PrideFête is More Than Just a Festival

By Jameer Baptiste

Rashad, Mr. PrideFête 2023

Barbados • @BadBoiRaRa

PrideFête is important to me because it is me, it's a perfect blend of my culture & my sexuality. I'm allowed to freely be myself & accepted. My favorite thing is the music! I love to dance to the cultural music: Soca, Reggae, and Calypso music resonates with me. No matter what mood I'm in, soca makes it all better.

PrideFête is important because it provides a much-needed safe space for those of us that are of the Caribbean diaspora and part of the LGBT community. Many countries in the Caribbean region have laws and policies that oppress queer identities and rob us of living a peaceful life, in addition to violence, discrimination from houses of worship as well as being excommunicated from families. There are so many individuals, past and present, that could not and cannot be themselves for these reasons. PrideFête is a beacon of hope for what can be possible when you can celebrate all of who you are. My favorite thing about PrideFête is being able to bond with my fellow Caribbean/LGBT family and friends as well as showcase my culture to those who aren't Caribbean. It fascinates me that people I've known for years "come out" as Caribbean! Something else I enjoy is comparing and contrasting food, music, and how we grew up. There are so many languages, religions, and countries, but we have more in common than we differ and that unites us. Today I see LGBT spaces are becoming more aware of our cultural diversity and that differs from years ago when we just focused on sexual orientation. My culture matters to me and I'm very proud to be Caribbean!

Jamaica

PrideFête is important because it provides a safe environment and opportunity for LGBTQIA Caribbean islanders to network, support, and celebrate themselves and each other. My favorite aspect of PrideFête is the magic that is created when communities, cultures, and people come together celebrating as one. Also, receiving people's expression of love and joy as I entertain them, that’s one of many things I Love about PrideFête.

PrideFête Committee Member / Bahamas

PrideFête is a space where the queer Caribbean community can connect and celebrate their intersecting identities. It offers the opportunity to build community and support with one another.

The joy! Seeing everyone having a good time and being themselves makes all the planning and stress worth it.

As a Bahamian member of the LGBTQ+ community, PrideFête's celebration of music, food, and spirit of Caribbean culture in a safe space holds significant importance for several reasons.

[1. It provides] representation, visibility and builds community and support. PridFête creates a supportive and inclusive environment where members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies can come together and have a great time.

[2. It] embraces cultural identity. The celebration of Caribbean culture at PrideFête allows you to connect with your roots and celebrate the rich traditions, music, and food that are an integral part of our Caribbean [culture]. It reinforces a sense of belonging and pride in your cultural background while also honoring your LGBTQ+ identity. My favorite part of PrideFête is the celebration of diversity.

DJ SheJ Hercules PrideFête 2022, 2023 Deejay Saint Lucia & Guyana

PrideFête is so important because I feel that it's a way to express ourselves. As a female deejay that's a part of the community, it's so awesome to come to an event that I am able to play a plethora of genres and watch everyone enjoy themselves. PrideFête is [becoming] a staple for our community where we can get together and share our culture. We need more events like PrideFête so that we all [can] come together and party, reminisce, and enjoy the music. Each and every time I come to PrideFête I see people turning up to Soca, Dembow, Afrobeats and more.

My favorite thing about PrideFête is the blend of cultures. There's no other party like PrideFête that has that, especially in the LGBT community. I also feel like the carnival costumes are beautiful from the dancers that come out and party with us. It's amazing to experience. It's something that is different and growing every year, I love that. I truly look forward to PrideFête each and every year!

By Romeo San Vicente

Hacks’ star Megan Stalger Goes Wild in “Cora Bora”

Filmmaker Hannah Pearl Utt (“Before You Know It”) has given “Hacks” star Megan Stalter a project that captures her defiant weirdo charm with the new film “Cora Bora.” Stalter plays Cora, an aspiring but unsuccessful musician who's also bisexual, poly and somewhat unhinged. In an attempt to win back her girlfriend (Jojo T. Gibbs, “Fresh”), Cora crashes a graduation party, a pansexual orgy and the hunt for a missing pet, never quite figuring out that she might be a problem. Co-starring Margaret Cho, Darrell Hammond, Manny Jacinto and “Glee” alum Heather Morris, this is exactly the kind of movie we envision for the hilarious, awkward comedic style that Stalter's cultivated in her oddball stand-up performances and on “Hacks.” The film took its bow at South By Southwest and Frameline, so look for it to hit indie screens soon enough.

HBO TAKES A STAB AT “THE SHARDS”

“Shards,” the latest novel from author Bret Easton Ellis, will be adapted into an HBO series and some — maybe all — episodes will be directed by Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”). And the story will push buttons and mirror Ellis' earlier work: the novel concerns a teenager named Bret in early '80s Los Angeles — a setting directly referencing the writer's debut novel, “Less Than Zero” — whose group of richkid friends are being stalked by, that's right, a serial killer, a subject the writer explored in Ellis' controversial late '80s novel “American Psycho.” There's no cast yet, and no production schedule, but the plan is a three-season limited series with Ellis writing them all, adding material not in the novel. Sex and death in high school is classic Ellis material, and if you watch “Euphoria,” you may have a favorite new show coming soon.

“COMMITMENT TO LIFE” REACHES BACK TO THE AIDS YEARS IN L.A.

Documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz is committed to projects that explore our history, as in “Vito,” about “Celluloid Closet” author Vito Russo, and “I Am Divine,” about the “Hairspray” and “Female Trouble” drag superstar. His latest, “Commitment to Life,” steps back to the early 1980s and the birth of AIDS Project Los Angeles as the queer community in Southern California found itself blindsided by the arrival of HIV and AIDS. Deeply researched and filled with archival footage, interviews with survivors and activists, with a look at everyday people who kept the organization moving, as well as the big names who died, like Rock Hudson, or fought back, like Elizabeth Taylor, it's an intense look at a harrowing period of U.S. queer history, and the power of people uniting to save each other's lives. Keep this vital project on your radar, and when it hits arthouses or streaming platforms, show it to a young queer friend.

THE HIDDEN QUEER PAST LIVES IN 'CASA SUSANNA'

In the 1950s, a group of gender nonconforming queer people regularly found refuge in a home called Casa Susanna in New York's Catskills, where they were free to be themselves, whether they were gay men who simply wanted to wear clothes they couldn't in their daily lives or trans women who couldn't express their true identities. They staged performances for themselves, created photo shoots, and enjoyed the freedom the house represented and community it built. First the subject of a 2005 photo book from Michel Hurst and Robert Swope, the legacy of the house is now explored in “Casa Susanna,” a documentary from French filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz (“Bambi: A French Woman”). The doc reunites former visitors to the house and works with an archive of photos and home footage to create a time capsule of the queer past that is vital for contemporary audiences to witness. It premiered at the recent Frameline Festival and is available right now on streaming platforms to keep Pride Month rolling through the rest of the year.