We first reported on Do I Sound Gay? in April 2014 when it was crowdfunding for completion cash. Now it’s finished and has a distribution deal which means it will arrive in US cinemas and on VoD on July 10th.

The trailer is here giving us a look at a film which goes deep into the idea of the ‘gay voice’, which for decades became the butt of jokes by straight people at the expense of LGBT people. As a results fell out of favour with many, who felt that in the fight for equal rights the gay voice undermined that battle and allowed straight people to think we were inherently different to them.

However in recent years there’s been a fightback, with many believing that the belittling of the gay voice marks a kind of assimilation that cannot accept difference and actually undermines what gay people have been fighting for – the right to be whoever we are without shame. It may also be that dislike of the gay voice, allied with an obsession with being ‘straight-acting’, is a mark of internalised homophobia.

Director David Thorpe has previously said, “In the tradition of funny-but-serious first-person movies like Supersize Me, Roger and Me and Good Hair, you’ll follow me as I encounter a colorful cast of linguists, historians, voice coaches, speech therapists, friends, family, and total strangers on the street, gay and non-gay, who share their wisdom and touching, funny stories about the “gay voice.” You’ll also hear intimate confessions and hilarious anecdotes from LGBT icons – Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, Dan Savage, David Sedaris and George Takei – as they open up about the “gay voice.” Thanks to all the incredible people I met, I was able to embrace my authentic voice.” [Read more…]

I wish I’d never watched the clip below. I always knew my life would be the complete the moment I saw Mickey Mouse wearing nothing but a jockstrap and high heels posing as if he were giving a BJ to Minnie. Now I’ve seen it and I don’t know what the point will be of the rest of my existence.

However that’s just part of the fascinating exclusive clip from the documentary Folsom Forever that we’ve been given, which shows off the astonishing diversity of San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair, where a gay-friendly church can rub up against a dildo hoopla game, and you can visit the PFLAG just after you’ve seen something that means you will never think of Disneyland in the same way again.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In 1984, a scrappy little neighborhood in San Francisco – home to many low-income tenants and the heart of the gay male leather scene – faced destruction from the bulldozers of redevelopment and the AIDS crisis. The Folsom Street Fair was started to call attention to gentrification and raise money for AIDS charities. Folsom Forever tells the story of how this small street fair grew into the biggest outdoor kink and fetish event in the world, and managed to do a lot of good along the way.

Breaking Glass Pictures releases Folsom Forever on DVD & VoD in the US on June 9th. [Read more…]

To many people Larry Kramer is just the guy who wrote The Normal Heart (if they’ve heard of him at all), but many don’t realise that the play and recent film were largely based on real life and Kramer’s own experiences on the frontline of the battle against AIDS in the 1980s.

He is a fascinating figure who even before the advent of HIV was known for his rather confrontational approach to LGBT politics, which ensured that over the years he’s made as many enemies as friends. However his fire also helped co-found two of the most important organisations in the early battle against AIDS, who tried to force the government to take action.

Now HBO in American is set to air a documentary about the man and his life on June 29th. A trailer for the documentary has now arrived, which you can watch below. It’s a film that should be well worth a watch. [Read more…]