Queer creator/actor/director Tommy Dorfman’s Good Girl Productions acquired the rights to Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters’ best-selling novel, for big-screen development, per Deadline.
Named one of The New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, Detransition, Baby explores the lives of three women—transgender and cisgender—that collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires. Dorfman followed her breakout role in the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why by making her feature directorial debut with, I Wish You All the Best, with a cast including Corey Fogelmanis, Alexandra Daddario, Cole Sprouse and Lena Dunham; that film will be released theatrically through Lionsgate beginning Nov. 7, after premiering at SXSW.
LGBTQ+ retired basketball star Sue Bird made history recently, becoming the first WNBA player to be honored by her franchise with a statue, ABC News noted. Bird, the partner of retired soccer great Megan Rapinoe, said in Seattle, “The truth is that I never set out to be the first at anything, but if being the first means that I won’t be the last, if this statue means that 20 years from now, there will be statues of other WNBA greats—some are in this audience and players whose names we don’t even know yet—then I’m proud to be the first.” Bird’s statue stands outside of Climate Pledge Arena, the home of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm.
On Sept. 7, Ricky Martin will make MTV VMAs history becoming the first ever artist to receive the annual show’s Latin Icon award, per Variety. More than a quarter-century after he became the first male Latino artist to win best pop video and won the most awards of the night at the show, Martin will once again take the stage to perform and accept his award. The 2025 ceremony is set to air live on CBS.
The official White House newsletter posted the article “President Trump Is Right About the Smithsonian,” NPR noted. It calls out some of the institution’s artwork, exhibitions, programs and online articles that focus on race, slavery, immigration and sexuality. Even though Brooklyn-based artist Patricia Cronin’s 2002 bronze sculpture “Memorial to a Marriage”—which depicts two women (herself and her now-wife) embracing on a bed—is not on the White House’s list of objectionable art, she fears it could be. She said that going after the Smithsonian could have a chilling effect on other museums and galleries.
Todd Haynes’ gay romance De Noche, which shut down about a year ago, is being revived—with Pedro Pascal possibly being involved, Deadline noted. The project was considered kaput after Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix left the production after reportedly being a no-show on set for two weeks prior to its unplugging. Christine Vachon has said publicly that Phoenix brought the project to Killer Films, which has a long history of making queer films. Pascal would join Danny Ramirez, who was originally attached to the project.
Ahead of tennis’ U.S. Open, openly gay ATP Tour Chair and USTA President Brian Vahaly said he wants to make the sport more welcoming to queer athletes, according to NBC News. Having grown up in a religious and conservative household in Atlanta and then having immersed himself in a locker room culture where homophobic remarks were a common way “to build camaraderie,” the former pro player and senior executive admitted that he had developed a lot of internalized homophobia. The Grand Slam will host its fifth annual Open Pride day on Aug. 28.
Held in NYC’s Sheraton Times Square this year, Flame Con 2025—an annual LGBTQ+ convention dedicated to rallying, empowering and promoting the queer geek community— expanded to create more space in light of the political crisis, Gay City News noted. Created by Geeks Out, Flame Con offered events such as a free library of queer literature; an all-ages campfire counterpart to the 21+ Fireball afterparty; a cosplay contest; and sessions like “Queer Not Quiet: The Unique Storytelling Potential of Fiction Podcasting.”
Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon is returning to the movie-musical genre with Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway musical hit, per a press release. Political prisoner Valentín (played by Diego Luna) shares a cell with Molina (queer actor Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite film diva, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). The 128-minute movie is slated to be released Oct. 10 in theaters only.
Mariah Carey is set to receive MTV’s Video Vanguard Award at the upcoming Video Music Awards—a development that will mark Carey’s first-ever Moonman, Yahoo! Entertainment noted. The award has previously been given to artists such Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliott and, most recently, Katy Perry—but some are not happy with Carey being chosen as the next recipient. While some social-media users supported Carey, others felt that Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and Adele (among others) merited the award more.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has cancelled the FY 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships program, NPR noted. The email, posted by various authors on social media, states that the NEA is canceling grants that exist outside of the Trump administration’s priorities. The annual program—which has awarded past fellowships to writers such as Alice Walker and Charles Bukowski—was set up in 1966 to help foster U.S. fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Beyonce sat atop the monthly Boxscore charts with the highest-grossing tour and highest-grossing engagement of July, per Billboard. That was three in a row for Queen Bey, one of only two acts to string together three consecutive months at No. 1, following Bad Bunny last year (March-May), and repeating herself after doing so on 2023’s Renaissance World Tour (July-September). In total, she’s been on top for seven months, tying Bad Bunny, Coldplay and Elton John for the most number-ones.
The staffing shakeup at the Kennedy Center continues, per Playbill. Following the departure of longtime Vice President and Executive Producer of Theater Jeffrey Finn, the D.C. institution abruptly let go of three members of its dance programming team: director Jane Raleigh as well as assistant managers Mallory Miller and Malik Burnett. Raleigh’s programming included classic ballet and contemporary dance, presenting works from New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company and many others.
U.S. non-binary runner Nikki Hiltz ran down Australia’s Linden Hall in the women’s 1,500-meter contest at the recent Allianz Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels to earn their first career Diamond League victory in 3:55.94, Let’s Run noted. Hiltz (who is biologically female but identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns) is the first U.S. resident to win a women’s middle-distance/distance event on the Diamond League circuit since Athing Mu-Nikolayev won the 800 meters at the 2023 Prefontaine Classic, and the first to win a 1,500 since Shelby Houlihan accomplished the feat in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2018.
The Forge acquired the North American rights to Kristen Stewart’s feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, per Variety. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, where it became one of the most praised titles of the cinematic event. Chronology tells the story of a woman who survives an abusive childhood before channeling her experiences into competitive swimming, sexual exploration, toxic relationships and addiction—eventually discovering her voice as a writer.
In July, Netflix announced that Queer Eye will end after the 10th season—and the next day HGTV revealed that former Queer Eye co-host Bobby Berk will host a new show, Junk or Jackpot?, per Variety. Berk addressed the backlash over his announcement with People and revealed that his Queer Eye co-host Karamo Brown (who now has a talk show) called him out over it. Berk said, “Even Karamo was like, ‘Girl—the day after?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no. I promise you it was already planned.” For the first eight seasons of Queer Eye, Berk co-hosted with Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness; after Berk left, he was replaced by HGTV interior design expert Jeremiah Brent, who will complete two seasons on the show before it ends.
On Sunday, Sept. 21, at 8 p.m. CT, a new season of Halloween Wars will debut, with queer host Jonathan Bennett presiding over this year’s activities, a Food Network press release noted. The show will be challenging seven teams of the best cake, sugar and pumpkin artists in the world to create winning treats. From scenes depicting childhood monsters to an inspired take on the boogeyman’s evil lair, this season’s teams aim to create spooky and delicious displays. In the end, only one team will impress judges Shinmin Li and Aarti Sequeira, and walk away with the Halloween Wars championship and the grand prize of $25,000.
Plastic-surgery advocate Justin “Human Ken Doll” Jedlica is one of the queer icons featured in Reflections, a new video series that asks, “What would you see if you were left alone with nothing but your reflection in the mirror?,” a press release noted. Shot on 16mm film and inspired by Andy Warhol’s iconic 1960s Screen Tests, the series—which will debut Oct. 1—presents 16 short films showcasing a cross-section of the LGBTQ+ community. The series’ trailer is here.
Actress Christine Baranski, 75, and genderqueer singer/songwriter King Princess, 26, sparked dating rumors after they were spotted holding hands on the red carpet for the Broadway reopening of Mamma Mia, per Page Six. Princess captioned an Instagram photo of the twosome with a hashtag reading, “Love is Love.” Reps for Baranski quickly shut down any romance rumors, telling Page Six that conversations about the entertainers “is pure speculation.”
Crumbl Cookies co-founder Sawyer Hemsley has come out as gay after being outed, according to Them. Hemsley shared his coming-out post about four hours after Robert Sepúlveda Jr.—the former star of Logo’s gay dating show Finding Prince Charming—shared a TikTok post in which he outed the executive via a screen recording of their alleged private messages on Instagram. Sepúlveda claimed that after he and Hemsley talked for a few weeks, Hemsley began sending him nudes, to which Sepúlveda replied that he was only looking for “something serious and substantial.”
Controversial gay director Bryan Singer is mounting a comeback after almost a decade in exile, helming a film that stars Oscar winner Jon Voight, Variety revealed. Singer shot the new film—described as a period drama that revolves around the relationship between a father and son—in Greece two years ago. The story allegedly is set in the Middle East in the late ’70s or early ’80s, at a time when Israel occupied Lebanon. At the height of Hollywood’s #MeToo era, the Atlantic published a 2019 article that detailed Singer’s alleged sexual misdeeds involving minors (which he had denied); the piece was catastrophic for his career.
Country-music stars Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton deliver a ‘70s-inspired music video for their first true duet collaboration, “A Song to Sing,” which Rolling Stone lauded for “its dreamy disco groove and lovestruck devotion,” per a press release. Recalling an era of music epitomized by Ronnie Milsap, Waylon Jennings and, especially, the classic Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers duets, the collaborators borrowed jewelry from Rogers’ and Parton’s estates, with Lambert wearing a pair of Parton’s gold clip-on hoop earrings and Stapleton donning a lion necklace of Rogers’.
Rapper/product hawker Snoop Dogg criticized LGBTQ+ representation in children’s films, suggesting it leads kids to “ask questions” that he said he doesn’t have the answers to, People noted. His criticism arose during a recent podcast appearance in which he recalled one of his grandsons’ reactions to seeing a family with two mothers while watching Disney and Pixar’s 2022 movie Lightyear in a theater. Earlier in the episode, the rapper also said, “they’re putting it everywhere,” seemingly in reference to LGBTQ+ representation. He has since been called out by people such as RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Ts Madison.
It turned out that, as multiple women have come forward with allegations of misconduct against Bay Area musician Michael Franti, one of his earliest collaborators said he is not surprised, per The San Francisco Chronicle. Rono Tse—who co-founded the hip-hop duo Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy with Franti in the early 1990s—has claimed Franti cut him out of ownership rights to their work when the group signed with Island Records. Tse’s comments come as Franti faces allegations from several women, including bisexual Spanish American singer Victoria Canal, who said she was groomed and abused by an older artist when she was 19. Shortly after Canal posted, Franti denied any abuse although he admitted to a romantic relationship outside his marriage.