Arts & Entertainment
GLAAD Media Awards 2018 releases nominees
Netflix raked in the highest number of nominations for TV shows
(‘Call Me By Your Name.’ Screenshot via YouTube.)
The 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards announced its 2018 nominees at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday via Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) and Wilson Cruz (“Star Trek: Discovery”).
Netflix raked in the most nominations for television with seven nominations. ABC, CBS and NBC came in at a close second with six nominations. This was also the first time the category Outstanding Kids & Family Programming was introduced which recognizes “Andi Mack,” and “Doc McStuffins,” among others, for their LGBT inclusion.
Critically-acclaimed films “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird” and “The Shape of Water” also scored nominations.
For music, Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, Halsey and Kesha all earned nominations for Outstanding Music Artist.
Special recognition was also given to the animated short film “In a Heartbeat,” written and directed by Esteban Bravo and Beth David, as well as Jay-Z’s track “Smile,” about his mother’s coming out, from his album “4:44.”
Check out the full list of nominees below.
OUTSTANDING FILM – WIDE RELEASE
“Battle of the Sexes” (Fox Searchlight)
“Call Me by Your Name” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Lady Bird” (A24)
“Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” (Annapurna Pictures)
“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight)
OUTSTANDING FILM – LIMITED RELEASE
“BPM” (The Orchard)
“A Fantastic Woman” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“God’s Own Country” (Samuel Goldwyn Films/Orion Pictures)
“Thelma” (The Orchard)
“The Wound” (Kino Lorber)
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“The Bold Type” (Freeform)
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (FOX)
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (The CW)
“Modern Family” (ABC)
“One Day at a Time” (Netflix)
“One Mississippi” (Amazon)
“Superstore” (NBC)
“Survivor’s Remorse” (Starz)
“Transparent” (Amazon)
“Will & Grace” (NBC)
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
“Billions” (Showtime)
“Doubt” (CBS)
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
“Nashville” (CMT)
“Sense8” (Netflix)
“Shadowhunters” (Freeform)
“Star” (FOX)
“Star Trek: Discovery” (CBS All Access)
“This Is Us” (NBC)
“Wynonna Earp” (Syfy)
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL EPISODE (in a series without a regular LGBTQ character)
“Chapter 8”, “Legion” (FX)
“Grace”, “Pure Genius” (CBS)
“Lady Cha Cha”, “Easy” (Netflix)
“The Missionaries”, “Room 104” (HBO)
“Thanksgiving”, “Master of None” (Netflix)
OUTSTANDING TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
“American Horror Story: Cult” (FX)
“Feud: Bette and Joan” (FX)
“Godless” (Netflix)
“Queers” (BBC America)
“When We Rise” (ABC)
OUTSTANDING KIDS & FAMILY PROGRAMMING
“Andi Mack” (Disney Channel)
“Chosen Family”, “Danger & Eggs” (Amazon)
“The Emergency Plan”, “Doc McStuffins” (Disney Channel)
“The Loud House” (Nickelodeon)
“Steven Universe” (Cartoon Network)
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY
“Chavela” (Music Box Films)
“Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric” (National Geographic)
“Kiki” (Sundance Selects)
“Real Boy”- “Independent Lens” (PBS)
“This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous” (YouTube Red)
OUTSTANDING REALITY PROGRAM
“Gaycation with Ellen Page” (Viceland)
“I Am Jazz” (TLC)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)
“Survivor: Game Changers” (CBS)
“The Voice” (NBC)
OUTSTANDING MUSIC ARTIST
Miley Cyrus, “Younger Now” (RCA Records)
Halsey, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” (Astralwerks Records)
Honey Dijon, “The Best of Both Worlds” (Classic Music Company)
Kehlani, “SweetSexySavage” (TSNMI/Atlantic Records)
Kelela, “Take Me Apart” (Warp Records)
Kesha, “Rainbow” (Kemosabe/RCA Records)
Perfume Genius, “No Shape” (Matador Records)
Sam Smith, “The Thrill of It All” (Capitol Records)
St. Vincent, “MASSEDUCTION” (Loma Vista Recordings)
Wrabel, “We Could Be Beautiful” (Epic/Sony Records)
OUTSTANDING COMIC BOOK
“America,” written by Gabby Rivera (Marvel Comics)
“The Backstagers,” written by James Tynion IV (BOOM! Studios)
“Batwoman,” written by Marguerite Bennett, James Tynion IV (DC Comics)
“Black Panther: World of Wakanda,” written by Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yona Harvey, Rembert “Browne” (Marvel Comics)
“Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love,” written by Sarah Vaughn (DC Comics)
“Goldie Vance,” written by Hope Larson, Jackie Ball (BOOM! Studios)
“Iceman,” written by Sina Grace (Marvel Comics)
“Lumberjanes,” written by Kat Leyh, Shannon Watters (BOOM! Studios)
“Quantum Teens are Go,” written by Magdalene Visaggio (Black Mask Comics)
“The Woods,” written by James Tynion IV (BOOM! Studios)
OUTSTANDING DAILY DRAMA
“The Bold and The Beautiful” (CBS)
“Days of Our Lives” (NBC)
“The Young & the Restless” (CBS)
OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW EPISODE
“Australia Marriage Equality”, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“Danica Roem”, “The Opposition with Jordan Klepper” (Comedy Central)
“Laila and Logan Ireland, Transgender Military Couple”, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated)
“Laverne Cox and Gavin Grimm”, “The View” (ABC)
“Trans Veterans React to Ban”, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM – NEWSMAGAZINE
“A Boy Named Lucas”, “20/20” (ABC)
“China Queer”, “The Naked Truth” (Fusion)
“Gay Purge?”, “Nightline” (ABC)
“The Pulse of Orlando: Terror at the Nightclub”, “Anderson Cooper 360” (CNN)
“Trans Youth”, “VICE on HBO” (HBO)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM SEGMENT
“The Abolitionists Face the Love Army” KAPP-KVEW Local News (KAPP-35/KVEW-42 [Tri Cities/Yakima, Wash.])
“DJ Zeke Thomas Goes Public”, “Good Morning America” (ABC)
“Murders Raise Alarm for Transgender Community”, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” (NBC)
“Transgender Murders in Louisiana Part of Disturbing Trend”, “CBS Evening News” (CBS)
“Transgender Rights under Fire in Trump Era”, “AM Joy” (MSNBC)
OUTSTANDING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
“Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Journey of a Transgender Man” by Lauren McGaughy (The Dallas Morning News)
“Lesbian College Coaches Still Face Difficult Atmosphere to Come Out” by Shannon Ryan (Chicago Tribune)
“Pulse Victims’ Families in Puerto Rico: ‘We Have to Cry Alone'” by Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio (Orlando Sentinel)
“Revised Guidance on HIV Proves Life-Transforming” by Lenny Bernstein (The Washington Post)
“The Silent Epidemic: Black Gay Men and HIV” [series] (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
OUTSTANDING MAGAZINE ARTICLE
“America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic” by Linda Villarosa (The New York Times Magazine)
“Beyond ‘He’ or ‘She’: The Changing Meaning of Gender and Sexuality” by Katy Steinmetz (Time)
“Forbidden Lives: The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya’s Purge” by Masha Gessen (The New Yorker)
“Free Radical” by Nathan Heller (Vogue)
“Trans, Teen, and Homeless” by Laura Rena Murray (Rolling Stone)
OUTSTANDING MAGAZINE OVERALL COVERAGE
The Advocate
Billboard
People
Teen Vogue
Time
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM ARTICLE
“The Ballad of Bobby Brooks, the First Gay Student-Body President of Texas A&M” by Lauren Larson (GQ.com)
“For Those We Lost and Those Who Survived: The Pulse Massacre One Year Later” by James Michael Nichols (HuffPost Queer Voices)
“‘I Am a Girl Now,’ Sage Smith Wrote. Then She Went Missing.” by Emma Eisenberg (Splinter)
“Meet the Transgender Student Who Fought Discrimination at His Maryland High School (and Won)” by Nico Lang (INTO)
“Why Bisexual Men Are Still Fighting to Convince Us They Exist” by Samantha Allen (Splinter)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM – MULTIMEDIA
“Former Patriots and Chiefs Tackle Ryan O’Callaghan Comes Out as Gay” by Cyd Zeigler (Outsports/SB Nation)
“Made to Model: Trans Beauty in Fashion” (LogoTV.com)
“‘This Is How We Win’: Inside Danica Roem’s Historic Victory” by Diana Tourjée (Broadly.Vice.com)
“Transgender Day of Remembrance” by Saeed Jones (AM to DM, BuzzFeed News)
“US Travel Ban Leaves LGBT Refugees in Limbo” by Nina dos Santos (CNN.com)
OUTSTANDING BLOG
Autostraddle
Gays With Kids
My Fabulous Disease
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents
Transgriot
OUTSTANDING SCRIPTED TELEVISION SERIES
“Las chicas del cable” (Netflix)
“La doble vida de Estela Carrillo” (Univision)
“Ingobernable” (Netflix)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM – NEWSMAGAZINE (Spanish Language)
“Así viven los estudiantes transgénero después de que Trump anulara la ley de baños de Obama para escuela públicas” , “Primer Impacto” (Univision)
“Pulse, huellas de la masacre”, “Docufilms” (CNN en Español)
“Ser transgénero en Latinoamérica: sus experiencias y crecimiento”, “Vive la Salud” (CNN en Español)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM SEGMENT (Spanish Language)
“Comunidad LGBTQ vulnerable bajo nuevo gobierno”, “Perspectiva Nacional” (Entravision)
“Entrevista con Daniela Vega”, “Showbiz” (CNN en Español)
“Joven transgénero tiene un mensaje para las familias: ‘Acepten a sus hijos'”, “Al Punto” (Univision)
“El triunfo de una diseñadora mexicana transgénero en Nueva York”, “Noticias Telemundo” (Telemundo)
“Unidos contra la discriminación y el acoso contra la comunidad LGBT”, “Despierta América” (Univision)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM (Spanish Language)
“La compleja realidad de ser gay en América Latina” (cnnespanol.cnn.com)
“‘No aprobar el Dream Act significaría una sentencia de muerte’, jóvenes LGBT y DACA” (laopinion.com)
“Padres de familia de Dallas luchan por los derechos de su hija transgénero” (aldiadallas.com)
“Primera senadora trans aspira a impulsar medidas para sectores discriminados” (efe.com)
“Tres hermanitos para dos papás” (laopinion.com)
Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Books
New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures
‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome
‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages
Nobody likes you very much.
That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.
When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”
For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”
Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”
Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.
In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”
Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”
Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”
So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.
Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.
While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.
Theater
‘Octet’ explores the depths of digital addiction
Habits not easily shaken in Studio Theatre chamber musical
‘Octet’
Through Feb. 26
Studio Theatre
1501 14th Street, N.W.
Tickets start at $55
Studiotheatre.org
David Malloy’s “Octet” delves deep into the depths of digital addiction.
Featuring a person ensemble, this extraordinary a capella chamber musical explores the lives of recovering internet addicts whose lives have been devastated by digital dependency; sharing what’s happened and how things have changed.
Dressed in casual street clothes, the “Friends of Saul” trickle into a church all-purpose room, check their cell phones in a basket, put away the bingo tables, and arrange folding chairs into a circle. Some may stop by a side table offering cookies, tea, and coffee before taking a seat.
The show opens with “The Forest,” a haunting hymn harking back to the good old days of an analog existence before glowing screens, incessant pings and texts.
“The forest was beautiful/ My head was clean and clear/Alone without fear/ The forest was safe/ I danced like a beautiful fool / One time some time.”
Mimicking an actual step meeting, there’s a preamble. And then the honest sharing begins, complete with accounts of sober time and slips.
Eager to share, Jessica (Chelsea Williams) painfully recalls being cancelled after the video of her public meltdown went viral. Henry (Angelo Harrington II) is a gay gamer with a Candy Crush problem. Toby (Adrian Joyce) a nihilist who needs to stay off the internet sings “So anyway/ I’m doing good/ Mostly/ Limiting my time/ Mostly.”
The group’s unseen founder Saul is absent, per usual.
In his stead Paula, a welcoming woman played with quiet compassion by Tracy Lynn Olivera, leads. She and her husband no longer connect. They bring screens to bed. In a love-lost ballad, she explains: “We don’t sleep well/ My husband I/ Our circadian rhythms corrupted/ By the sallow blue glow of a screen/ Sucking souls and melatonin/ All of my dreams have been stolen.”
After too much time spent arguing with strangers on the internet, Marvin, a brainy young father played by David Toshiro Crane, encounters the voice of a God.
Ed (Jimmy Kieffer) deals with a porn addiction. Karly (Ana Marcu) avoids dating apps, a compulsion compared to her mother’s addiction to slot machines.
Malloy, who not only wrote the music but also the smart lyrics, book, and inventive vocal arrangements, brilliantly joins isolation with live harmony. It’s really something.
And helmed by David Muse, “Octet” is a precisely, quietly, yet powerfully staged production, featuring a topnotch cast who (when not taking their moment in the spotlight) use their voices to make sounds and act as a sort of Greek chorus. Mostly on stage throughout all of the 100-minute one act, they demonstrate impressive stamina and concentration.
An immersive production, “Octet” invites audience members to feel a part of the meeting. Studio’s Shargai Theatre is configured, for the first, in the round. And like the characters, patrons must also unplug. Everyone is required to have their phones locked in a small pouch (that only ushers are able to open and close), so be prepared for a wee bit of separation anxiety.
At the end of the meeting, the group surrenders somnambulantly. They know they are powerless against internet addiction. But group newbie Velma (Amelia Aguilar) isn’t entirely convinced. She remembers the good tech times.
In a bittersweet moment, she shares of an online friendship with “a girl in Sainte Marie / Just like me.”
Habits aren’t easily shaken.
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