A new study has found that young LGBTQ audiences are more likely than their straight peers to be infected with STI’s. The research, conducted by the University of New South Wales, followed seropositive participants across two decades. Up to 30% of gay and bisexual young people report that they have been diagnosed with an STI, compared to just 10% of their heterosexual peers. The study linked the prevalence of STI’s to low levels of social support and to the lack of LGBTQI representation in entertainment, media, and the arts. The average age of the gay community’s first sexual experience is 12 years old, while straight youth report their first sexual experience at an average age of 16 years old.
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In a world where the definition of “family” is constantly evolving, perhaps no other word has been as ambiguous as the one that begins with the letter “F”. Today, the word “families” is often used to describe diverse groups who are united by blood, not necessarily by choice.
Jamie New, 16, is different from most of his peers in that he knows precisely what he wants to be when he grows up: a drag queen. And, unlike the bulk of the beautiful want tobe female impersonators who have strutted on-screen before him, he has surprisingly few obstacles to overcome. Jamie has a loving mother, a supportive best friend, and a school full of closed-minded students who quickly warm up to her, making this glitzy big-screen adaptation of 2017’s popular West End tuner a surprisingly happy affair. “Everyone’s Talking About Jamie” is to homosexual adolescents what “High School Musical” was to their more closed-minded peers: a happy, be-youthful pep rally for self-conscious young adult viewers.
Fox scooped up the feel-good musical for a big-screen premiere before the pandemic (and, more importantly, before the Disney merger). It’d follow in the footsteps of the studio’s last hit, “Love, Simon.” For today’s teenagers, a second openly gay, refreshingly nonjudgmental coming-of-age story. Then came COVID, and Disney had to back down. But today, after an ecstatic outdoor global premiere at Outfest, where a field full of gay (and gay-friendly) grown-ups connected over a movie that couldn’t and didn’t exist when they needed it the most, “Jamie” will have its Amazon Prime premiere.
Set in Sheffield, England, this working-class fairytale mixes a “Billy Elliot”-style uphill battle with the vibrant energy and color of mid-’90s misfit indies like “Muriel’s Wedding” and “Ma vie en rose.” If you thought becoming a ballet dancer was tough, imagine a mining-town teen lip-syncing in six-inch heels. It’s shallow, simplistic, and everything comes together a little too neatly, yet the film’s mere presence is a source of pleasure. And, get this: it’s all real, according to Jenny Popplewell’s hour-long television documentary “Jamie: Drag Queen at 16.” So, if everything seems to be a wishful-thinking fairy tale, think again.
On the surface, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” seems a lot like last year’s “Prom,” since both musicals’ main characters are trying to convince a traditional school to allow homosexual students to attend an LGBT-inclusive prom. A lesbian wanted to have a dance with her hidden girlfriend in the same manner as straight couples can, but Jamie fantasizes about wearing a dress in Ryan Murphy’s film. But that’s where the similarities stop. The stage versions of both concepts were hatching at the same time, and neither could be accused of stealing from the other.
Because the role-playing and dressing-up components complicate the political debate, cisgender drag performers (so essential to homosexual culture) have taken a back seat in the movies with the current focus on trans identities. In today’s world, you have to be a powerful guy to pass for a woman. However, as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has shown, fierce drag queens do not come completely formed. They have to start somewhere, so here is an unique origin story: a drag princess’s big debut, with Richard E. Grant as the boy’s teacher, local drag legend Loco Chanelle, giving unforgettable support.
Jonathan Butterell directed the film “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.” In Sheffield, he developed the play with composer Dan Gillespie Sells (the Feeling’s main singer) and book and lyrics writer Tom MacRae. The feature film, on the other hand, required fresh protagonists. As a result, this marks actor Max Harwood’s big debut. Harwood, a tall, thin young man with sharp features and a piercing gaze that breaches the fourth wall from the first scene, staring straight out into the audience and engaging them from the outset, has the confidence to portray one of the most outspokenly homosexual characters in cinematic history.
Jamie’s school requires everyone to wear drab blue uniforms, which no doubt fuels the character’s desire to flaunt the gleaming red shoes he gets as a sweet-16 present from his mother, Margaret (Sarah Lancashire). Jamie stuffs the shoes inside his butterfly-beadazzled purse, a colorful touch of personal flare that shows he isn’t trying to fit in, and gives them to his Muslim closest friend, Pritti Pasha (Lauren Patel), who is also an outsider in the conservative culture. Pritti is confused at first, but soon accepts Jamie’s portrayal of himself as “a boy who sometimes wishes to be a girl,” bringing him to Hugo Battersby’s drag supply shop, the House of Loco.
The tracks are nearly all upbeat, look-at-me tunes targeted towards Jamie and his group of friends. With synchronized Kenny Ortega-style dancing and whirling above cameras, director Butterell (who comes from a choreography background) delivers. Jamie — or her attention-seeking alter ego Mimi Me — stands in the middle, arms extended. One new aspect, however, makes all the difference: an original song called “This Was Me,” a great ’80s-style anthem (sung by Grant and Frankie Goes to Hollywood lead singer Holly Johnson) that gives younger audiences much-needed LGBT history.
The song, which sounds like a long-lost Boy George demo, is set to a dramatic home-video montage that spans 1987 to 1992 and depicts the ravages of AIDS, from gay-rights marches to Princess Diana hospital visits to Freddie Mercury’s (and Hugo’s) death. Because today’s homosexuals don’t often understand the fight that paved the way, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” could have used more instances like this when people aren’t just talking about Jamie but putting his baby battle in a wider perspective.
The fact that Jamie’s greatest struggle is internal is a clear sign of progress. Granted, this child does not have it easy. Margaret, on the other hand, is so supportive that it balances out his homophobic father (Ralph Ineson), school bully Dean Paxton (Samuel Bottomley), and even the school’s tough-cookie careers counselor, Miss Hedge (Sharon Horgan), who doesn’t seem too concerned about following the rules. Of course, a guy attending prom in a dress is obnoxious. The famous Virginia Slims adage relates to Carrie’s treatment during her school formal: “You’ve come a long way, baby!”
SCORE: 7 OUT OF 10
Recently, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) aired a documentary called “Sexual Health for Teens” that focused on the life of trans teenager Alexis Krauss. Krauss was interviewed for the documentary, which focused on the stigma surrounding (and (the lack of) services available to) young people who are sexually active.. Read more about lgbtq youth health disparities and let us know what you think.
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