Queer Vulturing
October 5, 2026
Jamaican artist Destin Conrad celebrates his queer identity. LGBTQ+ deportees sent to hostile countries. Why did META cancel a queer bar’s Instagram account? And Luke Evans on whether sexual identity should play a role in casting queer roles.
Destin Conrad finds queer freedom in ROADRUNNER
The A&T Register | October 2 | Music review
Naima Adams explores how Conrad’s ROADRUNNER blends R&B, reggae and dancehall with his queer Jamaican identity. Her review highlights his reclamation of T.O.K.’s homophobic song Chi-Chi Man and the Caribbean imagery running through the album’s videos.
Deported into danger: Reuters tracks LGBTQ migrants sent to hostile countries
Reuters | October 5
Reuters documents 40 cases involving LGBTQ migrants deported to African countries hostile to sexual minorities. Its reporting includes a gay asylum seeker sent to Sierra Leone even after a U.S. judge found he could not safely return to his home country.
A gay bar loses its Instagram—and gets little explanation
Them | October 5
Austin’s Rain on 4th says Meta disabled and then deleted its Instagram account, with ordinary drag photographs reportedly implicated. Them examines the consequences for queer businesses as AI takes a larger role in content moderation.
Russell T Davies turns resurgent homophobia into television
Queerty | October 4
The Queer as Folk creator says renewed anti-gay hostility compelled him to write his five-part drama Tip Toe. In remarks to CNN excerpted by Queerty, Davies reflects on the gulf between the progress he imagined in 1999 and the fear and hatred he sees being stirred up today.
A gay-rights pioneer gets a complicated close-up
Attitude | October 5
Matt Nadel’s documentary Odd Man In revisits Donald Webster Cory, whose 1951 book The Homosexual in America helped galvanize the early gay-rights movement before his later views alienated it. Executive producer Jesse Tyler Ferguson joins a project that asks how to remember a consequential figure who turned against the community he helped mobilize.
Maia Kobabe puts comics on the front line against censorship
Xtra | October 5 | Personal essay
The Gender Queer creator reflects on becoming an unwilling expert in censorship and introduces Xtra’s Comics Against Censorship series. Guest-edited by Kobabe, the project uses the medium so often targeted by book bans to tell the stories of the people resisting them.
Breaking the Binary opens a week of trans-led theatre
Breaking the Binary Theatre | Current arts listing | October 5–11
The fifth annual festival opens at New York’s MCC Theater space with work developed entirely by transgender, nonbinary and Two-Spirit artists. Tonight’s reading of Zaza Diana Oh’s MY H8 LETTER TO THE GR8 AMERICAN THEATRE, directed by Miranda Haymon, honors the late artist with a pointed critique of the institution they loved.
Bash Croft takes his Heartstopper profile into pop
Rolling Stone UK | Supplied interview; details corroborated by NME
Sebastian Croft is branching into music as Bash Croft while joining The Celebrity Traitors. NME’s recent interview explores the move from child actor to musician and the tension between a carefully managed screen image and putting himself into his songs.
Queer horror for the Halloween reading pile
Book Riot | Newly indexed October 5 | Reading recommendations
Samantha Josephs, author of the trans body-horror novel Carrying, recommends three favorite queer and trans horror books. A seasonal reading detour for anyone who prefers their scares on the page.
Fatima Al Qadiri brings a queer lens to West Asian dance music
Fatima Al Qadiri on Bandcamp | Upcoming release | October 9
The four-track EP 3TWI draws on West Asian folk dance music and Al Qadiri’s interest in gender identity and performance. Collaborators Bobo Secret, Lama3an and Gumar help shape a release whose songs include an ode to butch femmes; one track is available ahead of Friday’s release.
Grimalkin makes room for queer music and community
Grimalkin Records on Bandcamp | Upcoming festival | October 10–11
The nonprofit label’s fifth annual festival brings music and community gathering to Richmond’s Basic City Beer Co., followed by a virtual edition October 17. A companion compilation, due October 9, offers a way into the lineup and the label’s support for queer and trans musicians, particularly BIPOC and disabled artists.
Out On Film moves from Atlanta cinemas to its virtual encore
Out On Film | Current festival listing | Through October 11
Atlanta’s 39th annual LGBTQ film festival finished its in-person run Sunday, but its Virtual Encore continues through October 11. The festival’s official guide provides the next stop for viewers looking to explore its queer cinema program.
Luke Evans resists the idea of one gay political identity
The Mix | October 5 | Reporting on a Telegraph interview
Discussing his upcoming ITV drama The Party, Evans argues that sexuality does not dictate political beliefs or an actor’s range. The Mix packages the remarks through its own culture-war framing; the underlying interview addresses both political expectations and the suggestion that gay actors should play only gay roles.
A Taipei gay-bar raid brings protesters into the streets
Reuters via The Star | October 4
Around 100 people protested after police raided Commander D, took 51 customers in for questioning and arrested its owner. Police cited suspected public-morality offenses, while protesters challenged the raid in a city preparing for its major Pride celebration.
Queer beauty creator Mad Sandhu killed in Amritsar
PinkNews | October 5
Punjabi makeup artist and influencer Mad Sandhu was shot dead Saturday in Amritsar, India; police say the attack may have been planned. The investigation continues, and the reporting does not establish an anti-LGBTQ motive.
Grindr courts Washington—and an increasingly expensive bottom line
Air Mail | October 3 | Access gate after opening paragraphs
Matt Kapp examines Grindr’s pursuit of political influence alongside its business ambitions. The accessible opening reports more than $1.6 million in lobbying over a year and a half, including work on health policy and data privacy.
Buttigieg’s biggest obstacle may be his politics, not his sexuality
USA Today | October 2 | Opinion | Accessible syndication available
Columnist Kofi Mframa questions the familiar debate over whether America is ready for a gay president. His critique argues that Buttigieg’s political record and public persona deserve more scrutiny than the historic symbolism of a possible candidacy.
Twenty-four years missing—and the cost of family rejection
The Telegraph | October 4 | Personal feature | Original may require subscription
Kris Griffiths recounts finding his uncle Malcolm, who had disappeared believing his family rejected him for being gay. Their reconnection restored family ties before a final trip to visit a dying brother ended in Malcolm’s own death.
Raised by queer parents, a mother challenges the indoctrination myth
HuffPost | October 4 syndication | Personal essay
A straight, cisgender mother raised by a lesbian mother and gay father draws on her upbringing to defend a transgender teacher facing protests. Her account challenges the claim that children become LGBTQ simply by knowing queer adults.