip clubs” and “imposes fines and at PensaPride, but organizers are “still sort license suspension for hotels and restaurants of grappling to try and do something or if we that admit a child into an adult performance.” want to avoid it altogether because of the new The Republican presidential candidate last law.” Robinson was nevertheless adamant that year filed a complaint against a Miami restauPride events should continue to take place in rant after LibsofTikTok broadcast a video of Florida, despite DeSantis and the anti-drag bill children attending a drag show. he signed.

The DeSantis administration this year has “I’m really disappointed with any Pride sought to revoke the liquor license of the Hyatt events that cancel for that reason because Regency Miami and filed a complaint against I think there is a way to have a vibrant Pride the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation event that doesn’t have drag,” she said. “If you after children attended drag shows at the rereally want to follow the law, if that’s your main spective locations. concern, you could easily do a wonderful Pride Tampa Pride on May 18 announced the canevent and just not have that element involved.” cellation of its “Pride on the River” event. Orga“On the other end it’s like well Pride is a pronizers of Pridefest in Port St. Lucie only allowed test,” added Robinson. “That was the basis of those who were at least 21 years old to attend Pride from the start.” their annual event that took place in April.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on May 22 Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando has sued Designed a bill that bans drag story hours in public Santis over HB 1438. schools and libraries and restricts “sexually oriThe annual Stonewall Pride Parade and ented performances” on public property. (His Street Festival is scheduled to take place in Wilnonbinary child urged him to veto anti-LGBTQ ton Manors on June 17. bills that reached his desk during this year’s leStonewall Pride CEO Jeffrey Sterling on gislative session.)

Monday during a telephone interview with the Missoula Pride will take place from June 16Washington Blade pointed out Wilton Drive, 18. the road on which the parade and festival will “We’re more motivated than ever to put on take place, is a state road. just one big hell of a Pride festival,” Andy NelHe said performers and vendors will have to son, executive director of the Western Monabide by a series of rules that include no nuditana LGBTQ+ Community Center, which orgaty, no lewd conduct and no vulgarity or overtly nizes Missoula Pride, told the Blade on June 2 sexual language. Sterling admitted HB 1438 during a telephone interview. “This legislative and the other anti-LGBTQ bills that DeSantis session here in Montana has been devastating signed “indirectly” prompted Stonewall Pride and we just need to come together as a comto implement them, but he stressed they do munity more than ever.” not apply to those who attend the parade and Nelson noted the bill that Gianforte signed is festival.

14 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

specific to public libraries and schools. Nelson said drag queens will perform at Missoula Pride as they normally do.

“As far as drag performers performing at our street party in downtown Missoula, we’re good to go,” Nelson told the Blade. “And so we’re going to have a bunch of queens up there, like usual, doing their thing. They’ll be in the parade and we’re still going to have multiple drag events throughout the weekend.”

A document the Department of Homeland Security shared with law enforcement and government agencies on May 11 notes anti-LGBTQ threats are increasing and are linked to “dragthemed events, gender-affirming care and LGBTQIA+ curricula in schools.” The document also warns of the potential increase in attacks against health care providers and businesses that specifically cater to LGBTQ people.

Police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho last June arrested 31 armed white nationalists who were protesting a Pride event “We were definitely on edge,” said Nelson, who noted Coeur d’Alene is less than three hours from Missoula and the arrests took place days after Missoula Pride. “What happened there is not out of the question, that it could happen here as well.”

Nelson noted a small group of neo-Nazis with AR-15s in March protested an International Trans Day of Visibility event that took place at Missoula’s courthouse. He said a private security team and members of the Missoula Police Department will be on hand during Pride.

“We’re definitely keeping safety and security top of mind,” said Nelson.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on March 2 signed Senate Bill 2, which imposes fines and even jail time for “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest” on public property or where children are present.

Friends of George’s, a Memphis-based LGBTQ theater company, challenged SB 2 in federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on June 2 declared SB 2, which is also known as the Adult Entertainment Act, unconstitutional. The same federal judge temporarily blocked the law hours before it was to have taken effect.

Tennessee Equality Project Executive Director Chris Sanders on Monday noted to the Blade that Pride events took place in Memphis, Cookeville and in other cities across the state over the past weekend.

Sanders said drag queens performed in a public park during Columbia Pride that took place on Sunday. He noted some Pride celebra-

A drag queen performs at Lubbock Pride in Lubbock, Texas, in 2022. (Image courtesy Topher Covarrubio of NeverEnding Memories Photography)

tions “probably did make some contingency plans or change the way their celebration went on, but many continued to have drag as part of their celebrations.”

Sanders told the Blade that activists in Tennessee remain “extremely stressed, particularly about the anti-trans laws.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the state law that bans gender-affirming care for anyone who is under 18 years old. Sanders noted that statute “continues to hang over everything,” but Parker’s ruling was something to celebrate.

“People got a bit of relief, obviously, because of the drag ruling and people are very excited about that,” said Sanders.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on June 2 signed a law that bans gender-affirming health care for minors in his state. Senate Bill 12 — which would “regulate sexually oriented performances” and “those performances on the premises of a commercial enterprise, on public property, or in the presence of an individual younger than 18 years of age” — is currently awaiting the Republican governor’s signature.

Nick Harpster, the public relations and advocacy coordinator of Lubbock Pride, on June 1 noted to the Blade during a telephone interview that SB 12 would take effect after his city’s Pride events if Abbott were to sign it into law.

He said SB 12 has “such a broad and vague wording and it’s left up to so much interpretation,” and questioned how it may specficially impact the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Harpster said Texas lawmakers have definitely targeted drag queens with SB 12 and another bill that sought to defund public libraries that host drag queen story hours.

“That’s been the goal from the get go,” said Harpster.

Harpster said Lubbock Pride “may have to do some things differently” next year if Abbott signs SB 12. In the meantime, drag performances and drag story times are among the events that will take place during this year’s Lubbock Pride that will take place on June 10.

(Dawn Ennis, Christopher Kane, Michael Key and Brody Levesque contributed to this story.)

There’s a gap in medical research that only you can fill.

All of Us is a research program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is seeking one million or more people from across the U.S. More than 431,770 people have already signed up to take part, 42,876 of those identify as LGBTQ+. Joining the All of Us Research Program is your chance to help speed up medical research that will benefit you and your community.

All LGBTQ+ Americans deserve to be seen, heard, and understood— especially when it comes to medical research. #JoinAllofUsLGBTQ To learn more: Visit: JoinAllofUs.org/LAblade Email: allofuslgbtq@stanford.edu Call: (650) 498-5010 Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: @AllofUsLGBTQ All of Us and the All of Us logo are registered service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources.

NATIONAL

ederal go t celebrates Pride month ington ationals ight O T game on Tuesday, Ma jor League aseball s longest running annual Pride event. The Speaker will be honored this year for her ad ancement of LG T ci il rights throughout her ca reer in Congress.

• The .S. epartment of efense s o Pride, an LG T employee resource group for ser ice mem bers and DoD civilian employees, was slated to hold its annual Pride month e ent on June at the Pen tagon.

• President Joe iden and irst Lady r. Jill iden ere scheduled to host a Pride month celebration on the South La n of the hite ouse on June , featuring a performance by singer song riter etty ho.

• The LG T ictory und s June 22 ederal PAC e ception ill feature LG T members of Congress: .S. eps. Chris Pappas ( . .), ric Sorensen ( ll.), Mark Pocan ( is.), Mark Takano ( Calif.), obert

The White House, U.S. federal agencies, and Congress are honoring Pride month with a slate of official and unofficial events this year, many taking place this week.

Visit our website for an updated list of events.

• The .S. epartment of the nterior kicked o Pride month with a celebration on June 1, where DoI Secretary eb aaland raised the Progress Pride lag alongside members of nterior s LG T community.

• ashington, .C. Mayor Muriel o ser s Office of LG T A airs hosted a flag raising ceremony on June at the John A. ilson uilding. The Mayor s Office is also sponsoring a istrict of Pride Sho case at the Lincoln Theatre on June 2 .

• On June 2, the .S. epartment of omeland Securi ty held a flag raising ceremony at the agency s head uarters ith S Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

• Speaker merita .S. ep. ancy Pelosi ( Calif.) thre out the ceremonial first pitch during the ash

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS (Photo courtesy S)

Garcia ( Calf.), and Sharice a ids ( Kan.).

• On June 2 , ice President Kamala arris and Second Gentleman oug mho are hosting a reception in celebration of Pride at the ice President s residence, in collaboration ith GLAA .

CHRISTOPHER KANE

La. la makers send anti LG T bills to go ernor The Louisiana state Senate on Monday, following a national conservative movement targeting LGBTQ youth, approved three measures that undermine LGBTQ rights.

Louisiana Go .

JOHN BEL EDWARDS The bills now head (Photo by Marie Constantin) to the state’s Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, one of which has spurred calls for the governor to veto from leading civil rights advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union.

House Bill 6 8, a ban on trans youth gender-affirming health care, passed on a 29-10 vote along party lines. HB 648 is the only bill of the three to receive a veto-proof majority vote in both House and Senate should the governor veto it, which sources say is highly likely.

“This extreme government overreach harms everyone in our state, especially transgender Louisianans, and we all deserve

better,” ACLU spokesperson Kari Elgin said in a statement.

The local newspaper, the Advocate, reported the Senate voted Monday for HB 466, the ban on talk of gender and sex in school classrooms, on a 29-9 vote, a two-thirds majority; and for HB Bill 81, the pronoun bill, on a 31-8 vote, also a two-thirds majority. However, the House passed each of those bills earlier in session without two-thirds majority votes.

Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley released the following statement: “From doctors’ offices to classrooms, Louisiana’s extremist legislators show no shame in assaulting the freedoms of those different from them. Blocking teachers from providing the safe and inclusive spaces that LGBTQ+ youth so desperately need is an unconscionable act. There is absolutely nothing inappropriate about being LGBTQ+ or in acknowledging LGBTQ+ issues and people. Furthermore, denying transgender and nonbinary youth access to best-practice, life-saving medical care puts their lives in very real danger.”

There was opposition to the trans youth healthcare ban from Republican Committee Chair Fred Mills, of Parks, joined who had joined with the Democrats in opposition. The bill killed by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, which Mills chairs,

was thought to have effectively killed the bill for this legislative session.

According to the Advocate after weeks of political maneuvering that saw it revived by the full Senate as political pressure mounted from conservative interest groups and then approved last week by a second Senate panel, sending it back to the full chamber.

Last month Mills expressed his trust in science and health care providers before joining Democrats in opposition.

“I guess I’ve always believed in my heart of hearts that a decision should be made by a patient and a physician,” Mills said.

Speaking to the Advocate Monday, Mills said his vote was driven by his belief that decisions about medical care should remain between doctors and patients. He said Monday that blowback to his vote, which included threats from local and national conservatives, came as a surprise because he was unaware of the “cultural war” the issue was enmeshed in.

“This is probably one of the biggest blessings of my life, this controversy,” he said. “I’ve been attacked nationwide by people with hate. But I do not hate these people. I know God blesses them.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Marriage e uality support remains strong at A Gallup Poll released Monday showed that support for same-sex marriage is maintaining a position of 71 percent of Americans who think it should be legal, matching the previous year’s percentage.

Gallup noted that public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50 percent since the early 2010s.

The latest figures are from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 1-24.

When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27 percent) supported legalizing such unions.

It would take another 15 years, until 2011, for support to reach the majority level. Then in

2015, just one month before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, public support for legalizing gay marriage cracked the 60 percent level. In 2021, it reached the 70 percent mark for the first time and has been there each of the past three years.

Gallup has recorded increases in support for same-sex marriage across all major subgroups over time. Today, majorities of all but two key subgroups — Republicans (49 percent) and weekly churchgoers (41 percent) — say gay marriages should be legally recognized.

Republican support for gay marriage has hovered around the 50 percent mark since

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2020, with slight majorities backing it in 2021 and 2022. The latest 49 percent recorded for this group is statistically similar to the level of support Gallup has recorded in recent years.

Like all other subgroups, weekly churchgoers (41 percent) are more supportive of gay marriage now than they were in the previous two decades. However, their level of support has been steady since 2018 — ranging between 40 percent and 44 percent.

Same-sex marriage has received majority support in the U.S. for over a decade, and support has been on an upward trajectory for most of Gallup’s polling since 1996.

Gay marriage became the law of the land

percent

after the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision, and President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation to ward off future judicial attempts at undoing its legality late last year.

Among many groups — including older adults, Protestants and residents of the South — perspectives on gay marriage have gone from majority opposition to majority support over the course of Gallup’s trend spanning more than a quarter of a century. But two groups remain holdouts on the issue, with Republicans evenly divided on the legality of same-sex unions and weekly churchgoers maintaining their position against it.

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INTERNATIONAL

Final preparations for Tel Aviv Pride in Israel on June 7, 2023.

(Photo courtesy of Marty Rouse)

A Pride commemoration in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 25, 2022.

(Photo courtesy of Sphere Women’s Association)

Global Pride events to renew demands for equality Kyiv Pride to take place in Liverpool

Activists around the world are using Pride events to renew their demands for full equality.

This year’s Pride month coincides with the debate over marriage equality in Aruba.

The Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba that has jurisdiction over three constituent countries (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and three special municipalities (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) within the Netherlands late last year ruled Aruba and Curaçao must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Gay Aruban Sen. Miguel Mansur on Wednesday told the Washington Blade that he and activists on the island are “pushing to have” the marriage equality debate this month, but opponents in the Aruban Parliament have been trying to delay. Mansur further stressed this year’s Pride month events are an important way to counter those who oppose marriage equality and other LGBTQ rights.

“It’s especially important for representation because of the same-sex marriage law there was an onslaught of attacks by certain religious groups, an association of churches,” said Mansur. “Representation and visibility are more important than ever.”

Upwards of 30,000 people participated in the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade on June 2. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who now leads the country’s opposition, is among those who sharply criticized members of the current government over their opposition to LGBTQ rights.

“Outside are standing, like every year, the wretched thugs of Lahava movement, demonstrating against us,” said Lapid. “Only this year these people are no longer just a ridiculous bunch of dark extremists — they are part of

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com the government. Bezalel Smotrich, (Internal Security Minister) Itamar Ben-Gvir [and] Avi Maoz, are trying to push us all back into the closet, to the dark closet of their foreknowledge.

Thai MP Pita Limjaroenrat, who is the frontrunner to become the country’s next prime minister, is among those who participated in Bangkok’s Pride parade that took place on June 4. Limjaroenrat told reporters that his government will support marriage equality and a transgender rights law once it forms.

“Love is love and love must win,” said Limjaroenrat in a Facebook post.

Hundreds of people on June 4 participated in a Pride march in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, executive director of Equal Ground, a Sri Lankan advocacy group, on Wednesday noted to the Blade that her organization will hold a queer film festival and other events throughout Pride month. Activists in Jaffna, a city in northern Sri Lanka, are also planning to hold a Pride march.

These events will take place roughly four months after the Sri Lankan government announced it supports a bill that would decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.

“We are really proud of the work that we have done around bringing Pride to Sri Lanka,” said Flamer-Caldera. “It was an alien concept 1 years ago when we first started. We have started a movement in Sri Lanka around Pride.”

São Paulo’s annual Pride parade, which is among the world’s biggest, will take place on the city’s Paulista Avenue on June 11.

São Paulo LGBT+ Parade Vice President Renato Viterbo

20 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

notes participants and organizers seek to “draw the attention of government officials to what public policies should be for all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, the Chilean advocacy that organizes the annual Pride parade in Santiago, the country’s capital, says it plans to use the June 24 event as a way to demand President Gabriel Boric’s government to strengthen the country’s anti-discrimination law and to create what it describes as “an anti-discrimination institutionality.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on May 29 signed his country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act with a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” This year’s Pride events are also taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

Anna Sharyhina, co-founder of the Sphere Women’s Association, a group that promotes LGBTQ and intersex rights in Ukraine, last September led a Pride march in a subway station in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city that is less than 30 miles from the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

The Liverpool City Region Pride Foundation and Kyiv Pride on July 29 will hold a joint Pride event in the English city of Liverpool.

“Liverpool and Ukraine remain united by love,” tweeted Pride in Liverpool on June 1. “This year Liverpool will showcase Kyiv and Ukraine’s LGBT+ spirit as our annual March with Pride is held jointly with Kyiv Pride.”

The Baltic Pride March will take place in the Estonian capital of Tallinn on June 10. Reykjavík Pride will take place in the Icelandic capital from Aug. 8-13.

(Brody Levesque and WDG, the Blade’s media partner in Israel, contributed to this story.)

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Celebrates

PRIDE

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We Congratulate the Class of 2023 LGBTQIA+ Graduates And Welcome Our Next Generation of Pride!

LACCD welcomes everyone to our nine campuses with inclusive and safe learning environments to pursue your higher education goals and dreams!

ENROLL TODAY! VISIT US ONLINE @LACCD.edu @LACCD @LACCD @LACCD_EDU

NATIONAL

Frontrunner to be Thailand’s next prime minister celebrates Pride

seat Senate appointed by BANGKOK, Thailand the junta, according to the Pita Limjaroenrat, a memconstitution’s provisional ber of Parliament and terms later this summer.

Leader of Move Forward Limjaroenrat has vowed Party, is assembling a coato get the Marriage Equallition to govern this Southity Act through the parliaeast Asian country after ment after the early drafts winning the most seats in of the law and related lega May 14 general election. islation was stalled in the Limjaroenrat, his progresPITA LIMJAROENRAT holding mobile phone takes a selfie ith a partici last parliamentary session sive party and its co-partpant of Bangkok Pride on Sunday. under the government of ners are promising to deliv(Photo Credit: Pita Limjaroenrat/Facebook) Prayut Chan-o-cha i, who er on pledges to pass laws has served as the Prime Minister of Thailand protecting the country’s LGBTQ+ people. since he seized power in a military coup in Limjaroenrat is expected to be named as 2014.

Prime Minister, however, the Election ComLimjaroenrat took part in the second anmission has 60 days to certify the results of nual LGBTQ Pride parade in Bangkok, June 4, the May General Election. The process for 2023. “Once the government is formed we will selection of a prime minister is complicated, support Marriage Equality (Act), Gender Idenunder the 2017 Thai constitution prime ministity (Act) and several others, including welfare,” ters may only be chosen from a pre-declared Limjaroenrat told reporters at the parade. list of candidates. Each party may submit up In a Facebook post he noted: (Translated) to three names and must have at least 25 Our country is driven by ‘love’, not ‘fear’. members in the House of Representatives to • receive eligibility.

‘Diversity’ is not a ‘weakness’, but a ‘strength’ of Parliament’s vote for Prime Minister will this country. take place in a joint session with the 250-

• love is love and love must win • So #bangkokpride2023 It’s not just a month we come to celebrate. Not just a parade It’s about telling the world about the values we share.

• I want to tell everyone that When can we form a government? Law #Equality Marriage Passed immediately in 100 days because it was a common agenda that was already recorded in the MOU of the coalition government.

• But there are other policies that we will continue to push forward as management in various ministries. and as a legislative branch in the House of Representatives To create gender equality in Thai society.

• all based on “The way forward” is to see that “people are equal” no matter who you are. We all have equal human dignity. equality before the law and must receive public services from the state fairly and equally not being discriminated against just because of differences in race, color, creed, education level poor status Physical status, disability, age, and if someone is weak and falls

down, the society is ready to help and support each other. That was the society I dreamed of.

• Even the journey of gender equality We have traveled a long way. But it’s just a small starting point. There is still a long way to go to reach everyone’s ideals, so don’t be discouraged, don’t be discouraged. Don’t think that this society can’t change anything. when everyone has contributed to make the change happen • This journey, if you look at it with your eyes, you may see that it is still a long way to go, but at least we can see the destination clearly in everyone’s heart.

Thailand is a popular destination in Asia for LGBTQ+ travelers as the Thai people are extremely welcoming people and have been embracing LGBTQ+ tourists for decades. However, LGBTQ+ rights groups say that the LGBTQ+ community still experience some forms of widespread stigma and discrimination. There is no legal recognition of transgender people and the law does not recognize marriage equality, although homosexuality is legal under Thai law.

By BRODY LEVESQUE

30,000 march in Jerusalem Pride parade

(WDG is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Israel. WDG originally published this article on Friday.)

JERUSALEM — Upwards of 30,000 people on Thursday marched in the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade, which marked the beginning of Pride month in Israel.

The parade, organized by the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, began with the traditional gathering at Gan Happamon. Many politicians also came to support and encourage the marchers.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who chairs the Yesh Atid party, in his speech referred to the counterprotest the Lahava movement organized near the parade’s starting point. Several dozen LGBTQ+ and intersex rights opponents participated in the protest.

“Outside are standing, like every year, the wretched thugs of Lahava movement, demonstrating against us,” said Lapid. “Only this year these people are no longer just a ridiculous bunch of dark extremists — they are part of the government. Bezalel Smotrich, (Internal Security Minister) Itamar Ben-Gvir [and] Avi Maoz, are trying to push us all back into the closet, to the dark closet of their foreknowledge. In Israel there is not one fight for democracy and a separate fight for LGBT rights.

It’s the same struggle against those enemies. in the name of those values. Those who attack

Israeli democracy attack the LGBTs, those who attack the LGBTs attack democracy.”

Benny Gantz, chair of the National Unity Party, referred to the need to hold parades in the capital.

“We won’t have to march when in this parade we won’t need security, we won’t need snipers and undercover policemen. We won’t have to walk when each and every one can walk in any neighborhood they want, holding hands like any couple. We will not have to march when gay will not be a curse in school but simply self-determination, when each and every one can fill out any government form according to what he is,” he said. “We will not have to march when a prime minister in Israel would not think of giving the keys to the education system to a dark racist and allocating hundreds of millions to oversee liberal education programs. I am ashamed of this and I tell you that even at the most difficult political price, I will never do such a thing. We will not have to march when there are no racists in the government. Such people would be denounced and would not be elected, not because of the law — but because no one would want to elect them. We won’t have to step when simple love won’t be complicated or will be as complicated as any simple love.”

At the end of the gathering, the marchers began marching towards Independence Park

22 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

where Ran Danker, Ivri Lider, Roni Duani, Rinat Bar and others were performing.

More than 2,000 police officers and soldiers, visible and hidden, secured parade participants with the assistance of reinforcements and volunteers.

As with every year, the police commissioner and the Minister of internal Security came to the parade area to examine the work of the police in the field. But unlike previous years, Ben-Gvir was received with shouts of “shame.”

Ben-Gvir came to supervise the parade, despite a prior demand from the parade organizers that he refrain from doing so.

“In my position as a minister, I do and will do everything so that there is no crazy case, as was the case with the murder of Shira Banki,” said Ben-Gvir, “My policy is to give freedom of speech to those who oppose the parade, even to those who speak against the parade, that is their right. They are not breaking the law yet.

Our job on this day is to allow the parade and protest, this is democracy, this is the beautiful mosaic in the state of Israel and this is how I act as minister of national security.”

Several serious incidents of violence against the LGBTQ+ community took place after the parade ended and marchers dispersed. In one of them, boys and young men were seen setting Pride flags on fire, and in the second, a group of young people attacked a number of

The Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade took place in Jerusalem on June 1, 2023 (Photo courtesy of WDG)

LGBTQ+ people near Jerusalem’s Central Station. They shouted at them to “go back to Tel Aviv, you son of a bitch.”

“This is a resounding slap in the face that reminds us that no matter how much we spread light, the struggle is not over yet, and the hatred towards us exists and understands,” Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance said in response to the violence. “In Jerusalem those who walk around the city tonight, are asked to be alert and take care of themselves.

Don’t worry, we will win.”

“The Jerusalem parade is the strongest expression of our opposition to hatred, and to the plans of the hate lobby to fight in our community,” Hevruta, an LGBTQ+ religious organization, said. “Even hundreds of millions of shekels, the authority and standards of Avi Maoz and the Noam party will not be able to extinguish our love for God, for who we are and for our families.”

By GEORGE AVNI

VISITWESTHOLLYWOOD.COM

C O R N E R O F S A N V I C E N T E & S A N TA M O N I C A B L V D , W E S T H O L L Y W O O D , C A

2023

amcs pridefest RAINBOW STRONG, MENTAL HEALTH STRONG

JUNE 17

SATURDAY June 17 • 12-2pm

Drollinger Family stage at Loyola Marymount University 1 LMU Drive • Los Angeles

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(SHE/HER) PUBLIC HEALTH CONSULTANT AND CO-CHAIR OF INDIGENOUS PRIDE LA GUEST SPEAKER

WELLNESS STATIONS FREE FOOD TRUCKS DJ

GERALD GARTH

(HE/HIM) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AMAAD INSTITUTE HOST

DR. MIMI HOANG (SHE/HER)

PROGRAM COORDINATOR OF LGBTQIA+ AFFIRMATIVE THERAPY CENTER AT AMCS

Scan the QR code to Register FOR FREE!

Join AMCS to celebrate diversity, equality and inclusion at our annual Pridefest event – a fun-filled day of music, food, and love!

REV. BRANDAN ROBERTSON

is a noted author, activist, and public theologian working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal. A prolific writer, he is the author of nine books on spirituality, justice, and theology, including the INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist True Inclusion: Creating Communities of Radical Embrace.

Robertson received his Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Ministry and Theology from Moody Bible Institute, his Master of Theological Studies from Iliff School of Theology, and his Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration from Eastern Illinois University. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Biblical Studies from Drew University. He currently resides in New York City.

Why Christians need the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters were declaring that queer people no longer needed to be afraid of homophobic Christians, the Church, or of God ous performance art to demand queer NEW YORK -The LA Dodgers were rights and offering a wide array of embroiled in controversy for much of community programs and services to the month of May over their inclusion support the queer community. of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Far from being anti-Christian, the a historic queer rights group, in their Sisters have often partnered with 10th annual Pride Night Celebration. affirming churches for programs, Christian groups immediately lashed performance, and demonstrations out against the Dodgers, claiming that throughout their history. For instance, the Sisters were an “anti-Christian hate the Sisters were honored guests at a group”, as Catholic Bishop Robert BarPride Mass I was honored to preach at ron stated on Twitter. in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral in This accusation against the Sisters 201 . In that service, the Sisters stood stemmed from a video that began ciralongside me as we sang praise to culating of a performance by the Sis(Photo Credit: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence/Facebook) God, prayed together, and took comters that included a depiction of the munion together. They were not and crucifixion of Jesus while a pole dancare not anti-Christian- I think they are exemplary Christians. er danced around the wooden cross affixed to the top of the float.

Anyone who reads the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life will quickFor many Christians, this appeared to be an act of blasphemy, ly find that Jesus himself was a performance artist and a comemeant to mock the central event in the Christian story- the death dian, using his quick wit and miracle-working powers to expose of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. the hypocrisy of both the religious and political systems around I am a Christian Pastor, and while I can understand the initial him. Jesus often mocked the hypocrisy of some of the leaders in shock and outrage of seeing this image without context, I actualhis own religious tradition, and willingly broke religious rules to ly don’t find this image offensive at all. Instead, I find it to be an demonstrate that God did not care about religious righteousness important provocation intended to highlight the harm that Chrisbut about grace, compassion, and justice. tians have enacted on the queer community through the ages Many people were offended by Jesus’ teachings and actions. and the beauty of the queer community living out and proud in Many people accused Jesus of blasphemy. But Jesus prioritized the face of many Christian denominations who continue to perstanding in solidarity with the disenfranchised than the feelings petuate hatred and harm towards our community. of those with power and privilege. It’s hard to image the Jesus of In this performance, the Sisters were not stoking hatred tothe Bible being offended by someone using his image to critique wards Christianity, but rather were showing that they embraced an abusive religious establishment and celebrate a marginalized one of the most central values of our faith- that love casts out all community. fear. 1 John :18 The Sisters were declaring that queer people no Instead of feigning outrage at the LA Dodgers honoring the Sislonger needed to be afraid of homophobic Christians, the Church, ters of Perpetual Indulgence for their decades of service to the or of God. That even at the foot of the cross of Christ, queer peoqueer community, Christians would do well to study the ministry ple were invited to come, just as we are, and bask in the grace and message of the Sisters who look a hell of a lot more like Jesus and love of God. than most American Christians do. If Christians are serious about The Sisters have a long history of doing ministry to queer folks, following Jesus, then we should spend a lot less time defending reclaiming the forms and language of Christianity as a tool for ourselves, our institutions, and our feelings, and far more time healing and empowerment for the LGBTQIA+ community. Since serving the poor and the oppressed- just like the Sisters of Pertheir first performance on Easter of 1 7 in San Francisco, they petual Indulgence. have been on the front lines of queer activism, utilizing humor26 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

V O L U M E 07 I S S U E 2 ADDRESS 8237 Blackburn Avenue Ste. 201, Los Angeles, CA 90048 PHONE 310-230-5266 E-MAIL tmasters@losangelesblade.com INTERNET losangelesblade.com PUBLISHED BY Los Angeles Blade, LLC PUBLISHER TROY MASTERS tmasters@losangelesblade.com 310-230-5266 x8080 (o), 917-406-1619 (c) SALES & MARKETING SALES EXECUTIVE CHRIS WILMORE cmwilmore@losangelesblade.com 310-230-5266 x9461 NATIONAL ADVERTISING RIVENDELL MEDIA sales@rivendellmedia.com, 212-242-6863 MARKETING DIRECTOR STEPHEN RUTGERS srutgers@washblade.com, 202-747-2077 x8077 EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTING WRITER KAREN OCAMB karenocamb@losangelesblade.com NATIONAL EDITOR KEVIN NAFF knaff@washblade.com, 202-747-2077 x8088 EDITOR AT LARGE BRODY LEVESQUE California CONTRIBUTORS MICHAEL K. LAVERS, TINASHE CHINGARANDE, ERNESTO VALLE, YARIEL VALDÉS GONZALEZ, PARKER PURIFOY, CHRISTOPHER KANE, AUSTIN MENDOZA, JOHN PAUL KING, JOEY DIGUGLIELMO, CHRIS JOHNSON, LOU CHIBBARO JR., REBEKAH SAGER, JON DAVIDSON, SUSAN HORNIK, CHANNING SARGENT, SAMSON AMORE, CHRISTOPHER CAPPIELLO, MICHAEL JORTNER, DAN ALLEN, SEAN SHEALY, SCOTT STIFFLER, RHEA LITRÉ

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10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

LGBTQ+ PRIDE NIGHT AT D O D G E R S TA D I U M PRESENTED BY

The Dodgers have again teamed up with their long-time community nonprofit partner LA PRIDE and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium.

TIC K E T PAC K

friday, june 16 Party starts at 5:30 pm in the center Field Plaza.

Enjoy Music and drink specials!

F E AT U R I N G

Ticket package includes a ticket to the game and an exclusive 2023 Dodger LGBTQ-themed jersey.

David Archuleta NATIONAL ANTHEM

LA chapter of The Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence COMMUNITY HERO AWARD

PROUD PARTNERS IN CLUDE:

DJ Bowie J

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHT SHOW MUSIC MIX

ONLY AT DODGERS.COM/LAPRIDE

KEVIN NAFF is editor of the Washington Blade.

Reach him at kna washblade.com

DeSantis is public enemy No. 1 of the LGBTQ community

Stopping craven Florida governor’s bid for White House should be our top priority There’s a cloud over this year’s Pride celebrations following the introduction of more than 500 state bills targeting LGBTQ rights and the ominous rise of Ron DeSantis as a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination.

Sure, let’s party a bit and celebrate the LGBTQ community’s tremendous progress, but then we must recommit to the many battles ahead, chief among them the 2024 race.

The Florida governor is the LGBTQ community’s public enemy No. 1 after spearheading draconian attacks on access to affirming healthcare for trans residents and expansion of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law through 12th grade. Apparently, DeSantis hasn’t heard of smartphones, Google, or the internet because blocking young peoples’ access to information is straight out of Communist China or Russia and absurdly impossible in the era of mobile devices and social media.

Let’s be clear about the origins of his “Don’t Say Gay” law — it’s a page ripped directly from Vladimir Putin’s playbook.

In late 2022, Putin signed a law expanding an existing ban on LGBTQ “propaganda,” criminalizing the promotion of same-sex relationships. The original law bans disseminating LGBTQ information to minors — sound familiar?

The DeSantis law is so broad that you could be an 18-year-old high school senior banned from learning in social studies class that an openly gay man ran a credible campaign for president in 2020.

These efforts to render us invisible and to even criminalize trans people for using the restroom are nothing short of dehumanizing. Another measure will allow healthcare providers (and insurers) in Florida to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. So a transgender crime victim who needs medical treatment could be abandoned because a healthcare worker holds religious objections to our community.

This is authoritarian madness. And DeSantis doesn’t stop at the LGBTQ community. His six-week abortion ban is so out of step with Americans’

28 • JUNE 09, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

views that he signed it in the middle of the night. Another of his bills allows the state Board of Governors to nix majors and minors in subjects like critical race theory and gender studies in Florida’s colleges and universities and bars public funding for such curricula.

Make no mistake that the ultimate outcome of these reckless, cruel attacks is that women and LGBTQ Floridians will die. Trans youth are rightly frightened by the messages coming from DeSantis and his ilk and now that he is an announced candidate for president, we should all be afraid. Young people will take their own lives; trans people who need affirming care will be denied; women who need reproductive healthcare will be forced into dire circumstances; LGBTQ patients will be turned away by emergency personnel. And the demonization of trans people has consequences far beyond Florida. One mother of a trans teen told the Blade that her daughter wants to sleep with a gun under her pillow even though she lives in a supportive home in a blue state because of all the hate and bigotry coming from Florida. In New Hampshire, 14-year-old Nova Dunn, who was trans, leapt off an overpass onto Interstate 293 last month and died.

DeSantis and his ilk aren’t just failing our kids; they are targeting them.

The far right has made no secret of its desire to “eradicate transgenderism.”

The best way to stop them is at the ballot box. With the 2024 campaign already underway, LGBTQ Americans and our allies must denounce these attacks and hold those responsible accountable. DeSantis must not be allowed to nationalize his assault on our community. It’s important that we all tune in because Donald Trump increased his share of the LGBTQ vote from 2016 to 2020. According to Edison Research, Joe Biden won the LGBTQ vote 61-28 percent over Trump in 2020; but in 2016, Hillary Clinton won the LGBTQ vote 78-14 over Trump. President Biden’s campaign must address that counterintuitive development.

So let’s enjoy the celebratory aspects of Pride month, while ensuring that we are informed citizens and engaged voters ready to reject hate in 2024.

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Mariah Carey & Megan Thee Stallion grab the spotlights at LA Pride

At the end of the day it’s about a deeper connection that Mariah & Megan have forged with our community

By ROB WATSON and 1 American Music Awards.

HOLLYWOOD - There is no doubt Can Megan Thee Stallion compete that the Christopher Street West Aswith that? Well, she doesn’t have to, sociation, the group behind LA Pride’s nor does she have an appetite for celebration for over 50 years, knows such a conversation. She has said, “I how to throw a party. This year, in a don’t feel like I’m in competitive with time when the community needs it anybody. If I’m worried about beating the most, they have out done themsomebody else, I’m not going to be selves. the best version of me. It shouldn’t Mariah Carey and Megan Thee Stalbe a competition because somebody lion. Mic drops both. else winning is not going to make me While words like “divas”, “queens” lose.” and “icons” would not be inappropriBillboard has said of Megan, “Meate, those words are reductive as to gan Thee Stallion is a force to be reckwhom these two woman actually are. oned with. She has a unique style, a Each is a master at her musical and powerful flow, and a message of emperformance craft. Each has re-depowerment that resonates with milfined and exemplified her lane in pop lions of fans.” Pitchfork concurs sayculture.

(Azer Production/Los Angeles Blade graphic) ing, “Megan Thee Stallion is one of the More to the point, each has lived most exciting voices in rap right now. and generously given of the true conShe’s fierce, she’s funny, she’s smart, she’s sexy, she’s versatile.” cept of “Pride” itself.

Time Magazine did not hold back on their view, “Megan Thee Pride is a consciousness of one’s own dignity. It is a confiStallion is a superstar who’s rewriting the history of rap music.” dence and self-respect for a community that has been socially Like Mariah, Megan’s professional pedigree is vast. She is a marginalized. It is an empowerment that grows from a unified three-time GRAMM -winning recording artist, philanthropist and shared identity, culture and experience. and entrepreneur. From earning two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 Mariah and Megan are not mere pop participants of Pride, hits with the “Savage Remix ” featuring Beyonc , and “WAP” they are pillars in its modern architecture. “Mimi (Mariah) with Cardi B to releasing her dynamic album “Traumazine,” she emancipated us all,” Jonathan Riggs of Shondaland2 has said. has proven unstoppable. Her musical achievement recogniShe herself has given her own definition of the LGBTQ comtions, include three GRAMM wins, nine BET Awards and backmunity as “Legendary, Gorgeous, Beautiful, Tantalizing, and to-back Billboard Music Awards for Top Rap Female Artist.

Quality.”

Additionally, she has been honored for her advocacy efforts, Megan Thee Stallion has confronted homophobia in rap muhaving received the 2022 Special Achievement Award at The sic and helped evolve the genre. She has said, “It is about time.

Webby Awards and the Trailblazer Award at the iHeartRadio Representation is important, and it is really crucial for us all to Music Awards. Most recently, Megan made history in Nov. have compassion and acceptance of every human.”

2022, becoming the first Black woman to appear on the cover Gerald Garth, the board president of LA Pride, positioned of Forbes’ prestigious Under 30 issue. She was previously recthe entertainment choice this year, “Mariah Carey and Megan ognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020 Thee Stallion are the perfect artists to headline LA Pride in the after publishing her monumental “Why I Speak Up For Black Park … These empowering and iconic women are sure to take Women” op-ed for The New York Times. the stage by storm.” Clearly, each of the artists are likewise enThose accomplishments by both notwithstanding, they each thused over the gig. Mariah declared, “I’m thrilled and honored have also earned serious creds with the LGBTQ community. to be a part of LA Pride 2023. I am happy to be back in person Their ability to do so does not seem to be superficial, but incelebrating with the LGBTQIA+ community here in Southern stead emanating from their own individual fabric. Mariah has California and throughout all of the lands!!! Let’s come together spoken with great affection about the gay couple who helped to celebrate love, inclusion, and Pride.” raise her. Megan similarly has spoken about her mother’s valMegan concurred with, “I can’t wait to headline LA Pride in ues. “I was raised by a woman who was her true and authentic the Park and celebrate the phenomenal LGBTQIA+ communiself. So I feel like it’s very important to put on for people who ty. This incredible event advocates for diversity, inclusivity and aren’t that confident or people who don’t realize the value in equality, so I’m honored to perform and have a blast with all of self-love.” the Hotties in attendance.”

Mariah has also referenced maternal influence. “It’s in my From merely looking at the professional accomplishments genes. My mother was an opera singer. I’m clearly dramatic.” of each woman, witnessing them live would be a lifetime landBoth have headlined and hosted multiple LGBTQ Pride and mark event. Mariah Carey is a cultural maven on many fronts, charitable events. Marah has orchestrated multiple surprise driving from her obvious success as a singer, songwriter, record LGBTQ+ marriage proposals on stage during her shows, she producer, to actor, and a New York Times bestselling author. is a proponent of GLAAD’s Spirit Day and last year released a Guinness World Records calls her the “Songbird Supreme.” She Pride collection of merchandise. Megan has collaborates with has been credited with helping to revitalize the music industry many LGBTQ+ artists such as Big Freedia, MNEK, and Saucy in the 1 0s and is considered one of the most influential feSantana, she is a major contributor to LGBTQ+ organizations male singers of all time. She has sold over 200 million records and celebrates LGBTQ+ fans and influencers on her social meworldwide and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. dia platforms.

Carey has won five GRAMM Awards, 1 World Music Awards, 32 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023

As matrons of Pride courage, each woman has plenty advice for their LGBTQ+ admirers. “The main goal of my music is to make people feel strong and confident,” says Megan. She also points out, “I feel like, when people realize that they are the only person they need to impress, everybody’s life will be a lot smoother.” She also adds, “It’s not just about being sexy, it’s about being confident and me being confident in my sexuality.”

No one would cite Mariah for having a lack of confidence either. “I’m proud of what I am and who I am, and I’m just going to be myself,” she has said. With that, she has laid the groundwork for a foundation of hope and courage for her followers.

“If you believe in yourself enough and know what you want, you’re gonna make it happen.” She has also colored her philosophy with unicorn inspirations, “After every storm, if you look hard enough, a rainbow appears,” she says. She is a proponent of grabbing life and truly living it. “You can’t live with regrets.

It’s about the journey…Whatever you’re going through in your life, don’t ever give up.” Her ideology is also experienced in her music, “It’s kinda like being on a roller coaster. If you don’t get on the ride, you won’t experience the adventure.”

“So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong, and you’ll finally see the truth - that a hero lies in you.”

Mariah, to be fair, has achieved a fandom that is unmatchable. She is a superstar of superstars and has earned homage from others who have their own outstanding presence in the pop world.

“Mariah Carey is one of the greatest singers of all time. She has a voice that can move mountains.” - Whitney Houston said of her. “She’s a genius as a musical artist, but also as a businesswoman. She’s been in the game for so long and she’s still killing it,” stated Rihanna. Ariana Grande is quoted as declaring “She’s a legend, she’s an icon, she’s the greatest female artist of our generation.”

In short, audiences in Los Angeles on June 9th and 10th will experience moments they will never forget.

Two well spoke, brilliantly intentioned, and talented women will entertain and remind all how they got to be the icons they have become.

At the end of the day, however, it is not the glitz, glamor or fabulosity. It is about a deeper connection that Mariah Carey and Megan Thee Stallion have forged with our community. It is a bond like one that Maya Angelou wrote about when she said “People will forget what you said, people will forget about what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Our relationship with these two women is personal. “If you’ve got love for me, then I’m gonna have love for you, period,” Megan has said.

When they take their respective stages, the love will be flowing, but that love and their music is more significant for when it reached us originally, when we weren’t in an adoring crowd.

It was significant in the moments when we were alone, and feeling particularly ALONE. As Ian Eagleton of the Guardian described, “At my boys’ school I was shoved, spat at and brutally bullied. Carey’s songs made me dig deep and keep going, even when I had a breakdown years later.”

Their music gave us spirit when we had none. It gave us hope, it gave us empowerment to rise above, it helped us believe it all might someday get better.

Now it has. Now we celebrate. Now we embrace Pride. Now we vow to fight on.

Now we dance.

PERFORMED BY

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF LOS ANGELES

DISNEY’S BELOVED SONGS are reimagined in a celebration of Pride at Walt Disney Concert Hall! Accompanied

by a 25-piece orchestra and stunning video projections, GMCLA performs the music of iconic films like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Mary Poppins, as well as modern classics like Coco, Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph and many more. The magical music of Disney Parks will round out this multimedia extravaganza. Solos and personal stories add connection to Disney’s timeless and universal stories, making this a truly magical experience.

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL | JUNE 24 & 25 | GMCLA.ORG © DISNEY

LA Pride Parade and Village Details Pride Village is the place to be after the parade

By ROB WATSON Anchor Ellen Leyva and reporter Christiane Cordero from ABC7 Eyewitness HOLLYWOOD - The second annual LA Pride Village on Hollywood Boulevard will News will co-host the ABC7 broadcast. The parade route will begin at Sunset Blvd bring the free, all-day street festival to a new location between Vine Street and and Highland Ave heading north, then east onto Hollywood Blvd, then south onto Gower Street just steps away from the official LA Pride Parade route on June 11.

Cahuenga Blvd, ending at Sunset Blvd and Cahuenga Blvd.

At :00 AM on June 11, The Hollywood Partnership CEO President Kathleen Additionally, The Hollywood Partnership, the non-profit organization that overRawson will deliver a welcome note in front of Pantages Theatre, and at 2:00 sees the public realm in the Hollywood Business Improvement District BID , has PM elected officials including Senator Ben Allen, Senator Maria Elena Durazo, once again partnered with LA Pride to bring the LA Pride Village back to HollyBoard Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez and Aswood Blvd. semblymember Rick Chavez bur will welcome festival goers at the Celebration LA Pride Village is the official place to be after the LA Pride Parade, with festivStage on Gower St. and Hollywood Blvd. ities taking place from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., just steps from the official parade Christopher Street West Association CSW announced its trio of grand marroute. shals to be celebrated at the LA Pride Parade on Sunday, June 11 taking place When the iconic LA Pride Parade reat its original historic location in Holturned home to Hollywood Blvd last lywood. year after more than four decades, it The parade, which will feature a speprompted the start of new traditions cial drag performance presented by and celebrations in Hollywood, includthe ACLU SoCal and staged by Morgan ing LA Pride Village, a free and open to McMichaels to music by 1 -time Oscar the public street festival. nominee Diane Warren, will air LIVE on The second annual LA Pride Village long-time LA Pride broadcasting partcelebration promises to be even bigner KABC ABC7 on Sunday, June 11 beger and better, with a new location ginning at 11:00 a.m. PDT. on Hollywood Blvd, between Vine St. This year’s LA Pride Parade grand and Gower St., to make room for more marshals include comedian, actor booths featuring local vendors and and activist Margaret Cho as the Icon non-profits, an expanded beer garGrand Marshal, an individual who den, delicious food trucks, two perforneeds no introduction and achieved mance stages for twice the entertainmajor milestones within their career ment, and more comfortable crowd and industry; a posthumous tribute to space for dancing.

Emmy-winner Leslie Jordan as the LegAll details can be found here: https: acy Grand Marshal, a new title this lapridevillage.com do la-pride-202 . year in honor of Jordan for his everSponsors of LA Pride Village include lasting impact on the community; and Princess Cruises and Royal-bud.com. the ACLU of Southern California, that (Courtesy of LA Pride) Public transit and ride share serhelped CSW obtain the permit for the vices to LA Pride Parade and Village are first LA Pride parade, as the Communistrongly encouraged. For the Parade, connect to the L.A. Metro B Red Line and ty Grand Marshal, which celebrates a group or individual who has had a powerful exit Hollywood Highland or Hollywood Vine Station. Metro has many Park Ride influence through their work and dedication to and for the LGBTQ community. lots servicing the county parking is just .00 per day, payable onsite.

“I’m thrilled and incredibly honored to be the Icon Grand Marshal,” said Cho. If self-driving to LA Pride Parade and Village, vehicles can access parking and “We need this Pride more than ever. I have been attending Pride celebrations the event site via Vine Street or Gower Street. since 1 78 and this time around the need to celebrate as well as unite is more The parade, which will feature a special drag performance presented by the urgent than it has ever been. Our love is greater than their hate.

ACLU SoCal and staged by Morgan McMichaels to music by 1 -time Oscar nomi“On behalf of Leslie Jordan, we are overjoyed by Christopher Street West’s nee Diane Warren, will air LIVE on long-time LA Pride broadcasting partner KABC heartfelt recognition to name Leslie as LA Pride’s Legacy Grand Marshal,” ABC7 on Sunday, June 11 beginning at 11:00 a.m. PDT. said Jana “Cricket” Jordan. “This honor further solidifies the positive impact he This year’s LA Pride Parade grand marshals include comedian, actor and acmade in the world, but more importantly for the LGBTQ+ community. His spirit tivist Margaret Cho as the Icon Grand Marshal, an individual who needs no incontinues to bring love and light.” troduction and achieved major milestones within their career and industry; a “For a century, we’ve been on the front lines fighting for people to be their posthumous tribute to Emmy-winner Leslie Jordan as the Legacy Grand Marshal, true, authentic selves,” said Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU Soa new title this year in honor of Jordan for his everlasting impact on the commuCal. “We’re honored to be the Community Grand Marshal and proud to love, live nity; and the ACLU of Southern California, that helped CSW obtain the permit for among, and protect LGBTQ Californians.” the first LA Pride parade, as the Community Grand Marshal, which celebrates a “Christopher Street West is honored and humbled by this year’s three grand group or individual who has had a powerful influence through their work and marshals,” said Gerald Garth, president of CSW. “Each have contributed to the dedication to and for the LGBTQ community.

LGBTQ+ community in their own unique ways, furthering our fight for accep“I’m thrilled and incredibly honored to be the Icon Grand Marshal,” said Cho. tance, equality, and justice.”

“We need this Pride more than ever. I have been attending Pride celebrations It will also air nationally on ABC News Live and Hulu, and wherever viewers since 1 78 and this time around the need to celebrate as well as unite is more stream ABC7 including abc7.com and the ABC7LA mobile app.

34 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023

(Graphic via Christopher Street West)

urgent than it has ever been. Our love is greater than their hate.

“On behalf of Leslie Jordan, we are overjoyed by Christopher Street West’s heartfelt recognition to name Leslie as LA Pride’s Legacy Grand Marshal,” said Jana “Cricket” Jordan. “This honor further solidifies the positive impact he made in the world, but more importantly for the LGBTQ+ community. His spirit continues to bring love and light.”

“For a century, we’ve been on the front lines fighting for people to be their true, authentic selves,” said Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU SoCal. “We’re honored to be the Community Grand Marshal and proud to love, live among, and protect LGBTQ Californians.”

“Christopher Street West is honored and humbled by this year’s three grand marshals,” said Gerald Garth, president of CSW. “Each have contributed to the LGBTQ+ community in their own unique ways, furthering our fight for acceptance, equality, and justice.”

It will also air nationally on ABC News Live and Hulu, and wherever viewers stream ABC7 including abc7.com and the ABC7LA mobile app.

Anchor Ellen Leyva and reporter Christiane Cordero from ABC7 Eyewitness News will co-host the ABC7 broadcast. The parade route will begin at Sunset Blvd and Highland Ave heading north, then east onto Hollywood Blvd, then south onto Cahuenga Blvd, ending at Sunset Blvd and Cahuenga Blvd.

Additionally, The Hollywood Partnership, the non-profit organization that oversees the public realm in the Hollywood Business Improvement District BID , has once again partnered with LA Pride to bring the LA Pride Village back to Hollywood Blvd.

LA Pride Village is the official place to be after the LA Pride Parade, with festivities taking place from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., just steps from the official parade route.

When the iconic LA Pride Parade returned home to Hollywood Blvd last year after more than four decades, it prompted the start of new traditions and celebrations in Hollywood, including LA Pride Village, a free and open to the public

street festival.

The second annual LA Pride Village celebration promises to be even bigger and better, with a new location on Hollywood Blvd, between Vine St. and Gower St., to make room for more booths featuring local vendors and non-profits, an expanded beer garden, delicious food trucks, two performance stages for twice the entertainment, and more comfortable crowd space for dancing.

All details can be found here: https: lapridevillage.com do la-pride-202 .

Sponsors of LA Pride Village include Princess Cruises and Royal-bud.com.

Public transit and ride share services to LA Pride Parade and Village are strongly encouraged. For the Parade, connect to the L.A. Metro B Red Line and exit Hollywood Highland or Hollywood Vine Station. Metro has many Park Ride lots servicing the county parking is just .00 per day, payable onsite.

If self-driving to LA Pride Parade and Village, vehicles can access parking and the event site via Vine Street or Gower Street.

LA Pride in the Park: 6 -6 10 It’s going down with Mariah Carey + Megan Thee Stallion Don’t miss out — tickets at lapride.org This June in honor of PRIDE, Century City’s Fairmont Century Plaza invites guests to an extraordinary two-hour live concert performance from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Returning this year, the non-profit organization will be performing at the hotel with a mission to change hearts and minds through the power of music.

The event will feature a vibrant approach to an array of iconic songs from Queen, Motown, Sondheim, and more, taking place at the hotel on Saturday June 10th from 7:00 pm to :00 pm. This will be their main West Los Angeles PRIDE performance. VIP tickets will be 55 and will include two cocktails. Free General Admission is also available and the performance will be open to the public.

Live music has been a prominent component of the Fairmont Century Plaza experience since its beginning and the hotel is looking forward to honoring PRIDE this year with this monumental performance.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023 • 35

Get to know SCAN. At SCAN Health Plan®, we recognize that our LGBTQ+ members have unique health needs, and we know it’s not always easy to find affirming care you deserve.

SCAN Affirm partnered with Included LGBTQ+ Health (HMO) is changing that.

If you’re new to Medicare, SCAN Affirm (HMO) aims to provide LGBTQ+ members a dignified health journey, including access to a one-on-one care coordinator.

To find out more, speak with SCAN. Call: 1-855-845-7226 (TTY: 711) Visit: www.scanhealthplan.com

SCAN Affirm partnered with Included LGBTQ+ Health (HMO) is an HMO plan designed for LGBTQ+ beneficiaries but available to anyone who qualifies for Medicare.

Y0057_SCAN_20422_2023_C IA 03022023

S2505 5/23

Celebrating the strength of pride.

We’re proud to care for every member of our community. During Pride Month, we reaffirm our commitment to inclusivity and to the good health of everyone in our Los Angeles LGBTQ+ family. We are here for you when you need us.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023 • 37

LA Metro’s ‘Ride with Pride’ 2023

The transit system’s Pride TAP cards are available at Metro Customer Centers and TVM’s supporting Pride event

By ROB WATSON LOS ANGELES - LA Metro, the official Transit Partner of LA Pride, is back again for its 2 th year, this year Metro plans to celebrate Pride all month with its very own Ride with Pride campaign.

Last Friday, June 2 the transit system rolled out its Pride TAP cards which are available at Metro Customer Centers and TVM’s supporting Pride events. Metro reminds Pride attendees they can avoid traffic, street closures, and overpriced parking with Go Metro to LA Pride events. Parking is only payable on the spot, at any of the numerous Park Ride lots adjacent to Metro stations and every rail line has parking.

Just in time for Pride Month, LA Metro also announced it will officially open the Regional Connector transit project to the public on June 16.

(Courtesy of LA Metro)

The ambitious, complex project, which began in 201 , is unique among rail projects in the United States. The 1. miles of new track laid for the project will allow light rail trains to travel between Union Station and the busy 7th Street Metro Center Station in Downtown’s Financial District. Before the Regional Connector, that’s a journey only Metro’s heavy rail lines could make. Bridging this gap allows Metro to merge the hook-shaped L Gold line with the A Blue and E Expo lines, creating two serpent-like train lines where there were once three. The Regional Connector includes three new underground stations: Little Tokyo/Arts District Station where riders will have easy access to historically rich and vibrant neighborhoods and cultural institutions.

Historic Broadway Station features two nationally registered districts: the Broadway Theater District, with 12 original theaters within seven blocks and Old Spring Street, known as the original Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles.

Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill Station connects riders to downtown’s performing arts institutions, museums, fine dining experiences and more.

These new stations will transform the way many riders can experience the Metro sys-

38 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023

(LA Metro System map)

tem, providing riders with a seamless, one-seat journey from as far as Azusa to Long Beach and from East L.A. to Santa Monica with no transfers required.

To mark this historic milestone, Metro will provide free rides on the entire Metro transit system including Metro bus and rail lines as well as Metro Bike Share services, during opening weekend. Metro encourages Angelenos and visitors alike to rediscover downtown and explore the fun, food, shopping, and cultural landmarks now accessible via the three stations on Regional Connector line and beyond.

Stay informed by following Metro on The Source and El Pasajero at metro.net, facebook. com losangelesmetro, twitter.com metrolosangeles and twitter.com metroLAalerts and instagram.com metrolosangeles.

FILM

T o ne int l films remind us hy Pride is still important

Cinematic proof that homophobia threatens millions around the world Pride is a time to celebrate, of course, but it’s also a time to remember the struggle, and the fight that continues around the world for the right of LGBTQ people to live freely as they are. This week, the Blade takes a look at two new international releases that remind us that, for many people, homophobia still threatens millions of queer people around the world.

First up, from Italian filmmaker Pasquale Marrazzo comes “The Neighbor” titled “Hotel Milano” in Italy and available via Digital/DVD from June 6), a supremely crafted, starkly observational drama about a gay couple Riki Michelle Costabile) and Luca (Jacopo Costantini) – whose love story is blindsided by violence.

After a gay-bashing incident leaves Luca on life support in a hospital, his family refuses to let Riki come to see him – though Luca’s sister, Rachelle (Luisa Vernelli) is sympathetic enough to keep him informed about his partner’s status as he fights for his life in a medically induced coma.

Between pleading with her to intervene on his behalf to Luca’s deeply religious mother (Lucia Vasini) and fending off efforts of help and comfort from his own emotionally-needy mom Rossanna Gay , he recalls defining moments of their relationship – as well as long-repressed secrets in his personal history – as he tries to come to terms, on his own, with the possibility of unthinkable loss.

In terms of cinematic weight, Marrazzo delivers in style, masterfully using flashbacks to infuse nuance as it moves the story toward what feels like an inevitable conclusion.

With a shrewd eye, he hones in on the ways that shame and judgment based on “forbidden” forms of sexuality spread their poison throughout the intimate lives of everyone they touch.

Needless to say, it’s pretty bleak. Something of a spiritual sister to “Brokeback Mountain,” Marrazzo’s harrowing tale spins a harsh indictment of hate and intolerance by leaning into the familiar trope of queer victimhood – a cliché which, sadly, still rings true despite decades of advancement in the worldwide struggle for acceptance – and asking us to endure, along with its protagonists, an unthinkably harsh worst-case scenario in order to illuminate the impact of the intolerance and hate that lie behind it. It’s a movie which, had Hollywood made it, could be about the triumph of love; but devoid of that special American movie magic, and instead steeped in an Italian neo-realism that goes back to the country’s post WWII years, it offers a refreshingly unsentimental “Romeo and Juliet”-esque tale of a love that’s doomed by a mindset based in hate.

With superlative performances from Costabile and Costantini – who make the troubled Riki and the open-hearted Luca, respectively, feel heartbreakingly authentic both as a couple and as individuals – and a uniformly outstanding cast of players on hand to deliver support, it’s a power-

By JOHN PAUL KING ful, gripping piece of cinema that avoids pandering to romanticism in order to drive home its message about the tragedies that might be avoided in a world less obsessed with judging others over our own personal beliefs, whether “deeply held” or not.

The cast of

orseplay.

It’s also mercilessly grim; while it both begins and ends with tenderness and positivity as its two young lovers blissfully enjoy being together in a park, it gives us an uncompromising and sometimes almost unbearably hopeless perspective on the impact a deeply ingrained, traditionally religious cultural bias can have on even the most private lives of anyone who lives outside that rigid norm. For American audiences – especially those fortunate enough to live within urban “bubbles” where the realities of anti-queer prejudice rarely interfere with our ability to live without fear of stigma or worse – that might feel like a bit of throwback; in Marrazzo’s homeland, however, where a swing toward right-wing extremism championed by nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has found eager support among the country’s hard-coded Catholic population, it might seem more like a defiant plea for compassion and humanity, aimed at opening hearts and minds rather than capitalizing on the self-prophetic doom and gloom of indoctrinated queer self-loathing.

That makes it a highly recommended addition to your Pride month watchlist – but if you’re one of those people who is done with stories that turn our lives into tragedies (and we can’t say we blame you), you might want to give this one a pass despite the important truth it speaks to power.

“Horseplay” (Digital/DVD from June 13), from Argentine director Marco Berger, is hardly a more uplifting film, but

40 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023

it does offer the sex appeal afforded by an impossibly hot cast of young male stars filmed mostly in various stages of undress – an enticement that sounds entirely inappropriate, but gets to the heart of the film’s exploration of once again) homophobia and its relationship with the distorted idealization of masculinity that drives it.

Set at a luxury villa in the countryside of Argentina, it follows a group of friends who have gathered for a summer holiday getaway, where the mix of drinking, drugs, and youthful testosterone results in predictably crass but relatively harmless hijinks and a few embarrassing photos, mostly driven by mockingly homophobic insinuation and ridicule; it’s all in good fun – just bros being bros, right? – at first, but as the week progresses, underlying insecurities, secrets, jealousies, and other deep-rooted by-products of toxic masculinity begin to bubble closer to the surface, and the pressure under the boys’ high-spirited, boundary-crossing hedonism begins to build toward something far less innocent.

To give away more detail would undo the movie’s carefully layered revelation of detail, which makes for a fascinating study of immature masculinity and the notso-subtle social coercion that perpetuates a rigid, mostly heterosexual norm. Berger’s point, underscored by the film’s blatantly gay “male gaze” and its characters’ seeming obsession with all things “homo” as a running theme in their various harassments of each other, seems to be that the most virulent homophobia comes in people who are hiding their own queerness from the world – and probably themselves, too. It’s scarcely a new concept, but in a world where anti-LGBTQ bigotry seems to be working overtime to assert its prejudices against anyone who loves differently, it’s a helpful reminder that our enemies are motivated by small-minded fear, whatever ideological rhetoric or religious dogma they may spout at us to justify it.

Unfortunately, though Berger employs a fly-on-the-wall aloofness in his film’s scenario, much of it feels forced, weighted to lead us to a desired conclusion. The casual intimacy of ostensibly straight companions seems a little too intimate, their eagerness to “feign” sexual attraction for each other a little too eager; further undermining the effect, the large number of characters in the ensemble makes it occasionally difficult to keep track of who they are and what relationships they have with each other.

Even so, its insight into hyper-hypermasculinity and its correlation with social condition around sex and gender norms rings true, even if the same cannot always be said of what we see on the screen. And although it may, like “The Neighbor,” be a little too dark for some, it offers up plenty of “eye candy” by way of compensation so why not enjoy it?

It is Pride month, after all.

Greater Palm Springs Pride Celebration is November 3-5, 2023

VisitPalmSprings.com

BOOKS

Summer is perfect time to enjoy ‘Big Gay Wedding’ New book overcomes tropes to tell emotional, funny story

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER Few things are cast in stone, which means that you’ve usually got time to change your mind. Do a little research, listen to other voices, get educated, think about things, and pivot.

No one will criticize; you may, in fact, be commended for your new open-mindedness.

As in the new book, “Big Gay Wedding” by Byron Lane, you might like the new outlook, too.

Chrissy Durang, “Farmer Mom” and owner of the Polite Society Ranch near New Orleans, checked two things off a list in her notebook.

The school bus filled with noisy children arrived for their tour of the ranch, check. Barnett should be arriving later, check.

Thirty-four-year-old Barnett was the light in Chrissy’s world, her son, her only child, the near-exact image of his late father. She was excited for his homecoming; surely, Barnett was flying from California to tell her he was ready to take over the ranch now, take care of the animals, take care of her.

Instead, not long after he arrived, Barnett dropped a bombshell about “The Big Thing” that they never discussed: he was engaged. To be married. To another man. And he wanted ‘Big Gay Wedding’ to do it there in Mader, at Polite Society Ranch.

By Byron Lane Chrissy could think of a million things she c.202 , Holt | $26.99 | 6 pages didn’t like about Barnett’s intended, Ezra, and they all went into her notebook. Hair a mess, check. Controlling, check. Butt-kisser, check. Dream-killer, check. And yet, Barnett loved Ezra. It’d been a long time since Chrissy’d seen her son this happy.

She talked to her priest about the situation, but he disappointed her in a terrible way.

It was clear that her father-in-law, Paw-Paw, was supportive of Barnett and Ezra, which was no surprise; Barnett was always Paw-Paw’s favorite. Chrissy didn’t have many friends in her small Louisiana town, but she was absolutely sure of three things: nobody would approve of any sort of gay nuptials, Ezra’s family was downright weird, and everybody in Mader would blame her for what was about to happen.

At face value, the story inside “Big Gay Wedding” seems awfully familiar: homophobic mom, gay son, wedding, Kumbaya moment, the end. Keep thinking that, though, and you’ll miss one truly wonderful novel.

From the paraprosdokian sentences to the Misfit Toys cast of characters, author Byron Lane takes readers from a deep dive into a box of tissues to a good snorting belly laugh, often in the same paragraph. So many unexpected, delightful things occur inside this story, in fact, that you may become disappointed when something conventional occurs.

Which it does, often enough.

Gay bashing, protesters, haters, misunderstanding, it’s-a-phase thinking, all the bad old tropes show up in this story, alas. Still, readers will be happy to know that they’re dealt with properly, just as you’d expect from a prissy mother, an alcoholic society matron, two men wildly in love, a light-fingered grandfather, and a dying sheep named Elaine.

Summer is always a time for weddings, and it’s a great time to enjoy this sweet, funny, excellent novel. Simply, “Big Gay Wedding” rocks.

42 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • JUNE 09, 2023

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