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It’s been a few years since queer comedian, actor, and activist Margaret Cho has done a stand-up comedy tour. In the interim, she’s been acting in a variety of well-received movies (including “Fire Island”) and TV shows (such as “Hacks” and “The Flight Attendant”). In other words, she’s never far from our sight. That’s a good thing! For 2023, Cho embarked on a multi-city comedy tour, “Live and Livid,” and it promises to be the live performance event of the year (sorry Madonna). Margaret was kind enough to answer a few questions before heading out on the road.
BLADE: Margaret, I interviewed you last spring just before the movie “Fire Island” premiered. Since that time, the movie won the Gotham Awards’ Ensemble Tribute, and was named on several end-of-the-year “best of” lists. Additionally, “Fire Island” is Certified Fresh on RottenTomatoes.com with a 94% rating. What does it mean to you to have been associated with such a well-received project?
MARGARET CHO: I love it! I loved making it. I love the cast. I love Joel’s (Kim Booster) vision. I love Andrew’s (Ahn) directing. We are a family, and we’ve got to make sequels, prequels, a whole cinematic universe. I think that would be so valuable. Hopefully, we’ll get to see that. I love them, they’re my babies. I knew that everybody would love this movie. I loved this movie so much. I’m very proud of it and proud of everybody that worked on it.
BLADE: The Lifetime sitcom “Drop Dead Diva,” on which you played Terri Lee, has been brought back and is airing on the Hallmark Channel. How do you feel about the possibility of a whole new generation of viewers getting to see the show?
CHO: I’m very proud of the work that I got to do on that show. It’s really exciting that everybody gets to discover it again. I love that we get to show everybody what we did. It’s so fun and it’s a triumph.
BLADE: Do you have any favorite memories to share from “Drop Dead Diva”?
CHO: I loved working with Liza Minnelli. My very favorite episode was all the stuff I got to do with Patty Duke. She was a legend. I kept trying to get her to come to a screening of “Valley of the Dolls” where we would interview her. She was like, “Oh, nobody wants to see that movie!” I’m like, “What? Are you crazy [laughs]? Everybody loves that movie.” She was such a person to get to know and to work with. What an incredible actor and a lovely woman.
BLADE: You play Nurse Nina in the Apple TV+ educational children’s series “Helpsters.” What do you like best about that?
CHO: The creatures. All of the puppets are so cute. I love working with puppeteers because they’re actually very animated people. They’re so charming and beautiful and fun, and fun to be with. I love (out actor) Rebecca Henderson (who plays Farmer Flynn). We played girlfriends, and now we’re married on the show, we’re married on “Helpsters.” When I see her, I’m like, “We’re doing so good in our relationship!” She was my girlfriend in the (2022) movie “Sex Appeal” on Hulu, and she and I are married on “Helpsters.” She’s my most successful relationship.
BLADE: “Helpsters” is from the makers of “Sesame Street,” and being someone who was in her formative years when “Sesame Street” first started airing, would you say that it was a show that had an impact on you?
CHO: Absolutely! In the ‘90s, I got to work with Kermit the Frog. I mean, talk about an NDA! If you work with a Muppet, like Kermit the Frog, in particular, you have to sign so many NDAs. I’m probably breaking an NDA right now. We had gone to this thing, and Kermit was my partner. We were doing shots with Gorbachev, Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev were in the United States and they were being hosted by Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, to whom she was married at the time. I had not drunk alcohol in a long time, and they forced us to do shots. Kermit was like (in Kermit’s voice), “Drink it! Drink it!” I couldn’t not do a shot if Kermit’s right there telling me to drink it. I’ve worked with a lot of Muppets, and I’ve had a lot of Muppet drama [laughs].
BLADE: Your 2023 North American tour is titled “Live & Livid.” We certainly have a lot to be livid about, especially in the years following the 45th president, as well as the events of Jan. 6, and the deadly rise of white nationalism. Were these sources of inspiration, and what else are you livid about?
CHO: Yes! Also the attacks on drag queens, the attacks on queerness, the attacks on trans folks, the continual attacking of different parts of our community who are so important to us. Whether it’s our athletes, like Brittney Griner. Whether it’s trans kids. Drag queens, to me, who are front and center, the heart and joy of our community. It’s where we celebrate, with drag. That’s the most heartbreaking part of this is. They’re taking down the really important part of community. The cheerful ones, the ones that we need. Well, not Bianca Del Rio [laughs]. Bianca’s my favorite! They should be scared of drag queens! They will get read to filth. They should be afraid! Children are way safer at a drag show than they are in church!
BLADE: As of now, when we’re talking, “Live & Livid” is scheduled to run through September with stops in 20 cities, including San Francisco. What does it mean to you when you get to perform for the hometown crowd?
CHO: Oh, I love it. It’s sort of still my hometown in a lot of ways. I have deep roots there. I spent so much time there, so it’s still home in a lot of ways. It’s meaningful and a cherished thing. But, also, I think I’m a citizen of everywhere. I’ve been everywhere, so it’s all my home.
BLADE: It’s been six years since you launched your previous tour, “Fresh Off the Bloat.” What are you most looking forward to about returning to performing live again?
CHO: I think we had a really difficult time throughout the pandemic and through this resetting of this idea of what the world is. It’ll be great to greet people again in this new space. The gratitude that I have for live performance, and going to live shows and performances as it is, is a really special thing. I’m very excited.
BLADE: Are there any upcoming projects about which you’re excited that you’d like to mention?
CHO: Nothing that I can mention, as yet. But I’m really looking forward to this year. I have things that I’m working on that I’m really thrilled about. Things that are starting to come up that I’ll be able to talk about soon. I’m working a lot, so I’m really happy about that.
BLADE: This interview is taking place on Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious, and if so, what superstitions do you observe?
CHO: I love Friday the 13th! I love black cats. I love this whole notion of the cursed film or cursed TV show. There’s something about it. Whether it’s “The Exorcist” or “Poltergeist.” Any of these ideas of things being ill-willed or bad omens. “The Omen!” I love horror, so to me it’s a very special day. It’s my happy day, my holiday.
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“She’s considered the mother of disability rights- and she’s a ‘badass’.” ~ The Washington Post lauding her fight for civil rights
WASHINGTON – A little known but critical key leader in the fight for civil rights for disabled Americans died at 75 years-old after a brief illness on Saturday. Judith Ellen Heumann, who had been hospitalized in a D.C. hospital with breathing issues, was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community.
Throughout her life, Heumann traveled in her motorized wheelchair to countries on every continent, in urban and rural communities alike. She played a critical role in the development and implementation of major legislation including the Americans with Disability Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international human rights treaty of the United Nations signed on the 30th of March, 2007.
Born in Philadelphia, PA and raised in Brooklyn, NY Heumann was a graduate of Long Island University then later received a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975.
Heumann would later go on to spend decades as a civil rights advocate for Americans and others with physical and other challenges that saw her land a position as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education under then-President Bill Clinton in 1993.
After nearly eight years at the DOE, Heumann was offered a position with the World Bank headquarters in D.C. as the bank’s Advisor of Disability and Development. In 2010 she rejoined Federal service in the history making role as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. State Department at the behest of United States secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Obama Administration.
In 2017, then Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Heumann to serve in the District’s Department of Disability Services as the agency’s first director.
But prior to her government service and above all she was a civil rights activist. NPR radio’s Joseph Shapiro wrote in his tribute piece published yesterday a quote Heumann gave him 36 years ago in his first story on the battle for the rights for disabled Americans that summed up the battle she and others had experienced in the fight for recognition.
“Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example,” she said. “It is not a tragedy to me that I’m living in a wheelchair,” she told Shapiro.
In 1949, Heumann at age 2, the daughter of a New York butcher and his wife, contracted polio and her parents were informed their daughter would likely be unable to walk for the rest other life.
When she was 5 and it was time to go to kindergarten, her parents — German Jewish immigrants — went to register her but were turned away at the nearby public school. It would create a fire hazard, the principal said, to let a girl in a wheelchair go to the school, , Shapiro reported.
One of her early acts of civil disobedience and protest occurred in 1972 WTOP radio in D.C. noted, when she and other activists shut down traffic in Manhattan in a long fight for civil rights after then President Richard Nixon vetoed the 1972 Rehabilitation Act, although Nixon did sign the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That legislation added milestone language to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities, however the Nixon and later Ford administrations did not write federal regulations to enforce the act leaving it essentially unenforceable.
Shapiro wrote that Heumann co-founded Disabled in Action, a protest group modeled on the work of Black civil rights activists, the women’s movement and anti-Vietnam War protesters.
Heumann eventually moved her protests to a federal building in San Francisco, California, in the Spring of 1977 for a 26-day sit-in, an action that forced the administration of President Jimmy Carter to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which specified that no government agency, or even a private business, that accepted federal funds could discriminate against someone on the basis of their disability.
Shapiro pointed out that Section 504 became a model for the ADA which would extend the principles of non-discrimination to all public accommodations, employment, transportation, communications and access to state and local government programs.
A long held goal of Heumann and other disability advocates and activists became reality when in a White House ceremony on July 26, 1990 when President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (42 U.S.C. § 12101).
The landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation and gender identity.
In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations.
At the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice there is an entire Disability Rights Section, (ADA.gov) that enforces provisos of the ADA.
Tributes poured in from across the United States and the world as news of Heumann’s death spread. The White House released a statement from President Joe Biden which read:
Judy Heumann was a trailblazer – a rolling warrior – for disability rights in America. After her school principal said she couldn’t enter Kindergarten because she was using a wheelchair, Judy dedicated the rest of her life to fighting for the inherent dignity of people with disabilities. Her courage and fierce advocacy resulted in the Rehabilitation Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act – landmark achievements that increased access to education, the workplace, housing, and more for people with disabilities. Judy also served in leadership positions in two presidential administrations, and she started multiple disability advocacy organizations that continue to benefit people here and around the world. I knew Judy for a long time. When I was Vice President, we hosted a meeting together at the White House to discuss our continued efforts to break down barriers for those who face discrimination and neglect. Her legacy is an inspiration to all Americans, including many talented public servants with disabilities in my Administration. Jill and I send our deepest condolences to Judy’s husband, Jorge Pineda, and their entire family.
On his official Twitter account, former President Barack Obama posted: “Judy Heumann dedicated her life to the fight for civil rights—starting as a young organizer at Camp Jened and later helping lead the disability rights movement. Michelle and I were fortunate to work with Judy over the years, and are thinking of her family and friends.”
The National Council of Jewish Women tweeted: “We are devastated to hear Judith Heumann has passed. She was known to many as the mother of the disability rights movement, and a proud NCJW advocate. May Judy’s memory forever be for a blessing.
The American Association of People with Disabilities said on Twitter: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Judy Heumann, known by many as a mentor, friend, and “the mother” of the disability rights movement.”
Heumann is survived by her loving husband, Jorge Pineda, her brother, Ricky, wife Julie and her brother Joseph and wife Mary, her niece Kristin, grand nephew Orion and many other members of both the Heumann and Pineda families. She had many close friends that will miss her dearly.
MEMORIAL SERVICE: Wednesday, March 8 at 10 a.m. ET at Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec St. NW, Washington, DC 20008
BURIAL: Following the service at 12 p.m. at Judean Memorial Gardens located at 16225 Batchellors Forest Rd., Olney, MD 20832.
SHIVA: Following the burial, the family will be receiving guests at a gathering held at Adas Israel.
LIVESTREAM: The memorial and burial will be live-streamed on Adas Israel’s website. Please click here to join the livestream.
Dorian Awards add to momentum for breakout film as Oscars near
For Oscar handicappers – or anyone else who loves movies and enjoys playing the yearly game of picking favorites and predicting winners during Hollywood’s glitzy awards season – last weekend’s presentation of the Screen Actors Guild Awards was a crucial event.
As the last “big” awards ceremony before Academy Award night (which takes place this year on March 12), the SAG Awards’ film category winners are often seen as a clear indicator of which films and performers have the momentum to win there, too. It’s not surprising they should be seen as significant, but this year, thanks to some history-making wins (including firsts for Asian-American talent and a single movie’s sweep of all but two of the film categories), there was even more reason to pay attention.
SAG was not the only organization to bestow its film awards last week, however. Though they received less fanfare, the 14th Annual Dorian Awards – announced on Feb. 23 by GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics – offered a slate of winners that reflected a queer eye on the films of 2022; and while they might not be as much a barometer for the tastes and attitudes of the industry insiders who vote for the big film awards, it should be noted that its choices align surprisingly often with those of SAG and the rest of mainstream Hollywood.
That’s partly because, although they do include a handful of LGBTQ-specific categories, the Dorians don’t just honor queer films. GALECA’s voters – a group of more than 400 professional queer entertainment critics, journalists, and media icons – look at the same movies as their straight colleagues; they present the Dorians (named as a nod to iconic queer writer Oscar Wilde and his most famous literary creation) as a way “to remind bigots, bullies and our own communities that the world often looks to the Q+ eye for unique and powerful entertainment,” and to ensure that a queer perspective is represented amid Hollywood’s yearly bestowal of honors. While there have been notable divergences, such as the occasional queer title like “Carol” or “Call Me By Your Name” supplanting their more hetero-friendly competitors for Film of the Year, recent Dorian honors have tended more to mirror the mainstream consensus than defy it.
This year is no exception. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the genre-splicing serio-comic sci-fi sleeper whose jaw-dropping sweep at the SAG show has made a similar triumph at the Oscars feel all but inevitable, also scored a lion’s share of honors from the Dorians, winning in seven of its nine nominated categories – even achieving the triple feat of being chosen as Best Film, Best LGBTQ Film and Most Visually Striking Film. For Lead Film Performance – all nominees, regardless of gender, vie for a single award in the each of the two acting categories – Yeoh, long embraced by queer fans, edged out not only Blanchett but favored male competitors like SAG winner Brendan Fraser and Golden Globe winners Colin Farrell and Austin Butler, while co-star Ke Huy Quan continued his inspiring victory lap by being chosen for Supporting Film Performance. Rounding out their movie’s tally, filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won in both the Director and Screenplay categories. As a bonus, while technically awarded for “EEAAO,” Yeoh was also the winner of the Wilde Artist Award, a special Dorian given yearly “to a truly groundbreaking force in film, theater and/or television,” and fellow cast member Stephanie Hsu was named as Rising Star of the Year – honors almost certainly fueled by their work in “EEAAO.”
The UK import “Aftersun,” Charlotte Wells’ thoughtful father-daughter tearjerker starring Paul Mescal, which also is also nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars, was awarded the Dorian for Best “Unsung” Film.
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” director Laura Poitras’ searing documentary about famed bisexual photographer Nan Goldin and her mission to shame the Sackler Big Pharma dynasty for profiteering on America’s opioid crisis, took both Best Documentary and Best LGBTQ Documentary; it’s also Oscar-nominated as Best Feature Documentary, the only queer-related doc to have made the cut there.
In the Best Animated Film category, the Dorians went against the tide by choosing “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” the charming and deceptively absurd stop-motion “mockumentary” adapted from a widely popular series of YouTube shorts, over “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Both films are competing at the Oscars, as well.
For Best Non-English Language Film, the Dorians did what the Oscars cannot by picking “RRR” – the epic Telugu-language musical adventure fantasy about two South Indian rebels fighting to push British colonials from their homeland in the 1920s, rendered ineligible for the Academy’s equivalent category by India’s failure to submit it as the country’s official entry for consideration as Best International Feature. The film, a worldwide box office sensation from S.S. Rajamouli (India’s most commercially successful director), did snag an Oscar nomination in the Best Song category for “Naatu Naatu.”
Though “Tár” – a critically acclaimed but divisive cinematic portrait of a fictional lesbian symphony conductor accused of serial sexual misconduct in the workplace – ended up as an also-ran in most of its nominated categories, it didn’t go away empty-handed; composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, also nominated for her work on “Women Talking,” took home the award for Best Score. A former Oscar winner (for 2019’s “Joker”), she failed to earn an Academy nomination this year for either film.
In a category unique to the Dorians, the cheeky horror prequel “Pearl,” which starred co-writer Mia Goth as an ax-wielding wannabe in 1918 Texas, took the double-edged honor of Campiest Film of the Year. Other nominees included “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” as well as the aforementioned “RRR.”
Finally, a relatively new special Dorian honor, the GALECA LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer Award, went to nonbinary actor-singer Janelle Monáe (also a nominee for Best Supporting Performance for “Glass Onion”), whose win puts her in the company of groundbreaking LGBTQ directors Isabel Sandoval and Pedro Almodóvar, both former winners, as a queer pioneer in the ever-evolving cinematic medium.
As for how much influence the Dorians might have on Oscar voters, even most of the GALECA membership would likely say “not much.” That’s not the point, however; indeed, the increasingly frequent parallel between their picks and those of their mainstream compatriots might well be better interpreted as a reminder of the LGBTQ community’s role as “tastemakers” for the wider world. We’ve always been there, even when we were kept out of sight, helping to shape the aesthetic that dominates popular culture, and the fact that our tastes – as filtered through the representative cross-section of GALECA’s members, at least – are now so often represented in the content that achieves the industry’s highest honors is cause enough to celebrate.
As GALECA Executive Director John Griffiths puts it, “No matter what’s going on in the mind of a certain Florida governor and his ilk, the best movies, and TV too, will only continue to reflect what’s going on in the real world—and parallel ones too. Looking at our nominees and winners, you can let out a nice, deep breath.”
The complete list of Dorian winners and nominees is below:
Film of the Year Aftersun (A24) The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER The Fabelmans (Universal) Tár (Focus Features)
LGBTQ Film of the Year Benediction (Roadside Attractions) Bros (Universal) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER The Inspection (A24) Tár (Focus Features)
Director of the Year Todd Field, Tár (Focus Features) Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) Sarah Polley, Women Talking (United Artists) Charlotte Wells, Aftersun (A24)
Screenplay of the Year Todd Field, Tár (Focus Features) Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) Sarah Polley, Women Talking (United Artists) Charlotte Wells, Aftersun (A24)
Non-English Language Film of the Year All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix, Amusement Park) Close (A24) Decision to Leave (Mubi, CJ Entertainment) EO (Sideshow, Janus Films) RRR (DVV Entertainment, Variance Films) – WINNER
Unsung Film of the Year (To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention) Aftersun (A24) – WINNER After Yang (A24) Benediction (Roadside Attractions) The Eternal Daughter (A24) Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (Searchlight) The Menu (Searchlight) Emily the Criminal (Vertical/Roadside Attractions)
Film Performance of the Year Cate Blanchett, Tár (Focus Features) Austin Butler, Elvis (Warner Bros.) Viola Davis, The Woman King (Sony) Danielle Deadwyler, Till (United Artists) Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) Brendan Fraser, The Whale (A24) Mia Goth, Pearl (A24) Paul Mescal, Aftersun (A24) Jeremy Pope, The Inspection (A24) Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER
Supporting Film Performance of the Year Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney, Marvel) Hong Chau, The Whale (A24) Jaime Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness (Neon) Nina Hoss, Tár (Focus Features) Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: Knives Out (Netflix) Keke Palmer, Nope (Universal) Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER
Documentary of the Year All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Neon) – WINNER Fire of Love (Neon, National Geographic) Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios) Moonage Daydream (Neon) Navalny (Warner Bros.)
LGBTQ Documentary of the Year All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Neon) – WINNER Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber) Moonage Daydream (Neon) Nelly & Nadine (Wolfe Releasing) Sirens (Oscilloscope)
Animated Film of the Year Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24) – WINNER Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (DreamWorks, Universal) Turning Red (Disney, Pixar) Wendell & Wild (Netflix)
Film Music of the Year Babylon – score by Justin Hurvitz (Paramount) Elvis – score and music production by Elliott Wheeler; the music of Elvis Presley; various artists (Warner Bros.) RRR – score by M.M. Keeravani (DVV Entertainment, Variance Films) Tár – score and curation by Hildur Guðnadóttir (Focus Features) – WINNER Women Talking – score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (United Artists)
Visually Striking Film of the Year Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century) Babylon (Paramount) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER Nope (Universal) RRR (DVV Entertainment, Variance Films)
Campiest Flick of the Year Babylon (Paramount) Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24) Elvis (Warner Bros.) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) Pearl (A24) – WINNER RRR (DVV Entertainment, Variance Films)
Rising Star Award Austin Butler Frankie Corio Stephanie Hsu – WINNER Gabriel LaBelle Jenna Ortega Jeremy Pope
Wilde Artist Award To a truly groundbreaking force in film, theater and/or television Cate Blanchett Billy Eichner Janelle Monáe Keke Palmer Michelle Yeoh – WINNER
GALECA LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer Award Janelle Monáe
“I’m going to that library, I’m going with a bucket of dog shit and I’m pouring it on your parents and rubbing it into their eyes”
NEW YORK – Like the proverbial EVITA, amazing wunderkid, Desmond Napoles (known by their drag name as Desmond the Amazing) has experienced being “high flying adored.” As the Andrew Lloyd Weber song ponders “Where do you go from here? What happens now? For someone on top of the world, the view is not exactly clear.”
The song talks about someone doing it all by the age of 26. Desmond did it at 8.
It was at that age where they appeared in full drag walking down the avenue as part of NYC Pride. That kicked off a media frenzy that had them in the spotlights of The New York Times, NBC News, Teen Vogue, OUT Magazine, among many others.
Since then, Desmond and alter ego Desmond the Amazing has been busy. They were described in a meeting with their hero RuPaul as “the future of the world.” In the past seven years, Desmond has become a multi-awarded LGBTQ+ advocate, genderfluid editorial and runway model, motivational public speaker, performer, clothing designer, actor, singer, host, social media influencer and published author.
With these projects, Desmond has been showered with praise and admiration, however, all that has come at a huge cost. They and their family have also been harassed, threatened and publicly abused. Recently, a book reading that Desmond was headlining at a public library was shut down by a bigot who threatened physical violence. Specifically, the troll threatened “I’m going to that library, I’m going with a bucket of dog shit and I’m pouring it on your parents and rubbing it into their eyes.”
Desmond’s parents have been reported to child protective services hundreds of times, for letting their child be themselves, and subjected to investigations that proved they were completely innocent of any wrong doing. They have inspired at least one horrible propaganda video filled with obvious lies on You Tube called “The Dark Side of Desmond Napoles.”
As we talked on our show, high schooler Desmond indicated that they have a new vision for their steps ahead. They are working on a skin care line, but are retiring from their drag persona. The passion for that expression seems to be waning, even while their passion for LGBTQ+ youth rights and their own nonbinary identity has not.
They look forward instead to engineering trains and studying the science of locomotion.
As we listened to Desmond’s baby drag princess anthem “We Are Amazing” released in 2021, their spirit and attitude of the life they are facing rang out:
“I am amazing, you are amazing, we are amazing, we are all AMAZING”
Even baby drag queens grow up it seems, and potentially having to deal with petty adult hatred has taken the fun out of their self-expression of the recent past. In any case, the amazement will not be taken from young Desmond, and if their best self-expression and next chapter is skin care and trains, we are thrilled for them.
We know theirs will be the most fabulous train that Amtrack has ever seen.
Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.
He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.
He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.
He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .
Gibney imagines her life as a series of struggles with her birth mother
‘The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be’ By Shannon Gibney c.2023, Dutton $18.99 245 pages
It’s OK. You’ll just make it up.
Not the right toys when you were a kid? No problem, you had your imagination. No impressive friends to brag on? You can always pretend to know the rich, famous, or infamous. Boring job, cheap house, hoopty car? It’s fine, you can conjure whatever you want and who cares? As in the new book, “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be” by Shannon Gibney, it’s all a fantasy anyhow.
There are facts. Provable, honest facts.
Shannon Gibney was born Jan. 30, 1975, in Ann Arbor, Mich. So was Erin Powers. Both were daughters of a Black petty criminal, and a white lesbian mother who struggled to give them up.
Another fact: Shannon was Erin, before she was adopted.
Shannon grew up in a middle-class white family with two brothers, a good education, toys, vacations, and stability. She had a “short relationship” with her birth father when she was an adult, and a longer (but shaky) one with her birth mother, which made her wonder what life might have been like, had she been raised as Erin.
When Erin was 19, she learned that her mother was dying of breast cancer, and wasting what life she had left. At 10, Erin had to learn to get along with her mother’s latest girlfriend; and she had to listen to racism from the white side of her family. Also at 10, she saw a spiraled portal and another girl who looked like her, but she didn’t entirely understand it.
Every year on her birthday, her mother mourned an adoption she never wanted to happen. When Shannon was 10 years old, she was cruel to a boy who liked her, and she wasn’t sure why. When she was 19, her parents loaned her their car so she could visit her birth mother and her birth mother’s partner. And at 35, she was reminded of the legacy her mother left her, one she must be “diligent” about for the rest of her life.
A dozen pages or so into “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be,” author Shannon Gibney wrestles with the nature of lies, explaining that her book does, and does not, use “manufactured literary devices.” In other words, get ready for one really weird read.
And it remains as such, until you understand what’s going on: the story here is fiction mixed with fact, an imaginary life framed by a real one. “Erin” is the fiction, as Gibney imagines her life as a series of struggles, personal and otherwise, living with her birth mother. “Shannon” is Gibney’s story of finding out who she is and where she came from. The tales merge and diverge, neither with a lot of sense until you’re well past the halfway mark of this book.
Can you stick with it that long? Readers ages 15 and up might at least try; you’ll lose a little time adjusting to “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be,” but don’t worry. You’ll make it up.
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Vermont girls team forfeits playoff to avoid competing against trans student despite law allowing trans females to play on girls’ sports teams
DORSET, Vt. – The Long Trail School in Dorset, Vermont, won its first playoff game this week but not because of how the girls on the 5th seeded high school basketball team played, because they didn’t get to play. Their opponent, the 12th seeded Mid Vermont Christian School, forfeited the game because it refuses to have its girls compete against a team with a transgender girl on its roster.
“We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg wrote in an emailed statement, published by the Bennington Banner. “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”
“Biological male” is a weaponized term of oppression coined during the North Carolina bathroom bill era, according to Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
Strangio and Gabriel Arkles, former senior counsel at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund co-wrote a post on aclu.org debunking four myths about trans athletes using the expertise of doctors, academics, and sports experts, including Dr. Joshua D. Safer and coach and sports policy expert Helen Carroll.
MVCS did not respond to an email from the Los Angeles Blade, requesting comment by press time, and it’s not clear whether the decision to forfeit was made by the administration, the players, their coaches or the families of players, or all of the above.
Long Trail also has not responded to our request for comment, but Lauren Thomas, the assistant executive director for the Vermont Principals’ Association, told the Vermont Digger MVCS informed her it would not compete in the state’s Division IV tournament but did not elaborate on its decision.
“This is the first time where a school has expressed that they were withdrawing over those concerns,” said Thomas. “We have transgender athletes in various sports, not just basketball, not just in team sports. We have individuals. So, we have students that are participating as they are.”
Vermont law allows transgender female students to play on girls’ sports teams. Among the goals of the VPA’s Activities Standards Committee is to provide “proactive talk tracks for transgender athletes.”
“We already had the policy in place,” Thomas said. “The policy is not new, it’s not reactionary. It’s been out there for a while. People are aware of it.”
According to Thomas, other schools have sought advice before but until now never refused to allow its students to compete because of this issue.
“I have received calls (from schools) asking for best practices and how to go forward knowing they were going to play a team with a transgender female on it,” Thomas said. “We just supported our stance and our best practices through our inclusivity statement.”
In January, Mid Vermont Christian School submitted a letter to Vermont’s Agency of Education acknowledging the school still wants to receive public tuition funding while also declaring it reserved the right not to follow all of Vermont’s anti-discrimination laws.
“As a religious organization, the school has a statutory and constitutional right to make decisions based on its religious beliefs, including hiring and disciplining employees, associating with others, and in its admissions, conduct and operations policies and procedures,” Fogg wrote in the Jan. 4th letter. “By signing this form, the Mid Vermont Christian School does not waive any such rights.”
Fogg also wrote in its January statement that regarding state laws that conflict with the school’s beliefs, “including on marriage and sexuality, the school has not included that language in its handbook or online, nor can it affirm that particular aspect of the Vermont Public Accommodations Act.”
USA Powerlifting has previously argued that they ban transgender women from participating due to “fairness”
ST. PAUL, Mn. – In a huge victory for transgender athletes, a judge in Minnesota ruled a national sports body illegally discriminated against a trans woman and ordered USA Powerlifting to immediately stop barring trans athletes from competing according to their gender identity.
Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond also ordered USAPL to revise its discriminatory policies within two weeks, to allow trans women to compete with cisgender women athletes.
JayCee Cooper has been fighting for her right to compete since 2018, when she was barred from competing like any other woman powerlifter, because she’s trans. Then in 2019, USAPL instituted a new policy banning all trans women from participating in its women’s powerlifting competitions.
“I jumped through every hoop, cleared every hurdle to be able to compete with USA Powerlifting, but was met with a retroactive ban on trans athletes,” said Cooper in a statement.
Cooper filed a discrimination complaint in June 2019, and in 2021 sued USAPL and Powerlifting Minnesota, claiming they violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act. That law, passed in 1993, was based on an earlier Minneapolis statute and made Minnesota the first state in the country to ban discrimination against transgender people. On Monday, Judge Diamond issued summary judgment.
“Trans athletes across the country deserve the same rights and protections as everyone else,” said Cooper. “We deserve equitable opportunities to compete in the sports we love. I am thrilled that this ruling recognizes our rights and our humanity and hopefully opens doors for transgender athletes everywhere to participate fully in sports.”
“Trans women belong in women’s sports here in Minnesota,” said Jess Braverman, legal director of Minnesota-based Gender Justice. “As someone who participates in women’s sports myself, I could not be happier about this outcome. I am so proud of JayCee. Other sports organizations should take notice because this ruling is not at all limited to powerlifting. Hopefully this will encourage more organizations to do the right thing and welcome trans athletes to compete as their authentic selves.”
The Los Angeles Blade reached out to USAPL for a comment but did not receive a response as of press time.
As NPR reported, USA Powerlifting has previously argued that they ban transgender women from participating due to “fairness.” The policy as described on the organization’s website says: “USA Powerlifting is not a fit for every athlete and for every medical condition or situation.”
The organization had argued transgender women have developmental advantages, “including but not limited to increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue.” But as PinkNews reported in January, a new study commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport found trans women do not have any advantages over any other women, when competing in elite sport.
Paw Works, an amazing no-kill, nonprofit animal rescue based in Southern California is honoring Curtis, a long time supporter
LOS ANGELES – Jamie Lee Curtis picked up the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for best supporting actress for her role as IRS agent Deirdre in Everything Everywhere All at Once this past weekend and there is buzz about her and a potential Oscar win.
In the spirit of giving the incredibly talented actress well deserved accolades, Paw Works, an amazing no-kill, nonprofit animal rescue based in Southern California is honoring Curtis, a long time supporter.
To give a “round-of-a-paws” to Jamie on her recent SAG win and cheer her on in advance of this year’s Academy Awards, some of Paw Works’ adorable rescues are celebrating her with looks from a few of her iconic roles.
The WNBA star & her wife called for the return of other detainees: “Let’s keep fighting to bring home every American still detained overseas”
PASADENA, Calif. – A standing ovation greeted the WNBA’s Brittney Griner over the weekend when the basketball star and her wife, Cherelle, stunned the audience by walking out onto the stage at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, Calif.
As Deadline reported, Queen Latifah was speaking about the resilience of Black people Saturday night, when she said, “We stay overcoming because that’s what we do!” Then, she introduced the Griners: “As we gather here tonight, In the spirit of overcoming adversity, I want to take this moment to recognize someone who has done just that.”
The crowd roared as they appeared on stage with broad smiles, holding hands. Brittney wore an elegant black tuxedo and unbuttoned button-down white shirt, with Cherelle decked out in a regal purple pantsuit.
“It feels so good to be here,” said Griner, “especially with my beautiful, amazing wife and with all of y’all here today.”
That moment when Brittney Griner and her wife Cherelle Griner took the stage at the 54th #NAACPImageAwards to roaring applause.?? pic.twitter.com/lDkqHWokrR
“Thank you for that beautiful applause,” Cherelle Griner said. “We are just truly so thankful to all the people, many of whom are Black women and Black-led organizations who fought so hard to bring BG home tonight.”
The Phoenix Mercury player, who just re-signed with the team this month, regained her freedom in December 2022 in a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States.
The 32-year-old missed the entire 2022 season following her arrest in Moscow one year ago. Russian authorities said she broke their law by packing vape canisters with cabbabis oil in her luggage. In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for drug smuggling, and that sentence was upheld upon appeal in October.
Griner was finally exchanged in the United Arab Emirates for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. He had served 10 years of a 25-year-sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to a terrorist group. Russia balked at the Biden administration’s request to secure the release of businessman and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who is still serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia for spying.
“Let’s keep fighting to bring home every American still detained overseas,” Griner told the audience at the award ceremony.
As NPR reported, almost three dozen Americans are wrongfully detained by foreign governments each year, a rate nearly seven times greater than the average compared to just ten years ago, according to a study by the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. That group advocates for the release of Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained.
According to the foundation, right now there are at least 60 Americans who are currently being held hostage or wrongfully detained in foreign countries. Iran, China, Venezuela, Syria and Russia are holding the vast majority of those Americans prisoner.
Griner and the Phoenix Mercury open their 2023 season against the Los Angeles Sparks at the Crypto.com Arena on May 19. The team’s first home game is May 21 when Phoenix hosts the Chicago Sky.
It’s the only show that exclusively honors actors. With over 122,600 members, the SAG Awards have the largest & most diverse group of voters
LOS ANGELES – The 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was a star-studded party like no other – giving you excitement, unexpected reunions, intimate moments onstage and off, and a palpable sense of community.
It’s the only show that exclusively honors actors. With a voting body of over 122,600 members, the SAG Awards have the largest and most diverse group of voters in the awards circuit.
According to the Hollywood Reporter ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ was the big winner at Sunday night’s 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis won best lead actress and best supporting actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, respectively. And their co-star Ke Huy Quan also was a winner, noting that he is now the first Asian actor to win the SAG Award for best supporting male when accepting his award.
Brendan Fraser won best lead actor for The Whale.
On the TV side, the cast of Abbott Elementary was named best comedy series ensemble, while The White Lotus cast won the award for best TV drama series ensemble.
Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) The Fabelmans Women Talking
Austin Butler, Elvis Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale (WINNER) Bill Nighy, Living Adam Sandler, Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Tár Viola Davis, The Woman King Ana de Armas, Blonde Danielle Deadwyler, Till Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER)
Paul Dano – The Fabelmans Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) Eddie Redmayne – The Good Nurse
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hong Chau – The Whale Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Top Gun: Maverick (WINNER) The Woman King
Better Call Saul The Crown Ozark Severance The White Lotus (WINNER)
Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul Jason Bateman – Ozark (WINNER) Jeff Bridges – The Old Man Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul Adam Scott – Severance
Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus (WINNER) Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown Julia Garner – Ozark Laura Linney – Ozark Zendaya – Euphoria
Abbott Elementary (WINNER) Barry The Bear Hacks Only Murders in the Building
Anthony Carrigan – Barry Bill Hader – Barry Steve Martin – Only Murders in the Building Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White – The Bear (WINNER)
Christina Applegate – Dead to Me Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary Jenna Ortega – Wednesday Jean Smart – Hacks (WINNER)
Steve Carell – The Patient Taron Egerton – Black Bird Sam Elliott – 1883 (WINNER) Paul Walter Hauser – Black Bird Evan Peters – Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Emily Blunt – The English Jessica Chastain – George & Tammy (WINNER) Julia Garner – Inventing Anna Niecy Nash-Betts – Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Amanda Seyfried – The Dropout
Andor The Boys House of the Dragon The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Stranger Things (WINNER)
Laura Poitras produced and directed Oscar-nominated documentary
As the yearly Hollywood awards cycle heads into its final weeks before culminating with the Oscars on March 12, most of the public attention is — as always — focused on the movies in the so-called “major” categories, while the ones in the others are, if not completely overlooked, placed lower on the priority list for film fans looking to catch up on all the nominees before the big night.
As the shrewdest fans know, of course, some of the best filmmaking often goes unsung because it happens in the kind of films that win awards in categories deemed irrelevant by most of the people in the mainstream. Unfortunately, that description most frequently seems to apply to documentaries — and this year, a standout among the crop of potential Oscar winners comes from within that eternally underappreciated genre.
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, producer/director Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is a movie that tells two stories. In part, it’s a chronicle of the remarkable personal history of photographer and artist Nan Goldin, who rose to prominence in the “respectable” art world through the images that she took of herself and her friends — often in candidly intimate situations — in the post-Stonewall queer underground of ‘70s and ‘80s lower Manhattan; told in Goldin’s voice and through her own vast archive of images, it charts her life and career from emotionally traumatic childhood to esteemed artist, while reminding us that she was as much a participant in the heady lifestyle she documented as she was a witness.
While Goldin’s life and career would be more than ample as the singular focus of a documentary, though, Poitras’ movie has an even bigger purpose in mind. In service of that goal, it interweaves its subject’s personal narrative around the saga of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) — an organization she founded in 2017 after revealing she was in recovery from an addiction to prescribed opioids which almost led to her death from an overdose of fentanyl — and its high-profile protest campaign against the Sackler family, a billionaire pharmaceutical dynasty known internationally for its generous art patronage, who through its company Purdue Pharma were principle architects of America’s staggering opioid crisis. Moving back and forth between these two threads throughout the film, Poitras frames Goldin’s struggle to hold the Sacklers accountable within the context of the formative life experiences that shaped her into an activist, while making sure to give her subject due acknowledgment for the then-shocking celebration of queer life and sexuality in her work at a time when such things were still seen through the cold filter of anthropological distance or simply being denounced outright for violating social taboos.
As to that, many viewers will undoubtedly be drawn to “Bloodshed” by the prospect of revisiting the fabled era of Goldin’s early heyday through her up-close-and-personal pictures and footage, and they will not be disappointed. The film includes plenty of both, illuminated by the artist as she recounts the memories behind them; it offers poignant glimpses at a few future icons and fallen stars (lost-but-not-forgotten queer icons from her circle, like Cookie Mueller and David Wojnarowicz, are among those lovingly profiled by Goldin as she narrates her reminiscences), gives us an inside look at a seminal time and place in counterculture history, tantalizes us with provocative images of a sexually liberated lifestyle and throws us into the front lines of AIDS activism and the political battle over government funding of the NEA.
For those more interested in direct biography, there is also copious material on Goldin’s personal life. These sequences cover her memories of a dysfunctional childhood growing up with an older sister who would later die by suicide, her delinquent youth in and out of foster homes, her battery at the hands of a jealous lover, the horror of watching her community ravaged by AIDS while the rest of the world stood by and watched, and the crushing devastation of her opioid addiction.
Yet while these various parts of Goldin’s story may carry weight of their own, “Bloodshed” ultimately transfers it all into its saga about her effort to exact palpable retribution against the Sacklers — something her position as a world-renowned artist made her uniquely situated to do. Following her organization through a series of brilliantly orchestrated actions in which — borrowing a page from ACT UP — they staged dramatic protests at museums who had taken donations from the disgraced philanthropic dynasty, the movie deploys footage from these events to capture the raw sense of danger experienced within them with the kind of thrilling immediacy unachievable through journalistic observation or dramatic recreation. It’s this Robin Hood-esque story of taking back from the rich and amoral that drives Poitras’ movie and gives it an emotional structure, making it more than just another profile of an influential artist.
That doesn’t mean it relegates Goldin’s work as a photographer into the background. On the contrary, the bulk of the imagery we see comes from Goldin herself; even the footage of the protests was shot by P.A.I.N. for documentary purposes before Poitras had even become involved. Still, the filmmaker deserves full credit for assembling these photos and home movies into a finished product, and while it’s clear that “Bloodshed” is the result of intense collaboration between documentarian and subject, it’s also clear that her understanding of the material and her nuance in presenting it are essential elements in creating the cumulative power— and the surprising sense of urgency — that it delivers.
As for her subject, Goldin’s importance as both an artist and as activist come across plainly, but those were never in doubt. The film’s biggest surprise, perhaps, is the compassion visible at the heart of her activism, manifesting through her desire to use the privilege and influence her art has given her to help balance the scales between the powerful elite and the marginalized masses they exploit — a compassion reflected even in the revelation of her former life as a sex worker, which she discusses publicly for the first time here out of solidarity with other sex workers and to help reduce the stigma around sex work.
While juggling two separate-but-complementary stories might come at the risk of a disjointed focus, “Bloodshed,” thanks to Poitras’ seemingly symbiotic alignment with her subject’s aesthetic and sympathies, manages to weave its dual threads together in a way which not only makes sense, but uses them in concert to convey a fiercely radical worldview — one which resonates deeply in a contemporary social environment not too different from the one in which Goldin and her fellow sexual “outlaws” were flaunting their defiance of repressive, bigoted cultural norms not just in their work but in their everyday lives. Now, as then, a younger generation confronted with unbridled corporate greed and widening economic inequity, not to mention a conservative strategy of reverse cultural engineering through backlash and legislation, has been triggered to reevaluate its priorities.
It’s not surprising. After all, as Goldin says in the film, “When you think of the profit off people’s pain, you can only be furious about it.”
Des has been showered with praise that has come at a huge cost
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania move to further curtail LGBTQ+ rights
LGBTQ+ community rallies around NCLR’s Shannon Minter
Florida introduces bill that would remove trans kids from parents
CPAC speaker says: ‘Transgenderism must be eradicated’
Second period anti-trans legislative risk assessment map
Vermont Christian school refuses to play against “a biological male”
16 Attorneys General say DeSantis violating trans students rights
NBC News: Tennessee drag ban is ‘fearmongering’
World Bank’s U.S. executive director reaffirms ‘strong commitment’ to LGBTQ+, intersex people
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