5 THINGS TO KNOW
Month: August 2017
SPORTS
Gay track and field star on the road to the Olympics.
Track and field star L’eQuan Chapman is leaping boundaries for gay athletes. The long jumper and sprinter finished his college career with seven All-American titles and recently competed in Team USA’s “Scouting Camp: The Next Olympic Hopeful,” which aired in August on NBC Sports. The 25-year-old was picked alongside 91 other athletes for a chance to compete on one of four Olympic teams. He said he was blessed and humbled by the experience.
HEROES
Life as a gay father to a kid with disabilities.
What’s it like to be a gay dad with a severely disabled child? I spoke with two fathers who have been caring for their profoundly autistic kids for many years. What came through was a portrait of men who had been compelled to find some way to make sense of their gay identities, which emerged for them later in life, within unusually complex lives. For both, being out offers a more authentic way of living; but any exploration of gayness is necessarily subordinated to the needs of their children.
A & E
LGBT film festival – Long Beach – Qfilms
Queer cinema reached peak visibility at the 89th Academy Awards when Barry Jenkins’ film Moonlight won for Best Picture. The film, which details the adolescent and adult lives of a young, black gay man, carries the distinction of being the first LGBT movie to win Best Picture and is clearly a turning point for more LGBT filmmakers to find wider representation in Hollywood.
PRIDE
Burke County Pride kicks off in Morganton, NC.
Alone and afraid, Seth Loven began to cry. But it was not the Seth Loven of today — the 23-year-old who aims to inspire others and who takes pride in who he is. This version of Loven was crying because his teenage mind couldn’t take one more second of people making fun of him. And as he fought back tears caused by constant jokes about his sexual orientation, he also fought back the urge to take his own life.
PRIDE
Mid-Missouri celebrates Pride.
In celebration of the LGBTQ commuity’s increasing visiblity in Mid-Missouri, LGBTQ organizations Mid-Missouri Pride and The Center Project came together to host their 14th annual PrideFest on Saturday at Rose Music Hall. The festival lasted from 1-10 p.m. and featured an array of performances and guest speakers, from live musical groups to an interfaith sermon from local LGBTQ-allied clergy and even a pole dance routine from Muse Pole Fitness dancers. The festival closed with the Downtown Hometown Drag Show, headlined by Roxxxy Andrews and showcasing 15 other local entertainers.
A & E
LGBT Film Festival – Durban
Durbanites will have to wait until late September to enjoy the seventh annual Durban Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. With seven feature films, 11 documentaries and almost 30 short films from 14 countries globally, including South Africa, the festival – which now begins on September 28 – expects to speak to the interests of many different audiences.