First off, let’s congratulate the winners — and no, we are not including Emilia Peréz in the official winners category — though the cast and crew did snag a few ‘wins.’ The real winners were actors and actresses who graced the Red Carpet with dashing and smashing looks and those who stunned us with their acceptance speeches. 

The Wizard of Oz intro to this year’s awards ceremony dazzled us all, as we were swept off our feet by Erivo and Grande’s dreamy and stunning Defying Gravity duet. 

Let’s just say Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande blew us away so far into the sky with their performance, we defied gravity. 

Erivo’s partner Lena Waithe, creator of TV series The Chi, also made an appearance from the audience during many moments sprinkled throughout the Oscars broadcast. 

Though I’m sure Waithe looked at Erivo in awe and adoring admiration during her partner’s solo moment on stage, the way the cameras captured the adoring look Ari gave Erivo, just about melted our queer little hearts. 

It seems like this year we saw alarmingly low BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation overall in nominees and winners.

This is painfully surprising considering that we are peaking nearly 100 years of Oscars Awards ceremonies. 

Still, the opening intro dazzled us all with Ari’s historically important Dorothy slippers clapping together in unison with the intro of the music.  

Before getting into the winners, can I also just quickly mention how cringe it was for the acceptance song, for the Emilia Peréz Academy Award for Best Original Song? I hope I’m someday able to wipe that from my memory.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, let’s get into the awards. 

My biggest criticism about anyone at the Oscars this year is toward the Emilia Peréz cast and crew, whose silence spoke loudly when none of them thanked the trans community in any of their acceptance speeches.

They won Academy Awards for a storyline about the trans community and about the Mexican history of desaparecidos, but they did not acknowledge the community or the culture. Instead, I was expecting a shepherd’s cane to pull Camille Ducol backstage and off the mic. 

In my humble opinion, this film is not getting nearly enough criticism as it should be getting for being called a Mexican film — yet not starring a single Mexican actor. The film also just about the worst musical numbers I have ever heard. Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as a singing lawyer who helps the cartel leader played by Karla Sofía Gascón, undergo gender-affirming care and begin the process of transitioning. 

The film featured a terribly choppy syntax not normally used in Spanish language, as well as accents and pronunciation that completely butchered the melody behind what maybe could have otherwise been somewhat palatable songs. 

I’m just going to say it one more time for those in the back — we could have done without that embarrassing sing-along for one of the few wins Emilia Peréz snagged. 

Many people across social media channels have tuned in to give their two cents on Emília Peréz. Most are calling for more disapproval of the film — and we couldn’t agree more. 

And no, we’re not even going to waste precious time going over every single controversy currently plaguing the Emília Peréz cast and crew. There just isn’t enough time. 

At the 97th Oscars ceremony, Paul Tazewell became the first out gay, Black man to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for his work on the box-office hit, Wicked. In my humble opinion, it was a well-deserved win, but it’s also safe to say that it was tough competition as the other nominees designed the costumes for The Complete Unknown, Conclave, Gladiator II and Nosferatu.

Paul Tazewell, the celebrated costume designer who is renowned across Broadway, regional theatres and the big screen got his second nomination and his first win for his work and we are just over-the-moon about it. Wicked also took home the award for Best Production Design. Production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Lee Sandales, accepted the award and in Sandales’ acceptance speech, he thanked his husband. 

Queen Latifah made a grand appearance and stunned the audience with her tribute to the late Quincy Jones, who passed away in November and who left behind an immense legacy in the music industry. 

All in all, only two queer nominees took home awards. 

Now, let’s get into Conan’s non-funny jokes.

This isn’t necessarily a queer recap moment, but we as we queers at LA Blade, did have some queer thoughts about this issue. Conan hosted the 97th Academy Awards and we’re going to make a guestimation that 97 percent of his jokes did not hit. 

I think most of us were definitely expecting a joke or two about Garcón, but the two that Conan delivered, were at best mediocre. “Anora uses the F word 479 times, that’s only three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist,” said Conan on stage.  “And if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.” 

At this point, I’m not even sure if it was really the audience laughing, or if it was some sort of button that plays 90s canned laughter when pressed by the show producers when the jokes aren’t funny and no one is actually laughing. 

So, who slayed with their fits and who didn’t at the Red Carpet and afterparty? 

It’s safe to say that Colman Domingo, Erivo and Grande were among the best dressed at this year’s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Every single one of their looks, ATE. 

What were some of your favorite looks? What were others who didn’t deliver? 

Unicorns and mermaids and mutants, oh my.

As I float back down into my theater seat from the rocket-speed broomstick ride, which did far more than defy gravity in the new cinematic spectacular that is Wicked, my soul feels bolstered. I’m inspired and encouraged.

The film is beautiful, full of marvelous sets, enchanting songs, courageous characters and a moving story laced together with brilliance. Oh yeah, and it’s got lots of magic. High fantasy of the magic academy kind, a la its parallels in media: Brakebills Academy of The Magicians, Alfea College of The Winx Saga, The Academy of Unseen Arts in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the original, Miss Cackle’s Academy of Witchcraft in The Worst Witch.

Shiz University, the school in Wicked, has its own unique flavor of cool on the subject and has a very diversely expressive body of students, a sure nod to its predecessor, the Broadway hit. It’s a very inclusive movie and a joy to experience. It’s no wonder it’s been so strongly embraced by so many queer fans. Sure, Wicked is high fantasy filmmaking at pique levels, but is there some real, further connection between fantasy art and cinema, and queer culture?

This is really a two-fold thing for queer people; a gemstone inlaid, magically glowing double-edged sword, if you will. Life, generally speaking, comes with quite a bit of restrictions: Financial restrictions, legal restrictions, gender restrictions, etc, and the younger you are, the greater those restrictions. Growing up as queer young people these restrictions felt even heavier and more pronounced.

Many queer kids can’t openly explore their true gender expressions, nor are most queer youth allowed to express romantic interest in those of the same perceived gender. Queer young people are mostly forced to bottle these things up, and lock them away, then go about living with the chip of a lie on our shoulders at all times; A huge elephant that, no matter how we try to hide it, and hope it goes away, follows us in every room and everywhere we go.

Omitting these parts of us comes at an emotional price, and only those blessed or lucky enough will ever find their way out of that dire shame, and into the light of loving who they are, queer or not, really.

Fantasy and sci-fi films on the other hand, don’t impose restrictions at all. No-holds-barred imaginative storytelling on the page and big screen let us glimpse visions of freedom, power, and justice that are often more than we might have thought possible within our restrictive routines as young people. Superheroes, comics and most fantasy worlds have often been places of diverse gender expression, outside of acceptable timely norms.

Most guys in the 20th and 21st centuries don’t go around wearing muscle-bulging leotards, but it seems one of the only available options in the superhero world. Female characters often break away from dainty demure stereotypes and might smash your face in if you don’t show proper respect. Not to mention they’re all usually fighting some seriously monumental evil, and the whole world is in some kind of dire trouble, so who has any time to worry about whether Susan was a hoe last Tuesday, with who, wearing what? She-Ra would tell you to mind your damn business. She’s got a world to save.

Okay so She-Ra needs no prince to save her, but if that is what you prefer, with fantasy, even if you were half fish it was still possible for you to find a hot human prince hubby. Exploring fantasy worlds opens us up and challenges our imagination, which leads to inspiration. And if you set your mind to it… you know.

This brings us to the second part of the queer fantasy connection. The story in Wicked, at its heart, is one of an outsider who others think is odd because of her unique green skin. All eventually come to hold her in esteem when they finally give her a chance and she demonstrates her great abilities. Who hasn’t felt like an outsider at one point or another?

It’s a classic, sort of like the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This asks the other characters in the story and the viewing audience to put themselves into the perspective of the outsider and to have empathy. We see this theme over and over again throughout fantasy storytelling and it’s always a means of conveying an understanding where there was tension of acceptance of people or things that are different if they are benevolent. It’s a universal theme that transcends creed, class, ethnicity and gender, where all in existence strive for a kinder, better world for everyone.

This is a good ideal, one would think.

Unfortunately, I also have to acknowledge the bigoted elephant in the Sorcerer’s Academy assembly room.

The powerhouse of the magic school genre, the beloved, and now tainted, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. No one can deny the impact of this book and film series. I own all of each and have watched the films many times over. They were worthy of keen rewatching, and distant background play. A mammoth addition to the world of fantasy on the greatest scale.

Yet the same themes mentioned in Wicked permeate the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

How the hell did J.K. Terfling come up with such a wizarding world, with such character struggles and somehow turn out to be so bigoted? Did she always maintain these hateful exclusions while writing?

Seemingly swept up into the extremist outlook attempting to rationalize hate against transgender people, a marginalized group that makes up less than one percent of the US population, she has been a loud and persistent voice in the movement against transgender rights, and her sentiments have been echoed by powerful extremist politicians. Does she not see the irony of herself becoming the evil bigoted villain in her own story?

Did she actually sympathize with Voldemort?

As a transgender woman, I am enemy number one as far as J.K. Repugling is concerned.

Her comments have crossed over into what appears to be a hateful, misguided obsession. I honestly hope she finds some peace and starts adding some Gryffindor energy back into the world, leaving the miserable death-eating behind. But, God Jo, did you have to ruin it for everyone?

The Harry Potter films haven’t played at my house for years. I’m not sure they ever will again. I won’t be watching the new series either.

I know many queer people have found their own ways of dealing with their relationships to the material, and to each their own. J.K. Rotlings vitriol stands in contrast to the magic that those stories have brought to so many queer people.  

Unbridled, mind-broadening visions of galaxies far, far away, the human hope for something more, the courage to do what’s right.

There are lessons in these beloved fantastical tales. The Lord of the Rings showed us sacrifice for the greater good, The Never Ending Story conveyed connectivity and how important a single human can be, the X-Men were on the front lines early, battling bigotry, and Beauty and the Beast showed us the power of love. From A Trip to the Moon in 1902 to the modern wonders of Disney and the unlimited Wicked, the themes of these imaginative stories that soar without boundaries, encouraging us to reach for truth, stand for justice and search for magic, resonate with so many – regardless of our background.

They are human stories, told through unique perspectives that ask us to take a walk in the footsteps of others, all while experiencing limitless bewitching landscapes. It’s this wonderful ideal of greater possibilities, of opening your imagination, of dreaming of worlds where things can be better for everyone, where magic is real and love wins.

I think we can all relate to that.

Ericka Page is a Los Angeles trans writer and musician, author of A Marvel of Magick

If the largest local Democratic Party entity in the U.S. can rewrite the rules to silence dissent, what’s stopping every other Democratic organization from doing the same? If Democrats in LA are willing to borrow from Trump’s playbook—changing the rules, consolidating power, and steamrolling opposition—then let’s not pretend this won’t spread. Best believe others are watching, and if they can get away with it here, they’ll try it everywhere.

Power grabs don’t always happen in grand, theatrical takeovers. Sometimes, they come disguised as simple bureaucratic tweaks—like lowering the threshold to change bylaws in the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, from two-thirds majority consent to 60 percent to quell ‘the obstructionists.’

Why it matters

Let’s be clear: ‘obstructionists’ is just a convenient label for people who refuse to rubber-stamp leadership agenda. More and more delegates are showing up informed, asking real questions, reading the fine print and—heaven forbid—pushing back when things don’t sit right. Instead of engaging, instead of organizing, instead of actually making the case for their ideas, leadership wants to change the rules so they don’t have to.

This isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about control. If they get away with it here, expect to see this playbook used across the state, and eventually, across the country. The fight for democracy doesn’t just happen at the ballot box in November—it starts in rooms like these, in party meetings where the rules of engagement are being rewritten in real-time.

If the status quo worked so well for Democrats, we wouldn’t be staring down another four years of Trump in the White House. Clinging to outdated strategies and leadership has cost us dearly. It’s time to face the music: doing the same old thing isn’t cutting it. 

If we want different results in 2026, it starts right here.

This is the battleground.

This is where the fight for the future of the Democratic Party is happening. If folks don’t start paying attention, they’ll wake up to a Party where their voices—and their votes—matter even less than they do now.

Democrats can’t fight the White House’s power grabs while copying them

In a functioning democracy, disagreement is not obstruction. It’s discourse. It’s debate. It’s the foundation of representative decision-making. But instead of doing the hard work of organizing, persuading, and building consensus, it feels like some in the Democratic Party want to change the rules so they don’t have to.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same strategy we’re seeing at the highest levels of government. Rules and norms are treated as inconvenient obstacles to unchecked power. When persuasion fails, the solution isn’t better arguments—it’s rigging the game.

The California Democratic Party bylaws require a two-thirds threshold for amending the bylaws as do the Ventura County Democrats, the Riverside County Democrats, the Orange County Democrats and the San Diego County Democrats. Most labor unions also require a two-thirds vote of members to change their rules.

We don’t need weaker rules for democracy—we need stronger organizing, better arguments, and a leadership willing to do the work of winning people over. Democracy was never meant to be easy, convenient, or a guarantee that the people in charge get their way every time. It requires debate, persuasion, and sometimes even the discomfort of compromise.

What we should not be doing is moving the goalposts after the game has already started just because leadership doesn’t like who’s playing. Changing the rules midstream to silence those who dare to question, challenge, or push for something different isn’t about efficiency—it’s about control. If leadership truly believes in their vision, they should be able to defend it on its merits, not rewrite the process to force it through. Because once we start making democracy more “manageable” by cutting out dissent, what we’re left with isn’t democracy at all—it’s just power protecting itself.

When Democrats start adopting the same playbook as President Trump—silencing dissent, changing rules to quash debate—how are we any different? It’s hypocritical to condemn such tactics in the White House while employing them within our own party. If we truly stand for democratic values, we must practice what we preach, even when it’s inconvenient.

We can’t claim to be the party of democracy while strong-arming internal rule changes to silence voices that don’t fall in line with the status quo.

If the Democratic Party truly believes in free speech, transparency, and accountability, that commitment has to start within our own ranks. Otherwise, it’s just hypocrisy wrapped in blue branding. We can’t fight authoritarianism with more authoritarianism. If Democrats don’t stop rigging the rules to suppress internal dissent, we’ll lose the moral high ground to call it out anywhere else and we’ll see a repeat of 2024 in 2026 and 2028.

Side eye with a side note

Every four years during the Presidential Primary, voters in California are asked to elect their delegates—but after that? Crickets. There’s little follow-up, or transparency, and it starts feeling like some secret society situation. Los Angeles County Democratic voters should be able to go to the LACDP website, enter their Assembly District, and instantly see the names and email addresses of the people representing them in the Party. That way, you can actually reach out to them on key votes and issues that matter to you. But guess what? That resource doesn’t exist–yet.

The workaround

Head over to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s website, look up the election results for the Presidential Primary, and scroll down to member, county central committee, for your assembly district and county. The top seven voter getters on that list are your representatives. From there; you can Google them, find them on social media, and let them know exactly where you stand on this issue and how you would like them to vote on your behalf on March 11th. Because representation should actually mean something—not just a title on a ballot every four years.

Jasmyne Cannick is a delegate in the L.A. County Democratic Party representing the 55th Assembly District.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just built different. Like a Ferrari,” said my cardiologist during my latest visit. 

I laughed. 

He went on to explain my test results and elaborate on his analogy. But first he asked me a question I thought was completely unrelated. 

“Are you an anxious person? 

“No doubt about it,” I answered. 

At times, in my average day-to-day life I felt like I had just run a marathon and my heart was racing. When I started taking my health more seriously and got on a consistent schedule with yoga, I noticed that my heart always felt like it was jumping out of my chest. No matter what emotions I was feeling or what external or environmental factors were involved, I always felt like I was riding on an adrenaline rush. It was hard to focus on the meditative type of yoga because I always felt my heart pounding in my ears and chest. 

The first stop in my journey for answers was my primary care physician who said my strong heart palpitations might just be anxiety, referring to the type of anxiety that starts with thoughts that often spiral out of control, triggering a body response such as elevated heart rate, sweating and a number of other responses. 

I shrugged off her response about anxiety because I thought for sure that wasn’t it–I felt in control of my thoughts. 

She referred me to cardiology just to make sure there were no abnormalities a simple electro-cardiogram couldn’t catch. After multiple cardiologist visits, I was given a heart monitor that tracked my heart rate for a specific amount of time. The cardiologist read the results of the heart monitor and said there wasn’t really anything to worry about. Something the heart monitor caught during the five-day period that I wore it, was a consistently elevated heart rate. 

The cardiologist elaborated on his car-heart analogy.

“You’re a Ferrari and I’m a Honda Civic,” he said. “We both start here (motioning at a start line for a race) and when we accelerate, I stay here and you’re way over there.” 

Hearing him compare me to a Ferrari, while he compared himself to a Honda Civic, was the peak of my visit. 

He said that my accelerated heart rate was probably causing me to feel anxious because from the moment I awaken–I’m racing. An overproduction of adrenaline starts to build up and the reaction is then felt throughout my entire body. 

Things started to make more sense.

The hyperactivity I struggled with as a child and was diagnosed and treated as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder–was that actually a misdiagnosis because in reality I just have an elevated heart rate, causing an overproduction of adrenaline? 

This ‘diagnosis’ suddenly made me realize why most of my young adult years felt like a constant disaster. I have a lethal combination of a wonderfully hyperactive mind and an overproduction of adrenaline building up in my body. No wonder I always felt tired.

After reading the results of my exam, the cardiologist prescribed blood pressure medication–something that made me feel like I had suddenly aged 50 years. 

The way he explained the medication and the way that I made sense of it, was that he was laying out speed bumps so this Ferrari can go the speed limit. 

“It’s going to make you feel better,” he said. 

In my head, I thought “Did this man just prescribe me with literal chill pills?” 

Yes, he did. 

At that moment, I heard my mom’s voice in my head always saying: “Ay tú, siempre bien acelerada.” Which roughly translates to: ‘you’re always racing for everything.’ 

If a lack of patience is hereditary or a learned behavior, I definitely got it from my mom. My biggest self-identified character flaws are my lack of patience and need to be in control of things I feel like others just don’t do fast or well enough–enter my job as editor. 

In 2023, I started seeing a psychiatrist regularly. At first, it was to deal with a painful break-up and the self-doubt, depression, suicidal thoughts and financial instability that came with the situation. Then, it turned into a long journey of identifying and facing the childhood trauma I carried on my shoulders. I knew I had to if I wanted to better the relationships in my life. 

This has been quite a journey of undiagnosed anxiety. I know for a fact it’s cost me a good amount of relationships and friendships. 

Though I started off with a low dose for the medication, I immediately felt a difference. 

The world seemed quiet for once. Like the noise I was somehow experiencing, was suddenly turned off. I realized I was no longer hearing my heart rate pounding in my ears. 

At the psychiatrist, I explained to her the new medication I started taking and she said it made sense that I experienced anxiety. According to her, it was the type of anxiety that starts in the body, with that overproduction of adrenaline and it works its way to the top, where it begins to affect my thoughts. 

It’s a bottom-up versus top-down approach to emotion generation.

At the psychiatrist, I explained to her the new medication I was prescribed and she said it sounded like what I was experiencing, sort of aligned with bottom-up emotion generation versus top-down. 

According to an article on the subject, “bottom-up emotions are immediate, ingrained responses to a stimulus–such as an instant feeling of fear in response to a car pulling out in front of us. Top-down emotions are more conscious responses to the way we think about a situation–such as a feeling of anxiety after deciding that we didn’t study hard enough for a test.”

The instant response to stress is based off adrenaline. The overproduction of adrenaline from these responses causes the physiological response of a very accelerated heart rate and thus, the feeling of some sort of urgency–at all times.

I thought about something she had also said to me a few months back when we had some of our first conversations about anxiety and pre-historic human beings. If I had been an early human, she says, I would have had a better chance at survival because of that ability to sense danger. She said I would have better chances than, let’s say a less sophisticated primate, who is able to stare at a leaf for an extended period of time and not sense the tiger lunging toward them at full speed, ready for its afternoon snack.

In short, the medication I’m now on, and a vigorous cardio routine will balance me out and release the overproduction of stress and adrenaline my body stores naturally.

There is no one way to treat anxiety and there is certainly no one way to experience emotions, or the psychosomatic responses that happen as a result of stress and anxiety.

This is your reminder to listen to your body.

Feb. 23 marks three years since Russia began its full-scale attack on my home country, Ukraine. I haven’t been in Ukraine for more than 10 years, and I spent almost all those years in LGBTQ activism.

I was barely an adult when my family left my hometown, Donetsk, after the declaration of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic by Russian  puppet separatists in 2014.

So many things have changed since then—my school friend was barely able to escape the Mariupol bombings together with two little children. Small cities in the Donetsk region that were barely known to outsiders and were places of my father’s business trips turned into battlefields frequently mentioned in international news. And all my queer acquaintances except for one left Ukraine.

This revealed how the world has shifted into globalization and how LGBTQ rights are used as bargaining chips in political debates, and now the fate of LGBTQ Ukrainians is partly dependent on the U.S.

Because Russian officials were using LGBTQ people as a symbol of everything “immoral” and “Western,” they used LGBTQ people in their war propaganda both against the U.S. and against Ukraine. For example, the leader of the state-supported Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, stated in 2022 that the war in Ukraine happened because “people in Donetsk do not want Gay Prides” as a justification for the war, and that the gay Prides are the ultimate test that the Americans and the West are using to find out whether Ukrainians are ready to abandon “Russian traditional values.”

But when I asked a transgender person, L., who was living in Donetsk between 2014 and 2022, they explained that they do not face transphobic challenges that many queer people face in Russia, and the younger generation in Donetsk was pretty much LGBTQ friendly. Even Russian puppet forces didn’t care much about LGBTQ people back in those days.

A majority 58% of Ukrainians hold neutral or positive attributes toward their LGBTQ citizens, according to recent polling.

The LGBTQ phobia wasn’t something that the Donetsk people were willing to protect with their lives; it was something that Russians used in their propaganda war to justify the invasion and killing of Ukrainian civilians, including children.

For a long time, Russia labelled LGBTQ organizations as “Western agents” and used anti-American rhetoric in their homophobic propaganda.

But there was actual help that the Ukrainian LGBTQ community received from the U.S., not because of some kind of conspiracy, but because of humanitarian reasons, because Russian state propaganda and the Soviet anti-LGBTQ legacy made it hard for LGBTQ Ukrainians to find financial support for community activism.

On the anniversary of the war, I spoke with Igor, a Ukrainian lawyer born in Donetsk, political analyst, and expert on the American-Ukrainian relationship, currently based in Vienna, about how MAGA and the current American political situation influence LGBTQ people in war-torn Ukraine.

“U.S. support, particularly through USAID and other grant programs, has been essential to sustaining services for LGBTQ individuals in Ukraine” Ihor explained. “Without it, many of these services—like specialized shelters, emergency housing, HIV counseling, and psychological support—would disappear. For instance, shelters in cities like Dnipro and Chernivtsi that offer safe places for LGBTQ people escaping war zones exist largely thanks to international donor funding.

USAID has backed public outreach and education initiatives aimed at fostering open dialogue on LGBTQ issues, which in turn helps combat anti-LGBTQ propaganda. If USAID’s programs were dismantled, we would see an immediate and severe impact: safe spaces could close, mental health support could end, and marginalized groups would be left even more vulnerable. Essentially, the destruction of this aid framework would roll back critical progress and expose the LGBTQ community to greater risks with fewer avenues for help.

To compensate for these losses, pro-LGBTQ NGOs would need to seek alternative funding sources from private donors—such as the Open Society Foundations—or EU-based donors. However, it remains uncertain whether those sources can fully replace the scale and consistency of current USAID-backed programs. Essentially, the destruction of this aid framework would roll back critical progress and expose the LGBTQ community to greater risks with fewer avenues for help.”

At the same time, LGBTQ people in Ukraine are now facing much more grave danger because of current American politics.

President Donald Trump told reporters that it is unlikely that Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders, hinting that Ukraine needs to sacrifice the Crimea and Donbas regions—including my hometown, Donetsk. This plan was also promoted by the American delegation at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14-16.

Meanwhile, situations with LGBTQ rights in Donetsk worsened. For example, my attempt to find open LGBTQ people in Russian-controlled Donetsk for one of my articles ended with a comment from my bisexual non-binary friend Roman, who told me that LGBTQ people in Donetsk are now avoiding getting in contact with outsiders because they are scared of “fake dates,” when thugs or occupational security forces pretend to be LGBTQ-friendly journalists, physiologists, or potential partners to lure a queer person into a trap. LGBTQ people in Donetsk couldn’t speak openly about their sexual orientation and gender identity.

“In occupied areas like Kherson and Crimea, Russian authorities have specifically targeted LGBTQ+ individuals,” explained Ihor, and a Trump deal could make everything even worse, making it permanent. “The MAGA approach to Russia-Ukraine relations under Trump poses significant risks to Ukraine’s LGBTQ community. If MAGA policies lead to territorial concessions or normalization of Russian control over parts of Ukraine, LGBTQ individuals in those areas would face severe repression under Russian law. Russia’s “gay propaganda” laws criminalize public expressions of LGBTQ identity and advocacy. In previously occupied regions like Crimea and Donbas, there have been documented cases of violence, arrests, and forced disappearances targeting LGBTQ individuals under Russian rule”

Indeed, it’s true. For example, the Russian-occupied Chechnya, an official Russian administration government ruled by Ramzan Kadyrov, is hunting LGBTQ people as part of a mass-terror campaign.

Chechnya has always been a quite conservative region compared to Western Europe; sexuality and gender identity wasn’t something that was widely discussed in independent Chechnya after the Soviet Union collapsed, before Russia attacked the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 1994. It was a private and family matter, but after 400 years of Chechen anti-colonial fighting, Russians decided to break resistance by destroying the whole idea of a private life. Only after Russia got Chechnya under its control, a mass-terror campaign against LGBTQ people began, and sometimes even non-LGBTQ people were framed as “gay,” tortured, and killed.

The Russian administration in Chechnya was actively hunting dissidents and even their relatives, or just accidental young men who could be framed as terrorist supporters, separatists or spies for better “crime detection” statistics or to be sent to the war in Ukraine as a “Russian” cannon fodder.

The same could happen not just with LGBTQ Ukrainians, but with any open-minded and independently thinking Ukrainians in Donbas and Crimea if Ukraine is forced by the United States to sacrifice territories.

It is possible that it’s up to Americans now to stop their government and to help Ukrainian LGBTQ people save themselves from persecution and extermination.

by Eric Restivo (@ericcrestivo)

The Super Bowl LIX halftime show took place on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It featured Pulitzer prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar as the headline performer, with guest appearances from R&B artist SZA, actor Samuel L. Jackson, tennis player Serena Williams, and DJ and record producer Mustard. The reviews were mixed but not for the right or should I say “white” reasons.

Lamar’s performance was dripping in subtle messages and not-so-subtle camera angles and featured an entire company of Black excellence, from his background dancers to highlights like Serena Williams doing a crip walk during “Not Like Us.”

Samuel L. Jackson appeared multiple times as Uncle Sam and it was for good reason, providing proof with his statements in between song sets of the obvious political and cultural divide we are facing. Lamar’s dancers, all Black men and women, featured a fit of red, white, and blue, which created a moving picture of the American flag. The choreography was seamless, subtle, and tight, with Lamar in the middle of his dancers showing even more of the blatant rebuttal of our nation. Surely, this went over many people’s heads, but it was an obvious ‘f*** you’ moment shared on the largest stage of the night earning 133 million viewers worldwide.

Not to mention, President Trump was in attendance. Kendrick topped off his performance with his well-known Drake diss track (hence Serena Williams – Drake’s ex) and even took time to stare into the camera while stating the rapper’s name “Drake” with a bright, bushy-tailed smile.

A moment everyone is still talking about occurred when the majority of the crowd in the Superdome repeated back the lyric “A MINOR” when referencing rapper Drake – a moment that went viral on every social media platform available.

Many Americans–mostly white–had complaints about Lamar’s 13-minute performance, saying it lacked production value, big energy, and not enough diversity within the rap genre.

Choosing to create a negative narrative as opposed to focusing on the fact that this was a first, and hopefully not last, for the Superbowl Halftime show featuring the rap genre.

Some say it was obvious and some say it was the worst thing to ever hit our television screens. Regardless of the mixed reviews, it has been over a week and we are still talking about the performance at the same volume as we were a week ago.

Did I pass the vibe check?

How does one even attempt to give an honest review of a new TV show executive-produced by the late Norman Lear – a pioneer in entertainment – also starring Laverne Cox, a trailblazer for trans representation? Given the current political climate towards the queer community, approaching Clean Slate should be done with kid gloves. Still, the show struggles to find its footing and generally misfires.

The show, now streaming on Prime, was originally pitched to Lear by comedian and co-star of Clean Slate, George Wallace as a Sanford & Sons reboot. Lear told him to go back to the drawing board and come back with something new. Ultimately, Wallace, together with Laverne Cox and Dan Ewen, created a show that is a throwback to the family sitcom era and to Lear’s earlier shows like All in the Family and The Jeffersons.

What’s missing here is a live audience and a stage.

The writing doesn’t seem to get that. One-liners fall flat, and preachy character orations clunk away with their heavy-handedness. Some of the actors are able to make something of a dated and unimaginative script, and some do not. Some of the jokes and situations are very stale, we’ve heard and seen them before. Though new to the scene, this show does not seem fresh, which is odd for a Lear project. We wish Clean Slate was as fast-paced and fun as the show’s trailer.

Always one to push the envelope, Lear’s projects have addressed class, racism, abortion, women’s rights and queer issues, many times way before mainstream audiences were prepared to discuss them. In Clean Slate, trans and gay issues are in the spotlight.

Laverne Cox’s Desiree returns to her small hometown in Alabama and surprises her father, Wallace’s Henry Slate, after being gone for 17 years. Not only does she surprise her father by coming back, but she also surprises him by showing uo as his daughter and not the son he knew.

Having lost her money running an art gallery in New York, she moves back in with her father to figure out her next steps. The show centers on the bond she creates with her father and the friendships she builds in small-town living, including the family that works for Henry’s car wash, her best friend Louis who is dealing with being in the closet, Louis’ mother, and the local church community.

Ultimately, she also connects with the local queer contingent. The usual themes and situations you would expect unfold. Henry must also now get used to using different pronouns with his daughter and having to put money into a pronoun jar each time he makes a mistake. He helps Desiree deal with her relationship to church and spirituality, when the local pastor shuns her new identity and she falls in love with the town’s hot guy.

Even with these storylines, the proceedings seem unimaginative and dated. At times, it seems like the show is an after-school special and not a progressive comedy. Henry and almost all of the small town embrace Desiree’s new identity with vigor and understanding which – although optimistic and hopeful – seems improbable in small town living in the South. The whole affair just comes across as saccharin in its sweetness.

Wallace as Henry Slate is charming and a great choice to help lead this story. He handles many of the cheezy lines with sincerity that makes it almost work. He is a gentle giant as a character, and quickly becomes lovable, even with his many missteps of grappling with the queer community. He loves his child unconditionally and would do anything for her, which is very believable from the get-go. D.K. Uzoukwu as the closeted Louis plays his role with sincerity and is a very welcome fresh face to big-time TV.

He plays the balance of presentational comedy and character honesty very well. Jay Wilkison as Mack – the town’s bad boy turned loving single father – really handles the material deftly and adds some much-needed craft to make the script and situations seem plausible. He’s also not hard on the eyes. Stealing practically every scene she is in is TV veteran Telma Hopkins, most known for her role in Family Matters, as Louis’ mom. She understands the nuance of sitcoms, single-camera closeups, and just the right amount of presentational acting to make it work. She is a delight to watch. We just want to hang out with her and gossip on the porch.  

We know Laverne Cox is a talented actor. She made history as the first trans actor to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her role in Orange Is the New Black. Oddly and we feel guilty by even writing it, but she misses the mark the most in Clean Slate.

She doesn’t seem to understand the material and comedic moments are overdone. Her emotional moments just don’t ring true. She seems to be overacting which, along with a weak script, doesn’t anchor the show properly. But, she is a consummate actor. What was it? The direction? The writing? Her performance just doesn’t cut it.

Here’s the thing.

All that being said, the show does have a lot of heart. But it seems lost, trying to find its footing, as to what it wants to be. A sitcom? A dra-medy? It does not succeed in any of those genres, but as a queer person watching the show, it is touching just because of its existence.

A comedy show led by trans and queer storylines is so much needed right now and just knowing this show is part of the Lear legacy, makes it that much more important.

Should we blindly support queer content just because it is out there? No.

Should we support the efforts and mission of a show? Yes.

And we also love the fact that this is a show the whole family can watch and discuss, which holds a lot of weight. There is a lot to explore if the show gets a season 2 and we do hope it is renewed so it has a chance to find its footing with stronger direction and writing.

Clean Slate season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

REACH LA, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization aimed at working with youth of color, is stepping up their prevention resources during Black History Month to support the LGBTQ+ community of color. 

Though today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, REACH LA works year-round to provide resources to their community members. 

This month, the organization is amplifying its mission to support Black LGBTQ+ youth by offering free HIV testing and care throughout February, offering a $25 gift card as incentive to get tested. This and all of REACH LA’s efforts are geared toward assisting the marginalized Black and Latin American communities by reducing stigma, increasing education and assisting community members with resources. 

The QTBIPOC community is especially vulnerable to political and personal attacks. As we head into the next four years under a hostile administration whose goal is to erase queer and trans people, there will be continued attacks on federal funding and on any other front possible. 

“This year, it is especially vital, more than ever, to amplify and commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. At REACH LA, we are currently engaging with individuals and partnerships while navigating through dire and uncertain times where HIV/AIDS awareness prevention efforts, access, and visibility have been under attack and restricted,” said Jeremiah Givens, chief marketing and communications officer at REACH LA. 

It is important to spotlight the intersection between health equity, Black LGBTQ+ empowerment and community-based solutions during Black History Month and every other month throughout the year and especially during this particularly vulnerable time. 

As one of eight CDC PACT Program Partners, REACH LA celebrates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with a Positive Living Campaign in collaboration with the CDC’s Let’s Stop HIV Together initiative. The campaign highlights the resilience of individuals living with HIV and works to raise awareness and foster community support.

To learn more about resources, visit their website or stop in for testing, support and other resources. The organization’s doors are open Monday through Friday, from 11 AM to 7 PM for free, on-site HIV testing and assistance with accessing PREP and PEP, linkage to care and free mental health therapy. 

Following Trump’s executive order, healthcare facilities like the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles have paused the initiation of gender-affirming treatments and St. John’s Community Health is unable to access the rest of a $4 million dollar grant to continue providing services for trans and nonbinary people. 

The Children’s Hospital of LA has been known as a refuge from discrimination in a country that has set forth many restrictions for trans healthcare and other barriers for equitable access to life-saving services. 

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez (CD-13) released a statement regarding their move to pause surgeries and hormone replacement therapy. 

“In Los Angeles, we won’t abandon our most vulnerable communities when they need us most. Instead of caving to Trump’s threats, we must come together, mobilize resources, and ensure every child continues to receive the care they need,” said Soto-Martinez. “We urge Children’s Hospital LA to take a stand against these hateful and illegal policies – and work with the city to ensure this critical care can continue.”

St. John’s was the first healthcare provider which reported service impacts as a result of Trump’s executive orders. On Monday, they reported that the CDC terminated a federal grant that started in 2022 through the CDC’s HIV prevention program. The grant allowed St. John’s to operate a program for transgender adults that included life-saving resources like health education, substance abuse treatment, food stamps, HIV testing and connections for social service programs. 

St. John’s released a statement regarding the loss of funding, stating that they believe the revocation of the fund is in direct violation of both the law and the court of order which restored federal funding after the temporary freeze.

Other top leaders in California have also responded, reminding California hospitals and federally-funded healthcare providers that they have an ongoing obligation under California’s anti-discrimination laws to continue providing care. 

California leaders support transgender youth to live as their authentic selves and they have issued reminders and notices of the state’s obligation to continue supporting patients. 

“We will not let the President turn back the clock or deter us from upholding California values. I understand that the President’s executive order on gender affirming care has created some confusion,” said Att. General Bonta in a statement. “Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services.”

Attorney General Bonta joined 14 other Democratic General Attorneys nationwide in defense of trans youth. Late January, Att. General Bonta and 22 other state attorneys general filed suit in federal district court to halt the federal government’s illegal efforts to freeze $3 trillion in vital federal funding. 

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado stepped in to say that she stands with trans, gender diverse and intersex patients who rely on these life-saving resources.

“Everyone deserves the chance to be their most authentic selves free of persecution. Gender-affirming care is health care. To those who have had their healthcare disrupted: I stand with you. I see you. I will fight for you,” said Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, CD-14. 

If Trump were to cut federal funding to all organizations and agencies that provide gender-affirming care and promote ‘gender ideology’ as his executive order puts it, then over 220,000 trans, gender nonconforming and intersex adults in California alone are at risk of losing access to gender-affirming care and having to engage in legal battles to obtain life-saving treatments.

On Monday, Feb. 10 from 7pm to 9pm, friends and colleagues of Troy Masters will gather at The Abbey in West Hollywood to celebrate his life and legacy as founder of the Los Angeles Blade. 

Masters was a resident of WeHo and he was a deeply respected and well-known person for his work in the LGBTQ+ community and coverage of queer issues in Los Angeles and New York City. In the years he was a journalist, he built a network of people that truly stood behind the work he felt passionately about. 

The celebration will feature guest speakers who worked closely with Masters s Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, senior contributing writer for the LA Blade Karen Ocamb, CEO of the Trans Latin@ Coalition Bamby Salcedo and co-owner of the Washington Blade Kevin Naff. 

Master’s work and legacy go as far back as the late 1980s where he got his first taste of activism working as an ad representative for the gay and lesbian activism publication, Outweek. 

According to the obituary written by his close colleague Ocamb, the publication only lasted 18 months before founder, record producer and ACT UP supporter Bill Chafin passed away due to AIDS. The magazine was the first glossy gay and lesbian magazine published in New York City featuring news, culture, and events during a time where the AIDS Second Wave was peaking and Masters felt like he had to step in to speak up for the issues that were not only affecting his community, but also contributing to a higher death toll during the epidemic. 

He successfully launched the bi-weekly newspaper Lesbian and Gay New York, which ran from 1994 to 2002 and then re-launched it as Gay City News. After many other career moves and a move across the country to Los Angeles in 2015, he found himself at a work place that included voices who were openly supportive of Trump and his policies. 

This gave him the kick he needed and he gathered the tools to establish what is now the Los Angeles Blade, SoCal’s LGBTQ+ News Source. In short, Masters was a caring advocate for his communities and his tireless work brought together many LGBTQ+ community members. 

Now is the time to celebrate not only his life-worth of accomplishments, but to honor and more importantly, carry on his legacy. 

The Abbey will be providing small bites and the Trans Corus of L.A will honor Masters with a performance.

Please join us on Monday, Feb. 10 from 7pm to 9pm to honor Troy Masters. RSVP at the Eventbrite link here.