- Nic F. Anderson
Queer Catch Up: Friday, Oct. 11, 2019
Welcome to yungmiga’s Queer Catch-Up, a weekly post where folks can catch up recent queer news, pop culture and upcoming queer events in Chicago.
News round-up
Photo of Skylar Jay | Twitter
A trans University of Georgia employee and former "Queer Eye" guest, Skyler Jay, fought the university to end ban on transgender health coverage.
The U.S. Attorney is prosecuting a D.C. anti-trans attack as a hate crime after dropping “most of the hate crime crime designations made by D.C. police for violent crimes against LGBT people in 2018,” the Washington Blade reported.
LBGTQ+ activists hand-delivered a letter to 13 D.C. City Council members signed by 72 LBGTQ+ and ally organizations, asking council members to pass a bill to decriminalize sex workers. The letter stated: “We, the 72 undersigned organizations, write to express our strong support for the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019 (Bill 23-0318)…As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and allied organizations, we know that the decriminalization of sex work in D.C. is critical to the health and wellbeing of the LGBTQ community, including by improving public health and decreasing the vulnerability of marginalized sex workers, particularly transgender women of color.”
Vimeo video "There's Queer Blood on Your Homophobic Hands"
Notre Dame students tell Catholic campus groups: “There’s queer blood on your homophobic hands.”
Photo of Brandon Allen after being crowned | Twitter
Gay high school senior, Brandon Allen, 17, wearing a gold dress was crowned homecoming royalty in Tennessee.
Photographer, Ally Gonzolo, explores Filipino “bakla” culture through portrait series of gay, trans, non-binary and bisexual folks. Bakla is Tagalog, describing a Filipino person assigned male at birth but has adopted traditionally “feminine” mannerisms. Bakla includes folks who identify as trans, non-binary, bisexual, amongst other identities; however, collectively referring to Bakla folks as gay in incorrect because some Bakla folks identify as women.
Femme poster for October | Facebook
Alden DiCamillo interviewed Alex Suarez about the origins of their drag show, “Femme,” which launched in January in Georgia.
Tina Horn's website
Chingy L. Gay wrote about “Tina Horn on Making SFSX, a Comic Where Queer Sex Workers Are Heroes” for Jezebel. Gay writes about how Horn has made a career in both journalism and non-fiction – both of which have drawn from Horn’s experiences and a queer sex worker and “self-professed pervert.”
An investigation from YouTube creators and researchers found YouTube’s moderation bots punish videos that tagged as “gay” or “lesbian” when it comes to content being demonetized or not.
Pop culture: in case you missed it
Getty Images
Christine and the Queens critisizes Taylor Swift’s LGBTQ-themed video, citing that “The queer aesthetic cannot be sold” and claiming the issues queer folks face are being used as a marketing scheme. “Being queer has been glossed out as this super-fancy accessory. You can tell that the queer aesthetic is being used to sell things. But I think the core of the queer aesthetic cannot be sold,” the Christine and the Queens said in an interview with Cosmopolitan.
Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ film festival celebrates 30 years. The Tampa Bay Times reports on how it’s changed the community within the last three decades.
Attitude Magazine and Jaguar teamed together for an online series, Jag Race, hosted by Chedder Gorgeous to host a (vehicle) drag race for LGBT+ charities. Four famous drag queens are participating: Courtney Act, Peppermint, The Vivienne and Miss Tickle.
Caroline Are wrote about how RuPaul’s Drag Race” changed the way we speak and connects it with social media.