Table of contents for November/December 2025 in OUT

BOB THE DRAG QUEEN @bobthedragqueen Bob the Drag Queen brought Harriet Tubman to life in his debut novel, Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, where the famed abolitionist is revived as a hip-hop star. The New York Times bestseller shows how history has lessons for a modern climate of hate and is the latest jewel in the crown for Bob, a former RuPaul’s Drag Race winner now conquering surprising cultural spheres. Last year, he traveled the world with Madonna on her Celebration Tour. In 2025, he launched a production company, Purse First Studios, wrapped a stand-up comedy tour, and was a “fan favorite” on The Traitors. “I mean, I was a fan of myself,” quips Bob, whose dramatic encounters and elimination shooketh Alan Cumming’s castle. Now he’s preparing for his Broadway…

JUAN PABLO DI PACE @juanpablodipace For 23 years, Juan Pablo Di Pace has worked in front of the camera. From Mamma Mia! to Fuller House to the queer Christmas rom-com Dashing in December, Di Pace has broken ground as a gay actor while also showing off incredible dance skills on reality TV in Dancing With the Stars. This year, Di Pace finally fulfilled his dream of directing a film, Before We Forget, which he also wrote, produced, and starred in. “I finally get to make a movie with a point of view that is completely mine, which is scary and also incredibly satisfying,” he says. The personal project, which depicts the first love of an artistic teen at an Italian boarding school, was the last film executive-produced by Norman Lear.…

We’d like to thank our LGBTQ+ friends and allies who helped make the Out100. This includes our advertising partners (and phenomenal Sales team). Out survives and thrives because of them, so please keep that in mind when spending your pink dollar. Cheers to every member of the equalpride team for leading us to the finish line of another fabulous final issue of the year. And thanks to every creative — models, photographers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, and assistants — who help create the stunning spreads seen in every issue of Out. As always, thanks to you, dear readers, who for over 30 years have supported us as a magazine. There would be no Out100 without you. Consider yourselves honorable members in this mission toward greater LGBTQ+ visibility and equality.…

Growing up in conservative South Carolina did not afford me, a queer kid, many places where I felt a part of something. That changed when I attended college at William & Mary in Virginia. I chose the school in part because, while touring the college, I spotted a gay student couple holding hands, ambling proudly through the main garden on campus. Upon attending college there, I grew in my identity. No longer would I shrink myself or live up to certain expectations. Free from the closet, I discovered my people, a group that accepted me, who are friends to this day. Now, I live in the Washington, D.C., area, and those same supportive friends are helping me find my place here, offering me a sense of belonging like they did…

LGBTQ+ rights aren’t just for LGBTQ+ people. When governments oppress the queer community, it’s usually part of a broader move toward authoritarianism, says Graeme Reid, the independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity at the United Nations Human Rights Council. “It’s about a bigger political project … attacks on human rights writ large,” Reid says. This is what’s happened in Russia, Hungary, and yes, even the United States to some extent, he says. Reid, who is gay, has held his post at the U.N. since 2023. His term runs until 2026 and may be renewed until 2029. Before joining the U.N., he was director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. A native of South Africa, he has also taught at Yale and…

“Hard to believe this all started in a tiny Brooklyn bar,” says dapperQ creative director and CEO Anita Dolce Vita. DapperQ was founded in 2009 as a queer fashion blog. Since then, it’s expanded into a multiplatform brand that includes a book, panels, fashion shows, and the celebration of the full spectrum of queer style through its sibling project, Hi Femme! This year marked dapperQ’s 10th Annual Queer New York Fashion Week show at the Brooklyn Museum, which featured designs from ALEGRÍA, BoiPKG, DYKEMINT, Zoe Grinfeld, Hesta, Soid Studios New York by José González, and Transguy Supply. A particularly meaningful milestone from the event for Vita occurred in 2017, when dapperQ produced a youth LGBTQ+ fashion show for NYC Pride’s inaugural official Youth Pride. At this year’s show, Vita ran…

I’ll be frank: It took some thinking to determine this year’s theme for the Out100, Out’s list of the year’s most impactful LGBTQ+ people. 2025 saw staggering setbacks for our community — funding was cut to our nonprofits; brand sponsorships evaporated from Pride events; attacks, particularly those pointed at transgender people, rained from a federal level; our present, our history, and our future were being erased before our eyes. How does one find an upbeat zeitgeist in what felt like an ocean of loss? But amid these devastating blows, LGBTQ+ people from every walk of life continued to fight the good fight. They taught at schools, researched cures for diseases, sheltered homeless young people, ran for office, preached love in churches and synagogues and mosques, protested in the streets, starred…

NYLE DIMARCO @nyledimarco The multitalented Nyle DiMarco is the winner of two reality competitions: America’s Next Top Model (2015) and Dancing With the Stars (2016). He’s acted on Station 19 and Queer as Folk. He’s a Deaf activist. And this year, he made his directorial debut with Deaf President Now! The Emmy-nominated documentary covers the 1988 student protest that occurred at Gallaudet University after the world’s premier university for the Deaf elected a hearing president — a pivotal moment in the Deaf rights movement that led to the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. With his film, DiMarco hopes he’s “engraving it as a part of history, so it may stand alongside other movements that are taught.” Additionally, DiMarco wishes the story of activists with different viewpoints coming together…

BING CHEN @bingchen Bing Chen is the CEO and cofounder of Gold House, an organization that empowers the Asian Pacific diaspora through investments in companies, media ventures, and films like the 2024 Sundance winner Didi. His work fulfills a wish Chen had since his childhood in Tennessee and Shanghai, which was “to make everyone’s dreams come true.” As a former YouTube executive, Chen was a key architect of a landscape where millions of influencers can now earn a living. At Gold House, he sees even greater potential to unleash the power of diversity. “Some people think that investing in others is charity or that it’s just focused on what they pejoratively think of as a minority,” he says. “I’m proud of us for not only persisting but for showing that…

MEGAN STALTER @megsstalter 2025 was no match for Megan Stalter. The bisexual comedian and actress stole scenes in Hacks as Kayla, the entitled assistant-turned-manager who gives grief to her colleague Jimmy (Paul W. Downs). She starred in her own rom-com TV show, Netflix’s Too Much, created by Lena Dunham. And she’s been a memorable force at awards shows — be it introducing Sombr at the VMAs in a coffee cup-inspired ensemble or sartorially advocating for a Gaza ceasefire on the Emmys red carpet. “I would describe my work as bizarre, perfect, life-changing, and smarter than people that don’t get me think,” Stalter sums up. Stalter believes Kayla and Jimmy, as her fictional management team, would be thrilled by her Out100 inclusion. “I think that Jimmy would call and say, ‘Congratulations!’…

talent NIECY NASH-BETTS @niecynash1 photographer ERIK CARTER @erik_carter with ANDERSON HOPKINS @andersonhopkins digital tech JOSEPH MITCHELL @dudesgottado first assistant SANDRA RIVERA @XSANDIIA second assistant PRISCILLA MARIE SERRANO @PRISCILLAMARIESERRANO set designer KELLEY SILVERMAN @FUSILLI_JERRY_ KELLYSILVERMAN.COM stylist ASHLEY SEAN THOMAS @ashleyseanthomas makeup NAIMA JAMAL @allinadayswerk with CROWDMGMT @crowdmgmt hair SHARIF POSTON @sharifposton videographer ROBERT MARRERO @ITSROBERTMARRERO location EDGE LA @EDGE_STUDIOS Veteran actor Niecy Nash-Betts poses for her Out100 cover photo, and she has one music request for inspiration: Destiny’s Child. Empowering anthems like “Survivor” and “Independent Women, Part 1” create a perfect soundtrack for the 55-year-old artist, who is thriving on and off the screen. “Never saw this day coming in my life. In my whole entire life,” Nash-Betts laughs when asked about being named the Out100 Icon of the Year and…

NISHA GANATRA @nisha.ganatra In director Nisha Ganatra’s Freakier Friday, a rare sequel worthy of its predecessor, beloved characters played by Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis once again work through body swaps and familial strife, only decades later. Her debut film, the groundbreaking 1999 indie Chutney Popcorn, leaned into queer identity, Indian American culture, and family dynamics — and despite stylistic differences, Ganatra’s heart, humor, and queer sensibility are still apparent in the big-budget Freakier Friday. “I make film and television shows that center the stories of underrepresented people. I try to make the stories as entertaining and engaging as possible,” Ganatra says, adding that she’s proud to have made her first Disney film. “To have audiences around the world really respond to it feels incredible.” Ganatra, whose TV credits…

As legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ lives accelerate across the U.S., the media has a responsibility not just to cover these stories, but to center the people living them. Right now, the majority of mainstream coverage of LGBTQ+ stories, and especially transgender issues, is written about by cisgender people — rarely with them, and almost never by them. That’s a crisis of representation. And we’re here to rewrite it. This fall, we announced the launch of The Future of Queer Media Fellowship, a program to identify and develop the next generation of transgender and queer journalists. This 16-week, paid opportunity places selected fellows inside the editorial team at The Advocate, where they’ll collaborate with seasoned editors, pitch and publish stories, and sharpen their reporting skills. Applications are now open, and our…

When Fernando Carsa turns up for an interview, it’s not in the pool boy’s red shorts and white polo shirt viewers have come to love him sporting in Acapulco. Instead, Carsa appears in a flowing blue dress, with coiffed hair and a bold swipe of red lipstick. It’s an image that perfectly captures the contrast between him and his character Memo Reyes, the lovable, almost childlike sidekick to lead character Máximo Gallardo Ramos (Enrique Arrizon). Memo quickly became one of the most endearing aspects of the Apple TV+ series. The show ended in September after four seasons. For Carsa, saying goodbye is less about loss and more about gratitude. “It’s definitely bittersweet, for sure,” he says. “But I think there’s been so much history in this show. We started when…