In Dallas, Texas, one thing is common knowledge: “The higher the hair, the closer to god,” and Lynda Kay tries her hardest to prove that old adage true. Her fabulous bouffant and enrapturing four-octave vocal range return to Palm Springs to take part in Night Out for Trevor, a fundraiser for the LGBT community’s life-saving mission to prevent suicide, The Trevor Project. The elegant songstress—known as much for her elegant, vintage style as her sultry voice—took a moment to dish with Frontiers about the upcoming performance. 

The summer heat may be on, but there’s one opportunity to escape the desert’s high temperatures that’s ideal for those us with short attention spans—Palm Springs International ShortFest.

It’s been a quarter-century since one man pulled off what would become a kind of gay men’s Woodstock, an annual hotbed of freedom that has made and broken politicians and let hundreds of thousands of men live out their dreams

It is with heavy hearts that we mark the passing of Linda “Fabulous” Gerard on March 21 after her long battle with lung cancer. She was 75 years old. Desert residents might know her best at The Singing Hostess of Sissy Bingo at the Ace Hotel, but she was also an actress on Broadway in the ‘60s—where she filled in for Barbra Streisand 12 times as an understudy in Funny Girl—and a successful businesswoman, co-owning the Pied Piper (one the East Coast’s most famous lesbian bars) in Provincetown, Mass., before opening the Rose Tattoo—“a real New York cabaret”—in West Hollywood in 1988. A born entertainer and true star, Gerard spent her life bringing joy to others with her natural gifts for music and comedy. She will be greatly missed.

The Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend, America's largest lesbian event, occurs April 2-6 in Palm Springs, Calif. 

Created in 1991 by Mariah Hanson, this 21+ festival caters to gay and transgender women, although men are not excluded from the festivities "as long as they behave." 

White Party Palm Springs, billed as the largest gay dance festival in the world, returns to the desert for its 25th anniversary April 25-28, 2014. 

To honor the party's silver anniversary, White Party founder and producer Jeffrey Sanker has announced the White Party Palm Springs Icon Awards.

In a statement, Sanker said, "We are thrilled to present our special Icon Awards to individuals who have exemplified the White Party's defining principals of unity and celebration, commitment to excellence and leading edge creativity." Recipients include celebrity activists and philanthropists from all mediums. 

Even though California’s Mid-Century architecture is a retro style, it’s so well-suited to how we live today that it seems as indigenous as our faux-historic Spanish Colonial Revival style—previously the preferred way to say “California.”

In the 1920s, when Vienna-born Richard Neutra began designing homes in Southern California, he was a design revolutionary. He brought super-clean rectilinear International Modern style—with flat roofs and white walls—from Europe and adapted it to the free-wheeling indoor/outdoor lifestyle appropriate with the purported permanence of our sunny skies. As Los Angeles architect Barbara Bestor aptly says, “I particularly admire the way Neutra adapted to the climate here and used architecture to dematerialize the boundaries between outside and inside.”

Darlene Love’s soulful singing during 20 Feet from Stardom’s Oscars acceptance speech further cemented her into the forefront of pop culture. Long a celebrated talent of the music industry, Love now basks in a new spotlight as she headlines the very last production of Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. Love shared her beautiful voice with Frontiers, discussing the famed desert show, the Academy Awards and the difficulties involved with singing backup. 

How did you get involved with Palm Springs Follies?
They’ve been asking me to do this show for almost 10 years, and I really haven’t had the time to give up this big a block—two months—for one project. They called when things were a little slow, and we didn’t know we were gonna win the Academy Award. They really ended up getting in at a good time. 

The Rancho Mirage City Council election may not take place until April 8, but the campaign leading up to that election turned ugly when a blatantly homophobic mailer was sent out, targeting an openly gay incumbent who is up for re-election.

In mid-February, some Rancho Mirage voters opened their mailboxes to find an anti-gay postcard attacking openly gay Councilmember Scott Hines with the message “Send Hines Packing Back to Palm Springs (where he belongs).” 

The postcards feature a shirtless picture of Hines with a caption in rainbow-colored lettering that says “No More ‘Fab’ Party Guy Scotty.” The letters of the message line up vertically to spell out “FAGS.” 

Photos by Brad Fuhr

Jeffrey Sanker has always been a star, but now it is official. The White Party founder was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on Palm Canyon Drive and Arenas Road in front of LuLu California Bistro.

On Thursday, March 13, Sanker was joined by Carmen Electra and many Palm Springs politicians and luminaries for a sidewalk ceremony unveiling the city’s 364th star celebrating individuals who have offered significant contributions to the cultural of civic life of the desert city.

Former Palm Springs mayor Ron Oden (who, by the way, has his own star) gave an animated speech in honor of Sanker. Sounding like the preacher he once was, Oden spoke to the 200 or so in attendance about how important the White Party continues to be to the economy of the city. Oden noted that Sanker himself was always uncomfortable being the center of attention, and no doubt he was very uncomfortable during the ceremony. The events promoter smiled bashfully in agreement as his proud parents looked on.
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