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Ryan Murphy creates fund to vote out ‘anti-LGBTQ’ candidates

TrevorLIVE LA Gala raises over $1.5 million

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BEVERLY HILLS, CA – DECEMBER 02: (L-R) Steven Canals, Dominique Jackson, Billy Porter, Hailie Sahar, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Indya Moore, Janet Mock, Mj Rodriguez, Dyllon Burnside, Charlayne Woodard, James Van Der Beek, Our Lady J, and Ryan Murphy of POSE are honored onstage during the Trevor Project’s TrevorLIVE LA 2018 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on December 3, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for The Trevor Project)

The Trevor Project hosted its 2018 TrevorLIVE Los Angeles gala Sunday night, Dec. 2, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in a star-studded event that raised over $1.5 million.

The event was hosted by popular YouTuber Eugene Lee Yang, a writer, director, actor and video producer.

“It is an absolute privilege to support The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people,” Yang said in his opening remarks. “Tonight, we are honoring some truly awe-inspiring trailblazers for the LGBTQ community.”

The focal point for the evening, the Hero Award, was presented to Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody award-winning screenwriter, producer and director Ryan Murphy and the cast of POSE. Writer and transgender rights activist Janet Mock presented the award.

“When I was 19, in Indiana, I myself called a suicide hotline. Overwhelmed by the AIDS crisis, by the fact that I was the only ‘out’ person in my friend group, the only ‘out’ person I knew at the time, and alienated from my family, I felt profound despair. I made a call one late night in November. I made a connection, got some hope, and carried on. It’s powerful life saving work this organization does. In my roundabout way, I know this first hand,” Murphy said in his powerful acceptance speech.

Murphy wondered why more wasn’t being done to target those who caused the problem. “The homophobes, the trans naysayers, and the small restricted and dangerous minds who are causing so many young people to needlessly hate and doubt themselves in our country when what they should be receiving from this country is love and support and understanding. Weren’t we as a nation established on the idea of equality, not appalling and illegal discrimination?” Murphy said.

He continued: “In 2020, I’m going to create and fund, with corporate sponsorship, a multi million dollar organization that targets anti LGBTQ candidates running for office. Senate and congressional candidates who think they can get votes hurting and discriminating against us — well, we can get votes too. We are going to send a message which says you cannot make discrimination against us a political virtue anymore. You can’t keep killing our vulnerable young people by promoting and nationalizing your rural, close-minded anti-constitutional viewpoints.”

“It’s a simple and very strong idea, I think. Let’s help the kids by showing the small-minded the door. There is actually a way to do this. And I want to do it,” he continued. “It was the midterms this year that gave me home. One after one, anti-LGBTQ candidates who made hate speech and ideology part of their legacy fell, disgraced and eliminated by candidates (who were largely boosted by victory by young and female voters, by the way.) The number was astounding to me — over 20 anti-LGBTQ right wing politicians and their horrifying views were gone in a day.

“Dana Rohrabacher, Mia Love, Jason Lewis, Pete Sessions—bigots, all of them,” he continued. “And all replaced by allies, new politicians who won’t spread harmful and wrong rhetoric that can lead a young LGBTQ person to actually believe they are not good enough or worthy enough to stay on this earth anymore.”

The Trevor Project’s CEO & Executive Director Amit Paley noted how many LGBT had been helped.
“There are people in this room who’ve told me that they wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for this organization, and I know there are others who wish they had known about Trevor in their darkest moments,” Paley said. “That is why we are here today. To make sure that every young person, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, or immigration status, knows that The Trevor Project is here for them whenever they need us.”

Other honorees included actress and singer Amandla Stenberg who accepted the Youth Innovator Award. “Often times who we are is postulated in the context of pain, shame, and tragedy and although that may be a facet of our experiences I do not feel that it is by any means the totality of them or how I experience being gay,” they said. “I find that understanding so limiting and inaccurate when I know that if anything we are the opposite; we are joy and light. We are the sacred unraveling of damaging fabrications who reveal the power of truth through love. We are unapologetic expressions of divinity and exuberance.”

Presenting sponsor AT&T was honored with the 20/20 Visionary Award, presented by actor, singer, director and photographer Jussie Smollett and accepted by AT&T Mobility & Entertainment President David Christopher.

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Books

A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat

New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

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(Book cover image courtesy of Random House)

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages

Happy is the bride the sun shines on.

Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.

He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.

He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.

But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.

Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.

Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.

What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.

In short, this book is quite stunning.

Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.

If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch

LGBTQ politicians gather for annual event

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Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) speaks at the 2025 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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