GLR July-August 2025

The Big Guns It took a series of improbable connections, but somehow a gay American porn star has become a symbol of re sistance for Ukrainians in their war with Russia. It happened in the city of Kursk in a contested region of western Ukraine that’s currently controlled by Russia, which decided to install a heroic BTW

Urban Blues Two of the “reddest” U.S. states now have the LGBT Pride flag as an official state flag—albeit only in the cap ital and largest city of each state. Salt Lake City approved a ver sion of the Pride flag as an official city flag to circumvent a Utah law preventing public buildings from flying any non-of ficial banners. And the City Council of Boise, Idaho, did much the same when it voted five-to-one to make the Pride standard an official city flag, again in response to a statewide ban. Like so much of American politics, it was all an exercise in symbol ism, but the mayors of both cities stressed the importance of making all residents feel welcome. Stated Boise mayor Lauren McLean (D): “Boise isn’t acting out of defiance. We’re acting out of duty.” Among other things, this battle underscores to what extent the Great Divide is a gap between the cities and the provinces. As luck would have it, this division also roughly de scribes the residence patterns of LGBT people, who continue to flock to the cities, where symbols of freedom can still fly. Weaponizing Gender Many states have codified discrimination against transgender athletes into law, including, as of last April, Georgia. For a reality check, GLAAD looked into it and found that therewere no trans students competing in Georgia. The legisla tion cited the case of one Tia Thomas, a trans swimmer who once tied for fifth place in a collegiate match against swimmer Riley Gaines, who became an anti-trans activist following her painful defeat. The Riley Gaines Act requires public schools and uni versities to establish segregated sports teams and bars trans ath letes from competing. While the new law applies to no known

mural to commemorate the 80th an niversary of the USSR’s 1945 vic tory over the Nazis. But a clever sixteen-year-old Ukrainian managed to prank the Russians by submitting photos of porn actor Billy Herring ton. Apparently the Russians were looking for a truly hunky young man to make their point, and Her rington fit the bill, appearing seven times in the mural, photoshopped into a Russian uniform. Reported

Queerty.com : “For both Ukrainians and LGBTQ + people in the region, the stunt symbolizes willpower in the face of regressive occupation.” For the record, starting in 1998 Herrington starred in such movies as 9 1/2 Inches and Lords of the Locker Room , among others, before dying at age 49 in 2018.

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