Innehållsförteckning för June - July 2017 från The Advocate

Lesbian singer LP was called an “overnight sensation” after her song, “Muddy Waters,” was featured on Orange is the New Black. But what some might not realize is that she’s been making music for years. Her 2014 album Forever for Now was streamed 10 million times on Spotify and she’s co-written hits for stars like Rihanna (2010’s “Cheers (Drink to That)”) and Christina Aguilera (“Beautiful People”). Today she’s topping charts all over Europe and her new album, Lost on You—which includes five new songs as well as last year’s EP Death Valley—and telling us about the state of the world. Your album title track, “Lost on You” is a number one hit in Europe, and went gold and platinum in Italy and Poland. Even more countries than that. It’s showing…

In 1987, divorced insurance salesman James Hart meets an alluring stranger on a train. She’s Carly Simon and he eventually becomes the famous singer’s second husband (following James Taylor). Then, 20 years into their marriage, Hart realizes he’s gay. In Lucky Jim, Hart’s new memoir, he talks about their relationship, how he sublimated his homosexuality, and the culture shock he experienced in Simon’s world of wealth, glamour, celebrities, and privilege. You went into the seminary to become a priest and “sublimate” your sexual yearnings. Was it alcohol that allowed you to do so? JAMES HART: I’m not sure that alcohol helps sublimation. I think the defense mechanisms that alcohol triggers are more like suppression, repression, denial, and disassociation. My sublimation had more to do with the intense desire I had…

I GET TESTED FOR HIV and other sexually transmitted infections every three months, if not more often. I’ve been pretty diligent about this ever since I became sexually active. But it hasn’t always been easy. In fact, it used to suck. Going to the doctor sucked. Going to the doctor as a gay or bisexual man sucked even more. Going to the doctor as a queer man who’s sexually active—and wants to get tested for HIV and other STIs—sucked the worst. Going to my college’s healthcare center was absolutely terrible. I was shamed mercilessly by the doctors there. They thought I was reckless. I was 19, getting drunk, and having sex. (I know—shocker. Who would have thought I would be getting drunk and having sex at college?) Still, I can…

We’ve followed CANDIS CAYNE from a New York drag performer in the early 1990s (you might have seen her in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar) to the bombshell lady she is today. After her transition in the mid-‘90s, Cayne became a TV guest star and later the first trans woman to become a main cast member on primetime TV, on Dirty Sexy Money. Caitlyn Jenner’s bestie on I am Cait, she’s gained even more fame—and fans across all gender spectrums. Now her new book, Hi Gorgeous!: Transforming Inner Power into Radiant Beauty is a style guide that is going to be a hit with a lot of women. You made history as the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in primetime TV. It’s an…

Supermodel Jenny Shimizu broke barriers as a masculine woman, a lesbian, and an Asian-American in the fashion industry. Discovered as a mechanic, Shimizu became the face of Calvin Klein’s CK1 and was the first Asian and first person of color to walk in (and open) the Prada catwalk at Fashion Week. She’s our lesbian Steve McQueen, effortlessly cool, the embodiment of female masculinity at it’s best. Shimuzi, who starred in Foxfire, and Itty Bitty Titty Committee, is still hot as hell with that “Strap-On” wrench tattoo down her arm that made her famous. During the ‘90s and 2000s, she was romantically linked to Ione Skye and Madonna, and her relationship with Angelina Jolie influenced that actress to come out as bisexual (to me, in 1997, in Girlfriends magazine). But, this…

In the way that people often dismiss the 1960s by joking they can barely remember it—as though for every American it was an endless festival of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll—so too is there temptation to sum up the decades that followed as an orgy of sexual liberation (the ‘70s) and the ensuing consequences of the AIDS epidemic (the 1980s). For generations, people—except HIV researchers and medical experts who dismiss the idea—have tried to suggest a casual link, as though one begat the other. But in doing so, they dismiss what a truly revolutionary act loving and having sex with whomever you choose really was. All across America, people were following their real passions, coming out about parts of themselves long repressed and living out and proud for the…

When you’re only 11-years-old and your daddy is shot running from cops, you know damn well you have some hard choices coming at you. Keep your legendary family’s bootlegger tradition alive and risk the same yourself or take a different route? Troy Perry did the latter. By 15, he dropped out of high school and become a certified Baptist preacher. Soon he was married to a pastor’s daughter (but still fooling around with boys). At 19, one of his gay dalliances confessed to his church administrator and Perry was booted. He and his wife moved to California, but their marriage dissolved after she found a copy of his other bible, Donald Webster Cory’s The Homosexual in America, under the mattress. . After a stint in the Army and a failed…

ALABAMA PATRICIA TODD “Patricia was an out lesbian advocate before being LGBTQ was cool. She is the first openly gay elected Alabama legislator (Jefferson County,Montgomery),where she still serves.When an anonymous smear campaign called her a ‘bull digger,’ she wore a hat to her first session that proclaimed,‘Bull digger in the House.’ She has also served as the executive director of both AIDS Alabama and Birmingham AIDS Outreach and as president of Equality Alabama. She has given the gay community a face. Her friends joke that her tombstone will read: ‘Patricia Todd, Lesbian.’”—Kathie M.Hiers,CEO,AIDS Alabama (AIDSAlabama.org) ALASKA DARREL W. HESS “Since 2012, Darrel holds the highest publicly appointed position in [Alaska]. He serves as the ombudsman of the Municipality of Anchorage. Darrel is co-chair of the board of directors of Identity…

IN JUNE OF 2014, Washington state insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler announced that insurers selling policies in the state could no longer discriminate against transgender residents. This was exciting news because, up until that point, trans people had to jump through burning hoops to get the care they needed. The announcement offered us hope for the future. Three years later, many of us are still struggling, and have yet to experience the promised change. When I started my transition, one of the first things I wanted was a hysterectomy. My reproductive organs had plagued me from the onset of puberty. Every period was a nightmare. And, unfortunately, while I no longer get visits from Aunt Flo, I still feel her pain each and every month. At the time, my doctor told…

The sexual revolution of the 1960s and ’70s came to an abrupt and brutal end for many gay and bi men the moment AIDS was traced to sexual contact. In the early days of the epidemic, sex between men was equated with AIDS, not just in the mainstream media, but also in prevention efforts by other gay men. Since AIDS in those days was seen as a death sentence, for men who had sex with men, every sexual interaction carried the risk of death. Indeed, tens of thousands passed away from AIDS-related conditions. “I was alive when homosexuality was [still] considered to be a psychological illness,” David Russell, pop star Sia’s manager recently told Plus magazine. “The two generations ahead of mine, and a good portion of my generation, were…

Are you ready for the shadiest—yet hottest—summer of your life? Visit Paris, learn history, and gain mad respect for the ladies who clawed their way to the top of French society using nothing but their wits, tits, and sexual prowess! Shady Ladies Tours presents a four-day tour of Parisian art, architecture, and culture, with the backdrop of famous seductresses like royal mistresses Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, and courtesans like the Lady of the Camellias. Enjoy some of Paris’ greater and lesser known treasures, including a tour of La Paiva mansion, the “love palace” built by one of the most famous courtesans of the Belle Époque. Bring your own amour or spark up a romance with a French-kissing (and speaking) local. The “Shady Ladies of Paris” tour provides…

We asked LGBT notables—political leaders, athletes, artists, performers, and even Advocate editors—to tell us the five LGBT people who influenced them most. Some answers will be on Advocate.com, while others are in these pages of the 50th anniversary edition. Because I’m the editorial director, I cheated and named 10. THE 10 LGBT PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED ME Diane Anderson-Minshall, Editorial Director Jessica Savitch , one of the first women to anchor an evening network news broadcast alone, back when the country had three channels. I didn’t know at the time that she was bisexual, but it makes sense to me. Before I came out, I dreamed only of being Savitch or Helen Gurley Brown (who Jane Pratt once reportedly said had a “wonderful bisexual vibe,” but was certainly never out). Diane…

Why did Grace Slick allow her song to be used by anti-LGBT fast food company, Chick-fil-A? That’s what fans wanted to know when the restaurant chain unveiled their new ad featuring Slick’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” Chick-fil-A has a well-documented reputation as being anti-LGBT through the donations of its philanthropic foundation WinShape. The company’s CEO, Dan Cathy, was also a vocal opponent of marriage equality, telling The Ken Coleman Show, “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.” Slick, who fronted the legendary rock band Jefferson Airplane (later known as Starship), penned a blunt op-ed for Forbes admitting her first inclination when Chickfil-A came calling was, “F**k no! Chickfil-A pisses…

Boze Hedleigh’s 1994 book Hollywood Lesbians (Riverdale Avenue Books) slammed open the closet door on some of Hollywood’s most famous stars, including Barbara Stanwyck, Ann B. Davis, Agnes Moorehead, Edith Head, and Dame Judith Anderson. Now, Riverdale Avenue Books is publishing an updated version: Hollywood Lesbians: From Garbo to Foster, which gives us a rare, no-holds-barred collection of exclusive interviews with icons—from the Golden Age of movies and TV all the way to the stars we see dominating online streaming today. A companion volume to Hadleigh’s other classics Conversations With My Elders and Hollywood Gays, the updated edition is gaining attention from Tinsel Town’s heaviest hitters—including Ellen DeGeneres, who calls the book “Riveting! An eye opener.” The Advocate sat down with Hadleigh to discuss Hollywood Lesbians: From Garbo to Foster,…

IN OUR CURRENT moment there has been considerable debate around what is frequently referred to as “sexual racism,” a term that reacts to the romantic and erotic rejection of men of color by white gay men. These discussions describe, often in detail, the various forms of emotional injury in the digital realm of dating and hook-up apps, that manifest a kind of modern day “Jim Crowism.” Black gay men know as well as anyone that the sexual liberation of white gay men has not made them more sensitive to racism. However, what’s less discussed now is the sexual objectification of black men by white gay men. These debates seemed to explode around the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe at the height of the cultural wars and his images of black men in…

When Gigi Gorgeous arrived to The Advocate cover shoot, there was a shift of energy in the room. Gorgeous possesses that rare but unmistakable star power, which separates the vivacious 24-year-old from the rest of us. She's compelling. You just can’t look away—something her over 2.4 million YouTube subscribers can affirm. An “It Girl” of the YouTube generation, she’s skyrocketed to fame simply by being herself and documenting her life. Despite Gorgeous having this larger-than-life persona—not to mention contracts with Revlon, Too Faced cosmetics, Crest Canada, and a new critically-acclaimed documentary about her life—she’s anything but a diva. Gorgeous is humble, approachable, funny, and kind. She’s every bit the girl we’ve gotten to know via her honest, endearing, and often outrageous YouTube videos. Gorgeous often turns the conversation to others,…

For better or worse (pun intended), much of LGBT activism in the late 1990s and early 2000s on to well, 2015, was devoted to repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The latter, a political battle that began with former presidents—Bill Clinton created the policy as a compromise; Barack Obama ended it by signing the Repeal Act in 2010—made it so LGB folks could serve openly in the military. In 2016, trans people were added to that OK-to-serve list. The repeal had great economic impact in some parts of the country (and symbolic ones elsewhere) as U.S. Department of Defense, according to the World Economic Forum, is the largest employer in the world (with 3.2 million employees). But as compelling as American military vets and future…

TV writer Bob Smith once wrote in these pages that the genealogy of LGBT characters on TV would make for a very long biblical-sounding family tree in which the word begat is used a lot as a verb. For example, Lance Loud, who came out in the PBS documentary series, An American Family in 1973, eventually begat Pedro Zamora from the 1994 season of MTV’s The Real World, who somehow begat Richard Hatch, the bearish gay guy who won the very first Survivor in 2000. Fictional TV is much the same. But the 1990s and 2000s were the busting out years, and while trans people continued to be portrayed as victims or villains and bisexuals continued to be over-sexed nutbags (Tila Tequila), gays and lesbians—especially the socially acceptable versions—began to…

AS THE NATION was celebrating its bicentennial, Phyllis Frye, 28, was celebrating becoming a woman. It wasn’t easy being out as transgender in 1976, even with a supportive wife. “Three years [into] our marriage she said, ‘You are going nuts trying to be the man that you are not. You need to be yourself.’” Her Texas neighbors weren’t as forgiving. They slashed her tires and egged her house. She couldn’t get a job, even after getting her law degree. The discrimination turned Frye into an activist. She joined Ray Hill and Lucia Valeska in helping to organize the 1979 March on Washington. Valeska, a feminist who established one of the nation’s first women studies programs, had just taken over as a co-director of the National Gay Task Force. (Valeska, who…

While today’s new crop of anti-LGBT forces are disheartening, you’ll be happy to know they’re nothing compared to some of the bigots from the past. In 50 years, we’ve called out most of them, including organizations like Exodus International, John Birch Society, and Traditional Values Coalition. Here’s our list of some of the most odious homophobes from Advocate history. JOHN BRIGGS This former California state senator was so worried that gayness would spread from San Francisco—which he called the country’s “moral garbage dump of homosexuality”— that he proposed barring gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. Even supporting LGBT rights would be grounds for firing. His 1978 ballot measure, nicknamed “the Briggs initiative,” failed overwhelmingly with voters. PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY She is the creator of the Stop ERA group that…

CAN A SEXUAL ORIENTATION—or the word used to describe it—be offensive to those who are the object of that attraction? Maybe so, when it comes to those attracted to people who are transgender. They may be called (or call themselves) trans am, transamorous, transsensual, or trans chasers—and their attentions may be welcomed. Or not. When is being seen as sexually attractive—but only because the viewer sees you as different from other men or women—a turn on and when is it a turn off? When a straight-identified man fetishizes trans women and watches porn with offensive titles, it can be easy to vilify them. But what about the gay man who prefers sex with trans men who haven’t had bottom surgery? Or the trans individual who finds themselves only attracted to…

THE YEAR WAS 1969. It was illegal for LGBT people to get together and have a drink or dance with same-sex partners. Most bars wouldn’t allow queers into their establishment, fearing police raids and fines. But there was one place where everyone could gather—all the fairies, drag queens, queers, trans people, and gender-nonconformers—The Stonewall Inn. The police knew that gays went to Stonewall. They would raid the bar, arrest the queers, and fine the establishment. Many times, the raiding officers got rough, making police brutality a common occurrence at bar raids around the country. On June 28, 1969, a raid sent fairies, drag queens, queers, trans people, and gender-nonconforming folks into the streets in a three-day standoff that became known as the Stonewall Riots. A year after the riots ended,…

IN THE PAST decade, the transgender community has made huge strides increasing visibility—and making it clear that trans folks are not sexual predators, but are in fact, more at risk for sexual assault and other violence. Trans people are the ones whose safety and human rights are at risk. Despite that hard work, it turns out many cisgender folks still don’t have positive attitudes about their trans neighbors. Non-trans folks still don’t get that transgender people just want regular lives, jobs, relationships, and rights; and to be treated with a little dignity. New data from YouGov confirms this sad truth. The market research company surveyed hundreds of cisgender folks, about their attitudes toward trans individuals. The results weren’t the most heartwarming. Of 1,682 cisgender respondents who answered the question, 24…

A French, made-for-television movie from 2015, Mystère à la Tour Eiffel, has been gaining new popularity, thanks to fans on social media—and an enticing premise: hot, interracial Victorian-era lesbian lovers outwit the patriarchy in a deliciously decadent murder-mystery. Although only available in the original French, avid Tumblr fans have created their own subtitled version, along with a free download link. Mystère à la Tour Eiffel is available via iTunes, on DVD, and streamed online. No matter how you end up watching it, don’t miss this fantastically fun and rare jewel of a film.…

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES Mouths of Babes is a duo that rose from the ashes of two great queer/trans musical acts—Ingrid Elizabeth hails from Coyote Grace, and Tylan “Ty” Greenstein from Girlyman—and still plays tribute to their Americana roots. In 2015, MTV News covered the lesbian couple’s “Big Gay, Catholic-Jewish Wedding” (attended by all the brides’ living grandparents) in a story about marriage equality and Elizabeth’s gay great uncle Tom Eyen, who co-wrote the award-winning musical, Dreamgirls. The couple’s recently released, first full-length album, Brighter In The Dark, features assists from a wide range of musicians, including their former band mates Joe Stevens (Coyote Grace) and Joe Chellman (Girlyman), as well as Birds of Chicago, Mai Bloomfield (Jason Mraz), and Josh Yenne (The Easy Leaves). The song “Beehive”…

AS AN HIV-POSITIVE activist and writer, I have written over 100 pieces on how to live with HIV in a modern world. From dating advice to coping skills, I’ve covered seemingly every topic there is to cover, which is why I decided to take a break and let new voices take center stage. Yet even now, after five years of writing almost exclusively about HIV, I am still asked the same general question over and over again. “How do you make it look so easy to live your life with HIV?” I typically respond with a variety of pep talks that I’ve developed about learning to be confident and why it’s so important to have a support system. I talk about telling your friends before trying to date, and making…

I GOT LUCKY. I got lucky in the sense that Seattle is a very proud city, especially when it comes to its LGBT community. There are organizations, doctors and mentors around every corner. When I got tested for HIV for the first time, I was nervous, but I knew I was in good hands. Capitol Hill Medical is an LGBT clinic that strives to help Seattle’s queer people when it comes to their health. As we enter the later half of 2017, it’s important for trans people to band together and educate each other on the importance of HIV testing. Routine tests are vital when it comes to maintaining our health, and having the resources available for trans-specific people makes testing a lot less stressful and scary. It’s about reaching…

Americans like the idea of overnight successes. We think that if we didn’t know about someone (or something) until today it probably didn’t exist. We love our celebrities but few things hold our attention for long. Maybe that’s why Americans keep forgetting about trans people. When Keeping up With the Kardashians premiered, some critics derided the family for being famous for nothing beyond being famous, claiming that celebrities of “the past” gained fame because of what they did, not for who they were. But the truth is, this kind of celebrity isn’t a 21st century invention. It’s been around at least since the 1950s when one of the world’s first celebrities to gain international fame was a trans woman named Christine Jorgensen. While Christine Jorgensen (who died in 1989 at…

Neil Patrick Harris is unlike almost any other top actor working today in that he grew up in front of our eyes and he’s still coming into our homes via the small screen with regularity. Sure, other queer child actors grew up in front of us as well, notably Jodie Foster (mainly in films), Kristy McNichol (as Buddy on Family), and Sheila Kuehl. The latter shot to fame as teenaged Zelda on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis in 1959, and she spent years as a regular on shows like Broadside and Beverly Hillbillies, before turning to politics. A former California state senator and Assembly member, in 2014 Kuehl became the first out LGBT member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. While Kuehl was consistently told she wasn’t…

Whole books, giant tomes even, have been written about the impact of Keith Haring, and the legendary artist’s colorful pop art still garners new fans 26 years after his death. This year’s Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing, by his sister Kay Haring and illustrator Robert Neubecker is aimed at children so it uses “alternative” in place of queer, but it doesn’t shy away from Haring’s death from AIDS complications. Haring was prolific and known for making art accessible by chalk painting sidewalks and subways, hand painting walls next to dumpsters. His work fetches top dollar (in 2014, his untitled black and white dystopian painting sold for $4,869,000 at Sotheby’s New York.) Haring died in 1990, as did gay photographer Tseng Kwong Chi (pictured above) whose series, “Expeditionary,”…