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(Originally Published on Queer Voices on 4/24/2014)

If you listen to NPR / PRI in the U.S., you already know Jian Ghomeshi as an award-winning broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and host of the multimedia phenomenon known simply as “Q” — or as The Washington Post calls it, “the most popular new arts and culture radio show in America”. If you are Canadian, or at all familiar with Canadian media, pop culture, or the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), then you know Jian Ghomeshi is a household name in that country — and he is well on his way to becoming one in this country as you read this.

Born in London, England, of Iranian descent, Jian Ghomeshi is smart, talented and handsome — a triple threat with a sharp tongue, unabashedly advocating for the voiceless among us along his journey to the top. He was recently named one of Maclean’s Magazine’s “50 Most Important People In Canada” and one of Read the rest of this entry »

(Originally Published on The Huffington Post on 3/21/2012)

Like many of you, I was shocked Monday night when, on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ru announced that one of the contestants, Willam Belli, had broken the rules and was being disqualified from the competition. (That’s right. I love TV. Deal with it.)

Oddly enough, I had scheduled an interview with Willam last week, before the bomb dropped, for a second installment of my HuffPost blog “Queer Celebrities Need Love, Too,” but after watching the show I decided to throw out all those questions.

My chat with Willam from yesterday (the day after all the drama) is below.

Hey, Willam. Tough night, huh? What happened, girl?

Well, I checked the Internet to find out why I was disqualified, and this is what my NancyDruPaul skills could come up with:

1. I was on heroin, and that’s how I was able to be so calm when Phi Phi yelled at me.
2. I went out drinking the night before, and that’s why I vomited onstage.
3. My favorite reason: I was on hormones to become a woman, and they found out during the lie-detector test — ’cause you can obviously see how delicate I’ve become, with all my soft features and this friggin’ man jaw.
4. I apparently slept with Pit Crew Jason, because he’s in my new “Chow Down (at Chick-fil-A)” video.
5. I enjoyed the Internet, or went shopping, or had sex with cast or crew.

The Internet thinks you’ve been really busy! Good times. You didn’t look very surprised when the announcement that you were being asked to leave the show was made. Had you been told in advance of the taping, or did you find out onstage?

Well, I was the one who admitted to the producers without prodding that I broke rules — multiple times, in fact. I wasn’t caught doing anything. One of the days just happened to be on a duet challenge, so I knew that it would be a going-down-in-a-blaze-of-glory moment should they choose to act on it (and they did). I’m glad they let me sing, though, because Latrice and I were the best, and her being partnerless in a duets challenge would’ve been weird. Read the rest of this entry »