Frontiers Blog

3.4% of US Adults Don't Identify as Straight, Health Survey Finds

Dominic Preston — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 07:26:00 GMT

The US government has held its first major health survey that includes questions about sexual orientation and 3.4% of respondents did not identify themselves as heterosexual.

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) found that 1.6% of surveyed adults identified as gay or lesbian, 0.7% as bisexual, and 1.1% declined to answer - saying either that they didn’t know or that they didn’t fit into the given categories.

This is the first time that the NHIS, which is conducted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has included questions about sexual orientation, and it makes it the largest federal survey to cover sexual orientation. The survey was conducted in 2013, and included almost 35,000 adults.

You might also like: NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY TO INCLUDE LGBT DATA

The inclusion of the new questions has been seen as significant progress in understanding and dealing with the health problems of the LGBT population. “This is a major step forward in trying to remedy some of these gaps in our understanding of the role sexual orientation and gender identity play in people’s health and in their lives,” said Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute, a research center at the University of California at Los Angeles that studies the LGBT population.

The survey found that those who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual were more likely to smoke than heterosexuals (26% of respondents, rather than 18%) and to drink heavily (33% rather than 22%). The good news at least is that LGB respondents were more likely to meet federal exercise guidelines (56% compared to 49%), and that 67% of the LGB population have been tested for HIV at least once, compared to only 37% of the straight population.

This study has found smaller numbers of gay, lesbian and bisexual adults than previous estimates had suggested, though it’s not yet clear why that might be.

Dolly Parton Wants to Make a Dance Album for her Gay Fans

Dominic Preston — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 07:04:00 GMT

Music legend Dolly Parton has said that she wants to make an upbeat dance record that she thinks her gay fans might enjoy.

The singer spoke about her gay fanbase during a press conference last week, and Digital Spy report that she revealed that she’d like to make dance music with them in mind:

"At some point I would like to do a dance record and I have several songs that are very positive towards the gay community.

I have a song called 'Just A Wee Bit Gay'. It's a great little dance tune, it's funny and it's got a lot of comic in it.

I do write a lot of songs along those lines with people that are different and are just themselves."

You might also like: Dolly Parton Has Gay Family Members, Voices Support of Marriage Equality

Parton has vocally supported gay rights for some time. She’s faced repeated rumors about her own sexuality, but has always insisted that she’s straight. Earlier this year she voiced her support of marriage equality, insisting that gay people should be able to suffer through marriage too:

"I think everyone should be with who they love. I don’t want to be controversial or stir up a bunch of trouble, but people are going to love who they are going to love. I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals. Ha ha ha!"

'Constantine' to Ignore Character's Bisexuality in Comics

Dominic Preston — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 06:30:00 GMT

The executive producer of NBC’s upcoming adaptation of the popular DC comics character has revealed that his bisexuality is not planned to be included in the show.

Constantine, an adaptation of the long-running comic Hellblazer and a more recent title also named Constantine, follows John Constantine, a dark and slightly misanthropic magician and detective who battles occult forces. The comic series was previously adapted for the big screen in 2005 starring Keanu Reeves.

At this weekend’s Television Critics Association Q&A, executive producer David Cerone was asked how the show would handle the comic character’s bisexuality. Entertainment Weekly report that after arguing that over the character’s decades of comics bisexuality was not an important aspect of him, Cerone said:

“In those comic books, John Constantine aged in real time. Within this tome of three decades [of comics] there might have been one or two issues where he's seen getting out of bed with a man. So [maybe] 20 years from now? But there are no immediate plans.”

You might also like: New NBC Shows Announced: Constantine Defends Against Evil, Cast of 'Happy Endings' Returns to TV

Producers are also grappling with the fact that the character is famous for a serious smoking habit, including several major plot lines that revolved around terminal lung cancer caused by the habit. The producers have said that network content standards have prohibited them from grappling with Constantine’s smoking. Executive producer David S. Goyer said that “He is a smoker in the show, we’re not shying away from it, but we’re not glorifying it,” adding that “We thought [showing him] having to snub something out is more truthful [than a patch or gum].”

Constantine is one of the few openly LGBT characters in comics, and one of the only ones to see a TV or film adaptation, making this a real missed opportunity for NBC. Fingers crossed someone changes their mind.

'Club King' Mario Diaz: A History of Raunchy Gay Parties Told Through Vintage Flyers

Brenden Shucart — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 18:53:00 GMT

Photo by Jeremy Lucido

Jon Bush’s documentary Club King parts the veil and offers a behind the scenes peek into the world of Mario Diaz, L.A.’s own King of Sleaze—and it is making its L.A. debut tonight as part of Outfest. But Diaz was not born to the crown. Here is a brief timeline of his decades promoting parties, told in the form of vintage party flyers, from his early days as the coolest kid in Seattle to his time as New York City's Prince of Perv to his reign as King of Gay Nightlife in the City of Angels.

Mario’s Beer Bath: 1988
“My first party was a one-off at Club Broadway in Seattle. Pop-up performances, body-painted go-go dancers, an annoying comedy-drag fortune teller, sexy beefcake fashion police giving out ‘bad fashion’ tickets, cigarette girls—I made a shit load of money and got bit by the party bug.”

Star Floors: 1988
“My short parlay throwing rave parties. They were massive undertakings with star DJs flown in from around the world. With Star Floors we transformed a movie theater into a psychedelic space station. Thus began my interest in video design and projections.”

Cream: 1996-97
“I joined forces with the genius Mx. Justin Bond to host my next project. This began my amateur exhibitionist, trashy contests and performances. There was a series of photo competitions and shows—‘Say Hello to my Penis,’ ‘The Big Piss Contest,’ ‘The Pretty Penis Competition’—you get the picture. We hung a clothesline across the stage, and by the end of the night it would be heavy with photos of body parts, used condoms, Ziploc bags full of urine. I still do the photo contest at my party Big Fat Dick at Fubar. I have over 20 years of dirty pictures in my closet.”

Studio Filthy Whore: 1996-98
“A play on the decadence of Studio 54 but with a punk rock ‘n roll edge to it. Rock upstairs and house downstairs. This was when I really began playing with the idea of sets and costumes—creating themes, building sets and styling dancers to create my fantasy environments. Weather it was a "Drag Boxing Ring" or a "Teenage Boys Bedroom Fantasy" I would pull out all the stops creating an environment from top to bottom. It was a lot of hard work but people ate it up.

Foxy: 1996-2000
“One of the most fun and wildest parties I’ve thrown, this one is the source of my most jaw-dropping memories. It was hosted by a slew of the greats, including Jackie Beat, Justin Bond, World Famous BOB and Sherry Vine. Everyone who entered received ‘Foxy Dollars’ to give away, and whoever had the most at the end of the night was crowned ‘The Foxiest Person Alive.’”

The Cock: 1997-2000(ish)
“I opened and created The Cock, put a red neon Rooster in the window, designed the space, staffed it with all my friends and promoted it 7 nights a week for a few years. It was over capacity every night since opening. Best time of my life.”

HOTDOG: 2001 – 2008
“It began at The Parlour club, then moved to 7969, before heading to the Dragon Fly and then The Palms for a short stay.”

SWALLOW: 2006
“A party I did at MJ's for a short time. I put a live feed camera in the back and people did "live shows" that we would play on the monitors.”

BRUTUS: 2010 – Present
“Sea hags and plenty of booty—going on four years at Faultline.”

Full Frontal Disco: 2009 – Present
“A celebration of disco decadence and ive choreographed dance performance going on over five years. Started at the Grand Star Jazz club in Chinatown because they had a light up dance floor. It's now at Akbar.”

Big Fat Dick: 2008 – Present
“L.A.’s longest-running gay party—every Thursday night at Fubar for 12 years and going strong.”

Club King
July 14, 9:30 p.m.
Director's Guild of America

Outfest Daily Report, Day 4: The Industry's LGBT Elite Hit the Pool

JD Disalvatore — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 17:36:00 GMT

Sunday at Outfest was all about the annual Filmmaker Pool Party hosted by Oscar-winning producer Dan Jinks (Milk, American Beauty) up in the Hollywood Hills. This party has been happening for over a decade, and it’s a festive sun-and-fun day where industry professionals in the upper echelons of Hollywood are invited to mingle with up-and-coming LGBT filmmakers from the festival.

Limited Partners screened at the DGA yesterday. “I am absolutely not a crier at films, but I lost it in this one. It is just so emotionally intense,” said documentary film director Blair Doroshwalther (Out In the Night, screening June 18 at the DGA). “The film is beautifully made, and it just gets to you.”

Outfest Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer and Ashley Fink

Director Dito Montiel brought Boulevard stars Kathy Baker, Giles Matthey and Roberto Aguire (and friend Ashley Fink of Glee) to his screening at the DGA. The film stars Robin Williams as a low-key husband who has a secret life that comes to light.

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

Guy Shalem and Jack Plotnick

It was also great running into Rose Troche, who looks so young and vibrant it’s hard to believe she was part of the new queer cinema movement of the 1990s (Go Fish). “I’m excited to be a mentor with the Outfest screenwriting lab this year,” she told me. “I’ve done the Sundance one, and this one has been fantastic.” Troche is a veteran writer/director with credits including The Safety of Objects, Six Feet Under, Bedrooms and Hallways and The L Word. She and her fellow Go Fish alum Guinevere Turner are both mentors in the lab this year (along with other vets including Don Roos and Barry Sandler), which will have its staged reading tonight at the DGA at 7:30 p.m.

James Duke Mason and friend

There are five winners of the Outfest screenplay competition each year, and they are paired with established screenwriters for workshopping of their scripts (Turner also wrote on The L Word, as well as penning American Psycho). Then Outfest directing alumni (including Darren Stein, Nisha Ganatra and Andrea James) will choose a scene from each piece and produce a staged reading with established actors (like Veronica Cartwright, who—trivia—was the girl that called out the lesbian teachers in the original film of The Children’s Hour!) The evening ends tonight with a mixer, so the screenwriters can get feedback from the audience.

Daniel Dugan and Jonah Blechman

Another screening to catch tonight is 52 Tuesdays. Director Wendy Joe Carlton (director, Easy Abby) raved about this film having seen it at Frameline. “This is fresh and innovative filmmaker. And they even have an app!” The film is about a 16-year-old who has to acclimate to the idea that her mother begins transitioning. The film won a Directing Award at Sundance earlier this year, and it plays at the DGA tonight.

Dan Jinks and friend

Also playing tonight is Andrea Meyerson’s seventh documentary at Outfest, Letter to Anita, which is narrated by Meredith Baxter and tells the story of local lesbian activis/publisher Ronni Sanlo. It’s a personal story of the effects of Anita Bryant’s historic anti-gay campaign on the 1970s, playing at Harmony Gold.

Joel Michaely, director Darren Stein and friend

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

Click here to see Frontiers' ongoing coverage of Outfest via daily reports

World Cup-Winning Goal by Mario Götze Reignites Boat Boner Pic (NSFW)

Stephan Horbelt — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:47:00 GMT

Last night was the denouement of a month-long spectacle for die-hard soccer fans and the sport's more casual fans alike (I'm looking at you, every gay man in Southern California). In the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Germany went up against Argentina and came away with the golden trophy for the fourth time in the European country's history.

The game's final score may have been a paltry 1-0 (unheard of in America's more popular ballgames), but that one German goal was scored by none other than all-around sexpot Mario Götze, who has since found himself plastered across the interwebs in the most compromising of situations. (You'll find the uncropped image in question on Page 2.)

Click here to see our post "Socer Players in the Buff: Our World Cup Runneth Over"

It was back in April 2013 when Götze was photographed "at full mast" while frolicking on a boat with German model Ann-Kathrin Brommel Vida. The photo was of course immediately made available to the public, but the soccer star's most recent claim to fame has led to the image's resurgence.

Unlike that now-infamous picture of the American rowing team snapped back in 2012 (above), in which U.S. teammate Henrik Rummel appeared to be sporting wood during the medal ceremony (he'd be the one second from the left, for the visually impaired) but claimed there was no erection involved, in this new instance there is really no doubt what we're looking at.

As not even a casual soccer fan, I never thought I'd be saying this, but Viva El Fútbol! Or at least Viva El Fútbol's Hunky and Sparsely Clothed Players!

Click through to page two for an image of what we're now dubbing Boat-Bonergate.

Coming to TV: 'The Good Wife' Gets a Hunky Cast Addition, CBS to Air New Series 'Zoo'

Nathaniel Grey — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:34:00 GMT

Private Practice vet Taye Diggs will be joining the upcoming sixth season of the CBS series The Good Wife. Confirmed for a multi-episode story arc, he’ll be playing equity partner Dean Levin-Wilkins who follows Christine Baranski to work with Julianna Margulies and Matt Czuchry’s characters at the law firm of Florrick/Algos. Series co-creators Robert and Michelle King are as excited as fans to see another big name added to the hit show. The new season of The Good Wife will begin Sunday, Sept. 21.

Battlestar Galactica vet Jamie Bamber has signed to do a multiple-episode story arc on the TNT drama Rizzoli & Isles. His role is that of Paul Wescourt, a noted attorney who is charged with the murder of his mistress. He will first appear in the Sept. 2 season finale, followed by the first episode of the next season.

The upcoming CBS series Zoo is not based on the Matt Damon film We Bought a Zoo but comes from James Patterson’s 2012 bestseller. The eye network has already approved 13 episodes that follows a young biologist who tries to solve a wave of animal attacks on people. The production seems to be of impressive pedigree, featuring executive producers like Jeff Pinker of Fringe, Alias’ Andre Nemec and Life on Mars' Scott Rosenberg. It's too early to name any cast member, but I can confirm it’s expected to debut next summer.

Gay PDA: Some Same-Sex Loving Italians Could Face Harsh Fines

Jerry Suarez — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:59:00 GMT

Italian mayor Gianluca Buonanno of the Italian municipality Borgosesia told an Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, that he doesn’t like the idea of people of the same sex making public displays of affection, claiming, “It's a question of respect. And I'm convinced that it's also morally harmful for children."

Buonanno is known for crazy stunts. One such stunt was his expulsion from Parliament in April of this year for pulling a sea bass from under his bench and waving it around in an attempt to protest a bill that called for the decriminalization of undocumented immigrants. (April Fools' Day is traditionally known as 'April Fish' in Italy, France, Belgium and French-speaking parts of Switzerland.)

Such stunts from a man so clearly desperate for the spotlight are to be expected—and that he has an easier time taking out his political frustrations on citizens and communities that are more vulnerable to discrimination should come as no surprise to anybody

The mayor has proposed a new ordinance that would ban PDA between same-sex couples, who could be fined up to 500 euros for sharing a kiss on the streets of Borgosesia.

Parliament member Daniele Viotti said, “Mr Buonanno is only able to give a voice to all the worst values that, unfortunately, are still circulating in Europe.”

Italy’s various jurisdictions have differing laws in regaurds to gay and lesbian couples—much like the United States—with some opposing and some enforcing the rights of gay couples. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who introduced the idea of civil partnerships for Italian same-sex couples, said, “In the context of the civil code, we have no difficulty reasoning about a matter that exists, namely the protection of people living together, including gays.”

Lady Parts Justice to Launch Funny New Interactive Website

Karen Ocamb — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:30:00 GMT

Lizz Winstead, the very funny LGBT ally who co-founded the original The Daily Show, is part of a group called Lady Parts Justice, "kicking politicians out of vagainans since 2012." On Tuesday LPJ is launching a new interactive site where you can pick a state, get facts and watch funny videos. While their primary focus is the erosion of the theoretically constitutionally-protected reproductive rights of women—they also take on LGBT issues such as this one about “gay conversion” at a venue spoofing Chick-fil- A.

Jose Antonio Vargas, Undocumented Gay Journalist, Trapped at Texas Border Town

Karen Ocamb — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:25:00 GMT

Jose Antonio Vargas, a reporter for the Washington Post, won a Pulitzer Prize before he was 30. Then, on June 22, 2011, he came out as an undocumented immigrant in a major story for The New York Times Magazine. Well into the vividly revealing story, he tells how in 1999 he came out to classmates after watching a documentary on Harvey Milk. That caused a mighty set of new problems at home and school. But, Vargas wrote, “Tough as it was, coming out about being gay seemed less daunting than coming out about my legal status. I kept my other secret mostly hidden.”

Vargas shot to prominence as a powerful spokesperson for DREAMers, kids brought or sent to America for a better life, who wake up one day to discover they are not “legally” American. Now he is lending his name and trying to help the thousands of unaccompanied children who have struggled day and night, journeyed over miles of difficult terrain, trying to escape the violence in their homes in Central America - looking for freedom or family in America. First there is safety, then lrgality.

Vargas gave an interview to GLAAD just before a documentary called Documented about his life aired on CNN Sunday. His ongoing efforts to document other undocumented immigrants took him to the Texas border city of McAllen last week, where the now finds himself stuck without the proper papers to leave.

He wrote on Politico last Friday:

I flew into the valley Thursday morning to visit a shelter for unaccompanied Central American refugees and participate in a vigil in their honor. Outraged at the media coverage of this humanitarian crisis (these children are not “illegal,” as news organizations like CBS News and the New York Times call them), and frustrated by the political ping-pong centered on border security and increased enforcement, I also came here to share my own story of coming to the United States as an unaccompanied minor from the Philippines. I wanted to help change the narrative of the conversation and, with a camera crew, share stories from the shelter and its volunteers. The visit to the shelter was intense and sobering, watching small kids fight for their lives with nothing more than their spirits.

When my friend Mony Ruiz-Velasco, an immigration lawyer who used to work in the area, saw on my Facebook page that I was in McAllen, she texted me: “I am so glad you are visiting the kids near the border. But how will you get through the checkpoint on your way back?” A curious question, I thought, and one I dismissed. I’ve visited the border before, in California. What checkpoint? What was she talking about?

Vargas told the Dallas Morning News on Sunday he doesn't know what will happen next:

And now you have a real fear of not being able to get out of the area. Can you explain why that is and how it feels? I’m the most privileged undocumented immigrant in the country. And with that privilege comes responsibility. The responsibility of tying my specific story to the story of 11 million undocumented people like me and using every skill and resources I have to tell stories and insist that we talk about this issue humanely and fairly.

The feeling of being stuck and trapped by our broken immigration system is very familiar to undocumented people like me. But it’s even more pronounced for undocumented immigrants who live in the border. And now I’m trapped like they are: There are check-points and border patrol agents everywhere, including at the airport. I’ve always felt trapped as an undocumented person who’s lived here for almost 21 years. And you make the most of what you can do. You try to stay positive……

I have no control over what the government chooses to do. But like the other 11 million undocumented immigrants whose lives are in limbo, I am not a threat to this country. Should people continue to be needlessly detained and deported while our government can’t come up with a compromise and provide a solution?.....

I do not know what’s going to happen when I try to leave. But the reality is there are thousands in this region whose lives are confined to a 45-mile radius because of border agents and checkpoints. That’s why I am sharing this fear I have to underscore that shared circumstance.

Here’s the latest from MSNBC’s Joy Reid:

Archie to Die Saving His Gay Best Friend, Says Publisher

Gabi Chepurny — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:30:00 GMT

News of the death of Archie Andrews of Archie Comics fame was announced in April, but no one knew how he would die until now.

The character, who’s been around for 73 years, will die taking a bullet for his gay best friend, Kevin Keller, in a progressive and outspoken move on the creator’s part. Publisher and co-CEO Jon Goldwater says, “The way in which Archie dies is everything that you would expect of Archie. He dies heroically. He dies selflessly. He dies in the manner that epitomizes not only the best of Riverdale but the best of all of us. It's what Archie has come to represent over the past almost 75 years."

No one knows exactly who kills Archie, as that will remain a secret until the comic comes out on Wednesday, but his death already says much more than readers would have expected it to. Archie takes a literal bullet for his best friend, who is also gay, and also is a war veteran. Coming from a comic strip that launched in 1941, the change in cultural norms from start to finish is astounding.

Archie and his death embody wholesomeness, an attribute many would argue has been lost today. Wednesday’s installment not only nods to the best in Archie’s human character, instead of being a superhero like his cohorts, it brings the issue of gun violence to the conversation as well.

Goldwater added, “Archie is not a superhero like all the rest of the comic book character. He's human. He's a person. When you wound him, he bleeds. He knows that. If anything, I think his death is more impactful because of that. We hope by showing how something so violent can happen to Archie, that we can—in some way—learn from him."

Jeanne Cordóva and Rev. Troy Perry, L.A. LGBT Icons, Recount Early Days of Gay Rights Struggle

Douglas Greco — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:00:00 GMT

Rev. Troy Perry (left), USC professor Christopher Freeman and Jeanne Cordóva

Two icons of the Los Angeles LGBT movement gave their personal accounts of the early gay rights struggle at a panel discussion held at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries. Writer and activist Jeanne Cordóva became president of the L.A. chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis 43 years ago, and from there played a key role in building a national lesbian rights movement. Rev. Troy Perry founded the Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 and performed the first same-sex wedding in the United States in 1970. Also in 1970, Rev. Perry co-founded the organization Christopher Street West, which planned the first-ever Pride Parade.

Given that ONE Archives is the largest LGBT history archive in the world, it was fitting that the panel discussion itself resembled an oral history project. Christopher Freeman, a USC professor in gender and sexuality studies (with an emphasis on Los Angeles), and a ONE Archives board member, asked Cordova and Perry about their formative periods in the movement as well as the major challenges in the time just preceding gay liberation.

Rev. Perry talked about his experience in pre-Stonewall era gay clubs in Southern California, where police raids and arrests were common. At the Red Raven club in Hollywood, Perry recalled with a sense of humor, a friend advised him not to talk with strangers. Perry said, “I thought, my God, how do you meet anyone?” At another bar, the Canyon Club, patrons had to be buzzed through three doors just to get in. Perry also told the story of friends who were arrested during a raid at The Patch, a club in Wilmington. Police snapped a picture of Perry and others at the club and published it in the front page of a local newspaper. The Patch was also the location of rebellion against another police raid in 1968, 10 months before the more famous Stonewall riots in New York.

It was out of these experiences in the late 1960s, Perry said, that his involvement in the still nascent gay movement began to emerge. Telling the story of the day his life turned around, Perry said he laid in a hospital bed with his wrists bandaged after an unsuccessful suicide attempt over a troubled relationship. He said an African-American nurse came into the room to confront him when he was crying uncontrollably, and said, “I don’t know why you done this, but this is crazy.” The nurse revealed to Perry that she had once tried to commit suicide herself and showed the scars on her own arms. She said, “Isn’t there someone you can talk to? Can’t you just look up?”

Perry, who was raised in a southern Pentecostal church, said this pushed “every religious button in me from my childhood, and I prayed for the first time in years.” Perry continued to pray when he got home from the hospital, but to a God he still believed condemned homosexuality. “Then God spoke to me and said, ‘Troy, don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I love you. I don’t have stepsons and stepdaughters.’ I knew at that moment I could be a homosexual.” The rest is history. Starting with a prayer group of 12 people in his living room in Huntington Park, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) grew over the next 46 years to over 222 member congregations in 37 countries. Perry began performing same-sex unions in 1970 and MCC ordained women starting in 1972.

Jeanne Cordóva was a key organization and movement-builder as well. After spending a few years in a convent, Cordóva left religious life in the late '60s to pursue a career in activism and organizing, but became frustrated with a lesbian community that she says then was centered around “playing softball, drinking in bars and talking about who slept with whom that weekend.” Cordóva first discovering the gay movement in Los Angeles when she walked “down these basement stairs into this dark room,” where the L.A. chapter of The Daughters of Bilitis (the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States) met. In the late '60s, the DOB was a group Cordóva thought was too focused on asking for toleration from society. Cordóva said, “As a 20-year-old this wasn’t enough. I wanted to do something more bold.” Cordova became president of the DOB, and began invited groups like “Woman Against War” to meetings, but got some negative reactions.

A turning point for Cordóva came after discovering a group “Lesbian Feminists” in Los Angeles. “My head spun around. There were hippies with unshaven legs and long hair. They talked of equal power. Sisterhood.” From this point Cordóva determined to building a national lesbian-feminist movement. She formed the “Gay Intergroup Council” bringing together eight Los Angeles gay and lesbian groups “to realize we are a movement.” Cordóva realized the importance of gay periodicals in the early movement. “I thought we should have a magazine.” Though Cordóva had heard about ONE and The Ladder, she thought there needed to be a lesbian magazine published in Los Angeles. Starting as the editor of the Los Angeles DOB newsletter, Cordóva eventually turned it into The Lesbian Tide, which became a national voice on lesbian issues in the 1970s. The magazine brought to light issues largely unseen to the public, such as the “Daddy Tank,” which was a separate jail space that authorities then put “butch lesbians” they perceived as being too masculine.

Finally, Cordóva also told the story from which she believes the expression “People of Color” originated. At a women’s conference in Houston in 1977, Cordóva said the Black Caucus was set to present a resolution on “The Black Women’s Agenda” before the convention. “Then along come the Chicanos, the Native Americans, and the Asian and Pacific Islanders who had just begun to organize, and all these other groups and said ‘we want to be part of your resolution. You’ve got let us in.‘ So one person said, let's call ourselves ‘Women of Color.’ Now you hear even TV anchors using the expression 'women of color' or 'people of color.'”

The event was organized by the University of Chicago LGBT Alumni Association. One Archives relies largely on private support in the form of money donations, as well as donation of books, periodicals, art, diaries, LGBT organizational minutes, posters, and other materials chronicling LGBT history.

Remembering Mona Freeman and Martha Hyer, Actresses of the Golden Age

Mike McCrann — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:30:00 GMT

Two Hollywood actresses from the Golden Age, Mona Freeman and Martha Hyer, died last month. Neither was a huge star, and most people under 50 probably had no idea who they were, but both ladies were beautiful and talented, and each had a few wonderful films. One was even nominated for an Academy Award.

These two blonde beauties were contemporaries. Each of them had a good life once their movie careers ended. Both retired, and each was happily married. Mona Freeman (pictured right) became a name in New York when she became the first Miss Subways in 1941. Mona was 15 years old and a child model. She had never ridden a subway in her life, but there was her picture plastered all over the NYC subway system.

Mona went to Hollywood and played the endearing bratty child in Dear Ruth, starring William Holden and Joan Caulfield. Mona was the prankster sister who sent Caulfield's picture to sexy Bill Holden with a love note. Dear Ruth made a fortune, and Mona starred in the two sequels, Dear Wife and Dear Brat. Now, these films are not Citizen Kane, but they were great Hollywood fluff made when such innocuous comedies could also be highly entertaining. Today we have crap like Zac Efron's and Seth Rogen's Neighbors (see my take on that here). In the late '40s we had Dear Ruth. You tell me which is funnier?

Mona Freeman became a beautiful young woman and made the transition to adult roles but never the starring part. In the great Otto Preminger film noir Angel Face, Mona was Robert Mitchum's lovely girlfriend. But Mitchum was straying, with Jean Simmons playing the scene-stealing psycho who kills her stepmother and father. Mona Freeman was also Tab Hunter's girlfriend in Battle Cry. Mona Freeman eventually retired, and her second marriage was a great success. She had a lovely daughter, Mona, who briefly had a movie career. Mona Freeman was also an accomplished painter, and her portrait of Mary See (of the Sees Candy empire) is still used in that franchise's advertising.

Martha Hyer (pictured right) had a much more successful film career. She reached her zenith in 1958's Some Came Running. Hyer was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the small-town Gwen French, who is romanced by Frank Sinatra. Some Came Running was a great Vincente Minnelli melodrama filmed on location in Indiana. Hyer was excellent, but Shirley Maclaine—playing the trampy Ginny—stole the film from both Sinatra and Dean Martin. Maclaine was among the five Best Actress nominees in the famous 1958 race (What I call the Greatest 'Best Actress' race in history) that many still think was the toughest year of all.

Martha Hyer had a number of good movies but never graduated to full leading lady stardom. Probably her best role was Jennie Denton in the trash masterpiece The Carpetbaggers. Playing a call girl turned movie star, Martha Hyer was the best thing in this camp classic. Beautiful and blond, Hyer was spectacular. If you want to see a great bad movie, check it out. A sleazy roman a clef about Howard Hughes, this cult fave has George Peppard, Carroll Baker and Alan Ladd (his last film) at their ripest. With dialog like, "She was doomed for oblivion!" and "I act out peoples' dreams!" The Carpetbaggers made a fortune and Martha Hyer looks like Garbo compared to the rest of the hapless cast.

In 1966 Martha Hyer married famed producer Hal Wallis (Casablanca, etc). It was the second marriage for both. Hyer had been divorced, and Wallis was a widower. Martha Hyer retired from the movies and became a prominent and popular Hollywood hostess. The marriage lasted until Wallis died. Martha Hyer then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and became something of a recluse in her later years.

Mona Freeman and Martha Hyer—huge movie stars? No, but each lady was beautiful, and each of them contributed some lasting glamour and talent to a Hollywood that is long gone. Actually, though, it's not gone at all. You can still watch Mona Freeman in her glorious youth and wonder why she wasn't a bigger star. And you can still revel in Martha Hyer's fabulous performance in The Carpetbaggers. Both ladies deserve to be remembered. Each one was talented and special. Farewell, Mona and Martha. For those of us who love old movies, you will always be remembered.

Gerard Way and Mat Devine Release 'Gay Duet'

Dominic Preston — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:00:00 GMT

Mat Devine and Gerard Way have teamed up to release what they’re describing as a “gay duet,” a love song sung by the two men.

‘Falling In Love Will Kill You’ is the latest single from Devine, who was previously the frontman of alt rock band Kill Hannah, but is now releasing a solo album under the pseudonym Wrongchilde. The single features Gerard Way, most famous as the lead vocalist for My Chemical Romance.

Devine said that ‘Falling In Love Will Kill You’ was originally written to be a duet with a woman, but that he decided to make a point of choosing a male vocalist. He said that "by choosing to release ‘Falling in Love Will Kill You’ as a guy-on-guy duet, I’m hoping we can ignore the expectations of the music industry and make it accessible to everyone... and to me, that’s what makes it a MODERN love song."

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The song also features guitar from Alain Whyte, who was Morrissey’s lead guitarist from 1991-2004, and has writing credits for Rihanna, Madonna and Kelis, among others, which isn’t bad going really.

Wrongchilde’s album, Goldblooded, comes out on August 19, but you can listen to ‘Falling In Love Will Kill You’ right now via Soundcloud.

Outfest 2014's 'The Way He Looks': The Feel Good Film of This Year's Fest

Gary M. Kramer — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:46:00 GMT

Sweet and sunny Brazilian romance The Way He Looks is writer/director Daniel Ribeiro’s feature-length version of the excellent 2010 short Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho (I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone). This expanded version, easily the “feel good film” of Outfest, is one of those rare, happy cases where the feature greatly improves upon the short.

Ribeiro employs the same actors, which benefits The Way He Looks because the three central performers have an established chemistry that is infectious. There’s a palpable naturalism in how they interact, and viewers believe right away that the lead characters have been friends forever.

Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) is a blind teenager whose bestie, Giovana (Tess Amorim), assists him in school and walks him home. When Gabriel (Fabio Audi) joins their class, he befriends Leo and Gi. A class assignment forces Gabriel and Leo to work together, and the guys quickly form an intimate bond, causing Gi to become jealous. In episodes created for the feature, the guys go to the movies together (Gabriel describes the action to Leo); they sneak out late at night to watch an eclipse; and Gabriel teaches the classical-loving Leo about modern music.

For more of Frontiers opinionated guide to Outfest 2014 click here.

Ribeiro infuses these moments—Leo hugging Gabriel on the bicycle they share, Gabriel guiding Leo while dancing—with a tender sexual tension to show how these two teenagers fall in love, whereas the short only had the teens touching hands or Leo sniffing Gabriel’s clothes to create a shorthand for their affection. These expanded episodes serve to magnify the boys’ burgeoning desires.

The film’s visual cues are also strong. A scene of Leo practicing kissing in the shower expresses the desire he feels but does not dare to express. And this is what makes The Way He Looks so magical; the guys never discuss their emotions, but they are all tactile. When Gabriel plants a kiss on Leo, or the two friends shower together during an overnight class trip (Gabriel becomes aroused at the sight of Leo naked), the unspoken attraction hangs in the air.

Ribeiro’s warm approach to telling Leo’s story prompts viewers to want the boys to couple-up. Subplots that try to keep the guys apart never feel forced. Giovana’s jealousy is poignant, and when Leo’s classmates mock him (he is tricked at a party during a game of spin the bottle) it is typical of any film in which the gay kid is “different.”

Shrewdly, Leo’s blindness is never treated as a gimmick in The Way He Looks. His disability is a joke for some of his classmates, but mostly it is an issue for Leo’s overprotective mother, who is reluctant to let him attend an overnight class trip or study abroad. That Gabriel treats Leo the way he would anyone is refreshing, and it’s what makes their relationship even more satisfying.

Ribeiro’s highly enjoyable film is so charming, one can forgive its predictability. The Way He Looks is sure to leave a smile in viewers’ hearts.

The Way He Looks
July 14 - 7 p.m.
Director's Guild of America

Bastille Day 2014: 13 of Our Favorite French Icons, Artists and Heroes

Lydia Siriprakorn — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:30:00 GMT

It’s Bastille Day, which is not just a classier, artistic French rendition of our July 4th. Today France celebrates the historic storming of the Bastille that kicked off the French Revolution, so it’s only appropriate that we take a moment to honor some of our favorite French heroes and heroines in history.

Mylene Farmer
She’s one of the most successful recording artists in French history, and her gay icon status puts Lady Gaga and Madonna to shame.

Ysa Ferrer
Her dance/electronic music style has helped her rise to gay icon status in France and Russia.

Joan of Arc
The famous French heroine turned Catholic saint was burned at the stake for defending her right to define her sexuality.

Catherine Deneuve
The famous French actress gained popularity with the LGBT community for her role as a bisexual vampire in The Hunger.

Jean Genet
His life started at the bottom, but the former criminal became a lasting figure in gay cinema with his film Un Chant D’Amour.

Gertrude Stein
She’s known as the mother of modernism. The American writer spent most of her life in Paris.

Jean Cocteau
He left his mark on the French arts scene as a novelist, poet, playwright and film director.

Marcel Proust
He was a famous French novelist best known for À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu.

Yves Saint Laurent
The French designer continues to be one of the most celebrated names in fashion.

Carla Bruni
The former first lady, singer and model was an outspoken supporter of gay marriage, even when her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, was not.

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau
These two were the first French gay couple to legally marry last year amidst plenty of cameras and tight security.

Bertrand Delanoë
He was elected in 2001 and became the first openly gay mayor of Paris.

Lilian Thuram
The French soccer star is one of the most capped players in the history of the French national team, and also an active supporter of gay marriage.

Are Republican Governors ‘Evolving’ on Marriage Equality?

Karen Ocamb — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:54:00 GMT

There’s some big news coming out of the Bible Belt this weekend. Apparently the National Governors Association is trying out a new rhetorical strategy in their traditional opposition to same-sex marriage, while promoting an "American Comeback" version of compassionate conservativism as well, as evidenced by the "common man" stylings of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (pictured above).

"I don't think the Republican Party is fighting it (marriage equality)," Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker told the Associated Press at the National Governors Association in Nashville, Tenn. "I'm not saying it's not important. But Republicans haven't been talking about this. We've been talking about economic and fiscal issues. It's those on the left that are pushing it."

Last May a Gallup poll indicated that national support for marriage equality has reached 55%, and that included 30% of Republicans. Of particular interest to those seeking young GOP recruits, the poll showed that nearly 8 in 10 young adults from both parties supported same-sex marriage. The official Republican Party's official platform, however, still calls for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as "the union of one man and one woman" and endorses state efforts to ban marriage equality at the state level.

But Walker, as with other potential 2016 presidential candidates, is changing the rhetoric, harkening back to the once-touted, now neglected 100-page RNC “autopsy” report developed after their failed 2012 elections. One section reads:

For the GOP to appeal to younger voters, we do not have to agree on every issue, but we do need to make sure young people do not see the Party as totally intolerant of alternative points of view. Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be.

The recommendation is for the party to be more "inclusive and welcoming."

"The ground has never been more inviting and welcoming to someone changing their position on the issue," Marc Solomon, a former Republican Hill staffer, now with Freedom to Marry, told the National Journal. "Where the polling is on the issue, it shows that we have a real legitimate chance at victory in 2016."

The National Journal reported Monday:

The American Unity PAC, the sister group to the 501(c)(4) American Unity Fund, has spent almost $700,000 this cycle to elect Republicans who back gay rights, compared with the nearly $120,000 traditional-marriage groups like Family Research Council have doled out, and their meetings with members went from three a week last year to five per week this year.

The trick is carefully trudging the thin line between the language of “freedom” and actions that appear to counter the rhetoric. For instance, this is the same Gov. Scott Walker who supports the state ban against marriage equality, which a federal judge recently struck down as unconstitutional in a lawsuit in which Walker is a named defendant. A few days ago Wisconsin’s attorney general announced he was formally appealing that decision. Ironically, Walker told AP this weekend he was appealing because it is his obligation as governor to defend the state's constitution, while on Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC News that it is his obligation to defend the constitutional right of same-sex couples to the freedom to marry at the Supreme Court.

Potential 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie, New Jersey’s governor who vetoed a marriage equality bill, decided not to appeal the ruling overturning the marriage ban, saying it’s now a “settled issue.” But, he told AP, “[t]he overwhelming majority of states in the country still ban same-sex marriage, so I don't think it's time to stop having a discussion."

As RGA leader, Christie brought good news to the governors, doing what they hoped he would do, bringing in the money: “a record breaking amount of cash on hand, with $70.3 million heading into the height of the 2014 election cycle,” the RGA reported. “This fundraising success has equipped the RGA with the resources it needs to aggressively defend its incumbent Republican governors and add to its majority in this critical election year with 36 gubernatorial races.”

How much of that money will go to governors and races with an explicit anti-LGBT message, or will criteria to receive that funding include a no LGBT-bashing rule?

Perhaps even more significant than the Republican governors’ return to the “autopsy” recommendations regarding treatment of gays is the heavy reliance on the new compassionate conservative language about the poor.

Kasich, whose administration is appealing a marriage equality ruling in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Aug. 6, is a potential GOP presidential candidate to watch. Unlike the bombastic Chris Christie or the brash Texas Gov. Rick Perry, or the isolationist Rand Paul, Kasich knows how to deliver the new compassionate conservative message for unemployed workers about caring for the poor and struggling, and backing it up with pulling the state out of an $8 billion hole.

Here’s Kasich’s video, which clearly illustrates his appeal to voters who are not part of Mitt Romney’s One Percent club, a message that could resonate with Reagan Democratic voters, as well:

I think it’s really important that in life we always put ourselves in somebody else’s shoes. I think that it’s important that we just don’t take care of ourselves without looking around at ways we can help those who haven’t had the blessings that we’ve had. And I think when you have a strong economy, you are then in a position of where you can do more to help people who – for one reason or another – are not participating as much as they would like in the great American Dream.

And the notion in our society – I have seen a growing notion that if someone is poor, it’s always their fault or they’re lazy and I don’t agree with that. I think people can fall on hard times. So my philosophy is sort of this: it’s a sin not to help people who need help. But it’s equally a sin to continue to help somebody who needs to learn how to help themselves. And when you mix that together, it means we have to do some things to lift people who at times can live on the margin and give them an opportunity to share fully in the American Dream.

In Person This Week: Molly Ringwald Performs, William Friedkin Signs Books, Scott Bakula Sits for 'Extra'

Nathaniel Grey — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:30:00 GMT

This week around Los Angeles, you may stumble upon book signings by Hollywood veterans and reality TV demigods, a jazz performance by an '80s rom-com icon and Globe Fountain interviews with a still-hunky-after-all-these-years co-star of HBO's hit series Looking.

Tuesday, July 15

The famous for nothing substantial Paris Hilton will appear at Universal Studios' Globe Fountain to be interviewed by Mario Lopez for Extra at 2:30 p.m.

Later that night, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles star Molly Ringwald brings her vocal stylings to the Los Feliz restaurant and cabaret Rockwell Table & Stage. (Read our interview with her here.)

Also on the July 15, Boy Meets World (and now Girl Meets World) vet Danielle Fishel signs copies of Normally, This Would Be Cause For Concern at the Grove's Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m.

Director of The Exorcist William Friedkin will sign copies of his book The Friedkin Connection at Larry Edmunds Books in Hollywood at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, July 16

Mrs. John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, will be hanging out at the Globe Fountain for an Extra interview at 10 a.m., followed by Nicole Ritchie plugging her new reality show at noon.

At 7 p.m. that evening, author, director and Oscar-winning actor Lee Grant signs copies of I Said Yes to Everything at the Grove's Barnes & Noble.

Thursday, July 17

Boardwalk Empire's Michael Pitt will be surrounded by Universal Studios visitors when he is interviewed for Extra at 10:30 a.m., which precedes a 2:30 p.m. interview with Witches of East End star Julia Ormand.

Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller signs copies of Everything I Learned About Life, I Learned in Dance Class at the Grove's Barnes & Noble bookstore at 7 p.m.

The Breakfast Club's Judd Nelson joins The Nanny's Nicholle Tom and 90210's Hal Ozsan at the July 17 premiere of Private Number. The horror film will be screened at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 theatre complex in Beverly Hills.

Friday, July 18

Co-star of HBO's Looking and Quantum Leap vet Scott Bakula sits for Extra at Universal Studios at 3 p.m.

Saturday, July 19

Glee star Chris Colfer comes to the Grove's Barnes & Noble to sign copies of his book, The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning, at 2 p.m.

Outfest 2014's 'Club King': How Did Mario Diaz Claim His Crown?

Brenden Shucart — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:08:00 GMT

Jon Bush’s documentary Club King offers a peek inside the world of Mario Diaz. From the smoky leather bars of Silver Lake to brightly lit Boystown, L.A.’s own King of Sleaze has shaped our city’s gay club scene in his image, but he was not born to the crown. Diaz shares a brief timeline of his decades promoting parties, from the early days in Seattle and New York City to our hallowed gayborhoods in the City of Angels.

Hustler: 1995-96
“For my first promotion in NYC, I partnered with drag star and queen of rock Mistress Formika. It was my first retro porn-inspired event, a celebration of ‘70s and ‘80s-era cruising—something that has become a bit of a staple in your gay dive bar culture these days, but at the time I’d never seen it done. We brought back the back room and kicked the East Village’s ass with this party.”

For more of Frontiers opinionated guide to Outfest 2014 click here.

Cream: 1996-97
“I joined forces with the genius Mx. Justin Bond to host my next project. This began my amateur exhibitionist, trashy contests and performances. There was a series of photo competitions and shows—‘Say Hello to my Penis,’ ‘The Big Piss Contest,’ ‘The Pretty Penis Competition’—you get the picture. We hung a clothesline across the stage, and by the end of the night it would be heavy with photos of body parts, used condoms, Ziploc bags full of urine. I still do the photo contest at my party Big Fat Dick at Fubar. I have over 20 years of dirty pictures in my closet.”

Lust for Life 1996-97
“First at Limelight and then at Club Life, I co-promoted this event with Squeezbox creator Michael Schmidt, Sean of the Toilet Böys, Theo Kogan of The Lunachicks and a few others. It was a massive rock ‘n’ roll dance party and drag show, and we booked some amazing bands—Nina Hagen, The Remains (essentially The Ramones without Joey), Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Donnas and even Ronnie Spector performed there, as well as many of my favorite local bands.”

Big Fat Dick
“Taking place every Thursday night at Fubar in West Hollywood, this raunchy party (with the long-standing photo contest) has lasted for 12 years and is still going strong.”

Club King
July 14 - 9:30 p.m.
Director's Guild of America

Saint Pepsi's “Fiona Coyne” is Our Song of the Day

Mike Curtis — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:22:00 GMT

Saint Pepsi – “Fiona Coyne”

Named after a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation, this almost sickeningly infectious nu-disco track channels the poppiest funk of Tori Y Moi, but with glossier production and lighter-weight sentimentality. A sun-splashed guilty pleasure.

GaymerX2: Developers Attempt to Create LGBT-Inclusive Video Games

Nate Cooper — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:09:00 GMT

Video games have come a long way since Pong, as they’ve expanded to include a massive audience beyond the loveable collegiate nerd. Generating more money than film, television and books, the video game industry has become the most popular form of media entertainment today. With so many players plugging in, video game developers now face new challenges to create games that are inclusive and non-polarizing.

This past weekend, GaymerX2 (the San Francisco all-inclusive gaming convention) hosted a panel with a few industry insiders who shared what they are doing to make games intentionally avoid some of the negative stereotypes that plague the industry.

Elizabeth Zelle, Assistant Player Experience Researcher at Deep Silver Volition, shared some of the challenges she faced working to make Saint's Row IV (pictured above) for the masses. The Saints Row series has a bit of a controversial reputation. A gang-banging, action-adventure regularly featuring porn stars among the in-game and real-world cast seemed slightly out of place at a convention where the credo is that gaming should be for everyone.

But as Elizabeth explained, while her company has made questionable decisions in the past including racist representation of characters, they are working hard to develop games that don't discriminate but do still poke some fun at players now and again. Robust character customization allows you to select your appearance, gender, voice and more. Once you’ve created a character and are in-game, you are able to romance any of the NPCs, regardless of gender making the game more personal and allowing players to be whomever they feel most comfortable. The game has gotten zanier in its current versions, abandoning its serious tone in favor of South Park-style humor where everyone is fair game.

The gaming industry is still largely Caucasian, straight and male-dominated. Developers need to reach to a wider audience to break the myopic perspective, not only reaching LGBTQ audiences but those with physical challenges as well. We’ve grown accustomed to complex two-handed controller maneuvers, but not everyone is capable of utilizing these controllers. And the bottom line aspiration up for discussion is, Who is important as an audience? Ideally―everyone.

Even on the corporate side, the industry is skewed straight, white, hetero male. When asked if it was difficult being one of the few women at her company and if she felt pressure to be the "voice of reason,” Elizabeth responded that it can be difficult, but felt it was important to speak up for things she knew were wrong.

Elizabeth and fellow speaker Christine Love (pictured right), Indie game developer and visual novelist, both agreed that for things to really change in the industry, players need to speak with their wallets. Love encouraged gamers to support and share developers that celebrate diversity and bring new perspectives to games. And of course, to attend your local Gaymer convention.

Ian Thorpe, Five-Time Olympic Champion, Comes Out as Gay

Dominic Preston — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 02:58:00 GMT

Five-time Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Ian Thorpe has revealed that he is gay in an interview on Australian television.

The former Australian Olympic swimmer won nine Olympic medals over his career, five of them gold. He’s been dogged by rumors about his sexuality for years, but has denied being gay, even writing in his 2012 biography This Is Me that he was heterosexual.

In the recent interview, with British journalist Sir Michael Parkinson on Australia’s Channel 10, Thorpe revealed that it’s only in the last couple of weeks that he’s even come out to friends and family, let alone the world at large. He explained part of why it had taken until now for him to come out:

"I've wanted to [come out] for some time but I couldn't, I didn't feel as though I could. Part of me didn’t know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay.

What happened was I felt the lie had become so big that I didn't want people to question my integrity.

And, you know, a little bit of ego comes into this. I didn’t want people to question that… have I lied about everything?”

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Thorpe was also hopeful that by coming out he would encourage more young people to do so themselves, and to feel comfortable doing so:

“I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man. And I don’t want young people to feel the same way that I did. You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay.

I was concerned about the reaction from my family, my friends.

I’m pleased to say that in telling them, and especially my parents, they told me that they love me and they support me. And for young people out there, know that that’s usually what the answer is.”

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham - who in 2008 became the first openly gay man to win Olympic gold - praised Thorpe in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, and emphasized the importance of such a high profile and successful athlete coming out:

“We need high-profile gay athletes, to prove the stereotype wrong.

Thorpe is about as high-profile as it gets. He’s very influential, I think he has the potential to influence a lot of people, and how people react to it.

There is no precedent, not on this scale. It must have been a very harrowing ordeal.”

Department of Justice Would Defend Same-Sex Marriage in the Supreme Court

Dominic Preston — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 02:55:00 GMT

Attorney General Eric Holder has confirmed that the Department of Justice would defend same-sex marriage if a case reaches the Supreme Court.

During an appearance on ABC News’ This Week, Holder made it clear that if any of the states’ same-sex marriage ban cases are taken up by the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice would file a brief that “will be in support of same-sex marriage,” emphasizing that such a brief would be "consistent with the actions that we have taken over the past couple of years," such as backing the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

You might also like: Colorado Marriage Ban Falls, Utah Appealing

Holder said that he believes that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, and expects the Supreme Court to agree if it gets the chance to rule on the matter. "I think a lot of these measures that ultimately will come before the court will not survive a heightened scrutiny examination," he said.

The question of the Supreme Court dealing with same-sex marriage has become more pressing since Utah’s Attorney General sought to appeal directly with the Supreme Court after his state’s same-sex marriage ban lost its appeal with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will take up the case or not.

'Dungeons & Dragons' Embraces Diverse Gender Identities

Dominic Preston — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 02:50:00 GMT

Dungeons and Dragons has a brand new updated ruleset which not only allows, but encourages, diverse gender identities and sexual orientations.

The iconic roleplaying game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, is gearing up for the release of the games’ fifth edition. To promote it they’ve released a free PDF of the new edition’s basic rules on their website, and several readers have spotted an interesting new section on sex and gender identity:

"You can play a male or female character without gaining any special benefits or hindrances. Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture's expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behavior. For example, a male drow cleric defies the traditional gender divisions of drow society, which could be a reason for your character to leave that society and come to the surface.

You don't need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender. The elf god Corellon Larethian is often seen as androgynous or hermaphroditic, for example, and some elves in the multiverse are made in Corellon's image. You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character's sexual orientation is for you to decide.”

You might also like: GaymerX: Video Gaming LGBTs Get Together to Change a Culture

The game’s freeform character creation has always allowed players to make these sorts of decisions about their characters, but this is the first time that the rules have explicitly acknowledged it or encouraged players to consider such details.

It’s a great step from Wizards of the Coast, acknowledging the diversity of the game’s players and the characters that they wish to create. If it’s got you curious to give the game a go, you can play from the new rules right now, or pick up the new Starter Set which comes out tomorrow, July 15, for $20.

Outfest Daily Report, Day 3: Gaby Hoffmann, Jonathan Groff, the Mixing and Mingling Continues

JD Disalvatore — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 14:46:00 GMT

Saturday turned out to be exactly what Outfest is all about—celebrities, parties, films that challenge, films that blow you away, mixing and mingling at the venues, meeting incredible queer indie filmmakers and festival programmers from around the world, and catching up with all your local LGBT friends.

Star sightings included Gaby Hoffmann, America Ferrara and Jonathan Groff, and while most of the films were well-received, the big hits of the day were Match (Patrick Stewart) and The Skeleton Twins (Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig).

I also had a blast meeting several journalists from around the globe. If you like to talk film or politics, make sure you introduce yourself to these folks at the next reception. The festival attracts LGBT journalists and bloggers from various countries, as well as from national mags like Rolling Stone and The Advocate, so there are some awesome conversations to be had.

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

“I didn’t realize Patrick Stewart was such an incredible actor,” one audience member told me after the screening of Match, a film in which the X-Men/Star Trek star plays a gay choreographer. I pointed out that he’s a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare company and recently he’s been tearing up the theater scene in New York with BFF out actor Ian McKellen. “But you don’t really see this kind of range in his TV and film work,” she said. “His performance was so nuanced and just perfect,” added Andrea Krauss from Here Media. “It was a fantastic film.”

“Skeleton Twins was everything,” said television producer James Mahan. “The performances were spot on, and the film was ah-mazing.” It stars Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader as a gay man who reluctantly moves in with his estranged twin, played by fellow SNL castmate Kristin Wiig.

The afternoon belonged to HBO, as the cable network hosted a panel on its show Looking and presented the incredible documentary Regarding Susan Sontag, which they’ll be airing later this year. The pay cable mainstay has always been one of the leaders in LGBT programming (recently producing The Normal Heart), and they not only produce and showcase the stories of our lives, but the company is a huge donor to LGBT nonprofit organizations.

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

Groff and Regarding Susan Sontag director Nancy Kates held court in the DGA atrium, where audience members flanked them for hours, asking questions and commenting on their work. “Everyone thinks the show has a lot of improv,” said Groff, “but it’s scripted. We do improvisation after we’ve done all the takes of the written dialogue, but what ends up in the cut is generally from the script.”

Kates fielded a lot of questions and comments about the quality and artistic style of her doc. “It’s funny, because at other festivals like Frameline, the questions are all ‘who were her lovers,'” said Kates, “But because Outfest is in L.A. and it’s more industry savvy, I get all these questions about the cinematography, music and production!”

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

The audience response for Regarding Susan Sontag did indeed illicit endless comments about the music, the shooting style and the cinematography, but the audience was foremost incredibly moved by the intimate inside look at the influential and outspoken writer and speaker. “I knew her personally,” one audience member told me. “She would’ve loved this film.”

It was great catching up with a ton of Outfest fan favorite alumni filmmakers and stars, who all turned out to catch this year’s crop of movies. Drew Droege was there to catch Skeleton Twins, and I also had great chats with funny man Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby), Q Allan Brocka (writer/director of Eating Out, Boy Culture, Logo’s Rick & Steve), writer/director Javier Fuentes-Leon (Undertow) and editor Phillip J Bartell (GBF, Dear White People, I Am Divine, Spork) and composer Miriam Cutler (Lost in La Mancha, Girl Crazy, Pandemic: Facing AIDS). So if you like cozying up to creative types, the parties and receptions at Outfest are replete with your favorite queer filmmakers.

Ferrera (Ugly Betty, Real Women Have Curves) was at the DGA with her new film X/Y, directed by her husband Ryan Piers Williams, and they both talked for quite some time with fans at the post reception in the DGA Atrium. Also at the party were Gaby Hoffmann and the cast of Lyle—director Stewart Thorndyke’s lesbian homage to Roman Polanski's Rosemary’s Baby (note: Stewart is a woman). Hoffmann will also be here next week with her Amazon show Transparent from Six Feet Under scribe Jill Solloway. That show is about a dysfunctional L.A. family and how the adult children react when their father (Jeffrey Tambor) begins transitioning. “Ian Harvey plays my love interest this season!” Hoffmann said, referring to the popular trans comedian.

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

TOP PICKS FOR TODAY, SUNDAY, JULY 13

If you’re heading out to Outfest today, Sunday is full of fantastic offerings, from the quirky and visually striking My Prairie Home (REDCAT, 6 p.m.), which is not only a great profile doc but also offers insight into being queer/trans in Pentecostal America, to Bad Hair (Harmony Gold, 7:30 p.m.), which is a festival fave from around the world and is an emotionally stirring tale of a young biracial boy who begins to display feminine characteristics in a very anti-gay Venezuela slum (beautifully shot, and you will be wrecked emotionally).

With Russian gay rights dominating our news feeds, is a treasure from Russia and tells a dark story of a conservatory musician and his romance with a street thug.

I’m going to check out because I love out gay Israeli film maker Eytan Fox, who makes beautiful funny/tragic films like The Bubble and Yossi and Jagger. His films not only deal with hotbed issues, but they’re beautifully made.

If you like lesbians and horses, then Monika Treut's Of Girls and Horses (Harmony Gold, 3 p.m.) is the film for you.

Over at REDCAT this evening, Outfest is having its own gay Mystery Science Theatre 3000 with Drew Droege and Dave Holmes hosting Bad Movie Night at 9 p.m.

Click here for Frontiers' complete take on this year's Outfest

Brian Justin Crum Brings Queen Musical 'We Will Rock You' to American Shores

Kevin P. Taft — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 12:01:00 GMT

Growing up, Brian Justin Crum always wanted to be in musical theater. While attending San Diego’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, he started auditioning in L.A. at 16 and by 18 had landed his first role in the musical Wicked. Soon after, he was cast in Next to Normal a mere five months after it opened on Broadway. Now he returns to L.A. in the jukebox musical We Will Rock You for Center Theatre Group, written and directed by Ben Elton, an over-the-top spectacle that takes place in a dystopian future where conformity is the norm and music is forbidden. Crum plays the lead role of “Galileo,” an awkward rebel who sheds his shackles of conformity and lets his rock flag fly—all to the music of rock’s most legendary band, Queen.

FRONTIERS: We Will Rock You was incredibly popular in London, running for 11 years. Why do you think audiences connect so much to this show?

BRIAN JUSTIN CRUM: I think Freddie Mercury has done something nobody has really done. His music is deeply connected to human emotion. People really respond to his message and to his pain. I think people are just really drawn to his music and his story. The storyline of the musical is fun and campy, but it’s really all about the music. I just want to go into the show every night to do it justice.

F: I wondered if gay audiences were connecting to the show because it’s about not conforming in a society that demands that people do.

BJC: That’s a big part of the show. The main character is seen as different and then actually comes out as the hero for being different. It’s not about the underdog who’s just the outcast. It’s the outcast who becomes the rock star. And I think in the gay community, that’s all we want. We want to be able to let our light shine bright. And Galileo does. He’s an awkward little dude who gets to come out at the end and own these songs and be a powerhouse. It’s been fun for me to get this message out to kids. Kids don’t really know this music. They’ve heard it in commercials and stuff, but getting to reintroduce them to this music has been really special. Moms and dads are bringing them to the show, and they are loving it!

F: Do you think being openly gay has affected your career in any way?

BJC: I don’t know. It’s never been a concern of mine. I’ve always been openly gay. There was never a closeted time in my life. So if that means I don’t get to be a big famous actor, that’s fine with me. It’s much more important that I am who I am—and I love who I am.

F: How did you get the role of Galileo?

BJC: I saw the show in Vegas when I was 17. I was obsessed, because I’ve always loved Queen. I learned how to sing listening to Freddie Mercury, so I was like, “I have to be in that show!” When I saw they were doing a U.S. tour, I reached out to my manager and my agent and said, “I have to do this. We have to make this happen.” So I had a couple of auditions with Ben Elton, and I had a callback with Queen. After I sang “We Are the Champions” I looked down and Brian May was crying, and he put his fist in the air. So I said, “I guess this went well.”

We Will Rock You
Ahmanson Theatre
July 15 - Aug. 24
centertheatregroup.com

Tonight on TV: 'The Strain' is a New Look at Vampires, 'Ray Donovan' Returns

Nathaniel Grey — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:00:00 GMT

FX debuts a 13-episode series adaptation of Guillermo del Toro (pictured above) and Chuck Hogan’s book trilogy The Strain. This new look at vampires forgoes the seductive and attractive youthful variety as found on the CW by giving the bloodsuckers long, deadly stingers that project from their mouths and infect their victims with disease-spreading white worms. Once infected, victims become drones to do the bidding of their horrifying seven-foot master.

House of Cards’ Corey Stoll plays a CDC doctor who discovers and struggles to stop the threat. He is joined by colleague Mia Maestro, Legion's Kevin Durand as a pest exterminator and Harry Potter vet David Bradley as a swordmaster pawn shop owner whose past at a Nazi prison camp is connected to the Master.

Among tonight’s guest star appearances include Desperate Housewives vet Todd Grinnell on CBS’Reckless. Following it, Unforgettable welcomes the return of the always hot Boris Kodjoe. Over on Bravo, Glee star Chris Colfer stops by to visit Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live.

Showtime kicks off new season of Ray Donovan starring Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight. Ann-Margret joins the cast as a former big star who needs Ray’s help. While the show is often compared to The Sopranos, such alignment is validated when Ray starts seeing a therapist at the behest of his wife.

Showtime also unveils new episodes of Masters of Sex with Michael Sheen.

Tonight's episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now features Greek musician and Linda Evans' ex, Yanni. It will also feature former Spice Girl Mel B.

Cloud Boat's 'Carmine' is Our Song of the Day

Mike Curtis — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 10:31:00 GMT

Cloud Boat - "Carmine"

Dense with wall-of-sound synth production, this track is heavy on atmosphere and melancholy. Not sure it stands out in a huge way among the crop of similar products by Heterotic, Small Black, Craft Spells and many others. The video, on the other hand, is striking. It features ordinary laundromat folk becoming possessed by the song, turning a mundane activity into a profound, group soul-cleanse.

Outfest 2014's 'The Third One': A Look at the Many Pleasures of Polyamory

Gary M. Kramer — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 10:00:00 GMT

Argentine writer and director Rodrigo Guerrero deftly explores the connections between three gay men in his sexy and revealing film The Third One. Fede (Emiliano Dionisi) is a cute college student who flirts online with Franco (Nicolás Armengol). He meets Franco and his partner Hernán (Carlos Echevarría) for dinner in their apartment, and eventually—in a virtuoso sequence, shot in real time—the trio end up in bed together. With a little translation help, Guerrero speaks about how he came to make the affecting romantic drama.

FRONTIERS: How did you conceive The Third One?

RODRIGO GUERRERO: It was based on partly personal experiences. I wanted to make a film that would create a discussion around the possibilities of human sexuality—a film that would not pass positive or negative judgment on the situation but rather develop that possibility.

F: Your film addresses how gay men seek love through sex. Can you discuss this idea of finding a deeper intimacy?

RG: I believe consensual sex is an act where we expose our intimacy, and independently of whether we know the other person or persons, there’s always a human encounter. In this case, the couple chooses to add a third person. In Fede’s case, he may be channeling his loneliness through his sexual exploration. What is revealing is that what begins as a fantasy turns into the discovery of a new chance to love within a polyamorous bond.

For more of Frontiers opinionated guide to Outfest 2014 click here.

F: Do you think The Third One will be seen as a fantasy?

RG: I wanted to show that this situation can happen naturally and be charming. I hope the film stimulates the audience to consider new possibilities where social prejudices regarding different ways of intimately relating to one another are broken.

F: Your film has a very deliberate, almost formal style. Can you discuss how you approached the story visually?

RG: I didn’t want the characters to question what they were doing, nor did I want the filmic devices to condition the audience’s reading. I was interested in a clear differentiation between the two ways of establishing relationships—the virtual one, where we see Fede in an uninhibited erotic dance, determined to have sex, and the real one, where we find Fede in front of another person, shy and introverted, showing his fragility. The decision to film the sex scene vertically and in real time is an attempt to show the novelty that Fede is experiencing and to bring viewers closer to the exquisite sensation that sex provides.

F: How did you “choreograph” the lengthy, loving sex scene?

RG: The bedroom scene was scripted to the minutest detail, including what the camera would and wouldn’t show. Before filming, we defined the choreography of movement with the actors and rehearsed it two or three times with clothes on. Then, as the gestures the actors were improvising developed naturally, we filmed in real time—twice.

The Third One
July 15 - 9:30 p.m.
Director's Guild of America

Outfest Daily Report, Day 2: Alec Mapa, The Gay Hall & Oates, Fashion Documentaries

JD Disalvatore — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 13:11:00 GMT

The first day of screenings at Outfest officially kicked off Friday night with a full slate at the home base of The Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and the Harmony Gold down the street.

Comedian Alec Mapa’s Baby Daddy screened. The veteran television actor with credits including Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives is best known, and most beloved, as a stand-up comic on LGBT cruises, prides and on Logo, and his new material is classic Mapa yet has completely evolved with the changing times of our rights movement. This taped show revolves around being married and raising a child, something a large majority of our community can now identify with since we’re getting our marriage rights. “I called this show Baby Daddy because 'I’m f*cking exhausted' was too much of a buzzkill,” he states early on, and the idea of losing sleep while raising kids is something that really landed with the audience. Mapa is still as sharp, funny and relevant as ever. His self-proclaimed title of America’s gaycian sweetheart is still absolutely accurate.

The next film was also a hysterical comedy—BFFs—about a woman that gets dumped but still has reservations at a couples counseling retreat so her best friend talks her into going together so they can have a mini vacay. As you can surmise, not only does comedy ensue, but do these two best friends might have a little something else going on. The piece is definitely a comedy showcase for the two leads Andrea Grano and Tara Karslan, who are accomplished comedy acting pros. It’s the kind of small, indie film that talents do make on their own in order to get a full movie to move around in beyond their usual career of tv guest starring roles.

Another fun film screened at the Harmony Gold, Eternity: The Movie with cast and filmmakers in attendance. The comedy is the rags to sorta-riches story you know from Funny Girl or A Star is Born, only the main character is a sweet but clueless songwriter in the 1980s who meets his perfect partner in a lothario sax player while working at a discount clothing store (think Hall & Oates and TJ Maxx, respectively). It’s a tongue-in-cheek—seriously hard-core tongue in cheek—love card to the 1980s with everything from rubiks cubes to Tab, Walkmans, Nagel paintings and a color palette of turquoise and pink.

The two leads are cute as hell (and visually resembled Hall & Oates) and spend a good amount of time in fabulous outfits or cute little colored jockey underwear of the time. Eric Roberts is also sensational as their fey store manager, and his bit is worth the price of admission alone. This is a perfect Friday night screening—with big laughs, a happy audience and good vibes.

Over at the DGA, things were a bit more serious with the screening of Dior and Me, which played to a packed house. The documentary is the latest in a trend of fashion docs including The September Issue, Valenino: The Last Emperor and Lagerfeld Confidential (I can just see in my head all the designers lining up for these with a dramatic, “I must have one too!”). The film is a wonderful insight into this world, and it trades flash for beautifully thoughtful segments on the little details of creating a fashion show

The film shared a reception in the festively decorated DGA Atrium with Jamie Marks is Dead, a somber Sundance alumnae about the ghost of a bullied gay teen who comes back to haunt a boy from his high school. The somber film is slow and moody, but it’s great to see Cameron Monaghan, who is just outstanding in the gay storyline on ShowTime’s Shameless, as the living teen who bares the weight of his tortured dead classmate.

With all the screenings at the DGA, the Atrium receptions stayed active all night, and it was a great opportunity to start meeting all the visiting LGBT filmmakers from around the world (from exotic places like, you know, Montana. I seriously don’t know how the gay experience exists in red states). So audiences had a great time talking to all the filmmakers and actors during the receptions, and they too seemed very excited to be in Los Angeles and meeting our community. The free-flowing cocktails from the bar, and the great mood lighting in the space (that flows from inside to the outside back patio where couches are plentiful for longer conversations) definitely helped keep the socializing fun all night.

If you’re planning on heading to Outfest this weekend, here are a few tidbits to help you plan. First, remember Outfest is an experience, not just going to the movies, so come early and stay late, as there is always a good crowd and ample parties and receptions. The restaurants and coffee houses surrounding the DGA are packed as well with attendees and visiting filmmakers, so it’s almost like a block party. There are also plenty of off-site after parties and a list is available in the back of the program and online.

For Saturday, Boys Shorts will be sold-out and is always extremely popular, so the DGA will be hopping early with a packed house (this program plays again if you miss it). At the same venue Patrick Stewart stars in Match, and people will for sure turn out to see Ian McKellan’s BFF play a gay choreographer. It sounds like that means the DGA will be packed with gay men, but wait... Regarding Susan Sontag follows Match, so the girls and doc aficionados will turn out for this one which will certainly be an engaging and thought-provoking watch. The DGA will also have a ton of celebrities since the panel Inside Looking will have the cast and filmmakers from HBO’s new gay series at 4:30 p.m. Panels are great to catch since you get incredibly off the cuff and uncensored dialogue (some in the past have caused quite a stir in the press later). This isn’t a talk show interview—you’ll get some honest and interesting real tidbits from the panelists, plus the bonus of getting to meet them afterwards.

Lyle plays at 7 p.m., and it’s a lesbian homage to Rosemary’s Baby with Gaby Hoffmann. Comparisons are sure to happen with the recent TV show, and I can tell you already this film is leaps better. It has assured, strong direction that compels you into the story. It moves at a good pace and keeps you guessing and, of course, Hoffman is fantastic. The child star who started in Field of Dreams has had an impressive resurgence lately with roles on HBO’s Girls as well as Amazon’s Transparent, which will also be screening at the festival. She’s an amazing talent to watch on-screen as her performances are raw and unpredictable yet completely natural. She and the other stars will be in attendance as well both at the pre-screening red carpet out front and the post reception in the atrium.

The International Male shorts program screens at 9 p.m. and traditionally this has been one of the strongest shorts programs of the last few years so don’t let subtitles detour you. You can expect good acting and higher production values, plus moving and sometimes jarring experiences in the foreign film shorts programs, so it’s one to catch.

With these films and panel at the DGA today, it should be breaming with audiences and stars. Two other must-sees tonight include The Skeleton Twins at the Harmony Gold at 7 p.m., and the comedy shorts program Tickled Pink, which follows. Skeleton Twins stars Bill Hader, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell and Kristin Wiig. The film won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance earlier this year, which is the same honor Lisa Cholodenko received for High Art. It’s about estranged twins (Wiig and Hader) who relucatntly move in together after they both cheat death (Hader plays the gay sibling) and the buzz on this one is smoking, so if you like dark but witty indie faire with top notch comic talent, don’t miss it.

JD recommends for Saturday: The Skeleton Twins, Tickled Pink, International Male, Lyle, Inside Looking and Regarding Susan Sontag.

For Sunday: My Prarie Home, Bad Hair, Limited Partners and Of Girls and Horses (I haven’t seen but buzz is good on Boulevard at 6:30 p.m. with Robin Williams and Cupcakes at 4 p.m).

Check out all the films, parties and panels at Outfest.org and Frontiers' coverage of the film fest here.