Innehållsförteckning för September/October 2025 från OUT

Dear Out readers, Pride Month may be over, but its spark ignites every page of this issue and fuels equalpride’s biggest leap yet: Advocate Originals, our slate of LGBTQ+ programming, is now streaming on Hulu. For decades The Advocate and Out have collectively chronicled queer life in print and pixels. Today, we add a new marquee. Our launch lineup illustrates what purposeful entertainment can be: • Pride of Broadway Special — Our salute to the LGBTQ+ and ally legends lighting up New York City theater, hosted by Sam Champion. • Big Easy Queens — A delicious, drag-laced noir starring Suzie Toot and Miss Bouvèé. • Out100 30th Anniversary Special — A celebration of three decades of the most influential LGBTQ+ movers, shapers, and rule-breakers. • Candis Cayne’s Secret Garden —…

There’s a palpable sense of anxiety and paranoia throughout writer-director Carmen Emmi’s debut feature film, Plainclothes. It’s the kind of tension that could cause a viewer to hold their breath while gripping the arm of their seat. When the movie reaches its conclusion, the relief is cathartic. The 1990s Syracuse, New York-set Plainclothes stars Tom Blyth (The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) as Lucas, a handsome, young, and closeted police officer tasked with going undercover at local cruising spots to arrest men who attempt to have sex with him. When he meets an older, more experienced man named Andrew (Russell Tovey), he finds himself developing feelings for someone he was assigned to target. For filmmaker Emmi, Plainclothes is personal. Growing up with a brother who was a police officer, Emmi…

I scroll my social feeds on a lazy Saturday afternoon and stumble across a video of a “Chicano mailman” (his words, not mine) walking through a neighborhood in the scorching summer sun. His décolletage, framed by the baby blue USPS button-up, glistens with sweat. It’s hot. So I tap on his profile, which leads me to a link in bio, which leads me to … well, you know. In less than a minute, I’ve leapt from the innocence of blue-collar TikTok to the OnlyFans home page of “an honest mailman trying to support his wife and two kids,” where he’ll show me “the package I’ve really been waiting for” if I cough up $14 and subscribe. Between 25 percent and 40 percent of Americans (and over half of millennials and…

Dear Advocate readers, This issue traces elements of our LGBTQ+ history. The Advocate’s 58-year journey, from a fledgling 1967 newsletter to the leading chronicle of LGBTQ+ life and resistance, has also documented major moments along the way, providing vital coverage and stories for nearly six decades. Every milestone we revisit reminds us that queer progress has never been guaranteed — but written, photographed, and fought for by people willing to tell the truth when it mattered most. That urgency is louder than ever. As new waves of censorship, violence, and political backlash try to silence our community, independent LGBTQ+ journalism remains a lifeline, shining light on injustice, amplifying joy, and preserving the record of who we are. That’s why our D.C. bureau matters. The Advocate is the only national LGBTQ+…

There’s a reason you can’t go to a gay bar without someone asking for your sign or why your lesbian friend keeps offering to give you a tarot card reading. Queer adults are more likely to consult astrology or horoscopes, and they’re also more likely to believe in them. Over half of LGBTQ+ Americans (54 percent) consult astrology or horoscopes at least yearly, according to a May survey from the Pew Research Center. This is nearly twice the percentage of the general U.S. adult population (28 percent). Another 33 percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they consult tarot cards, three times as much as U.S. adults overall (11 percent). Younger adults and younger women were also more likely to believe in astrology and to consult horoscopes. Approximately 43 percent of women…

Marvin Gaye is playing inside Donna Aceto’s cozy apartment in the West Village. “A day without Marvin Gaye is like a day without sunshine,” she says from her living room, as New York City is in the midst of a grueling June heat wave. Inside her one-bedroom apartment, the bookshelves are almost overflowing with memories — the trinkets, knickknacks, and family photos serve as a sort of museum to her life here in the Village. This is the apartment where Aceto has lived for 35 years, after moving out of Brooklyn in 1990, when she was working as a retail municipal bond trader on Wall Street. Moving to the West Village put her closer to her job and to the lesbian bars she frequented. She ultimately left that job to…

From candlelight vigils to White House performances, gay men’s choruses have charted an extraordinary journey over the past half-century. It’s a series of stories tied together by community, activism, art, and resilience. Born out of a need for visibility and healing, they’ve become cultural institutions, blending music with unapologetic queerness and social justice. The story begins in 1978 in San Francisco, when activist-musician Jon Reed Sims founded the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to march in the city’s Gay Freedom Day Parade. It was the first chorus to include the word “gay” in its name. But a few months later, tragedy struck. In November 1978, following the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, the chorus took to the steps of City Hall to perform Mendelssohn’s “Thou, Lord,…

PIONEER DJ DDJ-FLX4 Contrary to popular belief, I think more people should be DJs — especially queers (we already have great taste in music). What started as me giggling to myself in my bedroom over chaotic song mixes progressed to DJing house parties and beach days, and even a professional gig or two. This two-deck DDJ-FLX4 controller is a sleek and stylish beginner-friendly board. Its tools easily scale up if you ever progress to professional club settings, but it’s small enough to fit in a Trader Joe’s bag. Yes, I know that from experience. ($329) pioneerdj.com— Taylor Henderson BOSE ULTRA OPEN AIR EARBUDS My Bose Ultra Open Air Earbuds are so comfortable and unobtrusive that it’s easy to forget I’m wearing them while blasting Lady Gaga’s Mayhem on a walk…

Bob Mackie’s imaginative designs have been worn by Hollywood’s most glamorous and powerful people for over six decades. A new documentary, Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion, details the extraordinary life and career of a creative genius who’s become the gold standard for iridescent, daring, and show-stopping costumes. Mackie’s work evokes past eras, defies present-day taboos, and inspires future generations to razzle and dazzle as fiercely as possible. Born Robert Gordon Mackie on March 24, 1939, in Monterey Park, California, Mackie recalls how his love of movies inspired his career. “I’d see actors and say, ‘That doesn’t look great on them. That’s not giving them no favors,’” Mackie says. “You have to really be careful what you put people in. You can’t make them feel intimidated or uncomfortable as a performer.” Mackie…

Every day, we wake up and look at ourselves in the mirror. While many of us are content with our reflections, there are those who only see an endless checklist of flaws that need fixing. Whether it’s pesky belly fat that never seems to go away or a larger-than-average nose, experiencing some dissatisfaction with your body is a normal thing. While some people are capable of accepting their physique without becoming overly self-conscious, there are those who develop lifelong obsessions with what they perceive as their flaws, which trigger an endless need to achieve the perfect body. This is known as body dysmorphic disorder, a mental health condition in which a person becomes obsessed with imaginary defects in their appearance. Filmmaker Nick Demos has struggled with this since he was…

“Zurich is a beautiful city,” declares Swiss-born fashion and nightlife trailblazer Susanne Bartsch, who knows a thing or two about beauty. “I just love the culture — how they’re living life, the whole culture of hanging out. I feel like they really stop and smell the roses.” Now through December 7, Zurich is celebrating Bartsch’s iconic career of unforgettable outfits and spectacular New York City events with the exhibition “Transformation!,” on glorious display at the Museum für Gestaltung (Museum of Design). The exhibition, Bartsch’s first in her native Switzerland, takes the visitor on a dazzling nocturnal journey through getting ready, queuing up, clubbing, and winding down — with a cavalcade of phenomenal lewks along the way, of course. “My idea was that it would be more than Susanne Bartsch,” says…

THE RECENTLY ENDED U.S. Supreme Court term saw several decisions affecting LGBTQ+ Americans — largely unfavorably. Here’s what you need to know about these rulings and their impact. U.S. v. Skrmetti One of the most highly anticipated rulings was in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which involved Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. On June 18, the court ruled 6-3, along ideological lines, that states may ban this type of care. The challenge to the Tennessee law turned on its ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy and did not involve surgery. Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority opinion, wrote that the law did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The majority rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that the law discriminated on the…

Several years ago, it seemed like the lesbian bar would soon become a relic. The endangered safe space for queer women, however, has made a comeback. Now lesbian bars are seeing a resurgence. But before the lesbian bar renaissance, Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, and Jen McGinity began documenting these establishments’ history in U.S. society. “I was like, what if we go to all of [the lesbian bars in the country], talk to people, document these spaces, and that’s our podcast,” Karp says. “Everyone was crazy enough to be on board with a 30-day road trip.” So they set out in a Honda SUV to visit the lesbian bars of America. Out of that journey came season 1 of the podcast Cruising. Season 2 featured new lesbian bars as well as…

It’s a mystery what happens in an actor’s dressing room right before they take the stage. Every performer has a different ritual, especially when it comes to playing an emotionally taxing role — or in the case of Operation Mincemeat — roles, plural. The Olivier Award-winning musical comedy, about the covert British military operation to divert Nazi troops from Sicily, where the Allies were planning to invade during World War II, requires boundless energy and nuance for the five actors who play over 80 characters in the production. Role changes are communicated to the audience through minor adjustments to costumes and posture. So how does one prepare to take on multiple personalities in this dizzyingly funny production at Broadway’s John Golden Theatre? The back of the house at a theater…

talent Jennifer Lopez @jlo & Tonatiuh @iamtonatiuh photographer John Russo @johnrussophoto tech tas limur @taslimur photo assistant Brett Erickson @brettericksonphoto producer J. Charles Benigno from PhotoHouse Productions @photohouseproductions jennifer’s stylist Oretta Corbelli @orettac jennifer’s tailor Sugar Ferrini @sugar.ferrini jennifer’s assistant stylist Allegra Garguilo jennifer’s makeup artist Scott Barnes @scottbarnescosmetics jennifer’s hair Frank Galasso @frankgalasso1 jennifer’s nails Tom Bachik @tombachik tonatiuh’s stylist Savannah Mendoza @savannahkmendoza tonatiuh’s HMU ARTIST Sophia Porter @thesophiaporter video Ken Waller @kenwallermedia catering City Kitchen @citykitchenla location The Maybourne Beverly Hills @themaybournebh maybournebeverlyhills.com It’s a scene that might have taken place in a Kiss of the Spider Woman fantasy sequence. Jennifer Lopez, who plays the movie star Ingrid Luna in Bill Condon’s upcoming musical drama film — as well as the dual characters Ingrid portrays in the musical…

The wigs were unmissable from the Fire Island Pines marina, bright pink dots on the horizon that grew larger as the ferry neared the dock. The vessel’s upper deck teemed with drag: magenta beehives, fantastic fascinators, white-gloved hands waving at the cheering crowd on shore. It was the 50th Invasion of the Pines, an annual tradition that began in 1976 after Terry Warren, a visitor in drag, was refused entry to a restaurant on the New York island. In response, a group of queer people, led by the drag performer Panzi, stormed the Waterfront in heels — and a Fourth of July ritual was born. This year marked the first time I had witnessed the Invasion in person. As a longtime reporter in LGBTQ+ media, I was familiar with the…

Last Christmas, I took an extended visit to the U.S. to see my parents. They’re still living on the farm in Georgia, where I grew up, and I’m living abroad. It was my longest visit since I left home for college over a decade ago, and in the years since, I thought my relationship with them had improved. I was wrong. When I hopped a plane back to Berlin some weeks later, my depression was back — and bad. I haven’t spoken to them since. In that visit, I realized they are not only unchanged, but worse: They are somehow digging into their Trumpism, their faith. My sister, who’s also gay, is married, yet they cannot say the word “wife.” If this cute lesbian couple living the most hetero version…

WorldPride, held in Washington, D.C., this year, went off mostly without a hitch despite the shadow of an anti-LGBTQ+ presidential administration. The best thing about it was “that people showed up,” says Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which produced WorldPride. Yes, some were afraid to attend because of the Trump administration’s actions, but there was still a large crowd for the May 17-June 8 celebration, he says. Bos says that WorldPride featured the largest Pride parade in D.C. history, in terms of both participants and spectators, with Laverne Cox and Reneé Rapp as grand marshals. There was also a huge rally and march, reminding us that Pride is a protest. Other highlights included performances by Jennifer Lopez, Troye Sivan, Cynthia Erivo, Khalid, and more; appearances by…

On paper, they’re lawyers. In practice, they’re more like a human firewall, a scattered fellowship of civil rights advocates whose work has become a bulwark against the Trump administration’s campaign to erase transgender people from American public life. They range in age from their 40s to 60s and live in cities including Boston and Seattle. They spend their days in courtrooms, on Zoom calls, or drafting briefs at all hours of the night. They are queer, transgender, cisgender, parents, introverts, hikers, softball players. One volunteers at a food truck for the fun of it. Others wind down by reading fantasy novels. All of them have grown accustomed to facing judges and government lawyers who often don’t understand the very existence of their clients or question that existence. The rarefied group…