Arts & Entertainment
Fourth Annual ClexaCon to bring together LGBTQ+ creators and fans in Vegas
Las Vegas will soon be the setting for ClexaCon, a huge multi-fandom event celebrating LGBTQ+ women, gender nonconforming individuals and allies who work to bring empowerment and diversity to the entertainment industry’s progressive and prolific LGBTQ+ community.
Committed to leading the push for diversity, equality and inclusion of quality LGBTQ+ content in entertainment, the convention is set to hold its fourth annual installment (and its fourth consecutive in the Nevada city), from April 16-19, at the Tropicana Hotel. It’s the largest multi-fandom event of its kind, promising a program of panels, meet and greets, celebrity autographs and photos, and workshops from elite LGBTQ+ “gamechangers, industry tastemakers, media influencers and actors,” according to their press release.
ClexaCon is an event that hopes to bring together creators and fans as it strives toward promoting better and equal LGBTQ+ representation in the media, by providing resources to teach and motivate more LGBTQ+ individuals to participate in creating narratives that accurately reflect the diversity of American culture.
The festival’s creators hope to challenge the tropes about lesbian, bisexual and queer women and gender nonconforming individuals, and use ClexaCon to champion them behind and in front of the camera, by driving the conversation on how to achieve a more inclusive industry.
Danielle Jablonski, one of ClexaCon’s co-directors and producers, says, “We believe that it is vital to support and nurture LGBTQ+ women and non-binary creators so that they are able to write authentic stories and push for better representation in all aspects of the entertainment industry moving forward.”
More than 50% of the featured guests and speakers at this year’s convention identify as LGBTQ+, and panels will focus on topics such as LGBTQ+ actors playing LGBTQ+ roles, transgender representation, bisexual representation, queer people of color representation, improving representation in front of and behind the camera, and supporting LGBTQ+ content creators to tell our stories.
They’ve also put together a roster of big ticket participants that includes cast members from both the original “L Word” and the rebooted “Generation Q,” as well as stars from “Person of Interest,” “Buffy the Vanpire Slayer,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” and Marvel’s “Runaways,” among many others. Some of the names include Kate Moennig, Leisha Hailey, Sarah Shahi, Amy Acker, Amber Benson, Felicia Day, Jaime Murray, Jes Macallan, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Janet Varney, and Lyrika Ocano.
This year’s edition also adds a music showcase with several featured LGBTQ+ musicians, a cabaret event featuring LGBTQ+ performers, and Karaoke, to go along with a full film festival, a burlesque show, and several parties.
For more information about the schedule, lineup, and tickets, visit the ClexaCon website.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)