Set in Santiago’s vibrant Ñuñoa district, Phantom Project is a breezy, whimsical confection about an aspiring thirtysomething actor named Pablo (a magnetic Juan Cano). Tired of taking gigs role-playing ailments at the local medical school, Pablo longs for his big artistic break. When his roommate moves out without warning, a curious, mischievous presence appears to take up residence in Pablo’s flat, complicating his attempts to fill the empty bedroom.
Through bittersweet hang-outs with his semi-famous YouTuber ex, afternoon cocktails with the girls, and herbal cleansing sessions with the local botanical healer, Phantom Project paints a lively tapestry of young LGBTQ+ culture in Chile. Witnessing relationships—new and old, human or otherwise—deepen just as others drift away, Pablo inches closer toward a harmonious balance that his life seems to have lacked in the past. With warm humor and an inventive spirit, writer-director Roberto Doveris (Las plantas) captures a critical juncture in life of a sensitive millennial, that moment of dizzying rebirth after the dust from one’s Saturn return has settled.
Tickets
The film screens at the Castro Theatre JUNE 17, 2022 3:30 PM — 5:11 PM
Streams online JUNE 24, 2022 12:01 AM — JUNE 30, 2022 11:59 PM
Support for same-sex marriage has reached an all-time high in the US, according to new polling.
Seventy-one per cent of Americans said they support same-sex marriage in Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, released Wednesday (1 June).
This is one percentage point more than last year, and the highest level of support since Gallup began asking Americans about marriage equality in 1996. That year, just 27 per cent of Americans supported same-sex unions.
According to Gallup, the statistic reflects a “steady increase [of support]among most subgroups of the population, even those who have traditionally been the most resistant to gay marriage.”
Support for same-sex marriage reached a majority among adults aged 65 or older in 2016, protestants in 2017, and Republicans in 2021.
Weekly churchgoers remain the main outlier, with 58 per cent opposing same-sex marriage.
In contrast, as of 2004, Americans that almost never attend church are the predominant supporter of same-sex marriage.
As of 2022, 82 per cent of those who seldom/never attend church support gay marriage, while 70 per cent of monthly attendees are in support.
Overall, since 2011, the majority of Americans have backed same-sex marriage. It hit 60 per cent in 2015, just one month before the historic Obergefell V. Hodges decision by the Supreme Court that guaranteed the right to same-sex marriages.
“As Gallup’s trend on support for legal same-sex marriage inches ever upward, the question is when it will reach its ceiling,” the report said.
“Some observers of the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion related to Roe V Wade in May have questioned whether an overturning of Roe would clear a path for the conservative-leaning court to also overturn Obergefell.”
“If this were to happen, the court would be moving in opposition to a public opinion trend that has shown increasing support,” it continued.
The poll is based on telephone interviews conducted every year to a random sample of 1,007 American adults, living in all 50 US states, as well as the District of Columbia. There is a 95 per cent confidence level in the report, with sampling errors at around ±4 percentage points.
The Taliban is using monkeypox as an “excuse” to harass and detain LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan.
Two gay men who live in Kabul told PinkNews that the Taliban’s persecution of LGBTQ+ people has been ramping up ever since monkeypox started being detected in Europe.
While not sexually transmitted, public health officials believe monkeypox is being transmitted in these networks through close contact during sex – though experts have also suggested the statistics may be skewed towards queen men because they are more conscious of their sexual health.
Right now, Afghanistan has not officially recorded any cases of monkeypox – but that hasn’t stopped the Taliban from using the spread of the virus to crack down on and attack the LGBTQ+ community.
Monkeypox has emboldened the Taliban to ‘harass’ LGBTQ+ Afghans
Maalek*, a gay man living in Kabul, told PinkNews that the Taliban’s persecution of LGBTQ+ people has only worsened since the monkeypox outbreaks began.
“The Taliban have no scientific knowledge about the disease,” Maalek says. “The Ministry of Health has stated that no cases of the disease have been registered, yet they are still looking for excuses to harass the Afghan gay community.”
He continues: “Wherever they see handsome men wearing no local clothes, they check their cell phones and, if they find the slightest evidence that they are gay, they arrest them and take them away.
“When they detain homosexuals, [they tell the public it’s to] prevent the spread of monkeypox.”
According to Maalek, trans people are just as much at risk. If the Taliban finds a nude photo on a person’s phone, they will beat and detain them.
Being detained by the Taliban is a terrifying prospect for Maalek. He knows a gay man who was arrested and raped by six Taliban members.
“He now suffers from a mental illness and has fled Kabul,” Maalek says. “The Taliban do not like anyone to wear fashionable clothes. They threaten all homosexuals with death after being detained. They say they should wear local clothes, should not shave their beards and act as they wish.”
Trans people cannot even come out of their house.
Like most LGBTQ+ Afghans, Maalek has been forced to change his behaviour and the way he presents himself to the world in a bid to stay safe from the Taliban.
“We no longer go to beauty salons to cut our beards, we can not even cut our hair in a modern way. We can not wear stylish and acceptable clothes. Trans people cannot even come out of their house because they are arrested immediately.
“Personally, I go out in local clothes now. I do not bring my smartphone with me when I leave home. I try not to leave home without doing my homework. Their checkpoints are very dangerous.”
LGBTQ+ Afghans are ‘scared and miserable’
Maalek’s claim that the Taliban is cracking down on LGBTQ+ people ever since monkeypox started spreading in the community was backed up by another gay man who lives in Kabul.
Timur* thinks the Taliban is using the spread of the virus in other countries as another reason to “torture” LGBTQ+ people.
“I’m afraid in Afghanistan. I’m afraid of being arrested by the Taliban,” Timur says. “I’m not leaving home. I’m scared and miserable.
“I’m asking the big governments of London and other countries to help me and all LGBTQ+ people leave Afghanistan.”
Nemat Sadat – a gay Afghan author and activist who lives in the US – has also received reports that gay men are being “singled out” by the Taliban because of monkeypox.
“The Taliban are rounding up gay people on the grounds that homosexuals carry monkeypox,” Sadat tweeted.
“They are singling out pretty men and checking their phones. This operation is happening in the Lycée Mariam, Khairkhana neighbourhood and all the districts of Kabul.”
LGBTQ+ Afghans have been facing heightened persecution since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Reports suggest that queer people have been killed, raped, beaten and arrested for arbitrary reasons ever since the takeover.
Ever since monkeypox was detected in the UK and other European countries in May, concerns have been raised about anti-LGBTQ+ stigma.
Health experts have said the virus appears to be predominantly circulating among gay and bisexual men, however, they are clear that it is not a “gay disease”.
It is believed that monkeypox is spread through close contact with an infected person’s skin, meaning that anybody is susceptible. Because of the way it is transmitted, it’s thought that monkeypox is working its way through sexual networks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) initially said the unusual spread of the virus posed a “low risk to the general public”, but that was upgraded to “moderate” at the end of May.
Officials said the risk could be upgraded to “high” if the virus spreads to those who are medically vulnerable, such as children and immunosuppressed people.
In a truly electrifying performance, Leonardo Sbaraglia bares his heart, soul, and everything else as Santiago, a gay single father on the verge of a midlife meltdown, in actor-turned-director Leonardo Brzezicki’s moving sophomore feature. With his teenage daughter Laila (Miranda de la Serna) about to leave home for the first time, Santiago must confront his self-destructive behaviors and his deep-rooted fear of being alone over the course of a fateful summer split between Argentina and Brazil.
With a career spanning five decades now, Sbaraglia is no stranger to challenging, demanding roles, from one-half of a gay bank-robbing duo in Burnt Money to Antonio Banderas’ former muse in Almodóvar’s Pain & Glory. But as Santiago, Sbaraglia delivers his finest performance to date, unearthing a magnetic mixture of vulnerability, swagger, and depth. Wandering Heart showcases both a director on the rise and a veteran actor at the height of his talents coming together for a film that lingers long after the credits have rolled.
This film screens at the Castro Theatre JUNE 17, 2022 9:15 PM — 11:11 PM
Streams online JUNE 24, 2022 12:01 AM — JUNE 30, 2022 11:59 PM
Join us for Pride Night at Don Giovanni, Mozart’s dark take on Don Juan. After the performance, enjoy special activities hosted by the inimitable Donna Sachet: Lip Sync for Your Life: Aria Edition, Photos on the Rainbow Carpet, Best Pride Look Competition, and more!
Bring your own snacks and seating to this all-ages, family-friendly Pride month gathering, and connect with your Petaluma LGBTQIA+ community and allies. Activities will include a drum circle (bring your own instrument if you have one!), bubbles for kids, and art. Contact [email protected] with any questions, and we’re excited to see you there!
Traiga sus propios bocadillos y asientos a esta reunión familiar del mes del Orgullo para todas las edades y conéctese con su comunidad y aliadxs LGBTQIA + de Petaluma. Las actividades incluirán un círculo de tambores (traiga su propio instrumento si lo tiene!), burbujas para niñxs y arte. Póngase en contacto con [email protected] si tiene alguna pregunta, ¡estamos encantadxs de verle allí!
Late Wednesday night, Ohio Republicans passed a bill requiring certain high school and college athletes competing in women’s sports to have their genitals inspected to ensure that they are not transgender.
H.B. 61, known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” was intended to prevent transgender women and girls from participating in school athletics.
Under the Ohio High School Athletics Association’s (OHSAA) current guidelines, transgender women and girls must have completed a minimum of one year of hormone treatment and/or demonstrate that they do not possess physical or physiological advantages over “genetic females of the same age group.”
The new law would prohibit trans women and girls from competing with cisgender women and girls. What’s more, anyone would be able to accuse an athlete of being transgender, thus forcing her to undergo evaluations of her external and internal genitalia, testosterone levels and genetic makeup.
“This is truly bizarre medically and nonsensical, but looking at it practically, this bill means that if anyone decides to question a child’s true gender, that child must undergo a sensitive exam,” argues Democratic state Rep. Dr. Beth Liston.
Supporters of the new rules argue that trans women and girls possess unfair biological advantages over cisgender women and girls. Both Equality Ohio and OHSAA confirm that in the seven years since the current rules have been place, there has never been more than on transgender girl participating in girls’ high school sports in any given year.
What’s more, the new rules could have unintended consequences for cisgender girls “accused” of being trans as well. In addition to the invasive genital examinations, Bruno points out that, “Women will sometimes have more testosterone completely naturally than folks would prefer a transgender athlete to have. So they actually are functioning at a lower threshold for what they are allowed to have hormonally to compete.”
Though the bill was not on the state House legislators’ schedule, its language was included in an unrelated bill, H.B. 151, which would revise Ohio’s Teacher Residency Program. House Democrats and even some Republicans had not seen the bill at the time of the vote, according to local ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland.
“Having this third bill now slipped into an unrelated bill at the last moment is just such an additional slap in the face to our entire community,” said Equality Ohio’s legislative policy director Maria Bruno. “I know that there are a lot of folks in the LGBTQ community who are sitting there asking themselves, ‘What did I do to them? because they keep coming after me’ and I can’t blame them for having that perspective. But the answer is nothing, just existing.”
Jerusalem Pride defied death threats and counterprotests to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights loudly and proudly.
Around 7,000 people attended the Jerusalem Pride march on Thursday (2 June), with 2022 marking the event’s 20th anniversary.
Knesset speaker Mickey Levy addressed the crowds, saying he was “shocked to the depths of my soul” by the threats.
“So I came today to stand against this evil specter,” he said, per The Times of Israel.
“You are entitled to love who you want, you are entitled to marry who you love, you are entitled to raise a family like anyone else. These are not privileges, these are basic rights for every citizen in the country.”
Israeli police arrested 10 people over suspicions that they were planning to harm marchers, according to The Times of Israel.
Police confirmed that they were monitoring a total of 180 people who could pose a threat to the event, to which 2,400 police officers were deployed following its history of anti-LGBTQ+ attacks.
Prior to the 2022 march, a vicious message was sent to an event organiser, Jerusalem Open House community director Emuna Klein Barnoy, saying: “We will not allow the Pride Parade to take place in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the Holy City. Shira Banki’s fate awaits you.”
In 2015, 16-year-old Shira Banki was stabbed to death while several others were wounded by an ‘ultra-Orthodox’ Jewish man, Yishai Shlissel, who ambushed the parade.
The threats were sent on Facebook and Twitter from an account called ‘The brothers of Yishai Schlissel’. The same message was also sent to pro-LGBTQ+ politicians Gilad Kariv, Naama Lazimi and Eitan Ginzburg.
Police have confirmed the arrest of a 21-year-old man named Yehuda Gedalia who is thought to have sent the messages.
Despite the threats of violence, attendees were still seen dancing and displaying LGBTQ+ flags in the streets of Jerusalem.
Alon Shachar, event organiser and CEO of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, said: “In the 20 years we have been marching in Jerusalem, we have experienced violence, and even in 2022 there are those who are trying to push us out of the city.”
“We have nothing to be ashamed of. And Jerusalem – you have nothing to be ashamed of. Those who should be ashamed are all those who produce and allow such expressions of violence”.
With a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, writer-director-star Fábio Leal navigates the sometimes steamy, other times awkward tribulations of sexual connection amid a global pandemic. For his narrative feature debut, Leal returns to the neurotic comedy and uninhibited sex that made his shorts Renovation(Frameline43) and The Daytime Doorman so memorable and unique.
When his boyfriend announces he’s no longer bisexual and dumps him via Zoom at the height of lockdown, lonesome bear Francisco (Leal) is left with a lot to grapple with—including being nicknamed “the COVID police” by his friends after routinely canceling them on social media for not following health guidelines. But Francisco’s desperate forays into meditation, Jane Fonda’s workout tapes, indoor plants, and trashy movies from his youth don’t change the fact that he’s horny and desperately wants to have sex… but only if he finds someone as militant with all the safety protocol for COVID-19 as he is. But even then, can Francisco lower his guard (if not his mask) long enough to make a connection?
This film screens JUNE 16, 2022 9:30 PM — 10:49 PM at the Castro Theatre
Streams Online JUNE 24, 2022 12:01 AM — JUNE 30, 2022 11:59 PM
Franz is struggling to comprehend how it’s been 100 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, kicking off a war that has dragged on for months.
“You know, I didn’t even realise it’s been 100 days already,” Franz, who is just 18 years old, tells PinkNews. “It doesn’t feel quite right that it’s already summer. Some part of me still expects to see snow outside the window each morning, as if it was all just February that never ended.”
Right now, Franz is in Slovakia, where he’s studying at university. He spends his days wondering where time is going – why the days seem to be slipping away from him.
“It’s like there was no spring at all,” he says. “Springs should be camera roll full of flowers, evening walks and studying frenzy. The start of summer should have been Pride marches and making plans and treasured time with friends and family in that short period of the year when everyone can finally catch a break.”
But there has been no break for the Ukrainian people. The war has raged on, with Putin refusing to relent, even in the face of fierce opposition from Ukraine.
In the 100 days since Russia invaded, an estimated 14 million Ukrainian people have fled their homes. That’s why PinkNewslaunched the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign, which is raising funds for charities working with queer people fleeing the war.
That’s why it’s so vital the world doesn’t let its focus slide away from Ukraine, Franz says. His people need Europe to continue advocating for them.
“No matter how tired you are or how much you’ve already done, every day is new weapons needed, and more medicine lacking, and more homes ruined, and more people displaced,” he says.
“The weight of it is enormous for any country. Our will to defend ourselves doesn’t depend on international support, but our ability does. The price of indifference is measured in lives, and I don’t mean only politicians: even inside of Europe there are important and powerful people eager to pay that price on our behalf. If their electorate grows tired of Ukraine, the help that decides whether we survive or not will stop very quickly. Caring matters.”
Pride Month has a particular significance as the war rages on
It’s also fitting for Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ community that they’re marking 100 days of war during Pride Month. This year, the occasion has a particular significance for Franz, who is watching from afar as his queer siblings fight for freedom back home.
“LGBTQ+ soldiers and volunteers have to be twice as fearless, resourceful and strong in the face of the invasion, because there’s doubly no future for us under the Russian Empire.”
He continues: “I wish I got a cent every time someone proclaimed queer Ukrainians either don’t exist, aren’t in the army or tried to patronisingly explain what’s good for us – that would make a hefty and regular donation to the armed forces of Ukraine.
“Despite the judgement of people whose expertises consists of a skimmed Wikipedia article, I know firsthand how intimately Ukraine’s future and queer liberation are connected.”
As Pride Month gets underway, Franz is pleading with the world to show solidarity and to keep donating funds to help the Ukrainian people survive an impossibly difficult time.
“Solidarity now is the direct action to achieve the goal which, in the end, we all share: to be ourselves and to be free.”
That’s echoed by Andriy Maymulakhin, the coordinator of the LGBT Human Rights ‘Nash Svit’ Center in Kyiv. Like all Ukrainians, he too has endured hardship – he hasn’t seen his boyfriend since January, when he travelled to Lviv to help relatives on a building job.
Since then, his boyfriend has joined Ukraine’s national guard – he’s currently serving as a chef in a military division in western Ukraine.
Andriy is based around 60 kilometres from Kyiv – so far, he’s been lucky. He’s managed to avoid the bulk of the violence, but he’s bee able to hear bombs in the distance, serving as a frightening reminder that the war is never too far away.
“It very much differs depending on where you are. If you’re in eastern Ukraine, then it is a terrible situation. If you’re in other parts of Ukraine, in big cities, they also could be attacked by Russian missiles, so everywhere could be dangerous.”
In the background, Andriy and his colleagues have been trying to continue the work they’re doing to support Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ community.
“Our priority is providing legal help, so we’ve tried to restart all this work. We collect information about specific problems which LGBTQ+ people have faced during this wartime.”
Andriy’s centre has also recently published the results of a survey which showed that there has been enormous change in the way Ukrainian people view the LGBTQ+ community in the last five years. The survey was conducted by an external sociological organisation.
Strikingly, the survey shows a stark drop in the number of people who feel “negatively” about the LGBTQ+ community. Andriy was “surprised” by the results – he wonders if part of that shift could be attributed to the war.
“The so-called ‘Russian world’ is explicitly homophobic,” he says. “In this situation, it could be because people are against the Russian invasion.”
He wants to make sure the world doesn’t forget about Ukraine 100 days into the war.
“It’s a moral responsibility of the western world, Europe and the United States, Canada and Australia, to support Ukraine in this fight,” Andriy says. “If possible, give us weapons to protect our land. Support our refugees – millions have left Ukraine.”
Andriy felt more optimistic about the outcome of the war back in February when Russia first invaded. As time goes by, he’s becoming increasingly afraid for the future.
“I don’t think the Russians want to stop – they want to continue this ugly war. That’s why we need the world to support Ukraine in these difficult times.”