Los Angeles Blade, Volume 09, Issue 03, February 07, 2025

(Los Angeles Blade photo by Gisselle Palomera)

Protests erupt after Trump’s attacks on immigrants

FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • VOLUME 09 • ISSUE 03 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOCAL

Los Angeles Blade names new publisher The Los Angeles Blade, Southern California’s leading LGBTQ news outlet, this week announced the appointment of a new publisher, Alexander Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has a long background in queer media, business development, and a deep commitment to the Los Angeles community. He has worked as a lead writer and podcast host for Metrosource Magazine and for GED MagaALEXANDER RODRIGUEZ zine; content director for FleshBot Gay; and as host and producer for the “On the Rocks” podcast. On the business side, Rodriguez spent years working in business development in the banking industry throughout Los Angeles. He also has an extensive background in event planning and management and has served on the boards of many LGBTQ non-profits. As a TV and radio personality, he

has served as emcee for LGBTQ events around the nation.

“I’m excited to bring my diverse media and business experience to the Los Angeles Blade,” Rodriguez said. “We will continue the Blade’s mission of serving as our community’s news outlet of record during these challenging times and work toward building bridges within our community and beyond.”

Rodriguez started in his new role on Feb. 3.

“We are thrilled to welcome Alexander to the Blade team,” said Kevin Naff, one of the owners of the Los Angeles Blade. “His multimedia and business side experience will help us grow the Blade in L.A. and continue our commitment to best-in-class journalism serving the LGBTQ community in Southern California.”

Rodriguez becomes the Los Angeles Blade’s second publisher following the unexpected death of founding publisher Troy Masters in December. Masters served in the role for nearly eight years. The community will come together for a celebration of Masters’s life on Monday, Feb. 10, 7-9 p.m. at the Abbey.

“Troy’s legacy is in good hands with Alexander at the helm alongside our new local news editor, Gisselle Palomera,” Naff added.

The Los Angeles Blade, launched in 2017, celebrates its eighth anniversary in March.

It is the sister publication of the Washington Blade, founded in 1969, which offers unmatched coverage of queer political news and is the only LGBTQ outlet in the White House press pool and the White House Correspondents’ Association, and the only LGBTQ outlet with a dedicated seat in the White House briefing room.

Alexander Rodriguez can be reached at arodriguez@losangelesblade.com.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

L.A.’s queer community to celebrate life of Troy Masters On Monday, Feb. 10 from 7-9 p.m., friends and colleagues of Troy Masters will gather at The Abbey in West Hollywood to celebrate his life and legacy as founding publisher of the Los Angeles Blade.

Masters was a resident of WeHo and he was a deeply respected and well-known figure for his work in the LGBTQ+ community and coverage of queer issues in Los Angeles and New York City. In the years he was a journalist, he built a network of people that stood behind the work he felt passionately about.

The celebration will feature guest speakers who worked closely with Masters, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath; West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers; senior contributing writer for the Blade Karen Ocamb; CEO of the Trans Latin@ Coalition Bamby Salcedo; and co-owner of the Los Angeles Blade Kevin Naff.

Masters’s work and legacy go as far back as the late 1980s where he got his first taste of activism working as an ad representative for the gay and lesbian publication, Outweek.

According to the obituary written by his close colleague Ocamb, the publication only lasted 18 months before founder, record producer and ACT UP supporter Bill Chafin passed away due to AIDS. The magazine was the first glossy gay and lesbian magazine published in New York City featuring news, culture, and events during a time where the AIDS Second Wave was peaking and Masters felt like he had to step in to speak up for the issues that were not only affecting his community, but also contributing to a higher death toll during the epidemic.

He successfully launched the bi-weekly newspaper Lesbian and Gay New York, which ran from 1994 to 2002 and then re-launched it as Gay City News. After many other career moves and a move across the country to Los Angeles in 2015, he found 02 • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

TROY MASTERS died unexpectedly in December.

himself at a workplace that included voices that were openly supportive of Trump and his policies.

This gave him the kick he needed and he gathered the tools to establish what is now the Los Angeles Blade, SoCal’s leading LGBTQ+ News Source. In short, Masters was a caring advocate for his communities and his tireless work brought together many LGBTQ+ community members.

Now is the time to celebrate not only his many accomplishments, but to honor and more importantly, carry on his legacy.

The Abbey will provide small bites and the Trans Chorus of L.A will honor Masters with a performance.

Please join us on Monday, Feb. 10 from 7-9 p.m. to honor Masters.

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An invite-only LGBTQ+ app surged in popularity after Trump’s executive orders Famm Connect provides a safe haven for job seekers and community support amid LGBTQ+ attacks

By EDEN HARRIS President Donald Trump’s latest executive order, restricting “It’s absolutely ridiculous. There’s no basis [on] which that decision transgender individuals from serving openly in the military, was made. It is absolutely transphobia and a fear tactic that they has sparked a surge in activity on Famm Connect, a new proare using and a general strategic tactic that Trump and his adminfessional networking app designed for the LGBTQ+ commuistration are using to distract the American people from real isnity. sues that they should be focused on for this country,” she said.

Perez also argues that his stance not only dehumanizes The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has a 30-day trans people but also ignores the reality that: “Trans people deadline for submitting a plan to execute the order. Until are humans. They’re human beings. “They’re absolutely cathen, many have been turning to the invite-only platform, created in Dec. 2024, to find support, resources and career pable of serving in the military, and they have, and it’s just connections in the face of increasing change. disgusting that that is the message that he is putting out Its California-based co-founders and married couthere.” ple, Marianna Di Regolo and Cat Perez, said their app JaRel Clay, the vice president of the Board of Direchas grown more than 70% within the last weeks. tors at SpeakOut, SpeakOut a non-profit that aims to create safe Di Regolo noted that the app provides a safe digspaces across LGBTQ+ communities of color, says ital space for members fleeing those opposing Famm Connect is a critical employment resource their community. for “the trans community in the midst of attacks “Famm Connect is our response to Trump coming from the Trump administration.”

“We know that there is power in community, and really anyone else who creates barriers and especially for this community facing heightfor or discriminates against LGBTQ+ folks. So ened risks, both in their areas and federally. An with Trump signing executive orders against app like Famm Connect is more than a tool. It’s our community and major organizations cutting DE&I programs and platforms like Meta a lifeline,” Clay added. removing protections for LGBTQ folks, spacClay asserts that Trump’s rhetoric regardes like Fam Connect are more important than ing the lack of mental fitness of trans-serving ever,” Di Regolo told the Los Angeles Blade. troops is “woefully uninformed.”

The LGBTQ+ community, according to Di “How do you suggest that their military readRegolo, feels unprotected on other profesiness and public service are at a disadvantage sional apps where hateful comments aren’t simply because they are trans? It’s, again, just woefully uninformed and ignorant,” Clay said. filtered, so her app serves as a haven for “It’s un-American. It is the fabric of our being those looking for new jobs.

“Just in general, as a lot of us have seen, that we address and assess the readiness of quite a few LGBTQ+ folks don’t feel safe on a any individual who wants to serve our country lot of the other platforms, and they might be based on the merit of how they perform.”

Perez said that she sees the LGBTQ+ comgrowing in their career or looking for a job or just looking to connect with other folks promunity coming together and showing up for fessionally,” she said, adding: “They’re on our one another on the app since other platplatform letting folks know, ‘Hey, I’m looking forms have censored terms like “lesbian” or for X, Y, and Z job,’... and they feel safer and other words about their community.

The Human Rights Campaign claims that more comfortable doing it in a secure space.”

As attacks on LGBTQ+ rights intensify—from Meta’s new social media policies “endanger LGBTQ+ communities.” Perez says censorpolitical figures rolling back protections, Co-founders of Famm Connect and married couple MARIANNA DI REGOLO and CAT PEREZ. (Courtesy photo) ing their communities is incredibly probadvocates are doubling down on support lematic, so they are building up Famm for their communities, according to a Connect. spokesperson at GLAAD, a non-profit committed to LGBTQ+ advocacy and cultural change.

“I think for folks who are struggling right now in the community, within their careers, I think “Now more than ever, LGBTQ+ people are stepping up to take care of and support each seeking out the queer community and seeking out safe and intentional spaces and really makother and our families. No matter what rhetoric is spewed [by] government officials or aning those connections is going to be the thing that helps get you through these turbulent times,” ti-LGBTQ+ extremists, our community and allies will persevere. Building community, finding she noted. and giving support, and making connections in spaces where we all can feel safe will be a critical part of surviving and thriving, no matter what we are up against.”

Contributing writer, Eden Harris is a D.C. native with a passion for uplifting marginalized voices Trump said in his latest executive order against Trans troops that “For the sake of our Nation on a global, national and local level. She has experience covering the White House, Capitol Hill, the and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for Supreme Court and federal agencies. She covers mainly all things Africa and is committed to doing so those mentally and physically fit for duty.” This message didn’t resonate with Perez, who said with the highest standards that drive true equity for the continent and its U.S. diaspora.

Trump’s executive order is fear-mongering, among other things.

04 • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

NATIONAL

Here’s everything queer that happened at the 67th Grammy Awards

By GISSELLE PALOMERA

The 67th Grammy Awards featured debut performances by LGBTQ+ megastars Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Doechii – all of whom also won awards at Sunday’s awards ceremony, making the gay sons and thot daughters of the queer and trans world rejoice.

Though Roan was the only queer artist to take home one of the ‘Big Four’ awards – Best New Artist – Doechii, Carpenter, Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, and Lady Gaga were also all nominated for one or more of the ‘Big Four.’

Carpenter, Roan and Doechii also shocked audiences with their debut performances, showing us what it really means to be out and loud.

Doechii The self-proclaimed swamp princess from Florida took home a well-deserved win for Best Rap Album (“Alligator Bites Never Heal”).

She stunned audiences with her performance and her speech, dedicating her win to Black women everywhere.

Only two other women have won the award – Lauryn Hill and Cardi B since the category was introduced in 1989.

“I know there are so many Black women out there that are watching me right now and I want to tell you: You can do it. Anything is possible,” said Doechii during her acceptance speech.

Chappell Roan Roan won the Best New Artist award, prompting her to whip out her notebook and deliver a speech about her struggles with the healthcare industry after getting dropped by her first record label radicalized her.

She served looks on the red carpet while delivering Jean Paul Gaultier vintage realness and thanking the trans girlies who made her who she is today.

“Trans people have always existed and they will forever exist. They will never, no matter what happens, take trans joy away and [they] have to be protected more than anything because I would not be here without trans girls,” said Roan on the red carpet.

She also served during her debut Grammys performance, turning Crypto.com Arena into the Pink Pony Club while dedicating the performance to Los Angeles – the city that embraced her when she wanted to break into the industry. She used her acceptance speech as her opportunity to shine a light on her journey toward becoming the icon she is today – and to no one’s surprise, it didn’t come easy to her.

Roan opened up about her struggles with healthcare and being dropped as an artist in L.A., leaving her without health coverage and scrambling for solutions. Seems like the healthcare system has radicalized yet another one.

St. Vincent St. Vincent revealed that she has a wife and daughter during her acceptance speeches, thanking them after winning three Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album (“All

(Screen grabs Entertainment Weekly/Youtube)

Born Screaming”), Best Alternative Music Performance (“Flea”) and Best Rock Song (“Broken Man”).

During her red carpet interview, reporters asked Clark about the shocking news about her mentioning her wife and daughter, she responded “Most people were [unaware]. It’s young, so we’ve kept it under wraps.” The reporter then continued his line of questioning, meanwhile intrusive thoughts quickly got ahold of Clark, prompting her to interrupt the reporter to clarify that she meant the child is young, not the person in the relationship she’s in.

Girl, you’re good.

Sabrina Carpenter Though Carpenter didn’t win any of the ‘Big Four’ categories, she did win Best Pop Vocal Album for (“Short n’ Sweet”) and Best Pop Solo Performance for (“Espresso”).

According to E!, Carpenter’s acceptance speech was apparently censored, cutting her off after she said: “Thank you, holy sh*t, bye!”

The pop star was nominated for Record of the Year (“Espresso”), Song of the Year (“Please, Please, Please”), Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album (“Short n’ Sweet”), Album of the Year (“Short n’ Sweet”), Best Remixed Recording (“Espresso - Mark Ronson x FNZ Working Late Remix”), Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (“Short n’ Sweet”) – all within her first year as a record-releasing musician.

Charli XCX Charlie XCX truly brought the brat energy to the Grammys with her performance of (“Van Dutch”), also taking home the wins for Best Dance/Pop Recording for (“Van Dutch”) and Best Dance/Electronic Album for (“Brat”).

Lady Gaga Best Pop Duo/Group Performance went to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars for the song “Die With A Smile”. Gaga used her acceptance speech to advocate for trans people stating that we all need love and to be uplifted.

“Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love.

The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love.

Thank you,” said Gaga.

No, thank you mother.

Last, but not least It is also worth noting that our tried and true ally, Alicia Keys used her moment on the Grammys stage to advocate for the restoration of DEI initiatives.

“This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices,”said Keys. “We’ve seen on this stage talented, hard-working people from different backgrounds, with different points of view, and it changes the game. DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift — and the more voices, the more powerful the sound.”

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • 05

INTERNATIONAL

Trump leaves LGBTQ migrants, asylum seekers in limbo Suspension of U.S. foreign aid may force shelters to close

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

MEXICALI, Mexico — Marlon, a 35-year-old man from Guatemala, used the CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) One app to schedule an appointment that would have allowed him to enter the U.S. at a port of entry.

His CBP One appointment was at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) on Jan. 21 in the Mexican city of Tijuana that borders San Diego.

Marlon at around 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET) on Jan. 20 learned his appointment had been cancelled.

President Donald Trump took office less than two hours earlier.

“We’re stuck,” Marlon told the Washington Blade on Jan. 31 during an interview at Posada del Migrante, a migrant shelter in the Mexican border city of Mexicali that Centro Comunitario de Bienestar (COBINA), a group that serves LGBTQ people and other vulnerable groups, runs.

The Trump-Vance administration’s immigration policies have left Marlon and many other migrants and asylum seekers — LGBTQ and otherwise — in limbo.

Daniela is a 20-year-old transgender woman from Tijuana who has lived at Jardín de las Mariposas, a shelter for LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers in the city’s Obrera neighborhood, for a month. Jardín de las Mariposas is roughly six miles south of the Mexico-U.S. border.

She told the Washington Blade on Jan. 29 during an interview that she was raped in Hermosillo, the capital of Mexico’s Sonora state, four months ago. Daniela said her roommate and five other people later tried to kill her when they “were drunk and on drugs.”

Daniela, like Marlon, had a CBP One appointment, but it was cancelled once Trump took office.

“I am completely alone both in Tijuana and elsewhere,” said Daniela. “I think the United States is a better option to be able to start over.”

Stephanie, a 25-year-old from El Paraíso, Honduras who identifies as a lesbian, arrived in Tijuana last July and lives at Jardín de las Mariposas.

She told the Blade her family is “very religious,” and she is the “only one in my family who is a member of the [LGBTQ] community.” Stephanie said a cousin in Louisiana agreed to allow her to live with her once she entered the U.S., but she refused once she saw she had cut her hair.

“I felt a bit of freedom once I arrived here in Mexico … and I decided to cut my hair because it was very long,” recalled Stephanie. “One day she did a video call and she saw my short hair and she was like I cannot receive you; I cannot receive you because what example are you going to be to my son.”

Trump, in addition to shutting down the CBP One app on Jan. 20, issued several immigration-specific executive orders after his inauguration. They include: • Declaring a national emergency on the Southern border • Suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program • Ending birthright citizenship under the 14th amend-

ment. (U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who Ronald Reagan appointed, in a Jan. 23 ruling that temporarily blocked the directive described it as “blatantly unconstitutional.”)

Trump has reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols program, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy that forced asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico.

The California side of the U.S.-Mexico border as seen through the Mexican side of the border fence in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 29. (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio “agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully,” and “promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country.” The Department of Homeland Security in a press release notes Tren de Aragua members were on the first U.S. military “flight of criminal aliens” that arrived at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Tuesday.

Jardín de Las Mariposas Director Jamie Marín on Jan. 29 told the Blade that Trump’s policies have sparked “a lot of fear.”

She said some of the shelter’s residents who had their CBP One appointments cancelled have either returned to their countries of origin or have found another way to enter the U.S., including with the help of smugglers who are known as “coyotes” in Mexican Spanish. Marín said Jardín de las Mariposas is working with those who have decided to stay in Tijuana to help them secure identity documents and employment.

“Our goal was to be a temporary shelter to move to the United States,” she told the Blade. “Now it’s almost becoming like we’re going to become a permanent shelter until we find another solution for them.”

Susy Barrales is president of Casita de Unión Trans, a trans support group that she founded in Tijuana in 2019 after she was deported from the U.S. She told the Blade during a Jan. 30 interview at her office, which is a few blocks from the border, that two migrants who

06 • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

the U.S. deported arrived at Casa de Unión Trans the day before without medications. Barrales, like Marín, said the Trump’s immigration policies have sparked concern in Tijuana.

“He is doing this political campaign,” said Barrales in response to the Blade’s question about Trump’s policies. “I think it is something political, a political strategy that he wants to do, as a way to slow down immigration. This is why he makes these types of racist comments against migrants and against the community.”

The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to suspend nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days has had a direct impact on Mexican organizations that serve LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers.

Casa Frida works with upwards of 300 LGBTQ asylum seekers and migrants in Mexico City and in the cities of Monterrey and Tapachula. Sixty percent of Casa Frida’s annual budget comes from U.S. government grants — specifically from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department, and its Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Casa Frida Director Raúl Caporal on Monday told the Blade the U.S. on Jan. 24 suspended funding for five of his organization’s initiatives.

A poster inside COBINA’s offices on Jan. 31 contained a QR code that brought migrants to a WhatsApp page that had information about how they could “migrate informed and legally.” The State Department partnered with Partners of the Americas, a Washington-based NGO, on the initiative.

Maky Pollorena, a Mexicali-based activist who works with COBINA, told the Blade the WhatsApp page stopped providing information on Jan. 24. Pollorena also said COBINA and the majority of migrant shelters in Mexico’s Baja California state of which Mexicali is the capital have lost between 50 and 70 percent of their funding.

“All of us who are in Baja California’s border strip are tense,” said COBINA President Altagracia Tamayo.

Marín noted Jardín de las Mariposas’ funding does not come from the U.S. government, but rather from the Transgender Law Center and other NGOs that include AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila’s administration donated the building in which Jardín de las Mariposas is located. The International Organization for Migration, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration are also support Jardín de las Mariposas.

Despite this lack of dependence upon U.S. government funding, Marín said the Trump-Vance administration’s policies could prove deadly.

“These decisions from the Trump administration are going to cost a lot of lives for the LGBT community, not only here,” she said. “It’s also going to cost a lot of lives in the United States.”

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LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07,2025 • 07

VIEWPOINT

KEVIN NAFF is editor of the Washington Blade.

Reach him at knaff@washblade.com

Trump’s gay Treasury Secretary should denounce anti-trans attacks President likes his queer people gay, white, cis, rich, and obedient

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Scott Bessent, President Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, in a rare bipartisan vote of 68-29.

Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, becomes the first openly gay, Senate-confirmed Republican Cabinet member. He’s also the highest-ranking out gay government official ever, as Treasury Secretary is fifth in the line of presidential succession.

It’s hard to make sense of the disconnect here: On one hand Trump makes history with a senior gay appointment; on the other, he launches cruel attacks on the transgender community on day one.

The Republican-led House last week passed a bill that would prohibit schools that receive federal education funding from allowing trans students to play girls’ and womens’ sports. Trump, meanwhile, has already banned Pride flags at U.S. embassies and eliminated the X gender marker on passports and other government documents. Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” would prohibit the federal government from recognizing people and populations whose birth sex does not match their gender identity. Additionally, the order directs the attorney general to allow “people to refuse to use a transgender or nonbinary person’s correct pronouns, and to claim a right to use single-sex bathrooms and other spaces based on sex assigned at birth at any workplace covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federally funded spaces.”

Then on Monday, he issued an executive order banning transgender service members, a move that would impact more than 15,000 brave trans people serving in the military.

So far, Bessent is silent on those attacks. Trump likes his queer people gay, white, cis, rich, and obedient. Bessent has defended Trump’s self-serving tax cut plan for the wealthiest Americans as well as his misguided and destructive tariff obsession.

Kelley J. Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, released a statement about Bessent’s nomination.

“We need pro-equality LGBTQ+ nominees and LGBTQ+ people at all levels of government. The LGBTQ+ community is counting on openly LGBTQ+ nominees like Scott Bessent to step up for the community,” Robinson wrote. “HRC has a long history of working across the aisle to advance equality and

this appointment may be an opportunity to continue.”

We have entered a dangerous time that will require many of us to make decisions about how to respond to these attacks, not just on trans people, but immigrants who are already being arrested and deported in cities across the country. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is making plans for how the city will operate in the event he is arrested and jailed for refusing to cooperate with these immigrant raids. That’s what courage looks like.

Will Bessent find his backbone and work to convince his boss that the anti-trans hysteria must end? Does he have a trans person in his life who might inform his views? Trans people are human beings, fellow Americans, and family and friends and they deserve respect from their government.

They deserve an advocate in the White House who sees their humanity and can articulate it while standing up to the powerful bigots in Trump’s orbit. I hope HRC’s Robinson is right and Bessent will find the courage to stand up for the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community but we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet.

It’s not just senior gay officials who need to stand up; many of us will likely face a decision to resist or comply with the unconstitutional actions of this administration. Too many former progressive allies have already folded like cheap tents — including MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.

We must look to the example of Mayor Scott and others who are refusing to capitulate to this madness. I hope Scott Bessent finds his voice and advocates for a more compassionate approach to trans humanity.

V O L U M E 09 I S S U E 03 PHONE 310-230-5266 E-MAIL arodriguez@losangelesblade.com INTERNET losangelesblade.com PUBLISHED BY Los Angeles Blade, LLC PUBLISHER ALEXANDER RODRIGUEZ arodriguez@losangelesblade.com, 310-230-2077 x 8080 EDITORIAL EDITOR GISSELLE PALOMERA gpalomera@losangelesblade.com, 310-230-5266 x 9460 NATIONAL EDITOR KEVIN NAFF knaff@washblade.com, 202-747-2077 x 8088 CONTRIBUTING WRITER KAREN OCAMB karenocamb@losangelesblade.com 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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2023 GLAAD Media Awards

08 • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

©2025 LOS ANGELES BLADE, LLC.

VIEWPOINT

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

He writes regularly for the Blade.

Week 3 of President Musk and President Felon An evil SOB with no respect for the truth

We are seeing the hand of Elon Musk, yes, the same Musk who gives the Nazi salute, and tells the Germans to move on and forget about their Nazi past, in every area of our government. He claims to be proud of sleeping in the office President Felon has given him as part of his DOGE work, in the Eisenhower Federal Office Building, and is interfering in every agency, apparently at will. We were told a top Treasury official left the agency after Musk demanded access to the Social Security payment system. He and his lackeys, not government employees, now have access to that, and the entire Treasury Department’s payment system. Guess the Trump coup is nearly complete.

It is said Musk is behind all the confusing memos to federal employees about resigning, and taking private sector jobs. He is interfering in the FAA and now it is reported that he is behind telling FAA employees to retire. President Felon is not just silently going along with all this, he is enabling it. He is doing his own damage by threatening to fire any FBI employee who was involved, in any way, in the cases against him, or his friends. He is clearly creating havoc. His Secretary of Defense just

removed NBC, NPR, New York Times, and Politico from offices – replacing them with Breitbart and One America News.

Trump took the occasion of the horrific plane crash over the Potomac, in which 67 perished, to make political hay and blame Obama, Biden, and DEI policies at the FAA. Trump slapped tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, and says those countries will pay. He lies! He says everyone will accept higher grocery, oil, and automobile, prices. Calling Trump a moron is polite, he is actually an evil SOB with no respect for the truth.

He is targeting the transgender community in every area of their lives. From receiving appropriate healthcare, to trying to kick them out of the military, where they have served as patriots, with honor, defending our country. He is making them the focal point of his efforts to hurt the LGBTQ community because they are the easy target. If we don’t stand up for them, and stand with them, as members of the LGBTQ community, then we are next. Let us not be fooled by his naming a few gay and lesbian people to his administration. Let us not be fooled because he has the support of the clearly self-loathing Log Cabin Republicans, who support him for their jobs. Why is his gay Treasury Secretary not speaking up for the transgender community? Why is his lesbian spokesperson at the Department of State, not speaking up? We know it’s because they want their jobs, and that is likely the nicest thing I can say about their silence.

Then we have what we once called the free press. Why was it only Kaitlin Collins of CNN who questioned Trump on his outrageous remarks at the press conference after the crash over the Potomac? And where was the free press when Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, used the terms transgenderism and woke, at her first press conference? Why didn’t they ask her what the term “woke” means to the Trump administration, what it means to President Felon, and acting President Musk? Why is the press not camped out at the door of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, asking them what they think of the Nazi sympathies of their father’s best friend Musk. Asking them if they vaccinated their children, and do they suggest other parents do the same?

Do I sound angry? You bet I am. I am watching all this insanity as an openly gay, Jewish, man. I wrote in my recently published memoir, and actually thought, when I came out at the age of 34 in 1981, that it would all get easier for future generations.

Now we are back to a time when young people could again be afraid to come out, because those they thought would speak out for them, are silent. Was I lying to them?

We are again reminded of all those signs, SILENCE = DEATH, that were at the early LGBTQ marches. It is still true. The silence of so many who I know, who don’t like what is happening, is deafening. Is the Trevor Project slogan, “It Gets Better,” a lie?

We can still overcome. We must all speak out and not go quietly into the night. If we speak out, defend ourselves, our neighbors, our families, we will save our democracy.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • 09

While Meta and X roll back LGBTQ+ protections, Freddie holds space Meet the tech power couple and their app named Freddie

By GISSELLE PALOMERA

Ever dreamed of an exclusive digital space where you can find the community you are actually on the search for? Freddie: Your Queer Space, a dyke-centered phone application, was created just for that.

In an effort to create a digital space that would only welcome members of the queer, sapphically-inclined and trans communities, queer couple Carmen Hernandez and Sarah Panzer, put their collective skills to work and launched Freddie. This app comes at a time when it feels unsafe to exist in many other realms of the internet and social media apps like X and Meta, which have both scaled back protections for LGBTQ+ people and rolled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“The main goal for Freddie has always been to be that kind of third space that is unlike everything else we are experiencing right now on the internet,” said Hernandez in an interview with L.A. Blade. “There’s this fear that a lot of companies are using data security tools on social media platforms to track information about individuals.”

Hernandez realized that they had a unique opportunity to create something vastly different than what already exists on the app market. They not only wanted to create this digital space exclusively for the queer community, but also make sure that the information shared on the app was not being sold to data collecting companies.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, cookies and other data collection tools are meant to collect information from users such as interests, demographics and activity in order to ‘remember you.’ This means that user information is then sold to companies that collect and harvest that data to sell products and services to users through curated and personalized experiences.

Research shows that this is a harmful practice because these curated and personalized experiences target users and make them vulnerable to scams and other dangers.

This app is an oasis in a desiccated digital landscape.

“We started thinking about how we could make Freddie really secure for the people that are there,” said Hernandez.

The ‘personals’ space is to post about their needs and find other like-minded community members who meet those needs.

“We’re a small team and we want to make an app that people are going to be able to use really easily, that they want to use and that has all the right features,” said Panzer. “We wanted to make a space where lesbians, trans people and queer people could have a space away from the cis-male gaze to just be horny, look for love, and just be themselves.”

Upon making a profile on Freddie, users are welcomed to choose up to six options for what they are looking for

on the app. There are dozens of options – everything from music and book recs, to the meaning of life, and even options if you happen to be on the search for bottoms, tops and anything in between.

In comparison to apps that are not for or by the queer community, Freddie also has an extensive list of options for gender and sexual orientation.

Hernandez founded Freddie back in July of 2023, after they say they became exhausted with sifting through the other LGBTQ+ apps and realizing that there were a lot of issues with the interface and with people from outside of the community taking up space on the apps.

According to Hernandez, not only were they taking up space, but also being openly homophobic in spaces specifically meant to gather people from QTBIPOC communities.

“I started noticing that the people who were showing up, were sometimes not queer and then even worse yet,

10 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025

were straight and homophobic,” said Hernandez. “That all really got us thinking.”

This is when Hernandez decided to invest some of their own time, energy and financial resources to bring the concept of Freddie to fruition. Then, with the marketing help from their partner Panzer, they have now launched the newest and latest version of Freddie.

This isn’t Freddie’s final form, according to the creative couple.

Freddie will also soon have an even more exclusive membership option that operates like a digital club users can join in an effort to be a part of an even more exclusive space for the QTBIPOC communities.

“We are going to turn Freddie into a club and that’s going to make it a lot easier for us to monitor who comes in and ensure that everyone who comes into that space is able to engage with the community in a respectful way,” said Hernandez.

(Photo courtesy the subjects)

NOTICE

REQUEST FOR STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS FOR

AS-NEEDED COASTAL COMMISSION CONSULTING SERVICES The County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors is seeking qualified and experienced Vendors to enter into Master Agreements to advocate, on an as-needed basis, the County’s interests on matters pending or to be brought before the California Coastal Commission. The selection of Vendors will be based on the qualifications of the firms that submit proposals.

Vendors submitting Statement of Qualifications (SOQs) must have a minimum of five years of experience within the last 10 years in consulting with public and private sector developers on California Coastal Commission proceedings on Local Coastal Program Amendments and coastal permits. The County may require additional minimum qualifications. The initial deadline for submitting SOQs will be 5:00 p.m., February 26, 2025, however, the County will continuously accept SOQ’s throughout the duration of the Master Agreement.

Further information regarding the RFSQ is available at: https://doingbusiness.lacounty.gov/.

To view and print a copy of the RFSQ, please visit: http://beaches.lacounty.gov/request-for-proposals/.

The County reserves the right to cancel the RFSQ and to modify any and all terms and conditions of the RFSQ, including minimum qualifications.

For further information, email: Jean Dao at Contracts@bh.lacounty.gov.

CN113098 02-26-2025 February 07, 2025

GIFT GUIDE

Valentine’s gifts for the queers you love Fragrances, X-rated sweet treats, candles, and more

By MIKEY ROX Put a little love in your heart. That’s what Jackie DeShannon encouraged with her 1969 hit song of the same name, and it’s never been more appropriate than in the context of our current state of affairs. Mute the vitriol this Valentine’s Day and concentrate on what really matters – those you love and who love you back.

Gucci Guilty Love Edition Sniffies? You’ll put the site on hold after a whiff of Gucci Guilty Love Edition on the nape of his neck – featuring captivating notes of juniper oil, orange flower absolute and aphrodisiatic Ambrofix – which one review claims to “make your brain sparkle like a fine Champagne.” Cheers to that. $25-$133, FragranceNet.com

Hunky Burning Love Pillow Sweet dreams are on the docket when you rest your head on the Hunky Burning Love faux-suede square pillow printed with illustrations of shirtless himbos pining for your affection. An exercise in fantasy more than reality, but it beats sitting alone at a bar getting no attention at all. $30, ThePillowTopShop.com

Love Deck What’s in the cards for your love life in 2025? Fuck around and find out with astrologist Lisa Stardust’s 70-card Love Deck, a tarot set of short spells, meditations and rituals designed to conjure enough love, passion, clarity and confidence to make Potion No. 9 jealous. $13, Amazon.com

‘Making the Case for Equality’ We’ll continue to fight the good fight over the next four years and beyond – perhaps harder than ever – and Lambda Legal’s “Making the Case for Equality,” a detailed half-century history of our hard-won judicial victories, is a solid reminder of how far we’ve come in the war for LGBTQ+ rights. $45, Amazon.com

Lola Blankets Schedule an at-home streaming marathon of this year’s Best Picture noms before the big night – there’s a lot to love in 2024’s Oscar picks – and the coziest way to settle in is all snuggled up in the squishiest Lola blankets, reminiscent of the adorable ripples of the cutest Shar Pei. Pick up a couple for the cuddle puddle. $109-$299, LolaBlankets.com

Asa Akira x Cake Life Cookies Cue the collaboration you didn’t see coming: Adult film star Asa Akira teams up with award-winning trans-owned bakery Cake Life Bake Shop for its sweet-and-spicy Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies, featuring Akira’s XXX-tra special curated box decorated with NFSW phrases like “Cowgirl,” “Cream Pie,” and the ever-subtle “Anal” – that are sure to leave mouths agog at your Gaylentine’s get-together. $19-$21, CakeLifeBakeShop.square.site

Mind Games Candles Since the late 1990s, the Backstreet Boys have implored us to quit playin’ games with our lovers’ hearts, which is probably why we play mind games instead – and now they come in luxury scents like Jasmine Milk, Tobacco Tonka Bean and Cherry Sandalwood, so you can enjoy mood lighting with your gaslighting. $135, MindGamesFragrance.com

Delysia Chocolates Inspired by Greek Goddess-of-Love Aphrodite, Delysia Chocolatier’s 16-piece, limited-edition truffle collection includes four each of symbolic Passion (almond-honey-fig), Adoration (raspberry-rose petal-hibiscus), Unity (pomegranate-strawberry), and Love (spiced wine-berry) bite-size chocolates rich enough for savoring and abundant enough for sharing. $60, Delysia.com

DIY Whiskey Hot Sauce Variety is the spice of life in Thoughtfully Gourmet’s Whiskey-Infused DIY Hot Sauce Kit that combines your favorite cereal spirit with high-quality global ingredients, like Mexican hot peppers, to create sophisticated flavor experiences of varying Scoville heat levels, handsomely housed in fancy decanters. Recipe book, spices and seasonings included; alcohol and antacids are not. $20, Amazon.com (Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBTQ lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets around the world. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels.)

12 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025

Gay men’s chorus of los angeles

MAR. 22–23

Glenn Campbell forgive us...it’s time for Country Music to get the GMCLA treatment! Turn the dial up, get out your sequin-studded chaps, and head on down to the Saban. The Chorus will sashay and sway to the legends, ladies, and icons of Country including Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, Johnny Cash, Chris Stapleton, Billy Ray Cyrus, and more! We’ll spotlight artists changing the face of Country, and its hippest and gayest artists and allies such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X, and Chappell Roan. And there’ll be production numbers that make this is a true GMCLA extravaganza— from Shania’s Twain’s “Man I Feel Like A Woman” to Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club!”

GMCLA.org

Saban Theatre

FILM

Animated Oscar contender ‘Snail’ a bittersweet delight Showcasing the power of kindness to help us endure difficult times

By JOHN PAUL KING Even in a time when it has been well established that an animated film is not necessarily meant for children, you might expect one with the title “Memoir of a Snail” to be something soft, sweet, and whimsical enough to be suitable for even the youngest of toddlers – but you can’t judge a film by its title, any more than you can a book by its cover.

One of 2024’s most well-received films, animated or otherwise, this deceptively adorable feature from Australian animator Adam Elliott certainly fits part of the above description (the “whimsical” part), but it could only be considered a children’s movie by someone who still thinks “cartoons” are for kids. Elliott – whose 2003 film “Harvie Krumpet” won the Oscar for Best Animated Short – is a filmmaker who uses animation (or more specifically, stop-motion “claymation”) to tell semi-autobiographical stories, often about characters based on his own family and friends, and while his visual style might be cute enough to engage your toddler, the content of his narratives is unmistakably tailored for adults.

In this case, that narrative is centered on – and told in flashback by – one Grace Prudel (voiced as an adult by “Succession” star Sarah Snook, and as a child by Charlotte Belsey and Agnes Davison), a girl who grows up in 1970s Melbourne with a twin brother named Gilbert (Mason Litsos/Kodi Smit-McPhee) under the care of their father, a former French animator (Dominique Pinon) with a fondness for roller coasters. When he dies and leaves them without support, the deeply bonded Grace and Gilbert are taken into the foster system and sent to live with families on opposite sides of the country. Grace, whose “swinger” foster parents often leave her on her own, struggles with isolation and loneliness, while Gilbert suffers under the tyrannical rule of a fundamentalist religious couple who exploit all their children as free labor.

‘Memoir of a Snail’ (Image courtesy IFC Entertainment)

Eventually, Grace crosses paths with Pinky (Jacki Weaver), an elderly free spirit who takes on the role of mentor and helps her endure a number of hardships, including a disastrous wedding engagement and her continued separation from Gilbert; depressed, overweight, and increasingly seeking refuge with her collections of snails, romance novels,

14 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025

and guinea pigs – all of which serve as both consolation and distraction from her seemingly impossible dream of following in her father’s footsteps to make animated films – it is her bond with Pinky that may finally provide her with the lifeline to keep her hope alive.

Striking a delicate balance between sentiment and savvy, Elliott’s film – his first feature effort since 2009’s “Mary and Max” – bridges the gap expertly with just enough satirical exaggeration to avoid being maudlin, yet keeps its eye on the redemptive prize (despite the occasional Dickensian twist) by treating Grace with the kind of empathy that can only be achieved by putting the audience completely into her shoes. Without spoilers, we watch as she goes through multiple quirky-yet-relatable setbacks, reinforcing the connection with our own inner misfit by conjuring familiar (and potentially unifying) feelings of inadequacy and leading us, inevitably, to forgive ourselves for our perceived shortcomings.

Visually, “Memoir of a Snail” evokes memories of many other stop-motion efforts, contrasting the inherent “cuteness” of its style with the less-comforting content of its storyline.

Resembling a tried-and-true “Wallace and Gromit” film (such as fellow Oscar-nominee “Vengeance Most Foul”) but decidedly more focused on the inner lives of its characters, it blends and contrasts a familiar and traditional form with an emotional honesty that disarms our cynicism. Mixed with its comforting whimsy is an acknowledgement of life’s dark corners, a frank awareness that, sometimes, loss and sorrow happen and there’s nothing to be done but to go through them – there are no fantastical inventions to ease Grace’s path, no tongue-in-cheek capers that can set things right and restore her world to some kind of happy status quo; like the rest of us, she must work through the darkness not to get back to the way things were, but to arrive at a place where new things are possible – where the grief and sorrow that are inevitably woven into our life can be weathered and overcome, even if they can’t be avoided.

As to that grief and sorrow, “Memoir of a Snail” touches on the universal; Grace’s struggles with loss and loneliness, the disappointments, humiliations, and outright betrayals she confronts, all hit close to home – the loss of loved ones, the loneliness of not fitting in, the trauma of being bullied and abused – and there are no easy answers to getting through them.

Yet melancholy as its tone may often feel, Elliott’s movie defies its own gravity with a wicked sense of humor and a sharp knack for commentary on the quirks and foibles of human behavior. Despite the grimness into which it sometimes must descend – which includes the depiction of shock treatment used for “conversion therapy” by Gilbert’s homophobic foster family – it manages to maintain a light-hearted attitude, buoyed by a keen (and often ironic) sense of humor and an embrace of the inescapable absurdities of life, and emerge not only with acceptance but with hope – with a little help, that is, from our friends.

It’s this message that infuses “Memoir” with such a sense of humanity; it is through the special bonds she finds that Grace endures – and not only the ones she shares with her beloved snails. The heart of the movie beats through her friendship with Pinky, a fellow “misfit” with the wisdom and kindness to renew her faith in life, and it’s that warmth and humanity that takes a tale of hardship and emotional suffering and turns it into one of the year’s most delightful movies.

Visually lovely, with an array of memorable voice performances and a delicious balance of humor ranging from silly to the macabre, “Memoir of a Snail” may not have the Disney appeal – nor the subject matter – to make it a good choice for children, but it has the candor and willingness to explore the darker places in our lives, the “sacred wounds” that give our lives meaning, and the power of love to keep us in the light.

Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, Elliott’s film is now streaming via multiple VOD platforms – and as much, if not more, worth your attention as any of the live action films competing in the other categories. After all, a movie about the power of kindness to help us endure difficult times is something most of us could probably use, right about now.

BOOKS

From genteel British wealth to trans biker Memoir ‘Frighten the Horses’ a long but essential read

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER Finding your own way.

It’s a rite of passage for every young person, a necessity on the path to adulthood. You might have had help with it. You might have listened to your heart alone on the quest to find your own way. And sometimes, as in the new memoir, “Frighten the Horses” by Oliver Radclyffe, you may have to find yourself first.

If you had observed Oliver Radclyffe in a random diner a few years ago, you’d have seen a blonde, bubbly, but harried mother with four active children under age seven and a distracted husband. You probably wouldn’t have seen trouble, but it was there.

“Nicky,” as Radclyffe was known then, was simmering with something that was just coming to the forefront.

As a young child, Nicky’d been raised in comfort in a family steeped in genteel British wealth, attended a private all-girl’s school, and never wanted for anything. She left all that behind as a young adult, and embraced the biker lifestyle and everything it entailed. The problem now wasn’t that she missed her old ways; it was that she hated life as a wife and mother. Her dreams were filled with fantasies of “exactly who I was: a man on a motorbike, in love with a woman.”

But being a man? No, that wasn’t quite right.

It took every bit of courage she had to say she was gay, that she thought constantly about women, that she hated sex with men. When she told her husband, he was hurt but mostly unbothered, insisting that she tell absolutely no one. They could remain married and just go forward. Nothing had to change.

But everything had already changed for Nicky.

Once she decided finally to come out, she learned that friends had already suspected. Family was supportive. It would be OK. But as Nicky began to experiment with a newfound freedom to be with women, one thing became clear: having sex with a woman was better when she imagined doing it as a man.

In his opening chapter, author Oliver Radclyffe shares an anecdote about the confusion the father of Radclyffe’s son’s friend had when picking up the friend. Readers may feel the same sentiment.

Fortunately, “Frighten the Horses” gets better — and it gets worse.

Radclyffe’s story is riveting, told with a voice that’s distinct, sometimes poker-faced, but compelling; you’ll find yourself agreeing with every bit of his outrage and befuddlement with coming out in a way that feels right. When everything falls into place, it’s a relief for both author and reader.

And yet, it’s hard to get to this point because this memoir is just too long. It lags where you’ll wish it didn’t. It feels like being burrito-wrapped in a heavy-weighted blanket: You don’t necessarily want out, but you might get tired of being in it.

Still, it remains that this peek at transitioning, however painful, is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand how someone figures things out. If that’s you, then consider “Frighten the Horses” and find it.

‘Frighten the Horses: A Memoir’

By Oliver Radclyffe

c.2024, Roxane Books/Grove Atlantic | $28 | 352 pages

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • FEBRUARY 07, 2025 • 15

FORTY YEARS of cityhood