“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 7 winner Violet Chachki will honored with the Cultural Icon Award at Tom of Finland Foundation’s 30th annual Tom’s Bar fundraiser. Dita Von Teese will present the award.
“Mean Girls” movie musical and “Looking” star Daniel Franzese emcees.
The all-day festivities take place June 18 at The Avalon & Bardot Hollywood in Los Angeles. The theme for this year’s bash is “All roads lead to Tom.” “Tom’s Bar is a place where all corners of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies converge for a big party under one roof,” ToFF creative director Richard Villani said in a statement. “Leathermen, pups, kinksters and fetishists of all stripes are welcome to dance and party all day long.”
The 2022 honoree was musician Orville Peck. See more Pride event news below.
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Outfest Announces Opening and Closing Night Films
The opening night film for this year’s Outfest will be “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” directed by Aitch Alberto. Sav Rodgers’ “Chasing Chasing Amy” will close the 41st edition of the LGBTQ film festival. This marks the first time that both the opening and closing selections are directed by trans artists.
“The power of filmmaking can inspire, uplift, and unite audiences, and this is something that our community needs now more than ever as our rights are being attacked and restricted across the country,” Outfest executive director Damien Navarro said in a statement. “To make history while we celebrate the power and creativity of our community with these two incredible filmmakers gives us hope that our voices can encourage future generations of artists.”
Outfest runs July 13-23 at venues throughout Los Angeles. Genesis Motor America and Warner Bros. Discovery are the presenting sponsors of Outfest L.A. Additional sponsors include IMDb, West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board, Gilead Sciences, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hornitos, Sony Pictures, The Fight Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, ABC7 and On the Red Carpet, APLA Health, Bank of America, Amazon and Glamazon, UTA and West One Music Group.
Academy Museum’s Pride Plans
The Academy Museum’s Pride celebrations will include the glass dome over its Dolby Family Terrace being lit every night in June with the Pride flag colors.
The museum will also host “Drop-In Tours: Stories of Pride,” led by drag artists Pickle, Landon Cider, Vander Von Odd and Amber Crane on Fridays through June.
The Pride collection of merchandise available at the museum store features artwork by Shanée Benjamin.
For the second year in a row, leadership and staff from the Academy and the Academy Museum will walk in the Los Angeles Pride Parade on June 11. Marchers will be accompanied by a giant Oscar statue, a LED truck with music and a two-sided video screen highlighting clips from LGBTQ films.
