Metro Weekly

D.C.'s best LGBTQ magazine for 25 years. Daily news, politics, entertainment, and community updates for D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and beyond.

Metro Weekly has served D.C.'s LGBTQ community since May 1994, and is now the largest and longest continuously-running LGBTQ publication and website in the region! The print edition is published every Thursday and copies can be picked up for free at more than 500 distribution points. Metro Weekly is a glossy magazine read by more than 55,000 people in DC, MD & VA, and is nationally recognized for

its lively feature stories and interviews. Readers also turn to our magazine for its reliable news coverage, community event calendars, nightlife guides, and timely reviews that cover the District's rich arts and entertainment scene. We welcome you to contact us if you have any questions, comments, or requests. Visit us on the web at http://www.metroweekly.com

07/10/2025

At least 30 women in their 20s have been arrested in China since February for publishing gay-themed erotica. They have been charged with “producing and distributing obscene material.”

Many of the women published their work on Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-hosted platform known for “danmei,” a genre of gay male romance and erotica. According to The New York Times, the site is only accessible through software that bypasses China’s Internet firewall. Danmei has attracted a largely young, female audience.

Inspired by Japanese manga, danmei emerged online in the 1990s and quickly grew in popularity. Dozens of titles have topped bestseller lists, and in 2021, sixty were optioned for film or TV. Several major Chinese stars launched their careers in danmei-based dramas.

China has arrested 30 women for writing danmei, a genre of gay-themed erotica, amid rising censorship and pressure to promote family values.

07/10/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered lower federal courts to revisit pro-transgender rulings after siding with Tennessee in a 6-3 decision upholding the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

In its June 30 ruling, the Court found the law did not discriminate based on s*x or transgender status — and while it did not address other laws affecting transgender Americans, it opened the door for states to impose even broader restrictions on transgender rights and legal protections.

As reported by CNN, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett wrote in concurring opinions that courts should not be required to closely scrutinize laws alleged to discriminate against transgender people.

The Supreme Court told lower courts to revisit pro-trans rulings after upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

07/10/2025

Chris Kostka, a gay man visiting Provincetown, Massachusetts, was walking along Bradford Street between 1 and 2 a.m. on Monday, June 30, when, near Howland Street at the town’s eastern end, three men shoved him to the pavement and began kicking him while yelling anti-gay slurs.

“All of a sudden I just feel myself getting pushed to the ground,” Kostka told Boston NBC affiliate WBTS-CD. “I fly forward and I turn. I see three guys, and of course, I’m stunned from just being thrown to the pavement, and I just cover my face, go into a fetal position as I’m getting kicked and getting called some gay slurs.”

He added, “I got a couple good kicks into my chest. Luckily just a couple of scraps and bruises, you know. Nowadays things like this happen all the time, and it could end up a lot worse.”

Kostka described the car as a black Lexus sedan with a Donald Trump bumper sticker and said the attackers appeared to be three men between the ages of 20 and 30. He claims one of the men used a homophobic slur during the attack before the group returned to the car and drove off.

Chris Kostka says three men beat him and called him anti-gay slurs in Provincetown before fleeing in a Lexus with a Trump bumper sticker.

07/10/2025

Former gay p**n star Austin Wolf has pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to engage in s*xual activity.

Appearing in Manhattan federal court on June 20, the 44-year-old Wolf — whose real name is Justin Heath Smith — admitted his offenses to Judge Paul Engelmayer, according to the New York Post.

“In late 2023 or early 2024, I induced a 15-year-old to engage in a s*x act, I don’t remember through text or [social media], but phones were definitely used. I know what I was doing was wrong,” Wolf told the judge as he began to sob. “I take full 100 percent responsibility for my actions and I am prepared for the consequences.”

Gay p**n star Austin Wolf has pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to travel to New York City and engage in s*x acts as part of a plea deal.

07/10/2025

A Henrico County Circuit Court judge has partially overturned Virginia’s ban on conversion therapy by signing a June consent decree with Attorney General Jason Miyares and the Virginia Department of Health Professions.

The decree stems from a lawsuit by Front Royal counselors John and Janet Raymond and allows licensed professionals to conduct “talk therapy” aimed at convincing minors to “change” or suppress feelings related to their s*xual orientation or gender identity, provided they use only verbal methods and avoid physical conversion practices.

In 2020, a bipartisan group of Virginia lawmakers approved the ban on conversion therapy for minors, arguing the practice is ineffective and may even constitute “fraud” if it fails to deliver on its promised outcomes.

The ban applied to therapists and counselors engaging in coercive “talk therapy” as well as “aversion therapy” practices that inflict physical pain on minors.

Under a Virginia judge's order, therapists may resume "talk therapy" aimed at trying to "change" the identities of LGBTQ minors.

07/10/2025

A WRINKLE IN TIME runs through July 20 at Arena Stage in Washington DC.

"As Meg’s adventure takes her and her crew “tessering” from Earth to flowery Uriel to shadowy Camazotz, the show falters in its pacing," writes critic André Hereford. "The direction stumbles over physically representing, without the use of stage effects, some of the magical or extra-sensory action.

"Then, nearly the entire second act is given to a second rescue mission that feels stretched into an epic cycle of its own. One might feel stuck on the shadow planet with the Camazotzians, played by a pleasant ensemble, who provide gorgeous harmonies throughout, but not much distinct purpose or personality.

"There’s more character in Meg’s melancholy, in the complicated reality of the Murrys’ lives at home, than in the dimension-hopping fantasy. In that sense, the show might peak too soon, but from that summit we can see a touching vision of this girl’s past, present, and future."

Arena's transporting musical reimagining of A Wrinkle in Time soars early, but stalls in a sluggish second act.

07/10/2025

BEYONCE: COWBOY CARTER TOUR rides into Atlanta for four nights from July 10 to 14, and then wraps up in Las Vegas July 25 and 26.

The weatherman said it would be hot Monday night, and he wasn’t lying. The torrid D.C. heat had the cowboys, gals, and dolls sweating out of their boots on night two of Beyoncé’s record-breaking Cowboy Carter Tour at Northwest Stadium, in Landover, Maryland.

Even the ever-cool Mrs. Carter must have been feeling the ninety-plus degrees. Bey and her dancers broke out boxer briefs and sports bras — new custom crystal-beaded Calvin Klein, of course — midway through her set and in plenty of time for a red-hot “Heated,” part of the show’s glorious return to Renaissance.

But Bey began, bless her, draped in a full feather cape by Elie Saab over a red, white, and blue spangled Saab bodysuit. Entering to the sound of a galloping horse and the crowd screaming her name, the head cowgirl in charge lit into “Ameriican Requiem,” a rock-and-soul call for the nation to live up to its ideals, off the singer’s Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour lit up a sweltering D.C. night with heat, fashion, and genre-bending power that had fans on their feet.

07/10/2025

A fundamentalist church in Indianapolis is defending a June 29 sermon in which a lay preacher urged congregants to pray for LGBTQ people to die and suggested they kill themselves.

The remarks, delivered by Stephen Falco during a “Men’s Preaching Night” at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, included multiple homophobic slurs, biblical references, and rants against Pride Month, LGBTQ rights, and what he called “disgusting” and “evil” behavior, according to The Indianapolis Star.

“Why do I hate sodomites, why do I hate f****ts? Because they attack children,” Falco ranted in the sermon, video of which was posted to Sure Foundation Baptist Church’s YouTube channel. “They’re coming after your children, they are attacking them in schools today, and not only schools, in public places, and they’re proud about it!

“There’s nothing good to be proud about being a f****t,” Falco continued. “You ought to blow yourself in the head in the back of the head. You’re so disgusting.” He characterized LGBTQ people as a threat to children, implying they are pedophiles or seek to “groom” them.

A church in Indiana defended a sermon calling for LGBTQ people to die by su***de or ex*****on, insisting the message reflects God’s word.

07/10/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases challenging state laws that bar transgender student-athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams at public schools and universities. One of those cases, Little v. Hecox, involves Boise State student Lindsay Hecox, who sued after being denied a spot on the school’s women’s track and cross-country teams under Idaho’s transgender sports ban.

A federal judge blocked Idaho’s law in 2020, finding that it likely violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and discriminated against Hecox and other transgender athletes based on s*x and transgender status. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in 2023 and again in an amended opinion last year. The state then appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to decide whether the ban is constitutional.

The court also took up West Virginia v. B.P.J., a case involving high school student Becky Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty blockers to prevent male puberty and the development of physical traits that could give her an advantage over cisgender female athletes. She sought to compete on her school’s cross-country and track teams.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two cases on trans athlete bans in Idaho and West Virginia, with major implications for LGBTQ student rights.

07/10/2025

Trespassing charges have been dismissed against Marcy Rheintgen, a 20-year-old transgender woman from Illinois who is believed to be the first person arrested under Florida’s ban on transgender bathroom use in public buildings.

On June 20, Leon County Judge Lashawn Riggans granted a motion from Rheintgen’s attorney to dismiss the case after the state failed to file charging documents and other required paperwork within 90 days of her arrest — violating her Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

Riggans ruled that because the state failed to act, the charges had to be dismissed “because the speedy trial period has expired” — a reference to Rheintgen’s Sixth Amendment right, which protects defendants from undue delays in the legal process.

A judge dismissed charges against Marcy Rheintgen, a trans woman arrested after using the women’s bathroom in the Florida Statehouse.

07/10/2025

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH is rated PG-13 and is playing in theaters nationwide.

"Somehow, three decades into our collective Jurassic experience, these movies have gotten worse at integrating their CGI-animated and animatronic creatures into the physical reality of the live actors," writes critic André Hereford. "Jurassic World: Rebirth doesn’t even do a good job of integrating live actors into shots of computer-generated environments, leaving those green-screen halos around actors like something out of Land of the Lost.

"Any excitement that might be generated by the appealing performances, booming sound design, and cartoonish visuals of towering beasts is so diminished by the patent unreality of what’s onscreen that we might as well be watching someone else play a game, leveling up to the final confrontation with what looks like a rejected H.R. Giger alien.

"Now, if they want to throw one of those into a Jurassic World, that might reawaken our interest, but until then, consider us done with dinosaurs."

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey can't save Jurassic World: Rebirth from its barrage of bad CGI and beastly nonsense.

07/08/2025

Jackson Vogel has been sentenced to life without parole for strangling his cellmate — 19-year-old Micah Laureano, a Black gay man — inside Green Bay Correctional Institution in what prosecutors described as a racially and homophobically motivated killing.

The Wisconsin inmate was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide by a jury last month.

Before sentencing, Vogel — who was already serving a 20-year term for attempting to kill his mother in 2016, when he was just 16 — told Brown County Circuit Judge Donald Zuidmulder he was “sorry” for his actions, although he did not appear to show any signs of regret.

Jackson Vogel sentenced to life for killing Micah Laureano, a Black, gay cellmate, in a hate crime at Green Bay Correctional Institution.

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