This week’s issue is our annual celebration of The D.C. Center’s OutWrite LGBTQ literary festival. Doug Rule gives you the lowdown on what’s new this year, as the event goes virtual, and we have a complete schedule of all events. But at the core of the issue reside 14 amazing submissions from various LGBTQ poets and authors, from coast-to-coast. So sit back and enjoy some good summer LGBTQ reads.
Click on the cover below to read the issue now or download it for reading on any device later.
Also: André Hereford interviews the creator of the cool new web series The First, and John Riley talks to the director behind the documentary Disarm Hate. Meanwhile, Sean Maunier weighs in on Taylor Swift’s surprise foray into the land of folk. Plus a ton of news, arts, entertainment, and Retro Scene revisits 1997’s circuit extravaganza Cherry Jubilee with three pages of astounding memories captured on real film by Todd Franson and Randy Shulman.
You can also now support Metro Weekly’s journalism and have the highest resolution issue personally delivered to your device every week, along with many other member benefits — who doesn’t love a Metro Weekly mug? Check out our new membership levels here and join us today!
Everybody just wants Ridley Scott to get on with it.
By that, of course, I mean wrap up the damn Alien trilogy he started with Prometheus and left dangling -- quite unnervingly -- nearly a decade ago with Covenant. But Ridley is a stubborn old director, and he's going to make what he feels like making, even if he teases us sadistically with promises of "Maybe it'll be my next film -- I'm developing it."
Kodak film from 1966 develops faster.
I am one of those people -- a fan, if I'm being honest -- who really, really, really want to see how David's story resolves and how the Xenomorph actually comes into being, if that's even the point anymore. So you'll pardon me for going into Scott's latest film, The Dog Stars, with a critic's chip on my shoulder. I didn't expect to be thrilled, interested, or moved. I didn't expect to like it, even slightly.
For the second time this summer, Ariana Grande has rebuked President Donald Trump's administration for using her music in a social media post.
The latest dispute erupted after the Team Trump account added Grande's 2024 hit "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" to a TikTok post that repurposed one of its lyrics.
The post quotes the lyric "Me and my truth we sit in silence..." before adding: "...men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports."
After four years with the Capital Pride Alliance, Anna Jinkerson is stepping down from its board of directors, which she has chaired for the past 10 months.
Jinkerson announced her departure in a September 18 letter to fellow board members, saying her resignation will take effect on September 30, 2026. The letter was obtained by Metro Weekly, and Jinkerson confirmed its authenticity.
In her letter, Jinkerson described herself as the first queer woman to serve as chair in Capital Pride's history.
While largely expressing gratitude for her time with the organization, Jinkerson also pointed to internal divisions that made leading the board difficult.
