SGN December 29, 2023

ISSUE 4 6 VOLUME 51 F R I D AY DECEMBER 29, 202 3 SE AT T L E & T HE PACIF IC NOR T H W E S T ’S L GB T Q I A + NE W S & EN T ER TA INMEN T SOURCE SINCE 19 74

REFLECTING ON 2023

by Kali Herbst Minino SGN Contributing Writer It was a big year for the SGN. After some daunting headlines about the paper’s possible closure, Mike Schultz stepped in as the new publisher in October.

The paper has since switched to a biweekly format and expanded its distribution range to Aberdeen, Bellingham, Spokane, and Ocean Shores.

SEE YEAR IN REVIEW PAGE 8

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Queer housing groups popping up in Seattle amid high rents ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL CRANE

by Kali Herbst Minino SGN Contributing Writer It’s not new news that rent is expensive around here. In August 2022, the Seattle Times reported that one in five renters in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area spent more than half of their income on rent.

Using data from Redfin, a 2023 report

All of Us Strangers an eye-opening journey into the emotional unknown PHOTO COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

from KIRO-7 described “skyrocketing” by Sara Michelle Fetters rents from 2021 to 2022 and placed the SGN Staff Writer current rent for a one-bedroom apartment at $2,145.

ALL OF US STRANGERS Amid those steep costs, a considerTheaters able number of Queer housing groups have begun to appear in the city, all of “What if?” is a staple of life. What if I took this path instead of the other? What if I had SEE QUEER HOUSING PAGE 5 learned to be more financially responsible as

a youngster? What if I had paid more attention in school, learned another language, or challenged myself to do things outside of what I thought was my comfort zone?

How would my life have changed? What sort of person would I be? Or would everything work out similarly to what they are now?

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IN THIS ISSUE ORIGINALLY SEATTLE GAY NEWS

SEATTLE NEWS 4 REGIONAL NEWS 7 NATIONAL NEWS 14 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 15 FILM 16

FOUNDED 1974 509 10th Ave E Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 324-4297 info@sgn.org sgn.org

Publisher Mike Schultz Angela Cragin (2020 - 2023) George Bakan (1984 - 2020) Jim Tully (1974 - 1984)

Editor Benny Loy

Copy Editor Richard Isaac

Advertising Manager Maggie Bloodstone advertising@sgn.org (206) 751-7454

Design / Production Mike Pham

National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863

Staff Writers Lindsey Anderson · Sara Michelle Fetters Daniel Lindsley · Isabel Mata

Contributing Writers Alice Bloch · Maggie Bloodstone Kylin Brown · Sharon Cumberland Ian Crowley · Clar Hart · Kali Herbst Minino Jack Hilovsky · Teddy MacQuarrie Cameron Martinez · JayAre Quezada

Social Media Team Lindsey Anderson · Cameron Martinez

Photography Matt Cyphert · Lauren Vasatka · SGN Staff

Comics Clar Hart SGN is published by Stratus Group LLC. © 2023. All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission.

Publication of names, photographs, or likeness of any person, organization, event or business in this publication cannot be taken as any indication of the sexual orientation of the person, organization, event or business.

Opinions expressed in bylined articles, columns, and letters are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or management of this paper.

SGN welcomes unsolicited material, including letters to t he editor, but reserves the right to edit or reject material. All rights revert to authors upon publication. We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write.

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Doctor explains reports: Cause of ‘gay cancer’ unclear SEATTLE GAY NEWS VOLUME 9, ISSUE 1 JANUARY 1, 1982 Three studies in the Dec. 10 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine on rare forms of pneumonia and cancer that have been afflicting gay men recently have prompted widespread coverage of the diseases in the national media.

Researchers believe that a breakdown in the body’s ability to fight off infections is linked to the deaths of gay men from such rare diseases as Kaposi’s sarcoma, a cancer, and pneumocystis pneumonia, a viral infection. Although incidence of the diseases and associated immunefunction disorders is low among the gay population generally, the death rate for those afflicted is very high.

In the following article, reprinted by permission from Chicago Gay Life, Dr. Ray DiBrown [sic], medical director of the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic in Chicago, summarizes recent medical findings and examines possible contributing factors, including the use of ‘recreational drugs’ and frequent multiple sexual contacts.

by Raymond DiPhillips, M.D. This past summer, the government Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta alerted the medical world to an outbreak of a rare cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, among young homosexual men [SGN, August 14, ‘81]. At the same time there appeared in medical literature isolated reports of a strange pneumonia that was being found more and more frequently in previously healthy young gay men.

The pneumonia was considered strange because up until those reports, it had been found only in people whose immune defense systems — their ability to fight off infections — were severely defective. To date, more than 160 cases of this pneumonia are being analyzed at the CDC, and five to six new cases per week are being reported to them.

Last week, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published three papers which added further details to an alarming health problem that is just now emerging in the gay community.

A typical case history might be that of a healthy young gay man who lives in a large city, is sexually active, and occasionally uses “recreational” drugs. One day he develops a mild fever, a sore throat with swollen glands in his neck, and fatigue, all of which look like a typical virus infection. However, instead of the symptoms resolving in a week or so, they persist, and the young man begins to lose weight. After weeks or even months of these nonspecific symptoms, he develops one or more uncommon but severe infections which may go unrecognized by his physician because of their rarity.

He may develop a fungus infection of the mouth which worsens his sore throat and makes it difficult to swallow. He may develop a severe herpes virus infection of the rectum and anus which does not resolve within a few weeks the way it should but continues to worsen and may secondarily get infected with a fungus in addition to the herpes. He may develop a cough, become short of breath, and be found by chest X-ray to have a pneumonia. He may develop a rare cancer such as Kaposi’s sarcoma.

And within a year or two of first getting sick, he may die of pneumonia or cancer.

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To date, 23 men from across the country have been described as having this new syndrome, and two-thirds of them have died. No doubt, with growing awareness of the problem, the number of cases identified and reported will increase alarmingly.

So, too, will the number of questions that arise and which must be answered quickly.

Why gay men? Why now and not before?

What causes these infections and deaths?

What can be done? Unfortunately, the syndrome is so new that the questions outnumber the answers. … … Given the present state of ignorance, no firm health recommendations can be given. Certainly any gay man who after weeks or months has not recovered from a viral illness should see a doctor, preferably one acquainted with and knowledgeable about gay health issues. It must be stressed, too, that even though recent reports of fatal infections and cancer in the gay community are disturbing, they still remain uncommon. We can hope that further definition of the exact cause or causes of such lethal complications in gay men will be forthcoming.

This article was edited for length. To view the original article in full, visit https://issuu. com/sgn.org/docs/sgn_january_1_1982

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SEATTLE NEWS Monica Nevi gets festively funny with Jokes for the Holidays

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer Christmas came early for Seattle comedian Monica Nevi. After spending 13 years touring around the country, she filmed her first solo comedy special, Jokes for the Holidays, in her hometown of Renton. “The holidays remind me of home, so I wanted to do it at home,” Nevi said. “It’s a beautiful theater, the Carco Theater. The stage is all set, all Christmassy: we’ve got stockings and trees, all that fun stuff. I knew it was going to look good, and the rest was just up to me to perform.”

Nevi has spent the last year writing and rehearsing her special, a 25-minute set entirely devoted to the holidays. For 12 months, she practiced festive material at her shows and open mics.

“All year, I’ve been going back and forth on, ‘Is this going to have been worth it, to be working on jokes about the holidays all year?’

I’ve been peddling around the country — doing them in June in North Carolina was a little bit different,” she said with a laugh.

While she usually informed audiences that she was practicing material for her December taping, sometimes she opted out of the explanation. “I wanted it to be strong enough that it doesn’t need an explanation, [so then] the actual taping would be so much better. It’s like training at a heavier weight than you usually do, so the actual performance seems easier.”

When on stage, she usually tells humorous personal stories and leans on her own experiences, but creating a whole show dedicated to holiday memories was tricky.

Luckily, Nevi’s style of sharing allowed her to incorporate her holiday theme into her regular material.

“It’s my relationship to the holidays, and hopefully people find relatability,” she said.

“I had already written quite a few jokes about Christmas. I really like Christmas is what it comes down to, so I just had started writing some jokes that happened to be about Christmas, and then I was like, ‘What if I just do a special myself about the holidays?’”

A new process The biggest challenge for Nevi was sitting down to write jokes that fit the theme.

Usually, they come to her naturally, most often when she’s about to fall asleep or taking a shower. “[The way I wrote these jokes] is not normally my process,” she said. “Usually, it’s just what comes up, and I write it down.

QUEER HOUSING CONTINUED FROM COVER

whose members are taking slightly different approaches to their advocacy. The Facebook group Seattle Queer Housing, though created 10 years ago, now has over 13,000 members looking for roommates or a place to live. In 2021, Queer the Land, whose members work to resist displacement, obtained a house in Beacon Hill with 12 bedrooms that will become transitional and permanent housing for Queer and Trans people of color. Pride Place, affordable housing in Capitol Hill geared toward Queer people over 55, opened last month. Lavender Rights Project expects to open permanent housing for Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit people and people of color (QT2BIPOC) in Capitol Hill by 2025.

Intersectional identities and housing barriers Ebo Barton, director of housing services at Lavender Rights Project, sees a connection between the emergence of these groups and the additional barriers created by holding multiple marginalized identities, like having to disclose them to access resources when it may not feel safe.

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MONICA NEVI IN JOKES FOR THE HOLIDAY – COURTESY PHOTO

It’s funny, and I’ll write it later. It’s not really, ‘You need to write a joke about the Elf on the Shelf, or whatever.’ It was challenging, but it was a fun thing,” Eventually, she found that just keeping the holidays in the back of her mind allowed the funny thoughts to brew naturally while still sticking to the theme. “I would kind of put the idea of the holidays in my head so at least my brain was kind of on that path… it just wasn’t as good when it was forced,” Nevi said. “It was a big thing for me, and for a lot of other comics. When we go and try it on stage the first few times, something else will come up, or maybe [some] part didn’t work, so you’ll add a line to bring them back, and so that expands that joke, too.”

Jokes for the Holidays was important for Nevi, not only because it was her first solo taped show, but also because her family flew

in from across the country to watch her take to the stage. “My parents were there, my wife was there, and my brother and sister-in-law flew in from Dallas,” Nevi said with a smile.

“Then my cousins and my aunt and uncle.

They’ve been to shows before, but it was pretty important to me that they were there for this, because my experience with the holidays is with them. There are some specific jokes about them that they didn’t know were going to be there, so you heard them, only them.

At some point, when I’m starting to describe our traditions, [only] they laugh.”

Anyone who has seen Nevi perform knows that family is important to her.

Many of her best jokes center around them.

Even though she spends a lot of time traveling around the country for shows, Nevi also prioritizes time with her loved ones, who are incredibly supportive of her career.

“My mom is a little dirty dog, so she thinks the dirtiest jokes are the best.

My grandparents come to shows, and they laugh,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any jealousy. They’re always so supportive, but I do think our senses of humor are pretty similar, so they do enjoy what I do.”

While she may be the most famous member of her family, Nevi says she isn’t the funniest.

“In reality, I don’t think I’m the funniest person in my family. I think there’s two or three that could beat me out on any given day. I’m just the one that did it,” she said.

Jokes for the Holidays is available to stream now on YouTube. Members of YouTube Premium can also view a special ad-free version of the show.

“To be frank, we’re tired of waiting on agencies, bureaucratic processes, to find out that we have a need in the first place,” Barton said. “These things take years for them to figure out. I know I’m broke, you know you’re broke — why do we have to do all of this, right? I think that folks are tired of trying to work with organizations that don’t understand our bodies, don’t understand our culture, and we want to get it for Community spaces In the Pride Place building, there will be ourselves.” on land of their own a community and health services center on The data reflects Barton’s point about Of the organizations with housing proj- the first floor. intersecting identities creating barriers.

“That was one of the major things that Forty-two percent of Black Trans respon- ects listed above, Queer the Land and Lavender Rights Project are both QT2BIwe wanted when looking for a property, too. dents to the 2015 US Transgender Survey (USTS) reported experiencing homeless- POC-led. Their leadership has acquired Our folks need to congregate — that’s just ness at some point in their lives. In the land for their projects, which Barton called part of the culture,” Barton said. “One of my things is about holistic wellness, social same survey, 38% reported living in pov- “groundbreaking.”

“I think there’s something to be said about wellness, and spiritual wellness — you erty, which is 14% more than Black people who are not Trans in the US. A 2022 report the other organizations and their owner- can’t do that alone.”

For Barton, there was something spefrom the Trevor Project found that 28% of ship of the land,” Barton said. “That is something that is rare in our communities.” cial about having property liberated for his LGBT youth in general experienced homeQueer the Land, Lavender Rights Projcommunity. lessness at some point in their lives.

“Something that’s often taken from us is “The definition of chronically homeless ect, and Pride Place all have some sort and at risk of chronic homelessness is just of community space or health services the idea of choice. As we have less income, something that every single one of our planned at their housing sites. The Queer have less privilege, the idea of choice community members fit into. I can’t even the Land house plans a community food is often taken from us. This is a beautiimagine a time that I wasn’t considered one garden and office spaces. The Laven- ful example of giving our communities a der Rights Project property will include choice.” of those identities,” Barton said. a community space with lots of natural light, a computer lab, and a clinical space.

“I think that folks are tired of trying to work with organizations that don’t understand our bodies, don’t understand our culture, and we want to get it for ourselves.”

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SEATTLE NEWS At a crossroads: Three Dollar Cinema turns to the community for aid

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer Three Dollar Bill Cinema is at a crossroads. The arts nonprofit behind the iconic Seattle Queer Film Festival and TRANSlations (one of only three festivals in all of North America showcasing Trans and Nonbinary films and filmmakers) has found itself at an economic tipping point.

“The arts are really struggling right now,” said the organization’s board president, Telved Devlet. “Three Dollar Cinema is no exception to this. As we looked at our overall 2023 drive, we are coming up short from sponsored dollars, donation grants, etc.”

A critical moment This is happening at a critical time for the beloved Seattle organization. “We’ve had a lot of transition going on — which is good,” exclaimed Devlet. “At the same time, we’re at that point where we’d like to pay all of our debts [from COVID] and set ourselves up for continued future success. We are really in need of raising $20,000 to get us through to the end of March 2024, the first quarter of next year. That is when our sponsors come back online and our grants come online.

“But that means we’re in a gap right now. We’re trying to clear out all the debt and set ourselves up to kick off the new year, which for us is TRANSlations, our Trans and Nonbinary film festival, in May. The board has been diligently working to make that happen.”

But TRANSlations isn’t the only item on the agenda. “The Seattle Queer Film Festival [SQFF] is heading into its 29th year, and that’s extremely exciting,” remarked Devlet. “We’ve [also] got our Reel Queer Youth programs happening right now, and it’s important to keep those going. We’ve started up our screenwriter salons, and those are an important part of our organizational mission to help support and inspire the next generation of Queer filmmakers…

“So we’re really asking people to get the message out [about Three Dollar Bill Cinema], because this evangelism is a form of support. We’re [also] asking people to support us directly by becoming a member — which is only $60 annually for a single individual or $110 for a pair.” (See below for where to donate or join.)

Building on success Part of sustaining the organization is putting all of the lessons learned and institutional changes made during the COVID shutdown into common practice.

“We were one of the first festivals to pivot online,” Devlet proudly stated. “I’d say that’s one of the biggest lessons we learned during COVID: that there is a huge streaming audience out there eager to watch Queer film.

That’s been awesome for us from an equity and accessibility standpoint. Before, we were really just Capitol Hill. Now we’ve gone [to] Columbia City [and] people can also watch from the comfort of their homes. And not only in Washington! We now own Alaska, Oregon, and Idaho along with Washington.

“But now those bills setting all of that up and making it a reality need to be paid.

We’re… really trying to push our way through in our funding, so as to be in a position where we can build on this success and continue to grow.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THREE DOLLAR BILL CINEMA

“We’re out there trying to continue to create this visibility for these films, for these artists, as it is important to us to make sure Queer artistic voices continue to get heard.”

“Exactly,” stated Devlet. “I think sometimes people think just because you have big-name sponsors, that means you’re getting huge amounts of money. That’s not it at all. It takes a full house during a festival to attract sponsors. It takes dollars to put on a festival. Operational costs are year-round, not just during TRANSlations or SQFF. “There are costs associated with renting facilities, advertising, bringing in filmmakers, all of that. If you took [SQFF] as its own little island, it can be great. It works.

It can pay for itself.

“But [there are] administrative costs and … you have to have people … write grants, do outreach to the public, and work on our community development connections with our partner organizations. You have to pay your people. That’s where you start to really see the biggest burden on small nonprofits.”

The cost of sustaining a valuable organization This means explaining to Pacific Northwest residents the ongoing value of having a local arts organization entirely focused on LGBTQIA+ cinema. More to the point, it takes more than a successful two-week film festival to pay for an organization’s operational costs for an entire year.

Vital for the community and filmmakers For those questioning whether or not, after almost 30 years of existence, there is still a need for an LGBTQIA+ arts organization in Seattle, Devlet is quick with an answer.

“It’s critical,” he said unequivocally.

“It’s evident in the news each and every day, with the amount of legislation against our existence, that these Queer stories still matter. Every day there’s a political attack on our existence. These can result in mental health and other issues for the Queer com-

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munity. When you focus specifically on LGBTQIA+ programming, we’re able to shine a light on these issues, because it’s a community we are a vital part of.

“It’s great that Seattle is such a great community, especially for cinema, but you’re only going to get a certain few films that can crack through into a general release. People will sometimes say they saw a Gay or Lesbian Hallmark film for the holidays, but those are like 0.001% of films available to see pretty much anywhere.

“The reality is, to get to be a filmmaker, to even be seen by a Netflix, a Hulu, a Hallmark, or any of these streamers, you’ve had to have some credibility and history in the industry. We’re giving a space for this next generation of filmmakers to thrive, learn, grow, and exhibit their work.”

Visibility “Our partnerships with NFFTY (the National Film Festival for Talented Youth) and Northwest Film Forum, working with the youth through our Reel Queer Youth program — those are other unique ways of enabling our visibility,” Devlet added.

“Visibility: that’s the key word. I think we all know that once people came out and they were visible, it really shifted the conversation on issues like Gay marriage, Trans stories, the violence that occurs in those communities. Through Three Dollar Bill’s programs and festivals, these are sometimes the only places these stories get to be told.”

Devlet added, “We’re out there trying to continue to create this visibility for these films, for these artists, as it is important to us to make sure Queer artistic voices continue to get heard.”

Donating and spreading the word For Queer stories to continue being told at SQFF, TRANSlations, and other Three Dollar Bill Cinema programs and events, the board president knows exactly what he wants Seattle and Pacific Northwest residents to do.

“I’d love them to go to our website, https://www.th reedolla rbillscinema. org, and see the variety of ways they can help,” said Devlet. “They can go to https://donorbox.org/support-queer-film right now to be a part of this funding drive.

“If they can’t contribute financially right now, I’d love for them to evangelize this cause with all of their Queer friends and straight allies. If they know of people who have company matches, please send them our way, as that’s a great way to support us. They can connect to our website to volunteer.

“They can also just give us feedback, as we’re all part of a big Queer family and we’d love to hear from everyone.

“We’re at a juncture where we, as an organization, have to make a decision.

Does the Pacific Northwest see [Three Dollar Bill Cinema] as a viable, contributing part of their experience or not? What we’re fundraising for is the minimum we need to keep things going. If anyone out there can help, you’ll be making sure that LGBTQIA+ cinema continues to thrive and survive here in Seattle. This support will give us the breathing room we need to invest fully in our future and to really celebrate Queer joy for decades to come.”

Go to https://donorbox.org/supportqueer-film to support Three Dollar Bill Cinema at this critical juncture.

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REGIONAL NEWS Spokane voters hope new mayor Lisa Brown will be a liberal breath of fresh air

PHOTO COURTESY OF NONSTOP / KHQ

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer The City of Spokane, Washington, will swear in a new mayor come January, following a fierce battle between current mayor Nadine Woodward and Lisa Brown.

The race between the two was tight, but Brown’s support of the LGBTQ+ community after an October scandal involving Woodward and Christian extremist Matt Shae may have pushed her into the lead.

Brown will bring a new liberal leadership to the relatively conservative municipality. Despite Spokane being the secondlargest in Washington, voting records show that the city regularly votes red in national elections, as does the county. In 2020, voters favored Trump over Biden 49% to 47%.

While Brown’s victory may be the result of dissatisfaction with Woodward’s leadership, many hope her election will lead Spokane toward more progressive policies.

Brown has a long history in Spokane.

Though she didn’t grow up in the city, she worked as an educator at both Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University.

She also briefly served as the chancellor of Washington State University in 2013.

Coinciding with her career in education, Brown also served the Spokane community as an elected official. In 1992, she was elected to the Washington state House.

After just one term there, she was named minority leader. In 1996, she was elected to the state Senate, where she served for

Brown’s support of the LGBTQ+ community after an October scandal involving [Incumbent Mayor] Woodward and Christian extremist Matt Shae may have pushed her into the lead.

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over a decade, and in 2013 became the first female majority leader.

In 2018, she challenged long-time incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers for Washington’s 5th Congressional District. Rodgers is a staunch conservative who voted against both former President Donald Trump’s impeachment charges.

Though she lost, Brown’s campaign yielded the best results for any Democratic candidate in the district in over two decades.

Priorities As she heads into office, Brown plans to prioritize Spokane’s housing crisis while also expanding resources for the city’s parks and schools. Her short-term goal for the growing homelessness crisis is to provide immediate shelter for the estimated 1,000+ people living without a warm place for the winter.

She plans to work with private organizations and churches to find space for them until a permanent solution can be reached.

“Longer term, we want to create what’s known as a navigation center or …more accurately, a coordinated entry system… to address [the issue of] unhoused people and coordinate the providers that … both [assess and address] their needs,” Brown said in an interview with the Washington State Standard.

In the long term, Brown hopes to provide more affordable housing options for Spokane’s low-income citizens, so as to bring people off the streets and prevent others from ever reaching that point.

“Of course, ultimately, like other cities, we would like to get more upstream with the kinds of things that prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place,” she added in the interview. “That is both concerning assistance to renters [and] ultimately building more housing.”

Brown aims to use her skills and rich background to increase access to childcare and early learning. When communities can provide children with affordable learning programs, it not only sets them up for success when they reach school age but also paves the way for their parents to return to work.

Some citizens of Spokane are excited for the changes Brown will bring.

“I am very excited to have Lisa Brown as the new mayor of Spokane. She will bring the job lots of political experience,” said voter Virgina Knowles.

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YEAR IN REVIEW CONTINUED FROM COVER

At the same time, the year saw political attacks on the community. A total of 589 anti-Trans bills have been introduced across the US, according to Trans Legislation Tracker. Among those, 85 have passed.

Amid so many moving parts, the SGN continued its coverage. Here are some of the most important (mostly) local headlines from 2023.

PHOTO BY CHARINA PITZEL / COURTESY OF PAUL G. ALLEN FAMILY FOUNDATION

January At the very end of last year, Seattle’s Lesbian bar Wildrose celebrated its 38th year of business. The space was at maximum capacity, with a line wrapped around the corner to get into the bustling space.

The Anthro Northwest Convention took place, holding panels on making fur suits, starting a freelance furry business, and mental health topics. The nonprofit partnered with Sarvey Wildlife Care Center this year.

February March April Protesters in Cal Anderson chanted the House Bill 1469, a shield law that would Washington state Senate Bill 5599 name of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black define gender-affirming and reproductive passed. The bill, which has since become father from Tennessee who died after being care as protected services, was introduced law, allows shelters to notify the Washingbeaten by police. During their march from by the Washington State Legislature’s Sen- ton Department of Children, Youth, and Capitol Hill, down to the Space Needle, ate Committee on Law and Justice. The bill Families of the arrival of a minor, instead and ending at Seattle Police Department’s was signed into law in April. of the minor’s parents. It was written to East Precinct, they were met with counterprotect those seeking gender-affirming protesters. care and take down barriers for minors In better news, the Disabled List held who need shelter. its first comedy festival at Northwest Film Forum, funded by 4Culture.

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SEATTLE PRIDE PARADE – PHOTO BY LINDSEY ANDERSON

May UTOPIA Washington opened Mapu Maia Clinic, a medical facility in Kent that provides free healthcare to Seattle’s Queer and Trans Pacific Islander community.

At the Garfield Community Center on May 11, the Seattle Police Department LGBTQ Advisory Council held its first meeting in years.

June Seattle showed up for this year’s multiple-hour Pride parade. Sports teams also joined in, and so did all kinds of Queer performers. The march featured political statements, with teachers protesting book bans and others holding signs saying “Protect Trans kids.”

During the celebratory month, the Human Rights Campaign declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in response to a rising amount of anti-Trans legislation.

July On the final day of Pride Month, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Colorado could not make Lorie Smith provide her graphic design services to LGBTQ+ couples who wanted wedding websites.

In better news, Tacoma’s Pride festival was a success, with great weather, five streets of booths, and two Satanists offering free hugs.

August Patti Hearn became the executive director of Seattle Pride, the organization that runs Pride in the Park, the Pride Parade, and Seattle Pride Magazine. Having lived in Seattle for 29 years and with a background in education, Hearn felt it was obvious that she should apply for the position.

September A SPD bodycam tape was released, and Officer Daniel Auderer was heard saying “she had limited value” in relation to the death of 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula, who was hit by a police vehicle driving 74 mph in a 25 mph zone. The tape sparked a protest on Sept. 16 at Denny Park.

October At Smarty Pants Bar, the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance’s Western Washington chapter held a drag event to fundraise for Lambert House, a community center for Queer youth on Capitol Hill.

November The Black Lives Memorial Garden, created by Black Star Farmers during the three weeks of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Protest Zone and led, was scheduled to be removed by Seattle Parks. (It was eventually removed in late December.)

December At Union Bar, Sable Jones St. James celebrated becoming the newly crowned Miss Gay United States after winning the pageant in Ohio. “Miss Gay United States plans to unite the country, dammit!” she proclaimed.

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Private individual seeks caregiver/ detail-oriented House Manager to assist a Senior Female CITIZEN. Schedule is 4 days/week and 5 hours/day.

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REGIONAL NEWS A Gay stay at McMenamins Elks Temple

BOBBI JO BLESSINGS

CRYSTYL JEWYL BOX

POKER FACE: A TRIBUTE TO LADY GAGA

URSULA MAJOR

ROCOCO MACAROON

by Cameron Martinez SGN Contributing Writer For Christmas this year, my mom gave the family a stay at McMenamins Elks Temple in Tacoma. While the intention of the trip was to view a holiday-themed drag show, I was unprepared for just how Queer my night would be.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMERON MARTINEZ

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A bit of historical context “The Elks Temple was built in the second Renaissance Revival style in 1915-16, when fraternal organizations were an important part of the community and had the money to build beautiful buildings such as this one,” the website states.

Before the building’s full renovation in 2017 by the Pacific Northwest chain McMenamins, it was left in a state of complete disrepair. As part of the restoration, the company dedicated each hotel room to famous people, organizations, and groups from the Tacoma area.

My room was dedicated to John Reed and Kenny Olson, a pair of Queer friends who were established leaders in Tacoma’s Gay community in the 1970s.

At that time in Tacoma — and pretty much everywhere in the country — the Queer community faced constant harassment and was relegated to the seedier parts of town.

With that in mind, the pair held Tacoma’s first major Gay event, the annual Barony Ball, in what is now the McMenamins Elk Temple in 1975 for a crowd of over 300.

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BRANDI MARXXX

“Kenny and I wanted to get Tacoma noticed in the Gay communities of the West Coast, particularly the Pacific Northwest,” Reed said of the event in an interview with McMenamins’ history department.

“Tacoma was usually ignored or made fun of; we were out to change that.”

I have never thought of Tacoma as a Queer city, but after seeing my rainbowclad hotel room with a painted portrait of Reed and Olson, my mind has been changed.

How times have changed After spending the day discovering all the artwork, history, restaurants, and even an ultra-hidden speakeasy, my girlfriend and I ventured to the Elk Temple’s Spanish Ballroom for the main entertainment of the night, called the “Naughty Christmas Party,” featuring a performances called “Poker Face: A Tribute to Lady Gaga,” as well as drag by Rococo Macaroon, Bobbi Jo Blessings, Brandi Marxxx, Ursula Major, and Crystyl Jewyl Box. While I watched the performances and took in the vibrant energy of the crowd, I thought about Reed and Olson’s ball that took place back in 1975.

Seeing people being celebrated for being unapologetically themselves in one of the most gorgeous buildings in Tacoma is exactly what that pair wanted, and I was very happy to be a part of it.

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NATIONAL NEWS National news highlights

PHOTO BY JOHN AMIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN / AP

by Teddy MacQuarrie SGN Contributing Writer 2023 brings onslaught of 75 anti-Queer laws across the US In 2023, 75 anti-Queer bills have become law across 23 states, including restrictions on gender-affirming care, school sports, school instruction, drag, and more.

The plurality of those laws are restrictions on transition-related care for minors, while 11 of them bar Transgender student-athletes from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identities.

Ten of the laws limit classroom instruction on Queer issues and/or the use of pronouns in school that don’t align with a person’s birth sex, and eight restrict which restrooms Trans people can use in schools or other publicly owned buildings.

The remaining laws restrict drag performances in front of minors, define a person’s sex in state law as that which was assigned at birth, and create additional barriers for Trans people to change the sex on their birth certificates, among other measures.

Though 2023 was a record year for legislation targeting Queer people, some advocates and experts say that those who support Queer rights are still coming out ahead, since just about 15% of the approximately 500 bills proposed have become law.

So far, judges have issued temporary blocks, either partial or full, against gender-affirming care restrictions passed this year in Florida, Georgia, Montana, and Indiana. Others have upheld restrictions on gender-affirming care passed this year in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas.

The plaintiffs in the Tennessee case appealed to the Supreme Court last month. If the court decides to take the case, it would be the first time it has considered a restriction on puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for minors.

Educational institutions — from public elementary schools to private colleges that receive state funding — have become ground zero for the conservative-led effort to limit Queer rights and access to related information. State bills signed into law this year have affected classroom instruction, extracurricular participation, and

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access to sex-segregated school facilities, among other things.

Eleven states now have laws affecting what teachers can say about Queer issues and how they can show up at work, with all but one of these measures having been passed this year.

Currently, 23 states have laws on the books restricting which school sports teams Transgender athletes can join, with about half of those having been passed this year.

Lawmakers in at least 16 states introduced restrictions targeting drag in 2023, according to an NBC News analysis. Just six became law, and so far, they have been the least likely to hold up to judicial scrutiny.

Judges struck down two laws, in Tennessee and Texas, and temporarily blocked restrictions in Florida and Montana that specifically regulate events at public libraries in which drag performers read to children.

Gabriele Magni, an assistant professor of political science at Loyola Marymount

University in Los Angeles and director of the school’s Queer Politics Research Initiative, said the country likely hasn’t seen the end of legislation targeting Queer people, because we’re heading into an election year.

Early tracking of next year’s bills shows that Magni could be right. Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist for the ACLU, said that the nonprofit is tracking 212 bills targeting Queer people that have either been prefiled for the 2024 session or carried over from the 2023 session.

“This became a sort of vicious cycle in which no one wanted to be left behind,” Magni said. “They don’t want to be seen as less conservative or less active on these, and so in some cases in some states, we see the introduction of bills just more to not fall behind in these conservative ranking credentials rather than hoping that it will become legislation.”

The historic amount of legislation has also led to an equally historic level of pro-

test on either side. Students have coordinated nationwide walkouts, and protesters have packed state legislatures, while human rights groups have documented more than 300 anti-Queer incidents in just the last year, including bomb threats against hospitals that provide transitionrelated care to minors and armed protesters outside of drag shows.

Phillip Hightower, whose Trans son Max was removed and then reinstated in his school’s production of Oklahoma!, said to NBC News that he and his family won their fight for Max because more parents spoke out once they realized they had support, both within their mostly conservative community and across the country.

“Once it started to gain traction nationally, they felt safer,” he said.

Quoting 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Hightower said, “We’ve got friends out there. They’ll come if they know there’s hope.”

PHOTO BY PHIL ROEDER / DES MOINES PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS International news highlights

by Teddy MacQuarrie SGN Contributing Writer Two teens convicted in murder of Trans girl Brianna Ghey Two 16-year-olds have been found guilty of the “senseless” murder of Brianna Ghey, a “witty, funny, and fearless” Transgender girl who was stabbed 28 times in a Warrington park this year.

On Wednesday, after an 18-day trial at Manchester Crown Court, a boy from Leigh and a girl from Warrington were found guilty of murdering Ghey, the Cheshire Constabulary said in a statement.

Fifteen years old at the time of the vicious stabbing, the teens have been identified only as girl X and boy Y because they are minors. Thursday, following a petition from British newspapers, a judge ruled that the two teens can be named by the media when they are sentenced on Feb. 2, the Independent reports.

Detectives from the Force’s Major Investigation Team “spent months piecing together the case, gathering vital evidence, speaking to numerous witnesses, viewing hours of CCTV footage, and carrying out forensic enquiries,” the Constabulary said in the statement.

The two teens were identified as suspects “after a number of eyewitnesses came forward following a large media appeal,” the statement said.

They were arrested 24 hours after the incident and were subsequently charged with Brianna’s murder.

Detective Inspector Nige Parr of the Major Investigation Team and senior investigating officer for Operation Moment, said to People, “Today, two teenagers have been found guilty of Brianna’s murder. I hope this result brings about some closure for Brianna’s family and helps them as they try and rebuild their lives.

“Brianna did not deserve her fate.

She was targeted because she was different, and betrayed by someone she thought was a friend, and for her to have lost her life as a result of their senseless actions is tragic in every sense of the word.”

The teens face mandatory sentences of life in prison.

BRIANNA GHEY – COURTESY PHOTO

Pope approves “blessings” for same-sex couples Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples, the Vatican announced on December 18, a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on Gay marriage.

While the Vatican statement was heralded by some as a step toward

breaking down discrimination in the Catholic Church, some Queer advocates warned it underscored the church’s idea that Gay couples remain inferior to heterosexual partnerships.

The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested

PHOTO BY GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS

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that such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they weren’t confused with the ritual of marriage.

The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. It further stresses that blessings in question must not be tied to any specific Catholic celebration or religious service and should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union ceremony. Moreover, the blessings cannot use set rituals or even involve the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.

The document marks the latest gesture of outreach from a pope who has made welcoming Queer Catholics a hallmark of his papacy. From his 2013 quip “Who am I to judge?” about a purportedly Gay priest to his 2023 comment to the Associated Press that “being homosexual is not a crime,” Francis has distinguished himself from all his predecessors with his message of welcome.

“The significance of this news cannot be overstated,” said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which supports Queer Catholics. “It is one thing to formally approve same-gender blessings, which he had already pastorally permitted, but to say that people should not be subjected to ‘an exhaustive moral analysis’ to receive God’s love and mercy is an even more significant step.”

The Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed same-sex marriage and considers homosexual acts to be “intrinsically disordered.” Nothing in the new document changes that teaching.

The Church of England on Sunday announced a similar move, allowing clergy to bless the unions of same-sex couples who have had civil weddings or partnerships, but it still bans church weddings for same-sex couples.

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FILM Best of 2023

From “Barbenheimer” to the return of Godzilla, 2023 was full of cinematic surprises

BARBIE – PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer There were any number of cinematic events in 2023 worth celebrating.

It was a year in which Barbie dominated, Oppenheimer went nuclear with ticket-buying audiences, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did their respective franchises proud (while every other superhero installment did a massive face-plant into the cement).

It saw M3GAN start things off for Universal and Blumhouse with a dollified bang and Five Nights at Freddy’s end them for the collaborating studios with an animatronic cannon shot straight into the stratosphere. As for the concert documentary Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, the pop superstar showed that the world continues to be her oyster, what with the self-financed and self-distributed film breaking several box office records.

But it wasn’t all wine and roses. Animated films outside of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Elemental had trouble attracting audiences. Tried-and-true favorites (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Fast X) faltered even though they made hundreds of millions and played to full houses, primarily due to extreme production costs brought on by COVID delays. Vaunted veteran filmmakers Ridley Scott (Napoleon) and Zack Snyder (Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire) delivered purposefully unfinished films for Apple TV and Netflix, respectively, with much longer (and already completed) director’s cuts for 2024 announced months before either of their shorter counterparts had even been released.

Horror remained the hot ticket, if a producer wanted to turn an almost certain profit. Hits outnumbered the misfires by a wide margin. Outside of the aforementioned Universal/Blumhouse successes, Evil Dead Rise, Scream VI, The Nun II, and Saw X reinvigorated each of their long-running franchises; the Aussie import Talk to Me had audiences buzzing; The Boogeyman led to more than its fair share of nightmares; and Thanksgiving was anything but a turkey.

Even a CG-generated, drug-addicted black bear got in on the act, as director Elizabeth Banks showcased her darkly comedic,

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limb-severing credentials with the gorily rambunctious Cocaine Bear.

Women got to express their sexual agency in a big way. Outside of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, heroines triumphantly stood their ground in pictures as diverse in tone and representation as Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica, Emma Seligman’s Bottoms, Adele Lim’s Joy Ride, Will Gluck’s Anyone But You, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, William Oldroyd’s Eileen, Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh, and, yes, even Kelly Fremon Craig’s tween coming-of-age spellbinder Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Martin Scorsese showed everyone how an old master can still get it done, with pizazz, style, and introspective urgency to burn, with the stellar Killers of the Flower Moon, while up-and-coming maestros like Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers), Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Kelly Reichardt (Showing Up), Goran Stolevski (Of an Age), Ava DuVernay (Origin), Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest), Demián Rugna (When Evil Lurks), and

Sean Durkin (The Iron Claw) memorably did the same with their own idiosyncratically devastating dramas.

Newcomers Celine Song (Past Lives), Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), Michelle Garza Cervera (Huesera: The Bone Woman), Stephen Williams (Chevalier), and Savanah Leaf (Earth Mama) also made their marks, their feature-length debuts being some of the finest films 2023 had to offer.

There’s plenty more worth talking about, including the exhilaratingly exhausting action acrobatics of Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4, the hysterically astute observations of Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, and the visual majesty of Gareth Edwards’s criminally undervalued The Creator.

Warner Bros. produced a pair of unlikely hit musicals (Wonka, The Color Purple) that it inexplicably refused to market as actual musicals, while director Francis Lawrence and author Suzanne Collins journeyed back to Panem for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

and produced one of the year’s most surprisingly entertaining hits. Master animator Hayao Miyazaki returned for what may be the final time with The Boy and the Heron and delivered his biggest international smash since 2001’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away.

Then there’s Toho’s Godzilla Minus One. Originally slated to hit domestic theaters in the US for a weeklong special engagement, director Takashi Yamazaki’s postWWII kaiju epic managed the unthinkable: it packed houses from New York to Seattle to all points in between, forcing the studio to rethink its entire release strategy.

More than that, it actually made Godzilla scary again, while also offering up an emotionally complex human story that’s equal to the iconic title character’s colossal status around the globe. If there was any cinematic event I simply did not see coming, this had to be it.

Without further ado, here are my picks for the ten best films of 2023, along with several other titles I hope interested viewers take the time to see:

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 – PHOTO COURTESY OF LIONSGATE

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TOP TEN FILMS OF 2023 1. All of Us Strangers (Dir.: Andrew Haigh) My goodness, what a movie! This stupendously shattering “what if?” melodrama loosely adapted from Japanese author Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers broke me in two. Andrew Scott delivers the performance of a lifetime as Adam, a struggling and lonely writer who enters into a torrid affair with a younger man (Paul Mescal) who also resides in his nearempty London high-rise. There’s also the small matter of Adam’s parents (Jamie Bell, Claire Foy), both of whom died nearly 30 years earlier but are now suddenly residing back in his suburban childhood home.

This one leaves a permanent mark.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Dir.: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson) No 2023 moment with an audience came close to the finale of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. With Miles Morales trapped in the wrong corner of the multiverse and under the thumb of his villainous doppelganger, Gwen Stacy assembles a band of fellow spider-heroes to go and save him. It’s a rousing, one-of-a-kind, triumphant call to action, and she invites the audience to join them on this latest, undeniably dangerous adventure. Who are any of us to turn her down?

3. Killers of the Flower Moon (Dir.: Martin Scorsese) Masterpiece. There’s little else to be said about Scorsese’s latest examination of banal evil in its most insidious and disturbing form. This horrifying American historical calamity has left scars that have lingered for generations, what was done to the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma is a crushing indictment of incompetence and indifference that should never be forgotten.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives one of the best performances of his career, but it is Lily Gladstone who commanded my attention.

She is magnificent.

4. Godzilla Minus One (Dir.: Takashi Yamazaki) Godzilla is scary again in Yamazaki’s towering kaiju epic. As Japan struggles to rebuild after WWII, a disgraced kamikaze pilot and a homeless young woman team up to help parent an orphaned infant.

As things start to look up for this ragtag trio, a mutated Godzilla appears out of the oceanic depths to wreak unimaginable havoc.

While the expected carnage ensues, it is the human story at the heart of this latest Toho epic that makes this the best film featuring the atomic-breath titan since his 1954 debut.

5. Priscilla (Dir.: Sofia Coppola) Coppola tackles Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir in her own distinctively observational style, and in doing so crafts a portrait of Elvis unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Priscilla’s story is a fractured fairy-tale romance that showcases the dark side of American fame and fortune. It is also the empowering saga of a woman discovering who she is and can be, and loving the man who’s given her this opportunity to find herself — even though being under his controlling thumb is splinting her in two. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi melt the screen.

6. Bottoms (Dir.: Emma Seligman) In a year of great comedies, Seligman’s delightfully Queer Bottoms (written with Rachel Sennott) proudly reigns supreme.

A subversively smart monster mash of Heathers, Mean Girls, Bring It On, and Fight Club, this sexually sly deconstruction of genre tropes has so much more to say than initially meets the eye. Overflowing in dazzling moments, a football field melee in which the bodies literally hit the grass is an eye-popping cacophony of ingenuity and chaos that’s as hysterical as it is shrewdly perceptive.

7. Huesera: The Bone Woman (Dir.: Michelle Garza Cervera) Mexican import Huesera: The Bone Woman leaves a lasting impression. This is impending motherhood stripped to its visceral basics. Garza Cervera’s featurelength debut is a hauntingly nasty marvel

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that goes immediately for the jugular and attacks its subject matter with such pugnacious grace that it all becomes shockingly beautiful. The ending is unforgettable.

Fortson is a ray of constant sunshine that makes the entire world feel a wee bit better just from her being a part of it. Rachel McAdams adds outstanding support as her mother, and Benny Safdie is the coolest of the cool dads in recent memory.

The Color Purple (Dir.: Blitz Bazawule) The Creator (Dir.: Gareth Edwards) Earth Mama (Dir.: Savanah Leaf) Evil Dead Rise (Dir.: Lee Cronin) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Dir.: James Gunn) The Holdovers (Dir.: Alexander Payne) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Dir.: Francis Lawrence) Influencer (Dir.: Kurtis David Harder) The Iron Claw (Dir.: Dean Durkin) It’s a Wonderful Knife (Dir.: Tyler MacIntyre) John Wick: Chapter 4 (Dir.: Chad Stahelski) Joy Ride (Dir.: Adele Lim) Of an Age (Dir.: Goran Stolevski) Origin (Dir.: Ava DuVernay) The Park (Dir.: Shal Ngo) Polite Society (Dir.: Nida Manzoor) Poor Things (Dir.: Yorgos Lanthimos) The Royal Hotel (Dir.: Kitty Green) Saltburn (Dir.: Emerald Fennell) Showing Up (Dir.: Kelly Reichardt) Sisu (Dir.: Jalmari Helander) When Evil Lurks (Dir.: Demián Rugna) You Hurt My Feelings (Dir.: Nicole Holofcener) The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)

8. Monica (Dir.: Andrea Pallaoro) There are scenes in Pallaoro’s hard, unapologetic melodrama that left me feeling bruised and battered, and yet enlivened and uplifted at almost the same time. Trace Lysette is superb as the titular Trans daughter who returns home to a dying mother (a sublime Patricia Clarkson) who disowned her years prior. Now, due to her brain tumor, she has no idea this woman is her own flesh and blood, and the constant question is whether or not Monica will reveal who she is before her mom passes. This movie never takes the easy way out and rarely does what is expected. I couldn’t shake this one off even if I had wanted to (and I didn’t).

9. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

(Dir.: Kelly Fremon Craig) Judy Blume’s supposedly unadaptable timeless novel is lovingly transported to the big screen with tenderness, humor, care, and joyful effervescence. This may be the best story of a tween girl coming into her own ever made. Youngster Abby Ryder

10. Past Lives (Dir.: Celine Song) I firmly believe that how much a person ends up adoring Song’s spellbinding Past Lives is entirely based on how they react to the climactic final ten minutes.

This superlative drama of friendship, companionship, and love culminates in a series of quick sucker punches that are so realistically authentic that they can’t help but feel almost like a personal assault. This is all a good thing, as the entire motion picture is built on a foundation of emotional honesty that makes even its saddest moments a triumphant, celebratory call to action.

THIRTY MORE (because I can) American Fiction (Dir.: Cord Jefferson) Anatomy of a Fall (Dir.: Justine Triet) Asteroid City (Dir.: Wes Anderson) Barbie (Dir.: Greta Gerwig) The Boy and the Heron (Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki) Chevalier (Dir.: Stephen Williams)

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FILM Under the Christmas Tree: Of strap-ons and other supportive holiday activities

by Clar Hart SGN Contributing Writer UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE Amazon Prime It’s a given that, like superhero flicks, Christmas movies are a bulwark of candywrapped conservatism. The only people introducing new ideas are the big-city corporate boyfriend or the bedazzled, roided-out Grimace. The hallmarks of Hallmark (or, in this case, Lifetime) are that they return us to the bread and butter of American pseudo-idealism: the (typically white) nuclear household. Errant CEOs are returned to the kitchen to create lovingly decorated sugar cookies. Prodigal daughters leave the cities to wander through wreath-strewn, small-town markets, cocoa in hand.

And sometimes, like that shitty microwaveable mac and cheese from my youth, that’s all I crave.

Under the Christmas Tree, from 2021, is among the first times that we Queers are welcomed into that bland, cheesy embrace.

But what it means to ascend to the level of holiday-movie assimilation is complicated.

Is being accepted into the dominant hierarchy perpetuating it? Is it possible to enjoy gingerbread without thinking about the slave labor that harvested the cardamom and the unsustainable agricultural practices that grew the pumpkin?

To summarize, Alma is the nominative protagonist, although her Bettie Page bangs are truly the star of the show. Her love interest is Charlie, a Black woman who, in the course of wooing Alma, the white protagonist, also finds enough time to be the magical Black character who solves Alma’s father’s broken relationship with music.

Alma is a successful businesswoman, but she’s already in a small town and loves Christmas. She owns one of those yearround tourist traps you can wander into after your girlfriend breaks up with you in March and you decide that wallowing in the death-of-all-things-family fantasy seems like the right move. Alma eats eggnog ice cream in July and names her chickens after characters from classic Christmas movies.

Unfortunately, her issue (not solved in the movie) is that her store will soon be

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driven out of business by online shops and fast shipping. Alma decides to completely ignore all business projections and trust that her Christmas faith is enough. I don’t know what to tell you, Alma, but I don’t think Santa offers year-round same-day shipping.

Charlie comes to town looking for a Christmas tree for the governor’s ball and has her heart set on a perfect one in Alma’s yard, which Alma refuses to give up. Antics ensue.

Eventually, Charlie finds another tree to chop down and gets offered an executive director spot at a nearby tree sanctuary.

Like true Gays, after a mere weekend spent together, Charlie moves her whole life to be with Alma and her festively named chickens.

There are (thankfully) not real problems. Both parents are supportive of their Queer children. Alma’s parents are actively encouraging her to get out and date, and they dote on Charlie. They even have a lovely family toast “to the Lesbians.”

The biggest adrenaline-rush is a gingerbread competition that Alma is intent on winning, since she’s been runner-up for the past two

I’ve watched my fair share of Christmas movies designed to serve the same processed sugar to the Queers as the straights have been able to enjoy for years. years (with Charlie’s help, she does). Alma confesses that her Queer awakening (and possibly why she’s so hung up on Christmas) was while watching Vera-Ellen’s lithelegged dance in White Christmas.

There are also a few scenes that are almost kinky, at least for a Lifetime movie.

The Christmas party Alma puts on has a “naughty or nice” theme, where everyone rolls the dice and dons either devil horns or angel wings. (A little role-play, maybe some light bondage in the placement of the wing straps?) When Charlie and Alma go up a boom lift to check out a tree, they don safety harnesses. Charlie says, “I like

a good harness to start off my day.” So we know they enjoy some strap time, even if it all happens off-screen.

I’ve watched my fair share of Christmas movies designed to serve the same processed sugar to the Queers as the straights have been able to enjoy for years. There’s the depressing Carol, the rage-inducing Happiest Season, the faltering Looking for Her, the unlistenable Merry and Gay, the milquetoast Christmas at the Ranch.

If what you’re looking for is the media equivalent of a stick-to-your-teeth-sweet Christmas cookie and a glass of warm milk, this is no satisfying meal, but it hits the spot.

UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE – PHOTOS COURTESY OF LIFETIME

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STRANGERS

CONTINUED FROM COVER

These are common questions that everyone, everywhere has certainly had at some point during their lifetime, and that countless types of entertainment throughout history have played with. Leave it to acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Weekend) to tackle them with such bracingly honest elasticity and internalized naturalism. All of Us Strangers is maybe 2023’s best film.

Loosely adapted from Japanese author Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, Haigh’s take brings things to a modern London and focuses on a struggling middle-aged writer, Adam (Andrew Scott), living alone in a nearly empty high-rise somewhere in the middle of the city. After a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal), things take an unforeseen turn. Not only does Adam enter into a torrid affair with the younger man, but he is also drawn back to the small suburban town of his youth to revisit his childhood home.

What’s strange about that? Well, Adam’s parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy), killed in a tragic car accident decades prior, are there to welcome him. Now he is the same

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age they were when they passed, and all three have several questions they’re eager to learn the answers to. Past and present collide, as do hope and heartbreak. Longburied secrets come out into the open.

Adam reveals truths about himself to his mother and father he was never able to as a child but always longed to have the opportunity to speak with them about. And yet, he’s still terrified as to what their reaction to his coming out might be.

This is not a simple tale of romance juxtaposed with a supernatural “coming out” melodrama. Far from it. Haigh is a cinematic poet, and he intertwines Adam and Harry’s affair into the writer’s interactions with his parents with an otherworldly dexterity that allows each side of the narrative to be permanently knotted with the other. Each footstep Adam takes makes a permanent imprint upon the proceedings, and while these personal connections are ephemeral, the effect they have to wound, redeem, soothe, and even inspire is beyond imagining.

I won’t try to sugarcoat things: All of Us Strangers demolished me. I couldn’t help but think of my relationship with my parents — thankfully still with me and an important part of my life — as I watched the film play out to its shattering conclusion. I had so many opportunities to reveal who I was and what I wanted when

Gay, Straight, Trans, Bi — none of that matters.

There is a universality to Haigh’s presentation that breaks through questions of race, gender, and sexuality.

I was young, and each time I went for the or if he is finally able to be his true self lie instead. I had intestinal surgery at 16, with his parents, that’s all secondary to from an ulcer so severe it was literally eat- him being able to understand, accept, and ing me away, and still did not say a word eventually forgive the one person he’s been about all I was questioning about myself. unable to do so for far too long: himself.

What I would not give to be able to play that Scott gives the performance of a lifetime. moment out differently, the consequences He taps into emotional crevices that had be damned. me shaking. He is both slithery and rigid as Gay, Straight, Trans, Bi — none of that he moves through the proceedings, which matters. There is a universality to Haigh’s shouldn’t be possible. One moment his body presentation that breaks through questions is as unyielding as a mannequin, barely of race, gender, and sexuality. My Trans movable and almost robotic. At others, identity may be a vital aspect of who I am, it is as if every bone in Scott’s body has been but it is not the only thing I allow to define removed, the man twisting and crumbling me. Each person is their own distinctive as if he were a human Slinky. Through it vessel, and Haigh instinctively uses this all, the actor’s eyes pierced right through detail to his storytelling advantage. Iden- me, a mixture of euphoria, sadness, revelatity runs deeper than any one element, and tion, shock, and most of all love showcased each expedition through life has its own within them with beauteous specificity. obstacles that need to be overcome. Adam The rest of the ensemble is equally outis us, and we are Adam, and whether or not standing. Bell and especially Foy are he finds romantic fulfillment with Harry devastatingly magnificent. They each share scenes with Scott that held me spellbound, especially whenever their characters have to speak about the complicated and nuanced feelings they’re dealing with regarding the pain their son had to have felt not being able to reveal his truth when they were alive. Their disappointment is with themselves, not with Adam, and the way Bell and Foy navigate this internalized minefield is remarkable.

Haigh has never left anything technical to chance in any of his pictures, and that is unquestionably the case here, too. Cinematographer Jamie Ramsay (See How They Run) paints an expressionistic portrait of darkness and light, utilizing a bevy of primary colors to augment what is happening inside Adam’s headspace at any given moment. The sound design is unsettlingly dynamic, enveloping the viewer with a primal ferocity that’s entirely unexpected. Frequent Haigh collaborator Jonathan Alberts (Lean on Pete) edits with deft fluidity.

But it’s those “what ifs?” that make All of Us Strangers essential. It feeds upon dreams and nightmares alike, producing haunting, unavoidable truths about the human condition in the process. Haigh transported me into the deepest recesses of my soul, asking me to take stock of every choice I’ve made: good, bad, and in between. Watching the film was an unforgettable experience, unlike almost any other I’ve had in ages, and as difficult as that could be, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

ALL OF US STRANGERS – PHOTOS COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

DECEMBER 29, 202 3

SGN

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