Get to steppin’ with the Kinky Boots Just Be campaign

With all the hubbub surrounding Neil Patrick Harris’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it’s easy to forget that the Tony Award–sweeping Kinky Boots is still going strong on Broadway. Personally, I’m looking forward to the day when they combine both musicals into one, but some things are just too fantastic to exist in this universe.

While I wait for that dream to come true, Kinky Boots is keeping itself busy with the launch of the Just Be campaign, designed to teach kids to embrace the things they love and do what they can to help out wherever they can.

The ad campaign features six famous fans donning their very own red thigh-highs, each of them using their platform (womp-womp) to promote a charity. Celebrities include Sara Bareilles, for the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles; Kelly Osbourne, for Prince’s Trust; Josh Groban, for the Find Your Light Foundation; Mario Batali, for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer; Martina Navratilova, for the Humane Society of Greater Miami; and James Earle Jones for The Stuttering Association for the Young.

When it comes to charity, most young people actually do want to help out. Yes, a handful of them tend to be narcissistic turds, but most of them are good people who want to do their part. The problem is most of them have no idea how and desperately need some kind of motivation to get the ball rolling. Encouraging them to develop a sense of self-agency and philanthropy might be one of the more worthwhile causes to come out recently.

Keep Reading

Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Perez in Emilia Perez. Gascón wears black with colourful embroidery, has long hair, and a brown purse and delicate chain.

Trans cartel musical ‘Emilia Pérez’ takes maximalist aesthetic to the extreme

REVIEW: The film’s existence raises intriguing questions about appropriate subjects for the playful machinations of French auteurs
Dorothy Allison sits behind a microphone. She has long, light-coloured hair and wears glasses and a patterned button-up shirt.

5 things to know about Dorothy Allison

The lesbian feminist writer passed on Nov. 6

‘Solemates’ is a barefoot stroll through the history of our fetish for feet

Queer historian Adam Zmith’s newest book allows us to dip our toes into the past of a common, yet stigmatized, kink

‘Masquerade’ offers a queer take on indulgence and ennui 

Mike Fu’s novel is a coming of age mystery set between New York and Shanghai