02/18/24

Hello there,

🦸🏽♂️ U.S. Rep Robert Garcia may still be a freshman in Congress, but the lawmaker from California has made waves on the House floor and online for calling out far-right Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. “They want to bully the smallest group, the most vulnerable group, the group that has the most challenges often in society, and it’s our job to stand up for them," Garcia told The Advocate recently. Read the interview here.

🚓 Steven Miles, best known for his gay adult film persona Sergeant Miles, was sentenced to two years in prison followed by another year of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer during the January 6 protests and riots in Washington D.C. The adult film star is only one of several LGBTQ+ rioters who have been convicted over their participation in the riot at the Capitol.

🎬 Indiecan Entertainment, a Canada-based distributor of independent films, is launching a new arm focused on LGBTQ-themed movies, Pride Pictures. “There’s a lot of wonderful films made by amazing queer filmmakers from around the world that never get seen by North American audiences other than in festivals, and I’m excited to help some of these films find the audiences they deserve,” Indiecan Entertainment's president Avi Federgreen said. “I really feel that we need to bring light to these amazing films by amazing filmmakers that are underrepresented in the filmmaking community.” 🎦

In other news:

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper

Out State Dept. official Ned Price to be deputy to U.N. ambassador

Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Florida gay adult film star and Proud Boy sentenced over January 6 insurrection

instagram @real_sgtmiles

Pride Pictures will bring international queer films to North America

Courtesy Pride Pictures

Tristan Snell, a lawyer who already beat Trump, says that Willis will survive a ‘travesty of justice’ trial

ALYSSA POINTER/POOL/AFP

Virginia sued over Glenn Youngkin’s anti-transgender student policies

Shutterstock

Superman, Batman, and Robert Garcia: A gay Democrat’s stand against his political villains

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

🫖 Tea time 🫖

There's been plenty to talk about on social media this week as Elon Musk got into an argument with Stephen King "deadnaming" the platform formerly known as Twitter — ironic, since Musk has refused to honor his trans child's name and gender identity, and X/Twitter has become increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people. This of course led to King and hundreds of other people tweeting "Twitter" at the disgruntled billionaire. Meanwhile, Meta announced that its platforms Instagram and Threads will "avoid recommending political content" in the future, not clarifying if LGBTQ-related news will be lumped in with inflammatory topics.

☕ How do platforms like X/Twitter and Instagram affect your news consumption these days, and what can The Advocate do to help? Let us know by emailing social@advocate.com.

Look, the answer!

Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. Tuesday, you'll get the question. Thursday, you'll get a hint. And today, you'll get the answer.

This week's question is: Who was the gay Black civil rights leader who was pivotal in organizing the March on Washington?

This week's answer is: Bayard Rustin. A close confidante to Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and played a vital role in various nonviolent movements, boycotts, and protests to end racial discrimination.

🎉 Congrats to Betty, Brian, Raven, Wan-Lin, Richard, Theodore, and Judith for getting it right!

Reply to this email with some queer trivia we should know and you may get a shout-out in a future newsletter!