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America's longest continuously-published and highest circulation newspaper for the gay, le***an, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the undisputed newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBT community.
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For three days beginning June 19, the Fresh Meat Festival takes to the stage at Z Space to bring audiences a night of da...
06/12/2026

For three days beginning June 19, the Fresh Meat Festival takes to the stage at Z Space to bring audiences a night of dance, music, drag, theater, and interdisciplinary performance. It’s a return engagement for Fresh Meat, which is celebrating 25 years of shining a spotlight on q***r and trans performers. The festival began in 2002 when creator and co-curator Sean Dorsey, who is a q***r transgender man, put together what he thought would be a one-time festival.

“The community response was overwhelming, though,” Dorsey said in an interview with the David-Elijah Nahmod. “And so, we expanded our mission and work. Today we offer year-round events and programs on top of the festival.”

Dorsey added that he never thought the festival would reach the 25-year milestone. “It feels extraordinary,” he said. “Celebrating 25 years as a transgender and q***r organization is incredibly powerful, especially in this climate. Wow, when I founded this project, I certainly never thought that one day we’d turn 25.”

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167049/

Set in 2004, the BBC series “What It Feels Like for a Girl” is now available on Prime Video. Adapted from Paris Lees’ 20...
06/12/2026

Set in 2004, the BBC series “What It Feels Like for a Girl” is now available on Prime Video. Adapted from Paris Lees’ 2021 memoir, it features Byron (Ellis Howard), a working-class trans teenager who escapes a dying mining town for the underground club scene in Nottinghamshire.

As reviewer Laura Moreno says, this is a series that makes audiences nostalgic for the Y2K era, including the Madonna song the series is named after and the time period’s particular brand of wild fashions, back before social media made people increasingly more judgmental and self-conscious.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167139

San Francisco Health Director Daniel Tsai told the B.A.R. that the health department is working with the community-based...
06/12/2026

San Francisco Health Director Daniel Tsai told the B.A.R. that the health department is working with the community-based organizations seeing cuts on how they can bill Medi-Cal for services that they provide, such as STI testing, rather than relying on the city’s general fund to cover their expenses. https://www.ebar.com/story/167209

Food, glorious food. “The Lunchbox,” a richly satisfying new musical now in a world premiere production at Berkeley Repe...
06/11/2026

Food, glorious food. “The Lunchbox,” a richly satisfying new musical now in a world premiere production at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is stacked with delicious vittles and vivid ditties. Combo plates of culinary evocation and heartfelt composition have helped bring soul-nourishing power to many a musical, notes theater writer Jim Gladstone.

Built around the 135-year-old Mumbai tradition of dabbawallahs traveling by foot and bicycle to bring tiffins (multi-tiered metal containers) of fresh-cooked food from mothers and wives at home to men at their workplaces (and then return the empties for re-use the next day), “The Lunchbox” delivers with all the charm and unlikely efficiency of its milieu.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167075

Rainbowocity continues to spread its glamorous, joyful cheer throughout June. LGBTQ events are sprouting up all over in ...
06/11/2026

Rainbowocity continues to spread its glamorous, joyful cheer throughout June. LGBTQ events are sprouting up all over in arts and nightlife. Get your pride on with Going Out.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167168

The great news is that Frameline is celebrating its 50th anniversary, June 17-27, the first q***r film festival to reach...
06/10/2026

The great news is that Frameline is celebrating its 50th anniversary, June 17-27, the first q***r film festival to reach this landmark. After two years away because of renovation, the festival is returning to its home, the Castro Theatre, along with its other venues, the Roxie, Vogue Theater, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, and New Parkway Theater. It will feature 140 films from 35 countries.

Film writer Brian Bromberger’s expansive coverage of Frameline50 will occur in three parts, with Part 1 below including reviews of films in the first five days of the festival. This is in addition to last week’s feature on the festival’s historic early years. This year’s films include a documentary about a historic women’s performance space, the life of gay film director Colin Higgins, D’Arcy Dollinger’s wacky drag parody sequel, and a film about Mexican gay rodeo cowboys.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167037/

Onstage, onscreen, on CD and vinyl, there doesn’t seem to be anything that Claybourne Elder can’t do. He’s even a dad to...
06/09/2026

Onstage, onscreen, on CD and vinyl, there doesn’t seem to be anything that Claybourne Elder can’t do. He’s even a dad to a young son! Elder is also having a good 2026, beginning with the release of his debut album, “If the Stars Were Mine” in April. Comprised of songs from Broadway, new and familiar, as well as some contemporary pop chestnuts, the album presents Elder’s full range of interpretive talents. Additionally, since late May, he can also be seen as high-flying dentist Dr. Orin Scrivello in “Little Shop of Horrors” at New York’s Westside Theatre.

“People said if it was an album, they would buy it,” said Elder of his cabaret set list, in his interview with Gregg Shapiro. “I was thinking about it, and then, also, since becoming a dad, I feel like I think a lot more about what we leave behind. I thought about my son having this for his whole life and maybe playing it for his kids. I was also like, ‘But it’s a weird, little, musical theater nerd album. Who’s going to listen to it?’ Then, talking to some friends and colleagues, somebody said, ‘Yeah, but I bet Clay Elder at 20 years old would have loved this album.’ You know what? I would have.”

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/167036

Few writers embody resilience and artistic evolution quite like Emanuel Xavier. Watching him become a nationally recogni...
06/08/2026

Few writers embody resilience and artistic evolution quite like Emanuel Xavier. Watching him become a nationally recognized voice, Xavier has built a body of work that is compassionate, unflinching, and deeply human.

Xavier is the author of one novel and eight collections of poetry, each rooted in identity, survival, and truth-telling. His latest collection, “Still, We Are Sacred,” reached #1 New Release in LGBTQ+ Poetry, Hispanic American Poetry, and Gay Studies, underscoring both his relevance and resonance.

“For me, survival and grief live in the same room,” said Xavier in his Q&A with Words columnist Michele Karlsberg. “You don’t get one without the other. I’m still here, but a lot of people I loved aren’t, and pretending otherwise would feel dishonest.”

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/166782

Here comes Jim Piechota’s second of our annual Pride books roundup series, where he shares half a dozen short reviews of...
06/08/2026

Here comes Jim Piechota’s second of our annual Pride books roundup series, where he shares half a dozen short reviews of a wondrously q***r selection of reading material illuminating a look back to the 1990s (with author Hugh Ryan); how members of our trans community represent themselves through film (Laura Horak); the highs and lows of the le***an bar industry (Rachel Karp), and some LGBTQ life lessons you will definitely want to read about, commit to memory, and hopefully incorporate into your own q***r lives (Mischa Oak).

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/166800/

We continue our 55th anniversary celebrations by reprising some of our 2021 online discussion panels. The ninth edition ...
06/07/2026

We continue our 55th anniversary celebrations by reprising some of our 2021 online discussion panels. The ninth edition of the Bay Area Reporter’s monthly online chats, ‘Drag through Bay Area History,’ took place January 13, 2021.

In the forum, Arts Editor Jim Provenzano welcomed a half dozen notable drag stars, including the late Heklina, Trannyshack and Mother host for years, costar of “The Golden Girls Live,” and former co-owner of Oasis; Fudgie Frottage, creator and host of the annual SF Drag King Contest; Khmera Rouge, 50th Empress of the Imperial Court; Mercedez Munro, Absolute Empress LII; Per Sia, performer, art curator and teacher; and Sister Tilda Nextime of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/166781

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