Happy Holidays
Dec. 24 — Finding joy and positivity ain’t easy this holiday season, but whether you’re feeling festive or bah humbug, I want to send my thanks and gratitude to everyone who has supported Crosswalk and Georgia Voice this year.
And now, a few headlines:
🙄 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an online “complaint form” to report individuals and businesses who violate the state’s bathroom ban on trans women. Sounds like Ken has a virulent case of TDS (Transgender Derangement Syndrome).
🤬 The University of Oklahoma trans graduate assistant, who gave a psychology student a 0 on an essay that called transgender people “demonic,” has been removed from her position following a discrimination investigation.
🏆 OUT Georgia presented its 2025 Community Honors to leaders, nonprofits, and small businesses. See the list of winners here.
🎄 Be sure to check out Melissa Carter’s latest “That’s What She Said” column on the proper timeframe to celebrate each holiday.
🎤 This Fanilow is sending get-well-soon wishes to music icon Barry Manilow, who is rescheduling concerts – including one in Atlanta – due to lung cancer treatment.
Run, run, Rudolph, Santa has to make it to town…
Collin
💙 Give a child the greatest gift this holiday season—a home filled with stability, warmth, and hope. CHRIS 180 provides trauma-informed foster and adoption services to support families every step of the way. Start your journey today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Lawmakers target gender-affirming care in latest set of bills
🏳️⚧️ Republican lawmakers – and a few Democrats – in the U.S. House passed two bills targeting gender-affirming care for trans youth last week.
Representatives approved a bill on Dec. 17 that would make providing gender-affirming medical care to minors a federal crime, while a second would prevent Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for trans youth. Neither bill is expected to pass the Senate.
Meanwhile, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a broad set of proposed regulatory actions that would effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors.
And the Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to companies that market chest binders, potentially curtailing their availability for transgender and nonbinary consumers.
Make a difference today.
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Susan Powter and filmmaker Zeberiah Newman talk ‘Stop the Insanity!’ documentary
🎥 Throughout the 1990s, Susan Powter was hard to miss. Her weight loss infomercial and her catchphrase, “Stop the Insanity,” were everywhere. With her signature spiked blonde hair, she was well-known as a personal trainer, talk show personality, and author. Then, she pretty much vanished.
Behind the scenes, she had battles with business partners that wiped her out and prompted her to move out of the spotlight to Las Vegas and scrape by as a virtually unrecognizable Uber Eats driver. Zeberiah Newman’s new documentary “Stop the Insanity! Finding Susan Powter” reintroduces the former wellness guru to the world.
➡ Newman and Powter spoke to contributor Jim Farmer about the new documentary, now available on VOD (including Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play).
MORE FILM NEWS
🎉 Three films that screened at the Out on Film festival in Atlanta have been shortlisted for the 98th annual Oscars: “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” “A Friend of Dorothy,” and “Cashing Out.”
A few of my favorite things
I compiled a list of my favorite looks and listens from 2025 – including music, movies, books, and streaming – to check out over the holidays.
🎸 David Byrne’s latest album, “Who Is the Sky?”, is full of the Talking Head frontman’s quirky observations and musings, plus his recent concert at The Fox was brilliant. (pictured)
🧹 I know, I know … it got very mixed reviews, but I loved “Wicked: For Good” more than the first installment. Cynthia and Ariana – chef’s kiss.
🌟 “Andor” is the best storytelling in the “Star Wars” franchise since the original trilogy. Mon Mothma’s speech to the Galactic Senate will forever give me goosebumps: ‘The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss.”
🎷 Beloved UK jazz/pop outfit Swing Out Sister’s box set, “Certain Shades of Limelight,” features five albums from the band’s later career that are arguably their best.
📖 Ocean Vuong’s second novel, “The Emperor of Gladness,” is a moving story of a Vietnamese teenager’s rescue from suicide by a Lithuanian woman suffering from dementia.
💙 Give a child the greatest gift this holiday season—a home filled with stability, warmth, and hope. CHRIS 180 provides trauma-informed foster and adoption services to support families every step of the way. Start your journey today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Best Bets
💃🏽 Stars of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will be making the yuletide gay in Atlanta on Dec. 26 with A Drag Queen Christmas at Atlanta Symphony Hall.
🤶🏼 Athens Showgirl Cabaret is back at Hendershot’s on Dec. 26 for its Christmas drag show.
🥳 Tickets are going fast for Club 1’s 2026 NYE Party on Dec. 31 in Savannah.
🪩 Lore Atlanta will host an NYE Queer Disco on Dec. 31 with DJ KSquared and DJ JustinFace.
Be sure to visit our IG stories @thegeorgiavoice to find even more happenings and events around Georgia.
