The Latino Equality Alliance hosted its annual fundraiser on Saturday at Del Records in Bell Gardens as their quinceañera-themed Purple Lily Awards raises nearly $100,000 to create safe spaces for Latin American LGBTQ+ youth and their families. 

This year, LEA honored co-founder Gutiérrez Arámbula, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 Contestant, Salina Estitties, and the Liberty Hill Foundation. 

“The Latino Equality Alliance’s history and survival underscores the importance of providing critical resources and positive support for LGBTQ+ youth struggling to find a safe space,” said founder and executive director Eddie Martinez. “We are proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Latinx community for 15 years and are excited about the promising future ahead of us.”

LEA’s mission with this event, is also to bring attention to Proposition 3 – which puts same-sex marriage on the November ballot. 

Proposition 3 seeks to reaffirm the right to same-sex marriage. 

This proposition shines light on the California Constitution that still to this day upholds language that does not include gender non-conforming people or queer and trans people in the protections for marriage equality. 

The CA Constitution says ‘only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,’ which also only upholds protections and recognition for same-race couples, excluding interracial families, as well as LGBTQ+ families. 

That language — while still on the books — is effectively void after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 allowed same-sex marriage to resume in California, and the high court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in a historic 2015 decision. 

Upholding protections for marriage equality is important to LEA because California has the largest LGBTQ+ population in the United States. 

The grassroots organization is celebrating continued growth in their progress toward equality and celebrating the achievements of the Latin American community members that are at the forefront of creating safe spaces in Boyle Heights and beyond. 

LEA was the first community and school LGBTQ youth civic policy advocacy and empowerment program to lower dropout rates, bullying and increase graduation rates.

“¡Tacos, los tacos de canasta, taaacooos!”

This echoed at the screening of “Transmexico” on Thursday at the Hola Mexico Film Festival.

It’s also the sound many people in Mexico City hear and recognize as Lady Marven, better known as Lady Tacos de Canasta.

She is one of three trans women featured in the documentary “Transmexico,” whose story brings joyous laughter and tears to the audience at HMFF. 

Earlier this year, the film won the Audience Choice Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The documentary features the stories of three trans women throughout Mexico. It explores their experiences with transition, social acceptance and access to health care within a culture and government that upholds impunity for crimes against women and gender-nonconforming people.

Director Claudia Sanchez approaches the themes of social stigma, discrimination and death with care and compassion as she frames the narrative around the true and lived experiences of the documentary’s subjects.

“I was a witness of the abuse and bullying that trans women suffer through the first trans woman I ever met when I was around 5 or 6 years old,” Sanchez told the audience at the Q&A. “I decided to make a documentary that would highlight the beauty of the trans [femme] community because I didn’t think it was fair that the entire community is usually labeled negatively.”

“It’s important that we can do this and show people that we are here and we are present, and that there are other titles and labels – like lawyer, mother, queen – that represent us,” Lady Tacos said in Spanish. “Today, we want to claim titles and labels that impress the world and have impact on the world and that show what we are truly made of, and what we are capable of.”

Lady Tacos made a red carpet appearance at HMFF, joining Sanchez and others on a panel for a Q&A following the screening.

She spoke about how proud she felt experiencing this journey and seeing herself on screen sharing her story.

Lady Tacos – who identifies as muxe, a third gender in Mexican culture – went viral on social media after she was recorded being harassed and misgendered by the police force in Mexico. They took her basket and repeatedly called her “sir” and “mister” as they forced her to stop selling tacos on the street. She angrily yelled back and made it known that she clearly doesn’t identify as a male, motioning to her dress and trenzas, or braids.

Since then, she has become a well-known and respected internet celebrity to the people of Mexico City and has been able to open her own brick-and-mortar restaurant with the support of her family and many members of the LGBTQ+ community in CDMX.

The film also features trans activist Kenya Cuevas Fuentes. Fuentes shared her story of being a former sex worker who started at age 9. By 10 years old, she had been incarcerated, and by her teen years, she contracted HIV.

As an adult, Fuentes witnessed the murder of her good friend, Paola Buenrostro. This experience shaped Fuentes and turned her to activism because she knew Buenrostro would never get the justice she deserved and her killer would continue to walk free.

In 2016, transfemicide was officially recognized as a crime in Mexico City following Buenrostro’s death and activism by Fuentes.

“TransMexico” highlights the accomplishments and strides for justice that Fuentes has brought to Buenrostro’s case.

Felicia Garza’s story is also featured in the documentary, showing a more hopeful side of the transition journey.

She shares her struggle with not only coming to terms with her identity – and being willing to lose everything in the process – but also how her story offers insight on how family members struggle and learn to embrace their family members’ new identity.

“You have to be willing to lose everything, and if you’re not prepared for that, don’t do it,” Garza said in the documentary.

Following the Q&A, guests lined up outside the theater for complimentary tacos de canasta.

The film festival screened the documentary on Thursday night at Regal Theatres at L.A. Live and will continue making rounds at upcoming film festivals.

‘The Rainbow Age of Television: An Opinionated History of Queer TV’
By Shayna Maci Warner
c.2024, Abrams Press
$28/304 pages

Wanna hand over the clicker?

You don’t want to miss the season premiere of that show you binge-watched over the summer. You’re invested, a fan who can’t wait to see what happens next. You heard that this may be the last season and you’ll be sad, if that’s so. Is it time to start looking for another, newer obsession or will you want to read “The Rainbow Age of Television” by Shayna Maci Warner, and find something old?

Like most kids of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, Shayna Maci Warner spent lots of time glued to a television screen, devouring programming before school, after school, and all summer long. For Warner, that programming eventually led to a revelation. They saw people that looked like them, for which they formed “a personal attachment.”

It was “life-changing.”

It didn’t happen all at once, and some of TV’s “milestones” are forever lost, since broadcasts were live until the 1950s. Shortly after shows were taped and preserved, homosexuality became a “source of worry and blunt fascination” but certain performers carefully presented gently risqué characters and dialogue that nudged and winked at viewers.

Some queer representation appeared in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s when dramas began to feature more gay and lesbian characters, however subtly. It took a while for “the ‘rest’ of the alphabet” to be represented in a meaningful way and – despite that “Star Trek” and its many versions included gender-diverse characters – it wasn’t until 1996 that an intersex infant was featured on a regular television drama.

Since Ellen DeGeneres came out practically on her namesake TV show and “Will & Grace” became a wild hit, queer representation on TV has ceased to be an unusual thing. And yet, programmers and writers know that caution is still warranted: sometimes, “there can still be hesitation around pushing the envelope and fear that a queer character who burns too brightly just won’t last.”

Quick: name three after-school TV shows that aired when you were in fourth grade. If you can’t do it, one thing’s for certain: you need “The Rainbow Age of Television.”

But get ready for some argument. Author Shayna Maci Warner offers a rabid fan’s look at the best and the worst queer representation had to offer, and you may beg to differ with what they say about various programs. That makes this book a critique, of sorts, but Warner offers plenty of wiggle-room for argument.

Tussling over the finer points of queer programming, though, is only half the fun of reading this book. Microwave a box of pizza snacks or mac-and-cheese, demand “your” sofa seat, and dive into the nostalgia of old TV shows, most of them from the later last century. Yep, your faves are here. It’s like having an oldies channel on paper, and in your hand.

This is a must-have for former kids and current TV addicts who are happy to see themselves represented on TV. If that’s you, who brought the chips? “The Rainbow Age of Television” will just click.

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The Gay, Lesbian, Alliance Against Defamation organization hosted a reception on Thursday, to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month and celebrate the season two premiere of the digital series, “Dímelo.” 

The digital series Dímelo, or “tell me” is an interview-based series with Latine comedians who identify as LGBTQ+, serves non-traditional conversations with critiques on media tropes and  unfiltered opinions about how LGBTQ+ identity is both understood and misunderstood. 

“Dimelo, is a digital series we created at GLAAD, in order to have a place to see ourselves and to have a place where we could come together in laughter and joy,” said Monica Trasandes, senior director of Spanish language and Latine representation at GLAAD and series executive producer. 

Season two featured series creator Gabe Gonzales, a “boricua” comedian, writer and consultant from Central Florida, who also self-identifies as the “LaCroix of Latinos.” 

“There’s a little bit of flavor there, but I gotta tell you what it is first,” said Gonzalez. 

The interviews featured in the series are meant to be incisive and unfiltered views into the lives of the Latine, LGBTQ+ comedians who agreed to share their perspectives and laugh out their traumas. 

Last Thursday, GLAAD hosted a reception to launch season two with some of the comedians from the series as special guests who performed stand-up skits. 

Lorena Russi, Roz Hernandez, Danielle Perez and Gabe Gonzalez performed comedy skits at the series launch at the London Hotel in West Hollywood. 

The season premiere will be available to watch on GLAAD’s YouTube and the LatiNation+ app. Exclusive clips from the series will be released on TikTok and Instagram through October 15. 

Learn more about the comedians and watch the trailer here.

The Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Institute released its 2024 Studio Responsibility Index, finding an alarmingly low amount of queer and trans characters in 2023 films and TV series, oftentimes still being blatantly offensive. 

“It’s our job to provide you with the tools and support to tell fair and inclusive stories,” said GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis. “This is so important because we are seeing a direct correlation between a very sharp rise in LGBTQ+ violence and over [600] anti-LGBTQ+ laws [being introduced] this year.”

Over 600 anti-transgender laws were introduced this year alone, whereas in 2023 there were a record-breaking 400 anti-trans laws introduced. 

The SRI found that in 2023, only two films featured a trans character. 

The report further found that not only is representation “alarmingly low,” but it is “also at times, blatantly offensive.”

Yesterday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report highlighting hate crimes against LGBTQ people, showing an increase from the previous years. 

Megan Townsend, the GLAAD Media Institute’s senior director of entertainment research and analysis, stated that the need for more LGBTQ representation is more crucial than ever because more Americans than ever now identify as part of the LGBTQ community. 

“One in five Americans identify as LGBTQ+ and this is a figure that has gone up,” said Townsend. “Super majorities of both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ 18-24 year olds actively seek out queer inclusive media.”

The purpose of this Studio Responsibility Index is not only to highlight the lack of representation on Hollywood screens, but also to protect the progress that has already been made. 

GLAAD uses research and analysis of ten major studios that include A24, Amazon, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

The studio responsibility index explores films across five genres, comedy, drama, family, fantasy/sci-fi/action and horror. 

Each studio receives a rating on the scale of excellent, good, fair, insufficient, poor and failing to provide with enough valid representation. 

The SRI also uses The Vito Russo Test, which was inspired by The Bechdel-Wallace Test. The Bechdel-Wallace Test was named after Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace, who developed it to measure women’s representation on screen. To pass, the film must feature a conversation between two female characters, where they don’t mention a man. 

The Vito Russo Test, therefore, was inspired to measure LGBTQ representation on screen. GLAAD developed its own set of criteria to analyze how characters are represented within a narrative. In 2023, 71 percent of the 256 films analyzed passed the Vito Russo Test. This marks a consistent rise in this specific part of the report. 

Music and dance artist Isla Cheadle is producing “Build This House,” a weekend of vogue performance and community-building workshops at the Warehouse at the Geffen Contemporary on Oct. 4-5. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the Banjee Ball Foundation, a Ballroom-centered organization providing creative, educational and career opportunities to LGBTQIA+ individuals and women, are presenting the event.

“Ballroom is one of the greatest American art forms, both in its creative potency and competitive structure,” Cheadle said. “It belongs in spaces that respect it — not just for the finger snaps, but for the effect it has had on culture for half a century.”

Organizer, Isla Cheadle, an award-winning voguer and sought-after choreographer.

Cheadle, who was one of the dancers on HBO Max’s popular Ballroom series “Legendary” in season one, said this weekend is a “full circle” moment for her.

“Back in 2014, when I was early in my ballroom path, I was asked by a music artist friend to help choreograph their performance at MOCA. I pulled in my new voguer friends and it was amazing. Ever since then, I have dreamed about getting back there and letting Ballroom fully take up space.”

Cheadle has been in talks with MOCA for almost two years about hosting a Ball there. “This year I finally turned my brand Banjee Ball into a nonprofit (also a longtime dream) and we were able to bring it all together.”

With almost 20 years of experience in entertainment, Cheadle has toured the world performing dance music with her husband under the name Purple Crush. They’ve released collaborations with artists such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” stars Raja and Eureka O’Hara, rapper Le1f, Ballroom/House producer Vjuan Allure and Ballroom commentator Icon Kevin JZ Prodigy, who worked with Beyoncé and Madonna.

“Build This House” is also the title of a new song Cheadle and her husband have worked on. “The song is about creating safe space, by building community from the ground up, brick by brick,” she noted, adding that Purple Crush’s full album will be out this fall.

Friday night will feature a lecture series by some of the great minds in Ballroom and HIV activism: Michael Roberson, an acclaimed Ballroom historian and professor at the New School for Social Research; Ballroom We Care, a harm-reduction Ballroom-centered organization; and trauma healer Tovi C. Scruggs. The workshop series will be followed by live performances by artists like Kevin JZ Prodigy. Saturday night will be a full Ball, with categories, costumes and competition.

Zay Basquiat (formerly from the House of Lanvin), also known as Isaiah Victor, will be choreographing and performing, alongside Purple Crush and Kevin JZ Prodigy.

The 16th annual Hola Mexico Film Festival, the largest Mexican film festival outside Mexico, runs through Sept. 27. This year’s festival presents films across genres including comedy, horror, socio-political issues and LGBTQ lives.

“TransMexico,” a documentary following three trans women as they navigate access to education, employment, housing and medical services amid unchecked transphobia and misogyny, screens Thursday at 5 p.m. at Regal Cinemas L.A Live.

“In 16 years of showing Mexican cinema to our community, we’ve seen the Mexican film industry grow in huge leaps and bounds,” said Samuel Douek, founder and director of HMFF. “Still, through all that growth the essence of HMFF remains the same: fantastic Mexican cinema in luxurious movie theaters surrounded by strangers who become familiar via our shared love of this great art form.”

The closing night ceremony will feature a special Los Angeles debut performance by Mexican singer-songwriter and activist Vivir Quintana, known for her fight against gender-based violence in Latin America.

It’s no surprise that the fall movie landscape finds an unusually large number of films – most of them documentaries – about trans people and the challenges they face in trying to achieve an identity that matches their own sense of self. 

Transgender rights or even acceptance have never been in such a precarious place within the American political landscape since queer rights were acknowledged at all in the mainstream conversation. After eight years of ramped-up efforts by anti-trans activists to essentially legislate them out of legal existence, trans people find themselves facing a divisive and uncomfortably close election that will likely have an existential impact on their future, accompanied by persistent and vocal efforts by the conservative right-wing crowd to ostracize and stigmatize them within public perception. They’re not the only target, but they are the most vulnerable one – especially within the evangelical strongholds that might swing the election one way or the other – and that means a lot of conservative crosshairs are trained directly on them.

It’s a position they’re used to, unfortunately, which is precisely why there are so many erudite and artistic voices within the trans community emerging, prepared by years of experience and education gained from dealing with persistent transphobic dogma in American culture, to illuminate the trans experience and push back against the efforts of political opportunists by letting their stories speak for themselves. Surely there is no weapon against hatred more potent than empathy – once we recognize our own reflection in those we demonize, it’s hard to keep ourselves from recognizing our shared humanity, too – and perhaps no more potent way of conveying it than through the most visceral artistic medium of all: filmmaking

Particularly timely, in the wake of an Olympics marked by controversy over the participation of Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting in the women’s competition, is “Unfightable,” from producer/director Marc J. Perez. Offering up a harrowing, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring portrait of Alana McLaughlin – a U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant who, following gender transition, turned female MMA fighter only to face resistance and transphobic prejudice within the rarified cultural microcosm of professional sports – while also taking a deep dive into the world of Mixed Martial Arts and the starkly divided attitudes of those who work within it, it aims to turn one person’s trans experience into a metaphor for the struggle of an entire community to be recognized and accepted on its own terms. For the most part, it succeeds.

Unlike many such biography-heavy documentaries, “Unfightable” allows its subject – the charismatic and outspoken McLaughlin, whose presence rightly dominates the film and leaves the most lingering impression – to narrate her own story, without interpretation or commentary from “talking head” experts. From the grim-but-all-too-familiar story of her upbringing in a deeply religious family (and yes, conversion “therapy” was involved) through her struggle to define her identity via a grueling military career, her eventual transition, and her emergence as only the second transfeminine competitor in the professional MMA arena and beyond, Perez treats most of the movie’s narrative thrust like an extended one-on-one interview, in which McLaughlin delivers the story as she experienced it. This one-on-one honest expression is effectively counterpointed by the rhetoric of other MMA personalities who participated in the film, some of which is shockingly transphobic despite protestations of having “nothing against” trans people.

At the same time, the film acknowledges and amplifies supportive voices within the MMA, whose efforts to bring McLaughlin into the fold were not only successful, but ultimately led to her victorious 2021 match against French fighter Celine Provost. It’s a tale that hits all the touchstone marks of queer/trans experience for those whose lives can’t really begin until they break free of their oppressive origins, and whose fight to claim an authentic life for themself is frequently waged against both the families who ostensibly love them and the prejudices of a society eager to condemn anything that deviates from the perceived “norm”. Naturally, as a story of individual determination, self-acceptance, and success against the odds, its main agenda is to draw you in and lift you up; but it does so while still driving home the point about how far the road still stretches ahead before trans athletes – and by extension, trans people in general – are afforded the same legitimacy as everyone else.

To ensure that reality is never forgotten or taken lightly, we are offered some pretty egregious examples; from prominent fighters who insist they “have no problem” with trans people as a preface for their transphobic beliefs about trans athletes, to McLaughlin’s long wait before finding another MMA pro who was willing to fight her we are confronted with a pattern of prejudice blocking her path forward. And though it documents her triumph, it reminds us that three years later, despite her accomplishments, she has yet to find another MMA pro willing to give her another bout.

If nothing else, though, “Unfightable” underscores a shift in attitudes that reflects the progress – however slow or maddeningly hard-won it may be – of trans people carving out space for themselves in a social environment still largely hostile to their success or even their participation. As McLaughlin’s journey illustrates, it takes dogged persistence and a not-insignificant level of righteous anger to even pierce the skin of the systemic transphobia that still opposes the involvement of people like her in sports; her experience also bears witness to the emboldened bigotry that has doubled-down on its opposition to trans acceptance since the 2016 election of a certain former president who is now seeking a second chance of his own – highlighting the dire consequences at stake for the trans community (and, let’s face it, the entire queer community alongside every other group deplored and marginalized by his followers) should his efforts toward a comeback prove successful.

Yet as grim an outlook as it may acknowledge, “Unfightable” doesn’t leave viewers with a belief in sure defeat; in the toughness of its subject – who is, as it proudly makes clear, a veteran of combat much more directly dangerous than anything she will ever encounter in the ring – and her refusal to simply give up and go away, it kindles in us the same kind of dogged resistance that fueled her own transcendence of a toxic personal history and allowed her to assert her identity –  triumphantly so, despite the transphobia that would have kept her forever from the prize.

That’s a spirit of determination that we all could use to help drive us to victory at the polls come November. Like Alana McLaughlin, we have neither the desire nor the ability to go back to the way our lives were before, and Perez’s documentary helps us believe we have the strength to keep it from happening.

“Unfightable” opened for a limited release in New York on Sept. 13 and begins another in Los Angeles on Sept. 20. It will air on ViX, the leading Spanish-language streaming service in the world, and in English on Fuse TV, following its theatrical run.

“Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant… and Completely Over It”
By Lester Fabian Brathwaite
c.2024, Tiny Reparations Books
$28/288 pages

Somewhere up in the clouds.

That’s where your blood pressure is, right there as high as it’s ever been. Hoo, boy, are you angry. Your teeth are clenched, your eyes are slits, and you can’t trust yourself to speak in more than a growl. You’re plenty steamed and, as in the new book “Rage” by Lester Fabian Brathwaite, it shouldn’t have to be this way.

When he came with his family to America from Guyana at just four years old, Brathwaite couldn’t believe what his new home country offered. Malls, new kinds of food, cable television? Shirtless white men on TV and in magazines? Yes, please!

He’s always had crushes on white men, but he loves being a gay Black man – even though racism, overt and subtle, can be an aggravation. When Brathwaite is on a dating app, white men sometimes dismiss him with a racial comment. He’s heard and seen the “n-word” more than once and he doesn’t tolerate it. Wouldn’t a greeting and a no thanks be less rude?

He is bothered by unnecessary meanness.

He is bothered in a different way by bodybuilding. Hot, muscular bodies, to be exact and he’s sure that whoever created the sport was a genius. Brathwaite participates in bodybuilding himself sometimes – it’s expensive and he does it for himself, not for other men – though he believes that gay men are bodybuilding’s biggest subset. For sure, he’s payed homage to his share of bodybuilders, superheroes in movies, and hot shirtless boys on TV.

There were many times, years ago, that Brathwaite ended up drunk and in a stranger’s bed or looking for an old hook-up, and he was arrested once. Nearing 30, though, he realized that that life wasn’t what he wanted anymore. His knees couldn’t take it. Besides, he liked who he was and he liked his blackness. He realized that he didn’t need anyone else to be a hero of his tale. He could do it better himself.

One thing’s for certain: “Rage” lives up to its title.

At times, author Lester Fabian Brathwaite rails against so many things: racism and desire, club society, being a writer and editor, the generational differences between gay men, politics, and loss. At other times, he’s outRAGEous and hilarious, writing to readers as though he’s holding court in a cafe somewhere and you’d better listen up.

You should know that that means honesty – poking in the corners, calling things out for what they are, chastising people who need schooling on how to behave in a way that doesn’t leave room for nonsense. This arrives unabashed and raw, accompanied by plenty of profanity.

You’ve been warned.

And yet, Brathwaite’s candor and his blunt talk is fresh and different. This gay man doesn’t pussy-foot around, and getting his opinions without fluff feels good and right. Readers will appreciate that, and they might come away educated.

Generally speaking, this ain’t your Grandma’s book, unless Grandma likes real talk laced with profanity. If that’s so, then get “Rage.” You’ll both be mad for it.

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Washington State-native Travis Holp is a psychic medium with close to 300 thousand followers on Instagram and 500 thousand on Tik Tok.  Known on social media as the Warrior Unicorn – a nod to his fighting spirit toward LGBTQ and mental health awareness issues, combined with his effervescent personality – Travis connects with those who have passed over and delivers messages to their loved ones in the physical world.  

Through one-on-one readings and large public events, he says he does it with one aim in mind:  that clients leave their time with him feeling a new sense of connection, clarity, closure and healing. He’ll make his Los Angeles debut at The Vault in the Beverly Center on Sunday, September 29, at 7pm.

Holp doesn’t recall when he discovered his psychic ability.   He simply remembers being very young, maybe four-years-old, and having long conversations with what people around him assumed were his imaginary friends but, he now realizes, were his Spirit guides.   “I can’t say there was one specific moment, but more like many moments throughout my life.”

It wasn’t until his early 20s when he decided to turn his skill into a profession.  “Early on in my journey, I read as many books on mediumship as I could find,” he continues. He quickly found himself inundated with Spirit hoping to connect with loved ones in the physical world.  

One of his biggest concerns became protecting his energy and learning to keep boundaries with the spiritual world.  

“My now mentor and friend MaryAnn DiMarco wrote this great book called Medium Mentor, and she has some great exercises for spiritual protection.”  

He also takes steps to nurture his special gift. “I regularly meditate and do things to raise my vibration like dancing to music.”  A favorite song of his to listen to before readings and live events is Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth”.

He believes most people have psychic abilities.  Some, like himself, are born with it, and others access it later in life. “Like any other ability, it is absolutely possible for a person to learn to connect for him or herself,” he says.  He often teaches people how to do it during sessions and at live classes.

The best way he has found to enhance mediumistic abilities is to actively participate in one’s own emotional healing.  He says the connection we have with ourselves is the foundation for mediumship.  “Like anything, it takes some training but I have gotten really adept at understanding the messages Spirit tells me,” Holp explains.   He sees Spirit in his mind’s eye, and he hears and feels their communications. “Spirit uses my own frame of reference and symbols to help me convey their messages.”

His main purpose with Spirit is being a vessel.  He views himself as the Guncle (gay uncle) of the Spirit world.   “I always tell it like it is,” he says, “but I’m careful to deliver information with kindness, joy, and hope.”  

Though both of his grandmothers “pop in” from time to time (he’ll feel their warm and loving energy and always enjoys it when they come to say hello!), he typically won’t read for close family members because he knows too much information about them.  However, sometimes Spirit does present itself for a loved one.  

When it does, Travis will thank the Spirit for coming but let them know that he prefers not to send a message. It’s all about keeping healthy boundaries between himself and his loved ones.

He does the same thing while on dates.  

“I don’t date much, but when I do and I tell a guy how I make my living, they often worry that I’m reading them.  I am not,” he insists.    “I may get little nudges here and there, like one time I felt the energy of a mom in Spirit for someone I was on a date with, and a few moments later, he shared his mom had passed from cancer a few years prior, but I won’t stop a date to deliver a reading.  It’s not very romantic,” he laughs. 

“I believe I am meant to help others along their healing journey,” he continues.  “Whether a client seeks guidance on a specific topic, wants to connect with a loved one in Spirit, or wants to deepen their own spiritual practice, I’m here to help like any great guncle who knows a lot of sh-t would.” 

He admits that he often surprises himself with the accuracy of his messages. “I especially love it when the two people shared a special word or song and then Spirit reveals that word or title to me so that I can relay it back to my client.  It’s validation, for sure, but it is also a fun feather in my cap.”

As far as the messages that he most often receives from Spirit, Holp says our dearly departed wish that we would let go of regret, guilt, and shame. “One of the things I have learned from Spirit is that most of what we carry isn’t necessary.  In the end, all that really matters is love.”

Travis Holp appears at The Vault in the Beverly Center (8500 Beverly Blvd, Suite 860) on Sunday, Sept 29th at 7pm. For tickets, visit: www.travisholp.com