Happy That’s Gay Thursday :)
I’m so, so excited to share with ya’ll an interview I did with Lee Doud.
Lee is an actor, producer, and creator based out of LA. How did I get in contact with a creative living on the opposite end of the country? I slid into his DM’s, naturally ;)
No, but seriously, I did. After discovering an article Lee wrote for LGBTQ+ focused news outlet, The Advocate (which, because it was brilliant, I promptly included in my newsletter on Asian discrimination in the gay community), I tagged him on the That’s Gay instagram 🤷♂️
Anyways, ever since sliding into his DM’s over a month ago and getting in contact with him, I’ve wanted to talk more to Lee about his experiences as not just a fellow LGBTQ+ card-carrying member, but also as a person of color in the gay community; in Hollywood; in our world today.
For a long time now, I’ve been super interested in digging into the ties between different minority groups
– sexual minorities, racial minorities, gender minorities, etc. Why? Well, I believe that we (anyone that has lived through the experience of being “othered”) share a lot more in common than we might think.
Gender, sexuality, and race are not the same, don’t get it twisted, but they are all part of the same thing – our identities.
They’re all things we cannot change, that we cannot choose, and yet they all have the power to alter our lived experiences dramatically.
I thought Lee might just be the perfect person to talk to about that connection – and I wasn’t wrong.
Enjoy, folks! And drop a comment down below to keep the conversation going … ⬇️
*P.S. Check Lee out on Netflix’s hit series, Lucifer. He’ll make an appearance in Season 5, Episode 14 – set to release May 28th! He gets to fight Lucifer 😈 It’s all very exciting
Also catch him in I’m Fine, a TV show he starred in that centers a gay story :)
Yay! The first (established) edition of Headlines, Over Ice :) Here’s today’s steaming hot cup o’ joe ☕️
TUESDAY 04/27: CEO Booted for Harassing Prom-Bound Gay Teens – A Win for Accountability
When scrolling through the comment section on LGBTQ+ content online – particularly content that bends the rules of gender – I sometimes can’t help but think that not much has changed. It’s a bad habit, for sure, but I just can’t seem to peel my eyes away from all that unnecessary hate that people seem determined to make known in the comments.
But then I see news stories like this one, and I get a little bit of hope. People are starting to be held accountable for their hate.
In this case, it was the CEO of health care company VisuWell, Sam Johnson.
Here’s a video of Johnson following a gay couple on their prom night, telling one of the teens (mind you, Johnson is 46-years-old) that he looks “like an idiot” for deciding to wear a red dress for the occasion. Gotta warn you, the video left a bad taste in my mouth, but it’s thoroughly rectified knowing the man was not only fired by his company, but also called out by Ms. Kathy Griffin herself over Twitter.
Johnson denies the claims that he acted in a homophobic manner, arguing instead that he only approached the teens to try and get them to “tone down the vulgarities around the families and children who were present,” in his statement to NewsWeek. Here’s my take: teens will be teens and they will be obnoxious – I know I was – but coming after a kid in a dress and telling him he looks like an idiot isn’t the correct (or rational) response.
Here’s to hoping people out there – and the man himself – take this as a learning opportunity. You can’t mess with queer kids and get away with it anymore.
Kathy Griffin will come for you, guaranteed.
And that was That’s Gay, Volume 38. See you in Volume 39, folks!
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[Vol. 38] Lived Experiences: Being a Gay, Mixed Race Man in Hollywood