Metro Weekly

08/20/2025

🎨 Metro Weekly is seeking LGBTQ illustrators for our upcoming Fall Arts Preview (Sept. 12 & 19)!
We’re not asking for final artwork yet — just 5 samples of your work or a link to your portfolio.
Submit via the form 🔗. 🌈
✨
https://metroweekly.formstack.com/forms/fall_arts_preview_2025_illustrators

08/20/2025

📣 Calling LGBTQ illustrators! Metro Weekly’s iconic Fall Arts Preview is back Sept. 12 & 19, and we’re looking for original cover art. Submit at least 5 works via the form link below . Be part of D.C.’s arts tradition! 🎨✨
🔗https://metroweekly.formstack.com/forms/fall_arts_preview_2025_illustrators

08/18/2025

Owners of several D.C. LGBTQ bars and nightclubs say the federal takeover of the city’s police force — and the surge of federal agents stationed on 14th Street NW and along the U Street corridor — cost them thousands of dollars in lost business this past weekend.

D.C. LGBTQ bar owners report steep losses as federal checkpoints and police presence keep customers away and cut into nightlife revenue.

08/10/2025

You could win one of these if you're so inclined to play our (ridiculously easy) trivia contest.
https://metroweekly.formstack.com/forms/weapons_contest

08/03/2025

Grindr blocks users from adding "No Zionists" to their profiles -- but allows other discriminatory terms, including "No Jews" and "No Arabs."
👇 Link in first comment

07/31/2025

FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS is rated PG-13 and playing in theaters nationwide.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first Marvel movie in a while to truly capture the gee-whiz spirit of classic Marvel comics. The nifty retro-futuristic styling goes a long way in that regard, with the movie set on an Earth of a different dimension than our own, where the ’60s city skyline is dominated by swooping towers, and dotted by flying cars.

The crisp, Jetsons-lite production design, flush with bold, optimistic blues, carries through to the costumes and even the props, like the Fantastic Four’s genial all-purpose robot sidekick H.E.R.B.I.E. (voiced by Matthew Wood).

The human cast charms, too, starting at the top with Pedro Pascal as team leader Reed, genius scientist and strategist, esteemed science instructor, and beloved husband to Sue, the level-headed diplomat of the team, rendered with calm authority by Vanessa Kirby.

Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby lead a charming, retro-styled MCU adventure that finally does justice to Marvel's original superhero team.

07/31/2025

A transgender asylum seeker from Mexico, identified in court filings as O.J.M., has been released after spending 43 days in immigration detention. She was arrested in early June, just after attending an asylum hearing at the Portland Immigration Court, and was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.

O.J.M. is one of many asylum seekers arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration — a policy critics argue subverts due process. In one related case, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum was deported and imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in El Salvador after being wrongly accused of gang affiliation. He has since been released.

On July 14, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio ordered O.J.M.’s release, ruling that the government had deprived her of liberty without procedural due process.

A judge ordered ICE to release a trans asylum seeker misled into detention after fleeing violence in Mexico. She spent 43 days in custody.

07/31/2025

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee has changed its eligibility rules to bar transgender women from competing in female-designated sporting events, aligning with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in February.

The new rule, outlined in the committee’s “Athlete Safety Policy,” offers few details about how the transgender ban will be enforced. It does not use the word “transgender,” and refers to Trump’s executive order only by its number, not by its title, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

“The USOPC is committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport,” the policy reads. “The USOPC will continue…to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.”

The USOPC adopted a new policy banning trans women from female sports, aligning with Trump’s executive order. Federations must comply.

07/31/2025

APROPOS OF NOTHING runs through August 10 at The Keegan Theatre in Washington DC.

"For reasons not clear to me, Gregory Kallares’ thoroughly modern comedy Apropos of Nothing, in its D.C. premiere at the Keegan Theatre, is staged as something of a show within the show," writes critic André Hereford. "Between each pithy scene, the lights dim as actors quick-change and scramble to their places or offstage.

"Sounds of backstage bustle are audible until lights up and a quick phrase of transition music plays us into the next scene, as if we were enjoying a live taping of a sitcom or radio drama.

"Whether the po-mo framing is apropos of the play’s nimble text, or of Ray Ficca’s canny direction, the idea of it doesn’t necessarily change much in the way of meaning. It helps keep a jaunty pace and rhythm. Also, the conceit doesn’t get in the way of a premise practically assured to produce juicy complications."

The cast and comedy click in Keegan’s irreverent Apropos of Nothing, a farce fueled by one man’s romantic confession.

07/31/2025

In June, adult video site P**nhub released its latest “Pride Insights” report, analyzing users’ browsing habits and emerging trends on the platform.

As part of the report, P**nhub released data for every country and U.S. state, detailing the most-viewed categories of adult content and top adult film stars.

Globally, the “twink” category ranked among the most popular, topping views across much of Central and South America and Europe. The “Black” category was most viewed in Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States.

Other trending categories included “group” and “bareback” — the latter being Australia’s top pick — along with region-specific favorites like “cartoon,” “massage,” “daddy,” “euro,” “Japanese,” and “Asian.”

**nhub

What kind of gay p**n does your state watch most? P**nhub breaks down the top categories and surprising favorites across the U.S.

07/31/2025

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican and member of the New Progressive Party, has signed what is now the strictest law in the United States prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 21, with steep penalties for violations.

The law imposes a $50,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison for each violation by health care professionals who provide gender-affirming care to minors and young adults. Offenders would also lose their medical licenses and permits and would be permanently barred from practicing medicine in Puerto Rico, reports The Hill.

“Minors, having not yet reached the necessary emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity, are particularly vulnerable to making decisions that can have irreversible consequences,” the law, set to go into effect in October, reads. “Therefore, it is the State’s duty to ensure their comprehensive well-being.”

Puerto Rico has enacted the strictest trans health care ban in the U.S., punishing providers with fines and 15-year prison terms.

07/31/2025

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing commentator Candace Owens, accusing her of a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” falsely claiming Brigitte was born male, had transitioned, statutorily r***d Macron when he was a teenager, and is related to him.

The 22-count complaint, filed July 23 in Delaware, says Owens spread these lies “in pursuit of fame.”

The complaint calls Owens’ statements “demonstrably false” and says she promoted them “in pursuit of fame,” despite knowing they were untrue. It accuses her of acting with “actual malice” — the legal standard for overcoming First Amendment protections in a defamation suit.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have sued Candace Owens, accusing her of spreading false, malicious claims.