Queer As A Five Dollar Bill (AUDIO)

Being that this is a presidential election year celebrating President’s Day has a whole new meaning. It’s interesting watching Pete Buttigieg shake things up as an openly gay candidate doing so well in the primaries. However around President’s Day I can't help revisit the theory that Abraham Lincoln might have been our first gay president ever since I read that Carl Sandburg alluded to the early relationship of Lincoln & his friend Joshua Fry Speed as having "a streak of lavender & spots soft as May violets" in his 1926 biography. "Streak of lavender" was a term of an effeminate man in those days & later it implied homosexuality. Then in 1999 there was playwright & activist Larry Kramer claim that he had uncovered previously unknown documents while conducting research for his work-in-progress, The American People: A History claiming to be found hidden in the floorboards of the old store once shared by Lincoln & Joshua Speed. Just think how amazingly supportive that would be for our LGBTQ kids to know that they had a role model in Abraham Lincoln. I talked with author Lee Wind in this exclusive audio interview about his novel “Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill” that actually centers around Wyatt a 15 year old dealing with his sexuality in a homophobic small town who discovers this theory about Abraham Lincoln's  relationship with Joshua Fry Speed a Springfield, Illinois merchant who met Lincoln in 1837. Wyatt can't help feel that if the world knew about this relationship perhaps they would treat our LGBTQ community differently. LISTEN
For More Info: leewind.org
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Adam Lambert To Open GLAAD Awards

GLAAD announced that international superstar Adam Lambert will open the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards with a special performance on Thursday, March 19th in NYC. Previously GLAAD announced that award-winning actress, producer & fierce LGBTQ activist Judith Light will be honored with the Excellence in Media Award & award-winning screenwriter, producer & director Ryan Murphy will be honored with the Vito Russo Award at their NYC ceremony at The New York Hilton Midtown 1335 Avenue of the Americas in NYC. Lilly Singh, openly bisexual executive producer & host of NBC’s A Little Late with Lilly Singh will host the event & Ben Platt the Tony Award-winning star of Netflix’s The Politician will also perform. Last month Lambert launched his own LGBTQ non-profit organization called the Feel Something Foundation. As an openly gay artist Lambert has been a powerful advocate for the LGBTQ community throughout his career. In September 2019 Lambert released his EP Velvet: Side A which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Music Artist at the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards this year. Adam has also been honored several times throughout his career for his trailblazing accomplishments as well as his LGBTQ advocacy. Honors include the Equality Idol Award at Equality California’s Los Angeles Equality Awards in August 2011; the GLAAD Davidson/Valentini Award at the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco in 2013; the Hope of Los Angeles Award as part of Los Angeles’ 3rd Annual LGBT Heritage Month in May 2013 & the Music Icon Award at the 2015 British LGBT Awards. In addition to this year’s nomination, Lambert has also been nominated twice for Outstanding Music Artist at the GLAAD Media Awards winning the award in 2013.
For More Info & Tix: glaad.org
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The Dinah Celebrating 30 Years (AUDIO)

This week I talked with Mariah Hanson, founder & producer of the legendary Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend that’s celebrating its 30th anniversary & takes place April 1st through April 5th in Palm Springs, California. With thirty years as the largest global all-girl music festival, The Dinah has welcomed millions of lesbian identifying queer women from around the world who make the annual pilgrimage to celebrate, unite, empower & live totally OutLoud at this infamous 5-day event. The festivities include high profile performances by globally renowned recording artists, massive pool parties with world famous DJs, go-go dancers, red carpet events with celebrity guests, dance parties, meet & greets with your favorite celesbians & so much more. This year performing live at The Dinah will be Ally Brooke, Saweetie, Umi, Lion Baby & Yung Baby Take. Also new this year will be two comedy showcases that include Dana Goldberg, Dinah Leffart, Gina Yashere on Thursday night & gay icon John Waters who is creating a special Saturday night show just for the occasion stating, “As a proud ‘lezbro’ who’s never been scared of women smarter than me, I’m happy to be the comic relief in a sea of partying ‘all-girl’ music festival fans. Thanks to The Dinah I will finally be a true outsider!” Additional confirmed performers include SWSH, Sophia Messa, Jozzy, Madison Paige & hosting the events are Kaycee Clark, Rose Garcia & Mikalah Gordon. DJ’s spinning at The Dinah dance parties will be Angie Vee, Val G, Alex D, Tatiana, Miss M, China G, Less Ortiz, Zehno & Reesie Cups. I talked to Mariah about what she has in store for the 30th celebration of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend & her spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN
For More Info & Tix: theDinah.com

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The Dems New Hampshire Aftermath

Now we have six main Democratic Presidential Candidates all committed to move forward after the New Hampshire Primary. On the top level the frontrunners are Bernie Sanders who edged out Buttigieg with approximately 69,738 votes to Mayor Pete’s 65,956 to win New Hampshire as Klobuchar surges to third with 53,265 votes. A disappointing fourth place for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 25,232 votes & Biden coming in fifth with 22,616 votes & Tom Steyer hanging on stating “I’m not dropping out. That’s ridiculous.” However Andrew Yang & Senator Michael Bennet have dropped out. So now the six frontrunners head to Nevada & South Carolina ending out the month as the race can still go any which way with billionaire Mike Blumberg spending big bucks on the sideline. All the candidates vow to defeat Trump with Amy Klobuchar stating "Hello, America, I'm Amy Klobuchar & I will beat Donald Trump." Now for myself living in Massachusetts I’m looking forward to Super Tuesday on March 3rd when Alabama, American Samoa (Caucus), Arkansas, California, Colorado, Dems Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont & Virginia have their primaries. Over the next few week these states will be ceased as the top candidates spend enormous amounts of money for campaign ads with some more effective than others. This is where Trump’s TV & media expertise will set a tone & it won’t be pretty. The best we all can do as voters is tune out the lies & vote. This is not the time for complacency on any level. Just remember as Hunter Thompson stated, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
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LGBTQ Support For The Crown Act

When Matthew A. Cherry Writer/Director/Producer/Editor of “Hair Love” won an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film Sunday night he used his speech to call for the passage of the Crown Act in all 50 states. This legislation bans discrimination based on hair in housing & workplaces. Cherry stated, “There's a very important issue that's out there, the Crown Act & if we can help to get this passed in all 50 states, it will help story like Deandre Arnold's who is our special guest tonight, stop from happening.” Hair Love is a 7 minute animated short film that centers around the relationship between an African-American father Stephen, his daughter, Zuri & her hair. Despite having long locks, Stephen has been used to his wife doing his daughter's hair so when she is unavailable right before a big event Stephen will have to figure it out on his own. This sounds simple enough but we then learn Zuri's hair has a mind of its own. The story was born out of seeing a lack of representation in mainstream animated projects & also wanting to promote hair love amongst young men & women of color. Erin Uritus, CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates concluded, "Bias takes many forms. The filmmakers behind Hair Love did us all a service by telling a story that powerfully showed that hair-based discrimination is linked to race. They raised our collective consciousness. They deserve even more credit for connecting the dots to the Crown Act. Remedies like this are key to providing dignity & inclusion for all." Out & Equal is the world's premier nonprofit dedicated to achieving global LGBTQ workplace equality. More than 70% of Fortune 1000 companies participate in their programming. WATCH VIDEO
For More Info: outandequal.org
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LGBTQ Diversity At The Oscars

The 92nd Academy Awards were disappointing when it came to LGBTQ diversity. Besides Elton John’s winning Best Song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from his biopic “Rocketman” & Billy Porter’s Oscars ensemble making a golden statement on red carpet our LGBTQ community took a backseat at this year’s Oscars festivities. Over the years there have been LGBTQ inclusive characters with straight actors portraying our community winning Oscar gold including Hilary Swank in “Boys Don't Cry”, Sean Penn in “Milk”, Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”, Charlize Theron in “Monster” & last year’s winners Mahershala Ali in “Green Book” & Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody”. With that said being that this is a presidential election year besides Brad Pitt making a reference to the senate’s impeachment trial travesty & Joaquin Phoenix emotional best actor acceptance speech about the state of our humanity the evening stayed very apolitical. Phoenix stated, “I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues that we are facing collectively & I think, at times we feel, or were made to feel, that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality. I think whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world & many of us, what we’re guilty of is an egocentric world view. A belief that we are the center of the universe.” Let’s take these words to heart & hope that from this day forward we all continue to work towards a more inclusive world.
For Full List Of Oscar Winners…
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Joey Suarez “Alive” Charts Billboard

After finishing a 15 city PRIDE Tour across the United States one of EDM/Pop’s hottest young artists Joey Suarez has teamed with superstar DJs Hector Fonseca & Zambianco for his newest single “Alive” which currently hit #28 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Charts. Suarez achieved global success with his debut single “High in the Sky” as well as “Dancing by Myself” off his last EP Candy Kid but it wasn’t until a chance meeting with Hector Fonseca that Suarez really started to gain momentum. Suarez stated, “I had recently relocated to Los Angeles from San Antonio When I first met Hector. We immediately hit it off & soon after my first tour ended we decided to release some music together. The end result was “Alive” & I couldn’t be happier with the initial response to the song & its remixes.” A first for Suarez the rise of “Alive” comes after years of hard work trying to break into the pop/dance world. Joey Suarez is a classically-trained opera/choir singer with over ten years of classical vocal training. Suarez didn’t begin to explore pop music until he was 21 years old drawing from a wide range of musical influences including Linkin Park, Miley Cyrus & Daft Punk as he crafted a truly unique style of music. While most musicians tend to hide their sexuality at the beginning of their career for fear of rejection Suarez consciously decided to live his life authentically as a proud gay man. I chatted with Joey in 2018 on OUTTAKE VOICES about what he hopes to accomplish with his music. LISTEN  
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