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Time Out
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
L.A. Pride 2025: Everything you need to know
With L.A. Pride's move out of West Hollywood and into Hollywood, and the arrival of WeHo Pride in the former city, L.A. is now lucky enough to have two inclusive festivals celebrating the city's LGBTQ+ community. Here, we'll be filling you in on all the details about L.A. Pride, the long-running festival and parade that dates back to 1970—making it the first event of its kind to commemorate New York's Stonewall Rebellion. But if you're wondering what's up with WeHo's own event, don't worry, we'll point you in the right direction for that celebration as well—along with even more major Pride Month events, plus our favorite party spots for divas and drag queens alike. When is L.A. Pride 2025? L.A. Pride returns on Sunday, June 8, 2025 with a block party on Hollywood Boulevard—and that's the same day the L.A. Pride Parade will step off in Hollywood. Note that L.A. Pride in the Park, a concert that's taken place at L.A. State Historic Park the past few years, won't be happening this year. When is the L.A. Pride Parade? The L.A. Pride Parade occurs on Sunday, June 8 in Hollywood, at the site of the first permitted gay parade in the world (back in 1970). The parade is staged along Hollywood Boulevard, Highland Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard, and starts at 11am. This year's grand marshals include Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts, Andrew Rannells and TrinoxAdam. Following the parade, you'll find live entertainment, local vendors and food and drinks along Hollywood Boulevard at the mid-day Parade Block Party. See all of the details, including street closures, in our full guide to the L.A. Pride Parade. Where can I watch the parade? The parade steps off at Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue and heads north on Highland before turning east onto Hollywood Boulevard. From there, it follows Hollywood until it turns south onto Cahuenga Boulevard, before wrapping up back at Sunset. You'll be able to watch from the sidewalk, and expect just about every restaurant and bar with a patio to host special seatings on the morning of the parade. Also, the parade route sits along two Metro stops, Hollywood/Highland and Hollywood/Vine. What's WeHo Pride? And when is it? Though Christopher Street West may have moved L.A. Pride east, West Hollywood still holds its own celebration on the former site of the event. WeHo Pride will technically take place from late May and throughout June, but the main event, an all-weekend music fest dubbed OUTLOUD, takes place May 30 to June 1 (the date of the WeHo Pride Parade). You can find out more in our full guide to WeHo Pride. Between L.A. Pride and WeHo Pride, if you're wondering which is the Pride event for L.A.: Since they're held on separate weekends, there's no reason for to pit one against the other—so why not attend both?
National Geographic
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- National Geographic
7 of the best new museums to visit this year
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Whether it's getting in touch with different cultures, finding creative inspiration or even sinking your teeth into the history of a specific subject, museums can be intimate and interactive spaces that conjure new trains of thought while transporting visitors into other worlds — even if just for a brief moment. And 2025 is a great year to wander collection-filled halls, get lost in exhibitions and stimulate the senses with new interactive experiences — here's where to do it. 1. Grand Egyptian Museum, Egypt A massive 11-metre, 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II greets visitors at the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the largest archaeological museum in the world. This highly anticipated space dedicated to Ancient Egyptian civilisation has been in the works for over a decade, with multiple pushbacks due to rising costs and the pandemic, but the first galleries finally opened in late 2024. The grand staircase that leads to the main galleries is a statue-stacked celebration of Egypt's gods and kings, holding over 60 significant pieces from the museum's collection. Once upstairs, visitors can peer through the floor-to-ceiling windows that face the Pyramids of Giza before admiring the museum's 100,000-strong collection. Tours are offered every hour in Arabic and English and last 90 minutes, but that's not nearly enough to cover the entire museum. This July will finally see the museum's official grand opening, when the King Tutankhamun collection will be unveiled. An old-school jukebox, curated by DJ and activist Honey Dijon, plays inspirational hits that capture the Stonewall community's rebellious spirit and joy. Photograph by Stephen Kent Johnson 2. Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, US Last June — on the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion on the 28th of the month — marked the opening of New York City's Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, a cultural hub dedicated to all things LGBTQ+. It's set in what was one half of the original Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, which was raided by police in 1969, sparking a series of protests. The visitor centre plays host to a variety of talks, live performances, on-site tours and exhibitions highlighting LGBTQ+ history while a modern revival of the original bar occupies the other half of the building next door. A rainbow-coloured Wall of Solidarity greets guests and unveils Stonewall's global legacy while highlighting the voices of revolutionary hope while an old-school jukebox, curated by DJ and activist Honey Dijon, plays inspirational hits that capture the Stonewall community's rebellious spirit and joy. Entry to the visitor centre is free of charge. 3. Nintendo Museum, Japan Giant brick blocks and green pipes decorate the courtyard of the Nintendo Museum, which opened last October in Kyoto, Japan, conjuring up the imaginary world of the global entertainment brand. The museum, spread across three buildings, is dedicated to the history of Nintendo, from its humble roots — founded in 1889 as a maker of hanafuda ('flower cards', traditional Japanese playing cards) — to the company's latest games and consoles, including special editions and concepts that were never publicly released. The main attraction, as expected, is the collection of interactive games, featuring Nintendo's famous characters, from Kirby to Super Mario. End the nostalgia with a visit to the museum gift shop for Nintendo memorabilia, followed by the Hatena Burger restaurant, where visitors can choose from over 270,000 possible ways to build a burger. Tickets are made available by lottery and must be bought at least three months in advance through the museum's website. The striking brutalist building in Kristiansand in southern Norway houses the largest collection of Nordic modern art. Photograph by Alan Williams 4. Kunstsilo, Norway The sleek, white brutalist building that houses Kunstsilo, Norway's latest museum of contemporary Nordic art, might seem like a recent construction, but it's actually a repurposed flour mill built in 1935. Recognised for its modern, functionalist architecture, the silo is now home to prestigious collections that showcase 8,000 pieces of Nordic art. The Tangen Collection, the largest collection of Nordic modern art, gathers work from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland from the late 1890s to present-day. Kunstsilo also offers digital contemporary art and temporary exhibitions, along with lectures, concerts and workshops. There's also a brasserie on the ground floor and the Panorama bar on the ninth, for views of the fjord and archipelago outside the southern port city of Kristiansand. 5. Women Artists of the Mougins Museum, France British collector Christian Levett closed his museum of antiquity in Mougins on the French Riviera and reopened it as a dedicated space to art created entirely by women of the 19th to 21st centuries. Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins, or Women Artists of the Mougins Museum, holds Levett's personal collection of over 100 paintings and sculptures created by more than 80 artists such as Frida Kahlo, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet (stepdaughter of Claude Monet), Joan Mitchell, Jenna Gribbon, Leonora Carrington and dozens more. The ground floor is dedicated to painters of the impressionist and surrealist movements, while the first floor showcases abstract work from the 20th century. The second floor embodies figurative art and various depictions and expressions of the human body while the basement level is dedicated to 21st-century women artists and their legacies in the art world. The museum is open daily and tickets can be purchased in advance online. Visitors to the Museum of BBQ can dive into a ball pit resembling a can of BBQ beans at the end of their visit. 6. Museum of BBQ, US A museum dedicated entirely to flavour, the Museum of BBQ allows guests to get lost in the sauces of America's four main barbecue regions: Kansas City, Memphis, Texas and the Carolinas. Opened by food writer and BBQ judge Jonathan Bender, this Kansas City-based museum dives deep into every step of the sizzling practice, from meat cuts and dry rubs to how smoke, wood and fire affect the final result. Visitors can also soak up the history of the craft while enjoying some 'rib ticklers' (BBQ-themed dad jokes) and photos with the championship mustard belt — an ode to South Carolina's famous mustard-based sauce. After the culinary history, it's time to dive into a can of beans — or at least into the giant ball pit that resembles one. 7. Saka Museum, Indonesia Shining a light on often-overlooked Balinese culture and history, the Saka Museum in Bali weaves the island's intimate connection to nature into its state-of-the-art architecture and design. Opened in 2024 by Ayana Bali, a destination resort with four award-winning hotels, the Saka Museum is free for hotel guests and open to others for a small fee. Named after the Hindu solar calendar, the museum showcases preserved ancient texts, gamelan instrument ensembles, stone statues and ogoh-ogoh sculptures from local Balinese communities as well as offers a deep dive behind Nyepi, Bali's annual, island-wide Day of Silence. Saka offers tours, seminars and exhibitions, along with vast indoor and outdoor spaces for weddings and special events. To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - What it's like to be a US historian right now
I am an early American historian. I have spent decades studying and writing about the history of our country and its remarkable people. The current cultural climate is filled with historical consciousness, but also with widespread misunderstandings and misrepresentations of history. One of the most striking aspects of this moment is the pervasive sense of instability. Many Americans feel an anxiety that is difficult to describe, a visceral apprehension about what comes next. As historians, we are often distanced from this sensation because we know how past events turned out. But living through history in real-time makes that sense of unpredictability palpable in a way that is rarely captured in historical narratives. Adding to this uncertainty is the intense battle over our national narratives and historical identity. I have witnessed, with growing concern, the dismissal of the national archivist and key leadership at the National Archives — an institution responsible for safeguarding our historical records and playing a crucial role in presidential elections. I have also seen the troubling erasure of history from public spaces, particularly online. Websites containing information about the Tuskegee Airmen, Black American heroes, women's history and transgender figures in the Stonewall Rebellion have been quietly removed. Even references to the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, were scrubbed from government web pages due to politically motivated keyword searches that apparently disregarded content. More personally, I recently discovered that my own writings had been removed from National Park Service websites. Over the years, I was invited by the service to educate staff nationwide on how to present complex and difficult histories in ways that engage the public. My contributions included essays and presentations on LGBTQ life in early America and gender-based violence, offering historical context to help park staff address these topics with nuance. That work has now apparently been erased. My professional organizations, including the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association, have spoken out against these developments. Their statements highlight the historical significance of these changes and the urgent need for vigilance in protecting the integrity of historical scholarship. I am deeply worried about the future of history as a profession. Graduate programs are rescinding acceptances, funding is disappearing and the next generation of historians is being undermined. A government that funds historical research serves all of us; without it, we are left at the mercy of political operatives, pundits and fiction writers who reshape history to fit their own agendas. Last week, the administration declared through an executive order, 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,' that the vice president would be overseeing a comprehensive sweep of the content at the Smithsonian museums, one of the world's premier academic museum institutions. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that the content is acceptable to the government. The order made specific mention of unacceptable content on display at the Museum of African American History and Culture and included a prohibition for the Women's History Museum against the inclusion of transgender women. As a historian of America's founding, I am acutely aware of what lies ahead as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence. This anniversary will likely be politicized to an extent unseen since the post-Civil War period, when revisionist narratives about enslavement gained traction in a nationwide propaganda campaign. I recall when Trump's 1776 Commission and the proposed 'Garden of Heroes' were announced, and I expect these ideas to resurface in an attempt to frame history in ways dictated by politicians rather than scholars. We should not turn away from our own histories or overlay a sanitized, artificial version of the past that aligns with present-day political agendas. History is meant to be debated and revised. Professional historians engage in rigorous discussions within scholarly frameworks that rely on evidence and interpretation. Censoring content for political reasons, confusing monuments with actual history and treating opinions as facts will only lead us further into misinformation and mythmaking. History also offers perspective. 'This too shall pass' is a lesson many of us have heard since childhood. This does not mean we should sit idly by and wait for this period to pass. Rather, understanding that we are part of an ongoing historical narrative should both humble and empower us. We are all agents of historical change, and the future is unwritten. History helps us imagine new possibilities — alternative ways of structuring society, radically different ways that previous generations lived and inspiring moments of resilience and transformation. It can be a source of motivation and vision. However, we cannot change the past, nor should we try to erase or distort it. A nation that denies its rich and diverse histories makes itself weaker, not stronger. The work of historians is essential, not only for understanding where we have been but also for charting a path forward that is informed, inclusive and true. Thomas A. Foster is a professor of history at Howard University. His most recent book is 'Rethinking Rufus: Sexual Violations of Enslaved Men.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
02-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
What it's like to be a US historian right now
I am an early American historian. I have spent decades studying and writing about the history of our country and its remarkable people. The current cultural climate is filled with historical consciousness, but also with widespread misunderstandings and misrepresentations of history. One of the most striking aspects of this moment is the pervasive sense of instability. Many Americans feel an anxiety that is difficult to describe, a visceral apprehension about what comes next. As historians, we are often distanced from this sensation because we know how past events turned out. But living through history in real-time makes that sense of unpredictability palpable in a way that is rarely captured in historical narratives. Adding to this uncertainty is the intense battle over our national narratives and historical identity. I have witnessed, with growing concern, the dismissal of the national archivist and key leadership at the National Archives — an institution responsible for safeguarding our historical records and playing a crucial role in presidential elections. I have also seen the troubling erasure of history from public spaces, particularly online. Websites containing information about the Tuskegee Airmen, Black American heroes, women's history and transgender figures in the Stonewall Rebellion have been quietly removed. Even references to the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, were scrubbed from government web pages due to politically motivated keyword searches that apparently disregarded content. More personally, I recently discovered that my own writings had been removed from National Park Service websites. Over the years, I was invited by the service to educate staff nationwide on how to present complex and difficult histories in ways that engage the public. My contributions included essays and presentations on LGBTQ life in early America and gender-based violence, offering historical context to help park staff address these topics with nuance. That work has now apparently been erased. My professional organizations, including the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association, have spoken out against these developments. Their statements highlight the historical significance of these changes and the urgent need for vigilance in protecting the integrity of historical scholarship. I am deeply worried about the future of history as a profession. Graduate programs are rescinding acceptances, funding is disappearing and the next generation of historians is being undermined. A government that funds historical research serves all of us; without it, we are left at the mercy of political operatives, pundits and fiction writers who reshape history to fit their own agendas. Last week, the administration declared through an executive order, ' Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,' that the vice president would be overseeing a comprehensive sweep of the content at the Smithsonian museums, one of the world's premier academic museum institutions. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that the content is acceptable to the government. The order made specific mention of unacceptable content on display at the Museum of African American History and Culture and included a prohibition for the Women's History Museum against the inclusion of transgender women. As a historian of America's founding, I am acutely aware of what lies ahead as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence. This anniversary will likely be politicized to an extent unseen since the post-Civil War period, when revisionist narratives about enslavement gained traction in a nationwide propaganda campaign. I recall when Trump's 1776 Commission and the proposed ' Garden of Heroes ' were announced, and I expect these ideas to resurface in an attempt to frame history in ways dictated by politicians rather than scholars. We should not turn away from our own histories or overlay a sanitized, artificial version of the past that aligns with present-day political agendas. History is meant to be debated and revised. Professional historians engage in rigorous discussions within scholarly frameworks that rely on evidence and interpretation. Censoring content for political reasons, confusing monuments with actual history and treating opinions as facts will only lead us further into misinformation and mythmaking. History also offers perspective. 'This too shall pass' is a lesson many of us have heard since childhood. This does not mean we should sit idly by and wait for this period to pass. Rather, understanding that we are part of an ongoing historical narrative should both humble and empower us. We are all agents of historical change, and the future is unwritten. History helps us imagine new possibilities — alternative ways of structuring society, radically different ways that previous generations lived and inspiring moments of resilience and transformation. It can be a source of motivation and vision. However, we cannot change the past, nor should we try to erase or distort it. A nation that denies its rich and diverse histories makes itself weaker, not stronger. The work of historians is essential, not only for understanding where we have been but also for charting a path forward that is informed, inclusive and true. Thomas A. Foster is a professor of history at Howard University. His most recent book is 'Rethinking Rufus: Sexual Violations of Enslaved Men.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stand With Trans Americans
DONALD TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION'S dehumanization of transgender people—literally denying their existence—is deeply harmful to a small group of Americans who face discrimination already. As someone who helped lead the fight to win marriage for same-sex couples, I'm familiar with the playbook of sowing fear, though I have never seen it carried out as viciously as the Trump administration is now doing. The question for all of us is whether we go along with it or, instead, question it, listen to the stories of transgender people and their families, and see if we can connect, empathize, welcome, and push back. Trump is a master scapegoater. He scapegoats to motivate voters to focus their anger on disfavored people, from falsely accusing Haitians who legally immigrated to this country of eating dogs and cats, to pledging on the campaign trail to 'root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.' The first six weeks of Trump's second administration have been marked by a relentless barrage of anti-transgender attacks, playing into people's lack of familiarity and discomfort. Trump has directed his administration to systematically take away every aspect of what transgender people need to live their daily lives. Under the cynical guise of 'defending women,' Trump now conflates those who meet the medical definition of gender dysphoria with practitioners of what he dubs 'gender ideology.' Many people will find especially jarring Trump's executive order touching on transgender members of the armed forces. He asserts the 'falsehood' of transgender people's existence to justify curtailing medical treatments and banning trans people from uniform, stating that such identification 'conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle,' and is 'not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.' Share The nastiness and the pace of rollbacks and erasure is jaw-dropping. Check out the National Park Service's website for the Stonewall National Monument, which commemorates the site of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, considered the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Until a few weeks ago, the page spoke of LGBTQ+ individuals—as it must since trans people played a central role in the Rebellion—but now the 'T' has been deleted. It is absolutely chilling, and it is the same story across multiple federal government websites. These aren't just symbolic attacks: Trump's orders are having immediate effects on real lives. Individuals who have transitioned are no longer able to get passports or other forms of federal identification that conform to their lived gender anymore, putting them in danger, or even jeopardizing their freedom to travel. Doctors' appointments booked by parents have been canceled even in major cities in blue states. School administrators are walking back policies and practices that strive to make schools safe places for all students. The Pentagon just announced that it will soon begin discharging trans people—of whom there are an estimated 15,500—from the military. Trump is trying to trick the public into thinking that his administration is trying to protect girls or children. But he is merely following the well-worn blueprint of scapegoating a small minority of misunderstood people who simply want to be able to live their lives freely. Not all Republicans are on the same page as Trump. Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, for example, in 2023 vetoed a measure banning transgender kids from playing sports. He did his homework, engaging with transgender Utahns and conducting careful research. He found that of the 75,000 kids participating in high school sports in Utah, only one was a transgender female student. He also learned that 86 percent of trans youth reported suicidality and 56 percent have attempted suicide. 'Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,' he said. 'I don't understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.' Similarly thoughtful statements came from Republican Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio and former GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, both of whom vetoed measures to limit medical care for trans young people. 'We're dealing with children who are going through a challenging time, families that are going through a challenging time,' DeWine said. 'I want, the best I can, to get it right.' Join now THROUGH MY ADVOCACY WORK, I've become close with many trans people. They are some of the bravest people I know. To feel with certainty that you are a woman even though you're born into the body of a man—or vice versa—is an unimaginably difficult realization to make. The social stigma of living according to one's gender identity when it's out of sync with one's birth sex is intense. Overcoming it and living as who you know yourself to be requires extraordinary courage. The present fraught political moment for transgender people reminds me of where our efforts to win marriage for same-sex couples stood in 2004. We were in a precarious spot. Thirteen states approved bans at the ballot that year, with President George W. Bush advancing a constitutional amendment at the national level to bar it. Some Democratic operatives blamed our efforts for John Kerry's loss to Bush that November. Our efforts to build momentum after those setbacks relied on the fact that Americans overwhelmingly believe in the Golden Rule—treating others as you'd like to be treated—but we realized that in order to get people to apply it to same-sex couples, they must first be able to genuinely empathize and connect. And we knew that many Americans didn't know gay people or understand us. So we went about making our case, asking people who were conflicted to engage in conversation with us. The truth is that many Americans grew up in a culture where homosexuality was stigmatized, so it was no surprise they were conflicted. Expecting immediate understanding just wasn't realistic, and casting people as 'bigots' led only to further hostility. People needed to hear from parents of same-sex couples, gay and lesbian people themselves, people in their own towns and neighborhoods—people they could relate to. And they needed to carefully check in with their own internal compasses. As they did, they came to see that the reasons same-sex couples had for wanting to marry—to express love and commitment, to protect their families, to build a future together—were the same reasons that straight couples had for wanting to marry. Now, as trans people face tremendous political adversity, advocates are working their hardest to pursue similar strategies. It starts with conversation. Reasonable people can have honest questions about what it means to be transgender—and there must be space for discussion and room for people to grow. Could you consider what it would be like to have your kid or close friend tell you that they are transgender? How would you respond to them? See if you can apply the Golden Rule—and then take a stand for the dignity and freedom of transgender people. Share The Bulwark THE LAST WORD must go to Martin Niemöller, the German theologian whose famous 1946 poem begins 'First they came for the Communists / And I did not speak out / Because I was not a Communist.' Think of these attacks against trans people as tests for how much authoritarians can get away with. If we don't speak out now and show Trump and his supporters that Americans disapprove, it will only make it easier for this administration to come after other marginalized groups. It's time right now to raise our hands and be counted—as allies, as Americans, as those appalled by the discharging of loyal members of the armed services, as those who believe in the Golden Rule. It doesn't need to be loud; it can be pushing back at the dinner table or challenging a friend who says something that doesn't sit quite right with you. Right now, we must take a stand against this cruelty and declare that trans people exist—and should have every right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as everyone else. Send this article to a friend or post it to social media: Share
