4 queer and trans happenings to wind you up or down this week

What to watch, read, listen to or look at beginning Dec. 3

What to watch:
Versus

Deven Green and Ned Douglas.

Revry, billed as the first global LGBTQ2S+ TV network, debuts its first queer game show, Versus, on Dec. 4. The show is hosted by Canadian comedian Deven Green and award-winning musician Ned Douglas. The game features two contestants facing off in six rapid-fire challenges that test trivia skills, memory and knowledge of their own social media activity. Contestants for the premiere season include American drag queen Varla Jean Merman and The Q Agenda talk show hosts Enrique Sapene and Lianna Carrera.

Versus will be available to stream on Revry starting Dec. 4. 

What to read:
American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending by John Amero

American pioneer filmmaker John Amero is releasing an autobiography, American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending, on Dec. 1. The memoir follows Amero through his life and career at the forefront of the sexual revolution and his experiences as a gay man living in New York City in the era of Stonewall, the gay rights revolution and the AIDS crisis. American Exxxtasy spans Amero’s time in exploitation films in the ’60s, pioneering hardcore sex movies in the ’70s and ’80s and his move into mainstream production for NBC in the ’90s. The memoir also depicts his close bond with his brother Lem, who was his filmmaking partner for 30 years.

American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending by John Amero is available on Amazon in the U.S. and Canada on Dec. 1. 

What to listen to:
The Sex Issue by Aish Divine

Aish Divine releases The Sex Issue. Credit: Joe Martinez Jr

New York-based pop singer Aish Divine is releasing his latest album, The Sex Issue, on Dec. 4, inspired by the sexuality of his “lonely generation.” The album touches on online dating, open relationships, porn, race, queer hookups and sustaining long-term relationships. The Sex Issue, also draws inspiration from South Asian arts like Qawwali, Pandvani and Bollywood films and spans genres like disco, hyperpop, rap and orchestral. 

 

The Sex Issue by Aish Divine is available on Spotify and Apple Music on Dec. 4. 

What to look at:
image+nation film festival

Shiva Baby screens at image+nation.

Montreal’s LGBTQ2S+ film festival image+nation is going virtual across Quebec for its 33rd edition, running until Dec. 6. One of the films premiering in the “Made au Canada” category is American-Canadian comedy Shiva Baby, directed by Emma Seligman. The film is about a college student who, with her parents in tow, runs into her sugar daddy at a Jewish funeral service.
image+nation is available online for residents in Quebec until Dec. 6.

Sarah Taher

Sarah Taher is a Toronto-based multimedia journalist. She is an associate producer at CBC News: The National. Her freelance work can be seen in Xtra and The Pigeon, where she typically covers LGBTQ2S+ arts and culture, intersectional identities, and religion. Sarah has a BA in Journalism from Humber College. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahftaher

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