Fifty million shows this week. I usually try to keep it to three or four, but there’s just too much unmissable stuff on the docket, I had to throw it all in. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com....
For VCU student Francisco Ramirez, aka Ivanna Vakavich, performing in drag helps him stay confident and express Pride in bold, fearless fashion. “Drag makes me feel like a superhero.” In front of piles of makeup laid across a bathroom counter, Francisco Ramirez begins to tell me about his own journey. “I could care less what anyone tells me. If...
The legendary actress, comedian, and activist for LGBTQ and other causes will be immortalized in the concrete forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the TCM Classic Film Festival later this year. Lily Tomlin is not only a long-respected comedian, actress, and writer of stage and screen, but now she is, in a severely overdue move, the...
This month in her Amazon Trail column, Lee Lynch tells us all to keep "throwing the bums out" foremost in our minds during this election season. My sailor friend e-mailed me last night. She had just gotten home from her women’s group, where they discussed the fears engendered by the state of our nation. Only they didn’t use the term "state of our...
Get ready to get fabulous with the city's most entertaining bingo game, as Diversity Richmond hosts its first Drag Bingo night of 2020 this Thursday! It's time once again! This Thursday, February 20, Diversity Richmond is throwing its first Drag Bingo event of 2020, and you're going to want to be there. This event is always a big hit, and...
The Department of Justice gave a grant from their anti-human trafficking program to Hookers For Jesus, which restricts what occupants of their safe houses are allowed to read and labels homosexuality immoral. According to an exclusive report from Reuters, internal complaints are emerging from the US Justice Department’s anti-human...
With Black Girl Magic, Melanin Monroe has created a series of drag shows exclusively featuring queens of color. The next edition, featuring The Vixen from RuPaul's Drag Race, comes to Fallout on Sunday. Richmond drag queen Melanin Monroe is preparing for the second show in her Black Girl Magic series, Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers, at Fallout...
For Lynchburg production company Pals Of Dorothy, it's important to bring LGBTQ stories beyond the big cities, and make clear that the LGBTQ community exists everywhere. Richmond is no stranger to LGBTQ film and theatre, but Lynchburg-based production company Pals of Dorothy is taking steps to bring LGBTQ media beyond the capital city to the...
In this excerpt from his book Pride Leadership, Dr. Steve Yacovelli tells us how to make 2020 "the year that being queer is your key to a courageous career." We all make New Year’s resolutions, from the daydreamingly ambitious to the practical to those that we only make subconsciously. For many, the start of a new year is a time to reflect on our...
After years of struggling, advocates for Virginia's LGBTQ community have received a clear victory, as the Virginia Values Act passes both houses of the General Assembly. Legislators wore rainbow, heart-shaped stickers Thursday as the House and Senate passed the Virginia Values Act. LGBTQ advocacy groups and lawmakers held a press conference in...
