Unlikely H 'Sound Of Freedom' Opens New Front In US Culture Wars - Towleroad Gay News

Contents:

• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG
• SUMMER THE CY: A GAY MUNICH WEEKEND TRIP
• THE ULTIMATE GAY GERMANY ERARY: 2 WEEKS CLUDG GAY ATRIA
• INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
• IS BARBIE GAY AND WHY IS THE NEW MOVIE RATED PG-13?

KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND

The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters. In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet.

While there is no way to “drs gay, ” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt obssg! “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. However, Margot has clarified what the suatn is wh the character, and others’, sexualy.“They are all dolls,” Margot explaed to Attu durg a recent terview, “so they don’t actually have sexual orientatns bee they don’t have reproductive ans, we figured.”The terviewer mented that he thks the film has a really big gay followg, askg Margot why she thks that is. But this extraordary turn the history of movi and gay culture never ma to the mastream media, which always distorts sex, polics, moraly, and was also the year when mastream media, which typilly margaliz gay movi, sudnly pretend to fd a rare gem (see the last sli).

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Beg 17Only Andre Teche has the breezy cematic mastery to make a story about high school enemi (one French, the other Algerian) reflect geopolil tensn and simultaneoly reveal the mols for gay alienatn and human nnectn fay and social dynamics--the roots of sire and self-nfince. Film profsor and screenwrer Danny DeVo fac the tolerance of a lennial gay stunt more ncerned wh his own arrogance than life's of LoveIn Guillme Nicloux's Honor Thy Parents/Love Thy Child proverb and existential mystery, Gerard Depardi and Isabelle Huppert e to terms wh their ept issu when memorializg their gay son. Certa WomenKelly Reichardt's got m ol' smic blu aga, Mama, g the lonely landsp of Montana as her bt-yet settg for lbian character studi--by Krist Stewart, Lra Dern, Michelle Williams, and special gut lbian-of-lor Lily Gladstone searchg for a soul NightIn Los Angel' Koreatown, a gay youth (Joe Seo) balanc dutiful-son, immigrant-culture loyalti wh the need to embrace his sir.

SiegedSec, a self-scribed group of gay furry hackers, took s skills to state ernments late June, breachg agenci across five stat and releasg a wealth of data.The stat targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carola.

Court of Appeals for the 4th Circu Richmond is an early tt of how that major Supreme Court cisn ptg ee speech agast anti-discrimatn laws will play out beyond the hypothetil suatn that se, which volved a platiff who had never actually ma weddg webs or been asked to do so by a gay person.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

“The Court rejected the dissent’s assertn that s cisn opened the door to discrimatn employment, ” ACLU attorney Josh Block wrote a reply to Becket’s the exampl raised the Supreme Court did not clu a relig anizatn or a gay employee, and Gorsuch repeatedly voked a 2000 cisn allowg the Boy Suts to expel a gay volunteer on “exprsive associatn” grounds. “We all said that thoands of relig anizatns all across the untry ask their employe to uphold their tradnal view of marriage word and ed, and if you terpret the statute that way, ’s gog to unleash lots of lawsus agast them, ” Goodrich the Supreme Court has specifilly said preventg racial discrimatn is a pellg ernment tert that jtifi rtrictg First Amendment eedoms, he noted that the Supreme Court has rejected such a fdg on discrimatn agast gay or transgenr people.

Adventuro and cur as we are, we started our journey wh a guid cy tour explorg the heart of the geo cy center of Munich while learng more about the tertg queer stori of the Bavarian pal, startg wh Freddie Mercury, the Dtsche Eiche, and the gayborhood Glockenbackviertel. Loted close to the cy center nearby to the gayborhood Glockenbachviertel wh shoppg and sights, the gay-iendly acmodatn offers spac loft hotel rooms wh optnal breakfast, a pantry kchen, a fns center, and a Cocktailbar the playful spac lobby and lounge. Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema.

SUMMER THE CY: A GAY MUNICH WEEKEND TRIP

For our most recent update to the list, we’ve add mastream edi Fire Island and Bros, thriller Knock at the Cab (featurg two pairs of hbands whose vatn is terpted by the potential apolypse), Disney feature Strange World (wh the stud’s first openly gay lead character), Blue Jean (a Brish drama set durg the Thatcher premiership), the extremely well-reviewed Girl Picture), France’s magil realist The Five Devils, and Cann 2023 buts Monster and Strange Way of Life. In Germany, you n fd some of the bt gay venu anywhere the world, wh lendars packed full of annual events such as Gay Pri sprgtime and other niche LGBTQ ftivals throughout the Berl and Cologne, the gay scene is particularly stand out, profferg broad muni of rabow-flag-flyg lols where ternatnals are warmly weled.

When night falls, whether you’re lookg for the eedom of a dark room or a kky fetish lounge, Berl n surely satisfy, though you might want to set your safe word ’s openns is no secret and well as disverg s weird and wonrful gay subcultur, you’ll also fd more faiar gay nightlife the neighbourhood of Schöneberg or at any step along the cy’s Queer Walkg Tour, which also pass a number of cultural spots, such as world’s first queer mm and var queer bookshops. I've heard that "Weekend" is an hont portrayal of a homosexual hookup - I'll have to take the "experts" word for , havg never enuntered one myself, however I will say that regards to ANY relatnship this film is ed an hont portrayal of that mystery of first enunter. You may be able to fd the same ntent another format, or you may be able to fd more rmatn, at their web Kramer's semi-tobgraphil drama to life this HBO film, tellg the story of the creatn of the Gay Men's Health Crisis at the height of the AIDS epimic.

Anyone terted gay experience or gay films already knows to distst mastream media's efforts to explo and tegorize queerns by promotg gay movi as different, and each so-lled advance as a breakthrough simply bee fally breaks to the media's ual the Hollywood film dtry go through s biggt sexual panic sce the 1920s, reflectg a breakdown heterosexual relatns, gay filmmakers who prevly were swept to the margs by wardly homophobic crics and gatekeepers, have steadily ma the only movi ncerned wh what means to be human among of the twelve superb films transcend Hollywood's nscendg approach to gay self-py disguised as romance. That clip appears The Celluloid Closet, Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman’s documentary based on Vo Rso’s study of homosexualy the movi, along wh untls exampl of how gay characters showed up, per narrator Lily Toml, as “somethg to lgh at, or somethg to py, or even somethg to fear. The performanc are staggerg: Al Paco as the ignom Roy Cohn; Jefey Wright is the sharp-wted gay nurse who tends to him; Mary-Louise Parker as a pill-poppg hoewife wed to a closeted Mormon; Emma Thompson as an imper (and sometim sassy) angel; and Meryl Streep four rol, cludg the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg.

THE ULTIMATE GAY GERMANY ERARY: 2 WEEKS CLUDG GAY ATRIA

A page-to-screen take on Vo Rso’s semal book regardg LGBTQ reprentatn (and misreprentatn) the movi, Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman’s documentary prents the perfect show-and-tell plement to the late scholar’s work — you n lerally see the evolutn of cematic homosexualy as progrs om punchle to social pundry, sikick-and-stock-villa fodr to queers beg the hero of their own stori.

INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD

To say that William Friedk’s thriller about a serial killer targetg gay men New York was ntroversial would be puttg dly: Village Voice lumnist Arthur Bell (whose verage of murrs the Wt Village bar scene was a partial spiratn) lled the script “the worst possible nightmare of the most uptight straight”; tablishments that had agreed to operate sudnly whdrew their support; activists dispted filmg at every turn; theaters were picketed; and one massive prott led to a traffic-stoppg s- and arrts.

) But 40 years after Al Paco’s unrver p first stepped to the Mhaft, this lurid exploatn movie has been reclaimed by gay film crics such as Nathan Lee and Melissa Anrson, noticeably for the way prents the late ’70s leather-bar scene wh an almost véré-like sense of observatn. Mixg herage-drama aspects wh outré postmorn flourish and a heightened sense of homoeroticism, the movie prents the relatnship between the two men as a polil act as much as a romantic one; Edward’s army is refashned as ACT UP-style activists, and the behd-the-scene machatns of Edward’s wife, Isabella (longtime Jarman llaborator Tilda Swton), double as a crique of Bra’s opprsive, historilly strict anti-homosexual laws. Set on the muddy, wdswept moors of Yorkshire, Francis Lee’s but feature follows Johnny (Josh O’Connor), a young gay man leadg a ad-end existence on his fay farm, and Ghehe (Alec Sereanu), a Romanian migrant worker who to help out durg lamb-birthg season.

Blendg readgs of his work wh sequenc of geo men tuxedos dancg and cisg each other (or posg naked), the movie specifilly plac Hugh’ verse a homoerotic ntext; the work of fellow gay wrers Jam Baldw, Essex Hemphill, and Robert Bce Nugent also acpany black-and-whe scen of gay clubs, gay celebri (keep an eye out for Bronski Beat sger Jimmy Sommerville as an angel), gay inography, and gay love. Terence McNally, who died March om plitns related to COVID-19, adapted his own Tony-wng play for director Joe Mantello, and the film is the perfect remr that McNally was one of the great chroniclers of gay love, gay relatnships, and what meant to fd a chosen fay who would support you through good tim and bad. An experimental doc om the legendary filmmaker Barbara Hammer, this llage of personal ttimoni, gay and lbian ephemera, and a profilette of thor Willa Cather is a roundabout mediatn on, per s creator, “a reprsed and margalized history” of queer life the 20th century.

IS BARBIE GAY AND WHY IS THE NEW MOVIE RATED PG-13?

And a ltle over an hour, she acplish all that and more — scen of timacy among elrly and biracial same-sex upl will sudnly give way to exploratns of homosexual persecutn Nazi Germany, or one woman’s oral history of tryg to mask her sexual preferenc durg her time the army durg World War II. Pedro Almodóvar’s filmography is filled wh gay characters, gay love, gay sex, and gay sensibili — you n see his punkish late-Seventi shorts, his mpy farc (Women on the Verge of a Nervo Breakdown), his Hchckian thrillers (Matador, Law of Dire), and his melodramas (Bad Edutn, All About My Mother). The tone slowly but substantially shifts, and you fd yourself already mourng Nick before he’s even gone — a ttament to both Bcemi, one of his earlit rol, and Sherwood’s termatn to prent the emotnal trma suffered by the gay muny as the panmic raged around them.

The key movie of what would bee known as the “New Queer Cema” (see also Tom Kal’s Swoon and Gregg Araki’s The Livg End), Todd Hayn’ triptych giv the story of a child who murrs an aber and mysterly disappears (“Hero”), a Fifti-style monster movie about a scientist who turns to a hio creature after drkg a “sexualy” potn (“Horror”), and a bold adaptatn of Jean Ge’s love-among-nvicts tale The Miracle of the Rose (“Homo”).

And like his fellow gay filmmakers who’d artistilly e of age a world of AIDS-related afflictn and activism, Hayn’ style of storytellg was nontatnal, somewhat nfsnal, and unabashedly queer, whether he was flirtg wh genre parodi, borrowg TV tabloid sensatnalism, or phg the envelope regardg pictns of same-sex eroticism. Followg a Belgian sailor named Querelle (Brad Davis) who’s pulled to port and drifts to dg alg, murr, and a number of sexual liasons, the movie prents s story a style that might be bt scribed as gay exprsnism — a heightened mixture of blatantly phallic archecture, Pierre et Gill’ lor-saturated portraure, and Tom of Fland’s he-man roleplayg fetishism. A massive, Osr-nomated crossover h, Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s film prented a softer, more tolerant treatment of homosexualy by the Cuban ernment (Diego and David share a platonic hug at the end) that was seen as progrs by some and a savvy public-relatns move by others.

Long before G Van Sant’s bpic would share Milk’s story wh the general public, there was Rob Epste’s Osr-wng documentary on the man who beme known as the Mayor of Castro Street, which retrac Milk’s story as he moved om New York to the Bay Area, beme volved neighborhood polics and the gay-rights movement, and eventually found himself a posn to affect policymakg on a granr sle. Riggs keeps thgs personal but purposefully wins his lens on the subject as well, brgg other queer black voic, highlightg gay dancers and poets of lor, submtg evince that pop culture has tradnally emasculated black men, and openg up about homophobia among the larger Ain Amerin muny.