It’s not every day that your new gay crush climbs through your window, confesses their love, and then promptly explodes in a shower of blood “Alien” style, leaving behind a cockroach-like extraterrestrial. But it happens in Gregg Araki’s surrealist sextravaganza “Nowhere.”
To Walk A Mile in Her Shoes You Must First Wear Her Skin
The horror genre has a transphobia problem. I’m an avid horror fan whose apartment requires a warning to enter with all the horror villains plastered to my walls. I am also a transgender person who knows that negative depictions of my community, however unintentionally harmful, do have an impact. To understand these consequences, I will be discussing four horror films that feature transmisogynist tropes and explore how their portrayal causes real harm to the trans community.
What the Devil is That Racket?!
On March 26th, 2021, Lil Nas X dropped “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name),” the lead single for his album “MONTERO” and a passionate declaration of queer love and desire. The single by itself would likely have received a largely positive reaction, as Lil Nas X already had considerable recognition. However, “MONTERO”’s music video featured Lil Nas X as an angel who rides down a pole from Heaven to Hell and gives the Devil a lapdance.
Queers Kill Cats, Too: A Review of “Gummo”
Harmony Korine’s 1997 directorial debut “Gummo” is one of those movies that gets swallowed up by its own images. More than any plot event, people remember “Gummo” for the bathtub spaghetti scene, the Bunny Boy’s hat, and the unique shape of Jacob Reynold’s head as Solomon on the film’s box art. This is strange, though, considering that the film itself aspires to be so much more. Revisiting “Gummo,” it reads as an attempt to address as many social and political issues as possible by slotting them into the film’s Midwestern setting. Over the course of its runtime, “Gummo” explores themes ranging from sexual assault to racism to misogyny to ableism and eventually to homophobia, transphobia, and beyond, all to wildly varying degrees of success.
Dodging a Bullet Straight into a Bat: The Dodgers Pride Night Controversy
Throughout May, the Los Angeles Dodgers have invited, disinvited, and re-invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of queer and trans nuns, to their Pride Night on June 16. Pride Month is only just knocking a jaunty rhythm on our door, but the LGBTQ+ community is already facing exhaustion and backlash for corporations and large organizations attempts at inclusivity.
15 Queer Athletes to Watch in 2023
In light of the negative sentiment toward transgender athletes, I’ve found there isn’t enough coverage of queer and trans athletes that celebrates their accomplishments. In honor of the 2024 Paris Olympics slogan “Games wide open,” I’ve compiled a list of 15 queer athletes who are excelling in their sport, competing in the 2024 Paris games, or both.
Identities Intertwined: A Review of “lead me to the lilies” at Chinese American Culture Night 2023
On May 6, 2023, UCLA’s Association of Chinese Americans hosted its 34th annual Chinese American Culture Night. The three-hour production featured performances by several Chinese cultural clubs and its main show, “lead me to the lilies.” As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month throughout the month of May and anticipate Pride Month in June, “lead me to the lilies” beautifully portrays certain nuances of the queer, second-generation Asian American experience.
The Queen of Lips and the Beauty of Drag
Have you ever heard the term “dinner and a show?” Now imagine drinking from a fishnet and stiletto adorned leg over 12 inches tall, followed by a three course meal, a stack of dollar bills in your hand. This is the experience of Lips Drag Palace.
Pigeonholed: Buddy, Robots Can be Gay, Too
I write this on the eve of the launch of “Lightfall,” “Destiny 2”’s (“D2”’s) newest story expansion, although hopefully by the time this article is published I’ll have spent some hours exploring the cyberpunk city environment of Neomuna. I am the most excited I’ve been for any piece of media in years.
Queer Next Up: Atom Fellows
Atom Fellows (they/them) is a musician/filmmaker and YouTuber whose show, The Anarchy Funhouse, tackles the world’s most intractable issues using music, animation and puppets!
