Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 492 i GAY TIMES

20% 20% of Millennials in the US identify as LGBTQ. Source: GLAAD 63% 63% of non-LGBTQ 18-34 year olds in the US identify as allies. Source: GLAAD 8.85% In 2018, out of 857 regular characters on television, 75 (8.85%) identified as part of the LGBTQ community. Source: GLAAD 40% 40% of LGBTQ pupils are never taught anything about queer issues in school. Source: Stonewall 76% 76% of LGBTQ pupils have never learnt about bisexuality in school Source: Stonewall 77% 77% of LGBTQ pupils have never learnt about gender identity or what ‘trans’ means at school Source: Stonewall 57% 57% of young people in the US and UK don’t identify as being totally heterosexual. Source: Ditch The Label 90% 90% of young people in the US and UK agreed that the…

Is is too extra to say that Alice Chater has taken away our air supply? Fack it, we’ll go there, because the British singer-songwriter hasn’t let us breathe over the past year with her massive dance-pop anthems and fieeerce high-concept videos. Her clip for Hourglass? The choreography! The hairography! Beyonce and Roxxxy Andrews who? Later this year, the pop princess will release her highly-anticipated studio album, which will consist of more powerhouse vocals and breakup anthems. She’s giving us everything we need isn’t she? “The LGBTQ community love good singers,” she tells us. “They like singers who can saaang! I’ve noticed that they all love Mariah and a full package pop star, it’s so cool!” We caught up with the up-and-coming star to discuss her love for the queer community,…

Jamie Windust: For gender non-conforming (GNC) people our aesthetic and gender expression is super important for us and our existence. What tips would you give someone who wants to explore their femininity in a safe but carefree way? Alok Vaid Menon: Gender expression is relational: often times it takes affirmation from other people to help femifest ourselves. There is no way I could be the person I am today if it wasn’t for other people rooting for me and being there to process the grief of harassment. Both friendship and performance have been some of the few spaces where I was encouraged and supported to experiment with my gender. So I would suggest exploring around people close to you who do not couple your appearance with your worth. JW: How…

Jamie Windust: Your creations – let’s just call it what it is – ART, truly express GNC beauty. How does it make you feel to transform people into their truest selves? Dee TrannyBear: I love to bring out people’s true colours! Living in your true self to me, is very important. It gives you a feeling of empowerment, freedom and happiness to your spirit and soul. When a human being is feeling forced to portray themselves as something they’re not, it’s mentally challenging and will hold that person back. Just because my gender non-conforming and trans community likes to express themselves a little more fierce and fabulous than binary people, it shouldn’t give people the right to force us into certain societal boxes, that were created by colonizers that had…

Jamie Windust: As an actor, what are your views on cis/heterosexual actors playing trans/queer roles in hollywood? JP Moraga: As a Filipino-American actor, there’s so much privilege within the cis/heterosexual/white world. We are now in a time where there is more LGBTQ talent in the pool. There shouldn’t be any more excuses in every department in Hollywood. Now is the time of giving chances to us who identify as trans or queer. JW: What’s your favourite thing about living and thriving in New York City as someone who is gender non-conforming? JPM: I love living up my freedom no matter where I am in the city and the ability to express myself. I love seeing more and more of my fellow gender non-conforming tribe roaming the city with pride, power,…

It’s been two years since Sasha Velour became the eleventh crowned queen of RuPaul’s Drag Race (including All Stars) and left the world positively gagged with their rose-petal extravaganza. Since then, the New York-based performer has used their platform to create safe spaces for the LGBTQ community and to represent queer advocacy in entertainment. Last year, Sasha was signed by global celebrity talent agency William Morris Entertainment after speaking at the Teen Vogue Summit, and later became the creative director for the opening show of New York Fashion Week. They then published their own coffee table art book, Velour: The Drag Magazine, which comprises of poetry, essays, history, queer theory, magic and a sickening photo series. In celebration of Sasha’s first solo show, Smoke and Mirrors (touring Australia this month),…

Heeeennies, if you’re unaware of Salina EsTitties, then you need to get into this queen like, right now, because this is a self-described “tit” that you’ll be seeing a lot more of in the future... OFFICIALLY. The LA-based drag performer, who’s made her mark in the entertainment industry with her parody videos on YouTube, is about to star in several TV shows such as #NoFilter, Vida and AJ and the Queen, the highly-anticipated Netflix comedy series starring RuPaul. But will we ever see her on Drag Race? “I would love to be on the show!” she tells us. “There was a lot of rumours, but I didn’t get no phone call. That inspired me to work harder and really pursue it, and I look forward to auditioning for the next…

Amanda Lepore is an icon… alongside being an entertainer, model, muse, author and blonde bombshell. Her words, not ours – not that we’d disagree with any of the previous. Her legendary look, live performances and outspoken championing of trans rights has had the fashion world and the queer community as her biggest supporters since day one. Unapologetically not giving a fuck about the societal norms or approaches towards plastic surgery, the David Lachapelle favourite has defined her own outlook on the world. “I would never let anything get in my way… I just did my thing,” Amanda tells Transparent actress and former Gay Times cover star Trace Lysette when we bring the pair together for Amanda’s cover interview. And while they share equal amounts of affection and mutual respect for…

It takes but two seconds of being with Tom Rasmussen – or Crystal Rasmussen, if you’ve met them in drag – to fall in love. Their vibrant personality, outrageous life stories and positive outlook on life have become their greatest assets. That is, after their skill with a makeup brush. Have you seen that drag contour? But alongside the pleasing aesthetic is a tough, but justified, approach to the world they navigate. A proud voice for the non-binary community, Tom’s taking a first step into the world of publishing by snatching that byline and releasing their own memoir, Diary of a Drag Queen. Following a year in the life of Crystal, it covers everything from the hilarity of being a PA – which involved being a ‘personal sexter’ to their…

Jamie Windust: POSE is now a Golden G lobe nominated TV Show which is a true testament to the power it had on our screens. What lasting message or feeling did working on it leave you with? B. Hawk Snipes: Working on the TV show POSE has probably been one of my biggest accomplishments thus far, and not just for my entertainment resume but also for my state of mind. I struggled with owning my feminine energy emotionally and questioned if I was non-binary or GNC. It wasn’t until the show aired and I saw the amount of love from another GNC and non-binary people that I knew from listening to their words of encouragement and experiences that I identified more as non-binary. JW: We are both signed models and…

Jamie Windust: Your designs and creations really have that unique and bespoke feel. How much did your gender identity and expression come into play when designing these pieces? Jeffrey C. Williams: When designing shoes, clothing, handbags and other pieces for my lifestyle company (jeffreycwilliams.com), my designs reflect my gender fluidity, personal history, emotions, and how I want to be seen in the world. It takes lots of confidence, vulnerability, gentleness, and courage to be one of us. I like my pieces to reflect that uniqueness. There’s also a constant thread of my feminine and masculine energy woven through my designs. A sense of balance and unbalance at times. JW: New York has just legally recognised the third gender identifier that is now available on birth certificates, which is amazing. How…

When it comes to a safe pair of hands, they don’t come any better than Sharon D. Clarke. The Olivier Award-winning actor has been in some of the biggest and boldest pieces of theatre that have ever been seen on British shores – and so often she’s led those companies, too. However, Sharon’s latest project finds her at the helm of a moving and thrilling piece of work that examines one woman’s struffles with the world and people around her. Arriving into the West End, Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change is a remarkable piece of work that explores racism and prejudice in the USA. “When we opened the show in Chichester initially, it was the week of the Charlottesville riots so it couldn’t be more relevant,” Sharon explains of the…

“My whole life is very queer,” Betty Who says. “It’s very much being a part of the LGBTQ community.” We’re chatting over the phone a day after she started her support slot for Panic! At The Disco as they embark on huge tour of North America. Naturally, she’s full of praise for frontman Brendon Urie, but also excited to be back on the road previewing new material from her forthcoming third studio album Betty. It’s the first full-length studio album she will release following her departure from major label RCA in 2017. Going independent has allowed the Sydney-born star to embrace her love for pop, fulfilling childhood dreams to their fullest extent. You only have to listen to new cut The One to hear that turn-of-the-millennium pop has been a…

Coming out once is hard enough, but for professional wrestler Anthony Bowens, it’s a process he’s gone through twice. He first publicly identified as bisexual in 2017, after a cute YouTube video of him and his boyfriend Michael Pavano came to the attention of his fellow wrestlers. Then, after two years of being a voice for the bi community, he decided it was time to come out as gay. “Around six or seven months ago, I was developing a new wrestling character, so I started to go over all the media work I’ve done over the past couple of years, and each article would describe me as ‘the bisexual pro wrestler’ and at the time, when I first came out two years ago, I felt that label was what closest…

Niceness gets you a long way. It doesn’t hurt if you have a lovely hotel in a beautiful location but someone to look after you (thank you, Simpson Travel!), to make you feel like they want you there, to arrange all your travel and answer your questions, even when you feel you’ve been a bit annoying, that’s what matters. Oh and the fact that when you get there, you find out it’s adults only so you don’t have to worry about falling over… whatever toys children are using these days. The hotel in question is White Orchid, a sandstone-coloured modern build that is blocky and cool and yet somehow rustic (that’ll be the sandstone) in Sivota on the Epirus Coast of Greece. The fact that they only have eight suites…

In partnership with cottages.com Experiencing the natural phenomena of the Northern Lights need not come with a Scandinavian price tag. The theatrical performances of the Aurora Borealis that have captured the awe of mankind for millennia often frequent the skies of Scotland with cameo appearances. One such parterre for viewing is the Isle of Skye on Scotland’s North West coast. Famed for its rugged landscape, wild heather, glistening lochs and ambient moorlands, the Isle of Skye is a wild, natural wonder from earth to sky and is undoubtedly one of Scotland’s most breath-taking landscapes. The largest and most northern island in the Inner Hebrides, Skye has close similar latitude to Stavanger in Norway and Nunivak Island in Alaska: this, paired the unpolluted skies make the Isle of Skye the ideal…

The numbers don’t lie. In a study conducted by Ditch The Label in 2017, more than half of young people (13-26 year olds) in the UK and US said that they don’t identify as exclusively straight. It shone a bright spotlight on a new generation of people who are more open about their sexual identity, refusing to conform to the status quo and more confident than ever to be true to their authentic selves. It’s likely what has helped turbo-boost the reclaiming of the word ‘queer’ from a derogatory term used against LGBTQ people from the end of the 19th century through to the 1990s, when LGBTQ groups – such as New York City activists Queer Nation – started to identify using the once pejorative word. At the turn of…

Last year, FX drama Pose – the latest show on Ryan Murphy’s ever-expanding roster – premiered to universal acclaim and made history with the largest cast of trans actors on television. The series, which follows the world of ball-culture in 1987, was renewed for a second season and subsequently received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards. Writer and producer, Our Lady J – who has also provided her talents to the Amazon comedy-drama Transparent – caught up with her friend and activist Munroe Bergdorf to discuss the success of Pose, and how she drew from her experiences as a HIV-positive trans woman to create one of the most authentic shows on television. Munroe Bergdorf: Hey babe! So you must be over the moon with the reception…

I’m sat in my, what I call, ‘London Office’, which is actually just a coffee shop that I’ve called home for the past six months staring at this page and just not knowing where to begin. And as a writer, that’s bizarre. I even took myself off to Tate Britain for a gloriously camp ‘emotional stroll in the rain’ to try and recalibrate my brain, but I still couldn’t begin. I can’t really tell you why either. I write about being non-binary all the time and it’s the first thing that my talons on the end of my fingers go to do when I open my laptop. Maybe it’s because this is a moment for me and so many other people. My first cover interview for a magazine that I…

Jamie Windust: You’ve spoken about TERFS on your socials last year and their ridiculous views – how do you think trans/GNC people like us should combat that level of non-inclusive feminism? Devin-Norelle: We should continue producing literature and creating spaces where we put into practice that which we preach. Intersectionality is a difficult concept for so many others to grasp; when holding space, others can learn by observing. I also believe many people are unknowingly TERFs. A couple years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie expressed her belief that trans women and women were not one in the same. When it was brought to her attention that this opinion was transphobic and that she was wrong, she denied that it could have been transphobic and, instead, doubled down on her belief. It’s…

Jamie Windust: How do you find working as a dancer intersects with your identity? To me, I love it. The freedom and fluidity in both your identity and the dancing that you do seems like a perfect combination. Jeremy Moineau: Being a dancer is like viewing the world through another lens and experiencing everything in a much more intense way. You start to hear the rhythm in a car engine the same as you would hear the beat under a music track, things like that. My background in dance also helped me understand gender fluidity because so much of what we do as dancers is fluid and experimental and very much about discovery of self. JW: Your social me dia is a true curation of beautiful content, structured in such…

Zolita first made her mark on the queer music scene in 2015 with the release of her lesbian darkpop anthem, Explosion. Since then, the American singer-songwriter has added several biographical LGBTQ bops to her ever-expanding discography, which will soon be followed by her sophomore EP later this year. When we caught up with the self-described “feminist lesbian woman”, she told us it’s important for her to be out-and-proud in order to “fill that void and be that person” she needed growing up – and she does this by including female pronouns within her music. “Pronouns are so important because it normalises the queer experience and makes people feel valid,” she explained. We also spoke to Zolita about her brand new banger Truth Tea, the challenges she faces as a new…

Bella Thorne’s life is unpredictable. Although, that’s how she likes things. The 21-year-old former child star, actor, singer, writer, entrepreneur and social media sensation thrives on keeping people on their toes. It’s why she has over 18 million followers on Instagram and why, for the last few years, gossip rags have stalked and obsessed over her – you never know what she’s going to do next. The Daily Mail and commenters on Instagram would like you to believe that Thorne is out of control (she might be), taking on a number of hardcore drugs (she’s not, just weed) and following in the footsteps of former Disney stars like Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato, whose wild antics we now know were a mask for something much darker. Indeed, if you were…

When film and stage icon Simon Callow came out in 1984, he became one of the first British actors to publicly declare their homosexuality – and in an entirely unremarkable manner. Far from reducing his career to ruin, as many stars worry would happen even now, Simon went on to star in several high-profile stage shows and films including, most famously, hit British rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral. As he rehearses for the lead role in Theatre Royal Bath’s production of A Song At Twilight, Noël Coward’s critically-acclaimed swan song, we sat down with Simon to look back over key moments in his life, from his discovery of the gay scene, to coming out to his family, to getting married to his husband Sebastian. What is your first memory…

Anyone who encourages the drinking of champagne in the bath – a big freestanding copper bath in this case – and even invents a wooden bath caddy with holes for champagne glasses is definitely on the right track. In this case, the champagne pusher is TV-famous Michelin starred chef Paul Ainsworth, whose Padstow Townhouse experience is based firmly around food and drink. As we come in off the tiny little lane called High Street, the whole place smells of the dinky Cornish pasties being fresh-baked especially to welcome us. Then there’s a whole pantry stocked with cake and every type of drink from Diet Coke to Ruinart champagne (there’s even a wine dispensing machine) on the ground floor. And when we get back from our gourmet dinner at Paul Ainsworth…

The largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, off the West Coast of Africa, Tenerife isn’t all beach resorts and wellness retreats. Officially named a Starlight Tourist Destination and designated starlight reserve, Tenerife, and more specifically Tenerife’s Teide National Park, offer tourists a splash of sparkling constellations on a nightly basis. With the Sahara Desert on one side and the wild Atlantic Ocean on the other, Tenerife is uniquely placed for a stargazing experience that rivals even that of Atacama Desert, Chile and Death Valley National Park, California. The craggy peaks of the island, beyond the luminous awning of the urban lights of the island guarantee the best astrological experience. Teide National Park is a unique geological treasure: by day it’s an impressive array of shapes, colours and shadows delivered by the…