7 Queer Things to Do This Week

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual observance that honors victims of anti-transgender violence. There are vigils, remembrances, and protests all over the world on November 20 that pay tribute to their memory and raise awareness of the ongoing plight faced by trans people. Find an event near you at TDOR.info.

Ria Mae's 'Hold Me'

In her thoughtful new video for the single "Hold Me," queer artist Ria Mae (along with collaborator Frank Kadillac) hearkens to nostalgia for her youth before social media began disrupting daily life. A native of Canada, Mae, whose 2016 song "Gold" explored the highs and lows of a lesbian relationship, has dropped the video for "Hold Me" ahead of the release of her EP in early 2019.

"The song started as a conversation between Frank, myself and Lowell," Mae said in a statement. "We were sharing how lately we felt unsure of how to engage online and remain positive in the current social climate. We were talking about how easy life used to feel when we were young and how anxious a lot of our peers seem to be right now. I wanted the visuals to represent a deep long for peace from this deafening social landscape."

Mae is currently touring Canada.

Thanksgiving

Enjoy spending time with your loved ones on Thursday, or consider giving back and volunteering -- maybe at an LGBTQ Thanksgiving dinner like this one in Louisville, KY. Here are 13 different volunteer options for the Los Angeles area, people need help now more than ever this holiday season due to the wildfires. However you choose to spend your Thanksgiving, make sure to save room for dessert and try not to get into too many heated, possibly wine-fueled, debates about politics.

Widows

There's nothing like a story about women rising from the ashes to fight back and kick ass, and Widows has it all. The revenge/heist film from 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen boasts a cast of heavy hitters including Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Jacki Wever, and Cynthia Erivo (Tony winner for The Color Purple) as women whose husbands were offed in a botched robbery. The women take up blueprints, getaway cars, and arms to finish the job and get back to their lives.

Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson also star.

Staches and Lashes

The Emerging Leaders Council of Outfest -- the Los Angeles LGBTQ film organization -- is hosting its sixth annual Staches and Lashes. The annual event raises funds for the Outfest Forward education and mentoring programs, and it's also a fun, gender-bending party that features DJs and a live performance from RuPaul's Drag Race's Kelly Mantle. Throw on some lashes and join the fun Saturday at The Standard DTLA rooftop.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is going high on the best-seller list with her memoir, Becoming, which came out this week. Obama traces her life from her childhood in a supportive working-class family in Chicago to an education in a elite schools to her career as a health care executive to becoming first lady of the United States. She deals with the challenges of being in the first black woman in that position as well as the other challenges that black women face every day. "Every sentence Obama writes makes a statement," notes Entertainment Weekly. She also makes some pointed comments about her husband's successor. "She is direct, forceful, and condemnatory when speaking about Trump, but in a fashion that doesn't sour or alter her own life story," according to EW's critic, who adds that her memoir serves "to remind her country of what's being lost -- what she witnessed during the Obama years, what guided their presidency: 'a sense of progress, the comfort of compassion. ... A glimmer of the world as it could be.'" Going high indeed. Buy at your favorite bookstore or order at the Becomingwebsite, where you can also find Obama's tour dates.

Torch Song

A Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein's 1980s-era Torch Song Trilogy -- shortened in length and renamed Torch Song -- is now playing on Broadway. With lovable out actor Michael Urie playing the lead role of Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish drag queen looking for love in New York, and Mercedes Ruehl portraying his overbearing mom, you know you're in for a treat. Click here for ticket info and check out this video below.