Los Angeles Blade

08/04/2025

Over the past few decades, LA’s Westside has changed rapidly. Rents have skyrocketed. The median home now costs over 12 times the median household income—one of the worst ratios in the state. Our housing shortage is pricing out the immigrants, artists, workers, people of color, and young people who make the area so vibrant.

As three elected officials under 40 representing West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Culver City, we’ve experienced this crisis firsthand. Countless young people in our cities can’t afford to build a life in the communities they grew up in, and others who made their home on the Westside because of its inclusivity are now being displaced by a housing market becoming more unfriendly every year.

For decades, West Hollywood has been a refuge for LGBTQ+ people who couldn’t live openly elsewhere, and both Santa Monica and Culver City were home to large working-class communities. But today’s housing costs are pricing out many of the Westside’s young q***r people, workers, Black and brown residents, and seniors hoping to retire.

The affordability crisis is hitting our q***r communities especially hard. LGBTQ+ people in LA County are more likely to rent their homes –and more likely to be cost-burdened by housing – than their straight counterparts. Q***r people are twice as likely to have experienced homelessness within the past five years. For trans and nonbinary folks, the difference is even more stark. 25% of trans and nonbinary people in LA County are currently unhoused compared to 1% of the general population.

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08/04/2025

When Charles Galin King made his big debut on the world’s first drag competition show, King of Drag, you knew you were taking in a star. He introduced himself as “a Mexican-American Indigenous Wixárika with Ch’ol blood person,” and you couldn’t help but take notice.

His cultural influences are apparent in his drag, serving distinct and memorable looks. He won fans over with his fabulous impression of Nosferatu on The D**g Show and connected with them through his honesty about his mental health struggles. After bringing the black plague to the prom, his time on the Revry series came to an end.

We caught up with Charles Galin King to talk about his experience on King of Drag, what he hopes to see in future seasons, and advice for new drag kings.

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***rrepresentation

07/31/2025

Members of the journalism industry gathered together this last weekend to celebrate the nominees and winners for three inaugural journalism awards for Southern California journalists and newsrooms who championed LGBTQ+ stories in 2024. The Los Angeles Chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists presented this Press Pride Prom inaugural event.

Over 200 attendees gathered in Glendale at the historic Grand Central Air Terminal to celebrate. The evening was presented by ABC7 and hosted by award-winning journalist Tracy Gilchrist. The ceremony also included a moving performance by the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and a hilarious appearance by drag king Charles Galin King.

The Los Angeles Blade took home the first award of the evening, the Excellence in LGBTQ+ Reporting Newsroom Award. The award recognizes a news outlet whose coverage of the q***r and trans community is well-informed, complex, varied, and intersectional, with a track record of promoting The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists’ mission to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues. The other nominees were LAist and Variety. Team members of the Blade took to the stage, including publisher Alexander Rodriguez, writers Rose Montoya, Rob Salerno, and Joel Medina, and former editor Gisselle Palomera to accept the award.

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07/31/2025

Vice President Kamala Harris announced today that she will not run for Governor of California in 2026, putting to rest long-standing speculation about her political future. In a public statement, Harris said she spent the past six months reflecting on “the best way for [her] to continue fighting for the American people and advancing the values and ideals [she holds] dear.”

From her time in the courtroom to the Senate floor and the White House, Harris has built a career within the political system. But her latest message hints at a shift in strategy.

“We must be willing to pursue change through new methods and fresh thinking,” she wrote, “committed to our same values and principles, but not bound by the same playbook.”

While stepping back from the governor’s race, Harris made it clear she’s not stepping away from politics. She plans to campaign for Democrats nationwide and suggested more details about her next chapter are on the horizon.

Her announcement comes at a time when the Democratic Party is facing urgent questions about whether it will fully defend trans lives amid rising attacks. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently called it “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg echoed the same framing, saying, “most reasonable people agree that it’s a serious fairness issue.” These are not harmless statements; they are capitulations to anti-trans narratives that frame our right to exist and participate as something debatable.

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***rpolitics ***rmedia

07/29/2025

Cuban lawmakers simply process for trans people to change IDs

Activists who criticize government harassed, detained.

07/29/2025

Going Gaga over Fan Girl Café —a q***r-owned, Latina-led, women-run coffee shop

Fan Girl Cafe in West Hollywood is a q***r-owned, Latinx, women-owned coffee shop that will be celebrating Lady Gaga's Mayhem tour.

07/29/2025

Sasha Colby’s ‘Stripped II Tour’ is more than a show—it’s a movement

Sasha Colby chats with Los Angeles about her new tour, earning icon status, and her activism for equality.

07/29/2025

West Hollywood joins coalition against ICE raids, standing up for q***r immigrants

West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers talks to the Blade about the city's adamant stance against the unconstitutional practices conducted by ICE

07/28/2025

When the City of West Hollywood voted unanimously to join a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this July, it wasn’t just a procedural step; it was a demand for accountability. A demand to stop the illegal collaboration between local jails and federal deportation agents. A demand to end complicity in a system that disproportionately targets q***r, trans, Black, brown, and immigrant lives.

The lawsuit, originally filed by the cities of El Monte and San Gabriel, challenges ICE’s use of detainer requests in California. These requests ask local jails to hold individuals past their release dates so ICE can apprehend them, often without a judicial warrant. That practice is illegal under the California Values Act (SB 54), which was passed in 2017 to prevent local law enforcement from aiding federal immigration enforcement. These detainers lead to unjust arrests and deportations, tearing apart immigrant families and communities.

“We are not going to stand by as ICE tries to continue these unconstitutional practices in our state,” said West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers in an interview with the Blade. “It’s important that we call that out as illegal and take action, which is what this lawsuit is about.”

This isn’t West Hollywood’s first stand against ICE, but the decision to join this lawsuit signals a growing urgency. In recent years, anti-immigrant sentiment has become more aggressive, with far-right leaders stoking fear and fueling deportation efforts while simultaneously attacking LGBTQ+ rights. For trans and q***r migrants, that double targeting has deadly consequences.

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***rpolitics ***rmedia

07/28/2025

Recently, the gay internet was abuzz with the news that entertainment mogul David Geffen, 82, and his tad bit younger husband, model Donovan Michaels (né David Armstrong), 32, were splitting. It was the breakup heard around the mega-yacht docks from the waters of Fort Lauderdale to Marina di Capri, from tweet to shining tweet.

Geffen is, inarguably, one of the most powerful entertainment titans of the last half-century – a music kingpin, Broadway backer, and billionaire art collector. Michaels, Geffen’s husband for two years but together for nine, came from a background that couldn’t be more different: foster care, survival, and, eventually, modeling and escorting. The two first clocked each other on Seeking.com (previously, SeekingArrangements.com), where they each sought an arrangement that benefited both parties, each with their very different yet historically compatible motives.

Now that the union is dissolving, the backlash has come hard and strong. Geffen is being painted as the predatory puppeteer, quite possibly viewing his child of the sugar as a crystal-cut and curated addition to his art collection. Michaels, meanwhile, is being labeled a gold-digging hustler. So subtle the internet is…

But providing such defamatory, diminutive, and, quite frankly, two-dimensional commentary on the recently divorced is too easy. Perhaps we can approach Geffen and Michaels’ nullification of nuptials with a touch more compassion and understanding. So many facets to consider, so little time. Let’s dive in.

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***ropinions

07/25/2025

Fan Girl Café is the little hidden gem that could. Co-owned by business and life partners Betsy Martinez (a music photographer) and Cynthia Temblador (a former chemistry engineer), has been serving up coffee and a wide variety of other delectables, celebrating female music icons, community, creativity, and a love of music. Located in West Hollywood, it is a safe and vibrant space that offers an alternative to the nightlife scene. The location comes with music cred as it was home to P.J.’s nightclub throughout the 60s, and later to Starwood throughout the 70s.

Next week, Fan Girl Café becomes the ultimate Little Monsters headquarters as Lady Gaga comes to Los Angeles for four nights on her Mayhem tour. All week long, the venue will present a specialty menu reflecting songs and themes from the Gaga world, and will feature a wide variety of activities that include a screening, trivia, drag, karaoke, and dance competitions.

Gaga is the perfect artist to feature at Fan Girl Café. According to co-owner Martinez, “Lady Gaga embodies everything we love—fearless artistry, activism, and self-expression—so Mayhem Week is our love letter to her and her fans.”

The Los Angeles Blade sat with Martinez and Temblador to spill the tea, or coffee, rather, to chat about their unique venue, the challenges of owning a small business in West Hollywood, and more.

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***rownedbusiness ً

07/25/2025

NEW ISSUE on newsstands! Sasha Colby didn’t set out to become “your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen.” It just kind of happened.

“You know, I was so stoned,” she admitted with a laugh, recalling the filming of her “Meet the Queens” promo. “We were about to sit down for the interview, and they were like, ‘Oh, just think of something, like a catchphrase you want to say.’” What came out was a now-iconic phrase that captured the truth: Colby is the queen’s queen, beloved by legends, adored by fans, and deeply respected in her craft. “It came out of the deep crevices in here,” she said, pointing to her head.

She thinks RuPaul might have planted the seed: “Ru had said on the main stage once, ‘You’re a drag queen’s drag queen—you’re what drag queens watch.’ And maybe that stuck in my head and just kind of … word association.”

And she’s only getting started.

After making history as the first out trans winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to headline a Live Nation tour, Colby is hitting the road again this fall. Her “Stripped II” tour kicks off Sept. 16 in Seattle and wraps up in Hawaii, where she’ll bring her artistry full circle back home. This time, it’s bigger, bolder, and deeply personal, just like Sasha herself.

“I’m really excited to be going back on the road,” she told the Blade. “We’re doing a lot more cities. I think we did 23 last year, and this year we’re doing 30.” But the expansion isn’t just about scale, it’s about purpose. “The last tour was more about my journey to ‘Drag Race.’ This one’s about having fun, having some escapism, and magic. That’s so desperately needed in the world right now.”

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