The OUTwright Festival
Fuse Theatre's annual series of performances and workshops highlighting the power of art to help comment on and change our surroundings goes online for 2020, with a specific focus on trans and gender non-conforming communities. Visit Fuse's Facebook page from Wed-Sun, June 24-28, every night at 7 pm to watch readings, discussions, and fully staged productions from writers including Mikki Gillette, Rebecca Jae Petchenik, Rusty Newton Tennant, MJ Kaufman, and Jane Comer.
(Wed-Sun, June 24-28, 7 pm, Online)
Drag Queen Instagram Live
Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture is spotlighting some of Seattle's finest (and very pop-culture obsessed) drag queens (and kings!) for the month of June, with guests including Eucalipstick, Kylie Mooncakes, Jane Don't, and more.
(Thurs June 18 & 25, 7 pm, Online)
Still Chasing Rainbows: Pride Virtual Variety Show & Quarantea Dance
The Ambassador Council at Our House Portland presents this afternoon variety show streamed live to your screen and transforming your living room into a den of fabulosity with a bunch of fun games, great guests, and more. Hosted by Summer Lynne Seasons. Proceeds benefit Our House Portland.
(Sat June 20, 3 pm, Online)
Mom, I'm Gay. Can My Friends Sleep Over?
A livestream series from "Portland's premier queer improv team" Queer Ye Queer Ye, transforming whatever screen you're watching on into a window on an utterly unique "gay-riety" show, one that offers storytelling, commentary, comedy, and sleepover games!
(Sat June 20, 7:30 pm, Online)
Black Lives Matter: Black Gay Pride 2020
A virtual Pride celebration hosted by Seattle/King County's grassroots Black Lives Matter organization, hoping to provide queer Northwest performers an opportunity to get paid for putting on a vital, vibrant Pride performance of the type that would have taken the roof off a club if COVID-19 hadn't closed things down. If you are one of those performers, click here to be a part of the party!
(Sat June 20, 9 pm, Online)
Celebrate Pride Together
SAGE Metro Portland, Pride NW, and AARP Oregon present this online celebration of Pride, with performances from stand-up Marga Gomez, pianist and educator Tammy L. Hall, and the evening's host, Paul Iarrabino of Our Bold Voices.
(Wed, June 24, 6 pm, Online)
Carol
Carol is set in the 1950s, which was not a great time for gay people getting to live the lives they actually deserved. That makes it all the more remarkable that the film doesn't punish its characters by dooming them to misery or early death, like most of the nonhetero narratives Hollywood offers up. If creativity thrives within limits, Carol makes a pretty good case that love can, too—although it certainly shouldn't have to. ALISON HALLETT
(Now Available, On Demand, $2.99-3.99 to rent, $4.99-11.99 to own)
Yeah, We Cool Like That
A virtual Pride event courtesy of the folks from the UTSC Women and Trans Centre, inviting people from all over the globe to sit and enjoy a discussion with organizer Marisa Grant, choreographer Lakeysha Desmond, and activist Abhirami Balachandran.
(Thurs, June 18, 1 pm, Online)
Model Minority: An Asian Womxn Comedy Show
Stephanie Nam will host a lineup of fellow funny womxn of the Asian diaspora in this virtual comedy showcase celebrating PRIDE! Performers include Tin Lorica, Eddie Su, and Jared Goldstein.
(Thurs June 18, 7 pm, Online)
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Learn about the life of radical revolutionary Marsha P. Johnson, who paved the way for LGBTQ rights during the Stonewall riot as a Black trans woman.
(Now Available, Netflix)
The Laramie Project
Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project is a haunting and intimate presentation through interwoven monologues of the reactions of Laramie, Wyoming residents, and members of the play's originating Tectonic Theater Project, to the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard. This one-night-only performance benefits the New Deal Creative Arts Center, and the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center.
(Fri June 19, 4 pm, Online)
Tangerine
Good movies can sometimes give off a hum—a feeling that the energy and chemistry on screen can't be constrained by the edges of the frame. Tangerine fits this description and then some, creating a kinetic rush with enough spillover juice to light up LA for a year. While chock-full of innovations both welcome (a story about transgender characters, played by transgender performers) and potentially eye-strainingly worrisome (the movie was shot entirely on tricked-out, stabilized iPhones), the main takeaway is just how alive it seems. ANDREW WRIGHT
(Now Streaming, Hulu)
Sans Bar Where You Are: Pride Celebration
Make a mocktail (donate $25 and they'll send you a special Pride cocktail kit!), set up in front of the screen, and enjoy an evening of quality discussion (including, but not limited to, issues of sobriety) and drag queen karaoke courtesy of The Airscream.
(Fri June 19, 5 pm, Online)
Moonlight
Moonlight is a movie about what it’s like to grow up male in America. Moonlight is also a movie about what it’s like to grow up gay in America. And Moonlight is, in addition, a movie about what it’s like to grow up Black in America. That inevitably makes Barry Jenkins’ justly acclaimed film sound like it will appeal primarily to gay, Black, and/or male audiences. And indeed, people who share some or all of its protagonist’s characteristics will be overjoyed at the belated depiction of lives like theirs on screen. But Moonlight, if I can swoon for a moment, does what all true art aspires to do. It shares something unique but universal about what it’s like to be human. MARC MOHAN
(Now Streaming, Netflix)
Gourmet Pride Brunch
Cozymeal presents this online cooking class that will (hopefully) come to a close with you ready to enjoy a tasty plateful of lemon rainbow pancakes, balsamic berries and mascarpone cream, and a couple glasses of blood orange mimosa to wash it all down.
(Sat June 20, 10 am, $35, Online)
Virtual Pride Cabaret
CNY Pride throws the doors to this virtual cabaret wide open so that people all over the world can come inside and catch a lineup of queens putting on a show like no other, with performances from Kitten N' Lou, Celeste LeRue, Amara Lee Dupree, Frita Lay, Harlow Holiday, Sparkle Royale, and more. Hosted by Samantha Vega.
(Sat June 20, 4:30 pm, Online)
Paris is Burning
For sheer density of vibrant life, few films compare with Paris Is Burning. Released in 1990, Jennie Livingston's documentary dives into the gay ball culture of Harlem, New York, in the late 1980s, getting up close and personal with a number of the scene's key individuals, who hold forth on their lives and art with the otherworldly self-possession of superstars, against a backdrop of intersected communities (poor, queer, and trans) ravaged by a raging AIDS crisis and eight years of pernicious Reagan-era neglect. The result is a searing cultural documentary that explodes off the screen like a party. DAVID SCHMADER
(Now Available, iTunes, $3.99 to rent, $14.99 to buy)
Pride After Dark
One of the benefits in everything being online for 2020 is that it makes attending some of the country's bigger Pride celebrations no longer requires plane tickets or hotel reservations. For example: PFY's annual Pride event in Long Island NY, Pride After Dark, will stream with Frida Cox starring and bringing a whole bunch of special guests along for the ride
(Sat June 20, 4 pm, Online)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
From Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), Portrait of a Lady on Fire is set in 18th century France, where young artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) for potential suitors to fall in love with. One thing: Héloïse does not want her portrait done, as she does not want to get married. So Marianne poses as her maid to get close to the lady, completing the painting in secret. But of course this closeness and secretiveness makes them all hot for each other. Portrait was the first woman-directed film to take home the Queer Palm award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes. JASMYNE KEIMIG
(Now Streaming, Hulu)
Reading with Pride
HarperCollins presents this virtual roundtable conversation, hosted by Xtra Magazine editor Rachel Geise and featuring authors Amrou Al-Kadhi (Life as a Unicorn), and Sam Lansky (Broken People).
(Sat June 20, 10 am, Online)
The Electric Pride Party: Virtual Edition
As the poster says, "Pride is never canceled," and renowned New York production company On The Quays is proving that sentiment to be raucously, vibrantly true with this livestreamed party featuring performances by Johnny Newcomb, Jonathan Christopher, Hannah Fairchild, Joseph Spinelli, Deanna Giuletti, Will Bellamy, and more.
(Sat June 20, 3 pm, Online)
Porch Pride
A two-day "Bluegrass Pride Queer-antine Festival" providing over 10 hours of livestreamed original music over Pride weekend, shining a spotlight on LGBTQ+ folk and roots musicians, including Rachel Eddy, Cameron DeWhitt, Tyler Hughes, Sam Gleaves, Molly Tuttle, Front Country, Grace van't Hof, and more. Visit the Facebook event page for a complete list of performers and schedules.
(Sat-Sun June 27-28, Online)
Global Pride 2020
An all-day (literally all-day, as in 24 straight hours) livestreamed celebration of Pride taking place across the globe, with orgs from Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and America all participating. Who's going to be at this thing? How about Costa Rican president Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg, drag performers Pabllo Vittar and Courtney Act, music by Olivia Newton John, Thelma Houston, and the Dixie Chicks, and way, way more.
(Sat June 27, midnight, Online)
San Francisco Pride
Since 2020 is providing many people the option of visiting all the best Pride celebrations they might not have been able to in previous years (thank you, internet!) one of the must-attend parties belongs to San Francisco, who is spreading their Pride 50 online extravaganza across two days, with some of the city's most iconic queens (including Honey Mahogany, Persia, Sister Roma, and Yves Saint Croissant) and headliner Big Freedia putting in work alongside speeches, conversations, and presentations reflecting on 50 years of Pride.
(June 27-28, Sat 1 pm, Sun 2 pm, Online)
Dirty Computer: Emotion Picture
Janelle Monae's excellent Emotion Picture is a visual album set in a near-future dystopia. While the album it's based on, Dirty Computer is addictive, catchy, and pregnant with Prince influences, the visual component is helpful in guiding listeners on Monáe’s emotional journey as she processes the state of modern society. Dirty Computer takes sex-positive to a whole new dimension, with Monáe asserting her desires and identity, pushing the boundaries of conventional thought with her music. JENNI MOORE
