The Daily Sheet - April to June 2025

[CellarDweller115]

Tuesday, April 8th, 2025

Michelle Williams on Brokeback's Loss

Michelle Williams appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” to promote her new FX series “Dying for Sex.” During the interview, host Andy Cohen took a brief moment to call out one of her most acclaimed movies: Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain.” Willians earned an Oscar nomination for playing Alma, the increasingly isolated wife of Heath Ledger’s damaged cowboy. Cohen explained to Williams “what an important movie ‘Brokeback Mountain'” was to him and so many gay men at the time of its 2005 theatrical release, adding: “I think it’s still in my top two movies of all time. Did you realize at the time you were making that, what a profound impact it was going to have on people?” “Yes, because people were so open about it,” Williams answered. “I remember doing the junket, you don’t get an opportunity to see a lot of grown men cry, and that was the moment I think that we all knew it was going to be special to people.” Cohen then brought up the infamous 2006 Oscars where “Crash” shockingly won best picture over presumed frontrunner “Brokeback Mountain.” Many industry pundits to this day consider the decision to be one of the Academy’s worst in history. “Brokeback” had already won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for best picture at that point in the season. Then “Crash” pulled up the controversial upset. “I was very upset about the best picture loss,” Cohen said. “I mean, ‘Crash’? Is that what won?” Michelle Williams on Brokeback's Loss

Historic Race in Wisconsin

Shaundel Washington-Spivey will be the next mayor of La Crosse, becoming the city’s first leader who is Black and who is openly gay. Washington-Spivey is co-founder and executive director of Black Leaders Acquiring Collective Knowledge, a La Crosse nonprofit offering youth and community support programs. He was previously elected to the La Crosse School Board and currently serves on Gov. Tony Evers’ Council on Equity and Inclusion. Speaking to reporters at his election night party, Washington-Spivey said becoming the first Black mayor of La Crosse “means a lot,” especially after seeing growing efforts to celebrate the city’s Black community in recent years. “The identities we hold matter,” Washington-Spivey told WXOW on Tuesday. “While race is a social construct, at the end of the day, who we are and our lived existence needs to be understood, appreciated and respected for what it is. And I just look forward to making sure that we bring this community together across differences.” He faced La Crosse City Council President Chris Kahlow during Tuesday’s election. She would have been the first woman to lead the western Wisconsin city had she been elected. Washington-Spivey won with just under 51 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. In a statement, he thanked Kahlow for running a “hard fought race” and said he looked forward to “working with her and the rest of City Council in building a La Crosse where everyone belongs.” Historic Race in Wisconsin

Bullied Cop Wins Lawsuit

A lesbian California police officer has won a $10 million harassment lawsuit against her former cop colleagues. Ashley Cummins, a former-officer-turned-MMA-fighter, sued the National City Police Department for damages after she endured harassment and discrimination based on her gender and sexual orientation. Jurors of the court agreed that Cummins had been singled out by several of the officers in her department, and that senior commanders did little to prevent the abuse, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. The total damages included around $166,000 in lost wages, $1.4 million in future economic losses and $4.2 million each in past and future non-economic losses, the outlet reported. 'We always believed our client was wronged and had viable legal claims for sexual harassment and discrimination,' her attorneys said in a statement to the outlet. 'Ultimately, we presented those legal claims to a jury to decide. We are grateful the jury found for our client on all accounts and awarded a just verdict.' Cummins joined the force in August of 2018, after working for the St Louis County PD for eight years, and said the harassment began almost instantaneously. Bullied Cop Wins Lawsuit Alan is Bisexual Bicon Alan Cumming would like you to remember that he is indeed bisexual. In a new interview with BuzzFeed, the Traitors host was asked how he feels about his sexuality being mislabeled as “gay.” Cumming responded that he simply “let that one go,” though he does “try to, when I have a chance to, define myself as bisexual.” The actor first came out as bisexual in 1998 on the cover of Out Magazine, at the same time that he was taking the stage on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret. In 2014, Cumming told NPR that his 1998 role sent “Puritanical shockwaves” around the U.S. at the time, and that he was constantly asked about his sexuality. So he decided to “take matters into [his] own hand” with the cover story, which he told NPR “was a good forum for it to be discussed calmly and adultly.” Though he still has to “calmly and adultly” clarify his sexuality to this day, Cumming told BuzzFeed that he also likes “queer” as an identifier, “because it's more all-encompassing, and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with what you do with the contents of your underpants.” “It’s more of a sort of sensibility as well,” he added. “I quite like that.” (So do we, Alan, so do we.) Alan is Bisexual Fencer Takes The Knee A female fencer was disqualified from a competition for refusing to compete against a transgender opponent, USA Fencing said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday. The incident occurred last month at a USA Fencing-sanctioned regional tournament where fencer Stephanie Turner decided to remove her mask and take a knee instead of competing against Redmond Sullivan, a transgender woman. Following the act of protest, the referee of the University of Maryland match -- which was not an NCAA tournament -- issued a black card to Turner, removing her from the competition. USA Fencing's current transgender and non-binary athlete policy was enacted in 2023 and allows athletes to participate in sanctioned events "in a manner consistent with their gender identity/ expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth." USA Fencing told ABC News on Thursday that the decision to disqualify Turner from the tournament was "not related to any personal statement" but because she refused to fence an "eligible opponent." Sullivan transferred to the Wagner College women's fencing team from the men's team in 2024. Fencer Takes The Knee Asexual & Aromantic People & Characters More people than you might expect are asexual, including Heartstopper author Alice Oseman, British actor Michaela Coel and even “blonde bombshell” Marilyn Monroe. According to the 2021 UK census, 28,000 people (0.06 per cent of the population) in England and Wales identify as asexual. In the US, it is thought that around one per cent of all residents are asexual. Asexual, or ace, is a label given to those who experience little or no sexual attraction to other people. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, meaning that no two people experience it the same way. While some may choose to engage in relationships, others may reject the notion entirely. In celebration of International Asexuality Day on Sunday (6 April), PinkNews has collated a list of 16 asexual people and characters. Asexual & Aromantic People & Characters Tate McRae is an Ally Tate McRae loves her gay fans — and isn't afraid to admit it! In an interview with Pride on Tuesday, Feb. 25, the rising pop star, 21, opened up about why her LGBTQ+ fans are her "favorite" — and revealed her "whole team" is gay. "They're my favorite," McRae told the publication. "No one beats them. Nobody is better than them." Added the "Sports Car" musician: "My whole team is gay! That's the only opinion I really want when I'm releasing music. I feel lucky that I have their opinion. We want to do the most and push the boundaries, but it's also the most brutally honest advice." McRae also called her gay fans her "number ones." "You know that as much as you guys ride for me, I ride for you. I feel very grateful to have you guys in my life and surrounding me," she said. Tate McRae is an Ally Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. The Daily Sheet Archives Respond to The Daily Sheet

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Tuesday, April 15th, 2025

Message From James Schamus

Allow me to address a few words to my fellow Jewish faculty members: So the white nationalist hammer is coming down on Columbia University, which is being made an example of, in order to scare all institutions of higher education into falling in line with the Musk/Trump plan to destroy any and all potential civil society nodes of resistance to the authoritarian regime they are putting in place. Don’t be fooled: the excuse they are using to destroy the institution—that Columbia is incorrigibly antisemitic—is, of course, the exact opposite of what is happening. They are coming after Columbia precisely because the University is, to the (not-) “populist” base in front of whom they perform their Hitler salutes and at whom they hose their antisemitic memes, an emblem precisely of Jewishness: it’s “globalist,” “cosmopolitan,” New York-based, “liberal,” etc. Of course the nationalists coming after us are also pro-Israel—they love the idea that there is an ethnonationalist garrison state to which all Jews should send themselves, and which will most likely self-destruct anyway in a cataclysmic orgy of Armageddon-like violence. And the Netanyahu-aligned establishment Jewish [sic] organizations, such as the ADL, who today are cheering on the destruction of Columbia, are more than happy to make common cause with their fellow nationalists—so long as the billions and billions of dollars’ worth of bombs keep flowing Israel’s way. Columbia administrators have been relentlessly cracking down on campus speech and protest around Israel’s ongoing depredations in Gaza and elsewhere, in a combination of pro-Israel zeal and “practical” calculations that such appeasement might shield the institution from the worst of what’s coming. But of course their abject compliance has done nothing of the sort. And colleagues who honestly thought that such draconian violations of long-cherished values and norms, cloaked in the fictional justification that Columbia had become some kind of antisemitic hotbed, were justified, are now seeing what was for many, if not most of us, the inevitable outcome of such sad labors. Message From James Schamus

Barry Manilow Insulted by Reaction

Barry Manilow was finally ready to take a chance when he officially came out in 2017. After decades of keeping his sexuality private, the music legend, then 73, opened up about being gay in a People magazine cover story. But Manilow was surprised at the reaction to his revelation — or lack thereof. “You know, it was a non-event,” the Brooklyn-born singer, 81, exclusively told The Post. “I was kind of insulted. I thought it was gonna be a big deal." “Oh my God, it was nothing,” he continued. “Nobody said anything about it.” However, Manilow chalks it up to his fans not really being surprised. “At that point, they all knew immediately,” he said. “They liked my music, they liked me. And they were happy that I had somebody to come home to.” Barry Manilow Insulted by Reaction

Lesbian Bed Death Needs to Die

Lesbian bed death is one of those phenomenons that almost everybody who identifies as a lesbian or a queer woman has likely heard of, but – spoiler alert – it’s not actually real. Lesbian bed death (or LBD) is another slang term that refers to the idea that lesbians and queer women in monogamous, long-term relationships end up becoming gal pals instead of gal pals, basically living life as roommates and friends sans benefits (aka sex) and are therefore not having any sex as they get older and more comfortable in their relationship. It’s a popular phrase in pop culture, mentioned in countless TV shows and movies featuring queer people, such as Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1. The concept of lesbian bed death, which was coined by sexologists Pepper Schwartz and Phillip Blumstein in 1983, has been criticised by LGBTQ+ people, calling it a myth – not least because lesbians have been found to have more orgasms than straight women. Additionally, studies showing that the numbers of people in long-term relationships having less sex grows as they get older and more established in those relationships – no matter your sexual orientation. Despite Schwartz and Blumstein’s research, which came from a survey on American relationships, there is no scientific consensus that lesbian bed death is a real phenomenon. Generally, all relationships will likely go through periods of lower sex drives that can either be worked through or will lead to the end of the relationship, however unfortunate that might be. Lesbian Bed Death Needs to Die Alan is Bisexual Bicon Alan Cumming would like you to remember that he is indeed bisexual. In a new interview with BuzzFeed, the Traitors host was asked how he feels about his sexuality being mislabeled as “gay.” Cumming responded that he simply “let that one go,” though he does “try to, when I have a chance to, define myself as bisexual.” The actor first came out as bisexual in 1998 on the cover of Out Magazine, at the same time that he was taking the stage on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret. In 2014, Cumming told NPR that his 1998 role sent “Puritanical shockwaves” around the U.S. at the time, and that he was constantly asked about his sexuality. So he decided to “take matters into [his] own hand” with the cover story, which he told NPR “was a good forum for it to be discussed calmly and adultly.” Though he still has to “calmly and adultly” clarify his sexuality to this day, Cumming told BuzzFeed that he also likes “queer” as an identifier, “because it's more all-encompassing, and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with what you do with the contents of your underpants.” “It’s more of a sort of sensibility as well,” he added. “I quite like that.” (So do we, Alan, so do we.) Alan is Bisexual Transgender Pilot Sues Influencer A transgender pilot is suing a popular right-wing influencer after he falsely connected her to the midair collision that killed 67 people near Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, in January. Jo Ellis, a helicopter pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, filed the defamation lawsuit against social media personality Matt Wallace in a Colorado federal court on Wednesday. Her attorneys argue that Wallace — who made a series of online posts incorrectly identifying Ellis as the pilot of the U.S. Army Black Hawk chopper involved in the Jan. 29 crash, and suggested the tragedy was a “trans terror attack” — intentionally made the false claims to financially profit off an anti-transgender narrative. Shortly after the American Airlines jet and Black Hawk helicopter crashed over the Potomac River, Wallace posted on his X account — where he has more than 2 million followers — that he’d learned the Black Hawk pilot was “a transgender,” according to Ellis’ complaint. That post also contained a photo of Ellis. Wallace deleted this initial post after it went viral, the lawsuit continues, but went on to publish more false information targeting Ellis — including another X post containing her photos, in which he also said a transgender Black Hawk pilot “wrote a long letter about ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and depression” the day before the collision. Transgender Pilot Sues Influencer Tanner Adell is Pansexual Tanner Adell has something to share. In a new interview with Out, the "Going Blonde" singer got candid about her sexual orientation and revealed she identifies as pansexual. "Yes, I'm pansexual," Adell, 24, told the outlet on the 2025 Billboard Women in Music Awards red carpet at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on March 29. "It's funny when people ask me my sexual orientation, but I feel like you should be able to hear that in my music," the country star added. "There's more of that coming." Adell previously spoke about having romantic feelings for women in a June 2024 Glitter Magazine interview about her song "Strawberry Crush," centered around wanting to flirt with someone of the same sex in a grocery store. "Swear she saw me starin' at the sway in her hips / Through the produce section, what was she gonna get? / Those bright red nails picked up that little green basket / Man, if that's how she gets it / Then I gotta have it," she sings on the track. Explaining the title, Adel told Glitter a "Strawberry Crush" describes the moment "when you start to have a crush on a girl — and this one just happened to be one that I never saw again but randomly in a grocery store" Tanner Adell is Pansexual Chris Hughes Defends Jojo It was only the first proper day in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and already, JoJo Siwa faced a horrific ordeal as she endured a homophobic onslaught from Mickey Rourke. Rourke got a formal warning for his behaviour, which involved him saying he would turn JoJo straight, tie her up, that he was going to “vote the lesbian out” and called her a slur. In the space of five minutes. And whilst JoJo Siwa endured this, the one ally in the Celebrity Big Brother house who spoke up to defend her was none other than Love Island’s finest Chris Hughes. We as queer people are finding our identity challenged and under scrutiny more and more by people who now think respecting us is “too woke” – and I just need to speak a bit about how important it is seeing straight men by an outspoken brave ally on national television. I just want to speak a bit about why it matters when people like Chris Hughes speak up when things like this happen. Chris Hughes is a straight lad from Love Island, a show that deems the inclusion of queer people “a logistical difficulty”. But what is amazing about Chris is he also joined the show Queen For The Night a few years back, and got a full drag makeover. He is extremely comfortable in who he is, and his allyship for us got proven last night that when it counts he stands up. This can’t be said for everyone. When Chris spoke up to Mickey Rourke, Jack P Shepherd stayed silent. Once Mickey walked away, Jack pulled an “ooo” face and acted like the situation was just cringe drama rather than something very serious. Chris Hughes stood up, challenged Mickey, went right over to JoJo and comforted her. He didn’t miss a beat. Chris Hughes Defends Jojo Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. The Daily Sheet Archives Respond to The Daily Sheet

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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025

Andrew Ahn, Ang Lee, and ‘The Wedding Banquet’

“Queer theory takes the joy out of being gay!” blurts Bowen Yang’s character Chris in one of several laugh-out-loud yet emotional moments in “The Wedding Banquet,” Korean American filmmaker Andrew Ahn’s fourth feature in just nine years. It’s a “reimagining” rather than a remake of Ang Lee’s beloved 1993 Asian American rom-com classic of the same name. Chris, who has put his PhD on hold, passes his days as a birder. When his amiable, handsome Korean MFA art student boyfriend Min (Han Gi-Chan) — in dire need of a green card to avoid being shuttled back to Korea and take rein of a chaebol managed by his astute grandmother played by Yuh-Jung Youn — proposes, Chris, though quite in love with Min, is petrified of committing. How can he, if he can’t commit to even a PhD? As his cousin (Bobo Le) sharply observes, Chris is merely interested in maintaining his “exquisitely ambivalent relationship to the best thing that has happened to [him].” Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom, Ahn said that “eliciting an emotion” from everyday relationship dilemmas is what guides him. It helps that there’s a surplus of emotion and drama to mine from the source material. “What’s so beautiful about Ang Lee’s ‘The Wedding Banquet‘ is that incredible mixture of screwball comedy and heartfelt trauma. I knew I needed to do that, in my own way. I was excited to accentuate a certain chaos and messiness from my characters. They’re trying so hard, but they aren’t doing great for so much of the film.” Andrew Ahn, Ang Lee, and ‘The Wedding Banquet’

Update on Calgary’s First Gay Hockey Team

Ten years after hitting the ice for the first time, Calgary’s first gay hockey team has become something much bigger. What began as a single team made up mostly of gay men has evolved into the Calgary Inclusive Hockey Association, an organization that now fields three teams and aims to make hockey more welcoming for all members of the LGBTQ community. “Hockey is for everyone,” said Jason Finnan, president of the association. “We want to pull those people back into hockey who may have fallen out … because they didn’t feel safe in typical hockey spaces.” CIHA was established to create a safe and inclusive hockey environment for LGBTQ players and allies. Its flagship team, the Pioneers, joined WinSport’s Hockey Canada League in 2015. A second team, the Villagers, was added in 2017, and by 2023, the association had grown to three full teams — beginner, intermediate and advanced — each with about 25 players and a growing waitlist. Finnan, who came out in 2019 and joined shortly after, said it was life-changing to find a space where he could be gay and a hockey player. “I thought those two things had to be separate,” he said. “I didn’t expect something like this to exist at all, just being newly out. Finding 80 to 90 people who shared a love of hockey and were part of the same community as me — it was quite special.” Update on Calgary’s First Gay Hockey Team

Lori Franchina Wins Lawsuit

Lori Franchina, a lesbian and retired firefighter, was awarded $1.75 million in her second lawsuit against the city of Providence, Rhode Island. She sued the city after it denied her an accidental disability pension for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) she developed in response to years of homophobic discrimination she faced while working for the city’s fire department. Franchina worked for the department from 2002 until PTSD forced her into early retirement in 2013. She initially filed a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the city in 2012. She said coworkers repeatedly called her b**ch, c**t, and lesbo; pushed and spit on her; deliberately splattered a victim’s blood and brains onto her; caused her food poisoning; forced her to work with an aggressive coworker who she had gotten a protection order against; ignored her official complaints; and refused to follow her commands, which resulted in the death of a fire victim. Her initial discrimination lawsuit concluded in 2016, with a jury awarding her $806,000. The city appealed the decision and lost. In 2011, one year before she retired from the department, she applied for accidental disability pension, but the city’s Retirement Board denied her application, stating that what she had encountered was no different than what any firefighter faced on the job, WJAR reported. Instead, the board granted her an ordinary disability pension. While an ordinary disability pension pays about $22,000 annually and is fully taxable, an accidental disability pension provides over twice that amount, tax-free, GO magazine reported. Lori Franchina Wins Lawsuit What You Need to Know About Bisexuality Bisexuals make up the "B" in LGBTQ+, and that's no small thing. In fact, bisexuals are the largest group under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, according to Gallup. They make up 57 percent of queer Americans, whereas 21 percent identify as gay, 14 percent identify as lesbian and 10 percent are transgender (with 4 percent being "something else"). So, with so many people within the LGBTQ+ community identifying as bisexual, do you know what it means to be bi? There are so many misconceptions when it comes to bisexuality, as it can be hard for some people to conceptualize not being either gay or straight. How does that work? Read on to find out what bisexuality is and why certain stigmas or stereotypes of bisexuals exist (and why they're wrong). Plus, learn some important statistics about bisexuals. You've heard of gay and lesbian people, and you definitely know what it means to be straight. But what does bisexual mean? According to the Human Rights Campaign, someone who's bisexual has the potential to be attracted to more than one gender. As bisexual leader and activist Robyn Ochs describes bisexuality, it can be romantic and/or sexual attraction "to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree." While "bi" is in the label's word, it doesn't mean that bisexuals only have an interest in two genders or that bisexuals believe there are only two genders. After all, the Bisexual Manifesto—a document published in Bay Area Bisexual Network's magazine Anything That Moves in 1990—states that bisexuality is fluid and not "binary or duogamous in nature..." Bisexuality includes transgender people, non-binary people and more, on top of cisgender people. What You Need to Know About Bisexuality Judge Blocks Passport Changes A federal judge on Friday partially blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy that bans the use of “X” marker used by many nonbinary people on passports as well as the changing of gender markers. U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, sided with the American Civil Liberties Union’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which stays the action while the lawsuit plays out. It requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity. “The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick wrote. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.” Kobick also said plaintiffs have shown they would succeed in demonstrating that the new passport policy and executive order “are based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans and therefore offend our Nation’s constitutional commitment to equal protection for all Americans.” Judge Blocks Passport Changes Asexual Representation Needed International Asexuality Day was recently celebrated April 6. The day aims to celebrate, advocate for and educate the public about asexuality. This got me thinking about where asexual representation in film and television is today. So, in celebrating the authentic and powerful asexual representation on our screens today, I also want to bring to light the glaring lack of this representation that persists. Asexuality is when someone feels little to no sexual attraction. Asexuality is an umbrella term that acts more like a spectrum with lots of identities within like demisexual, graysexual, and queerplatonic. There are a lot of misconceptions about asexual people, like the thought that asexual people do not feel romantic attraction (this is a separate orientation called aromanticism) or even that asexuality is not a real orientation and that asexual people just haven’t found the right person yet. The first depiction of asexuality on television was the character Sebastian: the Asexual Icon, who was the focus of a comedy skit on “The Late Late Show” in 2003. However, this skit was evidently acephobic and written by people who didn’t even know what asexuality is or believe it to be a real orientation. The skit essentially made a lack of sexual attraction the punchline, enforcing the idea that feeling this way is outlandish. So, this “representation” probably ended up doing more harm than good by propelling harmful stereotypes about asexuality. The first good asexual representation in TV was Gerald Tippett from the New Zealand show “Shortland Street.” The show showed Gerald exploring his sexuality throughout several episodes before discovering his asexuality and continued to have storylines both about his asexuality, but also other storylines separate to his asexuality, fleshing him out as a whole person. This show also actually uses the term “asexual,” whereas many shows after it have had asexual characters who never actually use the term “asexual” or “asexuality.” Asexual Representation Needed Chris Hughes Defends Jojo It was only the first proper day in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and already, JoJo Siwa faced a horrific ordeal as she endured a homophobic onslaught from Mickey Rourke. Rourke got a formal warning for his behaviour, which involved him saying he would turn JoJo straight, tie her up, that he was going to “vote the lesbian out” and called her a slur. In the space of five minutes. And whilst JoJo Siwa endured this, the one ally in the Celebrity Big Brother house who spoke up to defend her was none other than Love Island’s finest Chris Hughes. We as queer people are finding our identity challenged and under scrutiny more and more by people who now think respecting us is “too woke” – and I just need to speak a bit about how important it is seeing straight men by an outspoken brave ally on national television. I just want to speak a bit about why it matters when people like Chris Hughes speak up when things like this happen. Chris Hughes is a straight lad from Love Island, a show that deems the inclusion of queer people “a logistical difficulty”. But what is amazing about Chris is he also joined the show Queen For The Night a few years back, and got a full drag makeover. He is extremely comfortable in who he is, and his allyship for us got proven last night that when it counts he stands up. This can’t be said for everyone. When Chris spoke up to Mickey Rourke, Jack P Shepherd stayed silent. Once Mickey walked away, Jack pulled an “ooo” face and acted like the situation was just cringe drama rather than something very serious. Chris Hughes stood up, challenged Mickey, went right over to JoJo and comforted her. He didn’t miss a beat. Chris Hughes Defends Jojo Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. 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Tuesday, April 29th, 2025

Update on Anna Faris

It has been more than two decades since actress Anna Faris’ breakout performance in Scary Movie left audiences eager for more. Ever since, her prolific film career has defied stereotypes around women in comedy; forever disproving the notion that beautiful women are not funny, or able to laugh at themselves. “Being in the world of comedy, you’re forced to make an ass out of yourself all the time,” Faris tells me on a video call. “That’s the only way to do comedy [is] with sincerity. It has given me liberation in my identity as a female.” In spite of her fame, there is an easy relatability to Faris. One element of her comedic charm stems from the fact that she is disaffected by conventional perceptions of femininity. Still, she is undeniably beautiful. In films like The Hot Chick and The House Bunny, her sex appeal is intentionally juxtaposed with her goofy and self-deprecating humor. Her caricature-like depictions of blonde bombshells and sorority girls poke fun at the demeaning stereotypes and labels ascribed to women. In a word, it’s satire. She is also quite humble—particularly when it comes to her looks. Though she admits she was not a “tom boy” growing up, she reacts in absolute shock when I ask her whether she is a girly-girl. Update on Anna Faris

K-Pop Stars Coming Out

K-pop idols are constantly in the spotlight — from strict contracts to fan expectations, every part of their lives is watched closely. But for stars in the LGBTQ+ community, the pressure is even more intense. In South Korea, being openly queer is still a big deal. While some progress has been made, coming out in the K-pop world can put careers at risk. “While the Republic of Korea (South Korea) broadly respects the rights of its citizens, there are significant human rights concerns,” Human Rights Watch stated in a 2023 report, “especially regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.” Despite this, a small number of K-pop stars have taken the brave step of coming out — publicly sharing their truth in an industry that isn’t always ready to support them. One of the most recognized names is Holland, who made history as the first openly gay K-pop idol. His journey into music wasn’t smooth. When he first started out, no entertainment agencies were willing to accept an openly gay artist. So Holland took matters into his own hands. He worked two part-time jobs to fund his debut single, “Neverland,” which dropped in January 2018. In 2019, he released his first mini-album through crowdfunding. His career has been self-made from the very beginning. “There are no examples [of gay idols] in Korea,” Holland told HighsNobiety in 2022. “I’m in a position to have to pave the way myself, so it’s a bit challenging. I could not have come this far with just the title of being the first gay K-pop idol. I came this far because of the support of the fashion industry.” K-Pop Stars Coming Out

TV's Lesbian Cops

Throughout TV and movie history, lesbians and cops are like peanut butter and jelly, and it seems like half of the time a TV show or movie (that isn't about lesbians) has an adult lesbian character, she's a cop. Why is this? Well, it certainly makes the lesbian characters more palatable to conservatives and moderates. She may be eating her wife's [redacted], but at least she's also harassing the homeless and arresting Black people! It's also interesting to note how many of these lesbian cops are played by women of color. Again, queer women of color are more easily accepted by "average Americans" if they're helping to uphold the systems that oppress them. This list is far from exhaustive. Lesbian cops appear in many more shows and movies, so many that we can't include them all here. Also, while this is a list of "lesbian cops," some of them are bisexual, pansexual or in other ways queer. TV's Lesbian Cops What You Need to Know About Bisexuality Bisexuals make up the "B" in LGBTQ+, and that's no small thing. In fact, bisexuals are the largest group under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, according to Gallup. They make up 57 percent of queer Americans, whereas 21 percent identify as gay, 14 percent identify as lesbian and 10 percent are transgender (with 4 percent being "something else"). So, with so many people within the LGBTQ+ community identifying as bisexual, do you know what it means to be bi? There are so many misconceptions when it comes to bisexuality, as it can be hard for some people to conceptualize not being either gay or straight. How does that work? Read on to find out what bisexuality is and why certain stigmas or stereotypes of bisexuals exist (and why they're wrong). Plus, learn some important statistics about bisexuals. You've heard of gay and lesbian people, and you definitely know what it means to be straight. But what does bisexual mean? According to the Human Rights Campaign, someone who's bisexual has the potential to be attracted to more than one gender. As bisexual leader and activist Robyn Ochs describes bisexuality, it can be romantic and/or sexual attraction "to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree." While "bi" is in the label's word, it doesn't mean that bisexuals only have an interest in two genders or that bisexuals believe there are only two genders. After all, the Bisexual Manifesto—a document published in Bay Area Bisexual Network's magazine Anything That Moves in 1990—states that bisexuality is fluid and not "binary or duogamous in nature..." Bisexuality includes transgender people, non-binary people and more, on top of cisgender people. What You Need to Know About Bisexuality Transgender Troops Getting Care The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation. The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending. As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, a priority of President Donald Trump and Hegseth. The administration insisted its restrictions were geared toward people experiencing medical challenges related to “gender dysphoria,” but two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution. The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to ban transgender servicemembers while legal battles continue to play out. Both judges ordered the military to refrain from forcing out more than 1,000 transgender troops and to resume providing for their medical care, including surgical procedures and voice and hormone therapy. The memo is the latest move by the Pentagon to comply with those orders. Transgender Troops Getting Care I'm Demisexual I always thought I was broken. Growing up, when friends always talked about a celebrity being “hot,” I went along with it but didn’t understand how they felt. I have never looked at a famous person, a friend or a stranger and thought “wow, you’re sexy.” Not once. I had crushes, sure, but they never had to do with someone’s appearance. I thought other people were cute only after I developed feelings for them because of their personality. My friends would gush over the cute guys in school, and I played along. I trusted them entirely so I figured if they thought those boys were cute, they had to be. Right? I never fully understood what it was that was so appealing to them. They were usually nice but I had no idea why my friends wanted to kiss them. I knew close to nothing about most of them. There was no inkling of sexual or physical attraction to people I didn’t know very well even after puberty. And now, as an adult, I realize that’s exactly what demisexuality is. I’m attracted to someone only after I develop a deeper emotional connection with them. I can count on one hand the number of men I’ve kissed in my life or have even been attracted to and I have no problem with that number. In no way do I feel that I’ve missed out because, to my body’s inclination, I’d much rather have a seven-hourlong conversation with someone than be physically intimate with them. I'm Demisexual The Imperfect Ally Three popes have died in my lifetime, but Pope Francis is the first I will mourn. As a gay man who was raised Catholic (and has the therapy bills to prove it), it was Francis’ response to one particularly pointed question in 2013 that floored me. On a flight back from his first official papal trip, he was asked about gay Catholic clergy members by journalists. “We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society,” Francis told reporters. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Those words immediately came to mind when I heard the news of Pope Francis’ death on Monday, April 21, at age 88 from a stroke. This might seem like a contradiction, but I was stunned to hear something so loving and Christlike about gay people coming from the pope. Like many queers, my experience with Catholic leadership had not been positive. For all my love of the music, the art, the mysteries of the saints — plus my Italian American connection to Catholic traditions — when it came to spiritual succor, the message was that gay people like me were “less than.” It was a message I heard many times: at Mass when the prayers of the faithful asked “that marriage be protected as between a man and a woman”; when I read about Catholic high schools banning same-sex couples from prom; and through stories of LGBTQ Catholics being denied communion. The Imperfect Ally Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. The Daily Sheet Archives Respond to The Daily Sheet

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Tuesday, May 6th, 2025

Re-release For Brokeback

Focus Features is re-releasing their 3x Oscar winner Brokeback Mountain in celebration of the pic’s 20th Anniversary. Special showings start on June 22 and 25. Directed by Ang Lee and starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain grossed over $178 million at the global box office. The movie made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival back in 2005 and was an immediate awards contender that season, and a social barrier breaking movie. Brokeback Mountain follows Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal), two young cowboys dispatched to work as on the majestic Brokeback Mountain in the summer of 1963. During their experience, Ennis and Jack are drawn into an unexpected lifelong relationship, filled with love and loss. Brokeback Mountain was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture. Brokeback Mountain delivered Ang Lee an Oscar win for Best Director, his second Academy Award after taking home one in 2001 for Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Brokeback Mountain also won an Oscar for Best Original Score for Gustavo Santaolalla, and Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who adapted from the short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx. The movie also landed a Best Actor nom for Ledger, Supporting Actor nom for Gyllenhaal and Supporting Actress nom for Williams. Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain” was originally published in The New Yorker in 1997, winning the National Magazine Award for Fiction. In 2000, a slightly extended version was published in Proulx’s short story collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Re-release For Brokeback

History Made at MSNBC

Spring is in full bloom inWashington, D.C., and the air hums with unease beneath the city’s famous cherry blossoms. President Donald Trump has returned to the White House, and the federal bureaucracy is being reshaped in real time. The administration is spinning, attacking the free press, and treating journalists like dissidents. The White House Correspondents’ Association has been elbowed aside, and the Trump White House has banned the Associated Press from pool reporting duty — a ban only recently slapped down by a federal judge. Against this Orwellian backdrop, MSNBC is betting on something radical: the truth. And the media company is putting it in the hands of three people who know how to wield it. Jonathan Capehart, 57, Eugene Daniels, 36, and Jackie Alemany, 36, are about to become the most talked-about trio in political television. On Saturday they take the reins of The Weekend, MSNBC’s flagship Saturday and Sunday morning show, broadcasting live from the network’s newly muscular Washington bureau. The show’s expansion to three hours is no accident. Neither is its lineup. The show will make history as the first time that two out gay Black men host a national television program. “The mission of the show is the mission of journalism,” Capehart told The Advocate. “To tell the story, report the story without fear or favor.” He emphasized the importance of truth: “Our perspectives are grounded in our individual reporting but also in the facts.” History Made at MSNBC

Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line

In her new book Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line, Elizabeth Lovatt writes, “Lesbian knowledge production feels dangerously precarious, and so much of it I had stumbled over by chance.” Lovatt, a London-based writer of fiction and creative nonfiction, demonstrates how LGBTQ history is piecemeal and hard to find: Our histories have often been ignored, erased, or obscured by educational institutions, archives, and museums. In this absence, many LGBTQ people stumble upon different sources — books, TV shows, Tumblrs and TikToks, indie queer websites — that help us make sense of ourselves, our feelings, and our relationships. Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line documents Lovatt’s process of researching and writing about the history of volunteer-run lesbian phone lines in the U.K. During a residency focused on the LGBTQ history collection of the Islington Local History Centre, she came across the logbook of a lesbian phone line and was immediately curious about it. This was the “Women’s Line” or “Lesbian Line” that operated out of the LGBTQ community organization London Friend. London Friend’s Lesbian Line, which opened in 1989 and closed in 1999, was one of many gay and lesbian phone lines across the UK. As community-run phone services, these lines “acted as part information service and part phone counselor”: volunteers took calls and answered questions on a wide range of issues related to lesbian life, including coming out, relationships, family life and parenting, lesbian sex, and sexual and domestic violence. Lovatt’s book is part memoir, part history, part work of feminist and queer theory. As she writes about her experience researching in the archive and interviewing the women who volunteered for the Lesbian Line, she also shares her own life experience with the reader. Lovatt describes coming out to herself and eventually to her friends and family in her late twenties, tells us about her first queer crushes, and shares what it was like to fall in love with her wife. Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line Jill Sobule Passes Away Jill Sobule, the bisexual singer-songwriter behind ’90s hits like “Supermodel” and “I Kissed a Girl,” died Thursday morning in a house fire. Her publicist confirmed her death at the age of 66 to the Associated Press. Go reports that Sobule had been staying with friends in Woodbury, Minnesota, while rehearsing for an upcoming performance of her one-woman show, F*ck 7th Grade, in her hometown of Denver, Colorado. According to the outlet, officials say firefighters arrived at the suburban home around 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Between 1990 and 2018, Sobule released 10 studio albums. Her self-titled 1995 sophomore record spawned her two biggest hits, “Supermodel,” which was included on the Clueless soundtrack, and the groundbreaking “I Kissed a Girl.” As the AP notes, the song reached No. 20 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart despite being banned by some radio stations for its sapphic themes. According to ABC News, “I Kissed a Girl” was the first explicitly queer song ever to crack the chart’s top 20. Sobule also released five EPs, a 2001 best-of compilation, and three live albums over the course of her career, the most recent of which, The Many Aneeshes of Jill Sobule Live 1995-2025: Slap Happenin’ and Storytellin’, was released this year  Jill Sobule Passes Away Bill Passes in Colorado After a marathon session at the Colorado Senate that went into the early hours of Thursday, House Bill 25-1312 passed the judiciary committee with some revisions. House Bill 25-1312, also known as the "Kelly Loving Act," seeks to expand anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals and clarify how various gender identity issues are handled. The bill is named after a transgender woman, Kelly Loving, who was fatally shot and killed when a gunman opened fired in the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q in 2022. The bill increases protections for transgender kids, like making name changes more inclusive. State lawmakers have been at odds over the bill, with most arguments stemming from the controversial section addressing child custody and family law. After hours of testimony, the bill sponsors removed a clause in the bill that would have let judges consider misgendering and deadnaming to be forms of abuse when deciding child custody cases. Additional amendments would strike two other sections of the bill: one that would legally consider the publication of a "deadname" an act of discrimination and one that said if a school requires uniforms or dress codes, they be applied equally to all children without enforcement based on gender norms. Other sections of the bill remain. Bill Passes in Colorado Teacher's Lawsuit Is Dismissed A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Ludlow teacher claiming she was wrongfully fired after she outed a middle schooler’s genderqueer identity to their father, against the school’s direction. Bonnie Manchester taught sixth-grade history at Baird Middle School in Ludlow in 2020 and had worked at the school since 1999, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2023 for $10 million, argued that the school violated Manchester’s First Amendment and due process rights and discriminated against her viewpoint. A federal judge dismissed an appeal earlier this year from the same student’s parents who argued the school should have informed them of their child’s genderqueer identity. The student, after previously speaking to parents and teachers about their depression and questioning their identity, sent an email to school staff saying they were genderqueer, and wished to be referred to by a different name than their birth name and use he and they pronouns, according to both lawsuits. The student, who was assigned female at birth, requested the school still use their birth name and she/her pronouns in communications with parents, the complaint said. Teacher's Lawsuit Is Dismissed Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter In a recent interview with LGBTQ+ publication Them, Airyn De Niro spoke about "stepping into this new identity". Airyn's famous father told Variety in a statement: "I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter." "I don't know what the big deal is," he added. "I love all my children." The Goodfellas actor's daughter, 29, noted how she began to transition last year because, as a transgender woman, "there's a difference between being visible and being seen." "I've been visible. I don't think I've been seen yet." Airyn, daughter of De Niro and US actress and model Toukie Smith, also said the actress and LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox had been an inspiration; and that she now hoped to help expand trans visibility and to honour her black queer ancestors. "Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I'm like, you know what? Maybe it's not too late for me." Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. The Daily Sheet Archives Respond to The Daily Sheet

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Tuesday, May 13th, 2025

The Last of Us - The Music

Gustavo Santaolalla arrived at making music for The Last Of Us for two reasons: one, that his son really resonated with the video game, and two, he wanted to do something different after winning back-to-back Oscars for his scores to Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Babel (2006). “I’m a terrible gamer, horrendous. But we have a son that at the time that I started working on the game, he was in his mid-teen years, and he was an avid player, and a really good player, and I really enjoyed watching him play,” Santaolalla said during a conversation at Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television. “I always thought, ‘Well, if someday someone connects in an emotional level with a player, is going to really make a revolution.’ ” At Sound & Screen, Santaolalla and his production partner David Fleming played a rousing rendition of the main theme and other music from the hit HBO | Max series. “After the Oscars I got several offers, some, you know, important projects, with big brand relevance. They could have big relevance. They did, but it was more of the same,” Santaolalla said. “So I, I sort of, you know, waited for the right moment. I always say that whatever achievements I got had to do with the things that I did, but also with the things that I said no to, you know, so I didn’t want to do that. I knew what I was looking for.” Upon meeting Neil Druckmann, who created the video game, Santaolalla heard “the magic words” from the creator and executive producer on the television series: “I want to connect on an emotional level.” Then learning that “people were crying playing the game,” the pair knew they had struck something. The Last of Us - The Music

Pope Leo XIV's Stance

White smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel Thursday afternoon after a short two-day deliberation, and onlookers watched while Robert Prevost, the first American Pope in history, walked across the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in a white cassock. More than 100 cardinals gathered to elect Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV, as the new leader of the Catholic Church, ushering in a transformative era for the religious institution that will be distinct from its direction under the late Pope Francis. Much remains to be known about Pope Leo, who is seen as a centrist. The Illinois native has dual citizenship from the U.S. and Peru, and he spoke Italian and Spanish during his first address to the public, during which he emphasized peace. Leo’s election is, in part, a departure from Francis, who was regarded as a progressive. Francis is remembered for his acts of humility and inclusion, such as: washing the feet of migrant refugees—including Muslims, Hindus, and others—and voicing support for a greater role for women in the Church. He is perhaps most remembered for his stance on LGBTQ+ Catholics: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis said in a striking 2013 statement. Francis was also a prominent voice in the call for global peace, using his last message at Easter mass to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. Leo will serve about 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide—many of whom come from the global south—during a period marked by decreases in Catholic Church attendance and great political conflict. Pope Leo XIV's Stance

The Lesbian "Mr. Rogers"

For any parent, getting through the day in one piece requires some expert juggling between work, the kids, a spouse, and other domestic duties. And for Jere Chang, there’s also tending to her millions of followers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. For the last five years, Chang, known online as the “lesbian Mr. Rogers,” has amassed more than three million followers on these platforms with videos chronicling her balancing act with a mix of family fun, skits about being an educator, and reflections on being queer in the classroom. The relatable blend and everywoman quality Chang brings to her online persona gives followers looking for role models “a glimmer of hope,” the Georgia teacher said. Shared one follower: “You’re just like a regular person, existing and living, and it gives me hope that I can have a family one day.” Humor is a big part of Chang’s appeal. “Growing up gay, especially when I did, you had two choices: be sad or be funny, yeah?” she told WABE. “I mean, people come at you. You either got to have it, you either got to clap back at folks and outdo them, or let them get to you.” The Lesbian "Mr. Rogers" Interview With Maren Morris Grammy winner Maren Morris made headlines last Pride Month when she opened up on Instagram, sharing that she was “Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+.” As GLAAD’s 2023 Excellence in Media Honoree, Morris has long been committed to supporting the queer community. To talk about this and more, Morris spoke with Angela Melero from TZR Magazine! With her 4th studio album Dreamsicle dropping on Friday, Morris shared that it has “everything from something very folksy, singer-songwriter, stripped-back, to something you can dance to.” Also adding that it “Feels like the ’70s to me because it’s like Fleetwood Mac to Studio 54.” She talked about how life after divorce and re-entering the dating scene has offered her a great deal of inspiration for the project, “I think you have to be able to laugh at the sad tragedies of life — to know that everything ends and it’s out of your control,” she said. “You can be upset about it and let it plague you forever and feel jaded. Or you can laugh and move on and take the lesson: better luck next time.” She revealed that she’s been enjoying being single, “I can just sprawl out all my skin care and display all my fragrances.” But if she were to get into a new relationship, “I’ll be like, ‘You can live next door.’ Frida [Kahlo] and her husband, their bedrooms were connected by a bridge. That’s about as close as I want to be to someone.” For much of her career, Morris made country music and spoke very openly about the discrimination that existed in the industry. She has since pivoted her art to be more pop music heavy and talked a bit about why,  “Country music is not a classroom that you just leave. It’s a family. It’s a sound. It’s a feeling. It’s an emotion. That’s not what I meant when I was going through that transition. It was about: ‘Do I want to put my life’s work in the hands of some of these gatekeepers of mainstream country music?’”  Interview With Maren Morris Transgender Troops Being Moved Out The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday. Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical records to identify others who haven’t come forward. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his views clear after the court’s decision. “No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind. “No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s---.” Department officials have said it’s difficult to determine exactly how many transgender service members there are, but medical records will show those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, who show symptoms or are being treated. Those troops would then be involuntarily forced out of the service. And no one with that diagnosis will be allowed to enlist. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity. Transgender Troops Being Moved Out Non Binary Fashion I was in New York last week, very much not for the Met Gala, and yet extremely depressed by it nonetheless. What was once a low-key fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan has become an annual warning about the dangers of being too rich, too thin and too obsessed with Instagram. Every year there’s a jaunty dress code “theme” — shudder — but most of the female celebrities simply do what they always do at these things, which is look as naked and/or uncomfortable as possible. Pharrell Williams was the co-chairman of this year’s event, and even his wife, who has the impeccably sensible name of Helen, wore a leather leotard and tights. Williams is now the menswear designer for Louis Vuitton, so you’d think he could have made his wife a pair of trousers. But the no-trousers look was so popular at this year’s Met Gala it was deemed by at least one fashion writer to be “a trend”. What it had to do with this year’s theme, which was Tailoring Black Style, is a question for brighter minds than mine. The lack of trousers, that I could handle. What I couldn’t cope with was the homogeneity of the bodies and faces. Even in a year that was ostensibly meant to celebrate “diversity”, the women at the Met Ball were all shrinking to a vanishing point, their faces so smooth it’s impossible to tell anyone’s age any more. Is Kylie Jenner, the youngest of the Kardashian Klan, 20 years old? Fifty? I’d believe either. Anne Hathaway looked as if she’d been drawn by AI. Demi Moore’s clavicles were more prominent than her facial features. And yet, it’s considered “body-shaming” to notice what is being thrust in front of our faces, and so, in the name of diversity, we all have to pretend we are blind and that it’s totally normal that twentysomethings are full of fillers and fiftysomethings have no body fat. The emperor has no Ozempic. Just as the “body positivity” movement, which was meant to celebrate those who aren’t skinny, ultimately made people even more obsessed with body shape, so fashion’s alleged embrace of “diversity” has made the beauty standards even more narrow. Yes, female celebrities are always at the sharp end of this nonsense, but look at photos from the Oscars or movie premieres in the 1990s, and then look at photos from the Met Gala: it’s insane how far backwards we’ve fallen. Back then, women as high profile as Reese Witherspoon and Julia Roberts would cheerfully walk down red carpets with clumpy flat shoes and messy hair; now their modern-day equivalents look as trussed up and pornified as high-end escorts. Non Binary Fashion Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter In a recent interview with LGBTQ+ publication Them, Airyn De Niro spoke about "stepping into this new identity". Airyn's famous father told Variety in a statement: "I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter." "I don't know what the big deal is," he added. "I love all my children." The Goodfellas actor's daughter, 29, noted how she began to transition last year because, as a transgender woman, "there's a difference between being visible and being seen." "I've been visible. I don't think I've been seen yet." Airyn, daughter of De Niro and US actress and model Toukie Smith, also said the actress and LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox had been an inspiration; and that she now hoped to help expand trans visibility and to honour her black queer ancestors. "Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I'm like, you know what? Maybe it's not too late for me." Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. Today's edition by CellarDweller115 Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch, gnash We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day. If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to CellarDweller115. To subscribe to The Daily Sheet, click the “Notify” button at the top or bottom of the page. When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail. The Daily Sheet Archives Respond to The Daily Sheet

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Tuesday, May 20th, 2025

Ang Lee Interview

Ang Lee Reveals Why Brokeback Mountain Restored His Faith In Filmmaking: “I’m Still Standing, Still Making Movies, Thanks To That Movie” Two of Ang Lee’s most disruptive films celebrate anniversaries this year; they may be five years apart, but the connective tissue between them is undeniable. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was such an intense high-wire act, the grueling shoot in China left Lee barely able to stand and fully intending to give it all up. It was Lee’s father who made his son promise to try one more time, because retirement, he thought, would set a bad example for the filmmaker’s son. Lee’s father died in 2004, weeks after making his son promise to give it one more go, and Lee kept that promise with 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, an experience that made the filmmaker fall back in love with storytelling, fueling everything he has done since including Life of Pi, which brought him his second Oscar for directing. When I meet Lee in his Manhattan offices, he is struggling to hit a budget number and a green light from Sony Pictures on a Bruce Lee movie that will star the director’s son, Mason. He hopes to revolutionize fight choreography one more time. He certainly accomplished that with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film had non-martial artist actors Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang soaring in Cirque du Soleil-style aerial battles woven into a 19th century China-based drama about duty, honor, vengeance, repressed desires and lost love, mixed seamlessly into the ass-kicking wuxia genre. It was a marked contrast to Brokeback Mountain, another forbidden love story powered by the performances of Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway. Ang Lee Interview

Texas Ban Repealed

Texas lawmakers voted Thursday to repeal the state’s longstanding ban on gay sex, sending legislation to do so to the state Senate in a historic and bipartisan vote. Texas’s defunct ban on “homosexual conduct,” defined in the state’s penal code as “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex,” has not been enforceable since 2003, when the Supreme Court ruled it and other state laws criminalizing sodomy between consenting adults were unconstitutional. But language classifying gay sex as a Class C misdemeanor, while unenforceable, remains enshrined in Texas law. Democrats in the state Legislature, which meets only in odd-numbered years, have pushed to repeal the ban for years but have struggled to secure sufficient bipartisan support.  Republicans hold majorities in the state House and Senate and had never brought the proposal up for a vote before 2023. Lawmakers that year failed to clear the bill before the end of the House session. The Texas Republican Party’s platform calls homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” though prominent party leaders like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have said they believe the state should rescind the law, which the state adopted in 1973. Texas Ban Repealed

Film Review "The Little Sister"

Just like American cinema never wearies of road movies, French cinema has long been littered with sexual coming-of-age films: tales of young people exploring their bodies, appetites and identities over the course of a sun-soaked summer vacation, a tumultuous school year or a few formatively horny days. As with any popular category of movie, a certain numbing redundancy — if not laziness — sets in after a while; few recent entries have had the tingle of discovery that allowed Maurice Pialat’s To Our Loves, André Téchiné’s Wild Reeds and various Catherine Breillat works to fire up our memories and imaginations, to say nothing of our loins. Occasionally, however, a new one comes along that cuts right through the crowd with its confidence and texture, its erotic charge and lingering nostalgic ache. Hafsia Herzi’s superb The Little Sister (La petite dernière), about a French Muslim teenager’s lesbian awakening, is such a film, joining Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue Is the Warmest Color, Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl and Téchiné’s Being 17 in the very top tier of contemporary examples. Vibrantly felt yet impressively controlled — and blessed with a stone-cold stunner of a central performance — The Little Sister is indeed an instant classic of the genre, as moving in its humanism as it is sexy. The particular intersection of communities depicted here (LGBTQ and Muslim), as well as a handful of Sapphic scenes for the ages, gives the drama an undeniable jolt of freshness. But the film stands easily on its own merits, dispelling any doubts that may have greeted its inclusion in this year’s main competition. This third directorial outing from 38-year-old Herzi (a César-winning actress who exploded onto the scene in Kechiche’s 2007 The Secret of the Grain) — her first two, while well-received at home, never secured U.S. distribution — is worthy of attention well beyond French borders; in a just world, it would be a major international breakout for both the helmer and lead Nadia Melliti, whose gorgeously modulated body-and-soul performance is one of the most auspicious screen debuts I’ve seen in a while. Film Review "The Little Sister" Aja Comes Out as Bi Bisexuality continues to reign. On Sunday, May 11, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 10 queen Aja came out as bisexual on X. “Had the realization today that I am definitely bisexual and have been in denial about it,” Aja wrote. “Welp. I guess I’m coming out. I’m bisexual.” A photo of Aja in a pink top, with visible Pokémon tattoos, accompanied the announcement. The Brooklyn-based artist and rapper, who previously competed on season 9 of the main RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise and season 3 of the All Stars spin-off, came out as a trans woman in 2021. “I have lived my life as non-binary since 2018 and have recently began to identify more with the feminine aspect of my identity,” Aja wrote at the time. Many people were excited for Aja to come out as bisexual, both from a standpoint of living in her truth and also, perhaps, from a place of thirst. “A win for the girls,” one person wrote. And while heart emojis abounded in the replies, there was at least one eyes emoji, and it was from none other than fellow All Stars 10 contestant, and trans woman, Bosco. Aja Comes Out as Bi Ousting Transgender Troops Military commanders will be told to identify troops in their units who are transgender or have gender dysphoria, then send them to get medical checks in order to force them out of the service, officials said Thursday. A senior defense official laid out what could be a complicated and lengthy new process aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump’s directive to remove transgender service members from the U.S. military. The new order to commanders relies on routine annual health checks that service members are required to undergo. Another defense official said the Defense Department has scrapped — for now — plans to go through troops’ health records to identify those with gender dysphoria. Instead, transgender troops who do not voluntarily come forward could be outed by commanders or others aware of their medical status. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity. The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the new policy. The process raises comparisons to the early “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which at times had commanders or other troops outing gay members of the military who — at the time — were not allowed to serve openly. Active-duty troops will have until June 6 to voluntarily identify themselves to the Defense Department, and troops in the National Guard and Reserve have until July 7. Ousting Transgender Troops Response to Asexuality Question Hi! I know I’m asexual, but how do I come to terms with the idea of actually not being okay with sex? I enjoy the physical intimacy & pleasure, but I don’t derive much of anything besides negative feelings from the act itself.  Signed:  Anonymous Hey Anonymous! Thanks for writing in and asking this question. I’m sure a lot of people reading your question may be confused about what you mean when you say you are asexual. Because of this, I’m going to do my best to define it for everyone before diving into your specific question. In general, asexuality is a sexual orientation where an individual experiences little to no sexual attraction. It’s important to note that being asexual doesn’t necessarily mean someone is choosing not to have sex; it simply means they don’t experience sexual attraction in the same way others might. Many asexual individuals still enjoy showing affection, forming deep emotional connections, and engaging in romantic relationships, even if those relationships don’t include sexual activity. Asexuality is also a spectrum, meaning people can fall under different orientations within asexuality. For example, demisexuals are individuals who need to form a strong emotional bond before experiencing sexual attraction. For a full list of the different orientations, click here. One aspect of human sexuality that I think is important to highlight in response to this question is the myth that sex is something we need as humans. Sex educator and author of Come As You Are, Emily Nagoski, explains that sex is not a biological necessity for survival. While it is often considered a fundamental part of human relationships, asexual individuals can lead lives just as fulfilling and meaningful as those who identify as heterosexual, queer, or any other orientation. Because asexuality exists on a spectrum, it’s always best to ask individuals what they mean when they identify as asexual. Remember, sexuality has always been fluid. We now have terms like asexuality to help us define and understand these diverse experiences. Response to Asexuality Question Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter In a recent interview with LGBTQ+ publication Them, Airyn De Niro spoke about "stepping into this new identity". Airyn's famous father told Variety in a statement: "I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter." "I don't know what the big deal is," he added. "I love all my children." The Goodfellas actor's daughter, 29, noted how she began to transition last year because, as a transgender woman, "there's a difference between being visible and being seen." "I've been visible. I don't think I've been seen yet." Airyn, daughter of De Niro and US actress and model Toukie Smith, also said the actress and LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox had been an inspiration; and that she now hoped to help expand trans visibility and to honour her black queer ancestors. "Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I'm like, you know what? Maybe it's not too late for me." Robert DeNiro Supports Daughter Your Laugh For The Day! Contributors: CellarDweller115 The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at http://www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com. 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