Gayjoy Digest #2

K. Stew’s engagement & Janelle Monáe as a sexy queer Grinch - We're toasty inside

Author

Nicole Ripka
November 03, 2021

Good morning and welcome to the second edition of The Gayjoy Digest. 

First things first. In case your WiFi was down all day yesterday, notable celesbian Kristen Stewart is engaged to screenwriter Dylan Meyer. Sharing the news on The Howard Stern Show, Kristen said, "I wanted to be proposed to, it was really cute, she did very well."

This news comes nearly two years after K. Stew first confirmed the relationship on that very same show, and told Stern about their “sick” chemistry. Though the relationship was still fairly new, Kristen was already thinking about proposing: "I can’t fucking wait ...I wanna be somewhat reasonable about it, but I think good things happen fast." We’d argue that two years isn’t quite “fast” by U-Haul standards, but we’re very happy for Kristen and Dylan nonetheless. 

Halloween Rundown

The gays were out and about this Gay Christmas and as is their duty, the celesbians showed us all what a great costume can look like when you’ve got the funds to make it happen. 

Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts, who are arguably the best—and certainly the mushiest—celesbian couple we have at the moment, nailed it as Kelly and Nelly.

Janelle Monáe, in true Janelle Monáe form, donned full SFX makeup to become the Grinch, then filmed an entire music video/short film co-starring model Stephanie Silva.

Cara Delevingne, for some reason, did this. We have no further comment. 

Meanwhile, thousands of sapphic couples around the world were inspired to dress as Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly. As if we needed another reason to be grateful for our certified Bicon this Halloween season, when she’s already given us Jennifer’s Body. 

Kal Penn is Out

Twitter blew up Monday with the news that Kal Penn, of Harold & Kumar fame, has been with his (male) partner Josh for 11 years. Congrats to Kal and Josh, both on their recent engagement and on having such trustworthy friends that this relationship remained private for ELEVEN YEARS. 

This info was made public in a People Magazine exclusive from Penn’s new book, You Can’t Be Serious. The article also casually mentions his role as Associate Director at the White House during the Obama Administration, which was equally surprising news to us and many of the apparently-uninformed Twitter users we follow.

Are all the gay actors busy right now?

In a tale as old as time, or at least as long as queer stuff has been allowed in movies, two straight men were just cast in an Oscar bait-y gay historical romance. This time, it’s Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, who will star in the WWI-era romance, The History of Sound. 

This is the second time O’Connor has played gay, following his role in God’s Own Country in 2018. While doing press for the film, he was quick to clarify his own real-life heterosexuality, but defended the director’s decision to cast him, a straight man, as a gay sheep farmer: I think it’s a really difficult one because ultimately — in some ways this is the best way to describe it — if you go into a casting room, it would be impossible for Francis for instance to say, ‘Tell me your sexuality’.

It remains unclear whether O’Connor realizes he could simply stop auditioning for gay roles, or whether directors, generally, will ever start giving good queer roles to actual queer people. 

The film marks the first time Mescal, who rose to fame playing a sad horny Irish boy in Normal People, will be playing gay. No word yet on what his bisexual girlfriend, Phoebe Bridgers, thinks. 

Queer Briefs

  • Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, spilled more details about her relationship with her girlfriend of 19 years. “It really feels good to get those secrets out of the closet, so to speak...out of the coffin, I like to say!”

  • Soccer player Josh Cavallo has become the first player in the men’s A-League to come out as gay. The A-League, is allegedly Australia and New Zealand’s highest professional soccer league.

  • The U.S. has issued its first-ever gender-neutral passport, which is marked with the gender “X”. According to the White House, this designation may be made available to the public in the next year or so. 

  • Notably hot queer E.R. Fightmaster (seriously, have you seen them) has been cast as a series regular on Grey’s Anatomy, becoming the first non-binary doctor on the show. 

Queer Happenings in NYC

Nov 5: Raw Honey - Wild for the Night @ Emblem (11-2am) Raw Honey is creating a safe space for QTPOC to be 100% Raw and Unapologetically Queer.

Nov 18: T is for Trash zine launch party @ Quimby’s Bookstore (7-9pm) .

Dec 4/5: Positive Perinatal class prepares queer families for birth. Prices are sliding scale and it's all virtual. Classes are 10 -2 pm each day. 

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Written by Becca Stickler with Kira Deshler & Nicole Ripka