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Wonder Woman’s heart is key to film’s success

The Amazon princess finally comes to the big screen

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Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade
Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman with Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman in ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.’ The film opens March 25. (Photo courtesy Warner Bros.)

Wonder Woman has finally made it to the big screen.

The Amazon princess, who debuted in comic book form in 1941, makes her silver screen debut in “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the estimated $250-million spectacle from director Zack Snyder with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman, Ben Affleck debuting as Batman and Gal Gadot (“The Fast and the Furious”) as Wonder Woman.

The movie, which opens March 25 on an estimated 30,000 screens in 61 markets around the globe, is part of the D.C. Extended Universe series that launched with “Man of Steel,” a 2013 Superman reboot. “Suicide Squad,” featuring the D.C. Comics anti-hero team, is slated for an August release. Wonder Woman will finally get her own film with an eponymous release slated for June 2017 in which Gadot will star.

For many Generation X gays, the 1975-1979 TV show “Wonder Woman” starring Lynda Carter, who has enjoyed decades of adoration because of the role, is beyond iconic. She performs her concert “Long-Legged Woman” at the Kennedy Center at 7 p.m. on April 2.

Carter does not have cameos in either “Dawn of Justice” or next year’s film and has focused on her singing in recent years. A resident of D.C. suburb Potomac, Md., she has appeared at LGBT events such as AIDS Walk Washington in 2010 and the Capital Pride parade in 2013, where she was grand marshal. She performs annually at the Kennedy Center and has earned acclaim for songs she recorded for the video game “Fallout 4.”

Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

Lynda Carter was grand marshal in the Capital Pride parade in 2013. She says she understands filmmakers wanting their own platform for the new films. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

But for many, she’ll always be known as Wonder Woman. Her performance was so indelible that merchandise featuring her likeness continues to be churned out with items such as the “Wonder Woman ’77” comic series, a Hallmark ornament of her as the character and more.

She told superfan Mike Pingel, author of “The Q Guide to Wonder Woman” (2008) and “Channel Surfing: Wonder Woman” (2012), in a Frontiers interview published last week that she’s honored by the attention.

“It’s a thrill to have my Wonder Woman image resurrected after all these years,” she said. “In life, you carry around these memories. Then you meet people who share their memories and you end up experiencing it all over again through their eyes. It’s great to have a big resurgence of relevance, not just being in the past but something happening right now.”

So if the character is so perennially popular, why did it take so long to bring her to the silver screen when male superhero films have been made about even lesser-known characters like “Iron Man” (2008), “Jonah Hex” (2010), “Thor: the Dark World” (2013) and more? The Wonder Woman movie has languished in development limbo since the mid-‘90s. A 2011 pilot for a possible NBC series was not picked up. The CW abandoned another TV project in 2014.

Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

Lynda Carter with author Mike Pingel. (Photo courtesy Pingel)

“Honestly I think it could be that they just didn’t know what to do with her,” says Pingel, who’s gay and is now working on books about “The Bionic Woman” and “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.”

“Hollywood is so male-dominated, sometimes I think men don’t know what to do with her. They have a woman director, though, now [Patty Jenkins] and hopefully she’ll be able to bring the heart and soul back to Wonder Woman that they had on the TV show. The show they tried in 2011 was just horrific. They didn’t understand the essence of who she was, her quality in helping the underdogs. … She was so mad and so angry and they couldn’t find the heart of the character. It wasn’t the actress’s fault. Even though she’s changed a lot in the comics, too, she’s always standing up for the rights of people who can’t do it for themselves. … That’s really the basis of why she does it — the heart, not the glory.”

Washington resident Walter Forbes says the ‘70s show and Carter are special to him because he watched the show growing up with his mother, who died of cancer in 1999. He first met Carter 10 years to the day after his mother died.

“I always saw her as kind of a mother, nurturing-type figure,” Forbes, 37, says of Carter. “When I met her, she was all that and more. Just like I’d hoped she would be.”

Forbes, who’s gay and says his boyfriend does not mind his Wonder Woman obsession, thinks finding the right level of toughness versus vulnerability was a lot of the delay.

Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

Walter Forbes with his Wonder Woman collection. He owns replicas of Wonder Woman’s bracelets and tiara and has several photos and items signed by Lynda Carter. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

“When people hear the word Amazon, most people think of Xena or almost like a Red Sonja-type of character. She’s a woman but they want her to be almost like a man. Lynda didn’t look like a man, she wasn’t built like a man, but at the same time she wasn’t too prissy or sexy or anything like that. I think a lot of the directors have wanted to take that role and turn her into something she wasn’t and they got hints from the fans that they weren’t going with that.”

He agrees with Pingel that the failed TV pilot was a good indication of how bad a bad Wonder Woman could be.

“It sucked,” he says. “They had her going around choking people, it was so violent, everybody knew her identity. I’m like, ‘OK, what is this show about? You’ve just stripped everything away.’ Even in the comic books, she was a loving person. She didn’t parade around like some barbarian. … That just wasn’t the essence of who Wonder Woman was.”

Carter said in a 2010 Blade interview that although she loved doing the role and has enjoyed the fans over the years, she’s moved on.

“I really love her and I really think she’s great and I particularly love the idea of her,” Carter said. “There’s so many things I like about it, but I’m busy living my life now, so I don’t think about it a lot. It’s a little like something really outstanding in your life that everybody talks about and that is wonderful and you loved doing it … but you’re busy doing other things so you really only think about it when somebody else brings it up.”

Despite fan speculation, Carter told Pingel a cameo didn’t happen because of scheduling conflicts.

“I had some nice conversations with Patty Jenkins, and we couldn’t get my schedule and their schedule to meet up. It didn’t work out, but I wish them well. Understandably they want a platform that is uniquely their own. I believe it’s an homage to the original in regards to the heart of the character. That is what matters.”

Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

Wonder Woman memorabilia (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Forbes says it would have been an insult if Carter had been offered just a brief appearance.

“I don’t want to see her in just some walk-by role,” Forbes says. “Like Lynda Carter just happens to be in Starbucks or something. I think that’s kinda tacky. Like when Lou Ferrigno was in one of the Hulk movies and he was a security guard or something. I was like, ‘Are you serious? He brought this character to life and now he’s at the front desk?’ … If all they gave her was a walk-by role, it wouldn’t be worth her time. It would be an insult.”

Forbes says even if Wonder Woman only has a small role in “Dawn of Justice” — as of press time, the extent of her part is largely unknown — and her own film bombs, it will not diminish what Carter accomplished.

“I’ll definitely see it and support it and I’m open to giving Gal Gadot a chance to feel the role,” he says. “I’m just glad to see this character back. … The fans need to give it a chance, too. Already, online people are saying, ‘Oh, they changed the uniform, it’s too dark, it looks like Xena,’ and so on. I mean, come on, give it a chance. The uniform changed in the comic books, why wouldn’t they change it for the movie? … I’m excited about this new franchise.”

Wonder Woman, gay news, Washington Blade

A 2015 Wonder Woman Christmas tree ornament in Lynda Carter’s likeness could be found at Hallmark. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

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Full-spectrum funny: an interview with Randy Rainbow

New book ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ delivers the laughs

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Randy Rainbow will discuss his new book on Oct. 20 at Politics & Prose at Sidwell Friends Meeting House.

Can we all agree that there’s nothing worse than reading a book by a humorist and not laughing? Not even once. Fear not, as gay humorist and performer Randy Rainbow more than exceeded my expectations, as he will yours, with his hilarious new book “Low-Hanging Fruit” (St. Martin’s Press, 2024). If you loved his 2022 memoir “Playing With Myself,” you’ll find as much, if not more to love in the new book. His trademark sense of humor from his videos, transfers with ease to the page in the essays. There are multiple laugh-out-loud moments throughout the two-dozen essays. Always a delight to talk to, Randy made time for an interview shortly before the publication of the book.

BLADE: I want to begin by apologizing for putting you on speakerphone so I can get this interview recorded, because I know you are not fond of it as you pointed out in the “And While We’re On the Subject…” essay in your new book.

RANDY RAINBOW: [Laughs] Thank you for paying attention. But yours is a good speakerphone. I would not have known.

BLADE: Your first book, “Playing With Myself,” was a memoir and the new book, “Low-Hanging Fruit,” is a humorous essay collection. Did it feel like you were exercising different writing muscles than you did for the first book – essays versus memoir?

RAINBOW: It did a little bit. I think I had a little more fun writing this book. Save for the fact that I was shlepping around on tour as I also make well known in the book. That wasn’t fun. To not have the, I hate to say burden, but the responsibility of doing a chronological memoir, really getting everything right and then telling your story. I felt like I was just free to shoot the shit and have a little fun.

BLADE: Were these essays written in one creative burst or over the course of years?

RAINBOW: Over the course of a few months. The second half of my tour is when I started doing it. So, probably about five to six months.

BLADE: The first essay “Letter of Resignation” reminded me of Fran Lebowitz…

RAINBOW: I’m so glad.

BLADE: And then, lo and behold, you name-check Fran in the second essay “Gurl, You’re A Karen.” Do you consider her to be an influence on your work?

RAINBOW: Not directly. I’m a fan of hers. But I just feel sympatico with her for all the obvious reasons. I have a problem with everything [laughs] and being able to be funny and creative about it in this book was very cathartic, I felt.

BLADE: Something similar occurred when I was reading the essay “I Feel Bad About My Balls,” which recalled another humor essayist — Nora Ephron, whom you mention at the conclusion of the piece. Is she an influence?

RAINBOW: Again, a fan. I wouldn’t say she ever directly influenced me although I guess since becoming an author myself, I read all of her books, so I love her. But not a direct influence. I think I listened to her audiobook of “I Feel Bad About My Neck” and that’s what inspired that chapter.

BLADE: Do you know if Jacob Elordi is aware of his presence in the book?

RAINBOW:I would assume that word has gotten back to him. This is gonna make him!

BLADE: In “Rider? I Hardly Know Her,” you wrote about being on tour as you are about to, once again, embark on a tour throughout October. Do you consider this more of a book tour, as opposed to one of your stage tours?

RAINBOW: It absolutely is. The way it worked out was I’m doing two of my concert shows in Palm Desert. I start my book events here with Harvey Fierstein in New York and then fly to the West Coast and do two musical concerts and then I embark on the rest of my book tour as I make my way back to New York. In that regard, it’s a little less nauseating … taxing.

Yes, although I just finished an eight-month tour. I’ve only had the summer off, and I find myself having to remind myself, “You’re just going for a week, going for a week, and then you come home, and that’s it. I have PTSD from all that travel. I’m not built for it.

BLADE: I’m based in Fort Lauderdale. Are there additional dates in the works, including one in your former home of South Florida?

RAINBOW: That’s where I’m from! That’s where my mother is still located.

BLADE: Yes, we saw you here at the Broward Center, and your mom was there.

RAINBOW: That’s right! No South Florida dates for this tour, but there’s always next year. We’re already planning a few strategically placed tour dates for summer and fall of next year. I’ll definitely be in Florida then, but you’ll have to wait for it.

BLADE: “Notes From A Litter Box,” written in the voice of your cat Tippi, made me wonder if you’d agree that there has never been a better time than now to be a childless cat person.

RAINBOW: Isn’t it funny? That was the least political chapter in the book, the least controversial chapter, and now it’s all anyone’s talking about. It’s our time! What with Taylor Swift and everything, it’s terrific. I wrote that long before all of this J.D. Vance nonsense, but it certainly has put some wind in our sails. And Tippi’s! Who heard her name and she’s looking for treats. Here you go, dear. In the audiobook, the great actress Pamela Adlon voices Tippi.

BLADE: Could you foresee writing a children’s book about Tippi?

RAINBOW: Well, what can I say? I don’t know how much I’m at liberty to discuss. Fuck it, I’ll discuss it! I did write a children’s book, and I’m saying it to whoever asks me. It comes out next year, and that’s actually what we’re planning the tour around, when it comes out around Pride next year. I won’t get into exactly what it’s about, but I will be revealing that very soon. And Tippi is a major character in it.

BLADE: Fantastic! As a 10-year resident of Fort Lauderdale, I especially enjoyed your mother’s takedown of DeSantis in “Ladies and Gentlemen…My Mother (the Sequel).” I take it she didn’t need any prodding from you.

RAINBOW: No. No, she did not. I actually asked her ahead of time – we did a little pre-interview like it was “The Tonight Show” – and I asked her about her topics, so she had her DeSantis material all laid out.

BLADE: Would you please tell my husband Rick there’s a right way to load the dishwasher? He won’t listen to me, but he’ll definitely listen to you.

RAINBOW: I, sadly, do not have a husband, so that is one example that I don’t actually have specifics on. How does he do it?

BLADE: Just wrong!

RAINBOW: Wrong for you.

BLADE: For example, the silverware is just pell-mell in the rack, instead of being grouped, spoons with spoons, forks with forks, and so on.

RAINBOW: He’s not putting mugs or glassware on the bottom, is he?

BLADE: No, not at all. But the plates should go in the same direction, right?

RAINBOW: Absolutely, yes.

BLADE: Thank you!

RAINBOW: I would get rid of him [laughs].

BLADE: “Low-Hanging Fruit” arrives in advance of Election Day 2024 and includes the “Randy Rainbow For President” and “My Gay Agenda” essays, along with running political commentary, as well as a dig at “Donald Jessica Trump” which you say you couldn’t resist. All kidding aside, please share your thoughts on the 2024 election.

RAINBOW: Oh God, kidding aside? How dare you! I have no thoughts that are not kidding because I have to kid to keep my sanity. It’s literally insane. I’ve left my body over it. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what to expect. I try to be positive, but I don’t know what that means anymore. I cannot wait for it to be fucking over!

BLADE: Finally, when it comes to “hot tea,” which you write about in the essay “Do I Hear A Schmaltz?”, may I also recommend Harney & Sons’ “Victorian London Fog?” I’m savoring it as we speak.

RAINBOW: Good one! Thank you! I’m very into Harney and Sons now. I have just a few from their catalog, but that’s the next one I’ll try.

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Author of new book empowers Black ‘fat’ femme voices

After suicidal thoughts, attacks from far right, a roadmap to happiness

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(Book cover image via Amazon)

In 2017, Jon Paul was suicidal. In nearly every place Paul encountered, there were signs that consistently reminded the transgender community that their presence in America by the far right is unwelcomed.

Former President Donald Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric is “partly” responsible for Paul’s suicidal contemplation. 

“I’m driving out of work, and I’m seeing all of these Trump flags that are telling me that I could potentially lose my life over just being me and wanting to be who I am,” Paul said. “So, were they explicitly the issue? No, but did they add to it? I highly would say yes.”

During Trump’s time as president, he often disapproved of those who identified as transgender in America; the former president imposed a ban on transgender individuals who wanted to join the U.S. military.

“If the world keeps telling me that I don’t have a reason for me to be here and the world is going to keep shaming me for being here. Then why live?” Paul added. 

The rhetoric hasn’t slowed and has been a messaging tool Trump uses to galvanize his base by saying that Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris “want to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” Trump made that claim at the presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.  

Not only do Trump’s actions hurt Paul, but they also affect 17-year-old Jacie Michelleé, a transgender person at Friendly Senior High School.

“When former President Donald J. Trump speaks on transgender [individuals] in a negative light, it saddens my heart and makes me wonder what he thinks his personal gain is from making these comments will be,” Michelleé said.

“When these comments are made toward trans immigrants or the transgender community, it baffles me because it shows me that the times are changing and not for the better,” Michelleé added. 

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation responded to Trump’s rhetoric that opposes the transgender community and how it affects democracy through programming at its Annual Legislative Conference in Washington.

“Our agendas are not set by what other groups are saying we should or shouldn’t do. It is set by our communities and what we know the needs and the most pressing needs are for the Black community, and we know that our global LGBTQAI+ communities have needs; they are a part of our community,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, president and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

One pressing need is suicide prevention, which the National Institute of Health deems necessary, as 82% of transgender individuals have reported having suicidal thoughts, while 40% have attempted suicide. This research applies to individuals like Paul, who reported contemplating suicide.

But instead of choosing to self-harm, Paul met Latrice Royale, a fourth-season contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” who was awarded the title of Miss Congeniality while on the show. Paul said that meeting brought meaning when there was barely any left.

“It was like I met them at a time where I really, truly, not only needed to see them, but I needed to be able to actively know ‘girl’ you can live and you can have a really a good life, right? And Latrice was that for me,” Paul said.

Though Trump is representative of a lot of movements that are clashing with society, the Democratic Party is actively pushing back against anti-transgender movements and says there is “still much work to be done.”

Not only did Royale model success for Paul, but they also share the same appearance. Paul proudly identifies as “fat” and uses this descriptor as a political vehicle to empower others in the book “Black Fat Femme, Revealing the Power of Visibly Queer Voices in the Media and Learning to Love Yourself.”

“My book, my work as a Black, fat femme, is inherently political. I say this at the very front of my book,” Paul said. “All three of those monikers are all three things in this world that the world hates and is working overtime to get rid of.”

“They’re trying to kill me as a Black person; they’re trying to get rid of me as a fat person. They are trying to get rid of me as a queer person,” Paul added.

Besides Paul’s political statements, the book’s mission is to give those without resources a blueprint to make it across the finish line.

“I want them to look at all the stories that I share in this and be able to say, ‘wow,’ not only do I see myself, but now I have a roadmap and how I can navigate all of these things that life throws at me that I never had, and I think that’s why I was so passionate about selling and writing the book,” Paul said.

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Jussie Smollett asserts innocence while promoting new film

‘I know what happened and soon you all will too’

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Jussie Smollett’s case remains on appeal. His new film is out later this month. (Photo by Starfrenzy/Bigstock)

Jussie Smollett, the actor and musician who was convicted of lying to the police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist hate crime that he staged in 2019, attended a screening of his latest film “The Lost Holliday” in a packed auditorium of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Aug. 28. 

In an interview with the Washington Blade that took place before the screening, he continued to assert his innocence and responded to concerns within the LGBTQ community that his case has discouraged real victims from reporting hate crimes. 

The former “Empire” star wrote, produced, and directed “The Lost Holliday,” his second feature film to direct following 2021’s “B-Boy Blues.” Produced through Smollett’s company, SuperMassive Movies, he stars in the film alongside Vivica A. Fox, who also served as a producer and attended the library screening with other cast members.

In the film, Smollett plays Jason Holliday, a man grappling with the sudden death of his husband Damien (Jabari Redd). Things are complicated when Damien’s estranged mother, Cassandra Marshall (Fox), arrives in Los Angeles from Detroit for the funeral, unaware of Damien’s marriage to Jason or of their adopted daughter. Initially, Jason and Cassandra clash — Cassandra’s subtle homophobia and Jason’s lingering resentment over her treatment of Damien fuel their tension –– but they begin to bond as they navigate their grief together. 

Smollett, Fox, Redd, and Brittany S. Hall, who plays Jason’s sister Cheyenne, discussed the film in an interview with the Washington Blade. Highlighting the wide representation of queer identities in the film and among the cast, they stressed that the story is fundamentally about family and love.

“What we really want people to get from this movie is love,” Smollett said. “It’s beneficial for people to see other people that are not like themselves, living the life that they can identify with. Because somehow, what it does is that it opens up the world a little bit.”

Smollett drew from personal experiences with familial estrangement and grief during the making of the film, which delves into themes of parenthood, reconciliation, and the complexities of family relationships.

“I grew up with a father who was not necessarily the most accepting of gay people, and I grew up with a mother who was rather the opposite. I had a safe space in my home to go to, but I also had a not-so-safe space in my home, which was my father,” he said.

“The moment that he actually heard the words that his son was gay, as disconnected and estranged as we were, he instantly changed. He called me, after not speaking to him for years, and apologized for how difficult it must have been all of those years of me growing up. And then a couple years later, he passed away.”

Smollett began working on “The Lost Holliday” eight years ago, with Fox in mind for the role of Cassandra from the outset. He said that he had started collaborating on the project with one of the biggest producers in Hollywood when “‘2019’ happened.”

In January 2019, Smollett told Chicago police that he had been physically attacked in a homophobic and racist hate crime. He initially received an outpouring of support, in particular from the LGBTQ and Black communities. However, police soon charged him with filing a false police report, alleging that he had staged the attack. 

After prosecutors controversially dismissed the initial charges in exchange for community service and the forfeiture of his $10,000 bond, Smollett was recharged with the same offenses in 2020. Meanwhile, his character in “Empire” was written out of the show. 

In 2021, a Cook County jury found him guilty on five of the six charges of disorderly conduct for lying to police, and he was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation, along with a $120,000 restitution payment to the city of Chicago for the overtime costs incurred by police investigating his initial hate crime claim.

LGBTQ people are nine times more likely than non-LGBTQ people to be victims of violent hate crimes, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Upon Smollett’s conviction, some in the LGBTQ community felt that the case would discredit victims of hate crimes and make it more difficult to report future such crimes. 

Smollett seemed to acknowledge these concerns, but denied that he staged the attack. 

“I know what happened and soon you all will too,” he told the Blade. “If someone reported a crime and it wasn’t the truth, that would actually make it more difficult [to report future crimes], but I didn’t. Any belief that they have about the person that I’ve been played out to be, sure, but that person is not me, never has been,” he said. “So I stand with my community. I love my community and I protect and defend my community until I’m bloody in my fist.” 

“And for all the people who, in fact, have been assaulted or attacked and then have been lied upon and made it to seem like they made it up, I’m sorry that you have to constantly prove your trauma, and I wish that it wasn’t that way, and I completely identify with you,” he added.

An Illinois Appellate Court upheld his guilty verdict last year, but Smollett has since appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which in March agreed to hear the case. He has served six days in jail so far, as his sentence has been put on hold pending the results of his appeals. 

The screening at the MLK Jr. Library concluded with a conversation between Smollett, Fox, and David J. Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. Smollett discussed his current mindset and his plans for the future, revealing he is working on a third movie and will be releasing new music soon. 

“I’m in a space where life is being kind,” he said. 

“The Lost Holliday” recently secured a distribution deal for a limited release with AMC Theatres and will be out in theaters on Sept. 27. 

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