Meet WeHo’s City Council candidates, (LA Blade photo by Caleb Kaufman)
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OCTOBER 09, 2026 • VOLUME 10 • ISSUE 19 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM
LOCAL
We asked WeHo City Council candidates your most pressing questions See what City Council candidates have to say about the most important issues this election cycle By CALEB KAUFMAN
West Hollywood voters will soon be heading to the polls to elect 3 of its 5 city council members. A whopping 14 candidates are running for the open seats, and the elected 3 will go on to address issues like housing development, Flock camera contracts, and managing the city’s high cost of living. With so many candidates, keeping track of everyone’s views on policy is no easy task. So, the Los Angeles Blade sent a questionnaire to every candidate running for city council that addressed the most important issues of this election cycle. Out of the 14 candidates, 12 responded to our questionnaire in time for publication. Tom Demille and Tatyana “Tanya” Tsikanovsky did not respond in time for publication. Candidate profiles are listed in the order the candidates will appear on the ballot.
West Hollywood City Council Forum (LA Blade photo by Caleb Kaufman)
Candidate Profiles: HELEN KRIEGER Has lived in West Hollywood for 10 years. Occupation: Screenwriter and housing advocate Endorsements: LA County Democratic Party, Equality CA, Stonewall Democratic Club, Firefighters Local 1014, LA Federation of Labor, Streets for All, California Working Families Party, Lindsey P. Horvath, Abbe Land, John Erickson and more Other candidates Helen will vote for: Chelsea Byers Policy Do you support renewing West Hollywood’s contract with Flock Safety? No. “We need to end the contract and physically take down the cameras. They’re a huge invasion of privacy.” Do you support a bike lane or sidewalk extension on Fountain Avenue? Yes. “I support widening the sidewalks to make them ADA accessible, and I support building a bike lane as part of that project to finally connect the Eastside to our micromobility infrastructure.” Do you support creating a TODAP (Transit Oriented Development Alternative Plan) for West Hollywood? Maybe. “I’m supportive of creating our own plan as long as it practically allows for at least as much housing as SB-79, and I would want SB-79 to remain in place until that TODAP is agreed upon, voted on, and approved by SCAG.” Do you support renewing West Hollywood’s contract with Allied Universal to continue running the security ambassador program? No.
“Allied Universal is an ongoing vendor for ICE, and WeHo has a policy of not working with ICE vendors. But I like the ambassador program in general.” Do you support a vacancy tax on empty storefront properties? No. “In most commercial leases the tenant has to pay the taxes, so this would just make rent more unaffordable for small businesses. I do understand where the desire for a vacancy tax comes from - we want all our storefronts to be busy and activated - but this is the wrong answer.” Do you support adding more digital billboards to Sunset Boulevard? Yes. “I’m in favor of converting some existing static billboards on Sunset to digital billboards in a thoughtful way. And I would support adding more digital billboards, while being careful of oversaturation. These pay for many city services, and they also can pay for pedestrian improvements that we need on Sunset.” Why are you running for City Council? “I’m running because I love West Hollywood - I love how walkable it is, I love our parks, I love how gay it is. But the cost of living has continued to go up, and now, with average asking rents over $4000 for a one-bedroom and $6000 for a two-bedroom, we’re in danger of losing what makes us special. I’m running to create more housing, including affordable housing, safer streets, and thriving local businesses.” What are your policy priorities? “Housing is my biggest priority. West Hollywood (like much of the country) hasn’t been building enough housing, so demand has built up. In the 40 years since we became a city, we’ve built 70 percent fewer homes than the 40 years before we were a city, even as the population of the US has gone up 50 percent. We need to once again be the city that’s not afraid to build housing while also protecting existing tenants and strengthening tenants’ rights. Safe streets — WeHo has inherited a lot of bad street designs from the 60s when we were unincorporated LA County. I want to focus on designing complete streets with multimodal transportation options and ADA accessible sidewalks. Thriving local businesses — our businesses are part of what makes us so unique, so I want to unleash our creative entrepreneurship by streamlining the permitting process. One easy way we can do this - make it easier to film in WeHo. We’re currently the hardest city in all of LA County for film and TV production, which means we’re missing out on the tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of union jobs.” How will you address the high cost of living in West Hollywood? “I believe the main reason for the high cost of living in West Hollywood is housing. This is most people’s biggest cost, and about 20 percent of renters pay half their income just on rent alone. By building more housing, we can ease this burden on people’s wallets. We need to build more housing of all types - market-rate housing with affordable or rent-stabilized set-asides, 100 percent affordable housing, and also “missing middle” housing for people who make too much to qualify for affordable housing, but not enough to afford market rates.” KODY CHRISTIANSEN Has lived in West Hollywood for 21 years.
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Occupation: Sales associate at an LGBTQIA+ owned small business, author, and actor Endorsements: The Bayou, Greenwich Pizzeria, Karina’s Cleaners, Mail Service Center, Joshua Baum, and Cosmo: the Queen of Melrose Other candidates Kody will vote for: Declined to answer Policy Do you support renewing West Hollywood’s contract with Flock Safety? Maybe. “I would consider a pause until we have clear reports on how our own sheriff’s deputies have used the system, and would consider renewal only with strict, ongoing oversight, verifiable privacy protections, and immediate reporting of outside access requests. If safeguards fail, the agreement is violated even once, or our data is used to support federal immigration enforcement, I would support ending the contract immediately.” Do you support a bike lane or sidewalk extension on Fountain Avenue? Yes, sidewalks. “I support wider, ADA-compliant sidewalks and immediate safety improvements on Fountain, including better lighting, safer crossings, and traffic calming, but I oppose the current bike lane plan that removes parking and traffic lanes. Accessibility should come first, and we need to think bigger than ‘this plan or nothing,’ including bike lanes on corridors like Santa Monica Boulevard that connect people to the places they want to go.” Do you support creating a TODAP (Transit Oriented Development Alternative Plan) for West Hollywood? Yes. “Yes, I strongly support a TODAP that allows us to plan for housing while protecting existing renters and historic neighborhoods and directing growth toward appropriate commercial corridors. I call my approach SIMBY BWAP: ‘Sure In My Backyard, But With A Plan.’” Do you support renewing West Hollywood’s contract with Allied Universal to continue running the security ambassador program? Maybe. “Before supporting renewal, I would review other providers and compare their training, capabilities, cost, and results. Residents deserve a program equipped to provide meaningful assistance beyond simply making calls, with clear responsibilities and effective coordination with our sheriff’s deputies.” Do you support a vacancy tax on empty storefront properties? Maybe. “My first approach would be incentives and direct relationships with building owners to connect vacant spaces with businesses, temporary uses, and community activity. But I would not rule out a carefully targeted vacancy tax for larger property owners who leave storefronts empty for years while our neighborhoods bear the consequences.” Do you support adding more digital billboards to Sunset Boulevard? No. “The Sunset Strip has a character worth protecting, and adding more digital billboards is not the direction I want for our city.” Why are you running for City Council? “West Hollywood gave me the freedom to find myself when I moved here in 2005. I’m running because I want that same promise of belonging to remain possible for others. CONTINUES AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM
FEATURES
The survivors we don’t talk about: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month By DAN HANLEY, Community Investment Officer at Survivor Justice Center
Several years ago, I attended a vigil and march organized by the Trans Latin@ Coalition. We walked to a burned-out apartment, the former home of a trans sister who had been murdered by an intimate partner. After killing her, he torched her home. I knew the story and showed up not only to honor her but also to speak out against violence. But seeing what remained of her home significantly impacted me. Witnessing the charred remains of her home hit me close to mine. While October is often thought of as National Coming Out Day, October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). In my capacity as Community Investment Officer for an East LA-based nonprofit that serves survivors through free legal aid and support both in and out of the courtroom, I spend much of my time talking about domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking. Most of the people who walk through our doors are women. Many are immigrants navigating myriad additional challenges, such as language barriers, immigration concerns, and a legal system that often feels stacked against them. This work has taught me how abuse can remain hidden, how shame can silence survivors, and how difficult it can be to ask for help, even when help is available. It makes me think about the survivors we do not see. Who isn’t walking through our doors to ask for help? In particular, I think about the LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. W i t h i n LGBTQ+ spaces, this is a subject we do not discuss nearly enough. Pride events, community organizations, and even everyday conversations understandably tend to focus on external threats, of which there are many: discrimination, hate crimes, and political attacks, to name a few. Far less often do we talk about the harm that is perpetrated within our own relationships and our own community. Yet research shows LGBTQ+ people experience domestic violence and sexual assault at rates equal to or higher than straight, cisgender people. This violence affects our community. Our reluctance to talk about it makes it easier for the abuse to remain hidden. Current data on domestic violence or intimate partner abuse within our LGBTQ+ communities can be difficult to find, and much of the available research is more than a decade old. And much of what I know comes from personal conversations with my LGBTQ+ siblings who have experienced violence themselves. I talk about consent so often that people in my circles have jokingly dubbed me the “Consent Queen.” But behind the nickname is a serious concern about how often consent, abuse, and intimate partner violence go unspoken in our communities. The data we do have about our LGBTQ+ community and domestic violence is troubling. Federal crime victimization data found that domestic violence was eight times as high among bisexual people (32.3
victimizations per 1,000 people) and more than twice as high among lesbian and gay people (10.3 per 1,000) compared to straight people (4.2 per 1,000). Other national research reports that 44% of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, 26% of gay men, and 37% of bisexual men report experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime, along with 54% of transgender and nonbinary people. A 2024 KFF survey found that a third of LGBT women reported experiencing intimate partner violence within the previous five years, twice the rate reported by non-LGBT women. California’s 2023 Violence Experiences Survey similarly found that a substantial share of transgender men and women, along with nonbinary Californians, reported experiencing physical or sexual violence within the previous year, at rates significantly higher than those reported by cisgender women in the same survey. Sexual violence follows a similar pattern, although the statistics vary by gender. Nearly half of transgender people are estimated to experience sexual assault during their lifetimes, and one in five transgender survivors reports that the person who assaulted them was an intimate partner. Roughly four in ten gay men and nearly half of bisexual men report experiencing sexual violence other than rape — a distinction that matters. Historically, some surveys have defined “rape” primarily centered around penetration of the victim, potentially undercounting another form of male sexual victimization: being forced or coerced into penetrating someone else. While that may sound like a technical distinction, its consequences are very real. It is one reason male survivors, including gay and bisexual men, have sometimes struggled to see their own experiences reflected in the data, in public conversations about sexual violence, or in services developed around a different model of victimhood. Through my work, I see many reasons survivors do not report abuse: fear, financial dependence, love for the person hurting them, immigration status, distrust of law enforcement, and concern for their children. Every one of those barriers affects LGBTQ+ survivors as well. But some LGBTQ+ survivors face additional, less obvious obstacles that deserve to be acknowledged. Most survivors of abuse carry some baseline of shame and self-blame, regardless of identity. LGBTQ+ survivors often describe an additional burden: fear that disclosing abuse will reinforce harmful stereotypes about queer relationships or provide ammunition to those already hostile to the community. For some, acknowledging abuse can even feel like a betrayal of the community itself, as though speaking honestly about violence from within somehow validates the prejudice of others. That’s an enormous burden to carry while also trying to confront the reality of being by someone you love. LGBTQ+ survivors frequently describe internalizing the belief that they aren’t an “eligible” victim — that abuse doesn’t register the same way when it happens between two women, two men, or within a relationship that already sits outside the model most people, including some service providers, have historically been trained to recognize. Survivors who physically resist their abusers may face an additional challenge when outsiders focus on that resistance rather than the broader pattern of coercion, control, or violence. “Boys being boys” comes to mind when thinking about potential comments after sharing that one has been hit. For survivors who are not out to their families, employers,
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or broader communities, disclosing abuse may also mean disclosing their LGBTQ+ identity on someone else’s timeline rather than their own. Abusive partners can and do exploit this vulnerability, using the threat of outing as another means of control. As a result, leaving or reporting the abuse may feel as though it carries consequences far beyond the relationship itself. So what can we do? Here are a few things that genuinely move the needle at the individual and community level: We can begin by talking about domestic violence and sexual assault within LGBTQ+ spaces with the same openness we increasingly bring to conversations about mental health, coming out, and discrimination. Normalizing these conversations before someone reaches a crisis can help survivors recognize what they are experiencing and make it easier to seek help sooner. We can also make sure survivors know that LGBTQ+-affirming resources exist. In Southern California, the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s STOP Violence Program and Legal Advocacy Project for Survivors, and the San Diego LGBT Community Center’s domestic violence program, offer trauma-informed support built specifically for LGBTQ+ survivors, including assistance with restraining orders, safety planning, and counseling. Survivors do not have to begin with a mainstream hotline if an LGBTQ+-specific resource feels safer. And of course, Survivor Justice Center is also available. Although it is not LGBTQ+ specific, it is an amazing resource for survivors from all communities seeking free legal aid. Perhaps most importantly, we can believe people when they tell us they have been harmed and make sure they know we believe them. One of the most protective things a friend, family member, or fellow community member can do is respond to a disclosure with compassion and belief rather than surprise or doubt. Comments such as “but you’re bigger than him” or “I didn’t think that happened between women” can reinforce the very isolation that keeps survivors silent. That reaction alone can be the difference between someone seeking help and someone remaining silent for years. If you’re reading this and something in it sounds familiar, what you experienced counts. It does not matter if your partner was the same gender as you, a different gender, or whether your relationship fits the image that comes to mind when someone says “domestic violence.” It doesn’t matter whether you fought back or didn’t. It doesn’t matter whether you’re not uncertain that anyone will believe you or afraid that speaking up could mean coming out before you’re ready. At nonprofits like Survivor Justice Center, we’re continually working to reach and serve more members of our communities — building services and training so the door remains open to everyone who needs help, not only those survivors whose experience the model around which the system was built. We have not talked about this enough, either within the LGBTQ+ community or within the broader conversation about domestic violence. That needs to change. Silence does not protect survivors. You don’t have to start with us; just start somewhere. This piece is my attempt to say, directly, to LGBTQ+ readers: you are not alone, violence in our community happens more than anyone acknowledges, and the silence hiding it is not your fault. For more information, visit SurvivorJusticeCenter.org.
NATIONAL
988 restores crisis services for LGBTQ+ youth By JOE REBERKENNY
The lifesaving 988 call-in number to help people experiencing mental health crises or suicidal thoughts has once again restored its specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth. The lifeline, which used to have the option to “press 3” to be directly sent to specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth facing mental health crises or suicidal thoughts, was returned on Wednesday following an over-year-long battle with the Trump-Vance administration, which removed the service in May 2025. The Press 3 option rolled out as a pilot program in 2022 through a government contract with the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ people. Then, in June 2025, the federal government announced that the lifeline would be eliminated within a month. By July 2025, 988 Lifeline’s “Press 3” services were terminated. Openly gay U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) helped lead Congress in reversing the removal of the lifesaving resource from American phones. As a member of the Senatw Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, she started the process of securing $535 million for 988 — a $15 million increase — as well as dedicated funding for LGBTQ+ youth specialized services.
U.S. Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Then, in September 2025, Baldwin, along with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), introduced bipartisan legislation in the Senate, the 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act, to codify the 988 Lifeline’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ young people. At the same time, U.S. Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives alongside U.S. Reps. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) The Senate passed Baldwin’s bipartisan funding bill in January 2026, funding the Department of Health and Human Services with explicit language mandating the return of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth specialized services. In February 2026, Congress passed legislation mandating that the previously elim-
inated “Press 3” specialized services be restored and funded with $33,100,000 — but it was unclear if the Press 3 option would still be allowed under current executive orders, namely Executive Order 14168, or “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Despite the securing of federal funding for the Press 3 resource, the battle to get the 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act through Congress is ongoing — and would provide codafied protection from this removal ever happening again. According to data on the Trevor Project’s website, LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. Baldwin’s office touts the immense help the lifeline provides to LGBTQ+ people in their moments of greatest need. The press release on the reinstatement of Press 3 highlighted the continued demand for the service: “The volume of calls, texts, and chats 15 percent higher than a year earlier and nearly 50 percent higher than two years ago. Since the lifeline launched, it has received over 27 million contacts, including over 18 million calls, 4 million texts, and 3 million chats.” Advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and mental health awareness have agreed with the increasing numbers and hailed the return as a win for everyone. “Suicide and mental health struggles touch every community across our state, and that’s why creating the 988 crisis lifeline to make sure help is there for everyone is one of my proudest accomplishments,” said Baldwin said in a statement. “But, last year, the Trump administration decided to make these real struggles a political football and ripped away the specialized line that helped LGBTQ children. This was a deliberate choice. The Trump administration chose to put children’s lives on the line to score some political points.” “I’ve fought tooth and nail to restore this lifesaving resource. When I realized the Trump administration was not going to do it on their own, I wrote it into federal law to require them to restore the Press 3 option,” the Wisconsin senator said. “This lifesaving resource never should have gone away in the first place, but I am glad the lifesaving support Press 3 provides is once again there for people who need it.” “I’m proud that we secured the funding to restore this lifesaving LGBTQ+ crisis line and successfully pressured the Trump administration to bring the program back,” Krishnamoorthi said. “When an LGBTQ+ young person reaches out for help in a moment of crisis, they deserve to reach a counselor trained to understand and support them. This program should never have been taken away, and now we need to make sure it stays available for every young person who needs it. I’m grateful to the Trevor Project, NAMI Chicago, Equality Illinois, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and all the advocates and young people who worked alongside us to bring these services back.” Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project who works with the SAMHSA, in their press three operations celebrated the return of the resource. “We are grateful to see that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s ‘Press 3’ specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth have been restored. Resuming this national resource will be critical in addressing the public health crisis of suicide among LGBTQ+ young people, and supporting the estimated more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ youth who seriously consider attempting suicide in the U.S. each year,” Black said via a statement. “We are thankful for the large coalition of bipartisan lawmakers, mental health advocates, allies, and supporters who fought tirelessly for this restoration. We will monitor the launch and usage of these important services to ensure all LGBTQ+ youth are supported with clinically best standards.” If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09, 2026 • 05
INTERNATIONAL
Lula, Flávio Bolsonaro to face off in second round of Brazilian presidential election Neither man received at least 50 percent of the vote on Sunday By MICHAEL K. LAVERS SÃO PAULO — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on Oct. 25 after neither man received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round that took place on Sunday. Bolsonaro was ahead of Lula by a 47.03-45.16 percent margin with 100 percent of the vote counted. Lula in 2022 defeated Bolsonaro’s father, then-President Jair Bolsonaro, in that year’s presidential election. The Brazilian Supreme Court last year sentenced Bolsonaro — who repeatedly targeted LGBTQ+ Brazilians and other groups while in office — to more than 27 years in prison for his role in an attempted coup that saw thousands of his supporters storm the Congress, presidential palace, and the Supreme Court itself on Jan. 8, 2023. Bolsonaro is currently serving his sentence at his home in Brasília, the country’s capital, because of his poor health. His son has pledged to pardon him if he becomes the country’s next president. Lula, who leads Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party, was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010. Sergio Moro, a judge who Jair Bolsonaro later tapped as his government’s Justice and Public Security Minister, in 2017 sentenced Lula to 9 1/2 years in prison after his conviction on money laundering and corruption charges that stemmed from Operation Car Wash.
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The Supreme Court in November 2019 ordered Lula’s release. VoteLGBT, an organization that seeks to increase LGBTQ+ representation in Brazilian politics, noted 529 openly LGBTQ+ candidates ran in this year’s election. More than 100 of them are either transgender or travesti. The Los Angeles Blade will cover the results of these races when they become available.
From left, Brazilian President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA and Brazilian Senator FLÁVIO BOLSONARO. (Photo of Lula by Celso Pupo via Bigstock; screen capture of Bolsonaro via TV Celular Flavio Bolsonaro/YouTube)
NATIONAL
Bessent says Trump chose him for his qualifications, not his sexuality
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talked with Axios about his sexuality — and how it played no role in his nomination for the position By JOE REBERKENNY Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent participated in an interview in which he said his sexuality had no impact on the president’s selection of him. On Sunday, Axios co-founder Mike Allen interviewed Secretary Bessent, the 79th person to lead the Treasury Department, in the “Cash Room” in the Treasury building. The two talked for more than 40 minutes about issues related to the current administration’s efforts for Axios’s YouTube channel. Bessent has been something of an anomaly during this administration, breaking what many consider the “gay glass ceiling.” He is the first openly gay person to lead the U.S. Treasury Department, the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration, and the highest-ranking LGBTQ government official in U.S. history. The two covered various ground — about the state of the U.S. economy, the various AI approaches by the Trump administration, and the war in Iran. All things that have made President Trump’s constant appraisal of the U.S. economy difficult to sell to the American people as the affordability crisis has worsened. Toward the end of the interview, Allen asked Bessent about deciding not to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, knowing his sexuality would be a hindrance, and instead attending Yale University. Allen asked if his choice to at-
tend the Ivy League school held him back in life. “I don’t think it did at all, and it’s very difficult to talk about the counterfactual… but I don’t think going to Yale held me back,” Bessent said. “Maybe some people at other schools would think it might. But I think it makes you aware, and I’ve openly spoken about it before, too. I think maybe some of my career choices were influenced by it.” The U.S. Naval Academy only began allowing openly LGBTQ students Treasury Secretary SCOTT BESSENT to apply — and be (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key) open about their sexuality — following the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Prior to the policy’s removal, students could be removed from the school for violating the rules, including rules related to their sexuality. “You said President Trump chose me because he believes I’m the best candidate, not because of my sexual preference or your green eyes…,” Allen said.
“Exactly,” Bessent replied. “And I think that’s one of the reasons we have such a great team. The president makes his decisions all the time. You know, he’ll occasionally tell me, ‘You’re breaking my friends’ hearts.’ They see you on TV and they want an intro, and we have to break the news to them.” Bessent has been married to former New York prosecutor John Freeman since 2011, and they have lived together in South Carolina. There, they had two children through surrogacy. Despite being a member of the LGBTQ community, Bessent has publicly supported Trump’s policies, including some that have drawn criticism from LGBTQ advocates and organizations. These include reductions to PEPFAR funding, policies removing transgender service members from the military, recognizing only two sexes, removing LGBTQ protections from Title IX, and other policies that LGBTQ advocates argue come at the cost of LGBTQ safety and protections. The Washington Blade has reached out to the Treasury Department and Secretary Bessent’s team for comment and responses to these questions, including questions about how he views his identity and sexuality in relation to — and potentially at odds with — the policies and mission of the current administration. The Blade did not receive a response by publication time.
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LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09, 2026 • 07
VIEWPOINT
The right to be an ordinary transgender man And the freedom to become unremarkable
V O L U ME 10 I S S U E 19
By ISAAC AMEND For years, transgender Americans have been told that visibility is important. We should tell our stories, educate people, speak publicly about our experiences and show younger transgender people that a future is possible. I understand that argument because I have participated in that kind of visibility myself. Nearly a decade ago, I appeared in National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution,” in 2017, hosted by Katie Couric. I have written publicly about being transgender, participated in LGBTQ politics and spent years thinking about what it means to transition in America. My history is hardly a secret. But as I have gotten older, I have increasingly found myself wanting something considerably less dramatic: I want the right to be an ordinary man. That does not mean I am ashamed of being transgender, nor does it mean that transgender activists should stop fighting for our rights. Many of the freedoms I enjoy exist because previous generations of LGBTQ people were willing to be conspicuous when visibility carried considerable personal risk. But equality cannot require permanent visibility. There is a strange expectation placed upon members of minority groups that our lives should contain some larger social meaning. A transgender person who overcomes adversity is called “brave.” Someone who talks openly about transition becomes “inspiring.” Someone who succeeds becomes an example of “trans resilience.” Sometimes those descriptions are deserved and sincerely appreciated. But sometimes I do not want to represent resilience. Sometimes I just want to walk my dogs, sit in a coffee shop with my laptop, complain about Northern Virginia traffic, go swimming, write books and figure out what I am having for dinner. I also want to be able to gossip with my friends in meaningless ways and do off kilter things that resemble fun: axe throwing, bowling, and karaoke. When I was younger, being transgender occupied an enormous amount of psychological territory. Transition required decisions, explanations and difficult conversations. Other people had questions. My body seemed consequential in a way that other people’s bodies did not. There was always another milestone ahead of me, and for a while it was difficult to imagine reaching a point when gender would no longer dominate my thoughts. Eventually, however, something unexpected happened: life became life again. The questions that occupy me today are increasingly the same mundane questions that occupy millions of other adults. What kind of career do I want? Am I being a good friend? What should I write next? What kind of person do I want to become? Most strangers who meet me today simply see a man. They do not know my medical history or what I looked like years ago. They don’t know that I looked like a skinny track star, and then was put into the resemblances of a meager nonbinary body. They do not know the chronology of my transition unless I decide to tell them. There is tremendous freedom in that, and I have come to think of it not as deception but as privacy. Nobody introduces himself by providing strangers with a complete inventory of his medical history, childhood insecurities and previous identities. Human beings reveal themselves gradually. Different people know different parts of us, and intimacy develops when we decide that somebody has earned access to more of our story. Yet transgender people are frequently encouraged to regard disclosure as a measure of authenticity. I no longer believe that it is. There are circumstances in which being transgender matters enormously, and there are others in which it barely matters at all. When I am writing, I want somebody to care about the quality
of the sentence. When I am working, I want somebody to care whether I did the job well. When I make a friend, I want that person to discover the complicated human being underneath the surface: my ambitions, flaws, anxieties, ridiculous stories and sense of humor. Being transgender may eventually become part of that conversation, but it does not have to be the first thing somebody knows about me. That, to me, is one of the least discussed promises of equality. For decades, LGBTQ people fought for the right to be seen because invisibility was often enforced through shame and discrimination. Visibility therefore became a form of liberation. But perhaps successful visibility should eventually produce another freedom: the freedom to become unremarkable. A gay couple should be able to bore their neighbors with complaints about their mortgage. A lesbian should not have to become an ambassador for lesbianism whenever she enters a room. A transgender man should not have to turn his body into a public seminar about gender. He should occasionally be allowed to be some guy. Transgender people, in a sense, should also have the right to be flawed: sometimes we yell at our romantic counterparts, and other times we get fired from jobs for being obnoxious. But we are only human, just like you. There are, of course, transgender people who cannot or do not want to Perhaps successful visibility should eventually produce another freedom: the freedom to bedisappear into come unremarkable. (Photo by barsik/Bigstock) ordinary life, and there are young transgender people desperately searching for evidence that adulthood is possible for them. Visible transgender people can provide that evidence. But there should be another story available to those young people as well: you can grow up, transition and eventually spend less time thinking about transition. You can become preoccupied with your career, fall in love, get divorced, write a terrible first draft and spend three days fixing it, worry about your parents, buy groceries and acquire all the wonderfully tedious problems of adulthood. That might not sound revolutionary, but perhaps that is precisely what makes it meaningful. The ultimate promise of transgender equality should not be that every transgender person becomes visible, celebrated, courageous, or inspirational. It should include the possibility that a transgender man can walk into a room and nobody finds his gender history particularly interesting. He can simply be a man living his life. Increasingly, I think that ordinary freedom is what I wanted from transition all along.
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Isaac Amend is a transgender man and writer based in D.C. In 2017, he starred in National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ documentary. He sits on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. His author’s portfolio is available at isaacamend.com, and you can catch him on Instagram at: @isaacamend.
PHONE 310-230-5266 E-MAIL arodriguez@losangelesblade.com INTERNET losangelesblade.com PUBLISHED BY Los Angeles Blade, LLC PUBLISHER ALEXANDER RODRIGUEZ arodriguez@losangelesblade.com, 310-230-5266 x 8080 EDITORIAL 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, JOHN PAUL KING, LOU CHIBBARO JR., SUSAN HORNIK, JOE REBERKENNY, ISAAC AMEND, PETER ROSENSTEIN, TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER, JOE PHILLIPS, ANKUSH KUMAR, ESTEBAN RIOSECO, AJ SLOAN, AYMAN ECKFORD, TOM SITUMO
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NATIONAL
In Ga., 2 trans candidates believe voters are ready for them Bentley Hudgins, Bella Bautista running for state House of Representatives By ORION RUMMLER Uncloseted Media published this story on Oct. 6. This story was reported in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Bentley Hudgins is a 33-year-old democratic socialist who spent the past three years advocating for LGBTQ rights in the Georgia statehouse. Bella Bautista is 10 years younger, the first transgender woman to win a legislative primary in Georgia and head of a nonprofit distributing supplies to at-risk young adults. Both are running for a spot in the Georgia House of Representatives, part of a cohort of Democrats who hope to shrink or end Republicans’ hold on the chamber. Both would make history as the first trans members of the body. Neither wants to discuss identity politics or pronouns — they want to talk about data centers, the price of groceries and healthcare. But their districts are very different: Hudgins is running in a liberal stronghold in Atlanta with no serious Republican opposition and is all but certain to win in November. Bautista’s district is rural and deeply conservative; it hasn’t elected a Democratic state representative since 1996, and she’s the first to run for this seat since 2010. But Hudgins’s and Bautista’s bets are the same: Voters are looking for someone to fight for them. In Hudgins and Bautista’s view, something in the country is broken and no one else will fix it. So they stepped up. “People around here just hate the government, and that’s why I’m running,” Bautista told Uncloseted Media and The 19th. “People have lost faith in the system as a whole.” Hudgins’ mind is on the big picture: getting as many Democrats, especially progressives, in the statehouse as possible. Without that, they believe the future — especially for LGBTQ people and immigrants — isn’t certain. “At the end of the day, we have to have the numbers,” Hudgins told Uncloseted Media and The 19th. A deep red district in rural Ga. In the hourlong drive from Atlanta to Cartersville, where Bautista grew up, suburbs fade away and the land expands into RV lots, farms, and houses on the edge of the woods. Bautista launched her campaign in this small town, at Noble & Main Coffee Co., across the street from a butcher shop that offers deer processing. “It’s one of those hidden gems,” she says. “They’re friendly toward Democrats.” It’s also not in the statehouse district she wants to represent. She’s running for office in the more rural side of the county, an area that’s about 80 percent white, mostly older and mostly conservative. And it’s been a challenge. Most people here vote Republican. Her opponent, the GOP incumbent Mitchell Scoggins, has not run against anyone since he first won a special election in 2018. Lack of change is what spurred Bautista to run. And it’s not just Scoggins sailing unopposed to reelection every two years. Bartow County is one of a small handful of counties in Georgia with only one commissioner, who single-handedly decides the fate of everything from data center construction to new roads. The current commissioner has held the position for 14 years. The issues facing her hometown can’t be left to one
man, Bautista says. She wants to pass legislation for locals to vote on a board of commissioners, regulate Flock cameras, shield locals from data center pollution, conserve farmland and expand rural mental healthcare. She thinks these stances will appeal to voters who may otherwise vote Republican. But it’s still an uphill battle — and a lonely one. “This is not a story about pride. It’s not a story about visibility,” she says. “It’s a story about challenges, difficulty. I don’t want to be the fucking first to do it, but I have no choice but to be the first.” But Bautista says she’s struggling. This campaign has cost her privacy and peace, which doesn’t impact just her: She lives in her family home as the primary caretaker for her mom.
BELLA BAUTISTA (left) and BENTLEY HUDGINS (right). (Photos by Nicole Craine)
In May, during the primaries, someone came to her house twice, she says: once to put up a sign supporting President Donald Trump next to her own campaign sign in the front yard, and later to take down her sign. “I literally live in the middle of nowhere,” she says. “That sent chills down my back, because I’m like, OK, that means someone physically went to my home, got out of their car, went up the hill, put up a Trump sign.” Her neighbors, who she’s known her whole life and are Trump voters, assured her that they weren’t involved. But that fear hasn’t left her. Since then, more signs have gone missing: A few weeks after we met, hundreds of her campaign signs were taken down across the district. Those cost money to replace — money the campaign doesn’t have. As a trans Latina, she belongs in Bartow County just as much as anyone else, she says. This is the only home she’s known. But campaigning in this district feels like being thrown into the ocean, she says. Online, people mock her and misgender her. It hurts. Often, they’re the same people she’s fighting for. At one point during an interview at Noble & Main Coffee Co., Bautista started crying. Keeping her head above water means she doesn’t often take time to think about why she’s doing this. “You’re just having to swim, swim, swim, swim and you never get any chance to look back and think, oh my gosh,
why am I doing this, what does this mean to other people?” Dramatically different districts Hudgins launched their campaign at Joe’s Coffeehouse in East Atlanta Village, roughly 50 miles from Bautista’s district. This place, a local indie fixture, holds personal history for them: When they became homeless in 2017, it became a refuge as they couchsurfed and lived in their car. It took a year to find stable housing. This neighborhood is where they got back on their feet after being kicked out of their apartment, something they know is common for queer people in the U.S., as well as in their own circles. “Most of the queer electeds that I’m really close with are people who have experienced homelessness,” they say. “It just goes to show how prevalent this is for queer Southerners.” And, years later, this same neighborhood is where they fell back in love with politics. Being here makes Hudgins think about how the city is changing as people get priced out. Gay bars are closing and, as a former drag performer, they know of only three places still putting on shows. It’s all getting too expensive. Midtown isn’t the bustling queer neighborhood it used to be, they say, but the queers are still here: They’re just moving further into DeKalb County, East Point and southeast Atlanta, all in search of affordability. That’s part of the problem. Hudgins sees solutions, though: raising the state minimum wage to $20 an hour or creating a state earned income tax credit to give money to lower-income families. Previous Democrat-sponsored bills to enact those policies have been blocked in the statehouse, and it’s those stalemates that are driving voters to push for something different, Hudgins says. Decades of Republican control have left people disillusioned. “People’s political will and spirit has kind of been chipped away at,” they say. “Life can be better.” The first time Hudgins ran for this seat in 2022, they were 28 and single, and the pandemic was still fresh. The previous year, Atlanta spa shootings targeting Asian women had taken place, and “Cop City,” the massive training ground for local police in DeKalb County, was formally proposed amid national protests against police brutality. Joe Biden was president, and from where Hudgins sat, the Democratic establishment was clamping down on progressive dissent. They were angry — but that anger didn’t resonate with voters, they say. “It was such a more agitated time in a lot of different ways, and this strong leftist point of view wasn’t as appreciated,” they say. “At that time, I was also angry. I was mad. And I think it came through.” Their opener in their 2022 race was, “To be frank, I’m tired of my friends dying,” they say. They had lost friends to police violence, addiction, hunger and mental illness. One of their friends was left permanently disabled from a hate crime, they say. Hudgins had begun to get severe cluster headaches and was managing that while running their first campaign. CONTINUES AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM
LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09, 2026 • 09
Turning grief into advocacy: Debbie Allen shares on loss, love, and the power of speaking out After losing an entire generation of friends and colleagues to the epidemic, Debbie Allen dedicates her life and platform to HIV advocacy, pushing the public to go beyond the virus to see the person behind it By AJ SLOAN For somebody like Debbie Allen, HIV advocacy lies at the heart of their life and career. In the 1980s, at a time when HIV/ AIDS devastated the performing arts community, Allen witnessed friends, performers, directors, and choreographers alike disappear. This experience turned her personal grief into a decades-long commitment to advocacy. From directing a landmark A Different World episode about HIV at a time when even just saying the word on television could make networks sweat, to continuing her work today, Allen has continuously utilized the biggest stage available to her to ensure that the conversation stays alive. Now the conversation has changed from four decades ago, yet Allen believes it still needs to get louder. Medical advances have transformed HIV from the crisis it was into a manageable condition for many folks. Yet stigma, social challenges, and the significant need for mental, emotional, and community support still persist. In our conversation, Allen opens up about the losses that influenced her activism, the power of media and the arts to change public perceptions, and why “whole health” means looking beyond the virus to the full human person living with it. Her message is simple and solid - no one should have to navigate HIV alone. You have stood alongside the HIV community for four decades, and counting. When you look back to the start of that journey, what first got you involved and what has kept you connected and dedicated for all of this time? My fight against HIV began in the ‘80s, when the epidemic devastated the performing arts community, and I lost my entire world—my friends, dancers, directors, and choreographers. That profound grief fueled my mission to use my voice for advocacy—from directing the groundbreaking HIV episode on A Different World to fight stigma to standing on stages today to continue to raise awareness. This is a mission that continues to stay near and dear to my heart so that all people impacted by HIV—whether they are living with HIV or supporting someone living with HIV—have the resources and support they deserve. How have those experiences with your own personal losses due to HIV impacted the way you understand the virus? If we look back to 40 years ago, HIV impacted an entire generation. We experienced incredible loss and heartache that I will never forget. This experience made me realize how vulnerable we are as humans and how much support we truly need in our healthcare journeys. And while incredible progress has been made, I also understand so much more needs to be done—from combating stigma, providing additional resources, and ensuring ongoing support for people who are living with HIV today. You’ve built an extraordinary career as a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, actor, educator, and advocate. How has each part of your career influenced the
others? What have you learned about leadership from working with artists and performers? Being a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, actor, and educator has helped shape the person I am today. Each experience has inspired another. What unifies each role is my ability to lead and learn from everyone I’m working with. It’s also these opportunities that have afforded me an incredible platform for my advocacy efforts. I strive to bring leadership approaches from my various stages—in a very literal sense— to a national stage as I support a variety of initiatives, such as HIV awareness. The medical landscape around HIV has evolved dramatically since you first began your advocacy. What is one thing you wish younger folks understood about what the first years of the epidemic were really like? Thanks to medical advancements, we can now look at so much more than HIV status and this is a tremendous step forward. As someone who has always believed in the power of mind, body, and spirit, I want today’s generation to understand that people living with HIV need integrated support for their mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being because all these elements are deeply connected. We need to broaden the discussion around HIV management, and that’s why I’m proud to work with Merck on Your Hive of Whole Health, which addresses factors such as managing one’s mental wellness, co-occurring conditions, social drivers, and other life challenges. Your Hive of Whole Health is built around the idea that health doesn’t happen in isolation. What does “whole health” mean to you in your own life? Health doesn’t happen in isolation. People living with HIV need comprehensive support systems around them—whether that’s family, chosen family, neighbors, community or religious leaders, or care team members; they are a part of the whole health journey. To me, whole health means looking beyond the virus to truly understand the unique challenges that people face so they have the full support they need. Having supported loved ones on their health journeys and managing my own well-being, I know that comprehensive support is key. That’s the beauty of Your Hive of Whole Health. In fact, the idea behind the program is simple. Just as a hive depends on the strength of many bees working together, people living with HIV often rely on a network of support that includes healthcare providers, advocates, family, friends, and peers. Your Hive of Whole Health provides tools and resources to help individuals build and strengthen those connections. For someone living with HIV, what kinds of support beyond medical treatment do you think can make the most significant difference in their lives? As people are living longer with HIV and managing addition-
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DEBBIE ALLEN (Photo credit: Curation)
al health conditions, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, having the right support system in place can play an increasingly important role. Understanding these other conditions, as well as navigating social challenges and other life challenges such as not having access to affordable or healthy food, not having support from family or friends, struggling with stable housing, or facing misconceptions about HIV is critical. It’s awareness, understanding, and a “Hive” of support that can make a difference. People can go to HiveofWholeHealth.com to learn more, access resources, and build their own Hive. Many folks tend to talk about the HIV epidemic as if it is something of the past. What do you think we risk losing when we stop talking about HIV and the people whose lives have been affected by it? This journey began for all of us in a time of intense fear, isolation, and crisis. As I reflect back to the early ‘90s, it was an honor to create the first network television show on A Different World to address the epidemic at a time when people were afraid to even say the word. The network and advertisers were very hesitant about talking about HIV on TV in this way at that time. It really hadn’t been done before. But I stood my ground and pushed forward. As a result, we were able to bring the epidemic into living rooms, confronting fear, stigma, and misinformation. It changed the conversation, especially in Black communities, where the impact was deeply felt. It also spotlighted how HIV impacted women, which was not formally recognized by health agencies until years later. Today, we can truly celebrate the united and unbreakable spirit of 45 years of the HIV movement and champion a new era of whole health. But there is still so much more to be done. We must continue shining a light on issues that matter most. We must spotlight these across all forms of entertainment, media, and digital storytelling to drive awareness, understanding, and support. That’s why programs like Merck’s Your Hive of Whole Health are so important – we keep the community and their needs at the center and provide much-needed support. If nothing else, what is one message you’d like for our readers to take away from this interview? I want people living with HIV and the community around them to know they are not alone. There’s a whole community of support—a Hive—that can help them on their journeys with HIV. Go to HiveofWholeHealth.com to learn more about the emotional, physical, social, and mental aspects of living with HIV. Build that Hive around you because whole health is better together.
TV
From bullying to bravo: Joey Zauzig talks finding yourself while making people feel seen Joey Zauzig went from being bullied for being gay to becoming “the internet’s best friend,” and now he’s sharing with us a glimpse into the life lessons and self-love that got him there By AJ SLOAN In his career, Joey Zauzig has built a unique space in our online community. Self-branded as “the internet’s best friend,” a title that stuck after an appearance on Good Morning America, Zauzig has created a digital place where humor, food, fashion, and advice all come together. Whether he’s encouraging someone to leave a relationship that no longer serves them, sharing a skinty recipe, or making his audience giggle, Joey has a way of keeping folks engaged. At the core of it all is the idea that showing up as yourself and making others feel less alone can be impactful. Having experienced bullying for being gay before he was ready to come out, Zauzig understands what it means to search for acceptance and not find it when you need it most. Rather than allowing those experiences to own him, he has transformed them into a commitment to creating the kind of supportive space he wished he had growing up. In our conversation, Zauzig reflects on finding purpose through his platform while staying authentic and continuing to evolve. He also shares his love of food, his dream collab (you’ll have to read to find out), and what folks can look forward to as he takes his next big step with Bravo. What does that title “the internet’s best friend” mean to you personally, and how did it come about? It was coined when I was on Good Morning America a few years back and it just stuck. I love giving advice and being a virtual shoulder to lean on for my audience. I hope that people feel like I am a safe space for them when they come to my page and make them feel good and that I’m a friend they can rely on to be there for them. You were bullied for being gay before you were ready to come out. In hindsight, how did these experiences impact the person and creator that you’ve become? Those were some really tough periods in my life, but looking back, they shaped so much of who I am today. Going through that helped me develop a stronger sense of who I was and taught me the importance of accepting myself, even when it feels like the world isn’t ready to. I also didn’t have someone I felt I could look up to or turn to during those years. Because of that, I’ve always wanted to create the kind of space I wish I’d had growing up, where people feel safe, supported, and accepted exactly as they are. If sharing my experiences helps even one person feel a little less alone, then those difficult moments have found a greater purpose. Instead of allowing those painful experiences to overtake your narrative, you’ve built a platform centered on positivity and empowerment. Was there a specific moment when you realized your story could help other folks? I wouldn’t say there was one moment in time, but overall, as I went through these times, I found myself always wanting to make people feel good and smile. I have been so fortunate to have a platform where I’m able to give that to people, and I can’t wait for it to grow into something even bigger. What’s the biggest responsibility that comes with being someone that thousands of people genuinely turn to for support?
I think the biggest responsibility has been being intentional with the content I make and finding a balance between putting out content that resonates with people and staying true to myself. I don’t want people to follow me because they think I have life figured out. I want them to feel like they’re hanging out with a friend who’s figuring it out too. What’s the most meaningful message you’ve ever received from someone whose life was changed by one of your videos? I receive messages every day, and it truly is the most meaningful part of what I do and makes it worth it. Those messages remind me that content is about so much more than entertainment. You never really know what’s happening on the other side of the screen, and it’s incredible to think that something as simple as making someone laugh, sharing a meal, or being honest about your own experiences can make another person feel seen. You often encourage people to leave unhealthy relationships and believe in themselves. What’s one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were a wee one? I wish someone had told me that the way people treat you is never a measure of your worth. When you’re young, it’s so easy to think that being rejected, judged, or made to feel like you’re “too much” or “not enough” means there’s something wrong with you. It took me a long time to realize that other people’s opinions are usually a reflection of where they are, not who you are. The right people will never require you to shrink to be loved. They’ll celebrate who you already are. How do you protect your own mental health while constantly giving emotional support to others online? I’ve learned that I can’t be there for everyone if I’m not taking care of myself first. I try to set healthy boundaries, spend time with the people I love, and remember that social media isn’t real life. I care deeply about the messages people send me, but I’ve also accepted that I can’t solve every problem. The best thing I can do is show up authentically, offer encouragement, and remind people, including myself, that it’s okay to ask for help and protect your own peace. Your Skinty recipes have developed a fan base of their own. Where did that idea come from, and what makes a recipe Skinty? Skinty came from me wanting to enjoy the foods I love while making them the healthiest version possible. I’ve never believed that eating well has to mean giving up the meals you’re craving. To me, a recipe is “Skinty” when it feels balanced. It’s satisfying, packed with flavor, made with better-for-you ingredients where it makes sense, and still feels indulgent enough that you actually want to make it again. That’s always been the goal: healthy without feeling restrictive. Your content blends humor, fashion, dating, wellness,
JOEY ZAUZIG (Photo credit Ssam Kim)
and food. How do you stay creative while producing content that feels green and not yet seen every day? I think the biggest thing is that I create from my actual life instead of chasing trends. If something makes me laugh, inspires me, or feels like a conversation I’d have with my friends, that’s usually where the best content comes from. I also don’t put pressure on myself to reinvent the internet every day. I just try to tell familiar stories in my own way. If it feels authentic to me, it’ll feel fresh because no one else has my perspective. You’ve covered plenty of viral food trends. What’s your humble opinion on folks queuing up for the latest candy-coated culinary creation sweeping TikTok? I honestly love that food brings people together. If standing in line for the latest viral dessert or trying a crazy new food trend makes someone happy, I’m all for it. I think the best meals are usually the ones you keep coming back to, not just the ones getting millions of views. I’ll always try the viral spot, but I’m just as excited to find those hidden gems that deserve the same attention. At the end of the day, if it tastes good, brings people together, and creates a fun memory, that’s what really matters. Social media has blurred the line between creators and their audiences. What’s your take on parasocial relationships, and how do you balance being authentic without feeling like you owe followers access to every part of your life? I think it’s a really interesting balance. I’m incredibly grateful that people feel connected to me; that’s honestly one of the best parts of what I do. If someone feels like they’re catching up with a friend when they watch my videos, I’ve done my job. At the same time, I’ve learned that authenticity doesn’t mean sharing everything. Some parts of my life are just for me, my family, and the people closest to me. I think it’s possible to be open, honest, and genuine while still having healthy boundaries. The goal has never been to let people into every part of my life. It’s to make people feel seen, entertained, and connected without losing myself in the process. If you could collab with any celebrity chef or food personality, who would you be stepping into the kitchen with? Without a doubt, Martha Stewart. She’s an absolute icon. I feel like we’d be the perfect duo; she’d be teaching me the proper way to do everything, and I’d be over there trying to convince her to make a Skinty version of one of her legendary recipes. CONTINUES AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM
LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09, 2026 • 11
FILM
Essential queer horror classics for Halloween ‘Bride of Frankenstein,’ Bowie in ‘The Hunger,’ and more By JOHN PAUL KING Sure, this spooky season has blessed us with a lot of new horror on TV and at the movies, but when it comes to Halloween, you can never have too much horror to watch. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of celebrated queer chillers that queer horror fans may know about but might not have seen, especially if you’re part of a younger generation of movie buffs looking to expand your experience with the genre beyond the contemporary crop that has turned the early 2000s into a renaissance of horror cinema. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Yes, we know subtextualized queerness in horror feels like a cop-out in this day and age, but in the early days of Hollywood, it was the only way to sneak it past the censors – and that’s exactly what English expat director James Whale did as a defining force behind the success of Universal Studios’s classic horror “franchise” of the 1930s. More-or-less openly gay with a background in theater, he put those sensibilities to good use on film, and reached his queer pinnacle with “Bride of Frankenstein,” a sequel that expanded on the original with a wicked sense of humor and a “lavender” touch that was obvious to anyone who was in the know. Skewering “monster movie” tropes and satirizing the conventional mentality of all those angry villagers, Whale also delivered a story of two men – Doctors Frankenstein and Pretorius (Colin Clive and Ernest Thesiger, respectively) – whose clandestine efforts to create a mate for Boris Karloff’s lonely monster read like a gay couple drawn together by “unnatural” obsessions. Thesiger’s unapologetically queer persona would likely dominate the entire film if not for Elsa Lanchester’s turn as the hissing, electrified title character, but the film’s true greatness lies in transforming Karloff’s “monster” into a full-fledged tragic hero, a primal avatar for “otherness” that emerges as the most sympathetic figure on the screen; and while it might not be that “scary” by modern standards, as one of the most boldly transgressive films of the Hollywood “golden era” it still packs a wickedly savage punch. The Haunting (1963) Based on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name and helmed by veteran director Robert Wise in the wake of his Oscar-winning screen adaptation of “West Side Story,” “The Haunting” is a film that looms large in the history of queer representation in American cinema, simply for the fact that it included an openly lesbian character during a time when anything beyond a subtle implication of non-heterosexual alignment was still very much considered taboo. The character in question is a psychic named Theodora (Claire Bloom), one of a group of individuals invited by a paranormal researcher (Richard Johnson) to investigate an old New England house, which is reputed to be haunted in the wake of a long string of tragedies that have befallen the family that owns it. Although she’s something of a thorny personality, she’s framed as neither villain not victim, but her presence provides queer overtones that impact the rest of the story, particularly through the growing psychological agitation of its painfully repressed central character (Julie Harris) and the history of the house itself. A classic “old, dark house” ghost story that deliberately avoids depicting anything definitively supernatural, it focuses instead on psychological tension and the power of suggestion to ramp up scares, which it does quite effectively, utilizing innovative camera and sound techniques to suggest, but never reveal, the dark forces that drive the story. Audiences of the time wanted more concrete thrills, so it was not a major hit; nevertheless, it has been consistently ranked as one of the best horror films of all time – and while it might not offer the blood-curdling terror modern viewers expect, its moody sense of dread and doom is enough to keep you on edge for the duration. The Hunger (1983) It’s hard to think of a horror film as openly sexy as this classic from director Tony Scott, which turns Whitley Streiber’s book about an ancient vampire (Catherine Deneuve) in modern New York, who grooms a scientist (Susan Sarandon) to be her new sexual companion for the ages as the old one (David Bowie) begins to rapidly age and decline. Dripping with 1980s cool (it opens with Bauhaus singing “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” in a nightclub)
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and leaning hard into the open eroticism of a more sexually permissive era, it doesn’t hide its sapphic supernatural love story in the subtext; instead, it gives us one of the steamiest love scenes between two women ever put on film. Critics of the time praised it for its style and its mood, but lamented what they perceived as an ultimately shallow story – but in retrospect, its pervading air of melancholy doom despite the glamorous elegance of its presentation serves as a fitting reminder that an eternal life of meaningless beauty and pleasure might not be as great an idea as we think it is.
DAVID BOWIE and CATHERINE DENEUVE in ‘The Hunger.’ (Image courtesy of MGM)
Stranger by the Lake (2013) French filmmaker Alan Giraudie delivers one of the sexiest – and scariest – gay thrillers – of all time – in this tale of a young man (Pierre Deladonchamps) who frequents a lakeside nude beach, which is a popular hook-up spot despite a recent series of unsolved killings in the area. He becomes infatuated with an attractive man (Christophe Paou) he meets there and they connect; later, he witnesses an incident that makes him suspect his new flame might be the murderer – but that doesn’t stop him from continuing to pursue their relationship, despite an increasing likelihood that he might end up as the next victim. It’s an obvious essay on the power of lust to pull us into danger, but it doesn’t moralize; instead it entices us deeper with scenes of graphic un-simulated sex and sparks nostalgic fantasies of a pre-Grindr era when the threat of encountering a serial killer was never enough to keep us away from our favorite cruising spot. Transgressive? Yes, and also terrifying. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) If you’re a horror fan in 2026, it’s likely you’ve already seen trans filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s critically lauded “I Saw the TV Glow,” as well as “Teenage Sex and Death and Camp Miasma,” which has emerged as one of the year’s most acclaimed movies so far. You might not, however, be familiar with their first feature film, in which a teenage girl (Anna Cobb), living an isolated life with an abusive single father, finds escape and connection on the internet; she participates in a “viral challenge” that requires her to post a video of herself performing a ritual chant, and then follow up with updates documenting the transformation she goes through as a result. Inspired by Schoenbrun’s own experience navigating the online world while struggling with gender dysphoria and other issues around their identity, it’s an unsettling and disorienting ride that keeps us wondering what will happen next – but the real horror comes from its observations about the way living our lives online can transform us all.
BOOKS
In ‘The Lost Brontë,’ a complicated lie can lead to danger New book features sweetly romantic girl-meets-girl twist By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER Mom always said to tell the truth. One lie leads to another and another and you have to remember them all until pretty soon, you’re caught. Fibs are hard, mistruths are messy, even little white social lies can destroy trust. Worst of all, as in the new novel, “The Lost Brontë” by Catherine Friend, a complicated lie can lead to danger. Though Lilianne Loxley was very young when she lost her
parents, she understood that her uncle didn’t really want her. As time passed, though, Lily made herself useful to Uncle, writing and signing letters for him and she became a good companion, helping him with his collection of Brontë memorabilia. Uncle was a keen enthusiast. She had no idea that his obsession was out of control and he was deeply in arrears. The day Lily learned of his debt was the day she learned that he’d agreed to send her to his debtor’s home to work off the money owed. It was so sudden. One minute, Lily was at Loxley House, happy and loved by Uncle’s staff … and five hours later, she was at Crag Thorn Manor, home of Lord Bexton, who informed her that she’d be working on his ledgers - work that seemed routine, but Lily tackled it. Uncle always did say she was headstrong. But would headstrong be enough to survive, when she was restricted from most of the Manor, when she was forced to dine with Brexton and his slimy friend, or – the worst! - when Brexton told Lily that her next task was to forge a letter from Emily Brontë? And then an entire manuscript? Lily struggled to do what was right. She had to get Uncle out of debt but this last order horrified her. Did she dare refuse Brexton’s orders and commit a crime? It was unthinkable! The only brightness in the whole situation was Wren, the
ladies’ maid assigned to Lily’s room. Wren was adorable with freckles and the sweetest smile. But with everything else happening at Crag Thorn Manner, could Lily act upon her feelings? This time of year, you may come to crave dark, spooky stories, and “The Last Brontë” fits those needs perfectly with its Gothic deliciousness. Think: Daphne du Maurier-type, stormy-night squirms with a dangerously chaste, sweetly romantic girl-meets-girl twist for fun. If it’s been awhile since you’ve read a Gothic novel, you’re in for a nice reminder of why you love them here. You can almost tick off the must-haves: a novel like this is nothing without a foreboding stone manor with damp walls; stone steps to a dank basement; a mysterious portrait; and a nearby bog, and author Catherine Friend gives readers every one of them. You’d be disappointed if there was no ghost, wouldn’t you? Ha. You can practically feel the cold blow through the attic, right? Yeah, it’s that kind of book. If you’re a fan of the Brontës, you’ll like this novel. If you love Gothic mysteries or Victorian romances, ditto. “The Lost Brontë” is good, no lie.
‘The Lost Brontë’
By Catherine Friend c.2026, Bywater Books | $22.95 | 335 pages
LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09, 2026 • 13
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