Study: Seeing LGBTQ+ People in Ads, Media Makes Viewers More Accepting

A new survey from GLAAD and Procter & Gamble underscores the importance of visibility.

www.advocate.com/media/2020/5/27/study-seeing-lgbtq-people-ads-media-makes-viewers-more-accepting

Daily Dose: A thrilling adventure with an underrated queer hero

Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our series, Queerantined: Daily Dose. Every weekday as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has us under quarantine, we’ll release a suggested bit of gloriously queer entertainment designed to keep you from getting stir crazy in the house. Each weekend, we will also suggest a binge-able title to keep you extra engaged.

The White Knuckle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

No, not the bloated American David Fincher-directed remake. The real The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo came out in 2009, produced in Sweden, where the novel is set, and where author Steig Larson spent his life. Noomi Rapace stars as Lisbeth Salander, a bisexual tech genius who crosses paths with the journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). The pair stumble onto a decades-old child abduction with connections to a reclusive millionaire, Nazis and a serial killer. Thus begins a mystery-thriller as the pair attempt to track the missing girl and wander into the killer’s web.

So how is this version better than the American version? First, everything feels real. The movie doesn’t use special effects to create snowy landscapes or menacing forests. It uses real locations that add verisimilitude to what happens on screen. Second, Noomi Rapace gives one of the best performances of the decade as the wild Lisbeth, conveying all the pain, intelligence, lust, and obsession of the woman. Third, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo scares the daylights out of us. Understand, this isn’t a movie that relies on monsters jumping out of the bushes yelling “Boo” to make the audience jump. Rather, the film constructs a violent, dangerous world as tormented as its characters.

Most important of all, for our purposes, the movie treats Lisbeth’s bisexuality with a matter-of-fact frankness. This isn’t a woman who hasn’t met the right man, or who sleeps with women to impress men either. She loves women as much as men and celebrates her own queerness, making her exactly the kind of queeroine we want to see in a film. That the film is this good makes us love her all the more.

Streams on Amazon, VUDU, iTunes, YouTube and Tubi.

www.queerty.com/daily-dose-thrilling-adventure-underrated-queer-hero-20200527?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Marie Can, Beshear Effigy, Honest Elections Project, Oscar Isaac, Burger King, Dillon Passage, Chris Cuomo: HOT LINKS

GEORGE FLOYD MURDER. Officer lawyers up: “The white officer in the video has been identified by the Minneapolis StarTribune and other local news outlets as Derek Chauvin. CBS News Minnesota reports Chauvin is being represented by attorney Tom Kelly, who was the lawyer for St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who was acquitted in the shooting death of Philando Castile in nearby St. Paul in 2017.”

WE CAN HOPE. Trump’s campaign aides warn he could have Swing State troubles.

‘HONEST ELECTIONS PROJECT’ Dark money network behind 2020 voter suppression efforts: “The organization, which calls itself the Honest Elections Project, seemed to emerge out of nowhere a few months ago and started stoking fears about voter fraud. Backed by a dark money group funded by rightwing stalwarts like the Koch brothers and Betsy DeVos’ family, the Honest Elections Project is part of the network that pushed the US supreme court picks Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, and is quickly becoming a juggernaut in the escalating fight over voting rights.”

KENTUCKY. Auto dealer fires worker responsible for hanging of effigy of Governor Andy Beshear.

JOEMENTUM. Conservatives are pissed that Oscar Isaac wore a Joe Biden hat.

MASKS OFF. Study links FOX News consumption and non-compliance of social distancing guidelines: “The researchers looked at geospatial data derived from anonymized cell phone data and cable channel position by ZIP code around the country. They found that a 1% increase in Fox News viewership in a zip code reduced social distancing by 8.9%.”

COVID-19 MARKETING. Burger King introduces “social distancing crowns.”

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So geht Social Distancing like a King #burgerkingde #socialdistancing #krone #lovebk

A post shared by BURGER KING® Deutschland (@burgerkingde) on May 22, 2020 at 4:14am PDT

DEMENTIA. Research reveals connection to severe COVID-19: “The study is the latest to suggest genetics may play a role in why some people are more vulnerable to the coronavirus than others, and could help explain why people with dementia have been hard hit: dementia is one of the most common underlying health conditions among those who have died from Covid-19 in England and Wales.”

“TOO HOT TO HANDLE” Joe Exotic’s husband Dillon Passage parties with reality star Bryce Hirschberg on a boat: “Currently, Los Angeles is asking its residents to stay home to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. While neither star wore a mask as currently required in Los Angeles and Passage even kissed Hirschberg — so did not stay the minimum 6-feet away from each other — Hirschberg’s rep insists the star took other precautionary measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

TARA READE. California DA launches investigation into Biden accuser: “The Monterey County District Attorney’s office has launched an investigation into whether Tara Reade lied on the witness stand while acting as an expert witness.”

FUNKY. Chris Cuomo says he’s still not full recovered from COVID-19. “There is funky stuff in my blood work, that doctors say is what they see in people who have had COVID. So it freaks me out a little bit.”

MARIE CAU. French village elects nation’s first transgender mayor: “Marie Cau, who won the election Saturday in Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, in northern France, said her gender wasn’t an issue during the campaign and that voters chose her for her social programs.”

DEAD DEMOCRATS. New Mexico’s Otero County District 2 Commissioner Couy Griffin told a crowd “I’ve come to a place where I’ve come to the conclusion that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”

WEATHER FORECAST OF THE DAY. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

LYRIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. Katy Perry “Daisies”.

HUMP DAY HOTTIE. Alessandro Al.

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Legs up. . . . . #hoscos #guysofinstagram #favoboys #light #scruff #scruffy #igersmadrid #igers #pic #picoftheday #beardedchallenge #beard #thebeardedway

A post shared by Alessandro Al (@ale_alfongorio) on May 26, 2020 at 5:21am PDT

The post Marie Can, Beshear Effigy, Honest Elections Project, Oscar Isaac, Burger King, Dillon Passage, Chris Cuomo: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Marie Can, Beshear Effigy, Honest Elections Project, Oscar Isaac, Burger King, Dillon Passage, Chris Cuomo: HOT LINKS

This Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Let’s Come Together and Make A Difference

Post submitted by actor, producer and “Try-Guy” Eugene Lee Yang

When I was 13-years old, I wrote my future self a letter with a question: “Are you finally happy?”

I got it back five years later, but I still didn’t have that answer. The truth is I read that letter as the same sad, angry, scared kid who wrote it. Growing up in small-town Texas with a conservative Korean-American upbringing can do that to you, especially when you’re in the closet.

It was important for me to come out in a way that was most comfortable for me. I started privately, then I got the chance last year to produce and star in a video, “I’m Gay,” that allowed me to introduce my authentic self to millions of viewers all over the world. It changed my life.

Like many Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the LGBTQ community, I am living at the intersection of two identities that experience senses of “otherness.” I’m constantly looking from the outside in at myself, unable to make sense of these sometimes at-odds parts of me. 

Today, I am a proud gay Korean-American man and humbled to have a platform to do so publicly. But we still have so much work to do. As we honor and celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May, I hope you join me in fighting for the next generation of history-makers who will push us further into the future.

It starts by uplifting and protecting our youth. The Human Rights Campaign is doing that work day in and day out for all our young leaders. 

Last year, they partnered with the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) to release Coming Out: Living Authentically as LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. I can only imagine where I’d be if I had something like this growing up. Take a moment to share with the LGBTQ/API youth in your life and check out the resource to see how you can be an even greater advocate and ally.

We must also continue our crucial work to dismantle systematic racism all around us and make the world a safer, more inclusive place for us all.

Right now, it’s especially difficult being APIs in this country given the COVID-19 crisis. We’re facing not only the increased economic and health-related hardships of this virus but also a horrifying uptick in anti-Asian discrimination and rhetoric … even from our leaders.

This is unacceptable, period. We cannot allow racist, divisive rhetoric to go by unchecked. It’s on all of us, LGBTQ and allies alike, to speak up and out against these injustices every time we see them. I know HRC members and supporters take action every time and fight for what’s right. This time, we need you now more than ever. 

Our path forward must be toward the ballot box. If we can elect pro-equality leaders that will put in the hard work for us in the White House, in Congress and on the state and local level, we can make the country a better place for us all. Make sure you’re registered to vote.

Thank you for letting me share my story with you. Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to all my LGBTQ APIs out there. I see you, I love you and I hope you’re happy.

www.hrc.org/blog/this-asian-pacific-american-heritage-month-lets-come-together-and-make-a-di?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Larry Kramer, Towering Figure of Aggressive AIDS Activism, Dead at 84

Kramer was a founder of GMHC and ACT UP, and one of the leading voices calling for action against HIV and AIDS.

www.advocate.com/news/2020/5/27/larry-kramer-towering-figure-aggressive-aids-activism-dead-84