IN THREE WORDS

In this feature, I'll share with you a guest each week,

and you tell me in only three words what come to mind.

In Three Words...

Frank Lameny

STOP THE CAR......

Corporate sponsored Prides!!! It drives me nuts every year, they see the LBGT as a meal ticket to make some extra doe from us during Pride months and sell some Pride themed items, and every year it pisses me off when I hear some friends in the LGBT falling for it and buying from these big corporations, big box, and chains from their offerings. Where are they the rest of the year, and where were they when the dump and his administration was cracking down and gutting inclusion programs and dismantling diversity programs??? Most of these companies were excuse my French...pussies. I say investigate before you buy, and better still keep into gay owned companies to get Pride apparel and such. I'm very firm on that. 

But the good news is, the corporation and big boxes are leaving but the community is not. I just read a report last week about companies are starting to quietly walk away from Pride. I say good! Brands like Starbucks, Mastercard, Nissan, Target and Comcast have either pulled their sponsorships entirely or have significantly reduced their commitments to Pride organization across the US and Canda. The reasons range from backlash, economic uncertainty to the Dump administrations crackdown on DEI programs. Gay Apparel a gay owned company even saw their stock cut by 80% to Walmart last year, and this year, complete silence. I say I love it!!!!!Now local gay owned stores, companies, and businesses once overlooked by Pride organizations, who wanted Fortune 500 funds are now accepting gay owned small business in that were once simply overlooked. But if you ask me 50 small and gay owned businesses showing up consistently beats one corporation that disappears the moment things get politically inconvenient. This year Philly's Pride and Parade was funded almost 70% by local and gay owned places and donations and I heard only two corps sponsored floats!!!

Also, kudos to Kathy Hilton no longer being the grand marshal of WeHo Pride this year!!!!!!They won't have any grand marshal this year. But might I suggest to WeHo Pride actually take Pride in their community and choose a local volunteer or someone in the LGBTQ who's toiled for years donating their time and money to a beloved charity or community outreach? And to those who say "But they're not a celebrity or No one knows them!" maybe our community SHOULD know them. We should uplift our own and reward them for doing an often-thankless job for free. Kathy is not gay or a gay icon. This was a stupid branding exercise to benefit Kathy Hilton. Cali-Boi told me that in 2005, Paris Hilton was the grand marshal and she brough her mom Kathy along. He went on to say his friend who was on the float with them heard Kathy ask her husband "Do you feel pride?" He said, "Not at all", and they left shortly after and haven't been back since, till the last few years for Kathy anyway. Why would the very gay area of LA be alienating gays with their clueless picks for a grand marshall???

Maybe it's time Pride and parades started investing in our own community that actually never left?

BACKSEAT BETTY

I hate when something rolls to the backseat then you can't find it.

GAY PRIDE-AMANDA LEPORE

We always hear of our brave trans brothers and sisters of yore, and how trailblazing they were and what they did to get where they were. But what of the current trailblazers? Amanda Lepore for me is definitely a trailblazer, and one it seems I have seen many times over the years and into the carnation she is now. No way could you go out in NYC clubbing in the late 80's and 90's and beyond and not seen or met Amanda Lepore. You would not forget her eye-popping looks and style. To me she was brave. She made and set her mind to be who she wanted and no denying she forged her own signature style. Growing up in suburban NJ during the 70's while often being bullied at school for being different, Amanda left home, and at 17 she used a legal loophole to marry a male bookstore owner who helped her get and pay for her early gender-affirming surgeries. However, the relationship, was unhappy and turned abusive, as her husband wanted to keep her locked away. Over time she would stash grocery money to escape and eventually did and move to NYC. By the early 90's she was swiftly embraced by the city's most out there nightlife and fashion scenes. She freaked out America on the talk show circuit when many trans would not even still come out in the light so to speak. Proving she is not just a Warholian embodiment of famous for being famous, hard-grafting Amanda started getting paid to just show up at clubs and parties, and appeared in the music videos of other artist, while breaking into a spokes model position with MAC and the Heatherettes, not to mention became a huge muse for David Lachapple. It was soon after her appearance with surgical enhancements would eventually morph into a more extreme vision of an old Hollywood, high glamour prototype. And a body akin to a work of art. But it works.

Spending the past 28 years gracing or performing her own music and cabaret routines at just about every notable niterie in NYC and beyond, she also found time to write a bestselling autobiography in 2017, entitled Doll Parts, and launched her own line of infamous lipsticks. I have the upmost respect for her and admiration for being that brave, leaving home with almost nothing, and NOT HIDING she was trans. Normally I'm also not into plastic surgery on people, but for some reason her Marilyn Monroe meets Jessica Rabbit works, I mean, only Amanda can pull this off. Such dedication to style and image...I mean her wigs are absolutely stunning and she always does her own make up btw. I had the pleasure to meeting her in NYC and New Hope on several occasion and she is about the most approachable, gentle and good-humored natured person you'll meet. Our clan's own Preston was even in the same yoga classes as her and said you wouldn't believe it...Amanda was there in sweats and her own hair and still looked glam! Not bad for a scared, picked on trans sister with a few bucks starting out huh? Think of the roads and inspiration she gave to future scared trans people and youth.

That is all to say, Amanda is such a fabulous one -off.