A SEXPLANATION—One queer man’s fun, insightful journey to find true sexual freedom

To right the wrongs of his all-American sex education, 36-year-old health reporter Alex Liu goes on a quest to uncover naked truths and hard facts—no matter how awkward it gets.

From neuroscience labs to church pews, A Sexplanation features provocative conversations with psychologists, sex researchers, a Jesuit priest, and several generations of Alex’s own family. With humor and grit, Alex takes audiences on a playful, heartfelt journey from a shame-filled past to a happier, healthier, sexier future.

Like so many American children of the ’90s, Alex’s introduction to sex was through the internet. His formal schooling laced sex education with fear, shocking him with videos of childbirth and all-too-graphic images of untreated sexually transmitted infections. Because he knew early on that he was gay, these scare tactics worked.

Now in his 30s and out of the closet, Alex has turned his fear and loathing into something positive and humorous. The documentary, A Sexplanation, seeks to turn a personal pursuit of shame-free pleasure into a call for comprehensive sex education for everyone. And surprisingly, he discovers it’s never too late to have “The Talk”—especially with the family he’s kept at a distance.

Alex hopes his documentary will help him—and everyone—embrace sex and pleasure, free from other’s political, religious, and social agendas, and recognize the need for shame-free, comprehensive sex education. “By nature, to be a human being is to be a sexual being,” says Alex. “It’s unavoidable. And that’s beautiful.”

Screened at 32 film festivals on four continents, eight countries, and 18 states, the film currently has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and has won nine festival awards. LGBTQ film festival screenings and awards include Frameline, Inside Out LGBTQ (Audience Award Documentary Feature), MIX COPENHAGEN, AGLIFF/Prism, Honolulu Rainbow (Best Documentary Feature), Queer Screen (Sydney), Seattle Queer, Out on Film (Atlanta), Reel Q Pittsburgh International LGBT Festival (Audience Award Documentary Feature), qFLIX (Philadelphia), ImageOut Rochester LGBT, and Roze Filmdagen (Amsterdam).

New Billboard Campaign Greets Visitors to DeSantis’s Florida: ‘The Sunshine “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” State’

Visitors to Tallahassee, Tampa, Orlando, and South Florida are being greeted by new billboards this week welcoming them to “Florida: The Sunshine ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ State.” The billboards, which are being placed in key areas across the state with high visitor traffic and visibility, including near airports and along large interstate highways, are part of a new advertising campaign launched by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. The billboards will raise public awareness around the ways Florida’s image has been irreversibly damaged by the new “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law, which is designed to silence teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people – further stigmatizing and isolating LGBTQ+ kids and also undermining existing protections for LGBTQ+ students, as well as yesterday’s decision by the Governor DeSantis’s Department of Health to release a statement attacking the established standards of age-appropriate, medically-necessary, and often life-saving care for transgender youth.

“Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ law is outrageous and discriminatory. It needs to be repealed immediately. This billboard campaign is designed to make people confront what this terrible law really does: censor and silence educators and isolate LGBTQ+ students and their families,” said Joni Madison, Interim President of the Human Rights Campaign. “Florida cannot be considered the ‘Sunshine State’ when Governor Ron DeSantis is putting so many of its constituents in harm’s way. Governor DeSantis can try to tell teachers what they can teach, can try to tell kids what they can read, and can try to tell students what they can learn - but he cannot tell LGBTQ+ people who we can be.  LGBTQ+ people are teachers, are parents, and yes, are students too - and we are going to keep fighting until this law is off the books.

According to the Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) at the University of North Florida, 49% of Floridians opposed the legislation while only 40% supported it. Opposition for the bill is even stronger in younger populations. A majority of Floridians between the ages of 18 and 24 — recent secondary school graduates — disapproved of efforts to erase LGBTQ+ people in classrooms.

Diversity in Sports Summit in Orlando June 2, Hosted by KindRED Pride and The Pride Cup

Driven by the belief that sports can inspire change, LGBTQ+ thought leaders representing a wide variety of sports organizations will hold the first Diversity in Sports Summit to discuss tactics for enhancing diversity and inclusion efforts for LGBTQ+ youth Thursday, June 2 at the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista, 12205 S Apopka Vineland Road. Organized by the KindRED Pride Foundation and The Pride Cup, the evening event and panel discussion will coincide with the annual celebration of RED Shirt Pride Days at Walt Disney World Resorts. 

 

The panel of speakers will include:

• Ryan O'Callaghan: NFL player and author of “My Life on the Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life”
• Bobby Blair: Tennis pro and author of “Hiding Inside the Baseline”
• Andrea Snead: USTA, Diversity & Inclusion Director
• Haley Videckis: WNBA and former collegiate basketball star
• Gina Duncan: NCAA college football player at East Carolina University and trans activist
• Greg DeMoustes: Professional tennis and pickleball player
• Pam Bolling: World champion ballroom dancer
• Sergei Aliev: World champion ballroom dancer
• Josh Dixon: NCAA collegiate gymnast

 

“We believe sports have the power to unite people,” said Billy Looper. “It’s critical that LGBTQ+ youth are allowed to freely participate in sports as it’s a powerful vehicle for the development of individual character and resilience. This is one reason why KindRED Pride hosts The Pride Cup.”

 

The Pride Cup is a multi-sport LGBTQ+ competition held each year beginning in 2022 during the first weekend in June in Orlando. With events welcoming all levels of athletes, the spirit of the competition is “Be Kind Champion” to overlap with all the world-class events held during RED Shirt Pride Days. For more information, please email: billy@kindREDpride.org

Golden Girls Themed Cruise to Depart Out of Miami in April 2023

Flip Phone Events has announced the return of Golden Fans at Sea, a Golden Girls Fan Cruise out of Miami. The cruise is taking place aboard the luxurious Celebrity Summit out of Miami on April 8, 2023.

The five-night cruise is the fourth sailing for Golden Fans at Sea. The cruise stops in the ports of Key West, Florida, and Cozumel, Mexico.

In Key West, cruise guests will embark on a Golden Bar Crawl. The bar crawl includes drag shows, dance parties, trivia, and more! The bar crawl is only available for cruise guests. In Cozumel, every guest is invited to Shady Pines at the Beach excursion. This excursion is included with the price of the cruise!

Special guests for the 2023 include Stan Zimmerman (writer of Golden Girls), Jim Colucci (author of Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai), Golden Gays Drag (A Golden Girls Drag Tribute Group), and more to be announced soon. Golden Fans at Sea allows guests to have unique one-on-one experiences with our guests.

During the days at sea, guests participate in trivia games, St. Olaf-themed dance parties, unique panels related to the show, pool parties, musical shows, karaoke, and costume contests. 

Pricing begins at $1689 and tickets are available at GoldenFansAtSea.com. 

San Francisco Pride announces 2022 Community Grand Marshals

Today, the Board of Directors of San Francisco Pride announced the Community Grand Marshals to be honored during the 52nd annual San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration and Parade (Pride 52), taking place on Saturday and Sunday, June 25-26, 2022. This year’s honorees personify SF Pride’s mission to educate the world, commemorate heritage, celebrate culture, and liberate LGBTQ+ people.
 
“As we return to an in-person celebration this June, SF Pride is thrilled to honor this exceptional group of individuals and organizations who have contributed greatly to the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ community and to society at large,” says Suzanne Ford, San Francisco Pride Interim Executive Director. “Each of this year’s Grand Marshals are local heroes in their own right and leaders in the efforts towards inclusion, acceptance, and equality for all LGBTQ+ people.”

With the theme of “Love Will Keep Us Together,” this year’s festivities will include a two-day Celebration and Rally scheduled from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 26 at Civic Center Plaza and the surrounding neighborhood. The legendary Parade will take place Sunday, June 26 beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Beale and Market Street, continuing through the heart of downtown San Francisco. Additional SF Pride events will take place throughout the month of June and the remainder of 2022. Information regarding Parade registration, as well as sponsor, exhibitor, advertising, membership, and donor opportunities, may be found at sfpride.org.
 
San Francisco Pride remains committed to its mission of bringing connection and visibility to the LGBTQ+ communities. As a world leader in the global Pride movement and a part of the fabric of Pride events around the world, SF Pride works to educate, commemorate, and continue the struggle for true liberation, both through its events and by raising much-needed funds for nonprofits across the Bay Area. Financial support through membership and donations ensures that SF Pride will be able to thrive into the future.
 
A full lineup of events and activities for Pride 52 will be announced in the near future. A brand new SF Pride app will be available in May, The Official Guide to SF Pride, granting attendees access to stage lineups, an event map, vendor and artist information, and more. Visit sfpride.org/app to sign up and receive a notification when the app is live. 

Books: The Familia Grande

The passing of Camille Kouchner’s mother, the high-profile French writer and political scientist Evelyne Pisier, brought with it a tidal wave of intense memories from Kouchner’s youth. In THE FAMILIA GRANDE, Kouchner offers up the story of her childhood, the divorce of her parents and their respective remarriages, and the years she spent surrounded by the rowdy crew of French societal elites that were their family friends.

Kouchner’s mother’s remarriage appears, at first, to be a blissful liberation from the domineering and distant Bernard Kouchner, a politician and doctor who co-founded Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and who was often away from home. But the warmth and vitality of Kouchner's subsequent young adulthood with her mother and new stepfather, Olivier Duhamel—himself a political scientist and eventual member of the European parliament—is radically shaken when she discovers that her stepfather has been sexually abusing her twin brother. At her brother's request, she stays quiet. With THE FAMILIA GRANDE, Kouchner breaks decades of silence and guilt to right a long-buried wrong, speaking out about the crimes of her stepfather and the figures from French high society who were aware of the abuse and who protected him.

Kouchner’s accusation of her politically and socially prominent stepfather, and his subsequent confession and resignation, began a national reckoning in France on the historically taboo subject of incest. With the original serialization and publication of her memoir, other powerful figures in French society were accused of sexual abuse and in particular the abuse of minors, the French government began a re-evaluation and overhaul of the laws around incest and rape, and stories began to be shared on the internet and social media, breaking the silence and breaking down the isolating stigma around sexual abuse.

Kouchner balances the gravity and depth of her story with surprising humor and tenderness; her writing is deeply perceptive, every relationship examined thoughtfully. With THE FAMILIA GRANDE, Kouchner’s fearless, electric prose provides insights into the lavish world of France’s intellectual and cultural elite, and offers up a raw exposé of the dark, not-to-be-discussed dangers that lurked therein.

THE FAMILIA GRANDE is a remarkable story of resilience, of manipulation from men who hold tremendous power, the secret-keeping that protects them, and of the change that even a single brave voice can bring about.

OUT on Amazon Prime Video: I Love America

 

 I Love America, available on Amazon Prime Video on April 29, follows Lisa (Sophie Marceau), a single woman who decides to take a chance on love again by catapulting her life from Paris to Los Angeles. 

Her children flew the coop and her famous, yet absent, mother just passed, so Lisa needs a big change. She reunites with her best friend Luka (Djanis Bouzyani), who found success in America with his iconic drag queen bar but is struggling to find his own prince charming. Luka embarks on a mission to give Lisa a fresh start by creating a profile for her on a dating website. 

From awkward dates to a surprise encounter with John (Colin Woodell), Lisa will understand that the journey to love is a journey towards herself and forgiveness of her first love: her mother.

This Week Only: Reduced Ticket Prices for Queer Prom

Only TWO WEEKS left until Queer Prom, and for this week only The Alexander Foundation is reducing ticket prices by $25. 

While prom is a common high school event, those that don't prescribe to traditional gender roles may have been excluded from this milestone. The Alexander Foundation looks forward to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their allies.

At this year's annual Spring fundraiser, TAF is proud to host and honor Representative Brianna Titone for her work serving the constituents of HD27 and raising visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. Brianna is the State's first out, transgender lawmaker in history and currently one of eight in the country.

Come As You Are - wear what you want, express yourself freely, bring three or no dates, have fun being yourself. Discrimination will not be tolerated. This will be a safe place for all gender identities and sexual orientations.

WalletHub Report: 2022’s Best & Worst Airlines

 

With airline ticket prices expected to keep going up due to rising oil costs and the U.S. closing its airspace to Russian aircraft, WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s Best Airlines, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary. WalletHub's study focuses not just on price but also many other aspects of the air travel experience, such as safety, delays, baggage issues, animal incidents, passenger complaints and more.

Getting Hired Expands Diversity and Inclusion Talent Platform and Launches Direct Talent Sourcing Initiative

Getting Hired, Inc., an Allegis Group company, announces the expansion of its talent engagement platform to engage and serve additional underrepresented groups in the workforce, and the launch of Diversity Talent Sourcing, a new direct sourcing offering. Both initiatives align with Getting Hired's mission of breaking down barriers within talent acquisition for job seekers and employers.

Getting Hired's virtual communities now expand beyond Individuals with Disabilities to also include Veterans and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Additional virtual communities will be added quarterly with Advancing Women, LBGTQIA+ and Generational Dynamics all slated for 2022.

Getting Hired's Diversity Talent Sourcing offering leverages the platform's access to multiple historically underrepresented talent groups and amplifies its impact and reach through the artificial intelligence capabilities of QuantumWork, our cloud-based intelligent sourcing platform.

"We see a world where all people, regardless of how they identify or what community they are part of, are fully included while realizing their full potential in the workforce. Getting Hired's access and relationships with candidates from underrepresented groups paired with our industry-aligned recruiting experts working on the QuantumWork platform to source and select diverse candidate slates, uniquely positions us as a key workforce partner in helping to bridge the current opportunity divide," said Head of Getting Hired Amanda Burke. 

Key features of Getting Hired's new website and technology platform include:

• Talent communities that reflect the ever-changing, diversity-enriched marketplace
• Expanded self-identification options for talent to personalize and own their identity
• Enhanced reporting and resources to reduce the time it takes to match unique talent and employers

"As an Allegis Group company, Getting Hired plays a critical role in helping our clients execute on their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives," said Andy Hilger, president of Allegis Group. "We are very excited about how the expanded capabilities will enable more tailored approaches and deepen our partnerships."

MUNA Perform Single "Anything But Me" on The Ellen Degeneres Show

 

Los Angeles-based trio MUNA - comprised of Katie Gavin (she/they), Naomi McPherson (they/them), and Josette Maskin (she/they) stopped by The Ellen Degeneres Show to perform their new single “Anything But Me.” It’s another banger MUNA performance and shows the band at the absolute top of their live game. They recently announced a North American tour with many dates selling out and new shows being added due to demand. Watch the video below to see why fans are so excited.

MUNA will release their upcoming self-titled album out June 24th via Saddest Factory Records. The band’s first single “Silk Chiffon feat. Phoebe Bridgers” was released to widespread critical acclaim, not only becoming a queer anthem around the world but also being hailed as one of the best songs of 2021.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eleventh Season - Own the Outrageous DVD on June 14th

HBO’s iconic comedic series, from writer/producer/comedian Larry David, will have you laughing in your seats as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eleventh Season on DVD June 14, 2022. Life will be prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good as you binge on all 10 episodes from the outrageous eleventh season. Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eleventh Season will retail for $19.99 SRP ($24.99 in Canada) and will also be available to own on Digital via purchase from all major digital retailers. All seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm are now available for streaming on HBO Max.

Starring Larry David as an over-the-top version of himself, the iconic Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm offers a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the writer/producer/comedian’s fictionalized life. With Jeff Garlin (as manager Jeff Greene), Susie Essman (as Jeff’s wife Susie), Cheryl Hines (as Larry’s ex-wife Cheryl), JB Smoove (as Leon), and Richard Lewis and Ted Danson (as themselves), all reprising their roles alongside a rotating cast of familiar faces, including Vince Vaughn (as Freddy Funkhouser) and Tracey Ullman (as Irma Kostroski), Season 11 finds Larry once again seeking and dispensing his own peculiar brand of social justice.

Human Rights Campaign: The Real Threat to Women’s Sports Isn’t Trans Athletes – It’s Underfunding, Lack of Resources

As states across the country continue to debate and pass anti-transgender sports bans – bills that would prevent transgender girls from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity – a new Human Rights Campaign analysis points out that the real threat to women’s sports is not allowing transgender young people to play; it is underfunding and lack of resources for collegiate women’s sports. HRC’s analysis of data from a USA Today series on Title IX found that colleges and universities in the 15 states that have passed or have pending anti-transgender sports bill spent $64 million more on men’s than women’s sports – spending only approximately $0.70 on women’s sports for every $1 spent on men’s sports

“States passing these bans are not only acting cruelly, but they are acting hypocritically. If they want to save women's sports, they should look in their own backyards, where public universities and colleges are consistently underfunding and underinvesting in women's sports, to the tune of millions of dollars,” said Shoshana K. Goldberg, Ph.D. MPH, Director of HRC’s Public Education & Research Program. “While extreme far-right leaders & legislators push to bar young transgender people from participating in sports, they ignore the real, meaningful ways that women’s sports can be made better. Rather than make meaningful change by giving dedicated athletes and hardworking coaches the resources they need, they choose to point a finger at young people who simply want to play sports and blame them for imagined problems. ”

Since the first law of its type was enacted in 2020, 16 states have either passed an anti-transgender sports ban or have bills from this session awaiting final disposition. In the states where anti-trans sports bans have passed and data is available, funding disparities are as follows:

EW Exclusive: 'Drag Race' star Kylie Sonique Love in Major Movie Debut 'Dope Queens'

Kylie Sonique Love famously tripped during the last lip-sync of the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 6 finale, but she landed with a crown — and a role in her first major movie, Dope Queens.

 

Written and directed by Grafton Reyes Doyle, the film is billed as a vibrant romantic thriller that follows three friends (Empire's Alexandra Grey, The Man From Toronto's Pierson Fodé, and Hustlers actress Trace Lysette) over the course of a wild night on the gritty streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Kylie plays Monika, a queen of the local DIVAS club who's a fierce performer with a striking exterior and a playful personality. She ultimately warns the group about the city's streets, the dangers of which her fellow queen Sheba (Krystal Thomas) is all too familiar with.

 

The film is one of few pieces of mainstream media to explore the Tenderloin region, the home of Compton's Transgender Cultural District, the first legally recognized transgender district in the world that encompasses six blocks of the city. It takes its name from Compton's Cafeteria Riots of 1966, one of the first documented trans uprisings in United States history.

EPA Releases Equity Action Plan Alongside Federal Partners to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency published its Equity Action Plan to fulfill President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 13985 directing EPA, along with other federal agencies, to assess whether underserved communities and their members face systemic barriers in accessing benefits and opportunities through the federal government. This Equity Action Plan is a critical part of EPA’s efforts to break through those barriers and advance equity and justice across our efforts to ensure clean water, air, and land for all communities.

“This Equity Action Plan is a strong example of how EPA works with our federal partners to deliver on the commitments set forth by the Biden-Harris Administration,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “EPA is working to live up to its promise to protect human health and the environment made to all people in our country more than 50 years ago. We can only do this by acknowledging the adverse effects of policies and regulations that have historically kept too many communities out of the room and leading the way in breaking down the barriers that have stood for far too long.” 

The Equity Action Plan aligns with the Agency’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan, announced March 28, 2022. EPA’s final Strategic Plan includes, for the first time, an unprecedented strategic goal to advance environmental justice and civil rights.

The Equity Action Plan outlines six priority actions:

• Develop a comprehensive framework for considering cumulative impacts in relevant EPA decisions and operationalize that framework in EPA’s programs and activities.
• Build the capacity of underserved communities to provide their experience to EPA and implement community-led projects.
• Develop EPA’s internal capacity to engage underserved communities and implement clear and accountable processes to act based on communities’ input.
• Strengthen EPA’s external civil rights compliance program and ensure that civil rights compliance is an agency-wide responsibility.
• Integrate participatory (community) science into EPA’s research and program implementation.
• Make EPA’s procurement and contracting more equitable.

These priority actions form a critical foundation on which to build meaningful engagement with underserved communities; achieve more equitable and just outcomes, including pollution reductions in communities with environmental justice concerns; and deliver other tangible benefits to underserved communities.

Read the EPA Equity Action Plan.