Photograph: Drew Altizer, PacificCoast News

“Men are pigs, but I love pork!”

Carson Kressley

The post #QueerQuote: Carson Kressley appeared first on The WOW Report.

It might not be the end of the world the as we know it (Or is it? I haven’t checked Twitter in 20 minutes…) but if you go see Unitard, you’ll die laughing, anyway. Isn’t that a better way to go? Look who else loves them, besides me…

“Brilliant.” – New York Magazine

“A riotously funny show, non-stop hilarity.” – Michael Musto, OUT

“Queer-Tastic, no-holds-barred comedy.” – Q Life

“A huge barrel of laughs… on point commentary.” – Bowery Boogie

“Made me howl with laughter, highly recommended for fans of smart, up to the minute comedy.” –Lady Bunny

“It’s gay, gay, gay, UBER-topical and VERY New York-centric. Go!” –Trey Speegle, The Wow Report

Wed. September 27 @ 7PM
Wed. October 25 @ 7PM
Wed. November 15 @ 7PM

Tickets are $20 at Joespub.com

(Top photo, Aaron Cobbett)

The post #TardCore: Unitard Invites You To Apoca-Laughs Now! Joe’s Pub Tonight! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore just won his primary runoff election against interim Senator Luther Strange last night in Alabama. This should worry you. If Moore beats democrat Doug Jones in December, he’ll arguably be America’s most anti-LGBT politician in power. (You think I’m exaggerating? The above image is Moore showing off a gun at a campaign rally on Monday night.)

Moore was removed from office as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court TWICE: Once for installing and refusing a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the court building. And later after he was re-elected to a seat on the court, he was removed for instructing local officials to ignore the US Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

GLAAD put together this handy roundup of Moore’s worst anti-LGBT atrocities. These are only his anti-LGBT statements and don’t include his offensive sexist and racist comments:

• Said homosexuality is “the same thing” as having sex with a cow.

• Insisted that “homosexual conduct should be illegal” in a 2005 interview ; and again in 2015.

• Wrote into a 2002 opinion his belief that homosexuality is “a criminal lifestyle,” an “inherent evil against which children must be protected,” and an “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature’s God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated.”

• Attacked courts that allowed putting “a lesbian as a husband,” saying “science dictates that a man can’t be a woman, and a woman can’t be a man. You can dress like them, you can use hormones, you can change your body, you can think—but you can’t produce and egg or a sperm unless you are a woman or a man…so now we have judges that are ruling against science.”

• Targeted the transgender community: “We do have a right to tell them what their sin is. We do have a right to say this is wrong. This is deteriorating this country. Now we have a right to think we’re the opposite sex if we want to be. Your mamas and daddies didn’t think that. Nobody in here had a mama or daddy who thought that. You’re seeing little bitty kids now, it’s the latest thing. You know, a nation that turns away from God and his law suffers the consequences.”

• Referred to gay people as “Those who practice an immoral act that less than 40 years ago was not to be mentioned in polite public circles,” and insists that “For the sake of our nation’s survival, it is time to voice our strongest opposition to homosexual conduct because morality still matters, not only in the military, but also in society at large.”

• Insisted that “sodomy was deemed an abomination by the Creator” and that “Same-sex marriage and sodomy are, simply stated, a slippery slope to polygamy and incestuous relationships.”

• Said LGBTQ people “flaunt their perversion in public parades, ‘gay’ television shows and Hollywood movies.”

• Compared Dred Scott and Obergefell opinions, arguing that the latter marriage ruling is “even worse in a sense” than the one upholding slavery because of marriage equality’s supposed ramifications on Christians.

• Suggested that Congress should impeach SCOTUS justices who decided in favor of marriage equality

• Suggested that 9/11 was God’s punishment for things like “legitimized sodomy.”

• Filed an amicus brief arguing at length that “homosexual conduct has always been and continues to be immoral and should not be protected or sanctioned by law.”

• Filed amicus brief arguing “the presence of homosexuals in the armed forces will weaken the armed forces’ ability to defend this nation by admitting into the armed forces people who engage in conduct that is both immoral and unhealthy, and that the armed forces budget and resources will be strained by having to pay for and treat the many unhealthy conditions that arise out of the homosexual lifestyle.”

• Wrote letter to Alabama’s governor condemning the 2003 repeal of criminal sodomy laws and all that followed after.

• Compared marriage equality to counterfeit money.

• Argued that marriage equality would “literally cause the destruction of our country.”

• Said marriage equality means “we no longer have a constitution.”

• Sought a convention of states to ban marriage equality.

If you’d like to stop this lunatic and defeat Roy Moore in the general election, you can donate to Doug Jones’ campaign via ActBlue.

(Photos, YouTube; via LGBTQ Nation)

The post #LGBTQ: Roy Moore, America’s Most Dangerous, Anti-Gay Politician, Just Won (& It Should Scare the Sh*t Out of You…) appeared first on The WOW Report.

We know the POTUS is NOT that smart, but this quote about Puerto Rico in relation to the Hurricanes that hit Texas and Florida just makes you wonder HOW dumb he really is…?

“It’s very, very tough because it’s an island. The difference is this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean — and it’s a big ocean, a really, really big ocean.”

–Donald Trump, as reported by The New York Times, discussing hurricane aid for the America territory

For the record, Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean Sea, about 100 miles from the Dominican Republic, a 2 and a half hour flight from Miami. Regardless of whether our idiot President knows where they are, they need our help. Click on a link below and donate what you can. Even $5 adds up…

Hand In Hand
handinhand2017.com/
The Benefit for Hurricane Relief telethon raised more than 55 million so far for victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. You can also text GIVE to 80077 to donate $25.

American Red Cross
redcross.org

Mexican Red Cross
cruzrojamexicana.org.mx

The Salvation Army
salvationarmyusa.org

Puerto Rican Family Institute
https://www.facebook.com/PRFIORG/

Oxfam America
oxfamamerica.org

Oxfam Mexico
oxfammexico.org

Save The Children
savethechildren.org

(Photo, YouTube; via Queerty)

The post #QuoteUnquote: Apparently, Trump Doesn’t Know Where Puerto Rico Is –”This Is an Island Sitting in the Middle of an Ocean” appeared first on The WOW Report.

We are all Jane Fonda this morning.

The legendary actress/activist/fitness guru was on the Today Show this morning with her (equally legendary) co-star Robert Redford to discuss their new movie Our Souls. They had the misfortune of being interviewed by morning show newbie Megyn Kelly, who seems to be putting her foot in her mouth on a regular basis (at only three days into her tenure. Good God).

In the clip below, Megyn asks Jane about aging and her plastic surgery and Jane responds with THAT FACE, saying: “We really wanna talk about that now?” Clearly, she was OVER this interview, and quickly tried to steer the subject back to her movie and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE.

Watch now.

Screen grab via The Today Show on Youtube.

The post This Is the Face Jane Fonda Gave Megyn Kelly When She Brought Up Her Plastic Surgery appeared first on The WOW Report.

Above: Amanda Lepore, Nyakim Gatwech and Grae Drake, three models for a nurse-themed blood drive promotion, “All Types Welcome,” for the latest “Saw” movie. The campaign was designed to push back against restrictions on L.G.B.T. donors.

So the torture porn series Saw returns Oct. 27 with the R-rated eighth installment of the series. To help promote the film, Lionsgate is taking aim at the ridiculous restrictions on America’s blood donations.

Via The New York Times:

On Sunday, the studio’s chief brand officer, Tim Palen, began rolling out an online ad campaign called “All Types Welcome.” The campaign has eight social media stars with large gay, bisexual and transgender fan bases — including Shaun Ross, an openly gay model, and Amanda Lepore, the transgender night life diva — dressed as off-kilter nurses and encouraging people to donate blood in preparation for “Jigsaw.” The blood drive starts on Oct. 5 in New York and expands to 25 cities in the following weeks. (More details are available at JigsawSaves.com.)

“All Types Welcome” is a condemnation of blood donation rules set by the Food and Drug Administration that prohibit most gay or bisexual men from giving; before donating, they have to forgo same-sex sexual encounters for at least a year, a contentious precaution resulting from concerns about H.I.V.

“It’s exclusion, and it’s ridiculous, and it’s discriminatory,” Ms. Lepore said in an interview.

Mark Burg, the producer who has helped steer the “Saw” franchise, was even more blunt. “We want this policy changed,” he said.

The Red Cross, the nation’s largest blood supplier, has also drawn fire for its approach to transgender donors. Until recently, federal guidelines recommended that trans people be required to register at blood centers under the gender they were assigned at birth.

While the idea of nurse mascots for the “Saw” blood drives isn’t new (they’ve been doing it for years), the nurses have usually been white and cis. Not so this year.

“Now we have different races, genders, ages and sexual orientations,” Palen said. Joining Ms. Lepore and Mr. Ross as twisted nurses are people like Nyakim Gatwech, a Sudanese model; a YouTube and Instagram star named Mykie; and the sexagenarian event producer Susanne Bartsch.

Cool! The shoot, itself, sounds like it was quite the fun part, too.

Mr. Palen, took over a cavernous stage for two days — complete with a D.J. and an open bar — this time around. As the Pharrell Williams song “Marilyn Monroe” played toward the end of the second day, Ms. Lepore teetered on a stack of metallic boxes in white spike heels. “Sexy, fetish nurse doll” is how Mr. Palen had described her look.

“Amazing,” he murmured, standing on tiptoe to take her picture.

When Mr. Palen was done, the 16 people in the room clapped, and Ms. Lepore did a little curtsy.

(Top photos by Tim Palen via Lionsgate)

The post In New “Saw” Ads, Nurse Amanda Lepore (and Others) Protest Rules Restricting Gay Men From Donating Blood appeared first on The WOW Report.

OMG, it’s the biggest season of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles EVER!

It was JUST ANNOUNCED that Season 10 will premiere on Thursday, November 2 at 9/8c.

The deals are more jaw-dropping, the mansions are grander, and, you know what, the drama is bigger, too.

And if all THAT isn’t exciting enough, a brand-new agent has been added to the block: super-shark Tracy Tutor Maltas, who is one of the top agents at Douglas Elliman.

“Don’t be fooled by her charisma; she’s a boss,” Josh Altman teases in the above trailer.

We’ll see Tracy’s fierceness as she slays the real estate biz, as well as her more nurturing side as a wife and mom.

But WAIT! There’s MORE!

Speaking of parenthood, Josh Altman will find that juggling life with his new baby girl and the demands of his career will prove to be quite the challenge. And no, your eyes didn’t deceive you; that was Josh Altman’s wife, Heather Bilyeu Altman, reuniting with her former boss Madison Hildebrand. We wonder what that’s all about. But since Madison is having great success at work and in his personal life with his new boyfriend Cody, we doubt that anything can get him down.

Business is also booming for beloved Brits James Harris and David Parnes. But even they won’t be able to escape the drama this season. In particular, James finds himself playing referee as Josh Flagg and his then-fiancé Bobby Boyd seem to have their biggest fight ever right before their wedding. Emotions have never been this high among the MDLLA crew.

Check out the super-tease below!

The post Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles Returns This November: Get Your First Look at the Newest Agent, Tracy Tutor Maltas! appeared first on The WOW Report.

September 27,1962 – Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is published, inspiring an Environmental Movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Silent Spring is one of the 20th century’s most influential books.

It didn’t really make the news at the time, but in 2013 there was a five-mile-long oil slick on the California coast near Santa Barbara, an unfathomably gorgeous stretch of the West Coast.

Scientists have said that 15 million metric tons of plastic were dumped in the planet’s oceans in 2016, enough to cover every foot of coastline on our pretty spinning blue orb. What’s more, it is predicted that the amount will more than double in the next decade.

Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose books make her a sort of godmother of modern environmentalism.

She became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us brought Carson financial security and much critical praise as a gifted writer. Her next books The Edge Of The Sea (1955) and Under The Sea Wind (1957) were also bestsellers. Her Sea Trilogy explores ocean life, from the shores to the surface of the bottom of the deep blue sea.

In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to the environmental problems caused by pesticides. On this day in 1962, Silent Spring was published. It became an unusually popular book about our environmental concerns, and brought enraged denial from the big chemical companies. Chemical giants Monsanto, Dow, and Velsicol vilified her as an emotional, hysterical, anti-American writer, a childless “spinster” who had “no business being interested in genetics” and who was “probably a communist.” Time Magazine claimed that she was the most dangerous person in the USA.

But, Carson’s bestseller brought the USA into a sort of reversal in our national pesticide policy, including a ban on DDT. Her books gave birth to the first grassroots environmental movement and helped bring about the EPA, the Clean Water Act Of 1972 and the Safe Drinking Water Act Of 1974, which our paprika colored POTUS and his cronies are currently in the process of dismantling. They simply seem as disinterested in the health of the planet as they do the health care of its citizenry. Concern with the oceans is a job-killer after all. They look backwards to when America was made great with non-regulated pesticide use. Carson is not a hero to the GOP, but she is to me. It is so sad that the work that Carson’s books inspired will now be unraveled.

Attacks on Carson by Climate Change deniers and Fox News commentators continues. Discrediting science is all about making money. Understanding science would require corporations to change their practices, and the government to implement necessary regulations. The GOP hates regulations.

Carson:

“If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or public officials, it is surely only because our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, could conceive of no such problems.”

In 1953, Carson moved to an island off the coast of Maine, where she became acquainted with Dorothy Freeman. The two women started a relationship that would last the rest of Carson’s life. Freeman was a summer resident of the island along with her husband. She had written to Carson to welcome her to island life. She had read Carson’s work and was pleased that the famous writer would be her neighbor. The pair loved nature and they loved each other. They wrote letters when apart. They continued their love affair every summer for a decade, until Carson died, ironically, of cancer in 1964.

The prescient Carson probably would not have imagined an America where corporations are now legally people, replete with human rights, endangering the rights of ordinary noncorporate humans whose right to live in the un-poisoned world Carson bravely defended.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.“

Photograph of Carson: U.S. Department of Agriculture

The post #OnThisDay: 1962, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” is Published appeared first on The WOW Report.

There’s a hard-boiled lesbian private eye, a hot dame in peril, a nutty drag queen who is the ring-leader of a bizarre underground cactus scene, and a baby who shoots laser out of his eyes… and that’s just the beginning of Todd Selby’s queer short film Redmond Hand, Private Dick. 

Via NewNowNext:

The Wire’s Felicia “Snoop” Pearson stars as Red Hand, a detective with a love for hard liquor, condo fires, and soft women. It’s that last one that gets Red in trouble, though, when a sexy damsel in distress struts into Red’s office with a sob story about a missing cactus.

“You and me gonna be wrestling around in some Pottery Barn sheets before we know it,” Red assures her. After all, the private dick admits, “I’ve done weirder shit for some pussy.”

That’s when Katya enters the picture, leading our private dick to a wild Echo Park party where trippy-looking hipsters exchange diamonds for stolen cactuses between increasingly nutty quips (“I don’t have to lease my boner” says one bewigged partygoer. And: “If my son turned out gay… I would want him to be a top”). Then things really get weird.

I’ll leave you to discover what happens next.

The post Katya Is a Crazed Cactus Thief in the Lesbian Film Noir Parody “Redmond Hand, Private Dick” appeared first on The WOW Report.

In a disturbing new PETA ad, vegan pop star Dawn Richard (aka D△WN), of Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money fame appears to be crawling away from an unseen assailant, while hands rip a large chunk of skin away from her nude buttocks.

“Leather is a rip-off” screams the text. “That leather jacket or upholstery was someone’s skin.”

Ouch. And OH MY.

What do you think? Effective? or TOO MUCH, PETA!

Watch the making of video below.

The post Wanna See the Extremely Graphic and Disturbing New PETA Ad? – If So, CLICK HERE appeared first on The WOW Report.

Photo, Christopher Macsurak; Wikimedia Commons

“If you remove all homosexuals and homosexual influences from what is generally regarded as American culture, you’re pretty much left with ‘Let’s Make A Deal'”

–Fran Lebowitz

The post #QueerQuote: Fran Lebowitz appeared first on The WOW Report.

Pamela Anderson took to social media this morning to honor her mentor, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner who died last night at age 91. In the Instagram video below, she appears with streaky mascara, and whispers “Goodbye Hef.”

She writes in a free-form, stream-of-conscious poem:

Goodbye #Hef
Mr Hefner
I have so many thoughts, I have no brain n right now to edit
I am me because of you
You taught me everything important about freedom and respect.
Outside of my family
You were the most important person in my life.
You gave me my life… People tell me all the time
That I was your favorite…
I’m in such deep shock.
But you were old,
your back hurt you so much.
Last time I saw you
You were using a walker.
You didn’t want me to see.
You couldn’t hear.
You had a piece of paper in your pocket you showed me –
with my name Pamela with a heart
around it.

Now,
I’m falling apart.
This feeling is so crazy.
It’s raining in Paris now.
I’m by the window.
Everything anyone loves about me is because you understood me.
Accepted me
and encouraged me to be myself.
Love like no one else.
Live recklessly
With unfiltered abandon.
You said the magazine was about a girl like me. That I embody the spirit you fantasized about.
I was the one.
You said.

I can hear you say –

Be brave.
There are no rules.
Live your life
I’m proud of you.
There are no mistakes.
And with men –
Enjoy … (Your wonderful laugh)
You have the world by the tail
You are a good girl
And
you are so loved –
You are not crazy.
You are wild and free
Stay strong,
Stay vulnerable. … “It’s movie time”

You loved my boys … You were always, always there for us.
With your love
Your crazy wisdom.
I will miss your everything.
Thank you for making the world a better place.
A freeer and sexier place.
You were a gentleman
charming, elegant, chivalrous
And so much fun.
Goodbye Hef … Your Pamela

(Featured image via Instagram)

The post Pamela Anderson Writes Poem to Hugh Hefner: “You Gave Me Life” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Hysterical! Thanks to OMGBlog for finding this oh-so-soothing gem of various RuPaul’s Drag Race girls slurping their vodka and clinking their ice in the “Untucked” lounge. Adore! Courtney! Darienne! Laganja! MILK! Alaska! Detox! Alyssa! AND MORE! Watch below!

The post Your Moment of Zen: A Supercut of Drag Race Girls Silently Sipping Vodka appeared first on The WOW Report.

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus announced this morning that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

She writes on Twitter:

Just when you thought… pic.twitter.com/SbtYChwiEj

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) September 28, 2017

According to Variety:

Louis-Dreyfus received the diagnosis the day after she won her record sixth Emmy for her role as former VP-turned-president Selina Meyer on the hit HBO comedy. She now has the distinction of most Emmys won by a single performer for one role.

While it was announced earlier that the seventh season of “Veep” would be its final season, that was independent of Louis-Dreyfus’ diagnosis. “Veep’s” writers room is still up and running, and the show will adjust production scheduling for her treatments if needed.

In a statement sent to Variety, HBO said, “Our love and support go out to Julia and her family at this time. We have every confidence she will get through this with her usual tenacity and undaunted spirit, and look forward to her return to health and to HBO for the final season of ‘Veep.’”

Immediately after tweeting her announcement, Nigella Lawson, Michael McKean, and Christina Applegate (who had a double mastectomy almost a decade ago) replied with love and support:

Sending love

— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) September 28, 2017

Cancer is no match for you. Stomp it good. xox

— Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) September 28, 2017

Mama, find me. Let’s talk if you want

— christina applegate (@1capplegate) September 28, 2017

(Top photo: Pacific Coast News)

The post Julia Louis-Dreyfus Announces She has Breast Cancer appeared first on The WOW Report.

Photograph: © PictureLux, PacificCoastNews

I grew up with Playboy Magazine in the house. I imagine that my father thought that by making them off-limits or hidden that I would just be even more intrigued, so there was a stack on a side table in his home office, or in keeping with the Playboy aesthetic, “The Den”. Also in that tribute to masculinity were duck decoys, prints of dogs playing poker, a decanted bottle of scotch, a selection of pipes in a handsome holder, and a humidor with tobacco that smelled of vanilla and cherries with a base note of football. I loved this room.

As a little gay boy, you might think that Playboy would hold little interest, but I loved the joke page and the cartoons, and in the quarterly Sex And The Cinema feature, I could count on glimpses of male flesh along with the boobs.

Thinking about the passing of Hugh Hefner, I was drawn back to that time in the 1960s. On social media, I have read a lot of criticism about the man and the magazine. I am going to risk the awakening the ire of the politically correct and come to the defense of Hef, just a bit.

“I only read it for the articles” was a common excuse for having a copy of Playboy. But, for me, a gay guy, that was mostly true. The magazine featured thoughtful, lengthy interviews with Miles Davies, Barbra Streisand, John Lennon, Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, Joan Baez, Stanley Kubrick, Bette Davis, Steve Jobs, Timothy Leary, and Ayn Rand (who didn’t pose nude), and many others.

In 1966, Hefner sent Alex Haley to interview George Lincoln Rockwell, much to Rockwell’s surprise because Haley was African-American. Rockwell was the American Nazi Party.

It published fiction and essays from P.G. Wodehouse, Gore Vidal, Haruki Murakami, Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, Gabriel García Márquez, Jack Kerouac, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, Hunter S Thompson, Vladimir Nabokov, Roald Dahl, and Margaret Atwood.

Hefner described his religious upbringing as “Conservative, Midwestern, Methodist”. He pointed out the guilt-ridden Puritanism of his era, an environment and lifestyle he rejected and that brought him to become one the pioneers of the Sexual Revolution.

Hefner had a lifelong commitment to Gay Rights and Civil Rights. He was proud to be an advocate for the LGBTQ community, taking public stands on high-profile issues such like Sodomy Laws, Marriage Equality and Transgender Rights.

Hefner:

“The only thing wrong with AIDS is the way our government responded to it. They are culpable on many, many levels. I have chosen every aspect of human sexuality, and the discrimination that goes along with some of those aspects, as my major concern. Homosexuality and, later, the homophobia that surrounds the AIDS crisis are part of a much bigger picture for me.”

In the 1980s, model/actor Caroline “Tula” Cossey was outed as a transgender woman by the tabloids and subjected to harassment. Hefner helped her bounce back from the ordeal by publishing a feature story on her with photographs, making her one of the first openly transgender models. When Playboy reran the story in 2015, Cossey thanked Hefner, saying the exposure helped her show that transgender women can be sexy. Cossey:

“I wanted to fight for the right of recognition. That was my goal, and Playboy was a great platform for that.”

In 1961, when some Playboy Club franchises refused to admit African-American members, Hefner bought them back and issued this statement:

“This is to say that we are outspoken foes of segregation… that we believe in brotherhood as a matter of practice and that we are actively involved in the fight to see the end of all racial inequalities in our time.”

For more than six decades Hefner used his magazine to promote black writers and artists and pushback against racial segregation.

I’m not trying to gloss over the sexism, his stands were probably shrewd business moves, yet he was vocal in his support of Women’s Rights and The Equal Rights Amendment. Hefner:

“Women are the major beneficiaries of getting rid of the hypocritical old notions about sex… Now some people are acting as if the sexual revolution was a male plot to get laid. One of the unintended by-products of the women’s movement is the association of the erotic impulse with wanting to hurt somebody.”

By the start of the 21^st century, 40% of executives at Playboy Enterprises were women.

He also took on organized religion:

“It’s perfectly clear to me that religion is a myth. It’s something we have invented to explain the inexplicable… What does it all mean, if it has any meaning at all? But, how can it all exist if it doesn’t have some kind of meaning? I think anyone who suggests that they have the answer is motivated by the need to invent answers, because we have no such answers.”

“An afterlife would be a really good deal. Yeah, I would vote in favor of that. But in the meantime, I urge one and all to live this life as if there is no reward in the afterlife and to do it in a moral way that leaves this world a little better place than you found it.”

About Politics, Hefner was, unsurprisingly, all about First Amendment Rights and against Conservatism. His business was, for its entire existence, pitted against “traditional values”.

Freedom Of Expression was so important to Hefner that he established two awards: the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, given annually to 100 embattled defenders of the First Amendment. The second is the Freedom Of Expression Award, given to one person every year who is “Dedicated to defending, advocating, or supporting the First Amendment through their personal or professional pursuits.”

Hefner was a lifelong Democrat. Through the decades, he gave millions of dollars to political candidates and organizations, but not to a single Republican.

He told reporters that he was dismayed to see the USA revert to Cultural Conservatism. He said that Playboy was embarrassed to have published an issue that included Donald Trump on the cover:

“There are lifestyle components to Playboy, but it’s really a philosophy about freedom. And right now, as history is repeating itself in real time, I want Playboy to be central to that conversation.”

Playboy might be embarrassed by the cover, but POTUS is not. That cover is framed in the Oval Office.

Hefner was the antithesis of Mike Pence. Hefner:

“We fought for birth control rights and the change in birth control laws, the change in abortion laws, we fought cases to give women the right to choose.”

“Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom. Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life”

Trump’s 1990 Playboy interview is a fascinating look of his positions at the time. He said he was “conservative” and predicted that the “working guy would elect me” if he ever ran for president. But, he said he would do better as a Democrat.

Hefner was hopeful that the nomination of Trump was a sign that Republicans were turning their backs on Cultural Conservatism. In summer 2016, he wrote an op-ed called The Conservative Sex Movement:

“After losing two presidential elections, core conservatives realize the time has come for the party to stop pandering to America’s fanatical religious minority and give up a losing war to suppress our sexual rights. We won the sexual revolution. Now it’s time for them to exit our bedrooms and close the door behind them forever.”

Gay Icons as Playboy Cover Girls:

The post Playboy Magazine: A Spirited Defense on the Occasion of Hugh Hefner’s Passing appeared first on The WOW Report.

Warning: Extremely disturbing details of the crime below.

Authorities have charged four people in connection to the grisly murder of 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld (below), whose remains were discovered in a burn pile near the mobile home of one of the suspects, as well as in a bag inside of a chicken coop.

Andrew Vrba, and his girlfriend, Isis Schauer, both 18-year-old Houston residents, have been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and abandonment of a corpse. Briana Calderas, 24, of Cabool, is charged with first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse. (Steinfeld — who came out as transgender in May — was dating and living with Calderas. The 18-year-old suspects also lived in Calderas’ home, Steinfeld’s mother said.)

James Grigsby, 25, of Houston, Missouri, has also been charged with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the death of Joseph. Grigsby is being held without bond.

Shauer and Calderas have told authorities that Vrba gouged out Steinfeld’s eyes, repeatedly stabbed [her] in the genitals, and later bragged about the killing.

Texas County Prosecutor Parke Stevens Jr. said the investigation is ongoing.

“It is a grisly terrible series of heinous acts by the accused,” Stevens said.

Ally’s sister Ashleigh Boswell told Springfield News-Leader:

“We honestly don’t understand why they done it. It just don’t make any sense.”

Boswell said [Ally} was “a very loving, outgoing person” who “didn’t like conflict whatsoever.”

When asked if the family thought [Ally’s]’s gender identity might have been a factor in the alleged killing, Boswell said they didn’t know.

If you’ve been following this story, you may recall earlier in the week Missouri authorities investigating the murder were not considering it a hate crime.

I’m sorry, WHAT?

That’s ridiculous.

HuffPo points out:

Steinfeld’s murder makes her the 21st known transgender person murdered in 2017. Transgender people ― particularly trans people of color ― face disproportionate violence compared to the rest of the LGBTQ community. GLAAD reports that 2016 was the deadliest year on record for the transgender community, with 26 reported murders ― almost entirely transgender women of color.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Steinfeld’s family with funeral expenses.

The post Four People Charged in Grisly Mutilation Death of Trans Teen Ally Steinfeld appeared first on The WOW Report.

We’re so honored by this!

Last night was the 8th annual Sentinel Awards presented by Hollywood Health & Society and we were honored with an award for our documentary Gender Revolution: A Journey With Katie Couric!

According to the HHS website, we were honored with a Sentinel Award because:

“The Sentinel Awards recognize the exemplary achievements of television storylines and movies that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. Each entry is screened by Hollywood, Health & Society staff for eligibility. Qualifying entries are evaluated in two rounds of judging.”

Even though Katie Couric couldn’t make it to the awards, she sent in an awesome video (below) thanking the Sentinel Awards with the honor they bestowed upon Gender Revolution.

At the awards that night, however was Executive Producer, Jeremy Simmons, who accepted the award on behalf of World of Wonder, Katie Couric, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, National Geographic, and everyone else involved in the amazing project!

Check out our pictures from the 2017 Sentinel Awards below!

Congrats @katiecouric and @WorldOfWonder for your #SentinelAwards honor for #GenderRevolution! https://t.co/BFYOfPvrOD pic.twitter.com/5oc5aU2q6e

— Nat Geo Channel (@NatGeoChannel) September 28, 2017

Here’s @solitarycameraman with our #SentinelAward for Gender Revolution with @katiecouric!

A post shared by World of Wonder (@wowreport) on Sep 27, 2017 at 9:36pm PDT

The incredible @katiecouric sent a clip to thank the #SentinelAwards which honored our documentary #GenderRevolution!

A post shared by World of Wonder (@wowreport) on Sep 27, 2017 at 8:54pm PDT

We’re at the 2017 #SentinelAwards where our documentary ‘Gender Revolution: A Journey with @katiecouric’ is an honoree among @greysabc, @sesamestreet, #BornThisWay, & so many amazing others! We’re so honored!

A post shared by World of Wonder (@wowreport) on Sep 27, 2017 at 7:10pm PDT

Thank you so much to the Hollywood Health & Society for the 2017 Sentinel Award!

The post Our Documentary ‘Gender Revolution: A Journey With Katie Couric’ Is Honored At The 2017 Sentinel Awards appeared first on The WOW Report.

Manila Luzon, Aja, Laila McQueen, Shea Couleé, Gia Gunn, Laganja Estranja, Milk, Trixie Mattel, India Ferrah, Kim Chi, Detox, Phi Phi O’hara, Peppermint, Acid Betty, Venus D’lite, Bob the Drag Queen, Darienne Lake, Jiggly Caliente, Miss Fame, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Violet Chachki and Sasha Velour answer the burning question of the day: “What would you say to President Trump if he came to RuPaul’s DragCon?”

A quick sampling of responses:

Says Laganja: “You can continue spreading hate, but honey, love will always win.”

Manila: “If he were to come, he couldn’t use any of the bathrooms and he’d have to sit on the other side of the wall. And he could kiss my ass!”

PhiPhi: “Go back to Party City where you belong!”

Venus D’Lite: “Sashay away!”

BOB: “If he was into it, I’d have a long discussion (with him) because he is either unreasonably crazy or strategically nasty. First of all, do you believe what you’re saying? Are you aware that you’re dividing the country? And do you actually think you’re not a racist?”

Darienne Lake: “I would have a sit-down with him and make him realize that what we’re really about is love. And you can’t kill love.”

Miss Fame: “He’s an ego-based demon and he needs to be nurtured every day by hearing his name in the masses. So he’s playing us and we’re feeding into it…”

And Mrs Kasha Davis: “First I would try to give him a hug, because I think that’s part of what he needs. He needs love, right? Sometimes we want to just attack back with hate – and trust me I don’t like what he’s doing – but I think if we look at it that way, maybe a little bit more love, maybe. I’ll have him over for a little cocktail or something like that. If we try to understand where they’re coming from – doesn’t mean we have to actually like it – try to understand with compassion and love from both sides, we will get somewhere else.

Watch all the thought-provoking responses below:

The post #DragIsResistance: What If Donald Trump Came to RuPaul’s DragCon? (ft EVERY QUEEN EVER) appeared first on The WOW Report.

Adore Delano
Andrew Dice Clay
Anita Ekberg
Bryant Gumbel
Erika Eleniak
Gwen Moss
Hamish Bowles
Ian McShane
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jill Whelan
Ken Weatherwax
Les Claypool
Luke Goss
Natasha Gregson Wagner
Nathan West
Nicholas Winding Refn
Roger Bart
Robert Benton
Stephanie Miller
Zachary Levi

New music video link for #Whole9Yards now available in my bio.

A post shared by Adore Delano (@adoredelano) on Aug 21, 2017 at 2:51pm PDT

The post September 29th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1621.

September 29, 1571– Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

The Husband and I have a fervent fondness for this painter. We stood in awe before his frescoes in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice and his paintings at the Uffizi Museum in Florence and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. A big book with color plates of his works sits on our coffee table.

During his short life and even after his death in 1610, he was dismissed as a populist. His paintings depicted insolent boys and rough peasants in the guise of Roman Gods or Christian Saints. The figures are often portrayed as if emerging out of darkness, with part of their faces and bodies strongly illuminated and the rest in black. He invented this style to get noticed. It worked; it works still.

Born Michelangelo Merisi in 1571, but better known to posterity by the name of the town outside Milan where his family owned property, Caravaggio.

The artist’s early works won him the support of Cardinal Francesco del Monte,  a sugar daddy and one of the period’s most influential arbiters of good taste, a patron who seemed especially appreciative of, and whose own tastes encouraged, the homoerotic elements of Caravaggio’s painting style. Caravaggio’s other patrons were as much fascinated by his realism as they were offended by his refusal to idealize his religious subjects.

He quickly became one of the most important and controversial painters of his era. His personal life proved as original as his art. His involvement in a series of street fights and resulting legal problems ended in a brawl in which he killed a man. Caravaggio can’t be definitively described as gay; that designation did not even exist back in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the painter spent his time in this world painting the male body in the sexiest light possible. Plus, Caravaggio couldn’t be openly homosexual in an age when you could be burned alive for the crime of sodomy.

Reclining John The Baptist, 1610

Still, in 1594, he met Mario Minniti, a 20-year-old dude, and took him home. Minniti stayed and lived with him for years. Caravaggio probably had flings with other guys, maybe the models he used for his paintings, but the relationship that Caravaggio had with Minitti is the only one where you might call them a couple. Minniti was most likely the model for his John The Baptist paintings. Caravaggio had a real thing for John T. Baptist.

From 1600-1606, Caravaggio was brought to trial eleven times for a variety of offenses, most involved violence. It is interesting that, despite his reputation as a homosexual, and his endless run-ins with law enforcement, he was never charged with sodomy.

After his trouble with the law, Caravaggio was forced to flee to Genoa, then to Naples, and eventually he sought refuge on the island of Malta, a place known to be friendly to guys who liked guys. There he was inducted into the politically powerful Order Of The Knights Of Saint John Of Jerusalem, which was not an indie band, but a secretive organization that protected him until another scandal involving a liaison with a male servant forced him once again to go back on the run.

Cardsharps, 1594

Despite his always being on the run, he always managed to go on painting, often without a proper studio of any sort. His paintings show that he was a man of profound religious convictions, of a humble heart, and with a fanatical devotion to his art. His fundamental ideas were always clear, yet he continually changed and improved his techniques. He believed in realism, and he always painted from life, dragging poor people in from the street to pose. He became a great realist by painting flowers and fruit, in a variety of lights, sometimes just as still lifes, but usually with street boys, probably hustlers.

While Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo both made their passion for male beauty explicit and put it at the heart of their lifestyles, Caravaggio lived later and at a time that was more perilous. Still, his art reflects on theirs. He takes the noble image of idealized love for male beauty proclaimed by Michelangelo and Leonardo and makes it dirty and dangerous.

Amor Victorious, 1602

Caravaggio left this world in 1610. His exit was under murky circumstances while on a return journey to Rome, possibly dying of malaria, but maybe the victim of revenge from the family of the man who he had killed in Rome all those years before, whose forgiveness he may have been duped into thinking he had finally won.

Caravaggio lived much of his life surrounded by poor and ordinary people, when other painters were hanging out with Popes and Royals. He painted for them and from their perspective. In the end, he was buried among them, in an unmarked grave. He was just 36-years-old.

After he was gone, Caravaggio was mostly forgotten, only to be rediscovered in the 20th century. Post-Stonewall Gay Popular Culture embraced Caravaggio’s work. Why wouldn’t we? His aggressive male sexuality, that refuses to apologize for itself, has made the images from his paintings popular again. You can find them in museum shops on tote bags, tee-shirts and mugs.

Only about 80 paintings by Caravaggio have survived, but some lost works surface from time to time. You might want to check your grandmother’s basement. The Calling Of Saints Peter And Andres was recently authenticated and restored; it had been in storage in Hampton Court, mislabeled as a copy. In 2011, a previously unknown Caravaggio painting of Saint Augustine from 1600 was discovered in a Jesuit residence in Dublin.

In his 1986 film about Caravaggio’s life and creative processes, queer director Derek Jarman presents the painter as the quintessential gay artist, the cursed poet with brilliant yet unconventional artistic vision and with an intense personal life that outraged society. It’s a great film. Look at young Tilda Swinton! Seek it out.

The post #BornThisDay: Painter, Caravaggio appeared first on The WOW Report.