Welcome, GO readers, to our revamped weekly roundup of the biggest lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender women’s news and entertainment stories! We’ll be recapping the biggest hits each week and talking to the newsmakers, movers, and shakers behind them.
A Preview of MOTHERSHIP Fest
We could all use a little more time in spaces with our community these days, right? For the second year in the row, the MOTHERSHIP Festival & Retreat is an upcoming weekend in October featuring workshops, art and music imbued with feminism. “Imagine a world that is created by women, for women and what that would include…art, healing, self-exploration, intelligent conversations and panels. Followed by an amazing and diverse all-women’s lineup of music. Campfires, music, camping. It’s my little slice of heaven and I hope others feel the same way!” Laura Wise, the festival’s founder, told GO.
“Marginalized people need safe spaces, it would be against all of my beliefs to exclude any group of women from our event. Trans women and non-binary individuals are accepted and embraced as a part of the diverse fabric of MOTHERSHIP. Womxn roam the grounds topless, in costume. People of different abilities and walks of life, come. We gather to learn and explore. Diversity is an asset, intersectional feminism embraces this idea and so do we,” Wise added. Mothership is from October 13-15 in Palm Springs.
Another Trans Person Has Been Murdered
A young transgender woman’s body was found dismembered last week after she was brutally murdered in Missouri. Ally Steinfeld’s family reported her missing in mid-September after they didn’t hear from her for two weeks. The 17-year old’s body was found burned with apparent stabbing to her genitals, as well as her eyes gouged out. Three suspects, who were Steinfeld’s roommates, have been charged with the murder. Steinfeld’s killing marks the twenty-second known trans person murdered in 2017. So far, there have not been hate crime charges for the killing.
Billie Jean King On Coming Out: “It Was Horrible”
Billie Jean King is a sports star and LGBTQ icon, but she didn’t always know her own greatness. It’s been 44 years since King beat Bobby Riggs in their infamous game, the subject of the new flick “Battle of the Sexes.”’ Now, in an interview with NBC OUT, King has recounted what it was like to be publicly outed so many years ago. “It was horrible,” she told the publication. After she was outed, she decided not to deny her identity. “I said: ‘I’m going to do it. I don’t care. This is important to me to tell the truth…The one thing my mother always said, ‘To thine own self be true,’” she added. King, 73, said she didn’t feel comfortable with being a lesbian until she was in her early fifties, and that she hopes the movie inspires the next generation of activists. “We’re still fighting the same fights,” she told NBC OUT.
Laverne Cox Gets A Nail Polish Line
We’ll just say it already: Laverne Cox is slaying all day, every day.
In addition to her shows “Orange Is the New Black” and “Doubt” and modeling for Beyonce’s clothing line Ivy Park, the actress now has her own nail polish line. Cox has collaborated with the brand Orly for a line of polishes called “Celebrate Yourself,” featuring metallic and glittery shades with names like ‘Mirrorball’ and ‘Androgynie.’ “It’s about giving everyone the opportunity to feel glamorous in their day-to-day lives. Every single one of these colors makes me smile inside when I look at them,” Cox told Refinery29. Time to take off that pearly pink polish and level up to one of these shades.
Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ Community Reacts To Hurricane Maria
Just weeks after Hurricane Irma hit the island, Hurricane Maria has devastated Puerto Rico. The island will be without power for several months, meanwhile, the airport is all but shut down. Pedro Julio Serrano, the founder of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, wrote of the destruction on Facebook that the “the silence is deafening,” the Washington Blade reported. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Latinx and Catholic Initiatives, said that her parents’ house, south of San Juan, was flooded. In response to the damage, out singer Ricky Martin is raising funds on YouCaring — so far, he’s generated more than $1 million. For updates about the island’s LGBTQ community, check out LGBT Puerto Rico on Twitter.
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