Letters to the editor

The countdown is on for the full return of the annual Dublin Pride Parade, and yesterday, June 22, the organisation revealed Trans icon, Rebecca Tallon de Havilland, as the highly deserving 2022 Grand Marshal. The announcement was made at the official launch event in The George on Wednesday evening, with speakers including Dublin Pride CEO […]

Labour MP for Islington, South Finsbury and I’m gay’.With those words, Chris became the first-ever openly gay MP, and later the first gay cabinet minister – after Labour’s late Maureen Colquhoun confirmed herself as Britain’s first openly lesbian MP in the 1970s.The bravery both politicians showed paved the way for others – with the UK having more LGBTQ+ lawmakers than anywhere else in the world after the last election.Over the years, Chris, who served in Tony’s Blair’s government, has continued to fight against dangerous prejudice and became the first MP to announce he was living with HIV in 2005.Speaking to Metro.co.uk about his place in LGBTQ+ history on Pride Month, the 70-year-old has told readers to ‘be proud about who and what you are’.Chris, who now sits in the House of Lords, knew he was gay a decade before he was elected in 1983, but had never shared his sexuality with the world. The right moment ‘had never presented itself’ – and the fear homophobia would lose him votes lingered uncomfortably in the back of his mind.The right occasion finally arose when Rugby Council decided to withdraw protection for discrimination against sexual orientation in what was named a ‘ban on gays’.Although the council denied discriminating, one councillor named ‘all homosexuals vile and perverted people’, while the leader said ’we are not having men turn up for work in dresses round here’.‘I can remember sitting on the train to Rugby and writing this mundane speech’, Chris said. ‘But when I arrived at the hall, about 1,000 people were there and I remember just thinking, “if I’m going to do this, this is the moment”.

Michelle Visage turned to LGBTQ+ allyship after being bullied at school.The 53-year-old, who serves as a permanent judge on the beloved World Of Wonder series, has been a fiercely loyal ally of the community for decades, having found her tribe of drag performers in the New York ballrooms of the 1980s.Michelle’s unpleasant formative years pushed her to become a ferocious protector of marginalised people that many around the globe see her as today.Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, she shed light on her traumatic youth which saw her ostracized and alone. ‘As a younger kid, I never really fit in,’ she recalled.‘I was picked on and bullied and could never understand why I didn’t have people that would have my back.

UFC star Bec Rodriguez is a mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle boxer who has not been afraid to take risks during her professional career. The Aussie brawler, who was known as Bec Rawlings before her recent marriage to professional boxer Adrian Rodriguez, fought the likes of Paige VanZant and Jessica-Rose Clark before joining Bellator and has now rejoined Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

READ MORE: Trans boxer who was in and out of prison says "I feel like the man I am" when fighting"By regulating gaming law, we are creating further important prerequisites to enable players of different gender identities to play."Sabine Mammitzsch, the vice-president for women's and girls' football, added: "The state and regional associations, but also those responsible at the grassroots level, have been signaling for a long time that there are uncertainties, as in practice with trans*, inter* and non-binary players* that should be dealt with. "That is why they very much welcome the introduction of a national, overarching regulation on gaming law."German citizens have been able to register as 'diverse' in the civil status register since 2018, with more and more doing so in the years since.

From modern-day movies boasting stunning LGBTQ+ representation, to beloved fan-favourites that stand the test of time, these seven queer films should be on your Pride watchlist. Many of these films have aged like fine wine; they may have been glossed over by audiences at the time, but today, they have grown into some of the […]

podcasts, including ‘Like Minded Friends’, an unscripted natter with friend and fellow queer comedian Tom Allen which she describes as ‘a mess’.“Our podcast is a moment of peace where you just hear chit-chat. And it’s important to us that it’s openly queer chit-chat,” Ruffell adds.Ruffell has been in stand-up comedy for over a decade, with her profile rising after the launch of her Amazon Prime special in May 2022.There is a strong tradition of gay men in British comedy, but the same can’t always be said for the rest of the queer community.

Blumhouse has released the first teaser trailer for their upcoming conversion therapy horror They/Them.

World Cup is one of pristine stadiums and lavish hosting, the daily reality of life for LGBTQ+ people remains an existence in the shadows.The tournament has been touted by the wealthy Gulf state as a place for everyone, although the rainbow flag is unlikely to fly inside the eight arenas.David Beckham has lent his global appeal to the host country and, by the time the first game kicks off in November, hundreds of millions of people worldwide will be watching FIFA’s showpiece.Dr Nas Mohammed, who is the first gay Qatari with a high profile to go public, gave a drastically different account of life in the oil-rich Gulf state as he spoke out from the US for our Pride 50 series earlier this month. Ex-pats living in the emirate who spoke to Metro.co.uk have now given similar testimonies of life for LGBTQ+ people.Julia, a gay woman originally from Western Europe, says fans will encounter a harsh reality and be ‘putting themselves at huge risk’ if they express their authentic identities at the tournament.She said the LGBTQ+ community has to socialise under a veil of secrecy and ‘’there is no freedom of identity’ in a country where same-sex relations are illegal.

The employees of United Airlines will march with their own ‘lively and colourful’ float in support of the LGBTQ+ community at this year’s Pride in London.

Ben Croll Heading into his first edition at the helm of the Neuchatel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF), artistic director Pierre-Yves Walder looked to land his white whale, setting his sights on a retrospective idea he’d dreamed up many years before.

Hunter Schafer has joined the cast of the upcoming Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Ty Sunderland was pacing, his head bent intently over his phone. It was 5:52 p.m., eight minutes before 500 guests were expected to board the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises boat where he was hosting a party on June 18, and the sound system had yet to be tuned. Mr.

“Bonjour,” says the barista as I reach the head of the line. I order a coffee and croissant, then take a moment to remind myself which country this cafe is in — a familiar quandary for long-haul pilots — and to confirm that the bank note I pull from my pocket is Canadian. Then I mangle a “merci” and step between the tables, each crowded with young tech workers speaking in euphonic blends of French and English, to a stool by the window overlooking the crowded street.

I knew I couldn’t seek help or do anything about it though – either medically or legally – and this felt terrible.I had a lot of close friends but they didn’t know anything about what I felt because I had to hide it from everyone.I knew that if I came out to anyone, I could be killed, or sent to prison where I’d be raped or severely tortured just for being who I am. So I decided to continue living as a female and hide my identity until I got the opportunity to leave.It was a heart-breaking situation but I didn’t have any other choice.Throughout it all, I had a really special friend who I met when I was eight years old via my cousin.

Central Scotland MSP, Graham Simpson, has expressed his “deep alarm” at a rise in bullying cases at NHS Lanarkshire since 2020-21.

Peacock has released the trailer for their new horror slasher flick.

Pride Month 2022 parades, not to mention will help to illuminate the meaning behind the funniest Pride Month memes, the best Pride Month quotes, and storylines and characters on your favorite LGBT TV shows.  From sexual identities like pansexuality to gender expressions like non-binary, consider this your base-level LGBTQ+ vocab lesson. (And if you're curious about what all of those colors mean on the rainbow Pride flag, study up on these facts about Pride Month.

Around 24 cases and six deaths have been reported in Florida, in what the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described as the “worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history”. The CDC and the Florida Department of Health are investigating the outbreak –  half of the cases are among hispanic men.

Summer is officially upon us.It’s hard to believe that it’s been 21 years since the film Wet Hot American Summer was first released. The 2001 sex comedy spoof was total flop, earning just $295,000 at the U.S.

Traditionally gay nude beaches offer eye candy in a time when pornhub, dominating our fantasies during the pandemic, is probably just not doing the trick anymore.When diving back into real-world events, make sure to pack plenty of SPF, that special speedo that’s been in dry dock for three years, and grab a rainbow towel or two.If you’re looking for clothing-optional options that include the sun, sand, and surf get thee to a nude beach. The following beaches have all reopened for the summer season.Please check local rules about nudity–they can change.Please comment to add suggestions if your favorite didn’t make the cut. Praia do Abricó, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilIpanema is fun and all but if you’re looking for a boy from Ipanema, you have a better chance of finding him sunning his backside 25 miles west of Copacabana at the “Apricot Beach,” popular since the mid-1940s.

Beyoncé is in her oontz-oontz era — an era many of us never truly left.Her new single “Break My Soul” is the house and dance inspired moment that we didn’t know we needed. With the slightest of help from Drake’s new Honestly, Nevermind album, she is set to bring old school house pop back into the cultural conversation.House music’s roots are pretty explicitly queer and Black, and this new single featuring Black queer icon Big Freedia is reminding the girls of that fact.Names like Crystal Waters, CeCe Peniston, and Robin S.

The post Intro-seducing Miami’s flirtiest new hotel appeared first on GAY TIMES.

Screening people with HIV for precancerous anal cell changes and treating them early cuts the risk of anal cancer by more than half, according to results from the ANCHOR study published June 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine."It is great news that we now have the possibility to reduce the risk of developing anal cancer," lead investigator Dr. Joel Palefsky, who established the world's first clinic devoted to anal cancer prevention at UCSF in 1991, told the Bay Area Reporter."We believe that screening for anal cancer precursors and treating them should become the standard of care for people with HIV over the age of 35 years," he added.

It's been three years since San Francisco last celebrated Pride with its usual extravagance — COVID, like any unwanted guest, saw to that — but now, the fête is back this weekend under the theme "Love Will Keep Us Together" and people, hundreds of thousands of them, are ready to party. In person.

In October, San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center will mount the world premiere of Nick Malakhow's new play "A Picture of Two Boys." It is the first time the queer Dominican and Ukrainian American writer and theater educator has worked with the LGBTQ nonprofit theater.The work features queer characters but delves more into their different racial backgrounds and other aspects of their identities. Their sexual orientations are not central to the plot, noted Malakhow in a recent phone interview from Boulder, Colorado where he lives and teaches English at a nearby private school."It is super amazing, honestly, to be working with a theater especially focused on LGBTQ issues with a story that centers LGBTQ characters but at the same time approaches these characters from a holistic, intersectional point of view," said Malakhow, 38, whose father emigrated from Ukraine in the 1950s at the age of 10.

A new film, now in pre-production, will recall the life of Juana Briones, often remembered as the "Founding Mother of San Francisco." Briones lived at a time when women didn't have rights and were often viewed as second-class citizens. Yet during her lifetime Briones raised children as a single mother, owned property, practiced herbal medicine, and was a midwife. She also excelled at business even though she could not read or write.Briones (1802-1889) was a woman of color, which made her accomplishments even more impressive, given the era in which she lived.

San Francisco has become the first known city to track its LGBTQ workforce as well as to ask applicants for city and county jobs what is their sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the latest attempt by the city to collect SOGI data, this time with an eye toward improving employment opportunities for LGBTQ individuals.In October, the Board of Supervisors signed off on striking a restriction in the city's municipal code that forbids it from inquiring into the "sexual orientation, practices, or habits" of city employees.

Maia Kobabe has the distinction of having written the most banned book in America, according to the American Library Association and PEN America, the writers' advocacy group Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists. "Gender Queer" is a graphic memoir first published in 2019 but re-issued in a hardcover deluxe edition this month by Oni Press.

San Francisco's last remaining gay sex club is racing to reopen its doors in time for Pride weekend. In doing so, it is reviving a historic location in the Tenderloin once home to a bathhouse that catered to men who have sex with men.Eros SF, the sex club for queer and trans men, is now located at 132 Turk Street.

The object of love and much adoration and — lately — plenty of controversy, the Castro Theatre is the crown jewel of the Castro neighborhood.Despite its grand Spanish Churrigueresque exterior, a popular style in California when the theater was built in 1922, and its even more grand interior, the beloved old movie palace is in worse condition than many may realize. It's not going anywhere, mind you, but once the theater's new managers, Another Planet Entertainment, finish their contractual obligations for various events this year, including Frameline46, San Francisco's International LGBTQ film festival running through Sunday, and concerts by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the theater will be undergoing extensive renovations.

As viewers use their mouse to scroll around a computer-generated reimagining of the living room of the home owned by the late lesbian pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, an audio clip plays of the couple recalling the genesis for the country's first lesbian social organization that they helped to form in September 1955. The screen includes a black and white photo of the women at one of the group's gatherings in Sausalito four years later."We Daughters of Bilitis was really founded as a very secret secret social club and a means of getting together without going to the bars which were frequently raided," recounts Martin. "And to be able to, you know, meet in each other's homes and have socials and ...""... to dance that was a really important part of it," interjects Lyon.The snippet from an oral history the couple recorded in 1987 for Manuela Soares' Herstory Video Project can be heard during the roughly 20-minute virtual tour of their San Francisco residence. It comes during section seven titled "Founding Daughters of Bilitis."Their residence at 651 Duncan Street in the city's Noe Valley neighborhood became a hub in the 1950s and 1960s for the Daughters of Bilitis. The couple hosted numerous social events and meetings at their two-story cottage for members of the group.

Black trans activist Andrea Horne is an imposing woman. It's something in the way she carries herself, perhaps, her bearing, her sense of self. Her voice suggests a woman who has seen it all and knows the score but is enjoying herself nonetheless.

The increased activities of white nationalists and other right-wing extremists around the country, and particularly recently here in the Bay Area, has San Francisco Pride event organizers and authorities thinking of security at this year's event a little more earnestly than in previous years. Kids attending a drag queen storytime at the San Lorenzo public library in the East Bay were confronted by right-wing protesters June 11, as alleged members of the Proud Boys barged in and harassed drag queen Panda Dulce as she was reading to the children.

After Sabine Martin initially came out as gay at the age of 12, her Mormon parents pulled her out of her public school and decided to homeschool her. The family also relocated from Concord, California to a trailer park in the Contra Costa County city of Clayton at the foot of Mt. Diablo."I had some harassment at the time, but I also had people who had my back," Martin recalled in a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

It was a day that many LGBTQs will never forget.On June 12, 2016, 49 lives — mostly LGBTQ Latinos — were lost and more than 50 were injured during a mass shooting inside Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Coming during Pride Month, the terrible news was a shock for the community. Now, six years later, the owner of Pulse is well into a plan to create what she describes as a fitting memorial at the site as a means to pay tribute to those whose lives were lost and to create a sanctuary of hope for future generations.Barbara Poma, the owner of Pulse, established the nonprofit onePULSE Foundation in 2017 with the goal of establishing the memorial.

More than two years into the pandemic, people are ready to party, but COVID-19 is still with us, and the emergence of monkeypox among gay and bisexual men presents a new health threat. Health officials don't advise canceling events or closing venues, but taking basic precautions can help maximize fun while minimizing risk."Coming out of the pandemic, people want to celebrate, and I think they can," Dr.

This past weekend, the Republican Party in Texas voted on an outrageous platform that not only denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, but also rejects gay marriage and seeks to “protect” minors until they turn 17 against “predatory sexual behaviors,” such as drag queens reading stories aloud to children. Drag queens are predators, trans women are a threat and gay marriage is a violation of the “natural order”: This is all part of the widening and re-energized attack by Republicans on L.G.B.T.Q. people and culture in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v.

Related: Dad threatened to “show up & kill somebody” if drag queens performed in his kid’s schoolWith so many Republicans stuck in the last century, they all grew up watching Bugs and his pals cheat death, taunt their enemies, and dress in drag. Sadly, while they seem to have forgotten all the laughs they had with the bunny in drag, they’re keen to remember the racist and sexist stereotypes the old cartoons embraced.Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake recently insinuated that drag queens and queer people are a threat to children.

criticized Pete Buttigieg for taking parental leave, saying, “The guy was not working! Because why? He was trying to figure out how to chest feed,” lampooning trans as well as gay people. Boebert and other right-wingers tend to laud stereotypically gendered parental roles; a typical argument from opponents of marriage equality was that children needed a mother and a father, never two parents of the same gender.Just last week, Boebert put aside her disdain for the secretary, the first out Senate-confirmed Cabinet member,  and wrote a letter to him seeking a Department of Transportation grant for bridge construction in her district, even though she opposed President Biden’s infrastructure legislation, which established funding for the grant program.Both Buttigiegs have shown expertise in taking on homophobes.

After an anonymous homophobe tore up his Pride decor, one man decided to prove that you can’t stop a rainbow from forming.Albuquerque resident Addison Foskey found the human rights sign and two Pride flags he’d planted in his yard vandalized earlier this month. Rather than despair or anger, he opted for the perfect response: rainbow revenge.First, Foskey got local news on the scene almost immediately in hopes that his vandal would hear his message.“I have ordered 100 more flags, and the yard will be awash in color,” Foskey told KOB 4.

Despite recent surges in bisexual representation in pop culture, many LGBT community members still experience identity invalidation today. This invalidation can significantly negatively not just bisexual people in particular but the community as a whole.Because bisexual people are neither gay nor straight, finding where they fit within the LGBT community can be a challenge.

It's time to come out, y'all! (Note: This is all in good fun, and people should only come out when they feel comfortable, safe, and ready. HAPPY PRIDE!)Ok, let's start with a softball (that's not a lesbian joke I swear!!). It's pretty widely suspected and accepted that Elsa is a lesbian.

A longtime deputy director at San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights has embarked on a new job leading Legal Services for Children.That nonprofit, known as LSC, is also headquartered in San Francisco. Cathy Sakimura, a queer woman, began serving as its executive director June 20.Sakimura, 42, replaced Ronald "Ron" Gutierrez, the agency's interim executive director.

Nouveau Productions, which Frazier runs with his husband Robert Pullen.All told, the special, star-studded programming to date has been strong in LGBTQ interest and appeal, ranging from an Ella Fitzgerald-themed Christmas show starring Vanessa Williams to the recently launched “Broadway in Concert” series featuring contemporary stars of the Great White Way paying tribute to iconic musicals.None of the specials have been quite as gay, however, as the latest, the explicitly queer-themed True Colors: LGBTQ+ Our Stories, Our Songs.Timed to kick off June’s Pride month, the program features real-life stories of hope, resilience, and triumph from members of the LGBTQ community, including former NBA player Jason Collins and acclaimed Sex and the City star and activist Cynthia Nixon, tied together with musical performances by a hodgepodge of queer talent, accompanied by the APO under Frazier and hosted by transgender Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider.The performance lineup includes the pioneering lesbian folk/rock duo the Indigo Girls with their chart-topping breakout hit “Closer to Fine,” Drag Race alums Peppermint, Alexis Michelle, and Jujubee giving a spin of “(A Little More) Mascara” from La Cage aux Folles, trans opera singer Breanna Sinclairé covering “Somewhere” from West Side Story, and Tony-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning stage veteran André de Shields (Hadestown) reviving “The Colors of My Life” from the 1980 musical Barnum.Additional performers include Glee star Chris Colfer, persevering contemporary Christian singer Trey Pearson formerly of the group Everyday Sunday, and young indie-pop artist Morgxn.Premiering Saturday, June 4, on www.PBS.org, the PBS Video app, and select PBS stations nationwide.Local affiliate WETA is

Supports SF Pride board's decisionI'm writing to state that I'm 100% behind the board of San Francisco Pride in its decision to ban the police from marching in uniform ["LGBTQ first responders won't march in SF Pride parade," online, May 23]. As a queer man with significant disabilities, the police do not make me feel safer in my community.

Unbreakable pays tribute to key LGBTQ+ figures throughout 20th-century America, honoring “the perseverance and power of people who would not be defeated and could not be broken,” to quote the official release.Next weekend, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington presents the East Coast premiere of the epic choral work from Andrew Lippa, which comes nearly a decade after his I Am Harvey Milk, another epic choral work that paid tribute to the titular trailblazing LGBTQ politician and gay martyr from San Francisco, originally commissioned by a collective of seven gay choruses from all over the U.S. (Lippa is also known for his Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning work as a musical composer and lyricist for The Addams Family and The Wild Party.)In addition to the full chorus, the Unbreakable premiere will feature two lauded soprano soloists, the Helen Hayes Award-winning vocal dynamo Nova Y.

In the Flesh, the 2022 program features nine total short plays by Sharpe.The roster includes: Bad Date starring Antwain Cook-Foreman and Zukeh Freeman. A Visit to the Ladies Room with Abbey Asare-Bediako, Adrianne Foster, and Ashley Nicole Lyles.One Day in the Park featuring Gregory Ford and Larry Hull. After Ours with Moses Princien and Ameirah Neal.