In the past few weeks Southern US states seem to have been lining up to see who could enact the ugliest anti-LGBT law, under the guise of religious freedom. However, they’ve come up against a lot of opposition, with major companies such as Paypal announcing they were halting their expansion in North Carolina, and Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr cancelling concerts there, while Bryan Adams did the same in Mississippi.
Now Sharon Stone has joined the chorus, cancelling her plans to shoot her new short film, The Principle, in Mississippi. The movie was due to film there in June, but will now move elsewhere. As the short is about cyber-bullying, it’s a sensible decision to move it.
Stone, who has long been an LGBTI ally and AIDS activist, commented, ‘I will not work in any state that holds or is actively creating laws to legally support discrimination against American citizens whether due to their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, nor where those laws are passed or approved by the government of said state.’
The laws that have recently been passed have been framed as ensuring religious freedom, protecting privacy and/or avoiding prejudice, but are really thin-veiled attacks on the LGBT community. They have enshrined in State law that businesses can refuse to allow trans people to use the bathroom that correspond to their gender identity and that it is perfectly legal to refuse service to gay people as long as you claim you have a sincerely held belief/prejudice against them. Many of the laws have also attempted to circumvent any local governments extending protections to LGBT people (although after the backlash, North Carolina’s governor backtracked on that part of his state’s law).
It has been a particularly ugly chapter in the US culture wars, with many believing that more than Republican state governments genuinely feeling the laws are needed, they are merely lining up to show their anti-LGBT credentials in an election year. It also unpleasantly mirrors the things many of the same states did in the 1960s after the Federal government extended more rights to African Americans and other ethnic minorities, where they enacted laws in an attempts to prevents desegregation.
Over the years Elton John has done a tiny bit of acting, but it looks like he may be adding to his thespian resume, as THR reports he’s in talks for a role in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. However, at the moment the part he would be playing is being kept a secret. THR suggests he may be playing himself.
Last October it was revealed that James Franco was continuing his fascination with everything gay by producing and starring in King Cobra, based on a real-life case of murder in the gay porn business. Director Justin Kelly has worked quickly, as the film is due to premiere shortly at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Last month it was revealed that Andrew Garfield and Olivier Award winner Denise Gough were set to star in a new London National Theatre production of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Angels In America. Now it’s been announced that they will be joined by Russell Tovey, according to 
Sean Maher has been setting people’s hearts aflutter ever since his debut as the title character in Ryan Caulfield: Year One, before gaining many more fans as Dr. Simon Tam in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Since then he’s popped up in the likes of The Playboy Club, Arrow, Eastsiders and Looking.
The Transgender Film Festival in Kiel, Germany, returns this year for another edition running from April 14th to 17th. It’s taken the perhaps surprising decision to screen Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall – a movie many took issue with and accused it of marginalising gender non-confirming people’s importance to the Christopher Street riots, while focusing on a cisgender, white man.
Last year Netflix made a concerted effort to make shows that would appeal to a slightly older demographic than the young people the service is known to attract in droves. One of the classiest bits of original programming was Grace & Frankie, starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as two married women approaching old age, who get the shock of their lives when their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) don’t just announce they’re leaving them, but that they’re gay and in a relationship.
Nowadays Ellen DeGeneres is a much loved comedian, talk show host and actress, and may well be the most famous lesbian in the world. But when she was first finding fame she hadn’t come out, and now actor Johnathon Schaech has confirmed that for a time he acted as her beard – however, it has to be said the way he talks about it is surprisingly gallant.
Waiting In The Wings: The Musical has a genuinely impressive cast for a low-budget movie, with the likes of Oscar winner Shirley Jones, Sally Struthers, David Pevsner, Rebekah Kochan, Christopher Atkins, and Lee Meriwether. It also did extremely well at film festivals, winning numerous awards at both gay and indie fests, from Best Feature Film at QFlix Philadelphia to Best Musical at the Manhattan Film Festival.
It’s not long ago that gay couples could get engaged but it was more symbolic than anything else, as they couldn’t get married. But things have changed, which means that after