The Buzz: Snippets & News

THE BUZZ

BRAVE, COMMITTED - A HERO

On October the 25th Qatari police arrested British LGBT activist Peter Tatchell outside the national museum of the Gulf Arab state which hosts soccer’s World Cup next month, putting a stop to his one man protest against the homophobic regime.

Tatchell, who campaigns tirelessly for LGBT+ rights all over the world, had staged a similar protest ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He stood for more than an hour wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “#Qatarantigay” and holding a placard that read “Qatar arrests and subjects LGBTs to conversion”, before two uniformed police officers and three plain clothes officials arrived at the scene. They folded up his placard and took photos of Tatchell’s passport and other papers, and those of a man accompanying him.

Homosexuality is illegal in the conservative Muslim country, and some soccer stars have raised concerns over the rights of fans travelling for the event, especially LGBT+ individuals and women, whom rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against.

In a damage limitation exercise, organisers of the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on Nov. 20 and is the first to be held in a Middle Eastern nation, say that everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or background, is welcome, while also warning against public displays of affection.

We applaud his chutzpah and commitment - an incredibly brave man who deserves our Mag 38 admiration.

Mag 20 Reuters

GAY ICON, LESLIE JORDAN PASSES AWAY

Comedian, actor and bona fide gay icon Leslie Jordan has tragically passed away at the age of 67, in Los Angeles, USA

The star was best-known for appearing in Will & Grace, American Horror Story and more.

He was driving in Hollywood when he suffered a medical emergency and crashed his BMW into the side of a building, local police announced.

According to The LA Times, the actor was declared dead at the scene.

Leslie’s career spanned decades, breaking onto the small screen in 1986’s The Fall Guy. He would go on to play bit parts in a number of iconic shows including Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Louis & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Voyager, Dharma & Greg and Ellen. But it was the trailblazing Will & Grace which endeared Leslie Jordan to a legion of fans, in which he starred as Beverley Leslie, the pint-sized socialite and razor-tongued frenemy to Megan Mullally’s Karen Walker. In 2006 he won an Emmy for his iconic performance.

Leslie Jordan grew up in a strict religious household and turned to comedy to help him cope with childhood bullies and the struggles of coming out as gay.

“When I’m being very dramatic,” he told Shania Twain on her Apple Music Hits show in 2021, “I say, ‘Well, I grew up in the church, but I walked away,’ because the whole gay thing came around.” “I firmly believe that God made me this way. I’m not a mistake.”

Leslie’s father Allen once told him that being able to make people laugh was his “gift”, with Jordan saying: “He recognised it even before I did, that I was this funny kid.”

“I didn’t know. So, I think over the years I’ve thought of that and… what a gift.”

“What a gift to be able to make people laugh, to have a talent for that, because you can tell a joke and somebody else can tell that same joke and if they don’t have the rhythm, whatever it is that comedians have.”

“It’s like music. We hear the music. It’s the rhythm.”

Leslie endeared himself to fans during the Covid pandemic with his Instagram posts, with nearly 6 million followers he brought a smile to many people all over the world during lock-down.