Latest news with #LGBTQ+PrideMonth
TimesLIVE
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
African queer erotica unleashed
June is international LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a time to celebrate and recognise the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals in the world. To honour these celebrations, we asked Tiffany Kagure Mugo who, along with Siphumeze Khundayi, masterminded Kivuli & Nuru: The Afrodisiacs Collection. These albums, available on digital platforms, feature African erotic stories that delve into the world of desire. They're celebration of LGBTQ+ intimacies in the readers' own words and voices brought to you by HOLAAfrica, a pan-Africanist digital platform that focuses on sex and sexuality on the continent. Mugo and Khundayi are sex-positive practitioners who've taken their work around the world and onto global Ted Talk stages. Says Mugo, 'The albums are explorations into the different ways we love and lust in both covert and open ways. The Afrodisiacs Collection takes you on an audio journey through tales of immortality, coming home, gyrating in night clubs, or tempting daytime trysts in the middle of an afternoon.' They feature the words of artists like Mercy Thokozane Minah, writers such as Mia Arderne, prize-winning author Jarred Thompson, international authors like Nigerian Kobby Ben Ben, and a cameo from Mpho Tutu van Furth, daughter of the late Desmond Tutu. In Shadow, we find stories of longing, hidden desires and sometimes sensual despair. As the shadow half of the project, Kivuli deals with the 'dark' side of desire. Nuru is the light. This album is on the 'bright' side, exploring the sweet side of life — a crush , a fantasy fulfilled, a dream or something deliciously nasty. We asked Mugo about the albums. You've described Kivuli & Nuru as an exploration of the shadow and light of African desire. What do these metaphors mean to you? How have they shaped the curation of the stories? To paraphrase philosophers, we all have a little 'nasty' in us. Most people expose parts of their desire, keeping other parts hidden. There are reasons we hide things; shame, fear of societal judgment or the fact that they aren't anyone's business. Though desire seeps into everything humans do, it's shunned, vilified and relegated to the shadows. It takes a scandal or a special type of person to bring desire into the light. African desire has, historically, been policed and in the shadows, something suppressed and shameful. Despite this, the theme of 'shadow' and 'light' came about organically. For Kivuli & Nuru, the exploration of the tension in the work shaped itself. The themes, stories and experiences people shared fell into the two categories. When requesting stories, I simply said 'give me stories and make them sexy'. The contributors did the rest. The theme came about after the stories were chosen and we realised we had enough for two albums. How did the process of sourcing the stories from cities like Lagos, Nairobi and Cairo help reflect the diversity of queer African intimacy? What were the common threads or surprising differences that emerged? I'm a sucker for pan-Africanism and the diversity of the continent. The networks for finding the stories were already in place as HOLAAfrica! We've spent years asking people to think about their intimacies, fantasies, triumphs and misadventures, so sourcing stories was relatively simple. We wanted people to speak their realities in (literally) their own voices. The stories, though focused on the voices of queer people, are narratives experienced everywhere — between lovers and friends, a tryst in a club or when trying to decide whether to make a move on a neighbour. The human exploration of desire cuts across sexualities, contexts and countries. But you also realise how unique each person's experience is: each has their own flavour. The Afrodisiacs Collection invites listeners into a space that's both sensual and political. How does storytelling — especially audio erotica — become a form of resistance or reclamation for queer Africans? Stories about African bodies have been twisted into seeming animalistic and devious. From ideas of black women as baby-making machines during slavery to the modern-day 'Mandingo' (a word is used as a pejorative to describe a hypersexual black man), the idea of black love and intimacy is shrouded in myth, misconceptions and malice. With queer bodies that goes double. The constant questioning of what queer people do in the bedroom is funny at best, deeply disturbing at worst. A lot of the work that HOLAAfrica! does is to educate people about how to have healthy, holistic experiences and to create spaces in which queer people can actively speak about their experiences. After your work on Touch: Sex, Sexuality & Sensuality, how does T he Afrodisiacs Collection expand the conversation around African sensuality? I used the audiobook format to reach people who aren't keen to pick up a book, but who'd delve into voiced stories. This offering was a lot more about getting people out of their heads and into their bodies. Touch was a collection of essays: when you say the word 'essay' things get serious, fast. The idea of read stories adds a magical sprinkle to the pot of ideas and understanding. You've worked in sex positivity across many African countries. What has this journey taught you about the nuances of LGBTQ+ expression in private vs public spaces on the continent? Doing this work across contexts and countries (and sexualities) showed that queer and straight people are in the same streets, looking for the same things. Some are looking for long-term love, some are looking for a hook-up on Saturday night; we're all trying to figure it out. The work has shown me that desire is a tricky thing, no matter what country you're in or who you choose to sleep with. The human experience of desire is universal. The public spaces, where there's the politicisation of intimacies, are more acute. Different entities weaponise ideas around queer love and intimacy for various agendas.
Hamilton Spectator
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Summer Pride Party returns to Royal Botanical Gardens this week
The Royal Botanical Gardens' Summer Pride Party returns for its second year on Thursday, June 19. The LGBTQ+ Pride Month celebration is part of the RBG After Dark summer event series, and is back after its first edition last year . Summer Pride Party gets underway at 6:30 and runs to 10:30 p.m. Gates close to entry at 9:30 p.m., so guests may want to arrive early. Valid I.D. is required. It takes place at the RBG's Rock Garden ( 1185 York Blvd., Hamilton ), just past the west end of Burlington, and the 19+ event features music, dancing, drinks and food. 'Get ready to boogie, vibe, and celebrate at our vibrant 2025 summer pride party,' the RBG website's event page states. 'Join us at the stunning RBG Rock Garden for a night of funky beats, dazzling disco, and electrifying new wave anthems' in the spirit of love, inclusivity and joy. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the RBG After Dark Summer Pride Party web page . The first RBG After Dark event was held in 2019. For more on RBG After Dark and other events at Royal Botanical Gardens this summer, visit the full events web page . Upcoming RBG After Dark events include:
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pride Month tour at Norton Gallery honors LGBTQ+ pioneers
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Shreveport's art gallery is hosting a special free 'Pride Month Tour' on Friday. According to the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, they will host a one-hour tour featuring artists and artwork representing the queer community on June 13 at 1:30 p.m. 'From Rosa Bonheur to Grant Wood, discover the LGBTQ+ pioneers in our collection who have left their mark on art history.' They encourage interested individuals to register for free. Caddo Parish back LGBTQ+ Pride Month with support from community R.W. Norton Art Gallery is also surrounded by a 40-acre botanical garden, which is open from Wednesday to Sunday from sunrise to sunset. Located at 4747 Creswell Ave, Shreveport Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Scoop: Clearwater snubs Pride, backs faith month with anti-LGBTQ+ ties
After several years of commemorating LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Clearwater leaders skipped the recognition this year, instead designating June for the first time as "Faith and Family Month." Why it matters: While the celebration on its face seeks to strengthen families through religion, Faith and Family Month's website denies the existence of transgender people and defines marriage as between a man and a woman. It dismisses climate change and critical race theory — a concept that links racial discrimination to the nation's foundations and legal system — as "false doctrines." And it attributes that belief system to the American Pastor Project, a network of church leaders with a mission to "eradicate Wokeism from the American pulpit." What they're saying: The city "is making a statement that they don't want LGBTQ+ people to be acknowledged [or] respected," said Wendy Vernon, a Clearwater resident and the president and founder of LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG Safety Harbor. "That's definitely very hurtful to the community when they're already being shunned away everywhere," Vernon told Axios. She also questioned why city leaders didn't issue a Pride Month proclamation in addition to Faith and Family Month, as was the case in Lakeland. Between the lines: Proclamations are largely symbolic and typically requested by community organizations or city staff. Clearwater's Diversity Leadership Council, made up of city employees, didn't request a Pride proclamation this year due to disruptive protests at a Pride event last year, city spokesperson Joelle Castelli told Axios. "It was very uncomfortable for the members of the committee as they were personally targeted," she said. Committee members instead invited their colleagues to participate in the St. Pete Pride parade this month and offered free tickets to a Clearwater Threshers game. Driving the news: Faith and Family Month was organized by Christian service nonprofit Somebody Cares Tampa Bay, co-founder Daniel Bernard told Axios. Bernard said he was inspired by a discussion with Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, who said he wanted to see a pro-family event in the city. At the request of Somebody Cares, Rector presented the proclamation at the May 15 City Council meeting. His support features prominently in promotional social media posts and on Faith and Family Month's website. "We look forward to … celebrating an entire month with family-friendly activities and talking about how faith can help families be stronger," he says in a promotional video. Reality check: Navigate to the website's "Statement of Faith" page, and a much broader belief system comes into focus. Zoom in:"We recognize God's created order, in making male and female, determined by divine imprint, genetically encoded at conception, and changeless," it says, echoing language used by the Trump and DeSantis administrations to deny rights to transgender people. It goes on to say that pastors have a role "to protect our nation from the deceptions of false teaching and anti-Christ agendas," including abortion, CRT and "climate alarmist theory." The statement is attributed to the American Pastor Project, an organization founded by Lucas Miles, an Indiana-based pastor, conservative activist and author of "Woke Jesus: The False Messiah Destroying Christianity." Rector said the purpose of the proclamation was to encourage people of all different faiths and belief systems to "celebrate the importance of faith and families." Had an organization approached the city with a Pride proclamation, he "probably" would have signed it, he said, adding that he presented one last year. He said he hadn't seen the statement of faith until an Axios reporter showed it to him. He also wasn't familiar with the American Pastor Project, Rector said. "We're not trying to come against anybody or do anything of that nature," Bernard said. "We are just promoting the truth as we understand it."
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
These eight LGBTQ+ Kansans make Pride Month worth celebrating. And all the other months, too.
This Pride Month, writes Clay Wirestone, we can find inspiration among LGBTQ+ Kansans. (Getty Images) LGBTQ+ Pride Month in a red state tends to have a certain edge. Even the most earnest celebration of freedom and belonging can feel like one of those disposable plastic ponchos, quickly unwrapped to keep off the rain. You appreciate it, you value it, but it can't last forever. Yet us gay people persist in living across all 50 states, and in every country around the globe besides. We're most definitely here in Kansas. You can make a joke or two about the Wizard of Oz (heck, I even wrote a column about it), but we're still here, we're still queer, and we're still asking everyone to get used to it. Rather than opine about the meaning of the exercise, I thought I'd kick off the month by highlighting eight LGBTQ+ Kansans. (A hat tip to our friends over at the Manhattan Mercury, who published a similar list last year.) If I left off important folks, please let me know. We have a lot of June left! Melissa Etheridge The Leavenworth-born singer-songwriter rocketed to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A husky-voiced rocker, she blazed trails by coming out publicly all the way back in 1992. She's since recorded a live album at the Topeka Correctional Facility. William S. Burroughs Beat-adjacent writer Burroughs was born in St. Louis and notably lived in Tangiers and New York. He relocated to Lawrence in 1991, however, and lived there until his death in 1997. The city's Burroughs Creek Trail now bears his name. Rep. Sharice Davids The state's Democratic representative for the 3rd District made history in 2018 as the first LGBTQ+ and Native American member. She has now been re-elected three times, which perhaps should raise some eyebrows among national Dems. Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) Any child of the 1980s (and I was one) knows the vampy Elivira on sight. The woman below the wig was Manhattan-born Cassandra Peterson, who revealed her two-decade relationship with a woman in her 2021 memoir. Janelle Monae This Kansas City, Kansas, native first caught my husband's eye through her 2010 album, 'The ArchAndroid.' She has since recorded more albums, acted in movies and now identifies as nonbinary, using she/her or they/them pronouns. Gilbert Baker Born in Chanute and graduating from Parsons High School, Baker created the iconic rainbow pride flag in 1978. Queer icon Harvey Milk, the San Francisco politician and activist, asked him to do so. As an unwelcome note, the Trump administration plans to remove Milk's name from a Navy ship. Just to show that Making America Great Again includes insulting a slain veteran. Stephanie Byers Former State Rep. Stephanie Byers of Wichita was elected in 2020 as the state's first transgender lawmaker. Suffice to say, she put up with an awful lot during her term in office. However, I found her grit and vibrant personality a constant inspiration. Matthew Vines The Wichita native Vines attended Harvard and caused a sensation by arguing that Christianity doesn't condemn same-sex marriage or relationships. He founded the nonprofit Reformation Project and wrote the book 'God and the Gay Christian.' Bonus: your Kansas Reflector opinion editors This might sound like a bit of a cheat, but so be it. Both founding Reflector opinion C.J. Janovy and yours truly have written about our community many times. Janovy even published a book on the subject. Listen, living here might not always be easy. But there's still a heck of a lot to celebrate. I plan to spend at least a bit of time doing just that. Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
