Tag: same-sex kiss

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Pete Hegseth’s Anti-LGBTQ College Rants + More News

Some news items you might have missed: • Talking Points Memo: As publisher of his university’s conservative magazine in 2002, Pete Hegseth (former Fox News weekend host and Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense) and his editorial team penned essays railing against efforts to promote diversity on campus and the immoral “homosexual lifestyle.” Continue reading “Pete Hegseth’s Anti-LGBTQ College Rants + More News”

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Chris Evans Claps Back At Anti-Gay ‘Lightyear’ Critics: “Idiots”

Actor Chris Evans (Captain America), who voices the title character in the new Pixar animated film Lightyear, clapped back at anti-LGBTQ folks who criticized a brief same-sex kiss in the movie.
Chris Evans (image via Depositphotos)
Actor Chris Evans (Captain America), who voices the title character in the new Pixar animated film Lightyear, clapped back at anti-LGBTQ folks who criticized a brief same-sex kiss in the movie. Continue reading “Chris Evans Claps Back At Anti-Gay ‘Lightyear’ Critics: “Idiots””

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Adam Lambert & Madonna Weigh In On Lil Nas X BET Awards Kiss

Adam Lambert & Madonna
Adam Lambert & Madonna
Adam Lambert (via Instagram) and Madonna (via Instagram)

Following Lil Nas X’s fierce performance at the BET Awards this past Sunday, which culminated in a steamy kiss with one of his male dancers, folks on social media were quick to point out it wasn’t the first same-sex kiss to stir the award show airwaves.

Notably, there was Adam Lambert’s male-male kiss at the 2009 American Music Awards, and Madonna’s smooch with Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV VMAs.

Both became pop culture controversies, and now both artists have responded to Lil Nas X’s live lip-lock.

Speaking to Billboard this week, Lambert gushed over the moment saying it was “hot.”

“I think he is definitely like the gay pop star that is 2021 — he’s bold, he’s controversial, he’s pushing boundaries,” Lambert told Billboard. “That’s what we want our pop stars to do. It’s just taken this long to have it be a gay one.”

That said, the 39-year-old singer acknowledged the public responses to his kiss versus Lil Nas X were quite different.

Lambert says he was flying to New York City the next day to perform on Good Morning America but was canceled due to the controversy.

But Lambert notes that not only are we in a different place in LGBTQ awareness today, but he was in a different place in his career in 2009 – just months after coming in second on American Idol.

Pointing to streams, sales and radio chart position today, Lambert admits, “One of the great things about Lil Nas is when you look at ‘Old Town Road,’ you see that this massive worldwide hit helped give him some freedom to make some statements and to make some real art. Timing is everything.”

“There is so much good will for someone like him,” Lambert adds. “And I’m just happy to be able to have the perspective to appreciate it.”

Madonna responded to comparisons in her own inimitable way by posting a pic of her VMAs kiss next to Lil Nas X’s BET smooch in her Instagram stories with the hashtag, “#diditfirst.”

When the screen capture was shared on Twitter, folks got a bit riled up.

Some thought the Queen of Pop’s remark took away from Lil Nas X’s moment:

Others thought Madonna could have used the moment to speak up for Britney Spears’ ongoing legal issues:

For his part, Lil Nas X wasn’t buying into the turmoil. He tried to cool things down on by defending Madge’s comment as a joke and reminding folks the two are friends.

But you know – Twitter’s gotta twitter…

At the end of the day, if Madonna wanted to make a statement – and we know she’s not shy about that – I doubt she would have hidden the remark in a ‘blink and it’s gone’ Instagram Story.

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News Round-Up: June 7, 2021

(image via Twitter/SFGiants)
Some news items you might have missed: • Mr. Man: The powers that be at MrMan have assembled the 100 most iconic gay kisses in the history of cinema in a rapid-fire 10 minute video. Definitely worth the click. • LGBTQNation: The San Francisco Giants became the first team in Major League Baseball to wear Pride colors onto the field on June 5 for their Pride Day game against the Chicago Cubs. The Giants updated their logo’s colors to incorporate Pride into their uniforms and caps.

• Instinct Magazine: When a 15 year-old male student was kicked out of school for wearing a skirt, male teachers began teaching their classes while wearing skirts in solidarity. • MetroSource: The creative team behind the Red Hot calendars (which feature ginger hotties) is taking applications for the 2022 edition. https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-MbEsnsQm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • MetroWeekly: The Pentagon will keep a Trump-era ban on Pride flags being flown at military bases, despite President Joe Biden pledging to reverse it. • Queerty: Actor Wil Wheaton, known for his longtime role as kid genius Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, welcomed pride month this weekend by giving a special shout-out to his queer fans. Wheaton, 48, publicly acknowledged the number of Star Trek fans that had a crush on the actor–or his character–during the show’s run. Then, Wheaton’s wife, Anne Wheaton chimed in. And that was followed by Wheaton’s TV mom, Gates McFadden, voicing her support. #VeryCute

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A Superhero Smooch To Die For (Unless You Happen To Be Immortal)

L-R Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli (image via Netflix)
LGBTQ comic book fans have been waiting (and waiting, and waiting) to see actual queer superheroes on the silver screen for what feels like an eternity. So imagine my surprise when guy-on-guy lip-lock action between two immortal superheroes occurred halfway through Netflix’s new big-budget action flick, The Old Guard, which premiered this past weekend. The film stars Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of 6,000-year-old badass mercenary warriors. These immortals can feel pain but never die. As one says early in the movie, “Just because we keep living doesn’t mean we stop hurting.” In the first half of the film, there are flickers of something going on between two of the heroes, Joe (Marwan Kenzari, best known for his turn as Jafar in the live-action Aladdin)) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli, honored at the Venice International Film Festival last year for Martin Eden). A smile here, a glance there, but queer audiences have been teased before, so… But near the mid-way point of the movie the two are kidnapped by a squad of military-types. Tied up in the back of a van, Joe checks on Nicky. “I need to know he’s okay,” he tells one of his captors. Military guy mocks Joe saying, “What is he, your boyfriend?” “You’re a child,” says Joe as he launches into a deep declaration of love. “He’s not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream. He’s the moon when I’m lost in darkness, and warmth when I shiver in cold. And his kiss still thrills me even after a millennium.” Swoon….but wait – there’s more! “His heart overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy,” continues the immortal. “I love this man beyond measure and reason. He’s not my boyfriend…he is all, and he is more.” Ignoring their kidnappers, Nicky tells Joe with a smile, “You’re an incurable romantic,” as he leans in for a deeply intimate kiss.

According to Vulture, Greg Rucka – who penned the acclaimed graphic novel and is credited with the movie’s screenplay – stipulated in his contract that if and when a movie of The Old Guard was made, that scene would have to be included. While we’ve certainly seen same-sex kisses in movies before, we can’t recall a smooch like this in a $70 million action film led by star power the likes of Charlize Theron. This is some big-deal exposure. To underscore how big a deal this is, Forbes reports the superhero flick was Netflix’s most-watched movie this weekend and posits there very well could be a sequel ‘in development’ announced after the boffo debut. The Old Guard is currently streaming on Netflix, and you can check out the full trailer below.

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Brazil’s Largest Newspaper Trolls Homophobes, Prints Superhero Kiss On Front Page

Last week, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro called for a ban on superhero comic book because of ‘sexual content’ he deemed unsuitable for minors. The ‘content’ in question occurs in the three-year-old Marvel publication Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. In one panel of the graphic novel, the characters Wiccan and Hulkling, who are in a committed relationship, engage in a kiss. Why the 2016 publication suddenly caught the eye of the Mayor Marcello Crivella, a former evangelical pastor, now is unclear. But Crivella called for the comic to be banned from the Riocentro Bienal do Livro, Brazil’s most important literary event. Rio de Janeiro’s councilman Alexandre Isquierdo also made a statement calling the imaging an “attempt to propagate homosexuality.” But before authorities could remove the graphic novel, word spread and all copies were almost instantly snapped up by fans. And now, Brazil’s Supreme Court has blocked the efforts to censor the Marvel publication. “Attorney General Raquel Dodge challenged the move by Crivella, a former evangelical pastor,” reports ABC News. “She said allowing the mayor to remove books goes against freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas.” According to the report, a lower court initially supported the mayor, but chief justice José Dias Toffoli “ruled in favor of Dodge on Sunday, blocking the mayor from removing any books.”

And just to put a point on the subject, Brazil’s largest newspaper Folha De S.Paulothrew shade by printing the image on the front page of the publication. Ha! It’s perfectly legal to be LGBTQ in Brazil (the country has legalized same-sex marriage), but thanks to statements and actions by virulently anti-LGBTQ president Jair Bolsonaro, the gay community has reasons to be concerned. Bolsonaro has announced plans to remove mentions of LGBTQ people from textbooks and classrooms in schools; he’s posted tweets denouncing the country’s annual Carnival event for being too risque; told the world “Brazil can’t be a country of gay tourism” because “we have families.” He’s even told publications he’d rather have a dead son than a gay son. But, today, we celebrate this small triumph (and epic trolling) over hate. (source: ABC News)