Stage Notes: ‘The Cake’ review; DTC’s managing director announces retirement

With Halloween now in the rear-view mirror and the holidays fast approaching, Martha Stewart is making a plea to Christmas-obsessed Mariah Carey to not forget the Thanksgiving holiday.During an appearance on Today, the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia founder, 81, called out Carey, 52, by name to ask her to not skip right from Halloween to Christmas, which has been her track record over the years.'Mariah, you know me, I'm a traditionalist with a twist. And you cannot give up Thanksgiving just because you you don't like turkey,' Stewart, 81, said while looking into the camera, adding, 'I love turkey, and many, many other people love turkey.

Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist known for drawings of virile men engaging in acts of homoerotic desire.Now, you can celebrate his work (and have some fun lounging poolside in your fave studded leather speedo) at Tom’s Weekend, a special three-day festival celebrating Tom of Finland’s legacy, running November 4 to 6 at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club (@acehotelpalmsprings) in Palm Springs.The festival starts Friday with a poolside pop-up of the CULTUREEDIT/Tom of Finland store, including collaborations with J.W. Anderson, Honey Fucking Dijon, Happy Hour Skateboards, and Hiro Clark.There will also be an exhibition of Polaroid photographs by Tom of Finland ambassador Terry Miller.Friday’s hyper-pop party by FAKE AND GAY includes afternoon poolside sets by founder Adam Kraft alongside Casey MQ, Saturn, and Ah-Mer-Ah-Su.

The Nets suspended guard Kyrie Irving indefinitely Thursday for his “failure to disavow antisemitism” since he posted a link to an antisemitic movie on Twitter last week, though he had said there were some things in the movie he did not agree with. “I didn’t mean to cause any harm,” Irving said after a Nets practice Thursday. “I’m not the one that made the documentary.” Irving declined to apologize for the post, and when asked what specific points in the movie he did not agree with, he responded vaguely.

Modern Family star Julie Bowen revealed that she once had romantic feelings for a woman.

An appeals court ruled on Wednesday that requiring the Miss USA pageant to allow transgender women to compete would violate its first amendment right to communicate “the ideal vision of American womanhood.”The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a two-to-one decision that forcing the organization to allow Anita Green, a transgender woman, to participate in the pageant would violate its First Amendment rights.The Oregon woman sued Miss United States of America Pageants in federal court in Portland last year after her application to participate was denied.The 9th Circuit ruled that Enforcing Oregon’s law would violate the pageant’s free speech rights under the U.S.

She added in conversation with Harper's Bazaar: "I think sexuality is on a sliding scale. I don’t really believe in straight people."Emily had been divorced from her estranged husband, Sebastian Bear McClard, for less than a month when she published the attention-grabbing post.He is the father of her son, Sylvester Apollo, who the pair welcomed back in March 2021.Meanwhile, Emily - who is considering getting back onto the dating circuit soon - has opened up about her feelings regarding sex on a first date.She revealed on her podcast that "power dynamics" influence her decision about when to take a date to the bedroom - but that ultimately women should do "whatever the hell they want"."I've been thinking about this a lot because it speaks so much to power dynamics and sex on the first date is the ultimate example of that," she mused."[That's] because you're dealing with gender dynamics in such a specific little vacuum of a moment."I think if you're not ready to be vulnerable, that is a reason not to have sex on the first date."She also added that another pet peeve is men with an "'I'll hit that' vibe", even if she's attracted to the person, as she is looking for more than a purely physical connection.Meanwhile, she says men who don't make their way into her bedroom are much more forgettable to her."If I don't sleep with them, I think about them less.

The queens gave heartwarming makeovers to six special guests on the latest episode of Drag Race UK season four.

A popular gay leather bar in Chicago celebrated its 45th anniversary with a performance that critics found so offensive that one of the establishment’s bartenders quit on the spot and several patrons got up and left the bar. The famous kink and leather bar Touché hired puppeteer Jerry Halliday to entertain a crowd assembled for the anniversary soiree. Video clips of the performance show jokes that played on stereotypes and racist tropes of Black women and transgender people.Halliday, who is white, pulled out a black puppet that he introduced as “Sista Girl,” which, according to bartender Cris Bleaux, made him immediately uncomfortable.Halliday changed his voice to sound like a caricature of a Black person.

Social media influencer Gena Tew announced in March that she has been battling AIDS, which is caused by untreated HIV. She has since documented her journey on her Instagram and TikTok, where she has amassed close to a million followers.Recently, she took to her social media to address questions regarding her fertility since revealing her diagnosis, as well as revealing she is not undetectable and growing healthier by the day.“So, I haven’t had a period in over a year, and I was actually worried about that myself,” she said in the video before adding that her menstruation returned.

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.

(CNN) -- Shepard Smith will exit CNBC later this year after the business-focused news network announced on Thursday that it will cancel his show as it undergoes a "strategic realignment" under new leadership.The end of "The News with Shepard Smith," which will air its final episode later this month, comes a little more than two years after CNBC launched the show with high hopes that a straight, down-the-middle news program would resonate with its audience."'The News' set out on a bold mission of providing non-partisan, fact-based reporting on the most important stories of the day in the U.S. and around the world," CNBC President KC Sullivan wrote in a memo to employees Thursday.

A study from the researchers at University of Texas at Austin, and published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, found some important differences in how same-sex and opposite-sex couples deal with stress.Although stress is common in all sorts of marriages, researchers found that same-sex married couples, because they are generally more collaborative than their opposite-sex counterparts, are able to deal with stress better together.There were 419 couples who answered a survey on dyadic (paired) coping, and the analysis revealed the differences. Researchers have concluded this comes from a link between gender and coping strategies.The study author, Yiwen Wang, said, “This research shows that while there are some gender differences in dyadic coping efforts, the effects of supportive and collaborative dyadic coping as well as of negative dyadic coping on marital quality are the same for all couples.”“Our findings also emphasise the importance of coping as a couple for marital quality across different relationship contexts, which can be an avenue through which couples work together to strengthen relationship wellbeing.”Wang theorizes the reason both male and female same-sex couples work better collaboratively stems from similarities in stress response as well as shared experiences that are gender-specific.“Same-sex couples face unique stressors related to discrimination and stigma,” says Debra Umberson, Wang’s co-author, who points out that same-sex couples are less likely to have the same support straight couples may have.

A doughnut shop in Tulsa, Okla., that had hosted an art installation featuring drag queens was attacked with a Molotov cocktail this week.The shop, the Donut Hole, had also been burglarized two days after the drag event, which was part of its grand opening October 15, the Tulsa World reports. The event had drag queens serving sculptures of doughnuts as well as real ones.Then Monday, the Donut Hole posted security video showing a “hooded and masked figure” breaking a window with a baseball bat and throwing a bottle with a flaming substance into the shop, according to the World.

U.S. diplomats have met Thursday with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who’s imprisoned in Russia, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.“We are told she’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, CNN reports. The State Department also confirmed that officials from the U.S.

Ben Platt has opened up about the backlash he faced for starring in the Dear Evan Hansen movie adaptation.

The Sandman fans rejoice! The beloved Netflix series has been renewed for a second season.

McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley

Dwayne Wade’s ex-wife has asked a judge to block Wade from allowing their trans daughter, Zaya, to change her name and gender on her birth certificate. Siohvaughn Funches-Wade claims the basketball star is taking advantage of Zaya’s transgender identity for financial gain.Funches-Wade objected to Wade’s petition for recognition of their daughter Zaya’s gender change and the issuance of a new birth certificate. Since Zaya is only 15 years old, it’s necessary to have parental permission to obtain a court order granting the changes. Celebrity news site the Blast reports that Funches-Wade claims the NBA star is trying to circumvent the Illinois final custody order judgment entered in 2011.

Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist known for drawings of virile men engaging in acts of homoerotic desire. And just in time for Palm Springs Pride, you can now celebrate his work (and have some fun lounging poolside in your fave studded leather speedo) at Tom’s Weekend, a special three-day festival celebrating Tom of Finland’s legacy, running November 4 to 6 at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club (@acehotelpalmsprings) in Palm Springs.The festival starts Friday with a poolside pop-up of the CULTUREEDIT/Tom of Finland store, including collaborations with J.W.

Le Fil has shared the music video for the lead single from his brand new EP, Le Filosophical.

The post Exclusive: Lorraine Kelly says she was ‘in her element’ on new drag show Queens for the Night appeared first on GAY TIMES.

Flight, is an intimate exploration of complicated family dynamics featuring nuanced portraits of distinct characters. It’s a perfect book for anyone who feels more than a little conflicted about going to visit family for the holidays. With compassion and a deep sense of understanding, Flight explores the nature of belonging, and what it means to truly be part of a community.

A special government commission created to examine the infamous murders of gay men in Australia starting in the late 1970s held its first hearing yesterday.The Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes in New South Wales will examine the 80-plus unsolved deaths from 1976 to 2000 that took place on the picturesque cliffs surrounding Bondi Beach and Manley in NSW. Both areas were popular meeting places for men looking to have sex with other men during the period.In his opening statement to the commission, the senior counsel assisting, Peter Gray, encouraged individuals with knowledge of the crimes to come forward.“If you have had something weighing on your mind for years about these things, now is your chance to do something to make some amends,” Gray said in his statement delivered Wednesday.

Pageant queens Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentin this week announced via their Instagram accounts that they got married Oct. 28 in Puerto Rico. Varela, Miss Argentina 2020, and Valentin, Miss Puerto Rico 2020, said in the post that while they had decided to keep their relationship private, they were choosing to “open the doors on a special day. 28/10/22.”

The holiday season can bring mixed emotions for many, but for some, those feelings aren’t always joyful. To some, this time of year brings feelings of sadness and loss. The pressure to be happy and cheerful can be overwhelming. Brian and Colman sit with licensed professional counselor Jimmy Owen to discuss how to survive the anxiety that often comes with the season.

Jamie Keene (Screen shot via Zoom)

(CNN) -- A new power couple has taken the stage.A former Miss Argentina and former Miss Puerto Rico shocked and delighted fans by announcing their surprise marriage on Instagram.Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín met at the 2020 Miss Grand International competition in Thailand, where they represented Argentina and Puerto Rico, respectively. After making it to the pageant top 10, the two beauty queens appeared to remain close friends on social media.

World of Wonder has picked up a second season of Jinkx Monsoon and Liam Krug’s hilarious new series, Sketchy Queens.

Florida’s Republican governor is continuing his assault on the LGBTQ+ community. This time, he’s using a campaign mailer to mock nonbinary people ahead of next week’s elections.The campaign document uses slick disinformation about DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, including the claim that President Joe Biden’s student loan plan would force “hard-working Floridians to pay back student loans for degrees like Gender Studies and French Poetry.” HuffPost received the mailer from a person in Fort Lauderdale.

The highly-anticipated queer film My Policeman hits Prime Video on Friday, and The Advocate has a special exclusive featurette with interviews of the cast and creators behind the film. The film, which premiered in theaters last month, currently holds 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. My Policeman toggles between past and present, with pop star Harry Styles as the young Tom Burgess, a Brighton policeman discovering his identity at a time in England when queerness was criminalized and LGBTQ+ people were routinely jailed. Related: Watch Harry Styles in a Queer Love Triangle in 'My Policeman' TrailerThe Crown star Emma Corrin, who is nonbinary, is Tom’s wife Marion while out actor David Dawson stars as Tom’s lover Patrick.

Tom Kirdahy, Broadway producer and husband of the late theater icon Terrence McNally, announced today the creation of the Terrence McNally Foundation, “continuing the legendary playwright’s singular legacy of mentorship and activism.”

GEMMA Collins looked trimmer than ever in a throwback beach clip posted to celebrate her new podcast. The 41-year-old showed off her figure in a swimsuit as she strutted down the beach looking slimmer than ever.

Julie Bowen fell in love with a gay woman who didn’t like her “in that way”. Opening up about her sexuality, the mum-of-three ‘Modern Family’ actress, 52, added she identifies as straight despite being once interested in a female. She told Becca Tilley, 34, on the latest episode of her ‘Quitters’ podcast, released on 1 November: “I’m straight.

Two years after HIV prevention drug PrEP became available on the NHS in England, significant barriers remain for those trying to access it.

In the course of excavating her family history, Letty Cottin Pogrebin examines shame — or shanda, in Yiddish — as a Jewish inheritance, “not because other people or groups don’t feel it,” she writes, “but because it’s coded into the DNA of my family and ABC’s of my faith.” A frank and often amusing tabulation of well-kept family secrets, SHANDA: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy (429 pp., Post Hill Press, $28) tells a story of high-stakes melodrama and surreptitious relations, in which runaway brides, false marriages, lost children and other moral crises abound. But there is more here than mishegas.

Cooper Koch, president of the newly-renamed Multistory Media

Equality Texas officials today (Wednesday, Nov. 1) announced the names of those being honored at the organization’s 4th annual Gala, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 6-9 p.m. at the AT&T Conference Center in Austin.

With less than a week before Election Day and stakes that could not be higher, the race for attorney general in Michigan is surprisingly tight. The race is between the out incumbent Democrat, Dana Nessel, and Republican Matthew DePerno, who famously lost a case as part of the Big Lie election meddling conspiracy leading to the January 6 insurrection.Nessel tells The Advocate the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community this election cycle are opportunistic and have no widespread constituency in the Great Lakes State."[Republicans] get the attention because they have money, and unfortunately because the Republican Party now has become the party of homophobia and transphobia, that [anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric] gets spotlighted a lot," she says.

Gemma Collins has wowed her fans after preforming a cartwheel on a stunning sandy beach abroad. The Towe star has posted a short video in Instagram for her 2.2million followers to see.

Lone Survivor producer Randell Emmett today finds himself once again facing a litany of loathsome allegations, according to a multi-claim discrimination and hostile workplace lawsuit filed by a former personal assistant.

Campus Pride, a nonprofit dedicated to building future leaders and making college and university campuses safer and more welcoming for LGBTQ people, has announced the creation of the Campus Pride Career Connect, a one-stop career engagement portal “creating meaningful, authentic relationships between LGBTQ young adults and prospective employers,” according to a Campus Pride press release.

U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, left, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, right.

The Turtle Creek Fall Arts Festival is back this weekend, Nov. 12-13, at Reverchon Park — just in time for some holiday shopping.

For more than two decades, indie pop stars Tegan and Sara Quin crafted a mystique as the epitome of effortlessly cool. But, as it turns out, even the hip artists behind hits like “Walking With a Ghost,” “Closer,” and “Everything is Awesome” were once awkward teens navigating friendships, first loves, and broken hearts.The duo is featured on the first digital cover of Pride (a sister publication of The Advocate), where they talked about how, just like the rest of us, the Quins struggled through the discovery of their identities — in their case as twins, individuals, and queer women.

A woman has caused a stir in the playground after she invited all but one of her daughter's classmates to her birthday party. The 28-year-old mum was planning her seven-year-old daughter's birthday celebration, and said she did not want to invite one little girl in particular.

A middle school in central Oregon pulled its students from an outdoor educational camp after some parents and students expressed concern over the presence of nonbinary and transgender folks serving as cabin counselors. The camp’s director, however, said they were acting in accordance with the state’s civil rights laws.According to a report in the Central Oregon Daily, Culver Middle School superintendent Stefanie Garber said she made the “no-win” decision to pull all Culver Middle School students from Camp Tamarack in Singer last Monday after some students complained.“More than one of our boys’ cabins expressed that they were uncomfortable to our teacher,” Garber told the Daily.

In reaction to seeing their sunglasses on the faces of members of the Proud Boys who were disrupting a drag fundraising event in North Carolina, the manufacturer has said it will donate money to LGBTQ-friendly causes.Clad in their yellow and black colors, members of the far-right radical white supremacist group donned distinctive sunglasses outside an event in Sanford in images shared on Twitter last Sunday.Protest photographer and astrophysics professor at Elon University Anthony Crider posted a series of photos showing the scene where these men stood to menace patrons and LGBTQ+ supporters.

Why does queering the vote matter now more than ever?Let’s face it, we are tired. The exhaustion is about more than just receiving messages about how our votes matter despite the overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable tactics to suppress our votes and destroy an equitable system of elections.  It's the feelings of disillusionment that come with the knowledge that if you are Black, brown, formerly incarcerated, disabled, and/or identify as LGBTQ+, a vote isn’t going to save you or your community.