The LGBTQ+ locals choice
Volume 23 #12
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INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR, MUSICIAN & PODCASTER
MATT ROGERS
MAGAZINE
YEARS
26
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW
By: Sarah Bricker Hunt
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Black Trans Activist Raquel Willis on Why Stories Like Hers Need to Be Heard ‘The Risk It Takes to Bloom’ author on living a life of ‘discomfort’ and how she hopes to change that for others When Raquel Willis took the stage at the National Women’s March in Washington, D.C. the day after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, with beaming defiance and fierce resolve, she didn’t sidestep the controversial way trans women had been sidelined from the planning of the momentous occasion. “Although I’m glad to be here now, it’s disheartening that women like me were an afterthought in the initial planning of this march,” she remarked. “Many of us had to stand a little taller to be heard, and that exclusion is nothing new.” Willis has yet to let up the pressure on trans-exclusionary spaces and people since that cold winter day almost seven years ago. The Augusta, Georgia native details her life story and her ceaseless passion for advocacy in a candid new memoir, “The Risk It Takes to Bloom,” out now. Raised 6 Fab Vegas
Catholic in a Black Southern family, Willis explains how the death of her father when she was 19 contributed to years of grief, and ultimately, epiphanies about what she was meant to do with her life — how she began to truly bloom as a whole person. Willis worked as a journalist during the early part of the Black Lives Matter movement, hiding her identity while working as a news reporter.
Photo Credit: Texas Isaiah
Over time, she would publicly come out as transgender and become a powerful advocate. She served as director of communications for the Ms. Foundation for Women; as executive editor of Out magazine, where she started the award-winning Trans Obituaries Project, and as a national organizer for the Transgender Law Center. She writes about the reality of working in those
Facebook.com/FreeZoneLV
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------“lofty” positions as a Black trans woman — experiences she says cast light on how progressive spaces can still contain systems of oppression. Willis is currently an executive producer for iHeartMedia’s LGBTQ+ Outspoken Podcast Network. The activist recently discussed the new book, her continued advocacy and her thoughts about the current state of trans discrimination. You write about your advocacy work during a pivotal time, where you started down this path during the Obama era, and then along came Trump and an abrupt anti-LGBTQ+ shift, politically and socially. I would say things have certainly required us to have a bit more grace and nuance. And I don’t necessarily mean that for our political figures — they are who they are; that is what that is. But I think living through the Trump era and being in the space where we are now, there’s a lot of grace that I’ve had to have for myself around being able to hold those things that I have anxieties or insecurities about and then also being able to kind of push forward and also draw on my power. We’re living in a time of antitrans discrimination, where being known makes us a target. I think many in the trans community want to be seen, but I think at this time, it’s also at what cost? What are we willing to give up? What kind of risk, speaking to the 8 Fab Vegas
title of the book, are we willing to take to be seen or to be heard? We often have these kind of black and white ideas about which spaces are conservative and which spaces are progressive. And one thing that you will quickly realize, if you’re on the margins within the margins, is that some of the spaces that we think may be the most progressive also have systems of oppression. You touched on this in your speech at the Women’s March, before it was cut short. Yes, this was seen as this kind of tent-pole feminist moment, but what did that mean for me as someone expecting that space to value my transness, to value my queerness in the same way that it was valuing this kind of feminist element of my activism? And then later, for instance, I write about working at the Transgender Law Center. Working at this nonprofit that in many ways was the Holy Grail of where you would want to work as an empowered trans person. But again, still dealing with systems of oppression around anti-Blackness or dealing with misogynoir and maybe not hearing or maybe not experiencing being heard because of how hierarchy, and even capitalism, still kind of rips apart these progressive spaces on the margins at Out magazine. I don’t think that we have enough stories where it’s a Black trans woman talking
about her experience with her career, navigating the workplace in this way and also trying to maintain her values and dignity in those places. I also think about so many of the folks who had their first major social justice awakening during that summer of 2020 in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor and so many others. We’re in this time where we’re holding all of these truths and yearnings and desires and embodiments at once. It’s hard to understand that your perspective may just be one perspective. Usually, it’s just one perspective and not the only one, and unfortunately, no matter how we come to our perspective, we still have to reckon with the fact that there are any number of them out there, especially if we’re trying to work with others to create some kind of pathway to collective liberation. No one wants to feel uncomfortable, but sometimes that’s what it takes, basically? I think so much of the experience of folks on the margins is about that discomfort around being a trans person. My whole life has been about discomfort and not necessarily in the way that I think the average person may think. So many folks paint the experience of being nonconforming or queer as some kind of internal discomfort. It’s often, in my experience, not been so much about that
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------internal discomfort. I think I’ve always had a feeling that I will be able to tease out whatever’s happening internally in due time if I’m given the space and grace to, but it’s that external discomfort that has often eaten up so much of my energy. I dealt with peers at a young age who didn’t understand why I was so feminine or the discomfort externally that I felt for my dad, who didn’t understand who I was in so many different ways, or the discomfort I felt working, or when I was a student at the University of Georgia. Luckily, I found some LGBTQ+ community there, but I was still a Black student at a predominantly white institution and I was still the only openly trans woman student in that context in 2012, 2013. So it’s that discomfort in those spaces or the discomfort of going to Out magazine and being the first trans woman to hold a leadership position at that publication. It has been a series of discomforts in this life of mine, but I think what I’ve learned from that is that those are opportunities to evolve not only for me but for the environment to evolve for the folks around me who are invested in something tangible and different. Have you ever needed to compartmentalize some of this external pressure where people are constantly pointing out that you’re the first “this” or “that” when you’re really just trying to do your job some days? 10 Fab Vegas
I think at this point in my career, it can be comforting to understand the history, particularly trans history, and to know that there have been others who came before me. Maybe not exactly the same with the exact same credentials, but there have been trans storytellers before me. There have been trans folks trying to carve out a
space in media before me. And so I can take comfort in knowing that wittingly or unwittingly, they did leave some bit of a broken pathway for me. My hope is that whatever space I enter, I am carving out a container for the next folks to not have to check off as many boxes. My hope is to make it smoother for the next people. But also, everyone is
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------carrying some kind of anxiety. It may seem more obvious about what mine may be, as a Black trans woman, but it doesn’t do me any favors to forget that this white woman next to me has some anxieties, too, and probably some very similar ones. This dude over here has some anxieties, the straight person and the cisgender person. We have opportunities for connection by naming the insecurities, the anxieties and the awkwardnesses that exists, so we can be on the same page.
not out professionally, and that was out of fear of losing my chance at a livelihood or a chance at starting a career. And so when I was in my second job in Atlanta, Leelah’s death really pushed me to speak up, and I made this YouTube video, just talking about how it had impacted me. [After the BBC picked up the story], I had to come out to my co-workers, and luckily I was in a workplace that found that to be an empowering thing for me to do, but that was a shift.
Are you noticing upcoming generations and their parents embracing topics like gender diversity and intersectionality?
You went on to focus much of your activism on the issue of violence against trans women of color. Why did you start the Trans Obituaries Project?
It’s so interesting for me to see more and more parents who have young trans or nonconforming or queer or nonbinary people in their lives. And it’s a beautiful thing that these shifts are happening, which is exactly why we see such dogged political attacks in this moment. One of the throughlines for me and my activism work has been paying close attention to deaths that have happened, particularly in the trans community, and trying to turn the feelings those moments have elicited into activation. It was the suicide of 17-yearold Leelah Alcorn back in 2015 that really inspired me to speak up publicly for the first time about my transness because in my first role as a newspaper reporter in smalltown Georgia, I was in the closet as a trans woman. I was
The Trans Obituaries project that I created in Out magazine was an opportunity for me to not only talk about this epidemic of violence but to also bring in a more investigative element like delving into the story of a 27-year-old Afro-Latina woman who died in Riker’s custody named Layleen Polanco in 2019. Her story brought a different dynamic around someone who died in state custody and who was a sex worker who dealt with mental illness, who had epilepsy and was in ballroom culture in the House of Extravaganza. And so, she had all of these elements related to her whole life. I think that’s been at the heart of talking about this epidemic of violence for me — to get folks to remember that these people lived before they were taken. I think we all kind of carry
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the lives of folks who have been taken, whether we were related to them, whether they were just in our community, or whether they shared some element of our identity or our experience. And I do feel like we have the opportunity to not just wallow in the grief and the mourning but to actually use whatever lane we’re in to try and make things better so that doesn’t happen again. If you’re in storytelling, you have the opportunity to uncover those stories or the dynamics that make those stories occur. If we’re talking about education, you’re in the educational system. You have to find a way to make sure that students don’t feel the isolation that maybe someone like Leelah felt. There’s so many opportunities here for that radical change. But we have to be endlessly curious and endlessly creative about how we can make those radical changes in our lives.
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LGBTQ+ HOLLYWOOD
By: Romeo San Vincente
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DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD Jennifer Lopez to star in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”
happen quickly enough. Begin your fantasy roster picks!
Jennifer Lopez will star in the new musical feature film “Kiss of the Spider Woman” from gay director Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls,” “Beauty and The Beast”), in what is the next step in a long journey from its original incarnation as a novel. Manuel Puig’s book was turned into an Academy Award-winning 1985 film starring Raul Julia and William Hurt (who won the Oscar for Best Actor), and then a 1992 Tony Awardwinning musical with songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb. This new film will take its cues from that production and Lopez will play Aurora, originated on stage by Chita Rivera. For those of you just joining the property’s ongoing life, it’s the complex story of two cellmates in a Brazilian prison, one hetero and one queer, and the latter’s attempts to soothe his straight mate with narrated plotlines from a favorite romantic movie. No other cast – including the two lead characters -- has been announced, but with a planned spring start in front of the cameras, that should
Abbi Jacobson moves into “No Good Deed”
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There was a particular kind of cruel media injustice visited on the wonderful TV adaptation of “A League of Their Own,” starring “Broad City” creator Abbi Jacobson. Cancelled abruptly, midnarrative, thanks to wicked corporate decisions, we’ll miss it and are still angry about it. But we’re happy to announce that the queer star has landed in a new comedy from lesbian creator Liz Feldman (“Dead to Me”) called “No Good Deed.” Starring Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow, Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson and Teyonah Parris, the eightepisode comedy centers on the terrifying world of real estate and the exquisite torture of buying a home, as various people look to buy the same property. Among them is Jacobson’s character, who’s looking to buy the house for herself and her wife (Poppy Liu, “Hacks”). Everyone has motives, secrets, dreams, and money trouble (because it’s about buying a home in
prohibitively expensive Los Angeles, for starters) and as we all know anxiety is the basis of good comedy. Flip from HGTV to Netflix when this one drops sometime in 2024. One to watch: Sherry Cola in “You’re Dating a Narcissist!” Up-and-coming bisexual actor Sherry Cola left her comic imprint all over the 2023 films “Joy Ride” and “Shortcomings,” (both streaming now, go enjoy them) and is poised to become a name your household knows when she teams up with Marisa Tomei in the rom-com “You’re Dating a Narcissist!” alongside Ciara Bravo (“Cherry”). Tomei will play a psychologist on a road trip to visit her daughter (Bravo) in order to talk her out of marrying a man she thinks is toxic. Also known as parental meddling. The therapist’s best pal (Cola) is along for the ride and who knows what else. It’s from the writing team of Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly (both of whom worked on the funny indie feature “Golden Arm”) and Allison’s directorial debut. No word yet
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----------------------------------------------------------------------on when to expect this one – we’ll be scouting film festival schedules when the time comes – but we’re thrilled to see Sherry Cola’s career trajectory aiming up to new queer heights. For the love of Luther Vandross The great Luther Vandross died at age 54, after a solid career building a pop/R&B body of work that will stand the test of time. But while that career flourished over decades, his personal life was complicated in a time when coming out was considered too risky in the music
business, a point confirmed by his friend Patti Labelle in a 2017 “Watch What Happens Live” segment. Now a documentary film from producer Jamie Foxx and director Dawn Porter (“John Lewis: Good Trouble”) titled “Luther: Never Too Much,” will take its bow at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and explore the life and legacy of the beloved singer. Using archival material Vandross will tell his own story alongside those who knew him: Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Nile Rodgers, and Roberta Flack. It’s a story of difficult love, career triumphs and,
ultimately, health problems that took him from the world far too soon. This one’s going to be an emotional ride, and it’s already jumped into our must-see top spot for 2024. Romeo San Vicente wants you to hear Luther Vandross sing “A House is Not a Home”
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CELEBRITY INTERVIEW
By: Chris Azzopardi
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Photo Credit: Jen Rosenstein
Ho, Ho, Ho-ing His Way to the Top
Come get cozy around the fire with your chestnuts and hear the soon-to-be classic tale of how Santa got all the toys into his big bag. That tale, as written by actormusician-podcaster Matt Rogers, involves what else but 16 Fab Vegas
Gun Oil. Rogers sings about the lubricant on “Lube for the Sleigh,” the second song on his first album that is like a Lonely Island release, just gayer and by someone who is actually gay. This is “not your grandma’s Christmas album,”
How Matt Rogers’ joke about making a Christmas album evolved into the holiday gift we didn’t know we needed
Rogers says. “I kind of hacked the system with this one,” he goes on, just days before promoting the album on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” “I’m on ‘Kelly Clarkson’ and selling this album to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------a bunch of people that are watching at home, who are going to be a little shook when they find out what this really is, and I kind of love that.” It’s true that you won’t hear Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey singing about one of the horniest times of the year on “Have You Heard of Christmas?”; leave that to Rogers. The album’s sexy (can you even say that about a Christmas song?) lead single is a club banger about banging. Called “Also It’s Christmas,” the song is real life for a lot of queer men — you go home to visit the parents and also get a fresh grid of Grindr torsos. Merry Christmas one and all, but especially to you! And to Rogers, whose childhood dream was always to record a comedy album. Best known for his supporting roles on the Showtime comedy “I Love That For You” and in the Hulu film “Fire Island,” the 35-year-old aspiring Christmas prince is also the co-host of the podcast Las Culturistas, alongside friend Bowen Yang. In December 2022, Rogers hosted his own Showtime musical-comedy special, also called “Have You Heard of Christmas?” Now that the album has slipped out of Santa’s slippery bag and into our hands, I caught up with Rogers to chat about why it made sense for his first album to be Christmas-themed (#capitalism), finding success when he decided to lean into who he is and why he thinks it might be “dumb” to release this album. How are you feeling about
the album coming out? It’s pretty surreal. I think that the most exciting thing will be when I get to hold my vinyl in my hands. A couple of my friends have reached out and… oh my god, I get emotional. I think sometimes I get a little in my head and insecure about the fact that I haven’t seen anything like this. It’s a comedy album that’s also a Christmas album, that’s also a full pop record. But I just say to myself, “You know what, so I did something new.” So I’m just trying my best to have a sense of humor about it because it’s so fucking funny that this is happening. Here you are laughing and nearly crying. It’s a weird mix of emotions. It’s my music, but also it’s my comedy. So it’s this odd fork in the road I find myself at where I’m being vulnerable in sharing and asking people to listen to me, in terms of what I create musically, but also as a comedian, my self-awareness is what arms me. So it’s this very bizarre hybrid product I have right now, and I’m having a very weird hybrid experience with it: One, I worked really hard and it’s vulnerable, and two, LOL, this is so dumb! Both of those things can be true. I guess that’s like Christmas. Yay, we’re celebrating; also, it’s pretty stupid. Like, “Look at this. What is this, tinsel?” What does it have to do with anything? I just hope people get it, and if they don’t, I hope
they have a good time not getting it. You mentioned that this is pop and Christmas, but it’s also unabashedly queer. I didn’t try to make a gay album. I don’t think of this as a gay Christmas album or a gay comedy album. It’s my album. I never once thought, “We need more gay shit or less gay shit on this,” or, “We already have a gay song, so we can’t do another gay song.” I’m pretty fucking gay. It’s a pretty intrinsic part of my personality, and therefore my comedy. So I don’t think of it as I’m a representative of the queer community, even though I obviously am. I’m representing myself. This is what I think is funny. The same way when Dane Cook didn’t think, “I’m making an incredible straight comedy album right now.” Do you recognize that the Christmas genre has been dominated by a heterosexual narrative and that you get to do something really special and different just because you are queer? Yeah, I think that because I’m queer, I get to say some truths about the whole Christmas thing, and one of the truths is that no one does this because they love Christmas. No artist is making a Christmas album because they’re super excited about making a Christmas album. They’re super excited about participating in the capitalist moment that is the Christmas season and that’s FabLasVegas.com
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------funny. There’s a lot of comedy in that. And so that is why I titled my album, “Have You Heard of Christmas?” Because obviously everyone has, but then when you listen to my song, “Have You Heard of Christmas?”, it’s really coming from the point of view of this person that knows that Christmas is this unifier and this thing that’s so dominant in the culture, but also at the same time has no idea where it’s come from, has no idea why we celebrate it, has no idea that it even has anything to do with religion. So I think that there’s something really funny about our disconnect between why Christmas exists in the first place and why we celebrate Christmas. And so I think if I’m looking at this through a queer lens, one of those things is I’m taking the piss out of it because it’s funny and it’s actually way more obvious than we all think. It’s literally screaming at us: spend money, spend money, spend money. And yet we code it in this thing, which is gift giving. It’s beautiful. It’s about celebrating and being together. It’s about family. It’s about the stories we tell. And all of it is attached to money. You also get to say things about Christmas that Mariah and Cher can’t, like acknowledging hookup culture during the holidays. This album coming through a queer lens, yeah, part of it is that Christmas is one of the horniest times of the year for gays on the apps. We’re back at home. There’s no 18 Fab Vegas
one around. I actually have several years in a row over the Christmas holiday realized that someone I was into was into me too, because they also were at home, horny and on their phone, and we started sending nudes back and forth. I’ve hooked up with those people, and it’s because there is such a heightened sense of horniness when you’re isolated on Christmas with just your family and you’re just going stir-crazy. So that’s kind of where “Also It’s Christmas” was born. Also, just to be totally honest, I just wanted a banger as the lead single, and I thought, “What’s an environment I could place this in?” Obviously the club, and also, it’s just so funny to me to think about the holiday and the cold and the family of it all surrounding what is a horny atmosphere.
a Christmas album.” So it all started as a bit like, “Please come to The Duplex and see me perform my Christmas album, which is definitely real for sure. Absolutely onehundred definitely coming out for the very first time.” And it was a hit just amongst my friends and family that came to the show, and then every year it grew and grew and grew till now, in 2023, I literally have a Christmas album coming out on Capitol Records, so I’m happy, one, as a person who always wanted to release an album as a kid; that was always my dream. And, two, as a comedian, because I stuck the bit.
How much did Mariah’s own influence on Christmas become your inspiration for your music launch with a Christmas album?
You just have to fake it.
Pretty much a hundred percent. It was 2017, and I was looking for a new show to put up, and I really was just trying to figure out what the angle was going to be for my next one-man show back when I was just doing comedy in New York, and I thought I had seen an interview with Mariah Carey and the interviewer was complimenting her on, basically, her owning Christmas. I thought to myself, “Oh, maybe that’s a funny angle for a comedy show: I’m releasing
Best of both worlds coming together for you. I mean, obviously, neither are an easy pursuit, and somehow you have made them both come together at the same time.
You have to fake it till you make it. And you made it. I guess. I keep faking it. So many things have gone so amazingly well in my career, but it never feels like it’s enough sometimes. There’s always that next thing. So the other day I found myself in a situation where I was just like, hold on, just stop for a second and pull yourself out of this and tell your little 12-year-old self that you’re releasing an album. I can buy a vinyl with my face on it. That’s insane. I don’t even want to ask you what’s next. Let’s not even
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CELEBRITY INTERVIEW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Photo Credit: Jen Rosenstein
Photo Credit: FOX
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------talk about it. OK, good. Don’t ask because I literally don’t know. As the industry collapses all around us, what a horrifying question too. “What’s next?” Literally, every single person in the entertainment industry is so horrified by that question nowadays. I want to unpack something that you said about overachieving. The best little boy in the world. It sounds like there’s a big part of your drive that is still that kid. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. For me, it changed when I was in my 20s. To me, success meant that I was just solid as a rock and that I looked like everyone else and did what everyone else was doing. Individuality was not prized when I was growing up or just in the culture at that time. Suddenly I moved to New York to go to college, and it became really clear to me that that was not true anymore. We were moving into a new era. I don’t know whether it was the Obama election or just people catching on about gay rights throughout the country, or just diversity even becoming a topic. Suddenly it was like, no, in order to be successful, you have to have a strong point of view. You have to get your individuality across, you have to stand out. Even when I started doing comedy. I did the acceptable kind of comedy, which was 22 Fab Vegas
sketch and improv comedy. I could connect that to “Saturday Night Live” and so therefore, everyone at home would understand why I was doing it, because “SNL” was cool. When I came out of the closet, I started to finally turn more into myself. And I think it really crystallized when Bowen and I started doing the podcast and we literally thought no one else was going to listen or that it was going to be a thing. And so we really just talked to each other as ourselves in a vacuum, and without any thought about whether or not people would like it or want to keep listening to it or think it was cool. Things really changed for me once I leaned into myself and leaned into the things that make me different. What’s the story behind your collaboration with Bowen on “Rockafellacenta”? So I wrote “Rockafellacenta” years ago because I basically... OK, to be totally honest, I had auditioned for “Saturday Night Live” and didn’t get it, and I was thinking a lot about that part of town. I was in that part of town a bunch; it’s just so commercial. And again, it’s the tree. I had grown up going to the tree, and it was this place that was so larger than life, but also so sort of everything that this project satirizes. It is just this big, busy collection of people from all over the world who come and stand and stare at a tree. It’s essentially run by a media company, NBC Universal, and it made me laugh to think about going there on a date. It made me
laugh to think about, do you really want to get gussied up and be romantic and you choose Rockefeller Center? A basic bitch Christmas tale. Bit of a tale of a basic bitch, yeah. And so, I wrote this song years ago, and now years later, Bowen still works in Rockefeller Center, and I just thought it would be so funny, because it was a short song, to beef it up with this “Vogue”inspired breakdown that talked about all the legends that had worked in Rockefeller Center. And so I sent it to him. It really just elevates the song, and to me, makes it so funny that he is speaking for all of Rockefeller Center. And the way it ends with him saying his own name, I guess he’s really cemented his legend with this song.
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GRAND OPENING
Photo Credit: Seth Browarnik/WorldRedEye.com for Fontainebleau Las Vegas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------‘Fontainebleau Las Vegas Grand Opening: A Night of Inclusive Glamour Las Vegas recently welcomed Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a 67-story luxury resort and casino, signaling a new era of opulence on the Strip. The grand opening on December 13 was a star-studded affair, featuring a surprise performance by Justin Timberlake, marking the culmination of Fontainebleau’s nearly 70-year legacy.
fostering a sense of shared joy among the audience.
The evening commenced with a dazzling “Bleau Carpet” arrival, attended by celebrities like Cher, Kim Kardashian, and local LGBTQ+ luminaries. Fontainebleau Development Chairman Jeffrey Soffer expressed the resort’s transformative impact, stating, “The Fontainebleau era in Las Vegas begins now.”
Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ public opening shortly before midnight marked a new chapter in Strip hospitality. Private after-parties, including LIV Las Vegas with DJ Peggy Gou, extended the celebration into the early hours.
Guests were treated to Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ signature restaurant and bar collection, featuring Don’s Prime, Bleau Bar, and Groot Hospitality’s Papi Steak, among others. The night continued with unexpected entertainment, including Keith Urban at Bleau Bar and Paul Anka’s tribute to Fontainebleau’s legacy at the 3,800-seat Bleaulive Theater. Justin Timberlake took the stage for a private performance, adding to the night’s enchantment with hits like “Sexy/Back” and “Cry Me A River.” Timberlake also celebrated Soffer’s birthday, 24 Fab Vegas
The historic moment arrived when Timberlake, joined by Tom Brady and Fontainebleau executives, officially opened the resort by rolling the first dice in the high limit salon. As guests entered, they embarked on crafting Day One memories.
Situated on nearly 25 acres, Fontainebleau Las Vegas stands as a symbol of excellence in collaboration with Koch Real Estate Investments. As LGBTQ+ locals, we embrace Fontainebleau as a beacon of inclusivity and luxury on the iconic Las Vegas Strip. Experience the luxury at fontainebleaulasvegas.com and join us in celebrating this momentous occasion. Fontainebleau Las Vegas is not just a resort; it’s a testament to the evolving landscape of opulence in our vibrant city.
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27
Information for Teens: Staying Healthy and Preventing STDs If you choose to have sex, know how to protect yourself against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). What are sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)? STDs are diseases that are passed from one person to another through sexual contact. These include chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis, and HIV. Many of these STDs do not show symptoms for a long time. Even without symptoms, they can still be harmful and passed on during sex.
consider before having sex. It’s okay to say “no” if you don’t want to have sex. •
If you do decide to have sex, you and your partner should get tested for STDs beforehand. Make sure that you and your partner use a condom from start to finish every time you have oral, anal, or vaginal sex. Know where to get condoms and how to use them correctly. It is not safe to stop using condoms unless you’ve both been tested for STDs, know your results, and are in a mutually monogamous relationship.
•
Mutual monogamy means that you and your partner both agree to only have sexual contact with each other. This can help protect against STDs, as long as you’ve both been tested and know you’re STD-free.
•
Before you have sex, talk with your partner about how you will prevent STDs and pregnancy. If you think you’re ready to have sex, you need to be ready to protect your body. You should also talk to your partner ahead of time about what you will and will not do sexually. Your partner should always respect your right to say no to anything that doesn’t feel right.
•
Make sure you get the health care you need. Ask a doctor or nurse about STD testing and about vaccines against HPV and hepatitis B.
•
Girls and young women may have extra needs to protect their reproductive health. Talk to your doctor or nurse about regular cervical cancer screening, and chlamydia and gonorrhea testing. You may also want to discuss unintended pregnancy and birth control.
•
Avoid mixing alcohol and/or recreational drugs with sex. If you use alcohol and drugs, you are more likely to take risks, like not using a condom or having sex with someone you normally wouldn’t have sex with.
How are STDs spread? You can get an STD by having vaginal, anal or oral sex with someone who has an STD. Anyone who is sexually active can get an STD. You don’t even have to “go all the way” (have anal or vaginal sex) to get an STD. This is because some STDs, like herpes and HPV, are spread by skinto-skin contact. How common are STDs? STDs are common, especially among young people. There are about 20 million new cases of STDs each year in the United States. About half of these infections are in people between the ages of 15 and 24. Young people are at greater risk of getting an STD for several reasons: •
Young women’s bodies are biologically more prone to STDs.
•
Some young people do not get the recommended STD tests.
•
Many young people are hesitant to talk openly and honestly with a doctor or nurse about their sex lives.
•
Not having insurance or transportation can make it more difficult for young people to access STD testing.
•
Some young people have more than one sex partner.
What can I do to protect myself? •
The surest way to protect yourself against STDs is to not have sex. That means not having any vaginal, anal, or oral sex (“abstinence”). There are many things to
28 Fab Vegas
against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
If Iare getsexually an STD, how will Idiseases know? (STDs)? What transmitted STDs are diseases that are passed from one person to another Many STDs don’t cause any symptoms that you through sexual contact. These include chlamydia, gonorrhea, would notice. only way(HPV), to know for sure genital herpes, humanThe papillomavirus syphilis, and HIV. if you haveSTDs an STD to get tested.forYou can get an Many of these do notis show symptoms a long time. Even without they can stillwith be harmful and passed STDsymptoms, from having sex someone whoonhas no during sex. symptoms. Just like you, that person might not
even he or she has an STD. How are know STDs spread?
You can get an STD by having vaginal, anal or oral sex with Where can I get tested? someone who has an STD. Anyone who is sexually active can get an STD.There You don’t have that to “gooffer all theteen-friendly, way” (have anal or vaginal areeven places sex) to get an STD. This is because some STDs, like herpes and HPV, confidential, and free STD tests. This means that are spread by skin-to-skin contact.
no one has to find out you’ve been tested. Visit
How common to arefind STDs? GetTested an STD testing location near
tell partner before youyouhave sex. partner Although • Ifyour you do decide to have sex, and your should get tested for STDs beforehand. Make sure that you and it may be uncomfortable to talk about your your partner usehonest a condom from start to finish every STD, open and conversation can help time you have oral, anal, or vaginal sex. Know where to your partner make informed decisions to get condoms and how to use them correctly. It is not protect his or her health. safe to stop using condoms unless you’ve both been STDs, knowwho your results, and are them? in a mutually If Itested havefor questions, can answer monogamous relationship.
If• you have questions, talk to a parent or other Mutual monogamy means that you and your partner both trusted be afraid be each openother. andThis agreeadult. to only Don’t have sexual contactto with honest with themagainst aboutSTDs, yourasconcerns. If both you’re can help protect long as you’ve been and know evertested confused or you’re need STD-free. advice, they’re the first place to start. After were young once, • Before you have sex, all, talk they with your partner about how too.you will prevent STDs and pregnancy. If you think you’re ready to have sex, you need to be ready to protect your
STDs are common, especially among young people. There are you. about 20 million new cases of STDs each year in the United States. About halfSTDs of thesebe infections are in people between the ages of Can treated? 15 and 24. Young people are at greater risk of getting an STD for Your doctor can prescribe medicine to cure several reasons:
Talking about sexalso with parent or another body. You should talkato your partner ahead of time adult doesn’t need bewill a one-time about what you willto and not do sexually. Your partner conversation. bestyour to leave the forthat should alwaysIt’s respect right to saydoor no to open anything doesn’t feel right. conversations in the future.
• Young women’s bodies are biologically more prone Other STDs, like herpes, can’t be cured, but you to STDs.
• Make sure you get the health care you need. Ask a doctor It’s also important to talk honestly with a doctor or nurse about STD testing and about vaccines against or nurse. Ask which STD tests and vaccines HPV and hepatitis B. they recommend for you.
some STDs, like chlamydia and gonorrhea.
can take medicine to help with the symptoms.
• Some young people do not get the recommended If STD youtests. are ever treated for an STD, be sure to
•finish Manyall young peoplemedicine, are hesitanteven to talkifopenly and better of your you feel honestly with a doctor or nurse about their sex before you finish it all. Ask the doctor orlives. nurse
testing and treatment for your partner, •about Not having insurance or transportation can make it more difficult young people to access STD avoid testing.having too. Youfor and your partner should until you’ve both been •sex Some young people have moretreated. than one Otherwise, sex partner you may continue to pass the STD back and forth. It is possible to get an STD again (after
What can I do to protect myself?
• The surest way to protect yourself against STDs is to not you’ve been you have sex with have sex. Thattreated), means notifhaving any vaginal, anal, or someone who has anThere STD. oral sex (“abstinence”). are many things to consider before having sex. It’s okay to say “no” if you don’t want to What happens if I don’t treat an STD? have sex.
Some curable STDs can be dangerous if they aren’t treated. For example, if left untreated, CS287360A chlamydia and gonorrhea can make it difficult— or even impossible—for a woman to get pregnant. You also increase your chances of getting HIV if you have an untreated STD. Some STDs, like HIV, can be fatal if left untreated. What if my partner or I have an incurable STD? Some STDs, like herpes and HIV, aren’t curable, but a doctor can prescribe medicine to treat the symptoms. If you are living with an STD, it’s important to
• Girls and young women may have extra needs to protect
their reproductive health.information? Talk to your doctor or nurse Where can I get more
about regular cervical cancer screening, and chlamydia
CDC and gonorrhea testing. You may also want to discuss
unintended birth control. How You Canpregnancy Preventand Sexually Transmitted • Avoid mixing alcohol and/or recreational drugs with sex. Diseases If you use alcohol and drugs, you are more likely to take www.cdc.gov/std/prevention/
risks, like not using a condom or having sex with someone
Teen youPregnancy normally wouldn’t have sex with. https://www.cdc.gov/ teenpregnancy/teens/ index.htm
CDC-INFO Contact Center 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) Contact wwwn.cdc.gov/dcs/ ContactUs/Form HealthFinder.gov STD Testing: Conversation Starters https://healthfinder.gov/ HealthTopics/ Category/health-conditions-and-diseases/ hiv-and-other-stds/std-testing-conversationstarters American Sexual Health Association Sexual Health and You http://www.iwannaknow.org/ teens/ sexualhealth.html FabLasVegas.com
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STD (SEXUALLY TRASMITTED DISEASES) INFO SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES INFO, TESTING & RESOURCES WHAT IS A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE? Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), are infections that are commonly spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex and oral sex.
WHAT IS HIV? HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system.It is usually spread by anal or vaginal sex or sharing syringes with a person who has HIV. The only way to know you have HIV is to be tested. Everyone aged 13-64 should be tested at least once, and people at high risk should be tested at least once a year. Ask your doctor, or visit gettested.cdc.gov to find a testing site. Without treatment, HIV can make a person very sick or may even cause death. If you have HIV, start treatment as soon as possible to stay healthy and help protect your partners.
Nevada is the fifth highest state in the United States for rates of new HIV diagnoses and is #1 in Syphillis *According to CDC HIV Surveillance Report, 2017 and the CDC Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report, 2017 released in 2018
30 Fab Vegas
STD TESTING RESOURCE SOUTHERN NEVADA HEALTH DISTRICT ADDRESS 1: 280 S. Decatur Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89107 HOURS: Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (closed 12 – 1 p.m.) ADDRESS 2: 4201 W. Washington Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89107 HOURS: Monday – Wednesday 9 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. The following services are offered at the Sexual Health Clinic: 1.
Diagnosis and treatment of active or suspected cases of:
•
Chlamydia
•
Gonorrhea
•
Syphilis
•
HIV
•
Trichomonas (females only)
•
Bacterial Vaginosis (females only)
2.
Free condoms and instruction on how to safely use them (both male and female condom)
3.
Follow-up bloodwork
4.
Hepatitis screening, diagnosis and treatment
5.
High-risk behavior counseling
6.
HIV Nursing Case Management
7.
Injection series for syphilis medication
8.
Partner notification
9.
Referrals by private physicians
10. Sexual assault follow-up 11. Test results and couseling Clients seeking treatment at the Sexual Health Clinic should know that the Health District is required to report cases involving assault or abuse to appropriate agencies. HIV Testing: HIV antibody testing is a simple blood test performed by a trained professional. This procedure is strictly confidential. Counseling regarding the meaning of the test and its result take place before the actual testing to ensure you understand HIV infection and the testing procedure. HIV testing procedure: Blood Test – Blood drawn from a vein is tested for HIV antibodies. This test is available at the Sexual Health Clinic (280 S. Decatur Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89107 ), Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please call (702) 759-0702 for more information. If you have questions, contact the clinic by phone at (702) 759-0702 or by email at SexualHealth@snhd.org. FabLasVegas.com
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PRIDE FLAGS
PRIDE FLAGS
COMMUNITY RESOURCES 36 Fab Vegas
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www.afanlv.org Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) provides support and advocacy for adults and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada. AFAN works to reduce HIV infection through prevention and education to eliminate fear, prejudice and the stigma associated with the disease.
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