losangelesblade.com - 736 Showbiz News and Updates

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 78-22 to confirm Antony Blinken as the next secretary of state. The vote took place a day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced his nomination.

HOLLYWOOD – Twenty-eight years ago the Los Angeles LGBT Center moved from a rather dilapidated old motel and into a newly renovated 4400 square foot building in Hollywood. Along with that newly operational space came a new Executive Director and the promise of a new future and direction for the Center which since 1969 had cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBTQ individuals and families in the Southland.

SACRAMENTO – After considerable criticism at the roll-out of coronavirus vaccinations in California, in a system beset with shortages of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at a national level and confusion in the state’s coronavirus vaccine delivery system, it was announced that health insurance giant Blue Shield of California will be the outside administrator. 

WASHINGTON – After a brief but tumultuous term comprised of funding freezes; an ignored House subpoena and criticism from Democrats and Republicans; the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media resigned at President Biden’s request on Jan. 20.

SACRAMENTO – Filing his first piece of legislation as a member of the California Senate, Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) introduced SB 258, the HIV & Aging Act, which would update the definition of “greatest social need” in the Welfare and Institutions Code to include older people living with HIV.

2020 may have presented some serious disruptions to the process and presentation of GLAAD’s annual Media Awards, but the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization is geared up and ready to handle the continuing challenges of the pandemic as it prepares to announce the nominees for this year’s honors.

After decades of films in which LGBTQ people were so often victims of tragedy (it became known as the “kill your gays” trope) it’s nice to see more movies being made where we don’t have to suffer so much.

SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Monday that he was cancelling the stay-at-home order that had been reimposed on residents of 51 of the state’s 58 counties last month as a state-wide shortage of ICU and hospital beds crippled California’s healthcare systems.

MEXICO CITY, D.F. – Juan Antonio Carmona, 17, did not come home from school on Feb. 14, 2020. 

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — El primer Código Penal colombiano fue el de 1837, inspirado en el napoleónico y sin delito de sodomía. (…) En 1890, en el contexto de la Regeneración, se expidió un nuevo Código Penal. En el artículo 419 decía: “La persona que abusare de otra de su mismo sexo, y ésta, si lo consintiere, siendo púber, sufrirán de tres a seis años de reclusión” (República de Colombia/Consejo de Estado, 1890:376).

LONDON, UK – Pioneering AIDS researcher and clinician Joseph Sonnabend, 88, died January 24, 2021 at London’s famed Wellington Hospital after suffering a heart attack on January 3, 2021.  

BREAKING: WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order reversing the ban on Transgender military service Monday, January 25, the Los Angeles Blade learned Sunday.

LOS ANGELES – Speaking to reporters from Dodger Stadium, the city’s mega-vaccination site, Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged that the shortages in the vaccine supply was presenting some difficulties as the city and the county public health department strive to get the most vulnerable Angelenos, those 65 and older vaccinated.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Department of Public Health noted in an emailed statement today that “it has built, through a very successful public-private partnership, a robust system that is capable of vaccinating a large number of Los Angeles County residents in a safe, fair and equitable manner.”

WASHINGTON D. C. – Joseph R. Biden Jr was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States Wednesday, just hours after his predecessor Donald J. Trump, left Washington flying to his private club in Florida ending one of the most divisive chapters and presidencies in American history.

WASHINGTON- On the final day of the Trump administration the United States crossed the grim threshold of over 400,000 Americans who have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In a moment punctuated by solemn ceremony tinged with grief, a nation for the first time was brought together to mourn its losses.

LOS ANGELES – A Beverly Hills salon owner was arrested at her apartment in the city by FBI agents in connection with her involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol building, on January 6.

SAN DIEGO – U. S. District Court Judge Cynthia Ann Bashant issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) Monday, blocking the Trump administration’s latest attempt to prevent asylum seekers from accessing the U.S. asylum process.

LOS ANGELES – Whether you’re looking to get in shape, live a healthier lifestyle or learn a new hobby, you can find a class that fits your schedule and budget. Plus, our virtual classes are safe and convenient.

WASHINGTON – CNN’s Jake Tapper examines the ways in which President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election result was able to spread and eventually led to the riot at the US Capitol.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reminding County residents that “the most important action for everyone to take to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives is to stay home and not mingle with others not in your household.”

WILMINGTON, Delaware – The nation continues to grapple with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has over 23 million reported cases and taken the lives of more than 389,000 Americans as of January 15. The United States has counted more Covid-19 deaths these past two weeks than any other 14-day stretch over the course of the entire pandemic thus far.

WILMINGTON, Delaware – President-elect Joe Biden in a nationally televised address Thursday unveiled his plan to inject $1.9 trillion into the American economy coupled with legislative proposals to push Congress into raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, aiding struggling state and local governments, safely reopening schools, rolling out a massive Federal Covid-19 vaccination program, and increasing the size of stimulus checks Congress approved last month to $1,400.

LOS ANGELES – The COVID-19 surge in Los Angeles County has contributed to a surge in outbreaks at workplaces across the county, including grocery stores, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and many other workplaces where people come together on a daily basis. 

WILMINGTON, Delaware – President-elect Biden will reportedly tap former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford as the State Department’s chief of protocol.

WILMINGTON, Delaware – President-elect Biden on Wednesday announced he has nominated Samantha Power to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development.

WASHINGTON – The U. S. House of Representatives in a 232 to 197 vote has impeached President Donald J. Trump for the second time- two days shy of the one year mark. The action by the House Wednesday afternoon makes Trump the only American president to have been impeached twice.

LOS ANGELES – The New Jalisco Bar has served as a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals for over twenty-plus years, but is now on the brink of closing its doors due to lack of rent relief. It first opened in the 1990s to cater to LA’s growing LGBTQ Latino crowd.

LOS ANGELES – Every minute, on average, 10 people in L.A. County test positive for COVID -19, and these 15,000 individuals who test positive each day were capable of infecting others for two days before they had any symptoms or knew they were positive.  At least 10-12% of people infected with the virus end up hospitalized at some point, and more than 1% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 end up dying.

The mirror has four faces—in front of it, that is, as two maskless BFFs breeze through an ask-me-anything exchange with a worldwide audience, while gazing into a reflective surface as they apply the makeup that transforms them into NYC-based drag queens Jackie Cox and Chelsea Piers.

You’ve got a little extra time this month, and you don’t want to waste it.

Editor’s note: Former Los Angeles Blade News Editor Karen Ocamb reflects on the painful truth that is for too many in the LGBTQ+ community, especially those in their 40’s onward, a reality that they live. While some celebrity parents in this modern era enthusiastically embrace and affirm their queer children- that was hardly ever the case in years past to the point of erasure.

NEW YORK – After successful “Love is Love” Competitions in Austin and Boston last February, OUTAthletics will host an individual virtual competition beginning February 4, 2021.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order today blocking, in its entirety, a Trump administration rule that would have made it virtually impossible for all refugees, including those who are LGBTQ or living with HIV, to secure asylum in the United States. The rule was set to go into effect on January 11, 2021.

Thousands of Trump supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to commit seditious acts that were motivated by ignorance and white supremacy, which obviously go hand in hand. But the looting and deadly violence never would have occurred without the encouragement of a treasonous crook in the Oval Office. 

WASHINGTON – Congress certified the Electoral College Vote at 3:41 AM Eastern Time, January 7, 2021. Joe Biden was officially named as the 46th duly-elected President of the United States and Kamala D. Harris has been named as the 49th Vice-President of the United States.