Tr*mp threw his weight around during the May 19 primaries to make sure that any dissenting Republicans would not be returning for a new term. In the case of Kentucky congressman and Epstein truther Thomas Massie, however, the Tr*mp family may have just f’ed around and found out.

Massie has seven more months before his term ends, and he’s using it in the messiest way possible. Over the weekend, he appeared on Meet the Press to explain that he will not be holding back on what he knows about the many powerful redacted names in the Epstein files. He even gave us a taste of the chaos to come by specifically calling out Melania’s relationship to the sex trafficker.

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When asked about the likelihood of Epstein’s victims seeing justice in the form of arrests, Massie says that we’re probably going to have to wait for a new administration.

“I don’t think it’s possible to get to convictions with Todd Blanche at the top and with the FBI director, Kash Patel, at the top, because they have effectively both perjured themselves by saying there’s nobody else in the files,” Massie said. “Even Melania doesn’t believe that. The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone.”

Talk about saying the quiet part out loud!

Melania’s connections to Epstein, whose ties to the modeling world kept him uncomfortably close to the future first lady during her early meetings with Tr*mp, have been a subject of speculation for months now, especially after her ex-roommate, Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, threatened to spill the tea earlier this year.

Melania isn’t the only one in danger of being called out. Massie promised to name names and keep fighting to hold Epstein associates accountable while he’s still in office.

Massie is a rogue agent, and for the next few months that’s going to be very good for the American people and very bad for the Tr*mp family. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Massie co-authored with Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, was what Massie describes as the “one bill” that passed through congress in the last 10 years that wasn’t “written by lobbyists.”

He attributes his recent loss to the Epstein act and its continuing shockwaves in Washington. “We used the pressure of the American people to cross the aisle and get things done,” he says. “That’s when they decided I had to be taken out.”

Massie’s dedication to exposing the powerful predators found in the Epstein files certainly didn’t do him any favors with his boss, but Massie’s clash with Tr*mp is about more than that. In Massie, Tr*mp might have met the one Republican who can’t be bought off.

“They couldn’t buy my vote,” Massie says, “so they bought this seat.”

Massie also warns that he’s not the only Republican in congress who’s tired of Tr*mp’s self-serving antics in office. Republican voters, he says, have another form of TDS to contend with—not “Tr*mp Derangement Syndrome,” but “Tr*mp Disappointment Syndrome.” This, Massie predicts, is going to end up hurting the GOP in the midterms.

He’s worried about the damage Tr*mp has done to his party, but he has no regrets about standing up for what’s right even at the cost of his seat. “I’ve got seven more months to go against the grain,” he promises.

That’s seven months of Tr*mp biting his fingernails as his many Epstein-related scandals refused to vanish into the woodwork.

Related

Newly elected far-right lawmaker uses maiden speech to confirm he’s gay and to thank boyfriend
“I would rather my community hear it directly from me than from a potential political opponent or whispers.”

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The following is an excerpt from The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces by Rachel Karp, a grassroots tour of the nation’s lesbian bars that illuminates their past, present, and hopeful future, from the co-creator of the hit podcast Cruising.

Lesbian bars are so much more than a place to get a drink. For over a century, they’ve acted as community posts, political organizing grounds, and sanctuaries. Yet whereas in the 1980s there were an estimated 200 lesbian bars across the US, the current count sits at a few dozen.

In The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, Karp embarks across the country with her wife and best friend to chronicle the stories of the remaining US lesbian bars. Recent narratives have claimed lesbian bars are dying, but Karp’s group finds many of the places they visit to be thriving, their communities sustaining themselves over decades of change and challenges.

Weaving together over 100 hours of immersive interviews with bar owners, staff, and regulars, Karp creates a heartfelt reclamation of queer history and queer lives that examines how these beacons for community and inclusion can teach us to live openly, cultivate connection, and continue to take up space.

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In 1999, Nina Alvarez spotted an unusual book on the mantle of an old fireplace in the lobby of her Albany apartment building, where a small free library had emerged. A self-identified bisexual bibliophile, Nina was drawn to the book for two reasons. One, it looked handmade; it was a plain hardcover green book with an off-white cloth label pasted on the front cover. And two, the book was titled, Lesbian Love by Evelyn Adams.

Inside Lesbian Love, Nina discovered erotic illustrations of women alongside seemingly fictitious short stories about lesbian relationships, all carefully typeset and professionally printed. Nina and her friends puzzled over the book. The hairstyles and outfits of the women in the pictures appeared to be straight out of the 1920s, and the book itself seemed to be from the early twentieth century. But the stories felt strikingly modern. One mentions a gay dinner party. Another describes two women who “talk of getting married to each other,” and who “really believe they can have a baby.” A third introduces Jimmie, a young person who “felt far more comfortable in boyish clothes.”

Finally, she came across a blog post on an early twentieth-century woman by the name of Eve Adams. It mentioned the lesbian tearoom that she’d run in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village in 1925—as well as her book, Lesbian Love, which she’d published that same year. “My jaw started to drop,” Nina tells us. “I had never even thought to look it up before. I’d been carrying it around since 1999.”

Nina took the book to a local antiquarian fair to consult an expert on its value. After examining it and doing some research, he declined to offer a valuation. “It’s sort of priceless,” he told Nina. Up until this point, Lesbian Love had all but vanished from existence. Yale’s Sterling Library had once held a single copy, but in 2005 it had mysteriously gone missing. Nina’s was now the only known copy.

“That began my real journey of learning about Eve,” Nina says. She finally grasped the rarity of the book, but it would take time before she came to understand the importance of it: the role it had played in Eve’s life, and the deadly consequences it would have for her, sparking her deportation to Europe at precisely the worst time to be a queer Jewish woman there.

I first stumbled upon Eve while trying to answer a seemingly simple question: Where was America’s first lesbian bar? Many cite Eve’s tearoom—or Eve’s Hangout, as it was called. While Eve’s Hangout operated during prohibition, and technically wasn’t a bar, it bears striking resemblance to lesbian bars of today. I consider it to be, at the very least, the grandmother of the lesbian bar. It was a place that welcomed everyone so long as they were respectful and tolerant. It was a safe haven for lesbians, queer women, and all sorts of people who didn’t fit the norms and binaries of sexuality and gender. And, like at today’s lesbian bars, even if alcohol was served, it wasn’t the main event. Eve helped build a model for queer and lesbian bars that still endures today.

Eve’s story begins in Poland, in 1891, where she was born Chawa Zloczewer. At twenty years old, she immigrated alone to New York City in June of 1912. We don’t know why she chose to come to the US when she did, but one can imagine she was chasing some semblance of the “American Dream”: freedom and economic opportunity.

In New York, Eve quickly fell in with the bohemians and radical free thinkers of Greenwich Village. She began working for Mother Earth, an anarchist journal founded by Emma Goldman in 1906. At the time of Eve’s arrival, the journal was being edited by Alexander Berkman, Goldman’s fellow anarchist, longtime friend, and sometimes lover. Mother Earth published articles critiquing capitalism, government, military, war, and policing. Its pages advocated for workers’ rights and sex education, and it discussed the efficacy of unions, protest, and direct action. Through her work distributing and supporting Mother Earth, Eve met her lifelong friend, Ben Reitman, the publication’s business manager and a radical doctor and staunch reproductive rights advocate. The publication disbanded in 1917 following the arrests of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, who were charged with anti-war and anti-draft activity. After serving two years in prison, they were deported to Soviet Russia in 1919.

Eve, however, remained dedicated to their causes. By 1919, she was spending most of her time on the road selling radical leftist publications and going by her chosen name, Eve Adams. This job is how she initially attracted the attention of the Bureau of Investigation—the predecessor agency to the FBI. For years, agents kept tabs on Eve, following her from Connecticut and Los Angeles to San Francisco and St. Louis. They labeled her an “agitator,” but they couldn’t seem to find enough evidence to actually charge her with anything. Until she wrote Lesbian Love.

When she returned to New York City in early 1925, Eve opened her tearoom and had 150 copies of Lesbian Love printed. Perhaps knowing the danger such a book could put her in, she declared her intent to distribute copies only to friends. The phrase “for private circulation” is printed in the book’s front matter.

For many months, Eve avoided trouble, sharing her book with trusted friends and running her tearoom. Patrons would descend the stairs from street level and step into a room with brick walls, a fireplace, and low ceilings, giving it a cozy and intimate feel. Its small, high windows offered only glimpses of the outside world—feet passing by on the sidewalk. On a typical evening, you would have found gender benders and queer folks like Eve mingling with bohemians, intellectuals, and theatergoers. They gathered for art showings or poetry readings—which, depending on the crowd, could get raucous.

As the charismatic proprietress of this refuge, Eve perhaps felt untouchable. Then, in the summer of 1926, a young woman started frequenting Eve’s Hangout. She befriended Eve, and they began to spend more time together: dinner, dancing, a Broadway show. Eve entrusted her with a copy of Lesbian Love. Then, in June of 1926, the New York City police burst into Eve’s Hangout. It’s a scene that would become sadly familiar in gay and lesbian bars for decades to come: authorities shattering the safety of a queer space and finding reasons to make arrests. As for Eve’s new companion? She was the arresting officer, Margaret Leanord, sent by the NYPD to entrap her.

Eve was charged with publishing an obscene book. She also faced a disorderly conduct charge, which stemmed from Margaret’s allegation that Eve had attempted to have sex with her—a claim that Eve would firmly deny in court. Despite her objections, Eve was found guilty of both charges and the court recommended the Office of Immigration pursue her deportation.

Eve was brought back into court for a series of deportation hearings. Unlike with her previous criminal trials, complete transcripts of these hearings exist. They reveal Eve’s painstaking defense of her identity, her work, and her right to remain in the US.

As she sat in a room filled with powerful men who had already made up their minds, Eve calmly fielded ridiculous questions from the prosecution, deftly denying and deflecting.

“Had you been in the habit of picking up young girls on the street or elsewhere, taking them to your room and having intimate or immoral relations with them?”

“No, I don’t know what you are talking about, sir,” Eve replied.

“Did anybody ever accuse you of practicing Sapphism?”

“What is that?” Eve asked, though she knew perfectly well what Sapphism was, having included an excerpt of Swinburne’s poem “Sapphics” at the start of her book

“Were you ever afflicted with a venereal disease?”

“No,” Eve replied.

“Are you a drug addict?”

“No, I don’t even drink liquor,” she answered.

When it came time to speak about her so-called “obscene” book, she said:

“I admit having written a book entitled Lesbian Love, based on true facts and living characters of today. [ . . . ] There is not one word in the whole book that is vulgar.”

Throughout the hearings, Eve was steadfast in her desire to remain in the US. When asked if she had anything further to say about why she should not be deported, Eve declared: “I love this country with my whole heart and soul. [ . . . ] I want to become a citizen.”

In December of 1927, Eve was deported back to Poland. In 1930, she made her way to Paris, where she earned a living selling “dirty books” to American tourists. In 1933, as Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power in Germany, Eve met Hella Olstein, a cabaret singer with whom she would spend the final decade of her life. In December of 1943, within a week of one another, both Eve and Hella were detained by Nazi forces and taken to the Drancy internment camp, northeast of Paris. Records show that Eve and Hella were placed on Transport 63 to Auschwitz. When Auschwitz was liberated in January of 1945, Eve and Hella were not listed among the survivors. 

While I would like to imagine that they escaped somehow—living out the rest of their days in a cottage somewhere in the countryside, off the grid and unable to be reached by their searching family members—I know that this is likely not the truth.

Still, the work that Eve did during her fifty-something years on this earth, both in documenting and creating queer community, would ripple through the generations to come. I have to wonder what a visionary like Eve would think of our world today. What would she think of the one hundred years of lesbian bars and history that have unfolded in America since Eve’s Hangout shut its doors for the last time?

Would she be overjoyed to learn that same-sex couples can not only hold hands and dance in public but also (at least, at the time of this writing) legally marry? Or would she scoff at the idea of participating in the patriarchal institution of marriage? Would she embrace contemporary terms like nonbinary or genderqueer or transmasc, excited to find new language that might better fit her gender identity and expression? Would she be impressed by the few dozen lesbian bars that exist today, or would she be surprised that there are so few?

Would she be appalled that gender and sexuality are still policed? That the government cares about what bathroom you use? That hundreds of new bills threatening the safety of the LGBTQ+ community continue to be introduced each year? That America continues to turn its back on immigrants seeking safety?

It’s impossible to say for certain what Eve would think of our world—so different, yet in so many ways unchanged, from the one in which she lived. But I think she would agree with me on this: making space is important. So is telling our stories—writing them down so that others can see: lesbian love exists.

The stories in The Lesbian Bar Chronicles—of lesbian and queer love, and also of queer joy, queer grief, queer friendship, queer community, queer chosen family, and queer solidarity—they’re for Eve. And they’re for all of us.

Excerpted from The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces by Rachel Karp Copyright 2026. Excerpted with permission by Beacon Press.

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Anderson Cooper first rebuked anti-woke CBS News boss Bari Weiss in February when he decided to walk away from the Tiffany Network.

Over the ensuing months, the veteran anchor hasn’t stopped. After signing off from 60 Minutes with a plea for the iconic news magazine show to remain independent, Cooper paid tribute to Stephen Colbert on his CNN show Thursday before the final Late Show aired. A 22-time guest on the program, Cooper warned that Colbert’s ouster is another ominous sign for free speech under Tr*mp’s scornful rule.

But ever the optimist, Cooper closed with some hopeful words, using Lord of the Rings as a reference point. His monologue is quoted below:

“We’ve seen a lot of disappointing behavior in the past year from some very meek, boldface names in the world of big business. But as Gildor Inglorion, a Noldorin Elf of the House of Finrod once said to Frodo Baggins: ‘courage is found in unlikely places.’ Stephen knows a lot about JRR Tolkien, and he knows a hell of a lot about courage.

“It’s a sad night to see Stephen sign off. To see a president who can’t take a joke go after anyone who can make one. But Tolkien offers us hope for just such nights. When Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins were crawling towards Mount Doom, tired, hopeless and almost ready to give up, Tolkien writes: ‘there, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart. And as he looked up out of the forsaken land, the hope returned to him.’”

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Cooper’s message was applauded on social media, with his bff Andy Cohen leading the praise. “Well said,” he added.

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Inside CBS, Cooper’s words apparently haven’t been as well received. Weiss was “furious” over Cooper’s thinly veiled remarks when signed off from 60 Minutes, per the media newsletter Status.

A TV novice, Weiss was tapped to lead the legacy network’s news division last October. She was the handpicked choice of new Paramount head David Ellison, whose family’s bid to purchase the entertainment conglomerate was approved in 2025. Larry Ellison, his father, is the billionaire co-founder of the cloud computing giant Oracle and a major Tr*mp backer.

Since taking over Paramount, David Ellison has met with Tr*mp multiple times and attended the State of the Union as a guest of Lindsey Graham. Ellison’s latest sitdown with Tr*mp happened last month at a private dinner, amid Paramount’s $111 billion agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discover. The deal needs federal sign-off.

In the same position last summer, Paramount announced it was canceling The Late Show for “purely financial reasons.” About a week later, the Tr*mp admin signed off on the Ellisons’ acquisition.

The petulant president hasn’t masked his glee regarding Colbert’s ousting…

Related

Anderson Cooper quits CBS after 20 years & gives this reason for his departure
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert defied CBS bosses with an interview he conducted last night.

Anderson’s jabs

With no experience in TV, Weiss was instantly viewed with suspicion by CBS vets. So far, her critics have been correct.

The Free Press founder is in over her head. Weiss, who’s gay, has pushed CBS News in a rightward direction, hemorrhaging viewers in the process. CBS’ evening newscast is now fully MAGA-coded.

Anchor Tony Dokoupil has participated in many embarrassing segments, such as when he glazed Marco Rubio and whitewashed J6.

Initially, Weiss wanted Cooper to anchor the evening news. Instead, he left CBS entirely.

Cooper, who was part of 60 Minutes for two decades, said he wanted to spend more time with his family. But a CBS staffer had a different interpretation. The individual told Zeteo that Cooper’s exit was a “f*ck you” to Weiss.

This past Sunday, Cooper signed off from 60 Minutes for the final time. He said he hopes the show remains editorially free.

“I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” he said. “I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical. And I think the trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of 60 Minutes.”

It wasn’t hard to infer the purpose behind Cooper’s warning. Early in her tenure, Weiss meddled in 60 Minutes and spiked a segment about CECOT, the notorious El Salvador prison where Tr*mp deported immigrants without criminal records.

Bari’s blow up

Status reports the 42-year-old Weiss was “not especially pleased by Cooper using the CBS News platform to take a thinly veiled swipe at her.”

The writer Oliver Darcy points out that Cooper’s words must’ve especially stung, given Weiss’ past pursuit of Cooper to anchor the evening news.

Just nine months into her run, Weiss is already getting demoted. Puck reports that she’ll be given less control over CBS News’ top programming, including 60 Minutes.

But that’s not to say Weiss will disappear from TV news. If Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. is approved, the Ellisons will also own CNN. Weiss could wind up there.

Cooper recently signed a multi-year extension with the network, by the way. There may still be some swipes to come.

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Here’s what you may have missed this weekend …

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This past March, Taylor Brown made history as the highest-ranking transgender official ever to serve in New York City government. 

Brown, 35, was appointed the inaugural director of the city’s new Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In a statement following the announcement, Brown described New York as the place that gave her “life-saving health care, education, a home, a career, my chosen family, and a life of purpose.”

Now, she says, she plans to ensure the city remains “a beacon of opportunity and hope” for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities.

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Long before Brown stepped inside City Hall, she was already fighting for transgender rights in courtrooms across the country.

Raised in rural North Carolina as a biracial Black transgender woman, Brown has spoken openly about growing up in poverty and struggling to access basic resources, including gender-affirming healthcare. After initially being denied transgender care herself, Brown successfully appealed the decision—an experience that would later shape the direction of her advocacy work.

“I grew up in poverty,” Brown once shared. “There were not a lot of resources and it was very much a fight on my own behalf that led me into this fighting.”

That fight eventually led her from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to the Cardozo School of Law, and later to some of the country’s most influential LGBTQ+ legal organizations. As a staff attorney and Tyron Garner Memorial Law Fellow at Lambda Legal, Brown litigated civil rights cases on behalf of transgender people, with much of her work focused on the intersections of race, gender identity and HIV status. 

Brown later joined the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project before making history once again in 2024 as the first transgender assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau under New York Attorney General Letitia James.

At a time when trans rights are being erased nationwide, Brown’s visibility inside one of the country’s most powerful city governments feels larger than a single appointment. For many queer and trans people, especially Black trans women, Brown represents a rare shift from fighting for recognition outside institutions to finally helping lead them from within. 

Brown perhaps puts it best herself. In her inaugural address, she declared: “The future is bright, the future is near, and the future is for us all.”

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A newly elected lawmaker for the Australian far-right populist party, One Nation, has used his maiden speech to confirm that he’s gay.

To the surprise of some supporters, he also revealed he has a Muslim partner who grew up in Indonesia and migrated to Australia. One Nation is known for wishing to severely restrict immigration.

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MP Jason Virgo won the rural South Australian seat of MacKillop at the 2026 state election.

He comes from a family that traditionally voted for the center-left-leaning Labor Party. However, he says he felt Labor left him and others behind. He previously ran as a candidate for the Australian Sex Party at the 2010 and 2013 federal elections, before embracing One Nation.

Virgo used his first speech as MP last week to address his sexuality. He said that whilst on the campaign trail, a “lovely woman” called him to let him know “that people were going around the electorate telling people I was gay.”

Virgo suspected they were doing so maliciously.

“The reality is I have been openly gay throughout my entire adult life,” he said.

“Rather my community hear it directly from me

“I do not wave the flag in the air as I walk down the street,” Virgo continued. “I prefer people to find out these things naturally. There are times when those of us who are gay feel we have to hide it for our own safety or just sometimes to avoid social awkwardness. But I would rather my community hear it directly from me than from a potential political opponent or whispers.

“If someone does seek to weaponize who I am, that says more about them than it does about me. I wish, in respects, I was more like my last surviving grandparent, Nana Betty Stanley, who, no matter what would happen to her in life, would always just brush it off and say, ‘Oh well, it could have been worse.’ As my partner knows too well, I do sweat the small stuff.”

Boyfriend of 11 years

Becoming emotional, Virgo went on to say he’s been with his boyfriend for the past 11 years. He says his partner was “born in Indonesia, a Muslim, and is now a proud Australian.”

“We have built a life together,” said Virgo. “I think about where we started out, about how much we’ve grown together, and how much we’ve achieved in the 11 years of being together. Thank you for standing by through every high and low. Your faith and support when things felt overwhelming. And helping me keep going. You are the love of my life by my side.

“Our closest friendship circle was made largely of immigrants from China, India, and the Philippines,” Virgo continued. “I am deeply thankful for their support … I love migrants. The overwhelming majority are simply searching for a better life. But two things can be true at once. And I do believe migration levels in recent years have been too high.

“Yes, in some parts of the country, employees are crying out for workers. In others, communities simply want time for housing and infrastructure to catch up. In some places, both are true.

“Australians rightly expect governments to ensure our citizens can access housing and opportunity first. Those who come to Australia to share our boundless plains should come prepared to embrace this country as their own and respect our way of life. Many new Australians understand this, which is why support for One Nation continues to grow within migrant communities.”

You can watch his full speech below. The segment on his sexuality is at the 13.30-minute mark.

Pauline Hanson and One Nation

One Nation was founded and is led by Pauline Hanson, who has a poor record on LGBTQ+ rights. She campaigned against marriage equality in Australia and is a fierce opponent of trans rights. She’s basically Australia’s version of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Hanson made international headlines last year when, protesting the Australian Parliament’s refusal to ban head coverings, she turned up to sessions wearing a burqa.

NEW: Australian senator Pauline Hanson, who was shut down when she requested to introduce a bill to ban burqas, banned from parliament after wearing a full-body burqa.

Senate leaders suspended the session after Hanson refused to remove the burqa.

"At the end of the day, this… pic.twitter.com/7kc8rxp2Xv

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 30, 2025

Earlier this year, Hanson suggested in an interview that there was no such thing as “good” Muslims.

Like populist parties elsewhere in the world, One Nation has made gains in the last decade and now enjoys its highest level of popularity in Australia. That said, it currently only has two seats in the 150-seat Australian House of Representatives.

Hanson has not commented on Virgo’s speech, although One Nation’s social media has celebrated his electoral win.

Virgo’s speech has prompted a strong reaction online.

Some on the right were unimpressed by his revelations.

This right wing party has focused all their attention on keeping far right candidates out and now literal “migrant loving homosexual muslims” are slipping past vetting. Incredible. https://t.co/zwbzi0DpiI

— auspill (@aus_pill) May 24, 2026

This is a “far-right” politician who was just elected in Australia.

He proceeded to come out as gay and announce “I love immigrants.”

Supporters are FUMING.

Bro was a Trojan horse pic.twitter.com/ylGh3eQ8pQ

— ADAM (@adamemedia1) May 24, 2026

Others, beneath a Facebook post from the Australian LGBTQ+ magazine Star Observer said that you can’t assume all gay people will be left-leaning in their politics.

“Although this sounds like a paradox, it is, unfortunately, not uncommon,” said one. “The same here in Germany. Alice Weidel, the leader of the AFD (Alternativ für Deutschland), a far-right party very similar to One Nation, is a lesbian married to a Swiss woman of Sri Lankan origin. Recent regional and local elections here have put the AFD in either the leading or close to leading position.”

Another quipped that Virgo must be thinking, “I’m sure the leopards won’t eat MY face”.

Others predicted Virgo would likely end up distancing themselves from One Nation and becoming an independent MP within a matter of months.

“Overwhelmed”

On Facebook today, Virgo thanked those who offered him support following his speech.

“Thanks folks! I have been overwhelmed by the support of those common sense people who just want to put Australia first!”

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Stephen Bates became an MP in Brisbane, Australia in May.

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French fashion designer Louis Gabriel Nouchi is taking couture to the next thirsty level.

The out 38-year-old launched his eponymous clothing brand, LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi, in 2017. Since then, it has become known for its sensual menswear and often gender-fluid designs.

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Whether daring to bare or keeping it more modest in a head-turning ensemble, LGN definitely lets a guy stand out in the crowd.

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The It-boys

LGN is routinely covered in major fashion publications like Vogue and stages its cutting-edge runway shows during Paris Fashion Week.

The line is also a favorite of Hollywood hunks like Alexander Skarsgård and Heated Rivalry co-stars Connor Storrie and François Arnaud, among many others.

The It-boys love them some LGN.

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Category is: OF but make it fashion

Despite the brand’s success, Nouchi decided to take his provocative designs a step further. In January, he launched an OF page–not for himself, but for the label.

He promoted the venture during LGN Fall/Winter 2026 fashion show, as a model sashayed down the runway in a white tank and briefs with the OF branding.

10s across the board.

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“Exclusive content released every week, exploring sensuality through the LGN lens. This space is for the curious,” reads a description on the OF page. “For those who read bodies as much as words. For those drawn to desire, tension, and intimacy — never obvious, always intentional.”

However, if you are looking for triple X adult content, you might be disappointed.

“I’m not showing people naked because I’m selling garments,” Nouchi told Vanity Fair.

What the page does feature are fetish-driven visuals, erotic texts and images of new LGN models in a “bulge series”. While the subscription is free, most of the “snack content” is behind a paywall and priced under $12.

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Exclusive content for the gays

Nouchi said he wasn’t afraid of alienating his customers by joining the controversial platform as he was fairly confident most were familiar with it.

“I know we are a gay brand, a gay-male brand,” he told the outlet. “I was completely aware about that from the start.” 

But for those that may be clutching their pearls, he reminded that OF is what you make of it. “It’s basically just private video and content; it doesn’t have to be sex.”

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Nouchi may be one of the first designers to jump on the OF train in this way, but he probably won’t be the last. Fun fact: Designer Rick Owens put feet content on the platform last year to raise money for a good cause.

“It was important for me to work with this platform,” Nouchi said, “because I think it’s the future of how social media will be—the tone they have, the way it works.”

And while he’s begun to make money off the site, he isn’t expecting to rake in millions. Beyond the monetary benefits, OF is also letting the designer explore his artistic endeavors in a way he hadn’t thought possible previously.

“For me, it was having the liberty to create everything that I want without any restriction.” 

So if anyone asks, just say you only look at OF for the fashion. 😜

LGN has a retail store in Paris, but most of the designs are available for purchase via the brand’s official website. Check out the LGN Fall/Winter 2026 runway show below, which was inspired by Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror classic Alien.

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As a recent edition of our Ask Jake advice column pointed out, there’s an unfortunate lack of respect for the older generations within our community.

The elder queers paved the way for the rights & protections we enjoy today and deserve to be treated with dignity, but even beyond that, society seems to brush anyone aside once they reach a certain age, all too willing to treat them as relics with nothing new to offer.

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With his new film Bookends, writer & star Noam Ash (The Other Two, Boy*Friends) hopes to bridge that gap, showing us how “oftentimes the people best suited to helping each other through difficult life moments are those on opposite ends of life’s journey.”

And he would know: After a particularly tough breakup a little while back, he crashed with his grandparents as temporary relief while he got his life back in order. Though “mortified” by the situation at first, Ash wound up living with them for well over a year, finding their time connecting, human to human, to be invaluable—not to mention, so inspiring that he decided to write a movie about it!

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Directed by Mike Doyle (Almost Love), Bookends follows a similar trajectory when aspiring author Nate (Ash) finds his wealthy boyfriend of many years (Spencer Belko) sleeping with their trainer (Jared Reinfeldt). With nowhere else to turn, he reluctantly heads to the senior living community his grandparents, Saul (F. Murray Abraham) & Miriam (Caroline Aaron), call home. Of course they welcome him in with open arms, though all soon realize that three’s a crowd, especially when it comes to family.

Oh, and we should mention there’s a pretty heated romance, too, as Nate strikes up a friendly flirtation with Daniel (Charlie Barnett)—who also happens to be Saul & Miriam’s doctor!

Hilarious & heartfelt, the film is a love letter to Ash’s own grandparents, who sadly passed before they could see the final product. Yet Bookends is a testament to their spirit, a reflection of all Ash learned from them, and a special reminder that there’s endless value in nurturing international relationship.

After premiering at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this past February, Bookends will soon make its NY debut in the NewFest Pride program on May 30 with a special screening and Q&A (it’ll also be available to stream via the fest’s virtual program from May 28 – June 1), followed by dates at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival and San Francisco’s Frameline50.

In anticipation, Queerty is honored to host a special preview clip of the film below, plus our conversation with writer & star Noam Ash about the film’s real-life inspirations, beautiful blending of genres, and the unforgettable life lessons learned from those that came before us.

Check out the article on our site to view the video

Bookends was inspired by the time you moved in with your own grandparents after a breakup, but when 7 how did you first start seeing that experience as something that could be turned into a film? 

When I first moved in with my grandparents, I was working on another project entirely and spent a lot of time (lovingly) complaining about the whole situation to my manager. One day, she said, “You know what…?” and suggested that the experience I was going through was a great premise that I should really be writing about instead. I was resistant at first, but once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. Building the fictional world of the film to communicate the emotional truths I was learning was so fun and satisfying.  

Given this is such a personal story, was it difficult to hand the reins to a director? How did you know Mike Doyle was the right person for the job? 

Not at all. Collaboration is my favorite part of filmmaking. I cherish the process of bringing together the best group of people, who each then bring their own special gifts to the film. When it works, the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. And of course, for this to really work, it has to start and end with the director. I wanted to find someone who was just as passionate about telling funny and emotionally resonant stories but also, just as importantly, valued collaboration as much as I do.

I was a fan of Mike’s previous films, but when we started talking about creative and process, it became clear very quickly that he was the best fit. When I write, I’m always imagining what the scene looks and sounds like in my head, and I’m very happy to say that the final film looks and feels very different from what I initially imagined; it’s so much richer and more moving than I possibly could have imagined, and that really is thanks to the imprint Mike put on it.

Caroline Aaron & F. Murray Abraham are so fabulous in this. If Miriam & Saul are at least loosely based on your own grandparents, who would you say they each brought to these roles? How did they surprise you on set? 

The film is based on my relationship with my grandparents, so a lot of the lessons that Miriam and Saul teach Nate are very true to their my grandparents innate warmth, love, and wisdom. But both F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron, like all truly great actors, brought so much of their own humanity, humor, physicality, and perspective to the roles beyond anything I could have predicted. They are both so present, agile, generous, and FUN. Acting opposite them is a masterclass; you can’t help but rise to the occasion when surrounded by their enveloping genius.

There’s a world where this is solely about Nate’s relationship with his grandparents, but the romance with Charlie Barnett’s Daniel brings such great texture to the story. Why did that feel like an important component of the film to you?? 

One of the things I’m most proud of in this film is that it almost defies genre. It’s a story about growing up, growing old, first love, more mature love, the uncertainty of life, and how roles shift within families as generations change. It’s a comedy with lots of laughs, a family film, and a romance that builds towards a heartfelt, life-affirming conclusion. To me, the family drama is inseparable from the romance, as it is our nearest and dearest who ultimately teach us how to love. So the romance is not so much an addition of texture to the story as much as it is a manifestation of the journey Nate’s grandparents set him on.

At the same time, Dr. Daniel Green (played brilliantly by Charlie Barnett) is his own person with his own identity, nuances, complexities, and ways of seeing the world. And having Nate and Daniel’s journey both contrast and mirror Saul and Miriam’s is one of my favorite things about the film. Young love, old love, family love, romantic love—these are all flavors of what truly matters in life.

In your opinion, why is it important that we (especially as queer people) connect, converse, and build relationships with those from older generations?

It’s hard to emphasize how important I think it is to connect and build relationships with older generations. It’s funny, but I think oftentimes the people best suited to helping each other through difficult life moments are those on opposite ends of life’s journey. That was certainly the case with me and my grandparents. They brought so much wisdom and a lifetime of experience that was invaluable to me at such a young age, and I brought so much youth, excitement, and liveliness that they were deeply craving in their older years. I think intergenerational relationships are so important for us both as individuals and as a society. We’d all be better off with a healthy balance of the wisdom of age and the optimism and vivaciousness of youth in our lives.

What’s the best piece of advice you say your grandparents gave you, or something that you learned in your time spent with them? 

Family first, do the right thing even when it’s hard, never skip an opportunity to celebrate no matter how small the occasion, and have a joke at the ready. It’s always a good time to laugh.

If you’re in the NYC area, don’t miss Bookends at Newfest Pride on May 30, or stream it via the festival’s virtual program from May 28 – June 1!

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Caleb Shomo, the founding member and singer with rock band Beartooth, has come out as gay.

Shomo posted an emotional message on Instagram on Saturday.

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“There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late and I feel compelled to set the record straight before it affects those I love any further,” Shomo began.

“I am a proudly gay man.

“This is something I’ve been unpacking and reckoning with in my life for quite some time now, the 33-year-old continued.

“It’s been difficult to navigate the feelings surrounding the subject and figure out what to do with this fact.

“When it comes to my art / Beartooth, I have always strived to chase who I am in the deepest part of my soul from album to album. As you could gather if you’ve followed the band at all in the earlier years, there are 4 very self deprecating albums about exploring my religious upbringing, depression, self hatred, self loathing, and hopelessness. I am grateful for all these albums, yet feel embarrassed at times that I wouldn’t allow myself to really dig up the roots for so long.”

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Founding Beartooth

Shomo joined the band Attack Attack! aged 15. He then began releasing music under the name Beartooth in 2012. Initially, he was the sole member before adding further musicians to the lineup.

That same year, he married his wife, Fleur Shomo.

“I spent a decade burying feelings with alcohol, and honestly when I decided to put it down and focus on exploring why I felt this way for so long, it’s been a direct path to me reconciling with my sexuality in hopes that it will eventually lead to me experiencing self love,” Shomo continued on Instagram.

“One thing I decided before I wrote a single note or lyric of the upcoming album is that whatever happens, I will express myself whole heartedly and fully. Wherever it takes me I will follow and I refuse to water any part of it down, from the music, to the lyrical content, and way I portray myself. I will only do what makes me happy at the deepest level and what is the most honest depiction of who I am.”

Beartooth’s sixth studio album, Pure Ecstasy, drops this August.

“I believe it’s impossible to love every part of you when you won’t face every part of you head on,” said Shomo. “I am trying to finally be proud of who I am and I think this is a massive part of that journey.”

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“Give yourself grace. Give yourself patience”

Shomo thanked those who had shown him love and support and encouragement to live “freely and openly”.

“I encourage anyone who’s struggling with who they are to give yourself grace. Give yourself patience. Be honest with yourself. Do the hard work instead of burying it down as deep as you physically can thinking it will change like I did. Holding these things in only hurt you and those around you.

“Love you all, and hopefully this is a step in the right direction to loving myself one day.”

Shomo turned off comments beneath the post.

According to his Wikipedia page, Shomo spent much of his childhood in Westerville, Ohio. His dad was a pastor and his mom is a nurse who also performed with a church band.

Wife Fleur: “Our story was a good one. And now it’s done.”

His wife, Fleur, 41, shared her own Instagram post. Her profile is not set to private. It featured a video of her and her husband dancing. She said she supported him but also admitted that finding out about her husband’s sexuality was difficult.

“You never want anything more for your person than for them to just be ok. You also ask yourself constantly if you’re a bad person for wondering wtf this means for your world & the anger you also feel,” she said.

“I am the only person that is having to deal with the duality of this situation.”

She said she would always “want to love, protect and support Caleb,” while at the same time facing up to the fact she was “losing everything.”

“You can love and support your person through the hardest time in their life, whilst also be completely demolished & lose yourself at the same time,” she wrote.

“You question everything. But I have learned the one thing I don’t need to question is our history.”

She concluded by saying their relationship, “was wonderful and full of so much fun, adventure & love.

“Nobody will know anything about our marriage like we do. And no one can ever truly know what depths of love exist between two people unless they are those people.

“I already miss it & my husband more than anything. Our story was a good one. And now it’s done.”

You can watch the video for Beartooth’s recent single, “Free”, below. Many fans remarked at the time of its release, a couple of months ago, that the song represented a move away from the pure metal sound of Shomo’s earlier work. Lyrically, it also finds Shomo commenting on a newfound feeling of freedom.

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The story of the Mediterranean gayborhood that was ancient Greece might feel like ancient history, and technically, sure, it is. But for queer people, the homoerotic lore of that particular period antiquity stays forever alive, and forever young, thanks to just how embedded it remains in pop culture. Why else would people currently be having heated arguments about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey casting, or picking apart the details of Connor Storrie’s Greek God-inspired Met Gala outfit?

We’re also learning new things about the Greeks all the time—like the fact that the mythical God Hercules apparently had lots of male lovers and plenty of spicy fun times with all of them, canonically!

But one question about ancient Greece still remains a matter of intense speculation. We know those guys were having plenty of sex, but did they do any douching? Was fleeting a thing back then, and if so… how???

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Some internet sleuths may have the answer. Or rather the answers, because this is not a one-size-fits-all question.

What was sex like in Ancient Greece?

Those Greeks might not have had Grindr, but they didn’t need it. In all the male-centric spaces created by a patriarchal, deeply classist government, sex was free-flowing, and even if it perhaps wasn’t as out and proud as we might imagine, it was definitely tolerated to the point where it seems like nobody really cared who was having sex with men and who wasn’t.

But the sex they were having wasn’t always traditional. While ancient Greeks definitely enjoyed a lot of penetrative sex, they had a lot of intercrural sex, which shows up on a lot of artwork from the time. So yes, there were definitely tops and bottoms, but there was also plenty of side action.

Did they bottom?

Yes, of course they did—but bottoming came with a whole host of specific class and status connotations back in the day.

Usually, high-status older men would insist on topping their younger boyfriends, which got some people into a lot of trouble, as in the case of Periander of Ambracia, who met his untimely end after making a pregnancy joke to his boyfriend. Because even though gay sex was de rigueur, being a top was considered manly, while being a bottom was considered effeminate, and could even jeopardize your status as a high class Greek citizen.

The Greeks probably didn’t invent bottom shame, but they definitely played right into its hands. In the words of bottoming scholar Jonathan Kemp, “for the ancient Greeks, to be a citizen meant being a top and if an adult male persisted in being f*cked he was considered unfit for his civic role.”

Well, that’s annoying!

How did they do it?

Those guys didn’t have any bidets or gummies or magical pork gelatin balls like we have now, but they did douche… sometimes. How did they do it? Well, enemas, mostly. That particular technology is surprisingly old, but it wasn’t the only way bottoms kept things ready at a moments’ notice—then as now, diet played a partial role.

According to one poet, bottoms would eat a lot of sorb apples, which were small, bitter, and full of fiber. They didn’t taste pleasant, but they basically did the job of a standard anti-diarrheal.

But some bottoms didn’t douche at all, and while some writers did judgmentally make note of this phenomenon for posterity, people in the past weren’t that obsessed with before and after care the way we are now.

This isn’t just true of the Greeks—as some queer elders have told us, the obsession with douching was nowhere near what it’s become today. People in the past were pretty much just psyched to be having sex, and weren’t so hung up on the messier side effects that can sometimes follow.

Which is cool! Ancient Greece definitely wasn’t a magical shame-free environment where everyone was having amazing gay sex all the time and feeling no judgment, but they were definitely much more modern in their thinking about sex and sexuality than many long-ago—and not so long ago—cultures. We’ll never fully know what it was like to live there, but thanks to many Greek and Roman oversharers, we definitely get the gist.

RIP ancient Greece—you would have loved Sniffies.

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