Democrats Get Past Step One on Two Gun Control Measures
The filibuster looks like it’s ended with an agreement that the Senate will vote on two ideas.
www.advocate.com/politics/2016/6/16/democrats-get-past-step-one-two-gun-control-measures
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“Looking” The Movie, And 14 Other Must-See Flicks On The Summer Film Festival Curcuit
“Looking” The Movie, And 14 Other Must-See Flicks On The Summer Film Festival Curcuit
The king of queer film festivals — San Francisco’s Frameline — hits the four-decade mark this year.
Running June 16-26th at venues across the SF Bay Area, this year’s festival showcases more than 150 films from filmmakers all over the globe. In addition to presenting the best new films of the year, Frameline40 is showcasing a selection of memorable classics and panel discussions looking back and contextualizing cinema today.
This year’s prestigious Frameline Award will be presented to longtime indie industry figure Bob Hawk (Trick, The Celluloid Closet). Seven of this year’s presentations (AWOL, Growing Up Coy, Her Story, The Joneses, Kiki and Out Run) were recipient’s of Frameline’s annual Completion Fund Grant. All descriptions below courtesy of Frameline.
OPENING NIGHT FILM
KIKI / DIR Sara Jordenö / 2016 / USA, Sweden / 94 min
More than two decades after PARIS IS BURNING, filmmakers Sara Jordenö and Twiggy Pucci Garçon’s vibrant documentary fast-forwards to the ballroom scene of today: an unapologetically flamboyant and political subculture centered on LGBTQ youth of color, for whom dance is far more than performance.
CENTERPIECE US NARRATIVE
AWOL / DIR Deb Shoval / 2016 / USA / 85 min
Tomboy Joey and married mom Rayna fall for each other in this star-crossed love story set in working class Pennsylvania. The pair can’t quit each other, but struggle to imagine a life together as Joey’s deployment for Afghanistan approaches.
CENTERPIECE WORLD NARRATIVE
BEING 17 / DIR André Téchiné / 2016 / France / 116 min
When Thomas, the adopted son of rural mountain farmers, has to temporarily share a home with the more urbane Damien, the two hostile boys are forced to negotiate the challenges of unspoken desire, in director André Téchiné’s alluring new masterwork.
CENTERPIECE DOCUMENTARY
SOUTHWEST OF SALEM: THE STORY OF THE SAN ANTONIO FOUR
DIR Deborah Esquenazi / 2016 / USA / 89 min
At the tail end of the “Satanic ritual abuse panic” of the 1990s, four Latina lesbian women were accused and wrongfully convicted of a heinous sexual assault. After serving over a decade in prison, the women won’t stop fighting to prove their innocence, in this heart-wrenching examination of the criminal justice system.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
LOOKING / DIR Andrew Haigh / 2016 / USA / 86 min
Rendered in the same radically real style that made the HBO series a watershed in the presentation of ordinary gay lives, LOOKING, the movie, reunites the show’s sexy San Franciscans in a romantic drama that delivers the sweet satisfaction of closure.
SHOWCASE FILMS
Showcases are gems that are handpicked by Frameline programmers from the hundreds of outstanding films at this year’s Festival.
DIR Alexandra-Therese Keining / 2016 / Sweden / 105 min
In this delectably twisted fairytale of gender fluidity, three outcast girls’ dreams of boyhood become reality, sending them down a shadowy path of self-discovery.
GROWING UP COY / DIR Eric Juhola / 2016 / USA / 86 min
In a highly conservative Colorado town, a pink-loving, pig-tailed six-year-old girl named Coy becomes the unlikely poster child for transgender rights, in a landmark case that is reverberating in state courts across the country.
THE INTERVENTION / DIR Clea DuVall / 2016 / USA / 88 min
Friends and family stage a marriage intervention for a toxic couple, only to have to confront their own issues in writer-director-star Clea DuVall’s sharp, funny, and honest portrayal of the complexities of modern adult relationships.
PARIS 05:59: THEO & HUGO / DIRS Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau / 2016 / France / 97 min
The thrilling, sexy contours of a new relationship have rarely been mapped as well as in this bold romance, which unfolds in real time on the streets of Paris. After a sweaty bout in a sex club, Theo (Geoffrey Couët) and Hugo (François Nambot) take off together on their bicycles, engaging in a beautifully crafted and moving dialogue that traverses an extraordinary range of personal and psychological territory.
PUSHING DEAD / DIR Tom E. Brown / 2015 / USA / 108 min
In this quirky dark comedy set in San Francisco, a bureaucratic snafu keeps an HIV-positive writer from getting his prescriptions. Skewering healthcare bureaucracy, a gentrifying city, and the tribulations of being a longtime HIV survivor, the film features a terrific ensemble cast, including James Roday, Robin Weigert, Danny Glover, and Khandi Alexander.
RARA / DIR Pepa San Martín / 2016 / Chile, Argentina / 88 min
With her first feature, writer-director Pepa San Martín constructs a brilliantly subtle family drama that is both a poignant coming-of-age tale and a based-on-a-true-story account of a lesbian marriage threatened by social forces, told chiefly from almost-13-year-old daughter Sarah’s perspective.
SPA NIGHT / DIR Andrew Ahn / 2016 / USA / 93 min
The LA air is thick with sublimated desire and frustrated yearning in Andrew Ahn’s deeply felt feature debut, a touching study of a virginal, closeted teenager wrestling with his Korean-born parents’ expectations and the forbidden, mysterious allure of men’s bodies.
STRIKE A POSE / DIRS Ester Gould & Reijer Zwaan / 2016 / Netherlands, Belgium / 83 min
In 1990, seven male dancers joined Madonna on her taboo-busting Blond Ambition tour-which blew the roof off of global pop culture, raised AIDS awareness, and turned the dancers into sudden celebrities. This empathetic yet probing portrait revisits that era and traces the dancers’ paths from youthful exuberance to complicated adulthood.
SUMMERTIME / DIR Catherine Corsini / France
This 1970s-set, French love story provokes a rush of nostalgia (even if you weren’t there) for that heady time when political and romantic passions intertwined. French farm girl Delphine finds love with Parisian feminist Carole, but family keeps pulling her back into the closet in this smart, sexy movie.
THE TRANS LIST / DIR Timothy Greenfield-Sanders / 2016 / USA / 60 min
Boasting an impressive assemblage of transgender luminaries-including Buck Angel, Laverne Cox, and Shane Ortega-this riveting documentary highlights the distinct individuality and diverse outlooks of its subjects, while simultaneously evoking the collective power of an indomitable community.
Visit Frameline.org for complete information on all of this year’s films.
Here’s One Dragtastic Way To Pitch In And Support Orlando Victims
Here’s One Dragtastic Way To Pitch In And Support Orlando Victims
It’s difficult to know what, if anything, can be done in the wake of a tragedy of Orlando’s magnitude. Add a filter to your Facebook profile pic? Share commentary to your News Feed? These gestures all too often feel empty; ineffectively preaching to the choir.
Like most of the country, graphic designer David Ayllon found himself caving in to such feelings of helplessness in the aftermath of the Pulse attack. He wanted to find a way to make a difference.
Related: If Only There Was Something We Could Do About Mass Shootings. Oh Wait, Sam Bee Gets It.
“After seeing the strength and resilience from within the queer and Latinx communities,” he writes on Facebook, “I knew I had to do something to support the victims and their families.”
Thus, Posters For Pulse was born. All proceeds from these limited edition prints — which are $15 apiece — will be donated directly to the official Pulse Victims Fund. They feature some of your favorite she-hilarious drag queens — Peaches Christ, Bob The Drag Queen, Pissi Myles, Ari Kiki — bedecked in sultry, noir-tinged ensembles and, well, just being irretrievably badass, basically.
Related: New Yorkers Gather Outside Stonewall Inn To Pay Respects To Orlando Victims
While $15 may sound like a paltry donation, it will add up quickly — and it’s certainly more useful than any hashtag campaign.
Purchase Posters For Pulse here, and check out the images below:
Ari Kiki
Bob The Drag Queen – “Neon”
Bob the Drag Queen – “Noir”
Crimson Kitty
Betty Washburn
Dusty Ray Bottoms – Version 1
Dusty Ray Bottoms – Version 2
Iris Spectre
Iris Spectre – “Noir”
Jiggly Caliente
Judy Darling
Judy Darling
Peaches Christ – “Hands”
Peaches Christ – “Scream Queen”
Pissi Myles – “Popcorn”
Pissy Mules – “Pink Prom”
Mary Kona
RuPaul is ‘Really Numb’ About the Orlando Shooting: WATCH
RuPaul is ‘Really Numb’ About the Orlando Shooting: WATCH
RuPaul stopped by Access Hollywood Wednesday to discuss the premiere of Skin Wars: Fresh Paint and spoke with Kit Hoover and guest co-host Bryan Safi about the Orlando attack.
RuPaul said he hasn’t even processed everything yet: “I’ve been really numb by this on so many different levels. Not only as an American, but as a human being, to see that we are still in that place.”
Three RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants were directly affected by the tragedy, so it felt personal: Kenya Michaels was performing at the club before it all happened, but she was able to get out; Roxxxy Andrews is a regular performer at the club, but she was in Tampa that night; however Jade Sotomayor’s cousin, 34-year-old Edward Sotomayor Jr., was unfortunately one of the 49 victims of the massacre.
“Every American who believes in what this country stands for is shaken to the core. And it really does have to stop. And like I said, a collective shift in our consciousness has to happen,” said RuPaul. And he explained that “it’s not just about gun control, it’s not just about gay people, it’s about our identity as Americans and that’s the challenge for us moving forward.”
When asked about the FDA’s ban on blood donation from gay man, RuPaul hopes that a horrible tragedy can result in progress: “We are still a very primitive culture. Unfortunately, maybe occasions like this will advance us and push us forward.”
And he knows where to start: “I do know that love is the first step.”
Can I get an Amen up in here?
Check out the full video below:
The post RuPaul is ‘Really Numb’ About the Orlando Shooting: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Police Investigate Craigslist Threat of Orlando-Style Attack on San Diego’s LGBT Community: WATCH
Police Investigate Craigslist Threat of Orlando-Style Attack on San Diego’s LGBT Community: WATCH
Police are investigating a threat posted to Craigslist of an Orlando-style attack against San Diego’s LGBT community, ABC 10 reports:
A 10News viewer saw the post in the men-seeking-men section of the Craigslist San Diego personal ads. He took a screenshot and sent it to 10News before the post was flagged and removed.
The post is titled “We need more Orlando’s (sic),” and it is accompanied by a photo of a hand firing a revolver with a bullet coming out of the barrel.
The post read: “Orlando was long overdue. Cleanse your community of the filth that gives decent gay men and women a bad name. Those people were walking diseases, bug chasers, and thank god for AIDS and 9-11 and now Orlando. San Diego you are next …”
10News sent the screenshot to the San Diego Police Department and the FBI.
SDPD Lt. Scott Wahl said the department will investigate the post.
Watch:
The post Police Investigate Craigslist Threat of Orlando-Style Attack on San Diego’s LGBT Community: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
AFA’s Bryan Fischer: Anderson Cooper Should Recuse Himself from Gay Stories – WATCH
AFA’s Bryan Fischer: Anderson Cooper Should Recuse Himself from Gay Stories – WATCH
Following Anderson Cooper’s excoriating interview with Florida attorney general Pam Bondi (right) regarding the Orlando massacre, hoary old bigot Bryan Fischer has said Cooper shouldn’t be allowed to cover any stories related to “the homosexual agenda.”
Bondi, a fierce opponent of LGBT rights, said on Sunday that “anyone who attacks our LGBT community…will be gone after to the fullest extent of the law.” In the interview, Anderson attacked the “sick irony” of Bondi offering support to the LGBT community in Orlando, arguing that she had “basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality were trying to do harm to the people of Florida.”
RELATED: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi Says She Fought Against Gay Marriage Because She Wanted ‘Uniformity’ – VIDEO
Yesterday, Bondi attacked Anderson’s line of questioning, saying that “it just wasn’t the time nor the place…because all it did was encourage anger and hate – and families who we’re trying to help to probably not trust my office and the 14 advocates we’ve brought in.”
Speaking on behalf of Bondi on his radio program yesterday, American Family Association mouthpiece Fischer said that “open, admitted homosexual” Anderson “ought to recuse himself from any story like this.”
Fischer added:
“He has no business trying to do journalism on an issue as fraught with emotion as the homosexual agenda. He’s disqualified from providing any kind of objective journalistic treatment of that topic.”
Last year, Fischer demanded that gay radio host and Fox News contributor Guy Benson be fired from his position with Townhall.com. He also said that going to a same-sex wedding would be like attending the “grand opening celebration” of a crack house.
Watch Fischer’s comments via Right Wing Watch and Anderson’s interview with Bondi below.
(Image via Wikipedia)
The post AFA’s Bryan Fischer: Anderson Cooper Should Recuse Himself from Gay Stories – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Melissa Etheridge's 'Pulse' Is an Anthem for Our Sorrow
Melissa Etheridge's 'Pulse' Is an Anthem for Our Sorrow
The legendary out singer initially wrote a song about Orlando to make herself less scared and angry. But putting it out into the world, “feels like holding someone’s hand.”
www.advocate.com/music/2016/6/16/melissa-etheridges-pulse-anthem-our-sorrow
This Gay Senate Candidate Is Campaigning for 'No Fly, No Buy'
This Gay Senate Candidate Is Campaigning for 'No Fly, No Buy'
Kentucky’s Jim Gray challenged incumbent Rand Paul to stop letting suspected terrorists buy guns in the U.S.
www.advocate.com/election/2016/6/16/gay-senate-candidate-campaigning-no-fly-no-buy
