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NYC Fire Department Gets First Lesbian Battalion Chief
Michele Fitzsimmons, promoted Thursday, is also only the second woman to achieve this rank in the department.
www.advocate.com/news/2020/5/22/nyc-fire-department-gets-first-lesbian-battalion-chief
The Weekend Binge: Todd Haynes. Kate Winslet. Classic Hollywood. Everything we need.
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 Habit-Forming: Mildred Pierce
Lion of queer filmmaking Todd Haynes makes no secret of his love of classic Hollywood, especially the melodramas of directors like Douglas Sirk or actress Joan Crawford. How fitting then, that Haynes decided to do a full-on miniseries remake of a Crawford film, substituting the great Kate Winslet in the leading role.
Many readers will note that Joan Crawford picked up her only Academy Award for the film version of Mildred Pierce. Based on the novel by uber-cynic James M. Cain, the original Hollywood version jettisoned much of the novel’s character study and class commentary, making it into a more standard Crawford vehicle. Haynes’ version, by contrast, sticks closer to the book, and revels in the soapy drama of Mildred (Winslett), a single working mother. Mildred builds a business empire and dotes over her sociopathic daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) while suffering the pains of sexism and class warfare.
Trust us when we say only Todd Haynes could direct this kind of melodrama with such artistry. Trust us too when we say that Winslet gives such a damn good performance (she won an Emmy), we’re surprised Crawford hasn’t tried to crawl out of her grave wielding a wire hanger. Don’t let the premise fool you, either: Mildred Pierce captures viewers with an iron grip. With a stellar cast that includes Guy Pearce (who also scored an Emmy), Mare Winningham, Melissa Leo and Hope Davis, the series is, for all its soapy twists, addictive as Hell. The full series runs almost six hours. Don’t be surprised if you watch it all in one sitting.
Streams on HBO Go, Amazon, YouTube, iTunes & VUDU.
Trump’s ‘Essential’ Churches, Kayleigh McEnany, Ahmaud Arbery, Joe Biden, Alabama, Gay Beaches, Lana Del Ray, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Ryan Murphy: HOT LINKS
DEATH-CULT CHRONICLES: Trump declares houses of worship ‘essential,’ pressuring governors to let them reopen.
It’s as if the president doesn’t understand how viruses spread t.co/oFWEimt61x
— Molly Jong-Fast
(@MollyJongFast) May 22, 2020
‘I OBJECT TO THAT!’: Reporter Calls Out Kayleigh McEnany for Accusing Press Corps of Wanting Churches to Stay Closed
“Kayleigh, I object to that. I go to church. I’m dying to go back to church” — @jeffmason1 takes umbrage after McEnany suggests that reporters don’t want churches to reopen because they have something against religion pic.twitter.com/uEJQDgcApN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 22, 2020
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE: Antimalarial drug touted by President Trump is linked to increased risk of death in coronavirus patients, study says. The study, published Friday in the medical journal the Lancet, is the largest analysis to date of the risks and benefits of treating covid-19 patients with antimalarial drugs.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
THIRD ARREST: Man who recorded Ahmaud Arbery’s killing had tried to ‘confine and detain’ him with his vehicle, warrant says
The GBI says it will hold a news conference Friday morning on the investigation into Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., below, is the man who recorded the video of Arbery’s death. He’s charged with felony murder & criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. pic.twitter.com/kVlsADHteS
— Jennifer Bellamy (@JBellamyTV) May 21, 2020
COVIDIAN OF THE DAY: Maryland Pastor Resumes In-Person Services Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, Says ‘We’re Going To Do It God’s Way’
— Stacey Shiflett
(@staceyshiflett) May 21, 2020
‘GOOD BLOODLINES’: Trump Praises Anti-Semite and Nazi Collaborator Henry Ford
The President says the founder of Ford has good bloodlines.. If you’re not familiar with Henry Ford, I would encourage you to read more about him and specifically his actions during WW2 pic.twitter.com/vniaOSR2sX
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 21, 2020
NEW NUMBERS: CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patients don’t have symptoms. The CDC also says its “best estimate” is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and the agency estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick.
BEIJING: China’s LGBT activists step up push for gay marriage after official rejects change
FREE LESSON: Joe Biden Shows Trump How to Grieve in Emotional ‘Colbert’ Interview
MONTGOMERY: Alabama Running Out of ICU Beds For Coronavirus Patients As State Reopens
NEW NORMAL: Gay beach destinations plan for summer, with pandemic in mind. From New York’s Fire Island to Massachusetts’ Provincetown, the Northeast’s LGBTQ beach destinations are planning for a new normal this summer.
RAINBOW RIFF: Bus company faces backlash for rebranding Pride bus for NHS
Rainbows have become synonymous with hope and the NHS during the current pandemic, so we thought what better way to show our thanks to our amazing NHS and key workers, than to re-brand our Pride bus to our rainbow ‘NHS’ bus?
Look out for the bus on our roads soon! pic.twitter.com/yqq6OLNjq2— Plymouth Citybus (@plymouthbus) May 16, 2020
CLARIFICATION: Lana del Rey isn’t racist, she’s just ‘advocating for a more delicate personality’
NEW VIDEO OF THE DAY: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, “Rain on Me”
‘IMAGINE IT’S 2009’: Ryan Murphy Wants to Shoot a ‘Do-Over Pilot’ of ‘Glee’!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ryan Murphy (@mrrpmurphy) on
NEW SONG OF THE DAY: Tituss Burgess, “Dance M.F.”
TRAILER OF THE DAY: Tenet
ON THE RAG: A weekly look at what’s making news in the gay magazines
FIT FRIDAY: Sergio Vega
View this post on Instagram– ISLAND –
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The post Trump’s ‘Essential’ Churches, Kayleigh McEnany, Ahmaud Arbery, Joe Biden, Alabama, Gay Beaches, Lana Del Ray, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Ryan Murphy: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Diana Ross ‘Didn’t Understand’ Why ‘I’m Coming Out’ Was a Gay Anthem
Co-writer Nile Rodgers explains the origin story of the famous queer track.
www.advocate.com/music/2020/5/22/diana-ross-didnt-understand-why-im-coming-out-was-gay-anthem
National treasure Leslie Jordan dishes on the rumored ‘Will & Grace’ feud
Continuing his campaign to become the world’s most popular entertainer during the COVID-19 lockdown, actor Leslie Jordan has commented on the supposed feud between his Will & Grace costars Debra Messing and Megan Mullally.
Jordan, who plays the recurring character Beverly Leslie, a moneyed friend of Karen’s (Mullally), opened up about his last appearance on the show in an interview with Andy Cohen. When asked point-blank about the tension, Jordan denied any awareness of it.
Related: ‘Will & Grace’ co-creators finally address rumors of testy on-set feud
“I didn’t [see it],” Jordan conversed. “I wish I could spill all of the [details].”
“Megan and I were in a big tub of grapes, and the grapes didn’t mush properly, so there was a lot going on,” Jordan added, in reference to a recreation of a famous grape juicing scene from I Love Lucy. “If there was any tension I didn’t witness it.”
Jordan’s admission comes after a year of reports of off-screen fighting between Messing and Mullally. Show co-creator Max Muchnick lent credence to the rumors of a feud in an Entertainment Weekly interview in which he confessed that the shooting the final season “was not an easy year.” Mullally also alluded to bullying on the set by an unnamed party in a podcast with her husband Nick Offerman.
“I’ve been bullied,” she told Offerman. “I’m 60 and I’m being bullied right now, so you know it’s a very insidious and dangerous thing and I never want to lose that happy and innocent part of myself but it’s almost like you have to kill that. But I never will, it’s part of who I am, it’s intrinsic to my nature.”
Baptist Youth Pastor Tries to Meet with Male Prostitute, Gets Robbed, Makes Up Story About Being Kidnapped: WATCH
A longtime youth pastor in Macon, Georgia was arrested this week after he allegedly fabricated a story about being kidnapped — to cover up an attempted meeting with a male prostitute.
Christopher Keys recently served as the student pastor at a local Baptist church, and taught at a private Christian school. Keys was robbed at gunpoint by two masked men at the Regency Inn & Suites in Macon on Tuesday, according to reports.
After arranging to meet a male prostitute on Craigslist, Keys drove to the hotel, which he reportedly has been frequenting since January. He answered a knock at the door and let one of the masked men into his room. The suspect told Keys to get on the bed before putting a gun to his head.
Key subsequently told an acquaintance that he had been kidnapped in his truck at a nearby CVS, forced to drive to the motel, and robbed. After a woman posted Keys’ story about the kidnapping and robbery on Facebook (above), it was shared hundreds of times, prompting WMAZ-TV to look into the rumor.
As it turns out, Keys met with police at the hotel after the robbery, telling a sheriff’s deputy that “he liked to play around and was married to a woman,” the station reports. In an interview with the deputy, Keys even revealed his plan to tell his family that he was kidnapped at the CVS. Two days later, he was arrested and charged with solicitation of sodomy, a misdemeanor. (Although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in 2003, Georgia’s solicitation of sodomy statute has been upheld.)
Keys recently worked as a teacher at Tattnall Square Academy, where he taught upper-school Bible, worked with the chapel band, and served as coordinator for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to his now-deleted bio.
“I am a people person and love to teach young people the truths of the Bible,” he wrote in the bio.
“I have been married for 20 years to my wife Jennie. I am a graduate of FPD and Mercer University and Southwestern Seminary. I am currently the student pastor at Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church in Macon and I’ve been in student ministry for 28 years.”
A spokesperson for Tattnall Square Academy told WXGA-TV that Keys is a former employee and that the school “was only recently made aware of the charges.”
“We have no comment or information regarding the matter about which he is accused,” the spokesperson said.
As of Friday, Keys was not listed as an employee on the website of Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church.
Keys also once worked as a bailiff for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested him. Sheriff’s investigators are still searching for the robbery suspects, who made off with Keys’ wallet, cell phone, and keys — although his phone reportedly was recovered in the parking lot of a nearby Walmart.
Watch WMAZ’s report below.
The post Baptist Youth Pastor Tries to Meet with Male Prostitute, Gets Robbed, Makes Up Story About Being Kidnapped: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Out director Kyle Patrick Alvarez on queering up ‘Homecoming’ with Janelle Monáe
Kyle Patrick Alvarez knew he’d have to take a risk.
The director, known for his cult film The Sanford Prison Experiment, as well as for directing episodes of 13 Reasons Why and Tales of the City signed on to direct all 10 episodes of the second season of Amazon’s Homecoming in the midst of a creative shake-up. Season 1, though praised and popular, was designed as a stand-alone story. For Season 2, most of the show’s cast–including lead Julia Roberts–would depart the series. Alvarez, along with the show’s writers, would have to fashion a new story and a new cast based around a similar premise.
Fortunately, Alvarez got lucky. Singer/actress/icon Janelle Monae signed on to play the Season 2 lead last July. The show would also benefit from the presence of Hong Chou (Watchmen, Driveways), Oscar-winner Chris Cooper, Stephan James and Oscar nominee Joan Cusack in major roles. The story, as concocted by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg (who also penned Season 1), would revolve around a woman (Monae) waking up with no memory of her past. Her quest to reclaim her identity would lead her to the Geist Group, a mysterious company that has produced a drug that can erase memories.
Queerty scored time with Alvarez to chat about the challenges in making the show, his leading lady, and his life and career as a gay man. Season 2 of Homecoming comes home to Amazon May 22.
I would call this quite a departure from your work on Tales of the City or 13 Reasons Why. This is a potboiler thriller, and at times, a very surreal one. How did you land the job? How did you develop your approach?
Getting the job meant a lot to me. I was a big fan of Season 1, and actually watched it while we were shooting Tales. I was in New York and watched it all in my hotel room and loved it so much. It’s a show that asks a lot from a director. The visual style is baked into what the show is and how it’s built. Sam [Esmail, director of Season 1] had built this beautiful fresh thing for TV, so it became about evolving it, making it different. For me, the last movie I’d done was The Sanford Prison Experiment which was in the same style of 70s filmmaking, all the stuff Sam was drawn to. I suspect we like all the same movies, because watching Season 1, it felt like someone made the show for me.
Awesome.
In the interim, I’d done a lot of TV work with Tales and 13 Reasons. So was going back and forth between a lot of genre stuff. Honestly, I was waiting for an opportunity like this to get to direct every episode and have a voice. It’s not like directors don’t have a voice in TV, but it’s different. You’re the substitute teacher. You come in, do your episode, and leave. Here, I was there from the moments the scripts were finished until the very last special effects shot. It feels really gratifying.
Absolutely. And it is very much yours. That’s one thing I love about it—it has a cohesive voice and visual style. You like to use a lot of very long takes, and a lot of split-screen. I’m guessing you’re a fan of Brian DePalma, in that sense. The long zooms feel like something out of Kubrick, especially The Shining. What do you love about that approach?
You know, it’s interesting. Even though I think the styles are relatively similar between the seasons, I feel like Season 1’s North Star, in terms of a director, was Alan J. Pakula, with The Parallax View being essential. This season I kind of went into a little bit pulpier, like let’s do DePalma. I always joke that there are a couple of moments where, if he is watching, he’ll roll his eyes. I obsessively watched the end of Carrie and especially Blow Out. It’s one of my favorite movies.
Right.
It’s just about making sure you’re not copying a filmmaker you love; you’re taking inspiration from how they evoke a feeling. That’s how you avoid imitation. Kubrick, obviously, the set was out of 2001. But zooms kind of went out of fashion. I love them. I think it’s kind of wrong; there’s a lot you can do with them. I just love what they do.
That’s wonderful. And I wouldn’t be too self-conscious about borrowing from DePalma. He’s borrowed from other directors—Hitchock, Eisenstein, Antonioni—his whole career. It’s everywhere.
That’s very true. He may have invented the idea of referential directing.
But it fits. It adds an almost surrealistic feeling to the action. Do you storyboard or rehearse?
We didn’t have the time to rehearse. We did storyboard a lot. Weirdly, for me, the process of storyboarding is where you get the value. Storyboards themselves are more for everybody else. Me and the storyboard artist would meet from 6-7:30 every morning before everyone showed up and try to draw as much as we could. When you have 500 extras, you can’t improvise.
Sure.
A crane shot can take three hours to set up, so you have to be so exact. If not, you won’t make the days.
It helps that you’re working with some extraordinary performers here, including Ms. Monae. This is her most complex and challenging role to date, and you’re hanging a whole series on her. Did you have anxiety about that?
Oh no. I was excited. For me, I was a big fan of hers. Very much her music. “Prime Time” is my song.
Related: WATCH: Janelle Monae replaces Julia Roberts in season two of ‘Homecoming’
Awesome.
But I’m always excited about working with an actor where I don’t know what they’re going to do, someone you don’t know. In this case, Janelle had this incredible start between Moonlight and Hidden Figures where she was this shining bright spot in these movies. So I thought oh cool, I get to be one of the first directors to see how she carries something. She worked her ass off and pulled it off. That’s what’s exacting about this: people get to come in not knowing what to expect from her. And I think that contributes a lot to what we discover about the character.
You’re a gay man, and often feature LGBTQ performers and themes in your work. That’s certainly the case here. What’s your experience been in the business? Do you ever feel pigeonholed as “the gay director?”
Ya know, no. In some cases, if I ever experience that, it’s probably more as a Latino. I think when it comes to gay content, I think something like Tales of the City they were going out of their way for queer directors. I think with 13 Reasons Why, Brian and I just got along and I understood the characters. In this case, one thing I appreciate about Mike & Eli, in a lot of ways there’s a blissful naivete in terms of the LGBTQ themes of the show. I think they just thought it would be interesting, something we’d not seen before. That’s very freeing; their intentions are so pure. So we’re in this specific 70s throwback world, and we’re making a thriller, and we have these characters and it’s important that they’re gay.
Right.
I’m not of the mind that we need to see characters that happen to be gay. It’s got to inform it. And I think, in really subtle ways, it does that later in the season. That was refreshing to me: characters informed by their sexuality, but it’s not a plot point. It’s the best of including representation while not pandering.
And it does fit and feels organic to the story. So do we know about Season 3?
I don’t know anything. I would never talk myself out of a job and would be back in a heartbeat if I could. I loved doing this show. At the same time, I would probably encourage them to find the next person and have the same freedoms that I had by Sam moving ahead, and by Universal and Amazon allowing me to make it my own. But, Season 2, I think proves that the central idea of the show—these berries and this drug—can keep generating interesting stories. Losing memory deals so much with human pathos and identity issues, they’re human tales you can keep on going.
What’s next for you?
Nothing official yet. We’re waiting things out to see when things start shooting again. I feel really spoiled on this show. I feel lucky. So for me, it’s just about trying to stay on that path. I never see anything as “a job.” I wouldn’t rule out doing episodes, but I’ve had a chance of doing every episode and producing the show. I’d love to continue that, and I’d love to do it in a smaller form: seven episodes, 30 minutes long. I’d love to have a hand in creating something and continuing to focus on representation in genre stuff. That’d be a thrill. I’ve been trying forever to make a gay action movie. I have a script, and if I can get that going, I’d be really happy.
I’m here for it.
Homecoming Season 2 streams on Amazon May 22.
Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Strongman Leader is Hospitalized with COVID-19: Reports
Ramzan Kadyrov (pictured), the rabidly anti-gay leader of Chechnya, is hospitalized with possibly severe COVID-19 symptoms in Moscow, according to reports.
Kadyrov is responsible for the systematic detention, torture, and killing of gay men in the Russian Federation republic.
The Guardian reports: The news was reported by two Russian state news agencies, RIA Novosti and Tass, both citing a “source in medical circles”. If true, it would mark the most significant illness of a Russian official so far in the Covid-19 pandemic. Kadyrov has become a singular figure in his native Chechnya, where he was installed by Vladimir Putin in 2007 in order to quell a simmering insurgency. He has since turned the region into a personal fiefdom, developing a powerful national guard and a cult of personality. He has no clear successor. … Kadyrov’s illness was first reported by the digital news outlet Baza, which had previously correctly revealed that prime minister Mikhail Mishustin had fallen ill. According to the news outlet, Kadyrov was flown to “one of [Moscow’s] best clinics” on Wednesday after his flu-like symptoms suddenly deteriorated. Baza reported there had been damage to his lungs.
Kadyrov once famously denied allegations about his anti-gay purges in Chechnya by claiming there are no LGBT people in the republic.
“This is nonsense,” Kadyrov said. “We don’t have those kinds of people here. We don’t have any gays. If there are any, take them to Canada. Praise be to god. Take them far from us so we don’t have them at home. To purify our blood, if there are any here, take them.”
In March, Kadyrov said people with COVID-19 who don’t self-quaratine “should be killed.” At the same time, he has also downplayed concerns about the virus.
“People are losing sleep because a disease appeared in China … they are afraid they’ll get it and they’ll die. Don’t be in a rush, you’ll die anyway. Don’t try to die before your time,” Kadyrov has said.
Earlier this month, HBO unveiled the trailer for Welcome to Chechnya, a David France documentary about anti-gay atrocities under Kadyrov’s regime. Watch it below.
The post Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Strongman Leader is Hospitalized with COVID-19: Reports appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Strongman Leader is Hospitalized with COVID-19: Reports
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