Pride
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With anti-LGBTQ bills continuing to sweep across the U.S. at a high speed, some of the most prominent drag performers in the world got together on Sunday (May 7) to say that enough is enough.
The Drag Isn’t Dangerous livestream telethon, hosted by Justin Martindale, Alaska 5000, Peppermint and Adam Shankman and created by Producer Entertainment Group, raised more than $500,000 for LGBTQ charities. The event saw performers including RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 winner Jinkx Monsoon, Jake Wesley Rogers, Bob the Drag Queen and more take to the stage in both live and pre-taped performances to help raise money for organizations benefiting the queer community.
Along with performances, the event also featured a number of testimonials from LGBTQ entertainers and noted allies such as Margaret Cho, Adam Lambert, Charlize Theron, Sarah Silverman and Melissa McCarthy, who spoke out against the rampant discrimination being faced by LGBTQ people everywhere. In one of the most blistering statements of the evening, RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage blasted state legislatures aiming to restrict drag performances.
“I wish I could say that I am glad to be here, but I am appalled I have to be at something called Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” she said during the event. “Imagine a world where dancers are told they can’t dance; imagine a world where artists are told they cannot take paint to canvas … because it is ‘bad for children.’ That is what is happening to drag right now.”
All proceeds from the event are being split among a pool of charities, including GLAAD, GLSEN, Headcount, Black Queer Town Hall, The ACLU Drag Defense Fund, Trans Justice Funding Project and the Victory Fund to support and defend drag performers against anti-drag legislation in states such as Tennessee and Florida.
In addition, the telethon featured the debut of the new groove-fueled charity single “Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” performed by Jayelle and Ocean Kelly. Now available on all streaming services, the new single is similarly donating all proceeds to the charities mentioned above.
For those who missed the live telethon, fear not — you can purchase a ticket to watch the full stream here. Additional donations can be made on Drag Isn’t Dangerous’ official GoFundMe page, and more information surrounding the charities and performers involved can be found at the group’s official website.
Dee Snider is speaking out amid the backlash surrounding his support for Paul Stanley‘s factually inaccurate tweets about gender-affirming health care.
“Why did the San Fransisco Gay Pride Parade invite me, Dee Snider, to be a Grand Marshal in their parade and sing ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ on the center stage at what could possibly be the most important LGBTQIA+ gathering in the organization’s long history?” the rocker wrote in a statement posted to Facebook on Friday (May 5). SF Pride revealed earlier this week that the organization was “on the cusp” of announcing the 1984 Twisted Sister hit as the “rallying cry” of this year’s celebration, but have since decided to “part ways” with Snider.
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“I was not aware the Transgender community expects fealty and total agreement with all their beliefs and any variation or deviation is considered ‘transphobic,’” Snider continued in his statement. “So, my lifetime of supporting the Transgender community’s right to identify as they want and honoring whatever changes they may make in how they present themselves to the world isn’t enough? Why not?”
The controversy began on April 30, when Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley shared an unprompted statement about his concern toward the “dangerous fad” of children being given access to gender-affirming care. “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification,” he wrote. While he noted that adults “may decide reassignment is their needed choice,” children shouldn’t be eligible. Stanley has since walked back his comments.
Snider retweeted Stanley’s original statement, writing, “You know what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions!”
The Twisted Sister rocker continued, “Parents need to be less reactionary; Right and Left. No need to steer the child in either direction. Let the kid figure it out for themselves knowing their family is supportive. I had a vet/cop harda– dad who, while he shook his head A LOT…let me do my thing.”
A common misconception is that “gender-affirming care” is limited to gender affirmation surgeries. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the care also includes counseling about coming out as transgender, the use of pronouns that most identify with the individual, speech therapy to help match vocal characteristics and aid with non-surgical gender presentation such as breast binding or padding, genital tucking or hip padding.
Many medical organizations like the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health already do not recommend gender-affirming surgery before the patient is 18 years old, but it is worth noting that claims about “irreversible” procedures are largely false. In an interview with Billboard, Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, explained that surgeries are “typically reserved for adults,” with only particular cases requiring more immediate intervention. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play,” he said.
Additionally, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, all have noted that gender-affirming care is not dangerous for trans youth. In most cases, it’s actually beneficial and at times life saving.
“I’ve recently stated I do not believe young children are ready to decide their gender allocation,” Snider added in his statement. “I believe their choices should be supported and accepted by their parents, but I do not think kids have the mental capabilities to make rational, logical decisions on things of a magnitude that will affect them for the rest of their lives. I do not believe they are mentally developed enough.”
Snider went on to describe himself as a “proud moderate,” noting that the “Transgender community needs moderates who support their choices, even if we don’t agree with every one of their edicts. For some Transgender people (not all) to accuse supporters, like me, of transphobia is not a good look for their cause.”
See his full post here.
He may have sung that he wanted to “rock and roll all night and party every day,” but Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley‘s last few days have been pretty lacking in the “party” department.
After making factually inaccurate comments via Twitter about gender-affirming care for minors earlier this week, Stanley walked back his original statement on Thursday (May 4). “While my thoughts were clear, my words clearly were not,” he wrote.
In his original statement, Stanley forwarded misinformation about gender-affirming care for youths, saying that “irreversible” procedures shouldn’t be performed on children (despite the facts saying that the vast majority of this kind of care is reversible and often medically necessary for trans kids). “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification,” Stanley wrote.
But in his new statement, he focused on those currently undergoing the transition process, expressing his admiration for their bravery in being themselves. “Most importantly and above all else, I support those struggling with their sexual identity while enduring constant hostility and those whose path leads them to reassignment surgery,” he said. “It’s hard to fathom the kind of conviction that one must feel to take those steps.”
Closing his new statement, Stanley opted not to clarify his original statement, insisting that social media may not be the best place for genuine discourse. “A paragraph or two will remain far too short to fully convey my thoughts or point of view, so I will leave that for another time and place,” he wrote.
See Stanley’s latest statement below:
Sure, you can buy yourself flowers. But, if you’d rather buy yourself flower-print pieces from Betsey Johnson’s rhinestone collection, Miley Cyrus‘ Happy Hippie Foundation will receive $1 from each purchase — a new partnership that will benefit LGBTQ youth throughout Mental Health Awareness Month.
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Launching this month, the year-long partnership will focus its May effort on supporting young LGBTQ people in need. Not only will revenue from Johnson’s best-selling floral collection of sparkly shoes and bags go toward funding Happy Hippie, but customers looking to purchase products outside the select assortment will also be invited to donate to the foundation at checkout.
“Miley and I share so much history and I admire her greatly,” said the designer in a statement. “Thank you so much, Miley, for creating Happy Hippie. I can’t wait to collaborate with you on this. Faith, hope, and charity are everything — what you give is what you get. So let’s give back.”
Betsey Johnson x Miley Cryrus
Courtesy of Betsey Johnson
More fruits of Cyrus and Johnson’s partnership will be announced throughout the next year.
The “Flowers” singer has long been linked to Johnson, having worn the Y2K fashion maven’s designs back in 2008 during season three of her breakthrough Disney Channel show Hannah Montana. Cyrus also attended her prom in a Betsey Johnson dress, according to a release.
In 2015, the Grammy nominee founded Happy Hippie to rally donations and essential programs for vulnerable populations, including homeless youth, LGBTQ youth, youth aging out of foster care, people living with HIV/AIDS, and more. The foundation’s partnership with Betsey Johnson will provide support groups to youth and families of youth exploring gender at a time when nearly half of all LGBTQ youth have seriously considered suicide and more than half were unable to access needed mental health care, according to a release.
“I’m so excited that Happy Hippie is partnering with Betsey Johnson, starting this May with Mental Health Awareness Month,” said Cyrus in a statement. “Betsey Johnson shares our belief in rallying youth to fight injustice, and this collaboration couldn’t come at a better time when the needs have increased. Thanks to Betsey Johnson for sharing our mission of inclusion and self-expression, no matter who you are.”
Yung Miami may be in a situationship with Diddy, but that doesn’t mean she can’t acknowledge what a beautiful woman Megan Thee Stallion is.
During a recent appearance on Revolt’s The Jason Lee Show, Miami (aka Caresha) and Lee played a rapid-fire game of “smash or pass” with a series of celebrity photos. When Megan Thee Stallion came up, the “Rap Freaks” rapper wasted no time answering. “I’ma smash all day and tomorrow,” Caresha said. “Megan just gives me like … she really could take me up and throw down.”
Lee immediately followed up by asking if Miami had ever been with a woman before and whether or not she identified as bisexual, and the rapper nodded in confirmation. “Sexually I have been with a woman before,” she said. “I love it … I really do like girls, [but] I won’t be in a relationship with a girl.”
The City Girls star has been open about her adoration for Megan Thee Stallion before — and the feeling might be mutual. In a 2021 tweet, the “Savage” rapper wrote that she “was too shy to tell her in person but @YungMiami305 I want to date.” Miami quickly quoted Megan’s tweet, adding, “I been wanted you too, so what’s up?”
This isn’t the first time Yung Miami has made headlines when talking about sexuality, either — back in 2013, the rapper wrote in a since-deleted tweet that if she ever found out a son of hers was gay, that she would “beat that boy so baddd [sic].” In an interview on The Breakfast Club in 2018, the rapper defended her comments, saying, “I have absolutely nothing against gay people, but I wouldn’t want my son to be gay.”
Check out Yung Miami’s interview with Jason Lee above.
If you’re looking to feel “Beautiful” this Pride season, you don’t need a “Genie in a Bottle” to make it happen — all you have to do is “Come on Over” to NYC Pride’s Pride Island.
On Wednesday (May 3), NYC Pride announced that pop superstar Christina Aguilera will serve as the official headliner for this year’s Pride Island. Taking place on Sunday, June 25, Pride Island will also feature sets from Guy Scheiman, Karina Kay and Mor Avrahmi throughout the event.
“I couldn’t be more excited to headline NYC Pride’s iconic Pride Island,” Aguilera said in a statement of the upcoming show. “I’m always ready to celebrate the strength and resilience of all the individual members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies by dedicating this performance to our combined power when we act and work in solidarity.”
This year’s Pride Island is also coming to a new home. After Kim Petras’ headlining set on Governor’s Island last year, 2023’s Pride Island will take place at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, a modern manufacturing campus in Brooklyn that also hosts cultural events.
Aguilera has a storied track record of support for the LGBTQ community. Earlier this year, GLAAD recognized Xtina as its 2023 advocate for change, honoring the artist as someone who “through [her] work, has changed the game for LGBTQ people around the world.” In accepting the award, the five-time Grammy winner called on everyone listening “to raise our voices if we want to live in a world that is free of discrimination, hate and violence.”
Christina Aguilera will take to the Pride Island main stage on Sunday, June 25, at Brooklyn Army Terminal. Tickets to Pride Island are on sale now.
History has a way of repeating itself, which is exactly what Kim Petras is watching happen with the current anti-trans rhetoric spreading around the globe.
In an exclusive clip from her upcoming Out magazine cover story shared with People, Petras talks about coming out as trans at an early age and why her parents’ support was vital. “I literally was very suicidal as a kid, and I just wouldn’t still be here had my parents not believed me,” the singer said. Recalling her historic win at the 2023 Grammy Awards, she added that she knew she needed to thank “the person who’s responsible for me being alive,” her mother.
Watching the continued wave of transphobic sentiment sweeping across the globe — especially in the U.S., where more anti-LGBTQ legislation has been proposed in 2023 than any other year on record — has been “sad” to watch, Petras said. “I hate that another generation is going through this, and I hate that young kids are going through the same sh– I was going through, and that apparently just isn’t changing.”
Putting a finer point on the issue, Petras said it shouldn’t be anyone else’s business how a person identifies. “I just never understood why people were so obsessed with what people do to be happy,” she said. “Just focus on what you can do to be happy.”
The teaser of Petras’ new profile comes on the heels of “Alone,” the singer’s latest collaboration with rap superstar Nicki Minaj. Following the pair of performers earning a No. 55 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, Kim and Nicki dropped their official music video for “Alone” on Tuesday (May 2).
Check out the preview of Petras’ Out cover story here, and watch her new music video for “Alone” below:
As the “culture wars” around basic human rights for trans people continues, Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley is sharing his thoughts on best-practice medical care for minors.
In a tweet on Sunday (April 30) titled “My Thoughts On What I’m Seeing,” Stanley wrote that he is concerned about children being given access to gender-affirming care. “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification,” he wrote.
He added that adults “may decide reassignment is their needed choice,” but said that children should not be eligible for gender-affirming surgeries and procedures. “Turning this into a game or parents normalizing it as some sort of natural alternative or believing that because a little boy likes to play dress up in his sister’s clothes or a girl in her brother’s, we should lead them steps further down a path that’s far from the innocence of what they are doing,” he wrote.
Both the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health do not recommend gender-affirming surgical intervention before 18 years of age, unless the patient, their doctor and a mental health professional all agree that intervention is necessary.
Closing his statement, Stanley claimed that too many parents were confusing “teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous trend.”
Billboard has reached out to Stanley’s representatives for further comment from the guitarist and other members of Kiss.
The guitarist’s claims are part of an ongoing misinformation campaign regarding gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Multiple states have banned gender-affirming care for minors, claiming that “irreversible” healthcare affecting one’s gender shouldn’t be an option for those under the age of 18 — though some legislatures in Texas, Kansas and elsewhere have begun quietly attempting to raise that minimum age to 26.
While these claims about “irreversible” procedures are common, the facts show that they are largely false. In an interview with Billboard last year, Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, explained that the kind of surgeries many of these right-wing lawmakers and Stanley are concerned about are already “typically reserved for adults,” with only extraordinary cases requiring more immediate intervention. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play,” he said.
Stanley’s statement is also directly refuted by every major medical organization in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, all of whom agree that gender-affirming care is not only not dangerous for trans youth, but in most cases, highly beneficial and life-saving.
Read Stanley’s full statement below:
The songs on Durand Jones’ debut solo album Wait Til I Get Over have been incubating for close to a decade, as the frontman (along with his band The Indications) rose to prominence while embracing jazz, soul and disco sounds from decades past. Jones even pitched tracks to the group from the solo debut – out May 5 on Dead Oceans – like the swinging “See It Through,” which he envisioned as a Christmas track.
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“The Christmas song wasn’t vibing at all. That was a straight-up chop,” Jones laughs. “I wanted to keep it in my back pocket. I didn’t consider that song to be a failure.”
Instead of forcing the track to be a holiday tune, Jones harvested it as one of 10 tracks on his highly personal new album. Tied together by Jones’ stirring vocals, the genre-eclectic album sprouted from penultimate track “Letter to My 17 Year Old Self” — a jazz trip that contemplates “this thing called life.” At 17, Jones was playing in a punk rock band, singing gospel in church on Sundays and performing classic and jazz pieces in the school marching band, all while growing up in a rural Southern town founded with reparations paid out to eight former slaves. “I wanted it to envelop all of those things and show that everything I learned musically and everything that I experienced after leaving [hometown] Hillaryville lead me to this record,” he tells Billboard.
Hillaryville, La., was something out of a historical fiction novel — a town built by and for the Black community, where folks like Jones’ grandmother didn’t have to enter back doors or sit in separate sections of restaurants. As his grandmother tells the history, the first thing the founders did was build a school — since reading had been illegal for Black people — followed by churches, restaurants, a general store and hotels, to create a self-sustaining community that didn’t discriminate based on a person’s skin color.
“Here’s an example of America getting it right for eight men, and here’s what they did with that,” says Jones. “I realized when I moved away just how special my upbringing was and how unique it was.”
He captures the generational struggle of his grandmother’s generation attempting to instill those original values in their children, and the need for those children to leave home, in the foot-stomping “Have Mercy on Me.” The song is launched by a poetic interlude quoting Jones’ grandmother, who called Hillaryville “the place you’d most want to live,” before it ascends into a swampy groove that helps capture the tale of an idyllic town lost to time and gentrification.
Wait Til I Get Over is rich in burdens Jones has had to overcome in life, from underappreciating his hometown to the guilt of infidelity on the gospel-inspired “Sadie,” and the “taboo” love he felt for another man on “That Feeling.” “That Feeling” is a contemplative track (practically a whisper compared to Jones’ muscular vocals on other songs) that brings tenderness to the frustration, sadness and nostalgia felt after the end of an inmate relationship, and marks the first time Jones has openly expressed his sexuality. “I was worried about fans receiving it in a very negative way, but it’s been absolutely opposite,” says Jones of coming out. “I told myself this year would be a year of transparency for me. I don’t want to hide myself.”
For the album’s titular track, Jones set up a microphone in his bedroom and did his best to emulate the voices he heard in church to deliver the thesis of his first solo collection: “Wait Til I Get Over.” It’s a phrase he uses to illustrate crossing a river — like the Mississippi, which he grew up near and considers a huge influence in his art. For him, each song tackles a burden or an issue he feels the need to address.
“I wanted to think of this record as a trial of sorts… and as each song is done, the burden’s washed down; it is leaving my body,” he says. “Hopefully, by the end of the record, I can make it to the other side and I reach this state of elevation or mystic transformation.”
While musicians including Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and John Rich have been lashing out at Bud Light over their fury that the beer giant sent some one-off commemorative cans to Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender actor/activist has kept quiet about the tempest stoked by the right-wing media.
But on Thursday (April 27), Mulvaney broke her silence in a three-and-a-half minute TikTok video in which she said she had been content to “take the back seat and let them tucker themselves out,” in reference to the backlash against the March Madness promotional stunt that so angered rapper-turned-country-singer Rock that he attempted to obliterate cases of Bud Light with a semi-automatic rifle.
“I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever,” said Mulvaney, 26, in the video to her 13 million followers. Describing growing up in a conservative family and in the church, Mulvaney said she still has her faith, but it’s been a struggle to hold on to it in the midst of attacks that reminded her of similar criticism she faced as a child for being “too feminine.”
“Now I’m being called all those same things, but this time it’s from other adults,” she said. “And if they’re going to accuse me of anything, it should be that I’m a theater person and that I’m camp. But this is just my personality and it always has been.”
The right’s Bud Light malt-down came after Mulvaney shared a video of herself on April 1 participating in Bud Light’s Easy Carry Contest for the end of the NCAAs March Madness, revealing that the company helped her celebrate her “365th day of womanhood” with “possibly the best gift ever” — a commemorative can of Bud Light with Mulvaney’s face emblazoned on the side; the cans, which are not commercially available, so angered Rock and country singers Tritt and Rich, among others, that they vowed to boycott the world’s biggest beer maker as a result.
“I’m embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me, since it is so loud,” she said. “But I’m just going to go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise… and to those of you who support me and choose to see my humanity even if you don’t fully understand or relate to me: Thank you.”
Even as Rock and Rich’s Nashville bar/restaurants have made a show of removing Anheuser-Busch products from their shelves, other artists, including Jason Isbell and Zach Bryan, defended the brand against the online backlash, pointing out the importance of diversity. SiriusXM talker Howard Stern weighed in on the issue, as well, saying he was “dumbfounded by why someone would care so much” about a trans person acting as a spokesperson for the beer brand.
See Mulvaney’s video below.