Arts & Entertainment
Watch: Matt Bomer gets over heartbreak in ‘Papi Chulo’ trailer
A gay TV weatherman and a day laborer strike up an unexpected friendship
Matt Bomer learns how to get over heartbreak through an unexpected friendship in the trailer for “Papi Chulo,” written and directed by John Butler.
Bomer portrays Sean, a Los-Angeles based, gay weatherman who finds himself having a meltdown on camera after suffering through a bad breakup. He hires a day laborer Ernesto (Alejandro PatiƱo) and the pair become friends.
“I bet you think I’m crazy. Loco,” Sean tells Ernesto in the trailer. “I’m not really crazy, but I’ll confess, I am going through a rough patch. My ex has been gone for six months now and I have to admit, I’m not good at being alone. I never have been.”
Wendi McLendon-Covey and Elena Campbell-Martinez also star.
“Papi Chulo” hits theaters on June 7.
Watch the trailer below.
Movies
āBeauty, beauty, look at you!ā: 50 years of āFemale Troubleā
Celebrating John Watersās lovably grotesque black comedy
Itās funny ā and by funny, we mean ironic ā how things that were once on the fringes of our culture, experienced by few and appreciated by even fewer, become respectable after theyāve been around for half a century or more. The Blade herself can probably attest to that.
Cheap, self-deprecating one-liners aside, thereās something to celebrate about the ability to survive and thrive for decades despite being mostly ignored by the mainstream ātastemakersā of our society ā which is why, in honor of the 50th anniversary of its release, we canāt help but take an appreciative look back at John Watersās arguable masterpiece, āFemale Trouble,ā which debuted in movie theaters on Oct. 11, 1974 and was promptly dismissed and forgotten by most of American society.
Waters had already made his breakthrough with 1972ās āPink Flamingos,ā which more or less helped the āMidnight Movieā become a counterculture touchstone of the seventies and eighties beyond while making his star (and muse) Glenn Milstead ā aka Divine ā into an underground sensation. Naturally, expectations for this follow-up were high among his already growing cult following, who were hungry for more of his gleefully transgressive anarchy. But while it certainly delivered what they craved, it would have been hard for any movie to surpass the sensation caused by the latter, which had already broken perhaps the ultimate onscreen taboo by ending with a scene of Divineās character eating a freshly deposited dollop of dog feces. Though āFemale Troubleā offered plenty of its own hilariously shocking (and occasionally revolting) thrills, it had no standout āWTFā moment of its own to ātopā that one. Subsequently, the curious mainstream, who were never going to be Waters fans anyway, lost interest.
For his true audience, however, it was anything but a let-down. After all, it featured most of the same outrageous cast members and doubled down on the ferociously radical camp that had made āFlamingosā notorious even among the āstraightā (as in āsquareā) crowd; and while it maintained the bargain basement āguerillaā style the director had perfected throughout his early years of DIY filmmaking in Boston, it nevertheless displayed a savvy for cinematic craft that allowed Waters to both subvert and pay homage to the old-school Hollywood movies his (mostly) queer fans had grown up loving ā and making fun of ā just like him. It was quickly embraced, joining āFlamingosā on art house double bills across the U.S. and helping the Waters cult to grow until he finally won the favor of the masses with his more socially palatable āHairsprayā in 1988.
Fifty years later, there is little doubt that āFemale Troubleā has displaced āFlamingosā as Watersās quintessential work. Riding high on the heels of the latter, the director had both a bolstered self-confidence and an assured audience awaiting his next film, and he outdid himself by creating an ambitious and breathtakingly grotesque black comedy that frequently feels like weāre watching a crime being committed on film. Ostensibly framed as a ācautionary taleā of ājuvenile delinquency,ā it follows the life story of Dawn Davenport (Divine), who abandons social conformity once and for all when her parents fail to give her the black cha-cha heeled shoes she wanted for Christmas. Running away from home, she quickly becomes an unwed mother, leading her to a life of crime as she tries to support her unruly and ungrateful daughter Taffy (Hilary Taylor, later Waters stalwart Mink Stole). Things seem to turn around when she is accepted as a client at the exclusive āLe Lipstiqueā beauty salon, where owners Donald and Donna Dasher (David Lochery and Mary Vivian Pearce) take a particular interest in her, and marries star hairdresser Gater (Michael Potter) despite the objections of his doting Aunt Ida (Edith Massey), who wants him to āturn Nellyā and avoid the āsick and boring lifeā of a heterosexual.
From there, Watersās absurdly melodramatic saga enters the realm of pure lunacy. Dawnās marriage inevitably fails, and she falls under the influence of the Dashers, who use her as an experiment to prove their theory that āCrime equals Beautyā and get her hooked on shooting up liquid eyeliner; Gater leaves for Detroit to pursue a career in the āauto in-DUS-tryā, and his doting Aunt Ida (Edith Massey) disfigures Dawnās face by dousing it with acid; Taffy goes on a quest to find her deadbeat dad and ends up murdering him before joining the Hare Krishna movement; and things culminate in a murderous nightclub performance by the now-thoroughly deranged Dawn, which earns her a date with the electric chair for the filmās literally āshockingā finale.
It would be easy to rhapsodize over the many now-iconic highlights of āFemale Troubleā ā some of our favorites are its hilarious early scenes of Dawnās life as a high school delinquent, the Christmas morning rampage in which she destroys her parentsā living room like Godzilla on a bender in Tokyo, āBad Seedā-ish Taffyās torment of her mother via jump rope rhymes and car crash re-enactments on the living room furniture, Aunt Idaās persistent attempts to set up Gater on a āboy date,ā and the master stroke of double-casting Divine as the low-life mechanic who fathers Taffy and thereby allows him to literally fuck himself onscreen ā but every Waters fan has a list of their own.
Likewise, we could take a scholarly approach, and point out the āmethodā in the madness by highlighting themes or cultural commentaries that might be observed, such as the filmās way of ridiculing the straight worldās view of queer existence by presenting it to them in an over-the-top caricature of their own narrative tropes, or its seeming prescience in spoofing pop cultureās obsession with glamour, beauty, and toxic behavior as entertainment decades before the advent and domination of ārealityā TV ā but those things have been said many times already, and none of them really have anything to do with why we love it so much.
What we love is the freakishness of it; Waters revealed years after the fact that Divineās ālookā as Dawn Davenport was inspired by a photo from Diane Arbus, whose work served as a testament to the anonymous fringe figures of American culture, but it could be said that all of his characters, in this and in all his early films, might also be drawn from one of her images. Itās that, perhaps, that is the key to its appeal: itās a movie about āfreaks,ā made for freaks by someone who is a freak themself. It makes us laugh at all of its excesses simply because they are funny ā and the fact that the NON-freaks donāt āget itā just makes them all the funnier.
As Aunt Ida says, āQueers are just betterā ā and in this case, we mean āqueerā as in ādifferent than the boring norm.ā
In any case, queer or otherwise, celebrate your freakishness by watching āFemale Troubleā in honor of its anniversary this weekend. Whether itās your umpteenth time or your first, it will be 97 minutes you wonāt regret.
AIDS and HIV
40th anniversary AIDS Walk happening this weekend in West Hollywood
AIDS Project Los Angeles Health will gather in West Hollywood Park to kick off 40th anniversary celebration
APLA Health will celebrate its 40th anniversary this Sunday at West Hollywood Park, by kicking off the worldās first and oldest AIDS walk with a special appearance by Salina Estitties, live entertainment, and speeches.
APLA Health, which was formerly known as AIDS Project Los Angeles, serves the underserved LGBTQ+ communities of Los Angeles by providing them with resources.
āWe are steadfast in our efforts to end the HIV epidemic in our lifetime. Through the use of tools like PrEP and PEP, the science of āundetectable equals intransmissible,ā and our working to ensure broad access to LGTBQ+ empowering healthcare, we can make a real step forward in the fight to end this disease,ā said APLA Healthās chief executive officer, Craig E. Thompson.
For 40 years, APLA Health has spearheaded programs, facilitated healthcare check-ups and provided other essential services to nearly 20,000 members of the LGBTQ+ community annually in Los Angeles, regardless of their ability to pay.
APLA Health provides LGBTQ+ primary care, dental care, behavioral healthcare, HIV specialty care, and other support services for housing and nutritional needs.
The AIDS Walk will begin at 10AM and registrations are open for teams and solo walkers. More information can be found on the APLA Healthās website.Ā Ā
California
Forfeitures against San Jose State over trans athlete on roster spark controversy, backlash
Boise State, University of Wyoming and Utah State joined Southern Utah in forfeiting against San Jose State this season.
Blaire Fleming is at the center of a national debate over transgender athletes joining gendered sports at the collegiate level, after her team won fourth match by account of forfeiture.
Fleming made headlines earlier this year as her former roommate and team co-captain, Brooke Slusser, filed a class-action lawsuit against her and the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Slusser took to the Independent Council on Womenās Sports to file the class action lawsuit along with other cisgender athletes.
They claim that allowing Fleming and other transfemme athletes compete in womenās sports is in violation of Title IX, which does not permit trans athletes to compete against biological women, or use womenās restrooms.
The move to forfeit on account of a trans athlete, sparked controversy and driving the three other universities to forfeit in the recent weeks.
San Jose State responded to the latest forfeiture by stating that outing Fleming would have violated school policy.
The NCAA stated that it will ācontinue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in womenās sports and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships.ā
The controversy gained more traction as cisgender, far-right, voices joined the conversation.
Riley Gaines, a former competitive swimmer who came in fifth place in a 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship ā tying with trans athlete Lia Thomas ā took to X to speak on the issue and openly express her transphobia.
In the post, Gaines repeatedly misgenders Fleming, also adding that it is āunfair and dangerous,ā to allow transfemme athletes to compete in womenās sports.
Gaines is one of many far-right athletes who have either tied or lost a match to a trans athlete, then made it their mission to cast trans athletes out of womenās sports.
Equality Californiaās Executive Director released a statement regarding the issue.
āEquality California stands with San Jose State University and appreciates their strong support for their student athletes. All students deserve a safe and inclusive environment where they can thrive without fear or anxiety while being themselves,ā said executive director Tony Hoang.
The San Jose State womenās volleyball team is scheduled to go against San Diego State on Oct 10.
Los Angeles Blade will continue to cover the issue as the story develops.
The LGBTQ rights organization Family Equality held its annual LA Impact Gala on Saturday, September 28 at Citizen News in Los Angeles. Honorees at the event included actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and husband, producer Justin Mikita. Also honored at the event were Rainbow Book Bus founders Adam Powell and Eric Cervini. Speakers, presenters and performers included Jinx Monsoon, Jai Rodriguez, Richie Jackson, Lyle, Angel Bonilla, David Hernandez, and Family Equality Interim CEO Alexis Kantor.
(Photos by Getty Images for Family Equality)
a&e features
Author of new book empowers Black āfatā femme voices
After suicidal thoughts, attacks from far right, a roadmap to happiness
In 2017, Jon Paul was suicidal. In nearly every place Paul encountered, there were signs that consistently reminded the transgender community that their presence in America by the far right is unwelcomed.
Former President Donald Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric is “partly” responsible for Paul’s suicidal contemplation.
“I’m driving out of work, and I’m seeing all of these Trump flags that are telling me that I could potentially lose my life over just being me and wanting to be who I am,” Paul said. “So, were they explicitly the issue? No, but did they add to it? I highly would say yes.”
During Trump’s time as president, he often disapproved of those who identified as transgender in America; the former president imposed a ban on transgender individuals who wanted to join the U.S. military.
“If the world keeps telling me that I don’t have a reason for me to be here and the world is going to keep shaming me for being here. Then why live?” Paul added.
The rhetoric hasn’t slowed and has been a messaging tool Trump uses to galvanize his base by saying that Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris “want to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” Trump made that claim at the presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Not only do Trump’s actions hurt Paul, but they also affect 17-year-old Jacie MichelleĆ©, a transgender person at Friendly Senior High School.
“When former President Donald J. Trump speaks on transgender [individuals] in a negative light, it saddens my heart and makes me wonder what he thinks his personal gain is from making these comments will be,” MichelleĆ© said.
“When these comments are made toward trans immigrants or the transgender community, it baffles me because it shows me that the times are changing and not for the better,” MichelleĆ© added.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation responded to Trump’s rhetoric that opposes the transgender community and how it affects democracy through programming at its Annual Legislative Conference in Washington.
“Our agendas are not set by what other groups are saying we should or shouldn’t do. It is set by our communities and what we know the needs and the most pressing needs are for the Black community, and we know that our global LGBTQAI+ communities have needs; they are a part of our community,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, president and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
One pressing need is suicide prevention, which the National Institute of Health deems necessary, as 82% of transgender individuals have reported having suicidal thoughts, while 40% have attempted suicide. This research applies to individuals like Paul, who reported contemplating suicide.
But instead of choosing to self-harm, Paul met Latrice Royale, a fourth-season contestant on āRuPaul’s Drag Race,ā who was awarded the title of Miss Congeniality while on the show. Paul said that meeting brought meaning when there was barely any left.
“It was like I met them at a time where I really, truly, not only needed to see them, but I needed to be able to actively know ‘girl’ you can live and you can have a really a good life, right? And Latrice was that for me,” Paul said.
Though Trump is representative of a lot of movements that are clashing with society, the Democratic Party is actively pushing back against anti-transgender movements and says there is āstill much work to be done.ā
Not only did Royale model success for Paul, but they also share the same appearance. Paul proudly identifies as “fat” and uses this descriptor as a political vehicle to empower others in the book “Black Fat Femme, Revealing the Power of Visibly Queer Voices in the Media and Learning to Love Yourself.”
“My book, my work as a Black, fat femme, is inherently political. I say this at the very front of my book,” Paul said. “All three of those monikers are all three things in this world that the world hates and is working overtime to get rid of.”
“They’re trying to kill me as a Black person; they’re trying to get rid of me as a fat person. They are trying to get rid of me as a queer person,” Paul added.
Besides Paul’s political statements, the book’s mission is to give those without resources a blueprint to make it across the finish line.
“I want them to look at all the stories that I share in this and be able to say, ‘wow,’ not only do I see myself, but now I have a roadmap and how I can navigate all of these things that life throws at me that I never had, and I think that’s why I was so passionate about selling and writing the book,” Paul said.
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Arts & Entertainment
LGBTQ+Ć Literary Festival kicks off this week in Los Angeles
The festival will bring together authors, readers, academics and activists to discuss their experiences and share perspectives about the LGBTQ+ community.
The first LGBTQ+Ć Literary Festival in Spanish ā the first of its kind ā will kick-off six days of panels, short film screenings, book signings, performances and a photo exhibit starting today, at different locations across Los Angeles.Ā
The LGBTQ+Ć Literary Festival will bring together Spanish-speaking and Latin American writers who explore and celebrate a variety of themes in their work, including sexual diversity and perspectives on identity.Ā
āFeminist culture and LGBTQ+ culture have been the movements that have most transformed modern societies in recent decades, and therefore deserve special attention,ā said LuisgĆ© MartĆn, director of Instituto Cervantes of Los Ćngeles. āThere was no stable forum that brought together creators from across the Spanish-speaking world, which is why we have organized this literary festival. It aims to serve as a framework for reflection and a meeting point for LGBTQ+ writers.ā
The festival will bring together authors, readers, academics and activists, to discuss their experiences and share perspectives about the LGBTQ+ community and its academic intersections.Ā
The first stop for the literary festival is at the Instituto Cervantes of Los Ćngeles, from 7 PM to 9 PM on Tuesday, to screen short films that are part of FanCineQueer.Ā
The festival will feature authors like Myriam Gurba Serrano, Alejandro CĆ³rdova āTaylorā, Felipe J. Garcia, Boris Izaguirre, Nando LĆ³pez, MarĆa MĆnguez Arias, Felipe Restrepo Pombo, Claudia Salazar JimĆ©nez, Pablo Simonetti, and Gabriela Wiener.
There will also be a photo exhibit and featured photographers such as Gonza Gallego and Liliana Hueso.
The festival will take place at multiple venues including the Instituto Cervantes of Los Ćngeles, The Student Union at Los Angeles City College and Circus of Books.
For more information on the event visit the Instagram page for Instituto Cervantes of Los Ćngeles.
Events
Latino Equality Alliance hosts quinceaƱera fundraiser
LEAās mission with this event, is also to bring attention to Proposition 3 ā which puts same-sex marriage on the November ballot.Ā
The Latino Equality Alliance hosted its annual fundraiser on Saturday at Del Records in Bell Gardens as their quinceaƱera-themed Purple Lily Awards raises nearly $100,000 to create safe spaces for Latin American LGBTQ+ youth and their families.Ā
This year, LEA honored co-founder GutiĆ©rrez ArĆ”mbula, RuPaulās Drag Race Season 15 Contestant, Salina Estitties, and the Liberty Hill Foundation.
āThe Latino Equality Allianceās 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.”
LEAās mission with this event, is also to bring attention to Proposition 3 ā 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 āonly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,ā which also only upholds protections and recognition for same-race couples, excluding interracial families, as well as LGBTQ+ families.
That language ā while still on the books ā 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.
Arts & Entertainment
Lady Tacos brings famous tacos de canasta to Hola Mexico Film Festival
“Ā”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.Ā
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 ā like lawyer, mother, queen ā 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 ā who identifies as muxe, a third gender in Mexican culture ā 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 ā and being willing to lose everything in the process ā 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.
Books
A rabid fan’s look at the best and worst of queer TV
Rainbow Age of Televisionā a must-read for viewers
āThe Rainbow Age of Television: An Opinionated History of Queer TVā
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 risquĆ© 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 ā despite that āStar Trekā and its many versions included gender-diverse characters ā 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 āWill & Graceā 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.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
Arts & Entertainment
GLAAD launches season two of digital series ‘DĆmelo’, spotlighting Latine voices in comedy
Boricua comedian Gabe Gonzales created programs
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, “DĆmelo.”Ā
The digital series DĆmelo, or “tell me” is an interview-based series with Latine comedians who identify as LGBTQ+, serves non-traditional conversations with critiques on media tropes andĀ unfiltered opinions about how LGBTQ+ identity is both understood and misunderstood.Ā
āDimelo, 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,ā 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.”Ā
āThereās a little bit of flavor there, but I gotta tell you what it is first,ā 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.Ā
The season premiere will be available to watch on GLAADās 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.
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