ORANGE COUNTY “STAND UP STAND OUT” AT OC PRIDE OC Pride 2019 will be held on Saturday, June 22, 2019 in Downtown Santa Ana with an expected attendance of over 25,000. The theme this year is “Stand Up Stand Out.” Dance legend Kristine W, ranked #3 in Billboard’s “Top Dance Artists of the Decade,”…
BEARS In SPACE PHOTOS BY DUSTI CUNNINGHAM The warm weather brought LA’s own Critter Control with their Bears in Space season opener lot party that took place at Akbar in Silverlake. MYSTIC BILL (Dark Entries, Miami) and JEFFREY SFIRE (Macho City, Detroit) provided the tunes along with residents Chris Bowen, Victor Rodriguez, Stacy Christine and…
WOKE In Dreamland A queer kid of color, Billy Winn, on the inspiration for Another Broken Heart. BY ORLY LYONNE Billy Winn’s Dreamland II picks up where Dreamland I left off. Thematically, at least. Sonically, its debut single, Another Broken Heart, released last month, turns up the drama with a heavy-octane dance number. “I love…
SUPREME COURT REJECTS TRANS POLICY CHALLENGE The Supreme Court declined to hear a case last month challenging a Pennsylvania school district’s bathroom policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice, reports Politico. The conservative Alliance Defending Freedom represented a group of students in the case, Doe v. Boyertown Area School District, alleging that…
“Whatever you may think of our allies in the business world, they are picking up most of the $12 million in costs associated with the dozens of mainstream GLBT pride events scheduled for New York alone… Like them or not, American businesses are not the enemy.” FIFTY YEARS LATER… Is it really that time of…
Long Term SOBRIETY We asked these three individuals who recently celebrated clean and sober milestones, what their lives are like as members of long term sobriety. Mind Boggling “Turning 19 years sober is mind boggling. I don’t know quite how I’ve done it, other than to have realized that I had no idea how to live…
Can Be Soulless “People [in Hollywood] may not always be as genuine as they should be. I come from New Orleans. It’s a city based on realness. It’s just a feeling and people lack that somewhat in Hollywood. It can be soulless, you know?” —Star’s Amiyah Scott, one of the first openly trans actors to…
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera Transgender Icons Honored The statues of these pioneering trans women of color will be the first in the United States to honor transgender people. BY VICTOR MELAMED The riots at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969 in New York were a turning point for LGBTQ rights, however for transgender activists Marsha…
Aria Sa’id, co-founder and executive director of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District: We want to support the beautification of the neighborhood while acknowledging its rich Transgender history.” BY KELLY LOVEMONSTER | PHOTO BY DUSTI CUNNINGHAM Occupying six blocks in the South East Tenderloin (which also crosses over Market Street to include two blocks of 6th…
An interview with Patrick Finger, Executive Director of Folsom Street Events on upcoming changes of magnitude proportions. BY MARK ARIEL Let’s get right to the nitty gritty. Is it true that Folsom will not be producing Magnitude this year? If so, why is that not happening? Correct, we will not be producing Magnitude this year.…
SB-50: Scott Wiener’s plan to build new housing and fight urban sprawl (whether California wants it or not). BY BRENDEN SHUCART There is a housing crisis in California. Decades of underbuilding have left us with a 3.5 million home deficit. While a combination of housing speculation and a booming economy in the Tech, Bio Tech,…
Is it possible that we’ve become so fixated on our search for sexual liberation that we’ve lost sight of what we’re really seeking? BY LEON FOX Down a flight of stairs and past the reception booth, I—donned in a fabulous coat made entirely of shimmering sequins—pirouetted into the main dance hall of one of San…
The founder of the Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge, Amy Farah Weiss, on sheltering unhoused SF residents and reintegrating them into the community. BY BRENDEN SHUCART Amy Farah Weiss is the founder of the Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge, and has twice campaigned for Mayor of San Francisco on a platform of solving the City’s homelessness crisis.…
The gay Mayor of Solvang, Ryan Toussaint on preconceived notions, social change movements and being a voice for the future. BY SEAN GALUSZKA Elected Councilman at age of 29 in 2016 then running for Mayor of Solvang in 2018 and receiving 61.47% of the vote, Ryan Toussaint says that serving as a city council member…
Elliot Musgrave talks to Steve Ganzell about being the first trans Mr. Los Angeles Leather. BY STEVE GANZELL | PHOTO BY DUSTI CUNNINGHAM Sitting in his living room not long after winning the title of Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2019 that took place at the end of March this year, Elliot Musgrave is open and…
Upcoming LGBTQ Pride Festivals throughout the state. Long BeachMay 18–19www.longbeachpride.com Laguna BeachMay 31–June 2\www.lagunabeachpride.org SonomaMay 31–June 2www.sonomacountypride.org Santa MonicaJune 1www.smpride.com VeniceJune 1–3www.venicepride.org Santa CruzJune 2www.santacruzpride.org Los AngelesJune 8–9www.lapride.org SacramentoJune 8–9www.sacramentopride.org San MateoJune 10www.SanMateoCountyFair.com Los AngelesTrans Pride LAJune 14–15www.lalgbtcenter.org Orange CountyJune 22www.prideoc.com San FranciscoJune 29–30www.sfpride.org ComptonJuly 6www.comptonpridefestival.com San DiegoJuly 12–14www.sdpride.org San PedroJune 15www.bridgecitiesla.com San FranciscoUp Your AlleyJuly…
An interview with Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. Pride, trans equality and making sure young people know they are not alone. BY MARK ARIEL This year Long Beach Pride is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. As the first openly gay mayor of your city—can you reflect on how the LGBTQ community has evolved since that…
