(image via the US embassy in Russia) Some news items you might have missed: • The Gaily Grind: The U.S. embassy in Russia (above), along with the British and Canadian embassies, hoisted rainbow Pride flags on their buildings in Moscow, defying the country’s “gay propaganda” law signed by Vladimir Putin in 2013. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Former gay porn guy Paul Wagner is reportedly attempting a comeback on OnlyFans. More at the link. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZN57mND5J/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • New York Post: Reps for Donald Trump approached the social media platform Parler in January with an offer to have the then-president move his social media presence to the platform in exchange for 40 percent of the company’s gross revenues and a promise to “ban anyone who spoke negatively about him.” The owners said ‘no.’ • CBS News: Champlain Towers South was reportedly facing $15M in repairs before it collapsed on June 24. A 2018 engineering report warned of damage to the concrete, and a contractor gave multiple photos to the Miami Herald showing evidence of corrosion and cracks in the building just days before the collapse.
• Edge Media: The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday passed a draft bill on LGBTI rights that will seek parliamentary approval to allow transgender people over 16 to freely change their gender and name without doctors or witnesses intervening in the process. • Vogue Magazine: First Lady Dr. Jill Biden covers the August issue of Vogue Magazine. Annie Leibovitz snapped the gorgeous cover image and Jonathan Van Meter wrote the article titled, “A First Lady For All Of Us.”
Kataluna Enriquez, Miss Nevada USA 2021 (image via Instagram)
Filipino-American model Kataluna Enriquez made history this past weekend becoming the first transgender woman to snatch the crown of Miss Nevada USA 2021.
The win qualifies Enriquez to compete in the Miss USA pageant in November where she will be the first trans contestant to walk the runway at the long-running competition.
The 27-year-old took to Instagram to share a photos and fashions from the event. Wearing a dazzling rainbow-colored gown of her own design for the coronation festivities, she wrote: “In honor of pride month and all of those who don’t get a chance to spread their colors.”
Enriquez competed as Miss Silver State against 21 contestants in three categories of competition: interview, swimsuit/activewear, and evening gown. Contestants are scored on character, poise, confidence, and personality, according to the rules of the pageant.
Following her win, she expressed her thanks via Instagram to all that supported her. “Huge thank you to everyone who supported me from day one,” Enriquez wrote. “My community, you are always in my heart. My win is our win. We just made history. Happy pride.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CQqwmnzn2EA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Originally from San Leandro, California, Kataluna Enriquez is currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada. After graduating from high school in 2011, she enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Las Vegas, where she took a deep dive into her love of fashion design.
In 2016, she launched her own fashion brand, Kataluna Kouture. That same year, she represented California in the Transnation Queen USA pageant ultimately winning the title in Los Angeles.
Speaking to Fox5 News in Las Vegas, Enriquez shared that the road to the crown has not been that of beauty queens before her. In another pageant outside Nevada, when the organizers found out she was trans, everything changed.
“I was asked to provide documents that were invasive in my opinion physically asking me to get a letter from my doctor,” Enriquez said.
Enriquez was required to meet with a doctor who had to examine her and certify that she was female before being allowed to compete. No other contestants were required to submit to a physical examination. Also, at the same pageant, every contestant was assigned a roommate – expect her.
Should she win the crown, Enriquez would be the second trans woman to compete in the Miss Universe pageant after Spain’s Angela Ponce participated in 2018.
Out singer/songwriter Kyle Motsinger is bored with today’s clothing styles. Missing the bolder and more colorful fashions of the past, Motsinger realized he wanted to dunk his junk in some throwback funk and disco.
Born to a beat that folks can wiggle to, Motsinger’s new single, “Retro,” is a fun, upbeat bop that puts deep emotional thoughts aside for a moment.
(screen capture from ‘Retro’)
Instead, our musical ginger hero conjures up scenes of summer parties and high-flying style amid funky disco rhythms and sassy-as-summer horns.
I need to make the outside match the me insideI need to look further back when clothes were amplified Dress me up in Retro Oh Oh / Keep those boring threads away I can’t get no….Oh no / No joy from clothes today
In the music video (directed by Tyler Jensen), Motsinger dives into his own fashion fantasia at Hamlet’s Vintage in Manhattan. He’s assisted in his ‘retro review’ by drag queen Michael ‘Pickles’ Wakefield as the vintage store clerk.
Hunky Australian actor/singer Hugh Sheridan came out (again) over the weekend in a social media post sharing with the world they are non-binary.
Sheridan’s Instagram post highlighted the cover of DNA Magazine’s latest issue which features Sheridan with their fiancé Kurt Roberts.
“Given that’s it IS #pridemonth & I am beyond honored to share the most coveted DNA cover of 2021 with the greatest lover/HUMAN of all time,” wrote Sheridan referencing Roberts. “I understand why @dnamagazine chose LOVE over… another pic of a guy with a towel.”
“FYI,” Sheridan continued, “I AM still a human (nonbinary/bi/me/Hughman) but I’m in a monogamous relationship with another human, who I love. I don’t accept a label cause it limits me… if you want it; take it. I chose zero labels for no other reason except the exclusion, limitations, separation, I believe are all one, deeeeep down. &…who knows? Why chose?!! Be you. Be true. Be free: to BE, to JUST BE… you, a human, same as me.”
The 35-year-old closed their missive urging folks to “READ THE ARTICLE, you’ll laugh. I did.”
At this writing the post has received over 15K ‘Likes’ including a comment of fire emojis from Aussie pop-star/actress Natalie Imbruglia.
In an October 2020 essay for Stellar Magazine, Sheridan shared that they had been in relationships with both women and men in the past, but preferred not to put a label on their sexuality.
In the essay, the actor admitted they’d been bullied as a teenager for being gay, even though they were sexually attracted to the opposite sex at the time. It wasn’t until they moved to Sydney to attend the National Institute for Dramatic Arts, that they fell in love a man. “I finally met a guy who I connected with emotionally, mentally and physically,” Sheridan wrote, saying they were “over the moon” because they realized they “could finally be what people always wanted me to be.” But the relationship would eventually end, and they began dating a woman. Eschewing this or that sexual identity, Sheridan wrote, “I believe labels are for clothes, not people.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CGbBJ2JHsxc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
On March 5, 2021, Sheridan proposed to now-fiancé Roberts (a former DNA Magazine cover model) at the opening night performance of their stage show Hughman.
A familiar face on Australian television, Sheridan starred in the long-running show Packed To The Rafters, winning four Logie Awards (Australia’s excellence in TV honors) for their work. They are currently working on a spin-off of the series, Back To The Rafters, set to debut this September on Amazon Prime Video. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMEtto3FzYD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/COflooBnyzm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/CO1-Wzfn96x/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/CLWbQJpFGGS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
(Courtesy of Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Tishman Speyer) Some news items you might have missed: • NYC Pride: It was nice to see Pride events return to NYC this past weekend. Rainbows were everywhere in the city from Rockefeller Center (above) to Washington Square and everywhere else. And ABC News covered the entire 3-hour parade! You can watch it here. • CNN: California will ban state-funded travel to five new states (Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia) over their “discriminatory” LGBTQ laws, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday, citing the importance of “aligning our dollars with our values.” • Right Wing Watch: Right-wing pastor Greg Locke used his sermon on Sunday to allege that there are child-trafficking “tunnels” under the Capitol and White House and accuse Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Hanks of being “a bunch of pedophiles.” This is a seriously hot cup of crazy. Hit the play button.
Right-wing pastor Greg Locke used his sermon today to allege that there are child-trafficking “tunnels” under the Capitol and White House and accuse Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Hanks of being “a bunch of pedophiles.” pic.twitter.com/hYC864ir8a
• TMZ: In a recent interview praising Las Vegas Raider Carl Nassib for coming out, former NFL player Bruce Smith said there was a gay player (maybe two) on the 1990s Buffalo Bills teams but it “didn’t matter to us.” • NY Daily News: 24 people at a Sydney, Australia birthday party tested positive for the COVID delta variant. Only 6 party attendees — health care workers — were spared. Only those 6 were vaccinated. • Twitter: Donald Trump Jr., son of ‘the former guy,’ posted a wild, slurring, disjointed rant against President Joe Biden that careened from claims about hacking McDonald’s to Biden giving the nuclear football to Putin. The Twitterverse didn’t know what to think of the seemingly drunken/stoned performance.
A new ad spot from the NFL boldly declares “Football is gay.” Set to a raucous drum solo, the text of the ad continues: “Football is lesbian. Football is beautiful. Football is queer. Football is life. Football is exciting. Football is culture. Football is transgender. Football is queer. Football is heart. Football is power. Football is tough. Football is bisexual. Football is strong. Football is freedom. Football is American. Football is accepting. Football is everything. Football is for everyone.” The spot closes with a message of support for The Trevor Project, the nation’s leading suicide support group for LGBTQ youth. The text quotes studies which have shown, “LGBTQ+ youth with at least one accepting adult have 40% lower risk of attempting suicide.”
Following the recent coming out announcement from Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib, it would seem the NFL wants to make clear its support. Sam Rapoport, NFL senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion, told Outsports, “I am proud of the clear message this spot sends to the NFL’s LGBTQ+ fans: This game is unquestionably for you. I will be playing its first line over and over in my head all season.”
If you love this game, you are welcome here. Football is for all. Football is for everyone.
The NFL stands by the LGBTQ+ community today and every day.
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a Virginia school board that hoped to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban. That decision leaves in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. From the New York Times:
An appeals court had ruled that the policy violated the Constitution and a federal law by prohibiting the student, Gavin Grimm, from using the same bathrooms as other boys. The school said Mr. Grimm could use a private bathroom.
The Supreme Court had agreed to hear an earlier appeal in the case but dismissed it in 2017 after the Trump administration changed the federal government’s position on transgender rights. The Biden administration has since adopted policies protecting transgender students.
What this means: there is now strong precedent that schools in the 4th Circuit (Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia) cannot prohibit students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.
Last year, the Supreme Court for the first time ruled in favor of transgender rights, saying that a federal employment discrimination law applied to LGBTQ workers.
In Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., the Supreme Court refuses to take up a Virginia school board’s request to reinstate a policy prohibiting transgender students from using school bathrooms that reflect their gender identity.
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving a transgender student’s right to use school bathrooms matching his gender identity.
This refusal to review Gavin Grimm’s case allows lower court rulings that say treating trans students differently violates federal law to stand pic.twitter.com/MQF7stH3Jb
Lil Nas X and dancers at the 2021 BET Awards From Yahoo News:
When Madonna shared a same-sex smooch with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, it was a sensation, but when openly gay pop singer Adam Lambert enjoyed a similar moment with a male band member at the 2009 American Music Awards, it caused a backlash that nearly derailed his career.
That societal progress was evident Sunday — during the final weekend of Pride Month — at the BET Awards, when Lil Nas X ended his fiery performance of the homoerotic hit “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” by passionately kissing one of his male backup dancers. In 2021, this move was met not with scorn but with delight, as Nas’s fearlessness was widely celebrated on social media.
Also – during her acceptance speech for the night’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Queen Latifah gave a shout-out to the LGBTQ+ community and her long-rumored girlfriend Eboni Nichols.
“I’m gonna get off this stage, but I thank you so much for all of you, the fans, for supporting every crazy-ass thing I’ve done through the years,” said the rapper and actress. “And thank you for making Equalizer number 1. Eboni, my love. Rebel, my love. Peace. Happy Pride!”
— Nina Nicole Kapowski (@NinaNicoleShow) June 28, 2021
Lil Nas X is the black gay popstar I needed to see as a kid. The fearlessness it takes to be so decidedly queer in front of a notoriously homophobic audience. I needed that. pic.twitter.com/Y7n4ZGDGEM
Chris Corsini (credit: Inward Boutique Wellness)Chris Corsini is on a mission to revolutionize accessibility and inclusivity for Deaf, LGBTQ and BIPOC in both the arts and spiritual communities. As a certified ASL (American Sign Language) Interpreter Corsini has interpreted live performances for numerous pop stars, including Jay Z, Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Panic! At The Disco, Camila Cabello, Thomas Rhett, and Shawn Mendes. An artist himself, as MDL CHLD (Middle Child), Corsini finds a natural synergy between his profession as an ASL Interpreter and his passion for performance by integrating Deaf community members both in front and behind the camera, normalizing ASL and captioned content, and prioritizing his own LGBTQ+ community and BIPOC people. His latest music video, “Funk (About You),” is the latest in a series of uplifting, empowering videos that Corsini says are unambiguously “about finding the people you vibe with and letting go of those who do not serve or motivate you.”
The mega-inclusive “Funk (About You)” features an international mix of LGBTQ, Deaf, and BIPOC from Europe, Africa and North and South America both in front and behind the camera. Those in front of the camera include two trans women: Lola Herself, the face of the current Levi’s® Portugal Pride Campaign who was recently featured for her second time in Vogue Portugal and Babaya Samambaia, a semi-finalist on “Portugal’s Got Talent.” Also seen in the video is Alessio Convito, a Deaf, Italian-born Canadian immigrant, visual artist, International Sign news anchor for Deaf news/media platform H3 World TV, and an instructor with QTIBPOC Deaf artists advocacy, Phoenix the Fire. Behind the camera credits include Deaf artist Alexa Hickox, who created the zippy animated captions and Deaf ASL coach and Phoenix the Fire founder, Gaitrie Persaud. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQcLaPyttBO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
