Nightlife patrons at the Abbey Food and Bar in West Hollywood had a gun scare after West Hollywood Sheriffs stormed the popular bar in search of an alleged armed man inside.
Deputies from the West Hollywood Station launched an investigation after a security guard called alleging a man had a gun. Deputies evacuated The Abbey and swarmed the club but did not find him. Authorities said surveillance video captured images of the suspect in the bar with the weapon.
“We do have our EPT team, which is our entertainment policing team — they’re always doing patrol checks at all the businesses on Sunset and Santa Monica, so that’s why we got here within seconds,” LASD spokesperson Sgt. Joana Warren told KABC 7 Eyewitness News.
Media footage of the incident shows multiple units and a swarm of deputies in protective gear surround the bar and they cleared the location on Robertson Boulevard.
A number of other businesses in the area were informed about the incident when it happened and they were given a description of the man.
The scare is very close to the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, in Colorado Springs, Colorado in which at least five people have been killed and dozens more were injured in the incident which occurred on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a terror threat bulletin November 30, warning that domestic extremists have posted online praise for the fatal shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado earlier this month. and have called for copycat attacks.
In its bulletin, DHS officials noted that several recent attacks, plots, and threats of violence demonstrate the continued dynamic and complex nature of the threat environment in the United States:
“Some domestic violent extremists who have conducted attacks have cited previous attacks and attackers as inspiration. Following the late November shooting at an LGBTQI+ bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado—which remains under investigation—we have observed actors on forums known to post racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist content praising the alleged attacker. Similarly, some domestic violent extremists in the United States praised an October 2022 shooting at a LGBTQI+ bar in Slovakia and encouraged additional violence. The attacker in Slovakia posted a manifesto online espousing white supremacist beliefs and his admiration for prior attackers, including some within the United States,” DHS warned.
The City of West Hollywood is working with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Block by Block Security Ambassadors program to expand patrols in the City’s Rainbow District.
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The House passed legislation Thursday that enshrines federal protections for marriages of same-sex and interracial couples.
The vote of 258-169 sends the Respect for Marriage Act to President Joe Biden, who praised Congress for passing the bill and is expected to sign it into law. It comes after the Senate passed the same bill last week by a vote of 61-36.
Democrats were unified in favor of the bill, while most Republicans in both chambers voted against it. Thirty-nine House Republicans supported the legislation Thursday and one voted present.
“Your love is your choice,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on the floor Thursday, saying there is “no reason” to believe that Republican appointees on the Supreme Court won’t want to revisit precedents on LGBTQ rights after overturning Roe v. Wade. “The pursuit of happiness means you can love whom you choose.”
“I am shocked that conservatives that have a libertarian bent believe that somehow we ought to get involved in this,” he said. “It’s not the government’s business.”
Rebekah Monson, left, and Andrea Vigil, participate in a wedding ceremony at the marriage license bureau in Miami, on Jan. 6, 2015.Wilfredo Lee / AP file
The legislation — led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the first openly gay person elected to the Senate — would assure that the federal government recognizes marriages that were validly performed and guarantee full benefits “regardless of the couple’s sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.” It would not, however, require states to issue marriage licenses contrary to state law.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was present to gavel down the vote and announce the bill’s passage. Loud applause broke out on the Democratic side of the chamber, while a few Republicans joined in clapping.
The bill was amended in response to Senate GOP demands. It clarified that religious organizations won’t be required to perform same-sex marriages and that government will not be forced to protect polygamous marriages.
Former Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the first openly gay member of Congress, attended the vote in the Capitol.
“It’s a sign of enormous political change in America,” he told NBC News. “And it’s meaningful for people. It’s real. It’s not a symbolic gesture. I know a lot of married gay and lesbian people who have been worried ever since Clarence Thomas said what he said. So this is reassurance to them as well.”
Passage of the legislation comes amid fears that the conservative Supreme Court majority might revisit the right to same-sex marriage after it rescinded the right to an abortion. It reflects the rapidly growing U.S. public support for legal same-sex marriage, which hit a new high of 71% in June, according to Gallup tracking polls — up from 27% in 1996.
“After the uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Congress has restored a measure of security to millions of marriages and families,” Biden said in a statement. “They have also provided hope and dignity to millions of young people across this country who can grow up knowing that their government will recognize and respect the families they build.”
The president also thanked members of both parties who championed the bill, saying, “We showed that it’s possible for Democrats and Republicans to come together to safeguard our most fundamental rights.”
In the Senate, 12 Republicans voted with unanimous Democrats to pass the bill, which sent it back to the House. The GOP proponents made up an eclectic group, including retiring Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Richard Burr of North Carolina; centrist deal-makers like Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina; a leadership member in Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa; and conservative Sens. Todd Young of Indiana, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
Frank, who attended a bill signing ceremony with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday reflected in an interview on the bill’s passage, 26 years after the Defense of Marriage Act banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
“I was here for the birth of DOMA. And this is one case when the funeral is a much happier occasion,” he said.
Join the Sonoma County Library for in-person and virtual eventsthroughout the month of December, from crafting classes to Zero Waste workshops. All events are free and you don’t need a library card to attend; registration is required for select events. See some of our December events below!
Kids & Families Join us for December’s Seeds & Reads program and create a wildflower seed bomb! For grades K-6. Available at six library locations: Healdsburg, Northwest Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert-Park Cotati, Sebastopol, and Windsor.Light up the holidays with our Maker Studio: Light Up Cards! Learn how to make a greeting card using LEDs, wires, and coin-cell batteries. Tinker with us at four library locations: Central Santa Rosa, Cloverdale, Rincon Valley, and Sonoma Valley. Advance registration required; supplies are limited. Teens Make your own mini watercolor palette and tiny sketchbook with Amanda Ayala’s Bookbinding & Watercolors Workshops! For teens in grades 7-12. Join Amanda at three library locations: Cloverdale, Northwest Santa Rosa, and Sebastopol. Advance registration required; supplies are limited. Celebrate the season at our annual Gingerbread House Workshops for Teens! Decorate a gingerbread house at five library locations: Cloverdale, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Rincon Valley, and Windsor. Advance registration required; supplies are limited. All Ages Join us for Zero Waste Workshops that will show you how to reduce waste during the holidays, from décor to gift-wrapping. Learn how to celebrate the holidays waste-free at two library locations: Sebastopol and Rohnert Park-Cotati.Join us at the Roseland Library on Sunday, December 18, at 2:00 pm for a show from the Sonoma Vietnamese Association Lion Dance Team! The team will welcome the Lunar New Year with lion dancing, a Vietnamese art form that combines martial arts with folk dancing.AdultsLove to create? Join our community of crafters! Our Crafting Classes for Adultsoffer everything from calligraphy to knitting. Enjoy a class at six library locations: Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Northwest Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Windsor.
Virtual EventsAdvance registration required for all virtual events in order to receive a Zoom link.Join us for a virtual author talk with art historian Celia Stahr and the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library on Thursday, December 8, at 6:00 pm. Stahr will discuss Frida Kahlo’s creative and personal journey while living in the United States, with a particular focus on Kahlo’s time in San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Learn about the Silk Road and globalization in the ancient world with the Asian Art Museum on Saturday, December 10, at 11:00 am! Come discover the complexity of the exchanges and variety of cultures transformed as a result of goods, knowledge, and techniques transmitted between East and West.Looking for more?
Thank you for being a member of the Sonoma County Library community. Visit us online or in person at one of our branches. Be sure to check out open jobs at Sonoma County Library here.
Eventos de diciembre Únase a la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma para eventos presenciales y virtuales durante el mes de diciembre, desde los talleres de No Desperdicio hasta talleres de manualidades. Todos los eventos son gratuitos y no se requiere una tarjeta de la biblioteca para asistir. Para eventos selectos es necesario que se registre. ¡Vea algunos de los eventos de diciembre a continuación!
Niños y familias ¡Únanse a los programas de Semillas y Libros en diciembre para crear una bomba de semillas de flores silvestres! Taller disponible en Healdsburg, Northwest Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert-Park Cotati, Sebastopol y Windsor. Grados de Kinder a 6º. ¡Enciendan las fiestas con las Tarjetas iluminadas del estudio creativo! Aprenderán a hacer tarjetas usando LED, alambres, y baterías pequeñas. Vamos a crear juntos en cuatro bibliotecas: Central Santa Rosa, Cloverdale, Rincon Valley y Sonoma Valley. Es necesario registrarse; materiales limitados. Adolescentes¡ Hagan sus propias minipaletas de acuarelas y cuadernos diminutos con el Taller de encuadernación y acuarelasde Amanda Ayala! Para adolescentes de los grados 7 a 12. Únanse a Amanda en tres bibliotecas: Cloverdale, Northwest Santa Rosa, y Sebastopol.
Es necesario registrarse; materiales limitados. ¡Celebren la temporada con los Talleres anuales de Casitas de Jengibre para adolescentes! Vengan a decorar una casita en seis bibliotecas: Cloverdale, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Rincon Valley, Sonoma Valley y Windsor. Es necesario registrarse; materiales limitados.
A trans woman in Qatar has described how she was forced to cut her hair and had her breast tissue “removed” after being arrested for who she is.
LGBTQ+ rights, or lack thereof, in Qatar have been in the spotlight since the country was announced as host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
While there has been global outrage over Qatar’s criminalisation of gay sex, punishable with jail time or the death penalty, little has been said about the fate of trans Qataris.
In Qatar, trans people can be arrested without charge for “violating public decency”, simply for being trans.
Speaking to the BBC under a pseudonym and through an encrypted messaging service, one trans woman named as “Shahd” said she wanted to speak out about the persecution of trans people in Qatar, telling the publication: “I am very afraid, but I just want people to know that we do exist.”
Shahd said she had been arrested for “impersonating a woman”, and was forced to cut her hair.
Because she had been taking oestrogen, procured from abroad, authorities demanded that she “remove her breast tissue”, leaving her with wounds across her chest.
Shahd said she has been “arrested and interrogated several times because of my identity”, and is constantly in fear of being detained again.
She added: “I lost my job and my friends… I lost everything.”
A recent report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), showed how Qatar has arrested, abused and harassed LGBTQ+ people as recently as September 2022. HRW documented beatings and sexual assault by police, and heard from trans women who said they were ordered to attend conversion therapy by officials.
Shahd confirmed this to be true, that LGBTQ+ people who are arrested are referred to doctors for “therapy” sessions.
But a government official said that Qatar “categorically rejected” these claims, and told the BBC that at the World Cup, people “from all walks of life come together in Qatar to build bridges of friendship and break down barriers of misunderstanding”.
Despite the country’s horrific human rights record, last month FIFA officials urged players to “focus on the football” rather than “handing out moral lessons” during the World Cup.
A letter from FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura, sent to all nations competing in the World Cup, reportedly said: “Please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists.
“At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world… No one people or culture or nation is ‘better’ than any other.
“Please let’s all remember that and let football take centre stage.”
Islamic extremist Taliban officials in Afghanistan publicly whipped 12 people in a public soccer stadium, including individuals accused of gay sex.
The whipping occurred as thousands watched in the eastern Logar province, BBC reported. The punished individuals were allegedly guilty of “moral crimes” including adultery, robbery, and gay sex, a Taliban official told the publication.
Each person received between 21 and 39 lashes; 39 is the maximum number that Taliban authorities reportedly inflict upon convicts. Some of the individuals were jailed afterward. The incident was similar to a public flogging of 19 people that took place in the northern Afghan province of Takhar.
The public flogging in Logar occurred a week after Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada promised to fully enforce Sharia law, an extremist interpretation of Islamic principles, across the country. This includes amputating the limbs of thieves, as well as public executions, floggings, and stonings, The Guardian reported. These punishments are used for such crimes as drinking alcohol, theft, kidnapping, highway robbery, abandoning religious beliefs, and rebellion.
Sharia law forbids same-sex sexual activity and can punish it with the death penalty, including execution by stoning or being crushed by a wall. Taliban members can immediately shoot people dead if they find any evidence of queerness on a person’s phone, computer, or elsewhere. They can also hunt down, detain, and torture any queer friends a person is connected to.
The HRW report found that LGBTQ Afghans are facing increased threats, violent attacks, and sexual assaults from Taliban members and close friends, family members, and partners who either support the Taliban or fear retaliation if they don’t betray their LGBTQ associates.
In June, during the worldwide outbreak of mpox (the skin infection previously known as monkeypox), Taliban officials patrolled known gay urban areas to harass, inspect, and detain gay men under the guise of preventing an outbreak.
In October, the Taliban murdered Hamed Sabouri, a gay 22-year-old medical student, and sent a video of his death to his family. Sabouri was tortured for three days before being shot in the back of the head. His partner had previously been raped, beaten, and tortured with electric shocks. Sabouri’s family fled the country after his murder.
The deadly attack at an LGBTQ club in Colorado last month — where a shooter turned the venue’s “Drag Divas” night into a massacre — has made an already harrowing year for drag performers worse. Eight of the country’s top drag queens told NBC News that the current environment has subdued their larger-than-life personas, prompting four of them to increase security at their events in recent weeks.
The Nov. 19 shooting at Colorado Springs’ sole LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, left five people dead and 17 others shot and injured. The 22-year-old suspect is being held without bond on suspicion of murder and hate crimes, though a motive has not been shared by authorities.
This attack comes on the heels of widespread anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, over 100 protests and threats directed at drag events and several pieces of novel legislation seeking to restrict drag shows.
Drag queen Jinkx Monsoon.Curtis Brown
“We’re trying to smile and make people happy for the holidays, and in the back of our heads we’re thinking, ‘I hope I don’t get shot,’” said Jinkx Monsoon, winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season five and “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season seven.
Monsoon, who is set to make her Broadway debut in “Chicago” next year, said that over the past several months, she had been using metal detectors and creating venue escape routes for her U.S. events. Since the Club Q shooting, however, she has hired armed guards and has started to ban re-entry following the start of her performances.
Drag superstar Alaska Thunderf— 5000, winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season two and co-host of the popular drag podcast “Race Chaser,” said that in the days following the Club Q shooting, she sat down with her staff to plot out escape routes for each venue remaining on her current nationwide tour.
Drag queen Alaska.Ken Phillips Group
At a couple of her gigs this week, police squad cars havebeen stationed down the block from the venues, she added.
“It’s mortifying that we even have to think about these things for something as joyous and celebratory as a drag show,” Alaska said. “Why do we have to be worried about where the exits are and where a safe route to get to safety is? It’s terrifying, but that’s the reality of it.”
Bigoted rhetoric and violence
The Club Q shooting, while the most high-profile and deadly attack affecting the LGBTQ community this year, followed a string of attacks on the queer community — particularly transgender people and drag performers (many of whom identify as gay men or trans women offstage).
For months, many right-wing lawmakers, media personalities and activists have accused LGBTQ people — and drag performers in particular — of “grooming,” “indoctrinating” and “sexualizing” children.
The word “grooming” has long been associated with mischaracterizing LGBTQ people, particularly gay men and transgender women, as child sex abusers, and advocates have warned recently that its resurgence could lead to real-world violence.
The day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the Parental Rights in Education law — or what critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — the word “grooming” was mentioned on Twitter nearly 8,000 times, compared with just 40 times on the first day of this year, according to Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic.
Even in the days following the Colorado Springs shooting, some right-wing figures doubled down on the rhetoric.
Last week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson was joined by the leader of Gays Against Groomers, a self-described “coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children,”who said shootings would continue to happen “until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children.” Neither a representative for Fox News nor Gays Against Groomers immediately responded to NBC News’ requests for comment.
Monsoon told NBC News that online trolls have flooded two of her old music videos over the past two weeks with disparaging comments accusing drag queens of sexualizing children. The music videos featured hired teen and child actors, dancing innocently and attending a backyard birthday party.
“Because they can’t call us ‘faggots,’ because we have enough support behind us, they call us ‘groomers’ and ‘pedophiles’ instead,” Monsoon said.
Aside from the surge in trope-laced rhetoric, LGBTQ Americans have also been subjected to threats or acts of violence.
A report released by LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD days after the Club Q shooting found that drag events faced at least 124 protests and significant threats in 47 states so far this year. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, a doughnut shop was vandalized and firebombed by a Molotov cocktail in two separate incidents after it hosted a drag event in October, according to KFOR and KJRH, NBC affiliates in Oklahoma.
Yvie Oddly, winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 11, said her management company sent her and other drag performers an email Tuesday, saying they had requested extra security staff at their shows and will have the security teams check patrons for guns.
“It is unfortunate that the world has come to this, but your safety and that of the communities you visit is the priority,” the email, which Oddly shared with NBC News, says.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security in a terrorism advisory bulletin raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the U.S. The bulletin said some extremists have been inspired by recent attacks, including the Colorado Springs shooting.
An old art form meets new opponents
Drag has been an art form since at least the 16th century, and in its modern form, with individual performers building up their own fan bases, since the early 1900s. However, the art form has only recently been thrust into the center of the latest American culture war.
Latrice Royale, who has appeared on both “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” reasoned that the backlash is due to the greater visibility of drag brought on by the global success of the RuPaul-led competition shows, which have spinoffs in at least 16 other countries. Since it launched in 2009, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has become a global phenomenon, giving mainstream legitimacy to a nightclub art form and transforming small-town performers into worldwide celebrities.
Latrice Royale.Handout Photo
“Back in the day, before drag was so mainstream and on every television channel and all of the media and daytime, we were underground,” Royale, 50, who has been doing drag for over 30 years, said. “Everything happened at night, at nightclubs, in the wee hours of the morning. It was not accessible to the mainstream of the world.”
Drag’s move from queer nightclubs to prime-time television brought it — and its over-the-top characters and costumes — legions of new fans, including children.
“I don’t like parents bringing their kids to meet me, because I don’t want to be seen next to a kid, because I don’t want to be labeled a pedophile,” Monsoon said. “You start to mistrust yourself for no other reason than this language is just being put on you constantly. It is dehumanizing. It makes you feel insane to just be yourself.”
So far this year, at least eight bills have been proposed seeking to restrict drag, according to GLAAD. Last month, for example, a bill was introduced in Tennessee that would ban drag queens from performing on public or private property in the presence of a minor. If signed into law, repeat offenders would be charged with a felony and could face up to six years in prison.
At least two members of Congress, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have spoken out against children being at drag performances, with Greene saying, in part, “It should be illegal to take children into Drag Queen shows.” Neither Greene nor Boebert immediately responded to NBC News’ requests for comment.
Shea Coulee.Handout photo
The eight drag queens who spoke with NBC News all agreed that not every drag performance is appropriate for minors — just like not every television show or movie is meant for children. These performers said when their shows incorporate adult material, they include parental advisory warnings on their tickets and show advertisements. However, they added that because not all drag is appropriate for children does not mean it should be banned entirely or face draconian restrictions.
“People need to look at us like they look at any other profession or art forms,” Oddly said. “There are some things that are not going to be made for the youth, but that does not mean that all of us are out here, like people seem to think we are, trying to ‘convert’ or ‘groom’ or whatever.”
Despite the challenges for the drag industry in recent months, Shea Couleé, who won the fifth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” cautioned young performers not to live in fear.
“You can’t shake a b—- that’s not afraid of you,” Couleé said. “I can get maybe a disapproving glance, but the moment I look them deadass in the eye and make eye contact, who do you think is the one looking down at the ground first? Them.”
BenDeLaCreme, who appeared on the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and the third season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” shared a similar sentiment.
Marks & Spencer has defended yet another attempt by ‘gender critical’ activists to troll the store’s gender-neutral changing rooms.
The British retailer – which sells food, clothes and home goods – informed customers on social media in August they are welcome to use any changing room in stores as they are inclusive of all genders. This has, however, been company policy for several years.
The move, predictably, outraged people online who claim to be concerned about women’s safety and used the move to share anti-trans rhetoric about changing rooms.
A group calling itself “Women’s Rights Network” posted about the trans-inclusive campaign on Twitter on Saturday (26 November).
The account rallied against the retailer’s lack of single-sex changing rooms and cried out against a theoretical situation in which a male customer ‘opened the curtain’ while a young person was getting their “first bra fitting”.
Marks & Spencer changing rooms have lockable doors on private cubicles, the store confirmed.
Marks & Spencer allows customers ‘the choice of fitting room’
“In all of our stores, we have fitting rooms located within our womenswear and menswear departments and each is made up of individual lockable cubicles to ensure every customer feels comfortable and has the privacy they need,” the retailer wrote on Twitter.
“While they are mainly used by customers of that gender, as an inclusive retailer and in line with most other retailers, we allow customers the choice of fitting room.”
Marks & Spencer’s policy has been in place for three years, according to Retail Gazette. Also, the retailer’s response has been used before when the gender-neutral changing room policy was previously the subject of an anti-trans pile-on on social media.
In August, the official Marks & Spencer Twitter account replied to a tweet in which someone was concerned about the company’s fitting room rules. In response, M&S said they are an “inclusive” retailer that allows anyone to use their fitting rooms regardless of the sign on the door.
“While they are mainly used by customers of that gender, as an inclusive retailer and in line with most other retailers, we allow customers the choice of fitting room,” the official Marks & Spencer Twitter account wrote.
Marks & Spencer’s gender-neutral changing room policy has been around for three years. (Getty)
This sparked calls for a boycott with #boycottMarksandSpencer trending on Twitter. Many retailers with trans-inclusive policies have been threatened with boycotts, but the stores are still doing fine regardless of anti-trans voices declaring they will never use them again.
Another so-called women’s rights grassroots campaign Twitter account also took umbrage with the policy. WRN West Country claimed on Twitter to have “spotted” leaflets attacking the inclusive rules, which it described as an “access all areas” changing room policy, in the undergarments of mannequins at one M&S in Bristol.
Even if you didn’t know the full title of the bestselling memoir by entertainment journalist Michael Ausiello that this film is based on—Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies—within the opening moments you’ll find out where it’s eventually headed. We see a heathy looking, but distraught Michael (Jim Parsons) in a hospital bed lovingly facing an ailing Kit (Ben Aldridge) with Michael’s voice-over telling us, “this isn’t how our story was supposed to end”. He then takes us back through their lives together, from the moment he first caught sight of the “sweatband-wearing matinee idol” on jock night at a New York gay club he was dragged to by his colleague Nick (an appealingly effervescent Jeffery Self), through the highs and lows of their relationship, right up until this tragic point. No spoiler alert required: you’ll need to keep the Kleenex handy.
Ben Aldridge as Kit and Jim Parsons as Michael in Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Linda Källérus. Courtesy of Focus Features.
When Michael takes us back to the start, he’s working as a staff writer for TV Guide, pitching stories about Gilmore Girls to his editor who is more interested in him covering the reality show Fear Factor. Both of which are airing at the time, given that this is the early 2000s, with Felicitybeing Michael’s favourite contemporary series. His passion for and deep knowledge of television informs how he views the world and his relationship with Kit, which is nicely woven into the fabric of the film by director Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Big Sick). In a bold stylistic choice, the flashbacks to Michael’s childhood are in the form of an imagined family sitcom, The Ausiellos. Complete with canned laughter and intentionally treacly incongruous music, the sequences both playfully and poignantly take us through a youth spent watching soaps with his mom and being bullied at school for being an overweight gay kid with a dead dad, with actor Brody Caines capturing the sweetness and insecurities of the young Michael.
Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello and Ben Aldridge as Kit Cowan in Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Linda Källérus. Courtesy of Focus Features.
As our leading men have their nightclub meet-cute, Michael immediately makes a connection to a TV show—the 80s hit with a killer theme tune, Knight Rider—in which David Hasselhoff’s character, Michael, had a talking car named Kit. Meanwhile, photographer Kit who doesn’t even own a TV and has never heard of the show, kindly humours Michael that the coincidence must mean that their meeting is kismet. Kit’s rather full-on and tipsy bff Nina (a fun Nikki M. James making the most of every second she’s on screen) is on hand to inform Michael that he’s just Kit’s type: “a tall dweeb”. While Kit—”the hero” of the book’s title—is the epitome of cool in Michael’s eyes, not to mention dashingly handsome. There’s instant chemistry there and I was quickly rooting for them get together and for their relationship to work. Early on at least, there’s a similar dynamic to the central relationship in Bros, with Michael feeling a little inadequate next to the attractive and assured Kit, who has until now been happily playing the field and never committed to having a boyfriend. As Michael puts it—in TV terms of course—he’s a “network soap” entering Kit’s sophisticated world that’s more “premium cable”.
Jim Parsons as Michael and Ben Aldridge as Kit in Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Linda Källérus. Courtesy of Focus Features.
Sprinkled with the kind of quirky details that tend to only come from a story based on real life, Spoiler Alert captures all the excitement and uncertainty of getting to know someone and falling in love; the significance attached to creating some closet space for their things, who says I love you first, and the anxiety over whether our secret obsessions once revealed might be a deal-breaker. David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage’s well-crafted screenplay requires a skillful blend of comic timing and emotional depth from its leads, and crucially Parsons and Aldridge both deliver excellent performances that are precise yet feel effortless and natural and invite us in. Parsons brings a sharp wit combined with an adorable vulnerability to the tightly-wound Michael, who has some self-esteem issues as a self-described “FFK” (former fat kid) and doesn’t quite realize he’s a catch too. Aldridge (who appeared in the first season of Fleabag and stars as Thomas Wayne in Pennyworth) might be a dreamboat with a smile that has Julia Roberts levels of disarming charm but, like his character, he never rests on his looks, grounding Kit in a sense that he hasn’t quite got life figured out yet despite his alluring confidence and charisma. Although this story is told from Michael’s perspective looking back on his lost love, he doesn’t canonize Kit, or ignore the issues in the relationship.
Bill Irwin stars as Bob, Sally Field as Marilyn, Ben Aldridge as Kit and Jim Parsons as Michael in Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Linda Källérus. Courtesy of Focus Features.
While Michael and his mother simultaneously realized that he was gay as a pre-teen watching Days of Our Lives together, Kit’s queer awakening and self-acceptance came more recently, and when we first meet him he hasn’t yet come out to his parents, Marilyn (Sally Field) and Bob (Bill Irwin). Cue a deliciously awkward sequence when they unexpectedly come to stay at Kit’s apartment. Although Michael has throughly “de-gayed” Kit’s room by the time they arrive—with the help of Kit’s “monosyllabic” queer roommate Kirby (a hilariously deadpan Sadie Scott)—removing any telltale clothes, books, DVDs, and photographs, the one thing that remains is the rainbow flag of giveaways, Michael himself. Field and Irwin make for an endearing double act, with the rhythms of people who’ve spent a lifetime in each other’s company, bringing levity and an affecting warmth to this loving couple who quickly embrace Michael as part of the family.
Ben Aldridge stars as Kit, Jim Parsons as Michael, Sally Field as Marilyn and Bill Irwin as Bob in Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Linda Källérus. Courtesy of Focus Features.
When it comes to Kit’s inevitable illness, the scenes of medial appointments, treatment, and agonizing pain are just raw enough to make things feel authentic, without becoming too distressing for the audience. It’s easy enough to imagine what we don’t see or hear, like the effective scene of Kit telling his parents about his diagnosis, which we observe out of earshot through a closed window from outside the house.
Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello and Ben Aldridge as Kit Cowan in Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: Giovanni Rufino. Courtesy of Focus Features.
With the help of Peter Teschner’s tight editing, Showalter keeps things pacey and continually engaging. Knowing how it’s all going to end, particularly given that this is based on a real relationship, gives even the most buoyant and romantic scenes an edge and encourages us to pay close attention, conscious that all of their time together is precious. The desire to capture a fleeting moment is represented in the photographs that the men take of each other, including their annual self-timed portrait next to their Christmas tree. Along with soap operas, one of Michael’s lifelong obsessions is the festive season and as he reflects back on his life with Kit he measures their years together in Christmas trees. It’s an element that makes this romantic gay weepie a welcome addition to the growing number of LGBTQ+ Christmas movies. Well, if Gremlins and Die Hard count as Christmas flicks, this one definitely does.
Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello and Ben Aldridge as Kit Cowan in Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert. Photo Credit: David Scott Holloway. Courtesy of Focus Features.
Along with Kylie, Robyn, and Drag Race, there’s added queer culture in the form of Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski as Kit’s coworker Sebastian, who Michael jealously refers to as Tom Daley’s doppelgänger. In a nice visual flourish at one point, we see a ripped Porowski through Michael’s eyes in a Speedo ready to take a dive at the Olympics. Although Michael has his suspicions that something is going on between the men, he stews in his concerns rather than directly addressing it with Kit, villainizing him in the TV show playing out in his head. As the years go by, the film tracks the decline in open communication between the two, leading to a simple but powerfully moving scene as the end draws near with them discussing what lies ahead for both of them.
Sally Field as Marilyn and Jim Parsons as Michael in Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert. Courtesy of Focus Features.
When we hear, or even speak the words “till death do us part” as a promise to another human, their overfamiliarity can rob them of some their meaning. Happily ever after only happens in fairy tales. In real life, if a relationship goes the distance, then sooner or later its eventual conclusion is inevitable. For obvious reasons, most of us don’t spend too much time dwelling on death, but when we’re forced to face it in our lives with the loss of a loved one, or vicariously through movies or television, it tends to remind us to appreciate and cherish those who we care about most. Spoiler Alert is heartbreaking but beautifully life-affirming, and made me hold me husband’s hand that bit tighter, and hug him that bit closer.
The suspected gunman who prosecutors have accused of killing five people in the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., last month has been formally charged with more than 305 counts, which include murder, attempted murder, assault, and hate crimes.
On Tuesday morning, Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen announced the charges at a hearing. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, appeared in court for the announcement.
Aldrich’s lawyers say Aldrich identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
Aldrich is accused of entering Club Q in the final minutes of November 19 and using a long-gun killed Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump. At least 19 others were injured.
New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to designate Julius’ Bar in the Village as an individual landmark.
In the 1960s, the state liquor authority did not allow people to be served alcohol if they were openly gay. “In 1966, we had something called the sip-in,” Julius’ Bar manager Nick Gabriellini said.
“Where the state liquor authority didn’t allow homosexuals to be served alcohol if they were openly gay. So, they staged the sip-in here, and there was a lawsuit.” The sip-in and lawsuit, even before the Stonewall uprising around the corner, would help change New York law.
Advocates had long since hoped to see the bar on West 10th Street become a landmark, citing its pre-Stonewall significance to the city’s LGBTQ rights movement.
“As the country seems to be grappling with going backward in terms of acceptance and inclusion, I just want to say, bravo, New York, for bringing this one to the forefront,” Commissioner Michael Devonshire said.
The Arts and Crafts-style building that houses Julius’ was originally built in the early 1800s, as three separate buildings that were eventually combined, LPC Director of Research Kate Lemos McHale said at a public hearing in September. Julius’ bar itself opened years later, in 1930.
“The ‘Sip-In’ at Julius’ was a pivotal moment in our city and our nation’s LGBTQ+ history, and this designation today marks not only that moment but also Julius’ half-century as a home for New York City’s LGBTQ+ community,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
“Honoring a location where New Yorkers were once denied service solely on account of their sexuality reinforces something that should already be clear: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers are welcome anywhere in our city.
“Let this designation serve as an important reminder to everyone that LGBTQ+ history is New York City history and that, like Julius’, the City of New York will always serve as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people to be safe and feel safe.”
From the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project:
On April 21, 1966, members of the Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group, organized what became known as the “Sip-In.”
Their intent was to challenge New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) regulations that were promulgated so that bars could not serve drinks to known or suspected gay men or lesbians, since their presence was considered de facto disorderly.
Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, and John Timmons, accompanied by several reporters, went to a number of bars, announced that they were “homosexuals,” and asked to be served a drink.
At their first stop, the Ukrainian-American Village Restaurant, the bar had closed, while at their next two attempts, at a Howard Johnson’s and at the Hawaiian-themed Waikiki, they had been served.
They then moved on to Julius’ and were joined by Randy Wicker. However, at Julius’, which had recently been raided, the bartender refused their request. This refusal received publicity in the New York Times and the Village Voice.
The reaction by the State Liquor Authority and the newly-empowered New York City Commission on Human Rights resulted in a change in policy and the birth of a more open gay bar culture.
Scholars of gay history consider the Sip-In at Julius’ a key event leading to the growth of legitimate gay bars and the development of the bar as the central social space for urban gay men and lesbians.
The iconic photo of the bartender putting his hand over the cocktail hangs over the bar at Julius’ and was recreated during a 2016 event marking the bar’s 50th anniversary and its addition to the National Registry of Historic Places. The new NYC landmark status gives the physical building protection from developers.
