THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Halo players and developers united to show support to the LGBTQ+ community after a prominent live streamer refused to allow trans women to participate in practice matches, PinkNews noted. Esports caster and Twitch streamer Magick Moonshot was criticized for a post she made on X (formerly Twitter) stating that, due to her Christian beliefs, a ladies' weekend scrims for the game would not include trans women. However, there was backlash, with one user saying, "Trans women are women, simple as that. Halo is for everyone. Gaming is for everyone."

Netflix's Sex Education has introduced a new character in its fourth and final season—and she's asexual, Popsugar noted. While asexuality has been touched upon in the TV show previously, season four dives deeper into the sexual identity via the mysterious O (played by Northern Irish actor Thaddea Graham). In order to give the character more authenticity, Netflix consulted with writer/activist Yasmin Benoit, who publicly came out as aromantic and asexual in 2017.

Trans woman singer Ezra Furman released Sex Education: Songs From Season 4, a press release noted. The EP consists of three new original songs—"Tether," "You Like Me" and "Honeycomb"—via Ice Chest Musick, coinciding with the release of the fourth and final season of the Netflix original series Sex Education. Starring Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey and Ncuti Gatwa (who recently came out as gay), Sex Education follows what happens when a couple students set up an underground sex clinic at their secondary school.

An exclusive new trailer revealing more of what's to come when British show Doctor Who returns this November has arrived—and it features Neil Patrick Harris playing "The Toymaker," an all-powerful enemy last seen in 1966, Deadline noted. Doctor Who returns in November with three special episodes featuring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, all coinciding with the show's 60th anniversary. Out actor Ncuti Gatwa's first episode as the Fifteenth Doctor will air over the period.

Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness defended trans kids' rights—through tears—during an appearance on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast that suddenly broke into a debate, PinkNews noted. Van Ness, who identifies as trans and non-binary, joined Shepard on the podcast to promote their own podcast, Getting Curious. At one point, Shepard said, "There are many people targeting queer people and don't want them to have rights, I agree with you." Van Ness then replied, "So I have to sit here and watch Dax Shepard parrot a lot of the same things?" Van Ness later said, "I could just cry because I'm so tired of having to fight for little kids because they just want to be included."

After days of detailing racist, transphobic and abusive behavior regarding several people involved with American Horror Story, including Ryan Murphy and Emma Roberts, actress Angelica Ross announced that she is "leaving Hollywood," per Out. Ross posted on X (formerly Twitter), "For the folks who haven't put it together yet, I'm "leaving Hollywood". There are multiple articles that will be coming out detailing this. So I suggest you and your faves play nice, cuz I'm a Black trans woman with nothing to lose. Candy was born from my body. IYKYK. IYDYD." Roberts later apologized, according to another post from Ross, who told The Hollywood Reporter that she is moving back to her home state of Georgia and plans on running for office.

Grammy-winning global superstar Kelly Clarkson released an expanded deluxe version of her tenth studio album chemistry, available now via Atlantic Records, per a press release. The 22-track collection features five brand-new songs alongside remixes and more—including a collaboration with daughter River Rose called "you don't make me cry." Clarkson celebrated the release of chemistry (deluxe) live from Rockefeller Plaza on Sept. 22 for the TODAY Show's 2023 Citi Summer Concert Series—and was surprised by a video appearance from her high school in Burleson, Texas.

Also regarding Kelly Clarkson, she joined a shocked street performer while on her way to sound check for her performance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, according to Parade. Clarkson said she was invited to join in—noting that the woman (who was performing Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It?") initially had no idea who she was. It wasn't until after the two got close that the woman finally realized who was standing before her, shouting, "Are you f——-g kidding me?!"

Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe's production company, A Touch More, announced the hiring of industry veteran Camille Bernier-Green as its head of development, Variety noted. Last December, Variety exclusively revealed that Bird, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and basketball legend, and Rapinoe, a two-time FIFA World Cup-winning soccer superstar, would launch the production company in partnership with Togethxr.

GLAAD ran a piece on a couple Latine film festivals with LGBTQ+ movies. Spotlighting the recent New York Latino Film Festival, GLAAD mentioned films such as Cassandro (with Gael Garcia Bernal) and Jeannette (a documentary about a competitive bodybuilder, queer single mother—and Pulse Nightclub survivor). The forthcoming Cine Latino Minneapolis Saint Paul (Oct. 11-15) will show Cassandro; 20,000 Species of Bees; and Let the Dance Begin. However, the AFI Latin American Film Festival is currently taking place through Oct. 11 in Silver Spring, Maryland; LGBTQ+ films include Chilean provocateur Sebastian Silva's Rotting in the Sun.

Juilliard Drama Department's Master of Fine Arts in Acting will be tuition-free for all students beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year, Playbill noted. All accepted students will have their tuition fully covered via scholarships for the entirety of their study. The move places the program on the institution's increasing list of tuition-free programs, which already includes artist diplomas in jazz, music performance, opera studies, playwriting and string-quartet studies; doctor of musical arts; and historical-performance programs.

In Kentucky, the Grand Finale Concert at the Logan County KY Tobacco & Heritage Festival was canceled over concerns about gay singer Adam Mac, who was hired to perform, The Advocate noted. Mac withdrew from his headlining spot amid concerns of local protests about his sexuality. Festival organizers announced the concert cancellation on their Facebook page, citing unforeseen circumstances. Mac later shared on TikTok that he struggled with the decision to withdraw, as he didn't want to let down supporters.

A message on the Instagram account of Josh Seiter—a bisexual former Bachelor contestant who said a hacker was responsible for announcing on social media that Seiter had died—stated he was leaving social media. In part, the message read, "For the last month I've received hundreds of hateful messages and unending harassment related to my account being hacked. I wish I was stronger but I can't take any more and am logging [off] social media for good and am checking myself into a wellness facility now to try to get some kind of a handle on my mental health. … To the people sending me death threats, you win."

Taylor Swift called out to her 272 million Instagram followers to register on National Voter Registration Day—and a record number of people did so, CBS News noted. More than 35,000 people registered to vote after Swift's post, which was a 22.5% increase from the previous year. "Are you registered to vote yet?" Swift wrote. "I've been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently. I've heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you're ready to use them in our elections this year!"

A recent episode of the children's animated series Rubble & Crew, a Paw Patrol spinoff, garnered applause and criticism because of a new character, The Advocate noted. The episode, "The Crew Builds An Observatory," introduced viewers to River—a nonbinary character created by nonbinary author/activist Lindz Amer. Although some lauded the development, conservative influencer Robby Starbuck talked about what he perceives as an effort to "indoctrinate kids into the trans ideology," accusing the show of embracing "woke" culture.

Serena and Venus Williams, with their sister Isha Price, have joined Katy Barksdale and Valerie Gamache as executive producers of the documentary Between Starshine and Clay: The Hidden Diary of Diahann Carroll, per The Hollywood Reporter. The project, in production, is being co-directed by Susanne Rostock and Carroll's daughter, Suzanne Kay, who are producing alongside Color Farm Media's Erika Alexander and Ben Arnon.

Grammy-winning singer Usher will be the halftime headliner at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. According to Deadline, the NFL tweeted promo videos of Kim Kardashian and player-turned-University of Colorado coach Deion Sanders confirming the news with the singer. Super Bowl LVIII will take place in Las Vegas on Feb. 11. Among Usher's nine Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles are "Burn," "Love in This Club," "My Boo" and "U Remind Me."

Out gay CAA co-chair Brian Lourd said that the film and TV industry could be "destroyed" if there is not a proper healing process after the Hollywood strikes have been resolved, Deadline noted. In the UK at the RTS Cambridge Convention with actress Emma Thompson, Lourd said the actors' and writers' strikes were having a "terrible" impact on film and TV workers. Lourd—who has offered to bring the SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers together—said he believes that the strikes are closer to the end than the beginning.

And speaking of which, SAG-AFTRA members voted overwhelmingly (98.32% in favor) to authorize a strike against 10 of the major video-game companies, per Deadline. The guild's last strike against the gaming companies, in 2016-17, lasted 183 days. The companies in question include Blindlight LLC; WB Games Inc.; Activision Productions Inc.; and Disney Character Voices Inc., among others.

The Actors' Equity Association has organized Broadway production assistants, and that the PAs are seeking voluntary recognition from The Broadway League, Deadline noted. In a statement, the League confirmed the request for recognition from Equity and has told the union the League looks "forward to discussing it further with them."

For the very first time, all 67 episodes of Moonlighting—the '80s series starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis—will be available to stream, complete with the original Grammy-nominated title track recording by Al Jarreau, per a press release. The synopsis is as follows: When former fashion model Maddie Hayes (played by Shepherd) goes broke and finds that one of her few remaining assets is ownership of the Blue Moon Detective Agency, she's tempted to liquidate it until she meets the quirky employees and gets involved in their even quirkier cases.

Starz has cancelled three existing drama series (Heels, Run the World and Blindspotting) and one upcoming project (The Venery of Samantha Bird), Deadline noted. Run the World follows a group of thirtysomething Black women—fiercely loyal best friends—who live, work and play in Harlem. Heels, starring Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig, revolves around the men and women who chase their dreams in the world of small-town pro wrestling.

Dancing with the Stars' late head judge Len Goodman was honored with a special trophy naming segment on the show's season 32 premiere, per Entertainment Weekly. Goodman, who retired at the end of season 31 before his death in April, is now the namesake of the show's disco-ball prize, renamed the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.

Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Festival—a celebration of hip-hop and R&B music slated to take place Oct. 7-8 that was to feature out queer rapper and new mom Da Brat—has been postponed to an unknown date, per a brief press release. The festival was also slated to feature performances from artists such as Xscape, Jagged Edge, Anthony Hamilton, TLC, Dem Franchize Boyz and Youngbloodz.

I Kissed a Boy winners Ollie King and Dan Harry Glendinning have broken up, Out noted. King noted on social media, "Folks, it feels weird to be making a 'public' announcement about something so personal. But since many of you have been on the journey and supported us since day one, I want to let you know that Dan and I aren't together anymore. We are still mates and there's no bad blood, we'll still be hanging out, etc." Glendinning has been making news for joining a novel HIV-vaccine trial conducted in Europe.

After 25 years of operation, Netflix's DVD.com subsidiary will close its doors for good on Sept. 29, The Verge noted. At its peak, Netflix shipped a billion DVDs by mail between 2007 and 2009 alone, with its users overwhelming the U.S. Postal Service by returning 1.6 million discs every single day.

Theresa Caputo, star of long-running TLC series Long Island Medium, has a new show on Lifetime, per Deadline. The 20-part series Theresa Caputo: Raising Spirits is launching on the new network and looks at Caputo as she explores the next phase of her personal life and embarks on a tour, including sold-out shows in London.

Just hours after Lizzo was the subject of a second lawsuit with claims of creating a hostile work environment, the musician accepted the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award at the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) gala in Los Angeles—while surrounded by a group of her dancers, per The Hollywood Reporter. Wiping away tears, she told the crowd, "I really needed this right now. God's timing is on time." Earlier the day, the singer's former tour stylist filed a lawsuit accusing Lizzo and supervisors of Big Grrrl Big Touring of sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination, retaliation and assault; this builds on another suit filed in August from a trio of former tour dancers.

The cause of death of actor Angus Cloud (Euphoria), 25, has been revealed. According to CNN, Cloud died of an accidental overdose, per the Alameda County coroner's office. "Angus Cloud died from a lethal combination of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and in what is ruled as an accidental overdose," a spokesperson for the coroner said. "Angus suffered from acute intoxication from the combination of drugs, which also included benzodiazepine."

Actor Emma Corrin, who identifies as nonbinary, is seemingly involved with Oscar winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), per People magazine. Malek reportedly has been seeing Corrin since earlier this summer. Corrin, who goes by they/them pronouns, confirmed their nonbinary identity in a 2022 Vogue interview; when asked about sexual orientation, Corrin responded at the time, "I like people," mentioning dates with men and women.