Arts & Entertainment
‘Everyone is awesome’ Lego honors Pride with LGBTQ inclusive set
I am really happy that it has allowed me to create something that all our LGBTQIA+ employees can be really proud of.
BILLUND, Denmark – In a Facebook announcement and on its website Thursday, Danish toymaker Lego debuted a new set to honor and acknowledge the global LGBTQ community during Pride. The set is due to be available for purchase June 1, 2021 coinciding with the start of Pride month.
Matthew Ashton, the Vice President of Design at the LEGO Group and the Designer of the Everyone Is Awesome set explained on the company’s website his motivation for creating the LGBTQ inclusive set.
“Representation is so important. I grew up in the 80s and was obviously a gay kid. There was a lot of negativity back then around being gay; it was right in the middle of the AIDS crisis when I was a young teen and that was incredibly daunting and scary,” Ashton reflected.
“Being quite an effeminate kid, I was constantly told by different adults around me what I should and shouldn’t play with, that I needed to behave like a ‘real boy’ and to toughen up. I was dissuaded from doing the things that came most naturally to me. I think many of the adults around me were doing all of this to try to protect me from getting bullied, but I was actually fine with all the kids at school. All of that has had an impact on me in many ways; it was really exhausting and kicked my confidence,” he added.
“Coming out is the period in your life where I think you can feel the loneliest and so uncertain about what your future is going to hold once you have taken that step. I came out in my late teens. For some people, it’s easier than it used to be, but there are still a lot of struggles for people that are coming out and it’s a really scary process. You don’t know how friends and family are going to react. You’re afraid of what the consequences may be,” says Ashton.
“This is one of the sets that I am most proud of. Because of the statement that it’s making, I’m really proud that I’m working for a company that wants to have a voice on topics like this. I am really happy that it has allowed me to create something that all our LGBTQIA+ employees can be really proud of as well and can feel acknowledged by. This sends a signal to everyone that this is what we stand for at The LEGO Group and that we want to embrace all of you, because creativity is for everyone. We do truly feel that everyone is awesome. We all have the right to be accepted, to be loved and also to be creative. With this set, we hope to show that we care, no matter who you are,” he wrote.
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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