thegavoice.com - 885 Showbiz News and Updates

In December, I received a text from a stranger that my friend Ryan Jung had been found dead in his home in Johns Creek. I met Ryan, a realtor, about 15 years ago when we were both waylaid by the recession and had too much time on our hands. He drove his Porsche to Midtown every day and had his nails prettified weekly at a salon at Ansley Mall while I labored with filthy fingernails on my doctoral dissertation at Starbucks. A few years later, we began going to dinner every Friday night with a group of other men, and I often featured our sometimes-dramatic meals in my dining column for Creative Loafing. Ryan returned to work and acquired a fancy SUV with three rows of seats. He drove all of us to dinner weekly until COVID-19 arrived in 2020 and we stopped dining.

When researching the Civil Rights Movement for my novel, “The Last Good Republican,” I became fascinated with one particular figure from that turbulent era who is often overlooked. Bayard Rustin, besides being a Black American, was also gay and a socialist during a period when any of those three traits could easily marginalize one to the sidelines of society. Instead, this complex figure rose to the summit of 20th century America’s struggle for full rights.

I remember asking my mother when my penis was going to grow. Bless her heart, Millie Pete just nodded and said it wouldn’t because I was a girl.

The Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine Joint Rules/Legislative Committee advanced a rule that would effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state. 

Through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered many small businesses, the federal government provided relief loans throughout that period. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were available through May 31, 2021 through the U.S. Small Business Administration. 

Out On Film, presented by GILEAD and WABE, has announced the filmmaker awards for the recently concluded 35th edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival.

Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican opponent Herschel Walker faced off in a live debate in Savannah on Friday, October 14. The candidates discussed abortion access, voting rights, the 2024 election, nuclear threats, student loans, health care, inflation, the minimum wage, and the Atlanta Braves, but LGBTQ rights were missing from the debate.

Through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered many small businesses, the federal government provided relief loans throughout that period. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were available through May 31, 2021 through the U.S. Small Business Administration. 

Out On Film, presented by GILEAD and WABE, has announced the filmmaker awards for the recently concluded 35th edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival.

Photos from the Drag ’em to the Polls event supporting Stacey Abrams for Governor at My Sister’s Room on October 6. All photos by Russ Bowen-Youngblood.

Photos from the 2022 Atlanta Pride Trans March on October 8. All photos by Russ Bowen-Youngblood.

Photos from Pride Weekend at The Eagle’s new location. All photos by Russ Bowen-Youngblood.

A favorite at film festivals this summer and fall, the new horror movie, “Sissy,” is now playing on Shudder. Directed and written by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, it’s one of the most original motion pictures you’ll see this year.

Of course, there is an element of empowerment, or rather a positive assertion that “I exist,” with our annual Gay Pride commemoration. Celebrating our collective LGBTQ history with a weekend of partying and marching is all well and good, but I’m reminded of an observation made recently during an online chat. “Someone” (ahem) commented that they must be proud of the size of their … um … “eggplant,” to which “someone” responded that they have their parents to thank for that. The implication being that they were just born this way, blessed with good genetics, and that it was not necessarily anything to be proud of since they had no hand in making it (okay, maybe in fact there was a hand involved, but I digress).

Friday, October 7 

If grammar school coverage of the Revolutionary War was dull to you, clearly no one mentioned Baron Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben, the dashing and openly gay Prussian general who whipped a ragged gaggle of disheartened and defeated colonial men into soldiers with the cohesion and discipline needed to win.

A staff member at my son’s school emailed me shortly after classes returned in August. She listened to me on the radio back in the day, and we’ve gotten to know each other in recent years, so the email was more personal than professional. “I thought you’d appreciate this,” she began.

The National AIDS Memorial has joined forces with the Southern AIDS Coalition to stage a series of art exhibitions and educational forums to honor Black and Brown people in the South who have been lost to HIV/AIDS.

The battle over voting rights in the United States has been a long and contentious one, with proponents of tighter regulations — typically Republicans — arguing that increasing identification requirements helps to ensure more secure, fraud-free elections.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) has introduced legislation that would set up the process to create a National Museum of American LGBTQ+ History & Culture, potentially as an official site within the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Last Sunday (September 18), members of Atlanta’s LGBTQ community gathered for the 25th anniversary of Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office. The fundraising event, which was held at the Intercontinental Buckhead, highlighted both the past and present work the LGBTQ legal advocacy group has been involved with.

Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted with the U.S. Supreme Court’s three liberal-leaning justices September 14 to reject a request that would have undermined a New York City law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations.

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against a federal mandate that requires employer provided health plans to cover PrEP, a drug used for the prevention of HIV.

The Atlanta Pride Committee (APC) has announced the official entertainment lineup for this year’s Pride festival.

Chris Cash, the founder and Publisher Emeritus of Georgia Voice, has been named to the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame.

When pondering the perfect vacation spot, the first location that should appear on your list this fall is Wilton Manors, Florida. Wilton Manors is a small city near Fort Lauderdale known for its thriving LGBTQ community. According to the 2010 Census, Wilton Manors is the second gayest city in the United States.

Vergessen ermöglicht Wiederholung! Forgetting enables repetition!

At the end of a summer when the number of cases in the monkeypox outbreak rose sharply, the increase in reported infections now appears to be cresting amid increased public messaging and access to vaccines, prompting U.S. health officials to expand their strategy with a new equity-based effort to combat the disease.

Atlanta Black Pride Weekend has announced the honorees of this year’s 10th annual Pure Heat Community Festival, as well as other events happening throughout the Labor Day weekend.

According to a report from the city’s police department, five officers showed up at the Georgia home of Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after midnight Wednesday morning because of a fake 911 call placed by a suspect who was “upset about Ms. Greene’s stance on ‘transgender youth’s rights.’”