MEET THE QUEENS By Paulo Murillo Drag performance artists and former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, Courtney Act, Willam Belli, and Alaska Thunderfuck, launched their American Apparel t-shirt line on September 28, to debut a special campaign by American Apparel. American Read more
By Paulo Murillo Point Foundation held their annual Voices on Point concert in Century City on Saturday, September 13, to benefit Point Foundation–the nation’s largest scholarship organization for LGBTQ students of merit. This year, Point Foundation honored songwriter Diane Warren Read more
The Phoenix Effect’s Seth Browning on current trends in the world of fitness, getting sober and meeting Britney Spears. BY PAULO MURILLO | PHOTO BY ANTHONY DURAN A certified personal trainer at Body by Browning and senior fitness instructor at Read more
While 23 million people in the US need help with addiction and mental illness, only 3 million are getting help. Outreach, social challenges and programs geared towards the LGBT population. BY MARK ARIEL Heroes in Recovery is a movement ignited Read more
The short film “Love Is All You Need?” about a girl who is bullied because she is straight in a world where everyone is gay—is being developed into a feature length project—to bring bullying and social justice to light for Read more
Amending my past behavior has been hard. Getting an amends from someone I hated for so many years was not much easier. BY PAULO MURILLO | PHOTO BY RICK GALIHER I was up against it that spring of 2010, and going Read more
Save the date: Saturday, September 20th from 11am to 6pm in Memorial Park and the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena. Entertainers include Abi Ann, Dario and The South Pasadena Transit Authority. Free admission! BY VICTOR MELAMED The Board of Directors of Read more
September is National Recovery Month. A few local clean and sober folks, from different walks of life, with different lengths of sobriety, share what they love most about their journey in recovery. BY PAULO MURILLO SENSE OF BELONGING “There are Read more
The notion of being “abnormal” through addiction and mental illness (what professionals call “dual-diagnosis”) can arouse a false sense of being broken. BY JOEL EDWARDS The word “recovery” can sound threatening to members of the LGBTQ community, as many often Read more
The LAPD is offering a $50,000 reward for information on the gruesome fatal beating of Ramon Estrada. BY JAMES MILLS In the early morning hours of July 7, Ramon Estrada phoned his boyfriend of 13 years, Michael Shutt, saying he’d Read more
Contributing writer Robert E. Blackmon on his new book, “The Gay Groom’s Guide to Planning Your Perfect Wedding.” BY VICTOR MELAMED In an interview with THE FIGHT Robert E. Blackmon, a fixture in the Los Angeles gay leather community, reveals Read more
A STAR IS BORN. SEE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 MAN MACHINE Faultline Bar, 4216 Melrose Ave, 9pm to 2am. For more info: faultlinebar.com/html/machine DJs Paul V. & Tommy Rocker for a night of non-stop elektropop, future / retro Read more
HUGE TURNOUT FOR OC LGBT PRIDE Thousands turned up to for Orange County Pride 2014—some say the largest turnout to date, which took place last month in Downtown Santa Ana. The festival offered plenty of booths that featured youth Read more
DETECTING THE VIRUS SOONER New HIV testing guidelines for laboratories could detect HIV weeks earlier than before. BY VICTOR MELAMED Roughly half of the 50,000 new HIV infections each year are transmitted by those who don’t know they are carrying Read more
To PrEP Or Not To PrEP? As someone who is both black and gay, I’m in one of the highest-risk categories for HIV infection… so why am I so wary about PrEP? BY ROB SMITH The specter of HIV infection Read more
WAITING FOR JUSTICE The vast majority of individuals, who are not members of the legal profession, are not aware of the increasing level of injustice that has emptied from the state of California’s civil judiciary system. BY DAVID HAKIMFAR In Read more
I haven’t seen the new flick “Love is Strange,” but according to reports, the film is absolutely clean. No sex, no nothing, just gay romance. So why did the Motion Picture Association of America give it an R rating? The Read more
BRYAN HIGGINS ALLEGED HATE CRIME DEATH IN SF Bryan Higgins, 31, a gay San Francisco man known as Feather Lynn, was taken off life support last month, after being found unconscious in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood on Aug. 10. Read more
The month of September is National Recovery Month. 2014 marks 25 years of promoting the societal benefits of prevention, treatment and recovery for mental and substance use disorders. This year’s theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Speak Up, Reach Read more
