Today, GLAAD launched glaadgrants, which provides completion funding and professional mentorships to content creators for in-progress works that advance GLAAD’s mission of amplifying diverse voices from the LGBTQ community. This comes as part of GLAAD’s goal to develop a pipeline of talented LGBTQ content creators that can move into the mainstream of Hollywood and be top of mind for the entertainment industry.
“Our vision is to support and inspire content creators to tell stories that accelerate acceptance of LGBTQ people here at home and around the world,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “With a special emphasis on under-represented LGBTQ people, GLAAD’s work empowers real people to tell stories and amplify their voices, and glaadgrants is our latest initiative towards that goal.”
Those interested in applying can visit glaad.org/grants to learn about submission and application guidelines, as well as FAQs. The deadline for entries to be received is 5:00 p.m. PT, on Friday, March 24th, 2017.
According to GLAAD’s 2016 Studio Responsibility Index, only 17.5% of all major film studio releases in 2015 included LGBTQ-identified characters, with decreased racial diversity over the preceding year. And of the 895 series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast primetime programming within the 2016-2017 season, according to GLAAD’s most recent Where We Are On TV Report, only 4.8% were counted as LGBTQ.
This brand new initiative was established to ensure that innovative and creative LGBTQ stories in entertainment media are supported with needed funding. Additionally, creators of short or long form, scripted or documentary, digital or film content will have guidance from experienced and professional mentors, all in an effort to help them share their vision.
To complement completion funding, mentorships will provide an opportunity for knowledge, experience, and support to be provided by experienced and successful media professionals promoting best practices of quality filmmaking and digital storytelling through peer-to-peer support, ultimately enhancing the quality of the grant-recipient’s production.
Outfest, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing, showcasing and protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media, has announced its lineup for the 2017 Outfest Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival. Outfest Fusion, the only multicultural LGBT film festival of its kind, will be held March 1-7 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, Highland Park Cinema and various locations throughout Los Angeles.
Now in its 14th year, Outfest Fusion will include seven days of short and feature film screenings, filmmaker Q&As and networking events that celebrate the diversity of the LGBT community, followed by nine filmmaking workshops. Outfest Fusion is presented by HBO and supported by premiere sponsor Comcast NBCUniversal.
“It is fundamental to Outfest’s mission to create spaces where a multiplicity of voices can be heard and our varied experiences can be seen,” said Christopher Racster, Executive Director of Outfest. “Outfest Fusion does just that, sharing powerful stories, creating meaningful dialogue and affirming the voices that are usually at the margins. Outfest believes in the power of our stories to affirm our lives and create social change.”
Outfest Fusion 2017 will begin on Wednesday, March 1, with the world premiere of the hit Bawn TV web series “Cheetah in August.” On Friday, March 3 a special screening of Moonlight will be followed by a conversation about its impact on the community and the intersection of the black and LGBT experiences. Also playing that day is west coast premiere of the Cuban drama Santa Y Andres, the North American premiere of Cherry Pop and the world premiere of the web series’ “Brujos” and “Spectrum London.”
On Saturday, March 4, attendees will have a special sneak-peek of an unaired episode of the new Fox series, “Star,” followed by a discussion with creator Lee Daniels and stars Miss Lawrence, Brittany O’Grady, and Ryan Destiny. Following a screening of episodes of Netflix’s new “One Day at a Time,” executive producer Norman Lear, co-creators Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, writers Becky Mann and Michelle Badillo. and stars Justina Machado and Isabella Gomez will discuss the queer experience within the Cuban American culture. The night will end with the yearly Fusion Gala Shorts screening at the Egyptian, which boasts the world premiere of April A. Wilson’s Care, Ozzy Villazon’s, Get The Life and Ken Sawyer’s Private Dick: Buying Dick. On Sunday, March 5 a panel called In Living Color, moderated by Gil Robertson of the African-American Critics Association and Tre’vell Anderson of the Los Angeles Times will examine the media and portrayals of the QPOC community.
Additional screenings throughout the festival include The LatinX Files: Queer Shorts, a series of short films exploring LatinX identities; No Place Like Home: Queer Asian Shorts, five films illustrating the bonds of Asian families; Black Queer Magic: African Diaspora Shorts, a collection of black LGBTQ films from around the world; No Dress Code Required (Etiqueta No Rigurosa), which won The John Schlesinger Award at this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival; the Hindi drama Angry Indian Goddesses; 2016 LAFF Special Jury Prize for Comedy winner, Chee and T; the U.S. premiere of Apricot Groves by Iranian director Pouria Heidary Oureh; And Still We Rise, a documentary following the years-long resistance to the Anti-Homosexual Act in Uganda; and Out Run, a feature documentary about the world’s first LGBT political party as they fight for a congressional seat in the Philippines.
“We’re thrilled to be back with this year’s inclusive lineup of films and events that serve the mosaic of queer cultures that make up greater Los Angeles,” said Lucy Mukerjee-Brown, Outfest’s Director of Programming.
”We’re showcasing content from Uganda to the UK, from Mexico to the Philippines, as well as launching new work from many local filmmakers. It’s all about being able to see LGBT people of color on the big screen.”
Outfest Fusion will also be hosting nine exciting workshops that will take place at various locations around Los Angeles. Led by queer filmmakers of color, topics that will be covered include virtual reality, finding your story, creating content and smartphone filmmaking. The interactive classes will be instructed by Suicide Kale star, Brittani Nichols, creators and executive producers of the TV series “The DL Chronicles,” Deondray and Quincy Gossfield LeNear, Spa Night’s Andrew Ahn, “Cheetah in August’s” creator and director Anthony Newsome-Bawn, Outfest UCLA Legacy Project manager Taylor Morales, filmmakers and educators Marla Ulloa and Nidhim Patel, writer-actor-producer Ean Weslynn and writer-director Barney Cheng.
Outfest Fusion rounds out with Fusion Finale on Tuesday, March 7, at the California African-American Museum for the One Minute Movie Contest with the theme “I Hope. I Fear,” where submissions will be screened and prizes awarded.
For complete listings and to purchase tickets, log on to www.Outfest.org/fusion2017 or call 213-480-7088. Outfest Fusion 2017 is presented by HBO. Premiere Sponsors include Comcast NBCUniversal. Supporting Sponsors are Angel City Brewery, The Fight Magazine, and Wildfire Sonic Magic. Media Sponsors include Adelante Magazine and Lesbian News Magazine. Wells Fargo is an Outfest Fusion Funder.
When German high-schooler Phil (Louis Hoffman) returns from summer camp he is greeted so enthusiastically by his mother Glass (Sabine Timoteo) and his best friend Kat (Svenja Jung) as if he’d been away for much longer than just three weeks. We soon discover however that both these women tend to act melodramatically over almost every little thing. It is only his twin sister Dianne (Ada Philine Stappenbeck) who all but ignores him as she has obviously fallen out with their hippy mother over some issue and is now behaving in a surly secretive manner.
The family live in a rambling old fairy-tale house, called Visible for some unexplained reason, in a small provincial country town. Glass, quite the free spirit, has always refused to disclose the identity of the twins father which is a major source of irritation to Phil and seems to add to his feelings of insecurity. Glass seems to work through a whole series of lovers with an insatiable appetite. and the moment any of them try to get close to her, she immediately discards them.
The story however is not about her relationships but that of young Phil who is immediately awestruck when a handsome newcomer joins his class in school. Besides just watching Nicholas (Jannik Schümann) sprint around the track every day, Phil makes no effort to actually talk to him as he assumes that Nicholas is such a hottie and is out of his league. It turns out that not only is he very obtainable, but he actually makes the first move and hits on Phil in a very steamy scene in the school showers.
From then on a besotted Phil is totally hooked and persuades two middle-aged lesbian friends of his mother to loan him the use of their summer house for his ‘trysts’ with Nicholas. Phil even overcomes the potentially tricky situation of introducing his best friend to his new boyfriend and is surprised to discover that they not only do they all get along, but from that moment the three of them are inseparable.
It is obvious that the deeply sensitive Phil, throwing himself so energetically into his first real love that offers him a life outside of his roller-coaster relationship with his mother and the fading one with his sister, may have to deal with the possibility that what he has with Nicholas will not last for ever. He is however blinded by his infatuation that it never occurs to him that Nicholas is anything less than perfect.
Austrian filmmaker Jakob M. Erwa adapted Andreas Steinhöfel prize winning novel, and the fact he may have been sticking somewhat closely to that maybe the reason that the subplots of the twin sister, and to an extent the mother, were distractions from what is otherwise a rather charming coming-of-age tale. There is nothing extraordinary in the main thrust of the story, but the movie is filmed rather beautifully with the young good-looking cast members very convincing in their roles, in and out of their clothes.
Expect to see this at US Film Festivals in the coming year before it is released on DVD/VOD.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.
Outstanding Film – Wide Release
Moonlight
A24
Star Trek Beyond
Paramount Pictures
Outstanding Film – Limited Release
The Handmaiden
Amazon Studios/Magnolia Pictures
Naz & Maalik
Wolfe Releasing
Other People
Vertical Entertainment
Spa Night
Strand Releasing
Those People
Wolfe Releasing
Outstanding Comedy Series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
FOX
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
The CW
Grace and Frankie
Netflix
Modern Family
ABC
One Mississippi
Amazon
The Real O’Neals
ABC
Steven Universe
Cartoon Network
Survivor’s Remorse
Starz
Take My Wife
Seeso
Transparent
Amazon
Outstanding Drama Series
The Fosters
Freeform
Grey’s Anatomy
ABC
Hap and Leonard
SundanceTV
How to Get Away with Murder
ABC
The OA
Netflix
Orphan Black
BBC America
Shadowhunters
Freeform
Shameless
Showtime
Supergirl
The CW
Wynonna Earp
Syfy
Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBTQ character)
“Attention Deficit” The Loud House
Nickelodeon
“Bar Fights” Drunk History
Comedy Central
“Johnson & Johnson” Black-ish
ABC
“San Junipero” Black Mirror
Netflix
“Vegan Cinderella” Easy
Netflix
Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
Eyewitness
USA Network
London Spy
BBC America
Looking: The Movie
HBO
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again
FOX
Vicious: The Finale
PBS
Outstanding Documentary
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures
HBO
Out of Iraq
Logo
The Same Difference
Centric
Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four
Investigation Discovery
The Trans List
HBO
Outstanding Daily Drama
The Bold and The Beautiful
CBS
Outstanding Reality Program
Gaycation
Viceland
I Am Cait
E!
I Am Jazz
TLC
The Prancing Elites Project
Oxygen
Strut
Oxygen
Outstanding Music Artist
Against Me!, Shape Shift With Me
Total Treble Music/Xtra Mile
Blood Orange, Freetown Sound
Domino
Brandy Clark, Big Day in a Small Town
Warner Bros. Records
Tyler Glenn, Excommunication
Island Records
Ty Herndon, House on Fire
BFD
Elton John, Wonderful Crazy Night
Island Records
Lady Gaga, Joanne
Interscope Records
Frank Ocean, Blonde
Boys Don’t Cry
Sia, This is Acting
RCA Records
Tegan and Sara, Love You to Death
Warner Bros. Records
Outstanding Comic Book
All-New X-Men, by Dennis Hopeless, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, Paco Diaz, Nolan Woodard, Rachelle Rosenberg, Cory Petit
Marvel Comics
Black Panther, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze, Chris Sprouse, Walden Wong, Karl C. Story, Laura Martin, Matt Milla, Joe Sabino, Clayton Cowles
Marvel Comics
DC Comics Bombshells, by Marguerite Bennett, Laura Braga, Sandy Jarrell, Maria Laura Sanapo, Mirka Andolfo, Pasquale Qualano, Marguerite Sauvage, Juan Albarran, Kelly Diane Fitzpatrick, J. Nanjan, Jeremy Lawson, Wendy Broome, Wes Abbott
DC Comics
Kim & Kim, by Magdalene Visaggio, Eva Cabrera, Claudia Aguirre, Zakk Saam, Taylor Esposito
Black Mask Studios
Love is Love, anthology originated by Marc Andreyko
IDW Publishing, DC Comics
Lumberjanes, by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Carey Pietsch, Ayme Sotuyo, Carolyn Nowak, Maarta Laiho, Aubrey Aiese
BOOM! Studios
Midnighter / Midnighter and Apollo, by Steve Orlando, David Messina, Aco, Hugo Petrus, Fernando Blanco, Gaetano Carlucci, Romulo Fajardo, Jr., Jeremy Cox, Tom Napolitano, Josh Reed
DC Comics
Patsy Walker, A.K.A Hellcat!, by Kate Leth, Brittney L. Williams, Natasha Allegri, Megan Wilson, Rachelle Rosenberg, Clayton Cowles
Marvel Comics
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Fonografiks
Image Comics
The Woods, by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, Josan Gonzalez, Ed Dukeshire
BOOM! Studios
Outstanding Talk Show Episode
“Angelica Ross” The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Comedy Central
“Cookie Johnson” Super Soul Sunday
OWN
“North Carolina and Georgia Anti-LGBTQ Laws” Late Night with Seth Meyers
NBC
“Tony Marrero, Orlando Shooting Survivor” The Ellen DeGeneres Show
syndicated
“Trey Pearson” The View
ABC
Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine
“Bingham” SC Featured
ESPN
“Church and States” VICE News Tonight
HBO
“Gavin Grimm’s Fight” VICE News Tonight
HBO
“Life as Matt” E:60
ESPN
“Switching Teams” 60 Minutes
CBS
Outstanding TV Journalism Segment
“Gay Community in U.S. ‘Forged in Fire'” The Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
“Interview with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi” Anderson Cooper 360
CNN
“Many in LGBT Community Fear Changes under Trump” NBC Nightly News
NBC
“Terror in Orlando” PBS NewsHour
PBS
“Troop Turnaround: U.S. Military Transgender Ban Ended by Pentagon” CBS This Morning
CBS
Outstanding Newspaper Article
“An LGBT Hunger Crisis” by Roni Caryn Rabin
The New York Times
“Mid-South Couples Celebrate First Year of Marriage Equality, But Challenges Remain for LGBT Community” by Katie Fretland, Ron Maxey
The Commercial Appeal [Memphis, Tenn.]
“Nowhere to Go: LGBT Youth on the Move” by Arielle Dreher
Jackson Free Press [Jackson, Miss.]
“Permission to Hate” by Elizabeth Leland
The Charlotte Observer
“Worthy of Survival” by Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times
Outstanding Magazine Article
“Battle of the Bathroom” by Michael Scherer
Time
“HIV Mystery: Solved?” by Tim Murphy
The Nation
“The Official Coming-Out Party” by Kevin Arnovitz
ESPN The Magazine
“On the Run” by Jacob Kushner
Vice Magazine
“Rethinking Gender” by Robin Marantz Henig
National Geographic
Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage
The Advocate
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
Teen Vogue
Time
Outstanding Digital Journalism Article
“105 Trans Women On American TV: A History and Analysis” by Riese Bernard
Autostraddle.com
“After the Orlando Shooting, the Changed Lives of Gay Latinos” by Daniel Wenger
NewYorker.com
“The Methodist Church May Split Over LGBT Issues. Meet the Lesbian Bishop Caught in the Middle.” by Becca Andrews
MotherJones.com
“These are the Queer Refugees Australia has Locked Up on a Remote Pacific Island” by J. Lester Feder
BuzzFeed.com
“The Uncertain Olympic Future for Trans and Intersex Athletes” by Diana Tourjee
Broadly.Vice.com
Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia
“Last Men Standing: AIDS Survivors Still Fighting for Their Lives” by Erin Allday
SFChronicle.com
“New Deep South: Kayla”
TheFront.com
“No Access: Young, Black & Positive”
Tonic.Vice.com
“Unerased: Counting Transgender Lives” by Meredith Talusan
Mic.com
“Willing and Able: Employment as a Transgender New Yorker” by Jordi Oliveres, Santiago García Muñoz
Fusion.net
Outstanding Blog
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com
I’m Still Josh
imstilljosh.com
Mombian
mombian.com
My Fabulous Disease
marksking.com
TransGriot
transgriot.blogspot.com
Special Recognition
Her Story
HerStoryShow.com
We’ve Been Around
WeveBeenAround.com
Outstanding Music Artist (Spanish Language)
Kany García, Limonada
Sony Music Latin
Outstanding Daytime Program Episode (Spanish Language)
“Juan Gabriel: Lo que se ve no se pregunta” Suelta la sopa
Telemundo
“Las lesbianitas” Caso Cerrado
Telemundo
Outstanding Television Interview (Spanish Language)
“Entrevista con Congresista Ileana Ros-Lehtinen y su hijo Rodrigo Lehtinen” Al Punto
Univision
“Entrevista con Congresista Ileana-Ros Lehtinen y Nicole Rose” Enfoque
Telemundo
“Matrimonio igualitario en México” Realidades en Contexto
CNN en Español
“Pulse” Showbiz
CNN en Español
“Terror en Orlando” Perspectiva Nacional
Entravision
Outstanding Local Television Interview (Spanish Language)
“Aceptación” Todos los Géneros
Mira TV [Miami]
“La lucha continúa” Enfoque Los Ángeles
KVEA-Telemundo 52 [Los Ángeles]
“Orlando: atentado contra la comunidad latina LGBT” Pura Política
NY1 Noticias [New York]
Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine (Spanish Language)
“El dolor en la voz de familiares” Un Nuevo Día
Telemundo
“Entrevista con Kany García” Primer Impacto
Univision
“Reto del corazón” Aquí y Ahora
Univision
“Siempre fui Xander” Aquí y Ahora
Univision
Outstanding TV Journalism Segment (Spanish Language)
“Comunidad LGBT rinde tributo a las 49 víctimas de masacre en Orlando” Noticiero NTN 24
NTN
“Luto en la nación” Noticiero Telemundo
Telemundo
“Masacre en Orlando” Noticiero Univision
Univision
“Masacre Orlando” Conclusiones
CNN en Español
“Miles se congregaron en Orlando por lo ocurrido en el bar Pulse” Azteca Noticias
TV Azteca
Outstanding Local TV Journalism (Spanish Language)
“Camuy, Puerto Rico” Noticiero Telemundo 51
WSCV-Telemundo 51 [Miami]
“A la calle por quien soy” Noticias 34
KMEX-Univision 34 [Los Ángeles]
“Ordenanza de baños” Noticias 23
KUVN-Univision 23 [Dallas, Texas]
“Sobreviviente de Pulse en Orlando” Noticiero Telemundo 51
WSCV-Telemundo 51 [Miami]
“La vida en transición” Telenoticias Washington
WZDC-Telemundo 25 [Washington D.C.]
Outstanding Newspaper Article (Spanish Language)
“Las discretas batallas LGBTI ganadas en Guatemala” por Sonia Pérez D.
Associated Press
“Ecuatoriano gay supera barreras y publica novela en inglés” por Claudia Torrens
Associated Press
“Padres latinos se acercaron a sus hijos tras ataque en Orlando” por Pilar Marrero
La Opinión
“Se buscan donantes de sangre, pero con restricciones” por Virginia Gaglianone
La Opinión
“Ser gay no es una enfermedad” por Pedro F. Frisneda
El Diario New York
Outstanding Digital Journalism Article (Spanish Language)
“6 mujeres transgénero exitosas que rompen moldes en América Latina” por Leire Ventas
BBCMundo.com
“Documental desmonta estereotipos sobre homofobia de latinos en EE.UU.” por Juan Carlos Gomi
efe.com
“La fotografía del niño mexicano que buscó impedir una marcha se vuelve viral” por Daniela Patiño
cnnenespanol.cnn.com
“La lucha para proteger los derechos de los estudiantes LGBT en Colombia” por Ernesto Londoño
The New York Times en Español
“Orlando trata de entender el porqué de la masacre en que murieron 50 personas” por Lizette Alvarez y Richard Perez Peña
The New York Times en Español
Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia (Spanish Language)
“23 personajes LGBT mexicanos que la están rompiendo” por Mireya González
Buzzfeed.com
“49 poderosas y conmovedoras imágenes de la masacre de Orlando” por Daniel Rivero y David Matthews
Fusion.net
“Comunidad gay en México: ‘Nos sentimos desnudos ante la discriminación'” por Mario González
cnnespanol.cnn.com
“Conmovedor video retrata el prejuicio en Puerto Rico” por Marcos Billy Guzmán
elnuevodia.com
“Orlando recobra el pulso: la historia de tres sobrevivientes”
The charm of series is that the characters become old friends as we follow them through one book after the other and anxiously wait for the next one. The following mystery series with lesbian protagonists have been chosen for their excellent writing, surprising plot twists, and unusual, interesting characters. There’s a moderate level of romance ”as in most mysteries” but the love interests are not the emphasis. For a definition of “series”, I’ve used at least three books, but I want to mention Blue and The Last Blue Plate Special (Abigail Padgett) featuring Blue Carron, a reclusive lesbian social psychologist who lives in a half-built California desert motel. Although some of the series use professional crime-solvers to pursue the mystery, others feature sleuths in such professions as journalist, author, travel agent, and restaurant owner. Recommendations in alphabetical order.
For the past 25 years, Ellen Hart has been writing good summer reads about Jane Lawless, a restaurant owner in Minnesota, and her wacky sidekick, Cordelia Thorn. Hallowed Murder begins the series; Hart skipped only two years in publishing an annual addition to the series. The latest, The Old Deep and Dark, again features family problems as Jane saves Cordelia from another disaster. Here are the titles of this series in order of publication. https://www.goodreads.com/series/65509-jane-lawless
Another favorite is J.K. Redmann’s Micky Knightseries which begins in 1990 and is still going strong. Her skillful voice creates real settings and believable, caring characters who live in the real world of New Orleans both before and after Hurricane Katrina. Redmann deals with hard topics such as child abuse, human trafficking, and hurricane victims. A recurring character in the series is Dr. Cordelia James, sometimes a suspect in a murder, who is Micky’s on-again, off-again lover.
Death by the Riverside
Deaths of Jocasta
The Intersection of Law and Desire
Lost Daughters
Death of a Dying Man
Water Mark
Ill Will
The Shoal of Time
Katherine Forrest published the first of her series about police detective Kate Delafield in 1984. An LAPD ex-Marine homicide detective, Kate is militarily calm with a dogged determination to find the killer. Dealing more with character studies than mystery solving, the author slowly reveals personalities through the characters’ actions and interactions. Kate’s challenges come from chauvinistic and homophobic people in a world in which homosexuality is still illegal and feminism is still a nasty word.
Amateur City
Murder at the Nightwood Bar
The Beverly Malibu
Murder by Tradition
Liberty Square
Apparition Alley
Sleeping Bones
Hancock Park
High Desert
It’s been over a decade since my all-time favorite writer, Laurie King, published her last Kate Martinelli book in 2003, but I always hope for another one. San Francisco police detective Kate solves intricate, dark crimes of murdered children and homeless people while struggling with her complicated intimate relationship. As author of the Mary Russell series (Sherlock Holmes’ wife), King used a missing Arthur Conan Doyle manuscript in her final book of the series.
A Grave Talent
To Play the Fool
With Child
Night Work
The Art of Detection
The series from Mary Wings features Emma Victor from 1986 to 1999. Reminiscent of the old-time butch world, the clever and witty Emma Victor is a private eye who takes the reader through the compelling lesbian lifestyle in beautiful San Francisco after a rocky start in Boston. Through sub-plotting and meandering, the characters’ interactions, including casual sex and male-like stoic behavior, make the books fun.
She Came Too Late
She Came in a Flash
She Came by the Book
She Came to the Castro
She Came in Drag
Over a decade ago, Nicola Griffith introduced lesbian hero Aud Torvigen, a tough, ex-police lieutenant from the elite “Red Dogs” who has seen it all. Making Atlanta her home, Aud solves crimes as she kills without hesitation and without remorse, emotionally removed from the world. Icy-cold and hot at the same time, Aud is a character to follow.
The Blue Place
Stay
Always
British author Nicola Upson uses the Scottish playwright and murder mystery author Josephine Tey (aka Elizabeth MacKintosh) as the protagonist in this fictional series set in the 1930s. The atmospheric books about Great Britain that move between theater life in London and murders in rural England blend fiction with fact, include real characters in Upson’s world of murder. The first book, published in 2008, includes LGBT characters, but Tey’s lesbian relationship doesn’t occur until midway through the series.
An Expert in Murder
Angel with Two Faces
Two for Sorrow
Fear in the Sunlight
The Death of Lucy Kyte
Sandra Scoppettone’sLauren Laurano, a private investigator in New York City, started to solve crimes with humor and heart over two decades ago. The series begins with humor and ends with sadness but keeps the same charming character who seems like a close friend as she investigates deaths of friends and family.
Everything You Have Is Mine
I’ll Be Leaving You Always
My Sweet Untraceable You
Let’s Face the Music and Die
Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey
Sara Dreher’s slightly off-kilter character Stoner Mc Tavish entertains readers who like the unexpected. Through psychic connection and out-of-body-travel, Stoner is transported into different places and time periods, solving crimes and searching for her lover, Gwen. Helped by her fun-loving friend Mary Lou and her cool aunt, Stoner’s adventures are uplifting and crazy unusual. Sarah Dreher died in 2012, and I am saddened that both she and Stoner are gone.
Stoner McTavish
Something Shady
Gray Magic
A Captive in Time
Otherworld
Bad Company
Shaman’s Moon
Val McDermid was the first writer to hit the UK with a lesbian sleuth. Lindsay Gordon is a very feisty, very funny Scottish journalist who, with friends, family, and lovers, untangles conspiracies and exposes murderers. Her world is sometimes so dark that I’m reluctant to turn the page, but I always do. McDermid leaves the reader with unanswered questions and wanting another Gordon book.
Report for Murder
Common Murder
Open and Shut, Deadline for Murder
Conferences are Murder
Booked for Murder
Hostage to Murder
That’s my top ten – authors who succeeded in bringing back lesbian sleuths again and again, with style and amazing imagination. All these books should be in print and in libraries serving general populations.
Nayyef and Btoo talked about how they had fell in love as soldiers in Iraq. Screenshot
Ellen talked with Nayyef and Btoo, two gay soldiers from Iraq who fell in love, came to the US, and got married.
The two men met in the military and fell in love, but weren’t able to publicly acknowledge their relationship due to the often violently homophobic environment in Iraq.
“So I was in Ramadi, and at first we saw each other 6 months before we really knew each other,” Nayyef remembered. “And he just got out of the shower, and his hair was very black and shiny in the sun and I thought, ‘Oh my God, who’s this beautiful guy?’”
Nayyef was an English translator in the military. He was called a “traitor” by militias and found out he was being followed, so he applied for asylum in the US.
Btoo couldn’t leave Iraq immediately, so they talked every day by Skype for four years before he too could come to the US. They are married now and live in Seattle.
Ellen had a big surprise at the end of the interview for the couple. Be sure to stay till the end to see it.
Feeling helpless in the impending Trump administration? Author Gene Stone is here to help with his new book “The Trump Survival Guide.”
The new book, out Jan. 10 from Dey Street Books (a HarperCollins imprint), is a trade paperback priced at $9.99 that’s subtitled “Everything You Need to Know About Living Through What You Hoped Would Never Happen.”
Bereft for about eight days after the Nov. 8 election, Stone, a New York Times bestselling author with 40 eclectic titles of several genres to his credit, says he couldn’t bear to watch or read the news. “Survival Guide” was written over the next 12 days (“I’ve had magazine deadlines that were much longer,” he says) with the help of seven co-writers.
Its chapters are devoted to topics like civil rights, the economy, education, energy, national security, LGBT issues and more. It’s billed as a “serious call to action for all anti-Trump dissenters across the political spectrum” that “succinctly analyzes crucial social and political policies, explains how Donald J. Trump has the power to undermine them and provides concrete practical solutions ordinary people can use to fight back.”
Stone spoke to the Blade by phone from his office in New York City. His comments have been slightly edited for length.
Author Gene Stone has written 12 books that have made the New York Times Bestseller list. Five hit No. 1. (Photo courtesy Dey Street Books)
WASHINGTON BLADE: How did you channel your election funk into this project so quickly?
GENE STONE: After about a week of feeling sorry for everything, I decided, you know — and this is the point of the book — it’s one thing to be depressed and mopey and God knows I have friends who are still crying, but you have to do something. Being depressed doesn’t get you anywhere. Being dejected and crying doesn’t solve anything. … Sitting around doing nothing accomplishes nothing. I thought, “Well, I have to do something.” I’m not the deepest thinker in the world, but I’m certainly one of the fastest and I realized I could do this. I knew that I could turn this book around in a short period of time. I have a pretty solid publishing history so I knew I had the credibility to get a book contract for something like this. They knew I was dependable, that I’d done it before and could do it again. All that meant that I should do the book, I could do the book so therefore I felt I had to do the book.
BLADE: How unusual is this tight of a turnaround time in the book publishing world?
STONE: There was a time years ago when instant books were much more common. Bantam Books was famous for being able to turn around books in a couple of weeks. … It has actually gotten much less common because the way those books were often sold was through the bookstores that would support the book, put it on their counters and make people aware of it that way, but as bookstores have less and less market share, it’s actually harder to get something like this out now. A book like this on a counter priced at $10 is a very appealing prospect that doesn’t quite have the same appeal on Amazon …. so it’s become less and less common.
BLADE: Obviously all the chapters were important to you but did the LGBT chapter have any special significance being gay yourself?
STONE: I can’t really say any were less important than the others but when it came time to do the book — I had some friends help me; I couldn’t do it all myself, so I hired a few friends to help write, research and fact check, etc. — but I needed right away to come up with a template for each chapter and the LGBT chapter was the one I wrote first myself the night I got the book contract staying up till God knows when in the morning in order to get the template done because frankly, it was a chapter I knew really well. … That established the pattern for the rest of the book.
BLADE: When you mention the agencies readers may want to support at the end of that chapter, you mention GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal and others but only sort of mention the Human Rights Campaign, the largest, under “and don’t forget …” Why?
STONE: (pauses) As you can tell, I have some issues there.
BLADE: You also wrote “The Bush Survival Bible.” Did his presidency end up being better or worse than you expected at the outset?
STONE: Well, they’re in fact much different books. The Bush book was actually kind of a funny book. A mix of satire and jokes and some serious advice, but in the guise of a funny book. When Bush won, I was also depressed, unhappy, I didn’t like it, but at least Bush was in the ballpark. I didn’t agree with it, but there was no sense that the world was going to be turned upside down. The Trump book is not a funny book, it’s a serious book because I do have a strong sense that there’s a possibility that the world could be turned upside down and there’s nothing funny about that.
BLADE: Are there any lessons we can glean from the Bush years as a sign of things to come or is it not analogous enough to justify that sort of thinking?
STONE: Well, again, even with that Republican administration, even though we disagreed with so many of their policies, it felt nonetheless that there was some kind of dialogue available between the right and the left …. but I’m not getting that feeling with the Trump administration. Obviously it hasn’t started yet, but in looking at his cabinet picks and watching his first press conference, I’m not getting the sense that things are going to seem as normal as they seemed during the Bush administration so it’s almost like you look back and think, “Gee, could it ever be worse?” and now you realize, “Oh man, it is worse. It’s much worse.” So I’m not sure the lessons we learned in the Bush years really apply because we’re dealing with an entirely new creature and I don’t think he is going to abide by the rules. Previously there’s been a norm in politics and civil discussion that both sides, with a bit of a stretch, have maintained. We’re not seeing that now and that’s one of the things that worries me most.
BLADE: Does Trump’s impulsiveness and reactionary personality lessen the value we would ordinarily perhaps glean from all the endless prognostication and tealeaf reading we see at the outset of any administration?
STONE: Two months ago, I probably would have said yeah, but now we have been seeing a fairly consistent pattern so I’m beginning to think the mixed signals from Trump are a thing of the past. What we’re seeing now is a pretty consistent formula of appealing to the alt right or right policies. We haven’t seen anything to the left or even the center so it’s been pretty consistent. It feels like the inconsistency of the past is melting into this kind of dreary consistency.
BLADE: Ideology aside, is that a good sign or do you still feel he could go off on some crazy limb at any point?
STONE: Yeah, the latter. Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen till it happens, but all the signals so far have been pretty negative if not very negative.
BLADE: What do you think was the biggest factor in Hillary’s loss?
STONE: That’s something we always want to do in the media, and I’m as much to blame as anybody else, but we want to talk about the thing, the one thing, that made this happen but I would say it was really a combination of the Comey letter, perhaps faulty campaigning on her part, the country wanting change and any number of other factors. I really think it was the imperfect storm of factors and remember — she did win the popular vote. … It was very close. He’s also coming in with the lowest favorability ratings since polling began.
BLADE: By design, this book will have a short shelf life. Are you OK with that?
STONE: That’s just the nature of a book like this — nobody will be reading this in two years. I write a lot of books. I co-wrote a book on how not to die based on plant-based diets and it’s sort of an antidote to the major causes of death in America and I like to think that book will be around for many, many years to come. … I’d be very happy if all the sales of this book took place in the next six months. For the lessons here to be applied, people need to read the book now.
BLADE: There are a lot of things one could point to — eight years of Obama, the Obergefell ruling, the outcry from the Trayvon Martin case and so on, that made it feel like we’d really turned a corner on the straight, white, old boys’ club in politics then bam, in one fell swoop the old boys’ club came roaring back to win the White House and both chambers of Congress. Is it just that entrenched or something else?
STONE: It does speak to entrenchment yes, but it also points to another factor that’s been prevalent in American politics since the beginning, its back and forth nature. Carter to Reagan, Bush to Clinton, Clinton to Bush, Bush to Obama — it’s been a lot of back and forth. And also the fact that they barely made it in this time makes me hopeful. I mean here we had a centrist, liberal woman running with very, very negative favorability ratings and yet she came really close to winning. I also like to think that unless the damage Trump does to our democracy is really overwhelming, that the pendulum will eventually swing back again.
BLADE: Did progressives get too complacent? If this shakes us from our complacency, is that the silver lining?
STONE: I agree with that. I think liberals have a tendency to think that we’re right. We know what’s right, we’re kind and decent and empowering. That’s the way humans are supposed to be but unfortunately, that’s not the way all humans are. We did get very complacent having a terrific president for eight years and this is going to shock us out of our complacency and hopefully make us work in a way we saw the Tea Party work. As much as I don’t agree with anything they stood for, I admire the way they got their objectives into the policies of America and we need to do the same. If my book is really about anything, it’s about fighting back and finding ways to take on the Trump administration, not by waiting four years to vote against it, but by turning every day of your life into some kind of act of resistance. If there’s anything that’s going to make me happy, and I’ve heard it a few times already, it will be to hear people say, “I read your book and I joined an organization or I donated money or now I’m going to go march in the women’s protest. The point of the book is to try to get people to move.
BLADE: But how much can really be accomplished in this environment. How was the Tea Party able to become such a force while, say, the Occupy movement seemed like it had difficulty sustaining itself or harnessing that energy into something with any measurable impact? Is the right just better at mobilizing than the left? How can you be effective when you’re not the group in power at any given moment?
STONE: Well, I think one of the things that motivated the Tea party is that it didn’t have a titular head. You couldn’t say so-and-so ran everything because it was such a grass roots thing taking place in so many parts of the country. We need to learn from that. You don’t need a powerful leader. You don’t need a spokesperson. Every one of us can be a spokesperson just as everybody in the Tea Party felt they could go to the media and say whatever they wanted, we can do the same. … I also think politics tend to trickle up from the local level and we just don’t seem to get that. We get all excited about presidents and senators but it starts with local representatives and school boards. We just don’t seem to organize on the local level the way the Tea Party can do.
French writer/director Jérôme Reybaud’s feature debut that premiered at the Venice Film Festival during their Critics Week is an intriguing and extremely compelling love affair that stars France’s rather glorious countryside in this very unusual road movie. It is the story of two lovers, the younger one Pierre Thomas (a very convincing Pascal Cervo) who suddenly ups and mysterious leaves Paul (Arthur Igual) and their very comfortable life in Paris in the middle of night. He undertakes this unexplained odyssey driving into the heart of the country in his Alfa -Romeo guided solely by the Grindr app which he is using to pick up men so that he can have some meaningless sexual hookups. Within a day he is followed by Paul in a rental car who uses the same app to try and catch up with his fleeing lover.
Throughout the four days he is on the road Pierre Thomas has a some odd random encounters with people he encounters. There is the second rate singer (Fabienne Babe) he gives a lift to when her car breaks down on the way to another rather sad gig at a Seniors Assisted Living Home; the thief (Laetita Dosch) who he catches robbing him red-handed yet he allows to negotiate what she can keep ; his ex-English teacher (Nathalie Richard) who moved to the countryside to marry but now widowed and runs a bookstore. There is also a young handsome man (Mathieu Chevé) desperate to leave his small country town and after he has sex with Pierre Thomas pleads with him to be taken back to Paris ; and the ‘straight” traveling salesman (Bertrand Nadler) so eager to test drive Pierre Thomas’s Alfa Romeo that he almost agrees to make out with him too.
The connecting factor to them all is an overwhelming sense of unshakeable loneliness which seems to a motive for his eagerness to keep on with his meandering pointless even though it in turn, only makes him even more isolated. The one time he seeks some sort of advice/support is when he pulls the car over to the side of the road and phones his actress godmother (a wonderful cameo from the legendary (Liliane Montevecchi) whose rather dramatic take on life sounds like it has been lifted from some role that she has played on the stage.
All the time Paul is edging closer, en route he is having some odd encounters of his own, and as time passes it is far from obvious if when the two lovers meet up with each other, will they be able to resolve whatever the problem is that started this flight in the first place.
There are parts of the movie that provoke memories of Alain Guiraudie’s award winning Stranger By The Lake, but that might be more to do with fact that they both share a theme of anonymous sex. However even though Four Days in France runs for a hefty 137 minutes, consists of a series of unsatisfactory brief relationships and lacks a destination in every sense of the word, it is still a beguiling movie with somewhat surprising resonance. It was an exceptionally brave choice for Reybaud to make for his debut feature, but it was one that paid off handsomely in the end.
CMT and iHeartRadio host Cody Alan has come out as gay, via an Instagram post on Thursday.
In an open and heartfelt message, Alan wrote, “there is something I want to share with you. You see, I’m gay. This is not a choice I made, but something I’ve known about myself my whole life.”
Alan spoke with People Magazine about his struggle to finally come out publicly, doing so at the age of 44.
“Though my TV or my radio persona was always that of a happy guy, there was this underlying ache inside of me for years, so I decided either I was gonna do something about it, or I was gonna live with this layer of misery underneath that happy face on the TV,” he said.
“Once I realized it was okay to accept the truth, that it wasn’t my choice, it was a lot easier to start figuring out where to go with my life next,” he continued. “I’ve wanted to share this part of my life, but I now have gotten to the point where it just feels right, and I’m at peace with where I am enough to be able to express it.”
“I struggled with my sexuality starting at a very young age,” he said. “I remember having distinct feelings early in my life. I knew this about myself, and I had a really hard time dealing with it. I was so ashamed of who I was.”
Alan got married at the age of 24 and started a family. He has two children, now 18 and 14, with his ex-wife.
“I felt like getting married was what I was supposed to do. It’s what everyone wanted me to do, and I felt, somehow, like maybe that’s what would make me straight — and obviously that’s not how it works! But I dreamed of that family, which I now have.”
He expressed what he was feeling and going through to his wife ten years ago, and they decided that they couldn’t allow the marriage to continue.
“Everyone needs to give 100 percent of their heart for a true, committed relationship,” Alan said. “But ultimately, my ex and I knew there was no way that could ever happen.”
He began coming out to his close friends and family, and was met with support.
“You realize very quickly that people are very loving and accepting and supportive. And you feel like it’s good for you to share that most sincere truth about you.”
Alan is now in a relationship with an occupational therapist, named Michael Smith.
“He’s an amazing person — incredibly strong and confident and loving — and he’s really helped me face these battles,” Alan said. “He’s already battled so much of what I’ve been or am going through, so his strength has boosted my own confidence.”
As for why he felt it important to come out to the fans, the South Carolina native said he wants to be a change maker.
“I would like to be a voice that can speak to people who are facing challenges that we all face, for struggles that we all come across, because we’re all going through something. To be able to say: There is life, and you can find it, and take steps to improve yourself based on what you know,” he said. “If I could be someone who’s vocal about facing struggles and overcoming them, I’d like to be.”
“Even if it’s just one person that hears it and says, ‘I like country music and maybe I’m not so different after all.’ There’s some person out there who’s loving country music and thinks they don’t fit in, and that’s not true: You do fit in here, and there’s a place for people who are different.
For those who enjoy a mix of romance with their mysteries (or is it the other way around?), here are ten of my favorite lesbian sleuths. One characteristic that these series have in common is mature protagonists, although some of the first books begin when they are young. From P.I, FBI, police women, and reporters to a translator and a coffee shop owner, all these lesbians have become friends who I want to follow in future books.
Barbara Wilson’s Cassandra Reilly series are much more sleuthing than romancing, and the twists and turns between schemes and mistaken genders add to the laugh-out-loud humor. Each one is part travelogue as lesbian translator Cass travels the world and maneuvers between old and new girlfriends in her attempt to help friends. Co-founder of Seal Press, Wilson changed her name to Barbara Sjoholm in 2000. These endearing books were published between 1993 and 2000.
Gaudi Afternoon
Trouble in Transylvania
The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman: and Other Adventures with Cassandra Reilly
The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists
Elizabeth Sims’ protagonist Lillian Byrd is a reporter based in Detroit who is continually involved in huge mistakes of her own making. While Byrd fails to keep any long-term relationships, her love liaisons follow her as she frequently finds herself in a mess while summersaulting through funny, suspenseful, and sometimes gritty adventures. Plots in these page-turners are unpredictable, and the quirky well-developed characters go in unexpected directions. Sims is working on her fifth book, Left Field, featuring women’s softball.
Holy Hell
Damn Straight
Lucky Stiff
Easy Street
Erica Abbott partners Internal Affairs investigator CJ St. Clair, both personally and professionally, with Captain Alex Ryan. As a blond, gorgeous southern femme, CJ is a striking contrast to her dark, handsome love interest. No matter how many times this description has been used, Abbott manages to escape the predictable with very different voices and charm for each of them. Set in Colfax, Colorado, the Alex & CJ series, uses fast-paced plotting, sometimes exaggerated, as the two lesbians battle near-death disasters in shootouts while rushing to uncover a mysterious evil presence that could permanently separate the two of them.
Fragmentary Blue
Certain Dark Things
Acquainted with the Night
Jessie Chandler’s caper mystery series features Minnesota coffee shop owner Shay O’Hanlon who not only gets her friends out of trouble but also saves her badge-wearing lover, JT Bordeaux. The plots feature classic character types and the reversal of the protagonist getting her cop girlfriend out of trouble. Frothy and bubbly, this series is the lightest of the ten.
Bingo Barge Murder
Hide and Snake Murder
Pickle in the Middle Murder
Chip Off the Ice Block Murder
Lori Lake’sGun series begins with police patrol officer Dez Reilly saving Jaylynn Savage and her housemate Sara from rape and ends with the two stumbling through fire to finally be together. In between, the two struggle with personal and professional issues to be together as reserved Dez slowly drops her walls to let in love. With excellent pacing and foreshadowing, the strings of the plots and characters comfortably flow to completion in both the exciting police work and the characters’ development. Lake’s flawed characters are honest and believable, and the relationship is sweet as Jay believes that Dez is the same woman who has been protecting her since she was a child battling bad dreams. The fifth in the series, Gunpoint is projected for this winter.
Gun Shy
Under the Gun
Have Gun We’ll Travel
Jump the Gun
Lynn Ames’ Kate and Jay series covers several years between the time that TV reporter Katherine Kyle and news magazine writer Jamison “Jay” Parker first find each other in college only to lose and find each other through career changes and dangerous political conspiracies. The problem-solving within the power structure including politicians, espionage, and secret paramilitary organizations depicts the abilities of strong female role models. Especially notable are the excellent sense of setting, especially from the outdoor activities, and the fresh characterizations delineated through their behaviors. Each book brings in new characters to supplement the existing ones.
The Price of Fame
The Cost of Commitment
The Value of Valor
M. Aguilar’s Shana Niguel series features a private investigator and one-time FBI Agent who solves crimes with uninvited nudges (intuitions) and revelations. Complicated plotting leaves no loose ends as Niguel encounters rancher Kate Wolf, the women she learns to love. The humor of the series is complemented by captivating characters including her cohorts, madcap friend Guadalupe and supportive Aunt Grace as they move into different settings.
Chloe’s Heart
Double legacy
Circle Game
Loves you, Loves Me knot
E. Bradshaw’s FBI Special Agent Rainey Bell takes a leave from her job as a behavioral analyst after she is almost killed by a close friend from her childhood who turns out to be a serial killer. Her new job is her father’s bail bond business with Mackie, her dad’s best friend, as partner and Ernie as office manager. The three very different personalities spark the plotting, and Katie, the widow of Bell’s attacker and Rainey’s love interest, adds to the mix. Through Rainey’s family relationships and her relationship with Katie, the psychologically damaged protagonist slowly recovers from past evil despite her current job’s danger. Bradshaw’s plotting comes from an early fascination with true crime novels followed by an interest in the science of people who profile serial killers.
Rainey Days
Rainey Nights
Rainey Season
Colde and Rainey
Rose Beecham, Jennifer Fulton’s pseudonym, has fashioned a tough, take-charge FBI agent, Jude Devine, who lives and works in the emptiness and desolation of the Four Corners area of southeastern Utah. Posing as a sheriff’s deputy who investigates white supremacists, she is accompanied by her naive side-kick Tully, her wise Native American friend Eddie, and her on-and-mostly-off again lover Dr. Mercy Westmoreland. The author skillfully captures the bareness and desolation of the area and provides an insightful look at cults and extreme groups who band together in this unwelcoming country.
Grave Silence
Sleep of Reason
A Place of Exile
Sonje Jones’ Detective series involves Cornelia Osgood (Oz to her friends), a hard-boiled P.I. who jumps into one fine mess after the other chasing bad guys and women until she gets caught by her best friend, Abby O’Leary. Misunderstanding and trust issues separate them, and the plotting moves back and forth between Oz’s attempts to solve crimes and regain her girlfriend. In the opinionated, tough tone of Oz’s first-person narrative, she overrides and manipulates everyone around her.
Today, GLAAD launched glaadgrants, which provides completion funding and professional mentorships to content creators for in-progress works that advance GLAAD’s mission of amplifying diverse voices from the LGBTQ community. This comes as part of GLAAD’s goal to develop a pipeline of talented LGBTQ content creators that can move into the mainstream of Hollywood and be top of mind for the entertainment industry.
Gaudi Afternoon
Certain Dark Things
Bingo Barge Murder 
Pickle in the Middle Murder
