Olly Alexander, Charli XCX & More U.K. Musicians Pledge Solidarity to the Trans Community in Open Letter
On April 16, the U.K.'s Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and that a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) in the female gender 'does not come within the definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010.' The U.K. prime minister Sir Keri Starmer has backed the ruling.
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The decision has been widely criticized, with protests and community action held by the trans community and its allies in the weeks since the ruling. In recent days, a number of authors and actors signed similar open letters decrying the decision and offering their support to the community. Dr Victoria McCloud, the U.K.'s first openly trans judge, is planning to appeal the decision to European Court of Human Rights.
The open letter, organized by artist Tom Rasmussen and publicist Tom Mehrtens with support from Alexander and his manager Martha Kinn, states that 'the UK music industry is a vibrant, diverse landscape that thrives on creativity and inclusivity' that has 'long celebrated a multitude of voices and identities, and the music industry here in the UK is one of our most trailblazing and culturally vital assets — one which trans, intersex and non-binary people are woven into in every aspect of the industry, past, present and future.'
Continuing the letter states that artists and and executives 'must now urgently work to ensure that our trans, non-binary, and intersex colleagues, collaborators, and audiences are protected from discrimination and harassment in all areas of the industry — whether in studios, at venues, in offices, or at festivals.'
At the time of publication, over 330 names had added their name to the letter, which describes this as a 'moment to amplify voices that need to be heard, to champion inclusivity and real justice, and to ensure that our industry remains a welcoming and trailblazing space for everyone.' The letter also calls on leading U.K. industry organizations — including major and independent labels, publishers, managers and trade bodies like PRS for Music, PPL, BPI and more — to 'join us in condemning the Supreme Court ruling.'
Signees also include Shygirl, Jimmy Somerville, Lava La Rue, JADE (Little Mix), Mura Masa, Mabel, Jake Shears, CMAT, Wolf Alice, MNEK, Paloma Faith and more, alongside a number of employees from across the sector.
The letter also links out to actionable steps from promoters and community group Queer House Party to support and protest the decision. Read the full letter and see all the signatories here.
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Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Humanities Fall Festival faces the decline of the humanities with lineup including Margaret Atwood, Kate McKinnon
The Chicago Humanities Festival began in 1989. As the longtime nonprofit arts and culture organization announces its signature fall schedule this week, let us pause a moment and consider what a difference 36 years makes. That year, 1989 — not insignificant in the history of free expression in the United States — was the thick of the late 20th century 'culture wars.' Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center were entrenched. Robert Mapplethorpe (who died that March) and other transgressive artists provoked front-page outrage. Jesse Helms argued for 'family values' even as he sought to deny AIDS funding. The Supreme Court decided whether it was OK to burn American flags. The Moral Majority disbanded that year, but not before setting a table that led to budget cuts at the National Endowment for the Arts. You probably don't remember this part, those days long since obscured by much uglier times, but, in the end, only $45,000 of the NEA's $171 million proposed budget was cut. Three and a half decades later, the Chicago Humanities Festival faces a country in which universities, nevermind bureaucrats, want to demolish humanities curricula, and where many cultural institutions face a bleak future of almost zero public funding and the White House itself has made clear its intentions to eliminate the NEA altogether. How does an organization with 'humanities' right there in its name respond? By scheduling weeks of talks, readings and performances in the heart of some of the most impacted local communities. The day ends at Rockefeller Chapel with Nick Offerman, actor and Minooka native, on woodworking — but expect the never-politically-shy Offerman to weigh in on what ails us. On Sept. 21, the festival hosts a 'Pilsen/Little Village Day' throughout two of the Chicago neighborhoods most impacted by ICE raids. That day includes a chat with chef Rick Bayless and Jesse Valenciana, the Chicago-raised chef and journalist whose work focuses on Mexican cuisine. Also that afternoon, Cheech Marin (of Cheech & Chong) on Chicano art (and his California museum of art); and a conversation about Teen Angels magazine, the beloved (now defunct) zine often credited with spreading the culture of lowriders, tattoos and Latino aesthetics. On Oct. 13, the Morton Arboretum, to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day, hosts Robin Wall Kimmerer, the Potawatomi member and famed botanist whose 'Braiding Sweetgrass,' a book of meditations on the environment, became an unlikely blockbuster. As for old-school activism: On Oct. 4, tucked into a lengthy day of events on the Bronzeville campus of Illinois Institute of Technology, there's Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble playing a composition for the famed intellectual and activist Angela Davis, followed by a chat with Davis. 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Margaret Atwood — whose speculative fiction gets less speculative by the day — appears Nov. 8. Roxane Gay talks about the 10th anniversary of her contemporary classic 'Bad Feminist' on Oct. 18; same day, Stephen Dubner talks about the 20th anniversary of 'Freakonomics.' As for local flavor, among other events, there's a conversation on architecture and society with the Floating Museum art collective (Oct. 4); walking tours of Bronzeville (Oct. 4) with Sherman 'Dilla' Thomas; the Lyric Opera performing 'Medea' (Oct. 18); and an afternoon festival in North Lawndale (Oct. 12) devoted to the design of sukkah, the temporary pavilions and structures created for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. For decades, the festival's fall schedule was a beast, held largely across downtown venues and far too vast to expect anyone to catch even a modest number of offerings. Now it's a touch smaller. These days, Bahar said, their events — 80 to 100 a year — are divided almost equally between fall and spring schedules. He also noted that the kind of philanthropic funding that cultural organizations like his once relied on has been shifting away from the arts. Plus, after the pandemic, audiences just don't leave home as often. 'Now we feel like the right size,' he said. Staying relevant could be the easy part. There was a time, not long ago, when Harvard's Jill Lepore on the U.S. Constitution (Nov. 5) and Stephanie Burt on Taylor Swift (Oct. 18) and Padma Lakshmi on the food of American immigrant communities (Nov. 11) would be mostly about what it sounded like they are about. On Oct. 15, Cory Doctorow and Kara Swisher talk about the decline of almost everything. The air, in 2025, is too charged to take events like that at face value anymore. 'Novelist Gary Shteyngart (Oct. 18) just wrote a book about a family that's trying to stay together while everything around them is coming apart,' Bahar said. 'And look, I mean, I have no idea — no idea whatsoever — where he possibly got that idea from!'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
32 Things That Happened Just One Year Ago That I Can't Wrap My Head Around
The summer of 2024 feels like it was, as the Titanic meme says, 84 years ago. Looking back, it truly was another world/universe, so let's look at what life looked like way back when... one year ago, the summer of 2024 kicked off with the Four Seasons Orlando Baby. Deng was born. She fell off hard, no offense. everyone was trying to do that JoJo Siwa "Karma" dance. Related: one year ago, Biden announced he was dropping out. announced she was stepping in. Charli XCX had this super viral "kamala IS brat" tweet: 7."Brat summer" feels like another dimension. 8.A little over 365 days ago, the Paris Olympics kicked off with a Lady Gaga performance. nerdy pommel horse guy entered our lives last summer. Biles also cemented herself as the greatest of all time. times! Related: 12. In the summer of 2024, the Muffin Guy was a thing. Twitter: @dunebarbie was the *blessed* pole vaulter. were sharing the gun guy memes. 15.I personally saw myself more in him: we had Raygun. I miss her. Related: and Tom Cruise had that dramatic Olympic entrance/exit thing. the summer of 2024, just one year ago, Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter were still dating. 19."Espresso" was the song of the summer, something we unfortunately don't have now. wasn't even out yet. everyone was talking about falling out of coconut trees. this is the stuff people were tweeting: one year ago, the hottest MAGA accessory was a bandage on the ear. and Ben officially filed for divorce. Justin Timberlake got a DUI, and the "ruin the tour" meme was born. Related: it or not, "Hawk Tuah Girl" has only been in your life for a year. She became *popular* in summer 2024. 27."Very demure, very mindful" was *the* saying. Vance couch memes were all over your timeline. Tim Walz was announced as Kamala's running mate (he also made JD Vance couch jokes). ONE YEAR AGO, Lil Jon was the star of the DNC. He did that 50-state roll call. made a Trump small penis joke. lastly, hope was in the air, like people were truly libbing out. What a time to be alive. Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds:
Tom's Guide
2 days ago
- Tom's Guide
The only Bluetooth speaker you need for pool parties costs less than $40 — no, I'm not joking
There's nothing like cooling off by the swimming pool with your friends and a drink in hand, especially during a heatwave. I'm not a swimmer so I never really go into a pool, but I do enjoy sitting poolside with my feet in the water — simple yet effective. And because I'm usually the only one not in the water, I get to be in-charge of the music, which I'm more than happy to do because my music taste is elite. But of course, I can't take just any old speaker to a pool party. It needs to be waterproof enough that it should survive if it falls into the water. It's great that I get to test the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers then, huh? Having recently tested the Tribit StormBox Mini+, I think I've found my go-to speaker not just for parties by the water or at the beach, but for everyday use too. Retailing for just $39, this speaker boasts fantastic and powerful bass response, plus detailed vocals. It also sports reactive LED lighting that's fun to watch, and IPX7 waterproofing which means it can be used poolside or in the shower. For the money, I recommend buying two so you can take advantage of the dreamy stereo sound. I never thought a speaker that costs less than $40 could actually sound good. It's difficult to find great, detailed sound at such a low price, especially in a small, portable speaker — but the StormBox Mini+ has proved me wrong and in doing so, it has set a very high bar for future budget speakers I will test. This is the only Bluetooth speaker you need for pool parties, trust me. Let me tell you why. I don't usually enjoy RGB lighting but when I do, it needs to be tasteful and not garish — and that's exactly what the Tribit StormBox Mini+ has. Running along the length of the speaker's passive radiator is an LED lighting strip which reacts to and dances with the beat of the song playing. It works like a charm, dancing along to the bass and sub-bass in tracks like Pink Floyd's 'Money' and the harp in Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games.' It can even keep up with the high tempo in Charli XCX's Brat album, which is saying a lot. It's the perfect speaker to show off at a pool party, thanks to the dazzling light show (very bright in the dark, by the way) and its waterproofing. The StormBox Mini+ is IPX7-rated, which means it can be submerged in 1 meter (about 6 feet) of water for up to 30 minutes, and it works fine if water splashes on it too. No condensation in the shower had a negative impact on the speaker. I also washed a spoon and accidentally let the powerful stream of tap water hit it at just the right angle that the water flew right at the speaker — and it was fine! One of the Tribit StormBox Mini+'s biggest selling points is that its very cheap, retailing for just $39 / £29. That makes it one of the cheapest speakers we've tested here at Tom's Guide, and definitely the most affordable one I've personally reviewed. So why get just one when you can get two, sync them up and get stereo sound? Stereo basically uses two channels (left and right) to produce sound, creating a more immersive and realistic listening experience compared to mono sound. When two StormBox Mini+ speakers are synchronized by holding down the Bluetooth button on each speaker, they sound incredible, making you feel like you're engulfed in the audio or like you're at the movies. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Tribit sent me two speakers so I could test the stereo mode, and I'm pleased to report that it's fantastic. Audio travels between the two speakers really well too, so one moment you'll be hearing Lana Del Rey serenading you in one speaker and then her vocals will travel to the other, and then both speakers will burst with her ethereal voice. Also, some music streaming services, like Spotify, allow you to play the same music from both speakers, so my partner and I could enjoy the same tunes while I showered and she worked on her laptop in the living room. The Tribit StormBox Mini+ is a take-anywhere-able speaker, as it measures just 4.68 x 3.58 x 3.58 inches and weighs 19.2 ounces, so you can easily carry it around in your backpack without feeling weighed down. There's also a handy strap located on the top of the speaker in case you want to hook it up to a carabiner, or carry it around your finger to look super cool. Having used the speaker in the shower, while cooking, while having a nice dinner in my balcony, and while chilling by my friend's pool, it didn't take long for the StormBox Mini+ to become my go-to speaker for everyday use. In the end, no one sums it up better than my partner: "This speaker sounds like a Bose, it has to be at least $100."
