In the 1990s, gay, lesbian, and bisexual activists adopted the term LGB, supplanting narrower terms such as "gay or lesbian". Terminology eventually shifted to LGBT, as transgender people became more accepted within the movement. Around that time, some activists began to reclaim the term queer, seeing it as a more radical and inclusive umbrella term, though others reject it, due to its history as a pejorative. In recognition of this, the 2010s saw the adoption of LGBTQ, and other more inclusive variants. (Full article...)
Will & Grace is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), a straight interior designer. The show was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998, to May 18, 2006, for a total of eight seasons, and returned to NBC on September 28, 2017, and permanently ended on April 23, 2020. Will & Grace has been one of the most successful television series with gay principal characters.
Despite initial criticism for its stereotypical portrayal of gay characters, it went on to become a staple of NBC's Must See TV Thursday night lineup and was met with continued critical acclaim. It was ensconced in the Nielsen top 20 for half of its 1998–2006 network run. The show was the highest-rated sitcom among adults 18–49 from 2001 to 2005. Will & Grace earned 18 Primetime Emmy Awards and 96 nominations. Each main actor received an Emmy Award throughout the series. In 2014, the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 94 in their list of the 101 best-written TV series of all time. (Full article...)
Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers, and to cowardice on the part of the governed.
Boy with a Basket of Fruit (1593–94) is a painting by Caravaggio. The model was his friend and lover, the Sicilian painter Mario Minniti, about 16 years old at the time. At one level the painting is designed to demonstrate the artist's ability to depict everything realistically, from the boy's skin to the folds of the robe to the weave of the basket. A closer look however reveals that, as in another painting by him from that time (Basket of Fruit), the peaches have spots and the leaves are diseased, perhaps a comment by the artist on the closeness of beauty and decay in life.
... that The Pittsburgh Courier crusaded against the blue discharge, calling it "a vicious instrument that should not be perpetrated against the American Soldier"?
...that Nireah Johnson was murdered by Paul Moore after Moore discovered Johnson was transgender?
... that Freeheld is an Academy Award winning documentary by Cynthia Wade that follows a New Jersey detective fighting for the right to pass on her pension to her female domestic partner?