The Golden Girls, one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, quickly resonated with the LGBTQ+ community due to its stars Betty White, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, and Bea Arthur. But in 1985, when Season 1 began airing, the environment surrounding the making of the show wasn’t so supportive for its gay writers, who started on staff without being out to their co-workers. Stan Zimmerman and his eventual writing partner, James Berg, decided to open up in a local paper.

“Our representatives thought it was a bad idea, but it was a relief for us to finally come out,” Zimmerman tells The Blade. “It’s hard to go to work and be yourself, especially in a job where you have to open your heart and mind and be open to talking about things that you were going through to then create episodes around. Imagine going to work, and you can’t divulge anything. How can you really bring your best talents to the table?”

As 2025 comes to a close, Zimmerman reflects on the show’s 40th anniversary and continued impact. The Blade spoke with Zimmerman about his experience coming out while working on Season 1 of The Golden Girls, dining with Estelle Getty, and writing on Roseanne — notably the Season 6 episode Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that featured a kiss between two women and prompted outrage from the network. (This interview has been edited and condensed.)

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As people have celebrated The Golden Girls turning 40 in 2025, what’s on your mind as you look back?

Of course, tons of memories. But talking about the 40th anniversary, when going into a career, I just wanted a job. And then pretty early on, I landed on the first season of The Golden Girls, and that was more than a job — it changed my life. At the time, you don’t think you’re gonna be talking about it forty years from now, especially when you’re super young like I was. You just want to be able to buy food and pay for living. Then you see that show go through so many renaissances and see new audiences come to it. You know, that first wave was, “Wait, you’re too young to have watched the show. How do you know about it?” And then these waves kept coming and coming. But I feel like right now, this is the biggest wave ever. The show is more popular today than it was back then, and you just see so many generations of people enjoying it and so many age groups. I’ve been involved in television for a long time, and luckily, been involved in a number of big hit shows, yet the thought that one show could attract young kids all the way to older people is pretty wild. With most shows, you only aim for a certain demo.

I have luckily heard so many beautiful stories, especially of LGBTQ+ members sharing their Golden Girls viewings with grandparents. It was such a great way to bond and laugh, and also touch upon a lot of subjects that you probably would not bring up at the dinner table. You’re laughing with them, or you’re seeing characters come out of the closet, and you’re watching these older characters in the show work through them, realizing how important these family members and friends are in their lives.

The path to getting into a writers’ room back in 1985 must’ve been so different than what it’s like starting out now. How did you get your foot in the door with a staff job on The Golden Girls?

It’s so funny that you would use the phrase “Foot in the door.” My grandmother must be speaking through you because she always said to me, “Just get your foot through the door, Stanley!” This was after Golden Girls, and I said, “I think my foot’s in the door, I’m trying to shove the rest of my body in.” Obviously, when I started out, there were nights that were just four sitcoms in a row on one network. And for many years, we would have multiple offers to go on a TV series. Now, we’re lucky if there are two or three comedies. There were just more places for us to learn. I’ve always said that Golden Girls was like our college writing 101 classes — how do you write a TV comedy? We were also doing 22-24 episodes a season, so that repetition of learning structure was so fundamental to my growth as a TV writer. Today, writers are lucky if they do six episodes a season. We did a sitcom that we created called Rita Rocks. We did 40 episodes. Then, it was two seasons, and it was OK, a middling success. But if you did 40 episodes of a show now, that would be huge.

You see a few shows now, like Abbott Elementary, that have big season orders and return yearly. But now everything’s a limited series, six or eight episodes. You just don’t get to spend as much time with the characters, which is part of what we love about TV.

And as a writer, we love it because you really get to explore all the different facets of characters and paint them into corners and see how they get out of it. That was really exciting. But also the flip side of that is that at the end of the season, you were exhausted. You had a table read on Monday, and you were filming it on Friday, come hell or high water. You stayed as late as it took. 

I gave up a lot of my personal life to work on TV shows. Sometimes, as we get older, we question what could have been, but I loved every moment of it, even the ones that were a little more challenging, like being on Roseanne and dealing with her, and delving into so many interesting storylines. Especially the lesbian kiss episode, which we wrote.

People think of Golden Girls as a very progressive show with a big queer audience, yet, especially in that first season, I know being gay was taboo in the industry. When do you think studio execs started realizing how much the show was resonating with queer people?

I remember going through West Hollywood on a Saturday night when the show was on, and there’d be nobody on the street because they were all in the bars, watching the show on monitors. And I will have to admit, occasionally, I would drop the Golden Girls credit to see if I could get a free martini — that might have worked here and there. But years later, I’d go to gay bars and still see clips of my shows or just meet LGBTQ+ people who knew every word of the scripts. That was really fascinating that it resonated with the audience so much.

And I got to know Estelle Getty, who played Harvey Fierstein’s mother on Broadway in Torch Song Trilogy. She was very friendly with the gay community and would invite me out to dinner, and I got very excited. There’d be 20 gay men, all actors from different companies of Torch Song. She just felt very comfortable being in the company of a gay man.

After you came out as gay in the ‘80s, there was a lot of press attention. What was your experience with that?

Back then, it was a big deal if you came out. Obviously, we weren’t household names or actors whose faces were on cameras — those people had to come out on magazine covers. Many of my friends who were actors who were gay or lesbian had to come out in their own way, or else a lot of the tabloids were going to out them anyway. So we got to pick when we wanted to come out, and it was an article in a local paper. 

It was a relief, but then for a while, it just opened up the discussions to those writers’ rooms, who were mostly male writers. They just had a zillion questions, all day long. They’d be asking us gay questions, and we’d be like, “Can we write the show and not talk about something gay?” Or we would be at Paramount in an office, and there’d be a window, and a beautiful girl would walk by. The writers would go, “Nothing?” and we’re like, “No.” And then when a hot guy walked by, we’d go to them, “Nothing?” So it got some lively discussions going in the room, which was cool that we got to share that and open up a lot of minds and hearts. Then, turning to a show like Roseanne, Tom Arnold would be running up and down the halls yelling, “Where are my gay guys?” — meaning James Berg and me. And we just kept thinking, “Oh, my God, you can’t say that out loud.” Today, there’d obviously be a lawsuit if you said that.

I wanted to ask you about Roseanne, specifically the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell episode in Season 6. The network threatened not to air the episode. What was your experience writing that episode and then facing the industry’s reaction?

We knew it would be an interesting episode because Roseanne Barr, on the show and in real life back then, was very open and liberal. So we thought about what story we could give her where we questioned that. If she got kissed by a woman, was she comfortable with that? How did people in her life react? We had no idea that the network would balk at that because it was just a nanosecond of a kiss. ABC flat out said, “We’re not going to let you film it.” Why? What did they think would happen?

You look at the parallels to today. Why do we not want drag queens reading children’s books to kids? Back then, were they afraid that if they saw two women kiss that every woman would turn into a lesbian? It’s so preposterous when you really think about it. We watched a lot of straight entertainment growing up. Did we turn out straight? It’s really about changing their minds and getting people to wake up to what the reality is. There always was and always will be LGBTQ+ people in our society. The sooner we embrace that, I think our society can start to move forward.

You talked about your experience in the writers’ room on The Golden Girls. What was your experience writing on Roseanne, and how was it different?

Golden Girls was terrifying because it was a small writers’ room, but we knew we were writing for four of the best actresses on TV of all time. So there was that pressure. And when the ratings started exploding, I think NBC and the producers knew that they had a piece of gold they had to hold on to. So they were very careful to make sure that every word that went down on set was brilliant. With Roseanne, she had 21 writers on staff, so Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr, who were married at the time, would bring in their stand-up comedy friends like Norm Macdonald, who had not written for TV at all. We kind of had to teach them how to write for television. Some of those rooms were very intimidating because they were stand-up comedy people who just opened their mouths and were [naturally] funny.

Some rooms I felt really comfortable in and could talk. In other rooms, I just felt so quiet and afraid to speak. Then there was a lot of dysfunction on set when we would have to go down there. Roseanne Barr just created this work environment of fear because we were told, “If she sees the whites of your eyes, you might get fired. So just stand behind the tallest person.” Then, of course, we go and write this lesbian kiss episode. She wanted to know who the hell wrote that, and suddenly, we were thrown at her. But luckily, she just loved it and fought for it. Tom and her got it on ABC, and I will always be thankful to them for that, no matter what her politics are now.

Earlier, we talked about fewer comedies airing on TV in this changing landscape. Across the years you’ve worked in comedy, what have you noticed about the evolution of the sitcom and why there are so few today?

There’s more opportunity in streaming to have really interesting comedies. It’s old now, but I really like a show like Girls by Lena Dunham. But as far as network television, they completely dropped the ball. They got so nervous about offending anybody or taking chances that they became so safe and stale with regurgitated jokes. I would watch or attempt to watch new sitcoms, and it felt like they were using the same writers, and the writers were using the same jokes, and the set-ups for the shows were just the same. When they saw audiences fleeing to streaming, they should’ve taken that opportunity and trusted writers of all ages. There’s no way to predict whether a show is going to be a hit or not — you can do all the testing.

Networks were and are still very afraid of any LGBTQ+ content. We wrote a show on spec called Skirtchasers about a father and his lesbian daughter who both chased women and cheated on those women. Everybody loved the script and had never heard anything like it before, but we were told, “We already have our one gay show this season.”

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In recent memory, what are some queer shows or films that you think have done an excellent job with representation? Or just any queer creators or writers you’ve been impressed by.

Actually, last night I watched that Heated Rivalry. It is so freakin’ hot, and it’s so subtle and interesting. I kept thinking I’d be bored, but I just like the pace of it. The actors are good, and it’s obviously very sexy. Then you have the gay sensibility for something like The Gilded Age, which is not a comedy, but I just love the cast. It’s the straightest gayest cast ever! It’s a Broadway wet dream. The show is also produced and directed by Michael Engler, a very good friend of mine who I went to NYU with. I asked him to direct the first play I wrote. I’m so proud watching that show and seeing the twists and turns it’s taking. The White Lotus is a phenomenon on its own, so I do love that. Hacks is really fun — I mean, anything Jean Smart does. We were lucky to have her in the first Brady Bunch Movie.

You mentioned your first play, and most recently, you’ve been working in theater and doing advocacy work. What inspired that?

Especially after COVID, I just love the idea of being in the theater with live people having this experience that is so unique to that one performance — it will never, ever be the same. Luckily, my TV career has enabled me to be able to go off and do theater. I created the play Right Before I Go, which is my suicide awareness play, using real suicide notes and also telling the story of a very close friend of mine who died by suicide 15 years ago. I’ve been traveling the United States with it, and made my off-Broadway acting and playwriting debut this past September, which was Suicide Prevention Month. It had a lot of queer actors in it: Wilson Cruz, Maulik Pancholy, Danny Pintauro, and then gay icons like Wendy Malik from Hot in Cleveland and Christine Taylor from The Brady Bunch Movie. That was really impactful, and I feel needed. In New York, audiences kept saying during our talkback that there’s no other theater like this that gives you a safe space to watch a show like this and then talk about it with a local mental health professional on stage.

When you get involved in projects, it takes so much of your life. I want to go out and either make people laugh, cry, but be moved. And that’s very exciting to sit in the theater and realize they’re having these emotions because of something that I created.

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The 83rd annual Golden Globes awards are set for Sunday (CBS, 8 p.m. EST). One of the many bright spots this awards season is “Hedda,” a unique LGBTQ version of the classic Henrik Ibsen story, “Hedda Gabler,” starring powerhouses Nina Hoss, Tessa Thompson and Imogen Poots. A modern reinterpretation of a timeless story, the film and its cast have already received several nominations this awards season, including a Globes nod for Best Actress for Thompson.

Writer/director Nia DaCosta was fascinated by Ibsen’s play and the enigmatic character of the deeply complex Hedda, who in the original, is stuck in a marriage she doesn’t want, and still is drawn to her former lover, Eilert. 

But in DaCosta’s adaptation, there’s a fundamental difference: Eilert is being played by Hoss, and is now named Eileen.

“That name change adds this element of queerness to the story as well,” said DaCosta at a recent Golden Globes press event. “And although some people read the original play as Hedda being queer, which I find interesting, which I didn’t necessarily…it was a side effect in my movie that everyone was queer once I changed Eilert to a woman.”

She added: “But it still, for me, stayed true to the original because I was staying true to all the themes and the feelings and the sort of muckiness that I love so much about the original work.”

Thompson, who is bisexual, enjoyed playing this new version of Hedda, noting that the queer love storyline gave the film “a whole lot of knockoff effects.”

“But I think more than that, I think fundamentally something that it does is give Hedda a real foil. Another woman who’s in the world who’s making very different choices. And I think this is a film that wants to explore that piece more than Ibsen’s.”

DaCosta making it a queer story “made that kind of jump off the page and get under my skin in a way that felt really immediate,” Thompson acknowledged.

“It wants to explore sort of pathways to personhood and gaining sort of agency over one’s life. In the original piece, you have Hedda saying, ‘for once, I want to be in control of a man’s destiny,’” said Thompson.

“And I think in our piece, you see a woman struggling with trying to be in control of her own. And I thought that sort of mind, what is in the original material, but made it just, for me, make sense as a modern woman now.” 

It is because of Hedda’s jealousy and envy of Eileen and her new girlfriend (Poots) that we see the character make impulsive moves.

“I think to a modern sensibility, the idea of a woman being quite jealous of another woman and acting out on that is really something that there’s not a lot of patience or grace for that in the world that we live in now,” said Thompson.

“Which I appreciate. But I do think there is something really generative. What I discovered with playing Hedda is, if it’s not left unchecked, there’s something very generative about feelings like envy and jealousy, because they point us in the direction of self. They help us understand the kind of lives that we want to live.”

Hoss actually played Hedda on stage in Berlin for several years previously.

“When I read the script, I was so surprised and mesmerized by what this decision did that there’s an Eileen instead of an Ejlert Lovborg,” said Hoss. “I was so drawn to this woman immediately.”

The deep love that is still there between Hedda and Eileen was immediately evident, as soon as the characters meet onscreen.

“If she is able to have this emotion with Eileen’s eyes, I think she isn’t yet because she doesn’t want to be vulnerable,” said Hoss. “So she doesn’t allow herself to feel that because then she could get hurt. And that’s something Eileen never got through to. So that’s the deep sadness within Eileen that she couldn’t make her feel the love, but at least these two when they meet, you feel like, ‘Oh my God, it’s not yet done with those two.’’’

Onscreen and offscreen, Thompson and Hoss loved working with each other.

“She did such great, strong choices…I looked at her transforming, which was somewhat mesmerizing, and she was really dangerous,” Hoss enthused. “It’s like when she was Hedda, I was a little bit like, but on the other hand, of course, fascinated. And that’s the thing that these humans have that are slightly dangerous. They’re also very fascinating.”

Hoss said that’s what drew Eileen to Hedda.  

“I think both women want to change each other, but actually how they are is what attracts them to each other. And they’re very complimentary in that sense. So they would make up a great couple, I would believe. But the way they are right now, they’re just not good for each other. So in a way, that’s what we were talking about. I think we thought, ‘well, the background story must have been something like a chaotic, wonderful, just exploring for the first time, being in love, being out of society, doing something slightly dangerous, hidden, and then not so hidden because they would enter the Bohemian world where it was kind of okay to be queer and to celebrate yourself and to explore it.’”

But up to a certain point, because Eileen started working and was really after, ‘This is what I want to do. I want to publish, I want to become someone in the academic world,’” noted Hoss.

Poots has had her hands full playing Eileen’s love interest as she also starred in the complicated drama, “The Chronology of Water” (based on the memoir by Lydia Yuknavitch and directed by queer actress Kristen Stewart).

“Because the character in ‘Hedda’ is the only person in that triptych of women who’s acting on her impulses, despite the fact she’s incredibly, seemingly fragile, she’s the only one who has the ability to move through cowardice,” Poots acknowledged. “And that’s an interesting thing.”

LA Art Show is the largest and longest-established art fair in Los Angeles, making its 31st year return at the Los Angeles Convention Center’s West Hall from January 7th to the 11th. The LA Art Show is one of the few remaining privately owned and operated Los Angeles art shows and reflects the authenticity of the city’s art scene, reflecting the vibrancy and multicultural makeup of the community.

This year, 15% of ticket proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association’s Life Is Why campaign. This year’s art show will reflect the fair’s global presence.

Director and producer Kassandra Voyagis shared, “Although it was an unimaginable time for the city, we are thankful that so many people came out for last year’s remarkable 30th anniversary edition during which we got to support the artistic community while also paying homage to the resilience of Los Angeles. We are thrilled to once again unite galleries, artists, and enthusiasts from across the globe to participate in and celebrate the city’s rich cultural legacy.”

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DIVERSEartLA, LA Art Show’s non-commercial platform will be curated by Marisa Caichiolo and will return to explore the evolving landscape of contemporary art through the lens of biennials and museums, exploring their complementary roles and tensions. As an education platform, it will highlight how they both exist as vital platforms for artistic innovation, dialogue, and engagement. This year, Caichiolo will also curate the invitation-only Latin American Pavilion, showcasing emerging artists from other regions of the American Continent.

Focusing on memory, migration,the and identity, the Latin American Pavilion engages in deep ancestral inquiry into power dynamics of artist representation within the gallery system. It invites audiences to reconsider provenance, belonging, and the evolving future of Latin American art — transforming how works move and resonate across borders.

“At a moment when immigration issues continue to disproportionately impact Latin American communities, it is especially important to provide a platform for these artists,” states Caichiolo. “Their perspectives are vital to a more complete and equitable understanding of contemporary art, yet they remain underrepresented at major fairs. This pavilion seeks to amplify their voices and affirm the cultural and creative contributions of Latin America on the global stage.”

Caichiolo invited a select group of galleries to form the pavilion, chosen for their representation of a diverse range of Latin American artists who embody the region’s voices and perspectives

This year’s LA Art Show will feature over 90 exhibitors, both local and international galleries that include LICHT FELD Gallery (Switzerland); Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery (U.K), Coral Contemporary Gallery (Miami), K+Y Contemporary Art (Paris), Arcadia Contemporary (New York), and Fabrik Projects (Los Angeles). Rehs Galleries, a New York-based gallery showcasing historic and contemporary art, makes its return, having participated in the LA Art Show since its inception in 1994.

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LA Art Show 2026 will feature a number of first-time exhibitors, expanding its international reach. These exhibitors include Dublin-based Oliver Sears Gallery, along with a strong U.K. presence with first-time galleries, including John Martin Gallery out of London, and Quantum Contemporary Art. Pontone Gallery, based out of London’s West End, will present works by self-taught Manchester artist Chris Rivers, who has gained a significant presence among collectors and A-list celebrities. Rivers, a professional rock drummer, creates vibrant and surreal oil paintings and hand-gilded editions, drawing from his fascination with astronomy, mythology, and celestial cartography. Other galleries showing at the LA Art Show for the first time include Gefen Gallery (San Francisco), Steidel Contemporary (Lake Worth), and Corridor Contemporary (Tel Aviv).  LA Art Show 2026 will also continue its strong South Korean representation with over 10 galleries participating. 

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Provident Fine Art, located in Palm Beach, will make its LA Art Show debut with a distinctive solo exhibition showcasing Sylvester Stallone’s abstract canvas paintings. Stallone has been painting since his adolescence, and as a prolific screenwriter, he often turned to art to assist in the development of his iconic characters. Exclusively represented by Provident Fine Art, this exhibition will signify his first major showcase in years, with the majority of the works available for purchase. His artworks have previously been displayed in retrospective exhibitions at museums in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Nice, France.

Tickets are now available at www.laartshow.com

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After her last-minute addition in the Zack Snyder film Army of the Dead, audiences everywhere thirsted over lovable actress/comedian Tig Notaro like a cold bottle of Gatorade in the Arizona desert. Tig is now teaming up with the famed director yet again to bring the people exactly what they want:

A Hot Lesbian Action Movie!

But what exactly does a “Hot Lesbian Action” movie entail?

You’re in luck, my friend. I am proficient in all things Action Movie (I saw Taken once) and all things Lesbian (I made two female Sims kiss on multiple occasions)! So here, for your convenience, is a cohesive and authoritative list of what 11 things this movie is GUARANTEED to include.

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1. A Finger Pulling the Trigger Will Not Be the Only “Finger Bang”

If there’s no wuh-luh-wuh (WLW) intimacy, then what did I buy my AMC A‑List for?!

2. There Will Be Multiple Straps

One for her gun.

And one in her backpack for later. (wink!)

You can’t have that cool slow‑motion moment where our hero reaches toward her armpits only to pull out two guns unless she’s wearing a strap—to hold the gun.

PERVERT.

And because lesbians, our lesbian action hero should also wear a strap—to hold her dildo.

PERVERT (again).

3. This Is a Zack Snyder Film. So, Much Like Lesbian Sex, It Will Be Like, Four Hours Long

And like lesbian boinking, this movie will reach multiple climaxes. It is an action movie, after all. 

The Breakdown:

Hour One: Foreplay. We meet the characters, learn their deal, and ease into the story.

Hour Two: Carnal knowledge. Action-packed chaos—chases, gunfire, sweaty lesbians.

Hour Three: Someone finishes. We take a little break (from the story, duh). Maybe we explore a B‑plot. Maybe the characters hydrate? Idk

Hour Four: The climax. Conflicts resolve. You order DoorDash as a treat.

4. The Soundtrack Will Include Taylor Dayne

Any Tig fan knows the Taylor Dayne bit. Naturally, a Dayne song will appear…preferably at a moment where it does NOT fit tonally.

5. A Nod to the Church

The working title is Deviants, which is a totally the first nod to “the church.”

Deviant: “Killers, deviants, and those whose actions are beyond most human comprehension.”

The runner‑up title was Jenny Schecter, but they gave it a “hard pass” for some reason.

6. The Villain Will Be Her Toxic Ex

The true villain in every lesbian story.

You know her:

She shows up at Dyke Day near your tent

She’s constantly angling to be interviewed at FUTCH

And yes, she kept the cat

Of course she’s the villain here too.

7. Chaotic Lesbian TikTokers Will Appear

I’m not naming names because there are actually too many to name (and also because I do not know any of their names; I’m bad with names), but they will be there, adding drama to every side quest on our hero’s journey.

9. The MacGuffin Will Be a Euphemism for Vagina

For those who don’t know:

A MacGuffin is a plot device that motivates characters but is often unimportant in itself.

Example: the briefcase in Pulp Fiction (I know, I know, No Tarantino, sorry).

In this film, the MacGuffin is a euphemism for vagina, so they will:

chase it

protect it

worship it

get it safely across the finish line

And to be clear: in this movie, the MacGuffin is VERY important.

10. The Whole, “Is She Flirting or Is She Just Being Nice?” thing will be woven into a chase scene

One character is in a high‑speed car chase.

The other is ordering coffee and making meaningful eye contact with the barista.

The car swerves.

The barista smiles. 

The engine revs.

The cafe banter escalates.

The car clears a tough corner.

“Got any plans with your girlfriend tonight?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Yes

“But I do have a boyfriend.”

NOOOOOOO!

Both scenes crash and burn simultaneously.

Minor scrapes. Emotional bruises. We live to chase another day.

11. Nail Clippers Will Save the Day

Probably to cut a bomb wire or something.

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Final Thoughts

No matter how this Hot Lesbian Action Movie shakes out, one thing is certain:

I’ll be there opening weekend—popcorn in hand, wearing my “I ♥ ️ Lesbians” T‑shirt.

And I hope you will too.

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In two days, LA Pride and the Los Angeles Zoo are bringing back a festive queer holiday tradition they formed three years ago: LA Pride Night at L.A. Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow. On Thursday, Jan. 8, the organizations are throwing a party filled with colorful, lit-up animal figures and an all-ages DJ party on the terrace for queer community members. 

While this holiday lights show runs every year at the zoo from November to January, this specific night uplifts the local LGBTQ+ community: allowing queer people and allies to dance and convene safely inside the zoo’s light-themed wonderland of plants and wildlife.

Amongst incandescent, warm sculptural lights juxtaposed by a beautiful night sky, attendees can revel in these kaleidoscopic sights and celebrate with fellow queer folks. The event also features interactive displays, photo-ops, holiday-themed treats, and cocktails, as well as a carousel.

The night’s purpose highlights L.A. Zoo’s mission in being a “safe” place for the county’s diverse communities, according to the Zoo’s CEO and director Denise M. Verret. It also allows organizers from Christopher Street West Association, who produce LA Pride, to strengthen their own mission: boldly advocating for queer liberation and visibility. 

“LA Pride Night at Zoo Lights is really about creating space for people to show up as they are, and enjoy something special together,” wrote Christopher Street West Association board president Lawrence Carroll, in a press release. “Partnering with the L.A. Zoo gives us a chance to bring our community, our families, and our allies into one of the city’s most beloved traditions, and remind folks that Pride is about joy, connection, and belonging all year long.”

LA Pride Night at L.A. Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow happens this Thursday, Jan. 8 from 6-10 p.m. at L.A. Zoo. Tickets are $29. More information can be found here. 

Kristie Song is a California Local News Fellow placed with the Los Angeles Blade. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.

Although 2025 was a year marked by countless attacks on trans rights and political setbacks, the year also saw brilliant queer artists continuing to create art. From Cannes and Sundance Award winners now vying for Oscar consideration to pop icons entering new stages of their careers, queer people persevered to tell their stories through different media.

With the state of the world so uncertain, perhaps there’s no more vital time to celebrate our wins, as seen through some of this year’s top pop culture moments. While there’s no collection of 10 stories that fully encompass “the most important” news, here are some events that got the gays going:

10. ‘Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo’ wins big at Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival has become a crucial start for films hoping to make their way to the Oscars, and first-time director Diego Céspedes won the top Un Certain Regard prize for his intimate western “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo.” The film is set in the ‘80s and is intended as an allegory for the AIDS epidemic. Seeing a film that unpacks vital queer history win one of the most coveted awards at Cannes has been a huge point of pride in the independent filmmaking community.

Since the film bowed at Cannes, it has been selected as Chile’s Oscar entry in the Best International Feature race. Speaking with The Blade during the film’s AFI Fest run in October, Céspedes said: At first, I was kind of scared to have this campaign position in the times that we’re living [in] here. But at the same time, I think the Oscars mean a huge platform — a huge platform for art and politics.”

9. ‘The Last of Us’ returns for an even gayer season 2

While the first season of The Last of Us gave us one of TV’s most heartbreaking queer love stories in the episode “Long, Long Time,” Season 2 doubled down on its commitment to queer storytelling with the blossoming relationship between Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced). The show expanded on the pair’s relationship in the original video game, making it perhaps the central dynamic to the entire season. That unfortunately came with more homophobic backlash on the internet, but those who checked out all the episodes saw a tender relationship form amid the show’s post-apocalyptic, often violent backdrop. For their performance, Ramsey was once again nominated for an Emmy, but Merced deserved just as much awards attention.

8. ‘Emilia Pérez’ sparks controversy 

Jacques Audiard’s genre-bending trans musical “Emilia Pérez” proved to be an awards season juggernaut this time last year, winning the Golden Globe for Best Musical/Comedy. But when the lead star Karla Sofia Gascón’s racist, sexist, and homophobic old tweets resurfaced, the film’s Oscar campaign became a tough sell, especially after Netflix had tried so hard to sell Emilia Pérez as the “progressive” film to vote for. Mind you, the film had already received significant backlash from LGBTQ+ audiences and the Mexican community for its stereotypical and reductive portrayals, but the Gascón controversy made what was originally just social media backlash impossible to ignore. The only person who seemed to come out of the whole debacle unscathed was Zoe Saldaña, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress over Ariana Grande.

7. ‘Sorry, Baby’ establishes Eva Victor as major talent  

Back in January at the Sundance Film Festival, Eva Victor (known by many for her brand of sketch comedy) premiered their directorial debut “Sorry, Baby” to rave reviews, even winning the Waldo Salt Screening Award. Victor shadowed Jane Schoenbrun on the set of “I Saw the TV Glow,” and seeing Victor come into their own and establish such a strong voice immediately made them one of independent cinema’s most exciting new voices. A memorable scene in the film sees the main character, Agnes (played by Victor), struggling to check a box for male or female, just one example of how naturally queerness is woven into the fabric of the story.

Most recently, Victor was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film, and she’s represented in a category alongside Jennifer Lawrence (“Die My Love”), Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”), Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”). The film also received four Independent Spirit Award nominations overall.

6. Paul Reubens comes out in posthumous doc

While Paul Reubens never publicly came out as gay before passing away in 2023, the two-part documentary “Pee-wee as Himself” premiered back in May on HBO Max, giving the legendary comedian a chance to posthumously open up to the world. Directed by Matt Wolf, the documentary explores how Reubens found his alter ego Pee-Wee Herman and why he kept his private life private.

The documentary won an Emmy in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category and remains one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the year with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Also worth noting, the National Geographic documentary Sally told the posthumous coming out story of Sally Ride through the help of her long-time partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy.

5. Lady Gaga releases ‘Mayhem’ 

Lady Gaga entered a new phase of her musical career with the release of Mayhem, her seventh album to date. From the frenzy-inducing pop hit Abracadabra to the memorable Bruno Mars duet featured on “Die With a Smile,” seeing Gaga return to her roots and make an album for the most die-hard of fans was especially rewarding after the underwhelming film releases of “House of Gucci” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.” Gaga has been touring with The Mayhem Ball since July, her first arena tour since 2018. She even extended her tour into 2026 with more North American dates, so the party isn’t stopping anytime soon. And Gaga is even set to make an appearance next May in “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

4. Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande perform at the Oscars 

While “Wicked: For Good” didn’t quite reach the heights of the first film, we will forever have Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s breathtaking live performance that opened the 97th Academy Awards. The pair sang a rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” “Home,” and “Defying Gravity,” paying proper homage to the original 1939 “Wizard of Oz.” Even non-Wicked fans can’t deny how magical and brilliantly staged this performance was. With both Erivo and Grande up for acting Oscars last year, they’re hoping to repeat success and make history with consecutive nominations. Either way, let’s hope there’s another live performance in the making, especially with two new original songs (The Girl in the Bubble and No Place Like Home) in the mix.

3. Indya Moore speaks out against Ryan Murphy 

Indya Moore has consistently used social media as a platform for activism, and in September, posted a 30-minute Instagram live speaking out against “Pose” co-creator Ryan Murphy. Moore claimed that Murphy wasn’t being a true activist for trans people. “Ryan Murphy, we need you to do more. You need to address the racism, the violence, and the targeting of people on your productions, Ryan Murphy. You do need to make sure trans people are paid equally. Yes, Janet did the right thing,” Moore said. Murphy was also back in the headlines this year for the critically panned “All’s Fair” and the controversial “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” starring Laurie Metcalf and Charlie Hunnam.

2. Cole Escola wins Tony for Best Leading Actor 

Few pop culture moments this year brought us together more than Cole Escola winning a Tony award for “Oh, Mary!” the Broadway show they created, wrote and starred in (we love a triple threat!) Escola made history by becoming the first nonbinary person to win a Tony in the leading actor category, and seeing them excitedly rush to the stage wearing a Bernadette Peters-inspired gown instantly became a viral social media moment.

The cherry on top of Escola’s major moment is the recent news that they are writing a Miss Piggy movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone producing — news that also broke the internet for the better. We cannot wait!

1. Jonathan Bailey makes gay history as ‘Sexiest Man Alive’

The same year as his on-screen roles in blockbusters “Jurassic World Rebirth” and “Wicked: For Good,” Jonathan Bailey made history as the first openly gay man to be named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” The fact that it took 40 years for an openly gay man to earn the title is a signifier of how far we still have to go with queer representation, and seeing Bailey celebrated is just one small step in the right direction.

“There’s so many people that want to do brilliant stuff who feel like they can’t,” he told PEOPLE, “and I know the LGBT sector is under immense threat at the moment. So it’s been amazing to meet people who have the expertise and see potential that I could have only dreamed of.” In 2024, Bailey founded the charity titled The Shameless Fund, which raises money for LGBTQ+ organizations.

From Chelsea Handler shouting out Heated Rivalry in her opening monologue to Amy Madigan proving that horror performances can (and should) be taken seriously, the Critics Choice Awards provided plenty of iconic moments for queer movie fans to celebrate on the long road to Oscar night.

Handler kicked off the ceremony by recapping the biggest moments in pop culture last year, from Wicked: For Good to Sinners. She also made room to joke about the surprise hit TV sensation on everyone’s minds: “Shoutout to Heated Rivalry. Everyone loves it! Gay men love it, women love it, straight men who say they aren’t gay but work out at Equinox love it!”

The back-to-back wins for Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein and Amy Madigan in Weapons are notable, given the horror bias that awards voters typically have. Aunt Gladys instantly became a pop culture phenomenon within the LGBTQ+ community when Zach Cregger’s hit horror comedy released in August, but the thought that Madigan could be a serious awards contender for such a fun, out-there performance seemed improbable to most months ago. Now, considering the sheer amount of critics’ attention she’s received over the past month, there’s no denying she’s in the running for the Oscar.

“I really wasn’t expecting all of this because I thought people would like the movie, and I thought people would dig Gladys, but you love Gladys! I mean, it’s crazy,” Madigan said during her acceptance speech. “I get [sent] makeup tutorials and paintings. I even got one weird thing about how she’s a sex icon also, which I didn’t go too deep into that one.”

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Over on the TV side, Rhea Seehorn won in the incredibly competitive best actress in a drama series category for her acclaimed performance as Carol in Pluribus, beating out the likes of Emmy winner Britt Lower for Severance, Carrie Coon for The White Lotus, and Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us. Pluribus, which was created by Breaking Bad’s showrunner Vince Gilligan, has been celebrated by audiences for its rich exploration of queer trauma and conversion therapy.

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Jean Smart was Hack’s only win of the night, as Hannah Einbinder couldn’t repeat her Emmy victory in the supporting actress in a comedy series category against Janelle James, who nabbed a trophy for Abbott Elementary. Hacks lost the best comedy series award to The Studio, as it did at the Emmys in September. And in the limited series category, Erin Doherty repeated her Emmy success in supporting actress, joining in yet another Adolescence awards sweep.

As Oscar fans speculate on what these Critics Choice wins mean for future ceremonies, we have next week’s Golden Globes ceremony to look forward to on Jan. 11.

Stranger Things has become a Netflix phenomenon by combining 1980s nostalgia, Dungeons & Dragons, the sci-fi and horror geekdoms, and Winona Ryder. We’ve watched a group of childhood friends fight demigorgons and grow up over the last 9 years. The latest season featured a pivotal moment for the character of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp): he came out. 

While social media has been flooded with fans’ frustration that Max made no attempts to run in the various rescue attempts from the Upside Down, and have mocked Millie Bobby Brown’s alleged post filler mug, there have been mixed reviews of the coming out scene. Some found it too long, too earnest, while others found it healing. Is it the strangest thing that the community can have such a varied reaction to this scene?   

In season one, the sensitive and shyest member of this group was essentially a MacGuffin. He was kidnapped and taken to the hell dimension of the Upside Down, with the whole season centered on his return. Unlike cult fave Barb, the sensitive boy had to navigate the trauma of surviving the harrowing experience. As the show progressed, fantasy met reality as Schnapp’s sexuality became part of the series. 

His unrequited crush with his friend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) began driving narrative tension. In the final season, an impromptu and lengthy coming out scene drove part of the war between the teens and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and the Mind Flayer. 

While the pacing can seem a bit strange, with a ten-minute coming-out scene on the cusp of the final battle, there is still the matter of the context of the 1980s and being queer. Also, rather than the perfunctory, “we’ve got a queer character, let’s have them come out,” this scene fundamentally factored into the narrative of the show. 

This season found Will having his own Dark Phoenix moment, taking on multiple demigorgons. He is also confronted by Vecna, exposing the shame, embarrassment, and darkness of his suppressed queer feelings. His coming out was not only necessary for Will’s character but also for the success in defeating the main antagonist. 

Throughout television history, child actors have started as precocious sources of comic relief and memorable lines, but as their queerness presented itself, it changed the show. Danny Pintauro on Who’s the Boss was phased out of his sitcom as he got older.  Mark Indelicato on Ugly Betty essentially provided a queer element, and his coming out was factored into the series as he got older. 

While the scene may have stalled some of the action, it has more to do with the fact that the series was not released in 8 episodes but released in three chunks, with the last two episodes as one 2-hour spectacular.  

The pacing issues with the 5th season have nothing to do with Will’s sexuality. After all, Max managed to perp walk her way through the Upside Down and had time to conduct a whole pep talk for Holly Wheeler. 

While some younger folks may find the scene corny or cringeworthy, the context of this scene is vital. Being set in the 1980s puts it in a different context. Being gay in the early 1980s was a whole thing unto itself. The idea that a character could be honest about being gay and find everyone in his life supporting him can be healing. 

It also honors the unique coming-of-age moments of queer people. Will Byers’s sexuality is not just something to make his character interesting. Instead, it’s honoring the actor, putting it in a context, and making a queer person a prominent part of the story. 

As the quantity of queer characters on screen is decreasing, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the quality is getting better. The timing of Heated Rivalry, Boots, and this scene, all while the political climate for LGBTQ people is in turmoil, offers a shot in the arm for queer people and a call for us to honor our shared experiences rather than focus on our differences. 

The retro nature of Stranger Things allows for revisionist history for people who survived the trauma of being in the closet during the age of AIDS and when queer people weren’t in the media. 

Stranger Things choosing to not just honor their star’s queer identity, but also having the full reality of a queer person’s life factor into the narrative seems like progress. Will doesn’t come out because he’s gay. He comes out because he cannot survive his secrets when facing a psychic demon from a mirror dimension. 

The show isn’t some schmaltzy story about a queer teen in the closet and his inevitable coming out. Instead, Will is a kidnapping survivor with superpowers, set on vengeance for the creature that kidnapped him, and just so happens to have to come out to succeed. 

So now what? What is the future for queer characters, and how will more showrunners treat queer characters in the future? 

This past year, you’ve often had to make do.

Saving money here, resources there, being inventive and innovative. It’s a talent you’ve honed, but isn’t it time to have the best? Yep, so grab these Ten Best of 2025 books for your new year pleasures.

Nonfiction

Health care is on everyone’s mind now, and “A Living: Working-Class Americans Talk to Their Doctor” by Michael D. Stein, M.D. (Melville House, $26.99) lets you peek into health care from the point of view of a doctor who treats “front-line workers” and those who experience poverty and homelessness. It’s shocking, an eye-opening book, a skinny, quick-to-read one that needs to be read now.

If you’ve been doing eldercare or caring for any loved one, then “How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Molly Jong-Fast (Viking, $28) needs to be in your plans for the coming year. It’s a memoir, but also a biography of Jong-Fast’s mother, Erica Jong, and the story of love, illness, and living through the chaos of serious disease with humor and grace. You’ll like this book especially if you were a fan of the author’s late mother.

Another memoir you can’t miss this year is “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran’s Memoir” by Khadijah Queen (Legacy Lit, $30.00). It’s the story of one woman’s determination to get out of poverty and get an education, and to keep her head above water while she goes below water by joining the U.S. Navy. This is a story that will keep you glued to your seat, all the way through.

Self-improvement is something you might think about tackling in the new year, and “Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy” by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton & Company, $28.99) is a lighthearted – yet real and informative – look at the things inside and outside your body that can be replaced or changed. New nose job? Transplant, new dental work? Learn how you can become the Bionic Person in real life, and laugh while you’re doing it.

The science lover inside you will want to read “The Grave Robber: The Biggest Stolen Artifacts Case in FBI History and the Bureau’s Quest to Set Things Right” by Tim Carpenter (Harper Horizon, $29.99). A history lover will also want it, as will anyone with a craving for true crime, memoir, FBI procedural books, and travel books. It’s the story of a man who spent his life stealing objects from graves around the world, and an FBI agent’s obsession with securing the objects and returning them. It’s a fascinating read, with just a little bit of gruesome thrown in for fun.

Fiction

Speaking of a little bit of scariness, “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” by James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28) is the story of a girl named Bessie and her involvement with a cloven-hooved being who dogs her all her life. Set in still-wild south Texas, it’s a little bit western, part paranormal, and completely full of enjoyment.

“Evensong” by Stewart O’Nan (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28) is a layered novel of women’s friendships as they age together and support one another. The characters are warm and funny, there are a few times when your heart will sit in your throat, and you won’t be sorry you read it. It’s just plain irresistible.

If you need a dark tale for what’s left of a dark winter season, then “One of Us” by Dan Chaon (Henry Holt, $28), it it. It’s the story of twins who become orphaned when their Mama dies, ending up with a man who owns a traveling freak show, and who promises to care for them. But they can’t ever forget that a nefarious con man is looking for them; those kids can talk to one another without saying a word, and he’s going to make lots of money off them. This is a sharp, clever novel that fans of the “circus” genre shouldn’t miss.

“When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris (Random House, $28) is a wonderful romance, a boy-meets-boy with a little spice and a lot of strife. Davis loves Everett but as their wedding day draws near, doubts begin to creep in. There’s homophobia on both sides of their families, and no small amount of racism. Beware that there’s some light explicitness in this book, but if you love a good love story, you’ll love this.

Another layered tale you’ll enjoy is “The Elements” by John Boyne (Henry Holt, $29.99), a twisty bunch of short stories that connect in a series of arcs that begin on an island near Dublin. It’s about love, death, revenge, and horror, a little like The Twilight Zone, but without the paranormal. You won’t want to put down, so be warned.

If you need more ideas, head to your local library or bookstore and ask the staff there for their favorite reads of 2025. They’ll fill your book bag and your new year with goodness.

Season’s readings!

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Happy 2026, my lovies!

I hope this year is one that sprinkles love, stability, and power into your life, no matter where you are or what you’re going through. I always like to start my year off by cleansing and cleaning my space. I see it as a way of clearing out the energetic and material junk that has accumulated in my life throughout the previous year. So grab your Swiffer and some sage (or whichever herb is sacred in your life and practice) and get to work!

After your space is nice and clean, take a salt bath (and if you feel like there’s some extra ick on you, throw in some rosemary or bay leaves) and cleanse yourself as well. Finish this simple ritual off by taking a bite of something sweet or making the sign of the cross on your tongue with honey to invite sweetness into the coming year and consider the year enchanted from the start!

January is urging us to be strategic. Take your New Year’s resolution one step further than going to the gym a handful of times before getting distracted, or the promise of saving money that all but disappears when we see a sale pop up at our favorite spot on Melrose. We need to look at our goals and make them clear, simple, and in tune with our empowerment.

We are living and growing in a rapidly changing world, which means we need to take a look around us and consider what life will most likely look like over the next 6–12 months. That can seem scary, I know, but knowledge is power. When we arm ourselves with that power, we can set up game plans A, B, and C and know that our goals can and will be achieved, even if our plan of execution is subject to change. So map out a quarterly plan for how you’re living life in 2026 and revisit it often…preferably under the full moon with some candles and herbs that help keep things on track. (Remember, a little magic can take us a long way when we’re trying to get things done.)

I’m seeing that some folks are healing old wounds, especially mother wounds (as cliché as it sounds), that have recently been reopened or revisited. Healing is difficult and requires us to move through painful moments, but it is worth facing so you can process whatever trauma has been living rent-free in your mind or heart and move forward with your life. I’d like to remind you that healing isn’t linear; it’s more of a tango. You’ll take a few steps forward and a few steps back. If you lean into the healing journey that’s been nagging at you, you may find that January is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but one that does have an ending, and that ending is beautiful and peaceful, my friend.

I know we’ve covered some of the heavier elements of the month, but I do have lighter news for you as well! This month brings open roads and possibilities, especially those involving contracts. If you’re dealing with a court case, officially landing a new role, or trying to close a big sale, January looks promising. Make sure you keep everything above board and in writing to protect your success.

As exciting as your good news may be, keep it to yourself until the deal is 100% sealed. We don’t need someone getting jealous of what you’ve got going on and accidentally (or on purpose) throwing the evil eye your way. Keep your lips closed, and wear an evil eye, a piece of red coral, or black tourmaline can help keep bad vibes away while you work your magic and get down to business.

January is calling for us to be grown-ups. It’s asking us to make plans and stick to them, work on our emotional health, and put our game faces on. I know, it’s a lot, especially since so many of us are just trying to get back into the swing of things after the holidays. Just know that hard work gets sweetly rewarded, too.

Happy January, and happy 2026, everyone!

Shana is an initiated priestess, paranormal investigator, author, and host of the podcast Queer from the Other Side. Follow Shana on IG.