Joe Mantello: Last News

Russell Tovey thought he wanted to be a history teacher.And while life eventually took the 43-year-old star down a considerably more glamorous path, you could certainly say he’s managed to find a way to share some history lessons with the world.From one of his breakthrough stage roles in the 1980s-set The History Boys, to his turn in the revival of the sprawling epic Angels In America, to the beloved HBO drama Looking—which, in retrospect, is its own time capsule of a certain place & time—Tovey’s dedicated much of his career to breathing life into queer stories past and present.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.And his latest film is no exception. Set in 1997, Plainclothes is a caustic gay romance in an era of intense paranoia, following young cop Lucas (Benedicition‘s Tom Blyth) who’s assigned to go undercover in street clothes and lure unsuspecting cruisers into a trap.

In an act of defiance and response to the Lieutenant Governor’s priority bill SB 18 to ban drag performance along with numerous bills introduced into the Texas House that further attack drag performers and transgender people, Cathedral of Hope will host its second Celebrating Drag Sunday on Sunday, Feb. 16 at its 8.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. services. During the services, they will bless and affirm those who use drag as an art form and affirm their transgender siblings made in the image of God.

The U.S. Senate voted 68-29 to confirm Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, making him the highest-ranking gay official in the United States.Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, will be tasked with steering President Donald Trump’s economic agenda over the next four years.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday issued a waiver that allows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending.

Leading up to President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on Monday instructing the Pentagon to explore banning transgender service members from the U.S. armed forces, the Washington Blade spoke with five sources who, according to the new administration, lack the “readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity” required to serve.