Queer Vulturing
October 14, 2026
Caleb Shomo’s learning experience in coming out. Late life romance with Ian McKellen and Roger Allam. Heated Rivarly’s musical spoof hits London. Trump praises a candidate’s backside (really).
Caleb Shomo says coming out freed his music—and exposed his fans’ prejudices
Source: Blabbermouth | October 13
Beartooth’s frontman says the backlash to his makeup, nails and self-expression in the ‘Free’ video helped prompt a retreat from social media, but living openly has made performing more fulfilling. Having come out publicly in May, Shomo is now touring Pure Ecstasy; the North American leg begins in Boston on November 11.
JD Vance turns a Texas campaign stop into a schoolyard gay joke
Source: LGBTQ Nation | October 14
Responding to a man shouting his love at a Texas rally, JD Vance insisted his affection was platonic, adding, ‘I’m the vice president, not James Talarico.’ LGBTQ Nation reports that the swipe at the straight Democratic Senate candidate accompanied another insinuation about his support for trans young people: apparently, the Republican campaign’s policy cupboard still has room for a closet joke.
Russell T Davies considers making his own big gay love story
Source: Attitude | October 14
Promoting his memoir The Queerest of Folk, the Queer as Folk creator talks about bereavement, television’s backstage realities and finding love again with Oliver Cole. His late husband Andrew remains part of that relationship, Davies says—and his own romantic life may finally supply the material for a new story.
NewFest pairs queer resistance with romance and a little Hunky Jesus
Source: Gay City News | October 13
Gary M. Kramer singles out the galvanizing activist documentary Gays Against Guns, the appealing trans romance Iván & Hadoum and Jennifer Kroot’s celebratory Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence documentary Hunky Jesus in his first-half festival guide. NewFest runs October 15–25, opening with La Bola Negra and closing with Ira Sachs’s The Man I Love; the lineup also makes room for Dolly, Lily and Jane in 9 to 5.
The Body brings Catholic-school desire and satanic trouble to Netflix
Source: DIVA | October 14
Netflix has released a trailer for Quinn Shephard’s The Body, arriving November 11, with Gabby Windey among the cast. DIVA connects its Catholic-schoolgirl provocations to Shephard’s own coming-out experience and her affection for teen movies and erotic thrillers—Jennifer’s Body being a particularly promising patron saint.
Heated Rivalry’s musical spoof scores with filth and feeling
Source: Attitude | October 14 | Review
Simon Button gives the West End run of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody an enthusiastic welcome, praising its compact 70-minute treatment and Dylan Marcaurele’s catchy, cheeky score. Zheng Xi Yong and Joseph Dann play the hockey lovers in a show that turns the fandom’s thirst into musical comedy.
Queer Edward II makes Derek Jarman’s art-as-protest feel urgently alive
Source: Loud and Clear Reviews | October 14 | Review
Daniel Allen calls Theo Rollason’s archival documentary remarkable and a must-watch, praising its assembly of Seamus McGarvey’s footage from Jarman’s 1991 film set. The attraction is both the artist’s personality and the collision of filmmaking, AIDS and queer activism: a making-of documentary with something rather more consequential than DVD-extra gossip on its mind.
Ian McKellen and Roger Allam take their late-life romance from stage to screen
Source: Attitude | October 14
The new Frank and Percy trailer reunites McKellen and Allam as dog-walkers whose conversations on Hampstead Heath develop into love, following the film’s October 13 London Film Festival premiere. Sean Mathias directs the adaptation of Ben Weatherill’s play, with a screenplay by Bent writer Martin Sherman and a UK cinema release planned for early next year.
Andrew Scott and the Pride cast stage a very theatrical protest against the musical
Source: Attitude | October 14
Scott, Jessica Gunning, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy and Dominic West reunite in a promotional skit feigning outrage at Pride the Musical’s impending Bridge Theatre opening. Scott claims his audition failed because his tap wasn’t good enough: solidarity forever, but apparently there are limits when choreography enters the bargaining agreement.
Jacob Tierney opens Heated Rivalry’s playbook with annotated scripts
Source: Attitude | October 13
Tierney’s new 368-page I’ll Believe in Anything collects the first season’s complete scripts, annotations and previously unseen behind-the-scenes material. In Attitude’s interview, the writer-director traces his adaptation back to being a fan of Rachel Reid’s novels: the homework, at least, seems to have been pleasurable.
Trump praises a senator’s backside as trans Ohio Democrats quit caucus posts
Instinct | October 13
Trump’s Youngstown endorsement of Jon Husted included an unsolicited appraisal of the senator’s physique. Instinct pairs that spectacle with a more consequential dispute: trans Pride Caucus leaders Ciara Keeton and Ari Childrey resigned amid allegations that Ohio Democratic leadership constrained their advocacy.
Drag Race songwriter Lucian Piane dies at 46
PinkNews | October 13
Producer and composer Lucian Piane, who helped shape early Drag Race musical challenges and collaborated on RuPaul’s albums, died October 12, according to Los Angeles County medical examiner records cited by PinkNews. TMZ reports that he was struck by a car in Glendale; that account is attributed to law enforcement sources.