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Indya Moore is the first transgender woman to cover Elle Magazine

The actress revealed she was a victim of sex trafficking as a teen

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We don’t always have access to the tools we need to break wall, break ground & Reconstruct space invading infrastructure that is designed homogenously & exclusively. so many of us use our hands, arms legs & feet, have died in the process too, Just to weaken these infrastructures enough so that people with tools and break them. I am so grateful for them- all the trans and gender non-conforming people who have attacked these walls, chipped and even broke part of and so much the infrastructure down with bare fist and foot. I am so grateful for everyone within the infrastructures who have chosen to listen, watched, stepped out to see the people around these structures that have been marginalized and locked out for having different experiences & have helped to break down these structures of priviledge and take that labor from those who die because of a lack of access, and fall short of visibility because of lack of access & safety… There is so much more work to do- so much more listening so much more intentionality, & vindicational work that must be done for marginalized people. ELLE: @elleusa Editor in Chief: Nina Garcia @ninagarcia Photographer: Zoey Grossman @zoeygrossman Stylist: Charles Varenne @charlesvarenne Hair: Hos Hounkpatin @hoshounkpatin Makeup: Vincent Oquendo @makeupvincent Manicure: Marisa Carmichael @marisacarmichael

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“Pose” star Indya Moore is the first transgender woman to land the cover of Elle Magazine. The actress and model appears on the cover of Elle’s June 2019 issue.

The 24-year-old told Elle that her parents were confused when she was assigned male at birth but acted feminine as a child.

ā€œBecause I was assigned male at birth, they expected me to be masculine or to perform the way they thought young boys should perform. And I did not. They didn’t understand. They had never experienced what it was like to have a family member who was genderqueer,ā€ Moore says.

Moore left home when she was 14 years old. She revealed that she became the victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager. She says when she was 16 years old she was contacted by people on Facebook who offered her money for hormone therapy in exchange for sex.

“They told me that they had a lot of friends who were trans and they wanted to help me in my process, and that they could help me to get the money that I needed to be a woman,ā€ the star recalled. ā€œThey told me that all I had to do was play with these men who will come in for a moment to see me and play with me and then they’ll give me money,” Moore says.

Moore agreed and participated several times. She says she “didn’t understand” what sex trafficking was at the time.

She received her big break on Ryan Murphy’s “Pose” as the beautiful prostitute Angel who falls in love with one of her clients, Stan Bowes (Evan Peters), who works in Trump Tower. Moore told Elle she knew the role would be groundbreaking for her.

ā€œI just knew my life was going to change. I knew I had a chance to teach the world something that would help more people to be safe,ā€ Moore says.

“Pose” season two returns on June 11 at 10 p.m. on FX.

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Taste of Pride celebrates LGBTQ and allied restaurants

Weeklong event will feature local eateries and bars

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Kareem Queeman, known as Mr. Bake, will headline the opening event for Taste of Pride.

Get ready to celebrate LGBTQ-owned, managed, and allied restaurants at Taste of Pride from Oct. 2-8. 

The weeklong event is a new initiative by Capital Pride Alliance. In 2021, the organization put on a single-day brunch event in June at LGBTQ and allied restaurants, but this is the first weeklong iteration. 

About 15 local restaurants and bars are set to participate, including As You Are, Shaw’s Tavern, Jane Jane, and Code Red. There’s also an opening party on Monday, Oct. 2 featuring food and drink vendors without a traditional brick-and-mortar space, like Suga Chef and Vegan Junk Food. 

Taste of Pride will raise funds for the Pride365 fund, which supports local LGBTQ organizations. There will be a three-course prix fixe menu at several of the participating locations, with lunch and brunch menus offered at $30, and dinner menus offered at $40 or $55. 

Kareem Queeman, known as Mr. Bake, will be headlining the opening event on the evening of Oct. 2 at Lost Generation Brewery. Queeman, the founder and owner of the renowned bakery Mr. Bake Sweets and a James Beard Award semi-finalist, said he’s excited to spotlight LGBTQ chefs and mixologists. 

Queeman said he’s proud to be a part of bringing queer culinary experts together to celebrate the work they’ve all done and discuss what changes need to come to the industry — there will be a panel discussion on Oct. 2 covering those topics. LGBTQ chefs have long gone unnoticed, he said, despite the innovative work they’ve done. 

ā€œQueers have been in the industry doing the work for a very long time and we just haven’t really gotten that acknowledgment,ā€ Queeman said. 

Providing this space for LGBTQ people in the restaurant industry is paramount to giving a sense of power and ownership in the work they do, Queeman said. He wishes there was this kind of space for him when he was coming up as a chef when he was younger. 

Taste of Pride is also a great opportunity for LGBTQ people looking to get into the industry to find safe spaces to work that are run by queer people, Queeman said. 

Rob Heim, the general manager at Shaw’s Tavern, said he’s looking forward to being a part of the event. And new fall menu items at Shaw’s Tavern will be available during Taste of Pride, which he’s thrilled to showcase. 

ā€œI was really excited to help out and participate,ā€ he said. ā€œIt’s a great idea.ā€ 

The smaller number of participating restaurants in Taste of Pride is intentional, said Brandon Bayton, a volunteer executive producer organizing Taste of Pride. It’s so each restaurant can be well-represented during the week, and different restaurants will be highlighted on social media on separate days. Capital Pride Alliance is also partnering with influencers to get the word out.Ā 

From left, food from 801 Restaurant and Bar and a drink from Code Red. (Code Red photo by Michael Emond; photos courtesy of Capital Pride Alliance)

Visibility — all year long 

It’s important to have events like Taste of Pride outside of June, Bayton said. 

ā€œWe exist 365 days,ā€ Bayton said. ā€œSo we need to make sure that we continue the celebration and invite others to celebrate with us and just be authentically ourselves. We enjoy and do a lot of things other people do. There’s no reason why we should just be constrained to one month.ā€

Queeman agrees. His identity as a queer Black man doesn’t stop or start at any given month. 

ā€œI’m not just a queer or gay man in June or I’m not just a Black man in February,ā€ he said. 

And food is a major intersection that all people of all identities enjoy, Bayton said. It’s a simple way to bring people together. 

ā€œWe do the exact same things that everyone else does,ā€ Bayton said. ā€œWe all eat. We all love to eat.ā€ 

Taste of Pride will run from Oct. 2-8. For more information and to make reservations, visit capitalpride.org/event/taste-of-pride.

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PHOTOS: DCGFFL 25th Anniversary Party

Gay flag football league marks milestone at Penn Social

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The D.C. Gay Flag Football league held a party celebrating their 25th season at Penn Social on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The D.C. Gay Flag Football League (DCGFFL) held a 25th season anniversary party at Penn Social on Saturday, Sept. 23. Proceeds from the event benefited the LGBTQ youth services organization SMYAL as well as the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Community.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Books

New book goes behind the scenes of ā€˜A League of Their Own’

ā€˜No Crying in Baseball’ offers tears, laughs, and more

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(Book cover image courtesy of Hachette Books)

ā€˜No Crying in Baseball: The Inside Story of ā€˜A League of Their Own’
By Erin Carlson
c.2023, Hachette Books
$29/320 pages

You don’t usually think of Madonna as complaining of being ā€œdirty all dayā€ from playing baseball. But that’s what the legendary diva did during the shooting of ā€œA League of Their Own,ā€ the 1992 movie, beloved by queers.

ā€œNo Crying in Baseball,ā€ the fascinating story behind ā€œA League of Their Own,ā€ has arrived in time for the World Series. Nothing could be more welcome after Amazon has cancelled season 2 of its reboot (with the same name) of this classic film.

In this era, people don’t agree on much. Yet, ā€œA League of Their Ownā€ is loved by everyone from eight-year-old kids to 80-year-old grandparents.

The movie has strikes, home runs and outs for sports fans; period ambience for history buffs; and tears, laughs and a washed-up, drunk, but lovable coach for dramady fans.

The same is true for ā€œNo Crying in Baseball.ā€ This ā€œmaking ofā€ story will appeal to history, sports and Hollywood aficionados. Like ā€œAll About Eveā€ and ā€œThe Rocky Horror Picture Show,ā€ ā€œA League of Their Ownā€ is Holy queer Writ.

Carlson, a culture and entertainment journalist who lives in San Francisco, is skilled at distilling Hollywood history into an informative, compelling narrative. As with her previous books, ā€œI’ll Have What She’s Having: How Nora Ephron’s three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedyā€ and ā€œQueen Meryl: The Iconic Roles, Heroic Deeds, and Legendary Life of Meryl Streep,ā€ ā€œNo Crying in Baseball,ā€ isn’t too ā€œeducational.ā€ It’s filled with gossip to enliven coffee dates and cocktail parties.

ā€œA League of Their Ownā€ is based on the true story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). From 1943 to 1954, more than 600 women played in the league in the Midwest. The league’s players were all white because the racism of the time prohibited Black women from playing. In the film, the characters are fictional. But the team the main characters play for – the Rockford Peaches – was real.

While many male Major and Minor League Baseball players were fighting in World War II, chewing gum magnate Philip K. Wrigley, who owned the Chicago Cubs, founded the league. He started the AAGPBL, ā€œTo keep spectators in the bleachers,ā€ Carlson reports, ā€œand a storied American sport–more important: his business afloat.ā€ 

In 1943, the Office of War Information warned that the baseball season could be ā€œscrappedā€ ā€œdue to a lack of men,ā€ Carlson adds.

ā€œA League of Their Ownā€ was an ensemble of women’s performances (including Rosie O’Donnell as Doris, Megan Cavanagh as Marla, Madonna as Mae, Lori Petty as Kit and Geena Davis as Dottie) that would become legendary.

Girls and women  still dress up as Rockford Peaches on Halloween.

Tom Hanks’s indelible portrayal of coach Jimmy Dugan, Gary Marshall’s depiction of (fictional) league owner Walter Harvey and Jon Lovitz’s portrayal of Ernie have also become part of film history.

Filming ā€œA League of Their Own,ā€ Carlson vividly makes clear, was a gargantuan effort.  There were ā€œactresses who can’t play baseballā€ and ā€œbaseball players who can’t act,ā€ Penny Marshall said.

The stadium in Evansville, Ind., was rebuilt to look like it was in the 1940s ā€œwhen the players and extras were in costume,ā€ Carlson writes, ā€œit was easy to lose track of what year it was.ā€

ā€œNo Crying in Baseballā€ isn’t written for a queer audience. But, Carlson doesn’t pull any punches. 

Many of the real-life AAGPBL players who O’Donnell met had same-sex partners, O’Donnell told Carlson.

ā€œWhen Penny, angling for a broad box-office hit chose to ignore the AAGPGL’s queer history,ā€ Carlson writes, ā€œshe perpetuated a cycle of silence that muzzled athletes and actresses alike from coming out on the wider stage.ā€

ā€œIt was, as they say, a different time,ā€ she adds.

Fortunately, Carlson’s book isn’t preachy. Marshall nicknames O’Donnell and Madonna (who become buddies) ā€œRoā€ and ā€œMo.ā€ Kodak is so grateful for the one million feet of film that Marshall shot that it brings in a high school marching band. Along with a lobster lunch. One day, an assistant director ā€œstreaked the set to lighten the mood,ā€ Carlson writes.

ā€œNo Crying in Baseball,ā€ is slow-going at first. Marshall, who died in 2018, became famous as Laverne in ā€œLaverne & Shirley.ā€ It’s interesting to read about her. But Carlson devotes so much time to Marshall’s bio that you wonder when she’ll get to ā€œA League of Their Own.ā€

Thankfully, after a couple of innings, the intriguing story of one of the best movies ever is told.

You’ll turn the pages of ā€œNo Crying in Baseballā€ even if you don’t know a center fielder from a short stop.

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