Table of contents for July/August 2025 in OUT

Dear Out readers, Summer is the season of getting out into the world. This is when we shed the cobwebs of a dark winter or sleepy spring and burst fully into the sun. We travel to new places or explore familiar haunts. We attend music festivals and try new fashion trends. We enjoy art and perhaps make some of our own. And we do it all while being our full, unapologetically queer selves. I like to think of Out’s mission in this way — as being about exploring what the world looks like when LGBTQ+ people are fully out in it. And this issue is all about the different ways our community sparks queer joy — whether we’re glamping in Yosemite (page 53), designing homes on Fire Island (page 46),…

Law Roach is so booked and busy, he must have the power to bend space and time. The celebrity stylist and self-described “image architect” is constantly adding to his résumé and A-list clientele. This year at the Met Gala alone, he dressed six luminaries — Zendaya, Jeremy Pope, Angela Bassett, Cardi B, André 3000, and Tyla — and consulted on styling choices for the Burberry table at the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. On top of his stylist work, Roach has made a name in the television world as a judge on reality show competitions like RuPaul’s Drag Race and HBO’s ballroom show, Legendary. As if he’s not busy enough, the celebrity stylist was announced as a judge on season 21 of Project Runway, which…

JEREMY POPE From your breakout performances in Hollywood and One Night in Miami… to being a dreamy love interest on Pose to starring in The Inspection — gaining awards season buzz around it — in this house, we love and live for you, Jeremy Pope. It’s been wonderful to see you sharing your vulnerability through music. “U, Lost” and “What I Gotta Do?” are on constant rotation for us, and the full experience of the Last Name: Pope album has us all gagging. You stunned as a photographer as well in your series “FLEX(bitch),” which challenged toxic masculinity and even got Symone out of drag. And we can’t wait for your return to TV (and the Ryan Murphy-verse) in The Beauty, a show about an STI that makes a person…

talent tom daley @tomdaley photographer erik carter @erik_carter with anderson hopkins @andersonhopkins first assistant nicol biesek @nicolb.jpg second assistant luca mastrodomenico @lucamastrophoto stylist luca falcioni @luca_falcioni_ with opus beauty @opusbeauty fashion assistant adrián jose ramos diaz @adridekilla grooming elsa canedo @elsahair with opus beauty @opusbeauty usingrené furterer @renefurtererusa and m.a.c. @maccosmetics video robert marrero @itsrobertmarrero shot on location at hammer museum @hammer_museum For more information about the Hammer Museum’s upcoming events, including the West Coast premiere of the Chase Strangio doc Heightened Scrutiny, visit hammer.ucla.edu. On a recent May morning, Tom Daley posed for photography in the galleries and courtyards of the Hammer Museum, a cultural institution affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles. Modeling Dolce & Gabbana and Dior amid the Van Goghs and Monets, the Olympian — who had trained for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics at the UCLA pool just…

OVER THE LAST few months, I’ve thought a lot about how LGBTQ+ people find ways to survive even under tremendous, unfair circumstances. It’s because we recognize small moments of joy that snowball into clusters of happiness and push us forward. It’s queer thriving. In this issue, we highlight several young people who have come into their identities in turbulent times. Our Thriving Under 30 honorees (p. 14) have come up in the world with Trump and MAGA. Those circumstances have affected how they see the world. Not with rose-colored glasses, but with infrared binoculars, figuring out how to navigate a country that hasn’t seen this level of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in more than a decade including unprecedented levels of legislation attacking trans people. These young folks are challenging the anti-LGBTQ+ pushback…

BENJAMIN COY A BLACK QUEER person on the move, Benjamin Coy is constantly navigating. Airports, algorithms, advocacy strategy, and identity — he moves through all with precision and style. At 27, he serves as communications marketing campaign manager for the National LGBTQ Task Force, where his work straddles legacy organizing and digital culture. “I manage our social media content, content strategy with brand development, and brand cohesion,” he says. “It’s a fancy way of saying I do a little bit of everything.” His latest focus is influencer marketing. “These influencers have a dedicated audience of folks that are trusting of their opinions and experiences,” Coy says. “They’re looking at them to have a lens into someone else’s world. And that is honestly super powerful.” It’s about more than communication: It’s…

RAELEE SWEET RAELEE SWEET WAS an activist before they even knew what theword meant. “I was an activist from birth. I started a petition in the second grade to release the elephants from the zoo. I ran around yelling ‘Recycle!’ at people,” they recall with a laugh. “I was a little obnoxious, but … I’m very passionate.” Sweet was in elementary school when the anti-marriage equality initiative known as Proposition 8 was introduced in California in 2008. They say this really kick-started their passion for fighting for fairness and equality, especially for LGBTQ+ people. “I was in a conservative town, but my family was very open-minded and liberal,” Sweet says. “There were all these signs and protesters around saying ‘Yes on 8,’ which would take away gay marriage, but my…

SANDRA VALLS IS proof that you shouldn’t give up on your dreams. After a long career in stand-up comedy as well as appearances in film, theater, and TV, the lesbian actor, comedian, writer, and singer is realizing a cherished dream by making her Broadway debut at age 59 in Real Women Have Curves. The musical, which is in an open-ended run at the James Earl Jones Theatre, is based on the play by Josefina López, which was adapted into a popular HBO film starring America Ferrera. Set in 1987, it centers on Ana García (Broadway newcomer Tatianna Córdoba), who works in her family’s Los Angeles garment factory but hopes to go to New York City to study journalism at Columbia University, which has granted her a scholarship. Her family members…

When I interviewed Tom Daley for the cover story of this July/August issue, the now retired Olympian had just turned 31. He celebrated the entrance into his third decade on Earth with his family — his husband, Dustin Lance Black, and his kids, Robbie and Phoenix — who surprised Daley that morning with balloons and “cakes for breakfast.” Later, Black took Daley out for a nice dinner. Daley described the birthday as “really nice” but the experience of getting older as “crazy.” “It’s just weird going from being like the youngest on the team … and now I’m the old one,” he marvels. The experience of time’s passage is almost perfectly illustrated by Daley’s career transition from champion diver to professional knitter — albeit one with a booming business and…

COMING OUT HAS “BEEN A SEXUAL AWAKENING. IT ALMOST FEELS LIKE I’M GOING THROUGH PUBERTY NOW RATHER THAN AS A TEENAGER.” David Archuleta’s latest era? Love. It’s fitting, considering the singer-songwriter’s beginnings. His career began in 2008, when he was just 17, with a run on American Idol, where he placed second. As a teen heartthrob, he released his debut single, “Crush,” which still echoes in his life today — and it’s not just the onstage reverb. The song that pined “I know this crush ain’t going away” reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. Yearning. Budding first love. Fear of acting on his true feelings. Those youthful themes of “Crush” have come full circle for Archuleta. “Why do I keep running from the truth?” he croons…

“BEING GAY IS THE BASIC CONDITION OF MY BEING AN ARTIST.” Don Bachardy, a living legend of the art world and a queer icon, at age 91, is finally getting his long-deserved, first museum show: “Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits.” Running until August 4, this extraordinary retrospective at The Huntington in San Marino, California, showcases over 100 of his instantly recognizable portraits from a prolific seven-decade career in which he gave life to luminaries of the artistic world as well as friends, lovers, and himself in brutally honest self-portraits. I feel lucky to have once sat for Bachardy in his Santa Monica home, a time capsule overflowing with paintings and mementos from his exceptional yet tumultuous 33-year relationship with Christopher Isherwood, author of landmark books such as Goodbye to…

Queer people deserve to live wealthy lives. And when I say wealthy, I don’t just mean the balance in your bank account. I like a more holistic interpretation of wealth, one in which being rich means having the time and freedom to nourish ourselves, our relationships, and our passions (like going down pop culture rabbit holes whenever I want). When we cultivate different aspects of our lives, we learn more about who we are and what we want out of the time we have on this Earth, and this inner work creates a strong foundation for healthy personal finance. One of these passions is sex, and like it or not, you’re hardwired to have it on your mind all day, every day. For many of us, our quest to be…

There’s an architectural renaissance happening on Fire Island Pines. And it’s being led by BOND, a New York-based architecture studio founded by Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger, business (and real-life) partners who are presently helming over 15 projects across the storied gay mecca. (The firm is an acronym for Bureau of Noam and Daniel.) Recently, the American Institute of Architects New York paid tribute to the work of BOND through a tour of its Pines projects, which include a 1950s Sears catalog home and the residence of Andrew Kirtzman, a prominent reporter who is hailed as the unofficial mayor of the hamlet. Pictured in this spread, these projects pay tribute to the legacy of Fire Island’s midcentury pioneers, Horace Gifford and Harry Bates, while also preparing for a future impacted…

CLAYTON MCCALLISTER WHEN CLAYTON MCCALLISTER walked into his Air Force recruiter’s office in rural Tennessee, he wasn’t just chasing a dream — he was trying to outrun a political time bomb. “I want to sign up,” he told the recruiter. “This is my situation. Are you willing to help me?” At 24, McCallister is a husband, a father, and one of 32 plaintiffs in Talbott v. United States, a federal lawsuit challenging the reinstated ban on military service by transgender people. After more than a year of training, he shipped off to basic training this spring, hoping to begin the grueling path toward pararescue — a field where airmen jump out of planes into war zones to save the wounded. His wife circled June on the calendar for his return.…

JENNA SMITH JENNA SMITH HAS already made a mark in communities locally and in the Deep South. She’s worked with inmates in the Mississippi Delta and interned with the Innocence Project on policy issues. Adding to her accomplishments: She’s a Rhodes Scholar attending Oxford University in the fall. The 21-year-old New Jersey native and queer activist graduated from Duke University in May. There, she helped lead the Duke Justice Project, a justice advocacy student group. Smith also co-taught a course at Duke on correctional systems and the reentry process. She has been recognized as a Point Foundation Scholar, awarded to high-achieving LGBTQ+ college students. Of a generation whose worldview was formed as President Donald Trump first rose to power, Smith says early on she witnessed reminders that minority communities face…

JOSH SORBE AT 28, JOSH Sorbe is already making change as the press secretary for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats. He’s young, out, and a former Division I long-distance swimmer from the red state of South Dakota. He’s also helping steer the messaging behind some of the most high-stakes policy fights on Capitol Hill, including the relentless attacks on LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender Americans. “I don’t take the role lightly,” Sorbe says. “I feel like every day that I show up to work and own my identity, it’s a piece of the resistance.” In a climate where anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric are dominating right-wing politics, Sorbe is helping Democrats find their voice and fight back. “Republicans are very good at empowering influencers and surrogates and a lot of people…

When U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, the Louisiana Republican, read a graphic passage from All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto aloud during a 2023 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing — using his Southern drawl to recite lines about lube and sex in a tone somewhere between theater and scorn — he may have thought he was embarrassing George M. Johnson. But Johnson, the author of one of the most-banned books in America, saw something else entirely. “It affected me, sure,” they say. “But it also put the book in places it never would’ve reached. Someone out there saw that clip, ordered the book, and found a story they didn’t know they needed.” Published in 2020, All Boys Aren’t Blue was always meant to be more than a memoir. It was, as the…

POLO-GAMY Are you ready for the heat? Because another early 2000s trend (that took off in the 1980s) is back on the rise. And this time, it’s the double polo shirt that has crept out of your Abercrombie & Fitch/Hollister coffins and returned with a vengeance. If you were a “prep” in the early noughties, you are all too familiar with the struggle of layering your favorite polos — popping not one, not two, but maybe even three collars. TikTok has been raving about this trend for a while now, and I have received news from L.A. and New York that this look has been spotted out in public. It even appeared on the spring/summer 2025 runways of Rhude, Craig Green, and Balenciaga. If you do want to try this…

Lexi Goldberg The Ultimatum: Queer Love season 1 @lexicgoldberg Tell us a story about your most romantic queer date. My most romantic queer date was definitely when my fiancée surprised me for dinner on my birthday with this queer off-Broadway show in Bushwick. It was the most spectacular show I’ve ever seen. It was called Nutcracker Rouge, and I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. It was one of those moments where you just feel like your partner truly knows you because they know what really makes you happy. And true understanding of the person you love is the most romantic gesture in the world for me. Tell us a story about your most disastrous queer date. This one time, I tried to take [my partner] Zanc to this fancy…

What’s better than a little fun in the sun? While warmer months can wreak havoc on our skin and hair, co-washes are making a comeback due to their sulphate and chemical-free formulas that “condition-cleanse” hair without suds or stripping. In simpler terms, these products are for “water-scrubbing” without shampoo and conditioner, while newer formulas allow for more frequent cleansing without damage or color loss. Today’s leave-in nutrient creams and serums are a godsend. Skin science now combines luxe treatment ingredients along with protection — including SPFs with zinc oxide — shielding us from multiple harmful UV outdoor rays, UVB, and indoor blue light (devices), while including active antioxidants such as berries, vitamin C, vitamin E, and emollients, without any bad stuff. Hence, protect and treat invisibly, without heaviness. Throwing a…

Since the 2024 election, I have been inspired and daunted by the idea of “building community.” We’re facing fresh attacks on LGBTQ+ rights from a second Trump administration, and at times, the chaos and cruelty can become paralyzing. What, if anything, can we do to push back? Where do we start? How do we know which battles to fight? The message from so many queer activists has been to “build community.” That community, they say, must move beyond the world of social media — where there’s a strong temptation to work solely as keyboard warriors — and into the physical world. But what does that mean, exactly? And what do we do with community once we build it? The stories in these pages offer fresh perspective on just that —…

VIOLET C. AS A MIXED-race lesbian, 17-year-old Violet C. regularly uses her voice as an artist, activist, and filmmaker to combat hate and discrimination, as well as encourage others to practice self-love and embrace their own identities. “I’ve always really loved storytelling,” the Los Angeles-based Violet says. “When I discovered I was queer at a very young age, the YouTube film community was a huge kind of anchor for me, which inspired me to go more into film. But I also think just generally, I’ve always had a love of movies.” She adds that her interest in film began with outings with her family. “When you love something, you want to contribute to it,” she explains. “And I think that also kind of applies to the whole queer community.… I…

JAE DOUGLAS FLORIDA IS NOT a paradise for transgender people, but Jae Douglas is fighting for those who are staying — either by choice or by circumstance. Douglas is a 21-year-old Black and Latine trans femme advocate living in Tallahassee whose activism began after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. “I didn’t go to that school, but just being in a Florida school, it really unsettled everyone, and I was just tired of the gun violence that was happening and the lack of care,” she says. “I had experienced lack of care my whole life from at home, and I kind of envied other children and having happy homes. And they can’t even go to school without being petrified.” She and other students organized a walkout that…

Drag legend Murray Hill has been at the cutting edge of queer culture since the mid-1990s. In 2005, a profile in The New York Times called him “the leader of the downtown world,” noting that Hill’s performances regularly attracted celebrity guests like John Waters, Liza Minnelli, Alan Cumming, Joan Rivers, Boy George, and Fran Drescher. It took nearly 30 years for Hill, an actor, entertainer, host, and comedian, to star in mainstream projects such as Hulu’s Life & Beth, Prime Video’s Jackpot!, HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, and CBS’s Elsbeth. The latter, Hill says, was his broadcast TV debut as an actor. “It’s exciting, especially in our current climate, that I just played a man named Henry who’s an Italian tour guide.” As “Mr. Showbiz” himself gears up to host and judge…