These Drag Queens Of A Certain Age Are Not Only Tireless, They’re “Beautiful By Night”

Donna Personna

If you’re one of those die-hard Madonna fans who thought the Material Girl should have either embraced life’s natural aging process or hung it up the second she hit 50, you’re sure to appreciate the dedication, talents and natural beauty of these incredible aging drag performers.

Senior drag queens Olivia Hart, Donna Personna, and Collette LeGrande are performers at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, the only remaining gay bar in San Francisco’s once super-LGBT-friendly Tenderloin district, and the subject of photographer and filmmaker James Hosking’s new documentary, Beautiful by Night.

Collette LeGrande

Upon moving from New York to The City by the Bay in 2009, Hosking discovered the nightclub in an alternative newspaper and was immediately intrigued by the three tireless performers who, after all these years, were still working the floor. (Aunt Charlie’s has no stage, and the performers lip sync their tunes while mingling with the audience.)

As he tells Slate, he was fascinated by their history and curious to know why they continued performing. “They open themselves to ridicule because of their age, yet they seem to relish the opportunity for provocation and confrontation,” he says.

Olivia Hart

With long nights that involve two-and-a-half hours of makeup beginning at 6:30 p.m. and showtime from 10:30 to 12:30, the drag queens work for dollar tips and change outfits with each new number.

Why do they continue doing it? Therapeutic reasons, says Hosking: Donna suffers from anxiety, which she confronts with the help of her stage persona; performing motivates Olivia to maintain her sobriety; and Collette needs to express herself and her feminine side.

It’s not just a living, he says, it’s a lifelong passion. “I think they’d miss it if they stopped,” he says.

Check out the documentary below.

Beautiful By Night from James Hosking on Vimeo.

Photos © James Hosking

Winston Gieseke

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If You Need Help In The Underwear Department, Your Prayers Are Answered

The Underwear Expert Kickstarter has officially launched, and it’s the first step in making our expertise a truly visceral experience. How? By creating our very own underwear of the month club! This is also a great gift idea for those who need some help in the underwear department.

As the leading experts on all things men’s underwear, you can rest assured that this subscription will do more than make your life easier. It can make your life more comfortable, more sexy, even more moisture wicking. This is e-commerce like you’ve never seen before.

After telling us a little about you, The Underwear Expert team searches brands both well-known and obscure for your perfect pairs of underwear. Sure other underwear clubs exist, but The Underwear Expert’s subscription is the only one curated to suit your particular style and taste, backed by the largest, most respected site in the world.

SUPPORT OUR KICKSTARTER HERE

The Underwear Expert CEO & Founder Michael Kleinmann knows better than anyone how overwhelming it can be shopping for men’s underwear. Michael was the President of Freshpair for 10 years before starting The Underwear Expert. Following up on that success, The Underwear Expert has now published over 6,000 underwear articles and featured hundreds of designers and have the inside track on all things men’s underwear related. Needless to say, we really are the experts. And with your help, we can give you the most masterful collection of underwear.

You can read more about the Kickstarter here.

Photo Credit: The Underwear Expert

Underwear Expert

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20 Simply Terrific Gifts for the Techie in Your Life

Topping this year’s wish list are all the toys that charge, light up, talk, play, or communicate.

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Diane Anderson-Minshall

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/holiday-gifts-everyone/2014/12/09/20-simply-terrific-gifts-techie-your-life

Editor's Letter: Why #DayInLGBT Matters If You Are 'LGBT'

If we do this right, today can help us learn more about what it means to be LGBT.

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Lucas Grindley

www.advocate.com/day-lgbt-america/2014/12/09/editors-letter-why-dayinlgbt-matters-if-you-are-lgbt

Robbie Rogers And Greg Berlanti Have Split, According To Report

There’s some good news for single men, but sad news for one of the most photogenic gay couples on the pop culture front. Soccer star Robbie Rogers and TV producer Greg Berlanti are back on the market. The two have reportedly split after approximately 18 months as a couple, reports Perez Hilton. No reason has yet been announced for the breakup, but Hilton’s source confirms the decision to go separate ways was mutual and the men remain on friendly terms.

Hilton’s source noted that “2014 was just such a big year for each of them, that they decided a friendship suited them both better.” Besides producing numerous TV series such as Arrow and The Flash, Berlanti was recently announced as head writer for the upcoming Academy Awards broadcast, while Rogers, who with his team L.A. Galaxy won the MLS Cup on Sunday, has been busy promoting his memoir Coming Out to Play. Rogers is scheduled to appear on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live Monday night so maybe Andy Cohen will shed further light on the uncoupling.

Note to Berlanti and/or Rogers: If either of you need some help mending that broken heart or staying warm this winter, you know where to find us.

Jeremy Kinser

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Joaquin Phoenix Announces Engagement to David Letterman

Joaquin Phoenix made another surprising appearance on Late Show With David Letterman Monday.

It went much better, though, than the time in 2009 when he acted all dazed and aloof during his interview with Dave while filming his strange documentary I’m Still Here. This time, Phoenix revealed that he’s engaged to be married, and that the lucky lady is his yoga instructor. He didn’t identify her further.

Phoenix — who’s never walked down the aisle before —recounted working on a particularly tricky move with the yogi in an amusing story, which required him to do a physical demonstration for Letterman.

“This is the crazy part of the story,” the 40-year-old actor said. “We started dating, and I think she’s the one. I proposed to her and she said yes.” Phoenix added that the two will be married “if everything works out.

Hmm, we’ll believe him when we see a marriage certificate…

celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/joaquin-phoenix-announces-engagement-030851834.html

Males Are More Likely To Suffer Sexual Assault Than To Be Falsely Accused Of It
In the aftermath of Rolling Stone’s flawed story about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia, there has been a rush of concern in certain quarters over the supposed male victims. People have been claiming that Jackie, the UVa student at the center of the story, is part of a trend in false rape reports.

The idea that women are deceptively “crying rape” is not something new. But besides misrepresenting what we know about Jackie’s case — no one with knowledge of the alleged incident has stated that an assault did not happen and the Charlottesville, Virginia, police told HuffPost that they’re still investigating — it misses two key truths.

False rape reports are rare. And the men and boys who are victims in sexual assault cases are far more likely to have been the targets of abuse themselves than to have been falsely accused of sexual violence.

According to a 2010 paper from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40 percent of gay men, 47 percent of bisexual men and 21 percent of heterosexual men in the U.S. “have experienced sexual violence other than rape at some point in their lives.”

A compilation of research at 1in6.org, an advocacy group for male survivors, suggests that at least 1 in 6 boys experience sexual abuse before age 18. The key caveat: The numbers are likely higher in reality because male victims are less likely to disclose their abuse than female victims.

False accusations that men committed rape look to be far less common.

David Lisak, a leading sexual assault researcher and consultant to colleges and the military, has found false rape reports to be about 8 percent of the total. An analysis of research on false rape claims by Lisak, San Diego police Sgt. Joanne Archambault and Kimberly Lonesway at the National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women put the figure somewhere between 2 and 8 percent. Yet another study from the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom concluded that false reports constituted about 6 percent of rape allegations. Twenty-year-old data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics put the number of unfounded rape reports at 8 percent, thought not all unfounded reports are necessarily false.

How that percentage might change if women felt more comfortable reporting sexual assault is unclear. But many never report what happened to them. A Department of Justice study from 2000 found that fewer than 5 percent of completed and attempted rapes of collegiate women are reported to police, and that figure drops for other forms of sexual violence.

“This is where we need to be careful that we don’t just let the squeaky wheel get the grease,” said Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations at the American Association of University Women.

The fact that sexual assault against males is more common than false accusations of males committing sexual assault is “ironic,” Maatz said, but she noted this is why Title IX, the federal law that requires colleges to deal with sexual violence and harassment, is gender-neutral.

“Title IX is supposed to improve the climate and ensure anyone who goes to college has the same opportunity at an education,” Maatz said. “That to me is what colleges are all about. I wish colleges could understand this is a tool that they should be embracing.”

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/08/false-rape-accusations_n_6290380.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Kansas Marriage Lawsuit Just Got Even Messier

A judge in Kansas already told the state that they need to start letting gay and lesbian couples get married. So why are only a few county officials complying?

The marriage case in Kansas has been one of the messiest in the country, and it just got even worse. For starters, that initial ruling wasn’t a decision on the merits of the case — it was just a preliminary ruling before the judge actually decides whose side he’ll take. But apparently he was already leaning so heavily in favor of the gay and lesbian couples that he basically said they should go ahead and get married now.

Kansas, of course, is being a bunch of dicks about the whole thing, even they have no chance of winning. They’re appealing that preliminary ruling to the 10the Circuit, but things haven’t gone their way. Last week, the 10th Circuit shot down the state’s request for a mega-panel, which was Kansas’ last best chance of getting the ruling they wanted.

Now the 10th Circuit will get to decide whether gay couples should get married while the lawsuit makes its long way through the court. Our prediction is that the 10th Circuit will give gay couples the thumbs-up, since that court already overturned marriage bans in neighboring states. From there, the state would be able to petition the Supreme Court for a hearing, which they have absolutely zero chance of winning.

All this, and we haven’t even seen an actual ruling on the merits of the case yet. Great job wasting taxpayers’ money and time, Kansas.

matt baume

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Trans New Yorkers Can Now Update Birth Certificates More Easily

The New York City Council approved legislation that removes an old requirement that transgender people undergo gender-confirming surgery before they can amend their birth certificates.

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Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/12/08/trans-new-yorkers-can-now-update-birth-certificates-more-easily

LGBT Protections Included in New Federal Profiling Guidance

Today, the federal government introduced a revised profiling policy that now prohibits sexual orientation and gender identity as a form of profiling.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/lgbt-protections-included-in-new-federal-profiling-guidance?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed