Why does Neo-Noir persist in our society? You can turn on almost any dramatized cop show, movie, or Netflix program, and see the Neo-Noir styles and storylines. These movies and shows borrow the plot points from the great 1930s Film Noir Movement. It’s the look at the gritty underworld, suppressing the lone hero (or even anti-hero). It’s the unfairness of the world-beating down on our protagonist as they try to stand against the misery and wrath.  We see ourselves as the underdog hero who is fighting for the little guy. It is in this expanse that these stories have continued and will continue.

As I was watching The Happytime Murders the other day, I could not help but be amazed at the prevalence of Film Noir / Neo-Noir still in our pop culture references to this day. That fact that this style of film that started almost 100 years ago is still being made to this day is astounding to me. I remember that when The Happytime Murders came out, you had a lot of people complaining since it wasn’t a comedy Muppet movie such as the trailer led them to believe it was going to be. To which I say of course it was a comedy. It was a comedy laid on top of a gritty Neo-Noir movie, and if you went into the movie expecting that then you were satisfied. This is the birth of a new genre that I call a Comedy Noir movie. 

  So you might be asking what is a Comedy Noir movie. The Happytime Murders falls into the Comedy Noir much in the same way, Who Framed Roger Rabbit does.  Comedy noir would borrow from the best of those genres. You get the Noir storyline of the grizzled, overworked down on their luck detective, who is given a big case, just the case to get the detective back on their feet, their client is a once-famous character in the industry, & the detective is sidelined by false leads and misdirection. You are also given the classic Femme Fatale who under instructions seduces the Detective, thus trying to get insider information that can be used against the detective. All of these are tropes and almost clichés of the Film Noir but make for engaging crime drama. 

Where the comedy comes in is the wacky way that some of the false leads or misdirection’s come in, or in the case of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, from the antics of the client turned sidekick. These comedic moments come to break up the monotony of the classic Neo-Noir Film and give us the much-needed break. We need to be able to laugh. Now that’s not to say there are no funny moments in classic noir movies, but that is not the driving force of the movie. 

I want to see the rise of future movies that would fall into this Comedy Noir genre. This could be easily done by following the above examples. You keep the Noir elements and juxtaposition them with a comedic mise-en-scene, such as puppets, cartoons, or other childhood memories. Voila, you would be at the start of a Comedy Noir film. 

The Happytime Murders, Directed by Brian Henson, STX Films, 2018

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Touchstone Films, 1988

It stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual/Aromantic”. The + simply refers to the fact that the acronym is evolving over time.

National Coming Out Day is October 11th, during LGBTQIA+ history month. The importance of National Coming Out Day is to help fight bigotry and discrimination by showing that there are LGBTQIA+ in our family, friends and workplaces. Started in the late 1980’s as a way to fight against Anti-LGBTQ laws and actions. While the movement is still important, today in most western nations, it is a symbolic holiday; marked with the wearing of LGBTQIA+ iconography and expressing one’s own pride.

“Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.” – Robert Eichberg, Founder of National Coming Out Day.

What’s the deal with the Pride Flags?

So in recent years you might have noticed a new Pride Flag around LGTQIA+ Events and might have wondered what happened to the old one. In 2018 designer Daniel Quasar, incorporated the changes made by the Philadelphia marketing group Tierney in 2017, into the Progress Pride Flag. This flag keeps the traditional six colors and includes a chevron with the Trans Pride Flag colors and two additional lines of black and brown to represent the issues faced by Trans and marginalized individuals in the LGBTQIA+ communities. It is meant to represent all of the community and our continued push for equality. As the community continues to grow, the flag will continue to change and evolve right there with us.

World AIDS Day is December 1 which also kicks off AIDS Awareness Month, and by simply wearing a red ribbon you can help to raise awareness and end the stigmatization of HIV and AIDS in the world. HIV and AIDS affects about 1.5 million people each year and approximately 38 million people are living with HIV or AIDS around the world. At this time there is still no cure for HIV and AIDS, but medicine has helped people live a normal and productive life.

The Red Ribbon was developed by a group of activists and artists in 1991 during the height of the AIDS Pandemic to show people infected with HIV/AIDS who were shoved into the shadows, that they had support throughout the world. It started being handed out at theaters, and art shows in NYC, soon to be picked up by movie stars and musicians. In fact, more than 100,000 red ribbons were distributed among the audience at a Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held at London’s Wembley Stadium on Easter Sunday, 1992.

The LGBT acronym was changed from GBLT during the HIV/AIDS because of the number of lesbians that stepped up to volunteer in hospitals. These women showed the rest of the medical community that HIV/AIDS couldn’t be passed from just a touch. They provided compassion, comfort, and familial support, especially to the gay men whom were not out to families. The HIV/AIDS pandemic spun out of control due to lack of government response at the time, so the community had to find strength in each other.

One of the great ways the LGBQIA+ community came together during the HIV/AIDS pandemic was the creation of the AIDS quilt. Debuted in Washington D. C. in 1987, the quilt had 1,920 squares and covered more than a football field in area. The quilt has continued to grow reaching a total of 50,000 panels and weighing in at 5.8 tons. It is currently displayed in San Francisco at The National AIDS Memorial. You can view the quilt at aidsmemorial.org.

How can you help? Wear a Red Ribbon to show support, donate to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AIDShealth.org ), or help educate those around you. You can also get tested or help get tests to the people that are at most risk.

Gender identity is the social construct of one's innermost concept of how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same (cisgender) or different (transgender, “trans" for short) from their sex assigned at birth. For some, they identify as non-binary (they/them), meaning they don’t feel like they fall into the “Male" or “Female" category explicitly, which is why they elect for gender-neutral pronouns. Gender identity, however, does not play into sexual orientation. For many transgender people, being able to identify as their correct gender is a huge relief. We could help them and show our support by adding pronouns to our email signatures, business card, and other communications. Even for those of us who are cisgender, adding our pronouns lets our trans family know that we are a safe space in the community who want to help them on their journey.

Growing tensions erupted during a particularly hot June night when the Stonewall Inn was raided causing a five-day clash between police and the LGBTQ+ community. This was a catalyst for the modern-day LGBTQ+ rights movement but it was not the first event in our nation’s history to try and bring rights to this oppressed community. Because of the Lavender Scare of the previous decades, which forced many LGBTQ+ people out of employment due to fear mongering, the community was ostracized even more than they had ever been.  

There was going to be a shift, but it would not come easily. Alongside the Civil Rights  Movement, the LGBTQ+ community struggled to gain acceptance but through perseverance, we have been able to make many strides forward. Bayard Rustin was one of the Civil Rights Leaders and indispensable force to Martin Luther King Jr. who straddled both worlds and continued to fight for each community until his death. The LGBTQ+ community has had to endure a long standing tirade of abuse and retaliation, from the Cooper Do-nuts shop riots in Los Angles to Dewey's of Philadelphia lunch counter sit-in protests, the community has remained resilient. You  can learn more about these and other protests at (https://peaceisloud.org/6-queer-riots-in-us history-you-need-to-know-about/ ) 

Organizations like the Janus Society, Vanguard, Daughters of Bilitis, and the Mattachine Society all helped to organize and publish LGBTQ+ materials and provided safe places which provided resources to groups who didn't have a voice and a larger community connection. These organizations helped shape the modern movement and reversal of laws against LGBTQ+ people.  

Today, Pride is a continued celebration of the progress our community has made but also a  continued protest for the reminder of the work we still need to do. In our current political climate where states are actively enacting anti-trans laws, banning books focusing on LGBTQ+  identities, and where the right awarded to us in Obergefell v. Hodges (marriage equality) could be up again before the Supreme Court, the LGBTQ+ community asks for your support and voice. Stonewall wasn't the first of its kind but it was the first time activists were able to publicize a  riot's importance and organize a successful public commemoration.

Marsha P. Johnson born in Elizabeth New Jersey in 1945 became the face of the  LGBTQIA liberation movement during the late 1960s after clashes with law enforcement at the  Stonewall Inn in June of 1969. They were an activist, self-identified drag queens as well as a sex worker. Throughout Johnson's life, people in the neighborhood, law enforcement, and their own family persecuted them, this caused Johnson to run away from home at the age of 17 and live on the streets in New York City, which led to them being a part of the street hustlers and a drag performance troop called Hot Peaches.  

While many people have credited Marsha P. Johnson with the start of the riots, for many years Johnson proclaimed that they were not at the start but that they came in during the second night when the Stonewall Inn was being burned and then dropped a bag with a brick onto a cop's car shattering the windshield. However due to Marsha's activist nature and later work with homeless LGBTQIA youth (Johnson established STAR House, a shelter for homeless gay and trans youth in 1970), AIDS patients, and liberation movements Johnson was credited as a leader in the LGBTQIA community. Even being given the moniker of "Mayor of Christopher Street" by friends and colleagues.  

Johnson who was brought up in a religious home continued to work and pray in multiple churches throughout New York City including Catholicism, Greek Orthodox, Baptism, and  Judaism. Having once said they were married to Jesus. Johnson was a participant in the 1991  Interfaith AIDS Memorial, which brought multiple faiths together in celebration of lives affected by AIDS.  

Shortly after the 1992 Gay Pride Parade, Johnson's body was discovered floating in the  Hudson River. Initially, the cause of death was ruled a suicide, however, the local community insisted Johnson was not suicidal and noted that the back of Johnson's head had a massive wound. Johnson's suspicious death occurred during a time when anti-LGBT violence was at a  peak in New York City. Johnson was one of the activists who had been drawing attention to this epidemic of violence against the community, participating in marches and other activism to demand justice for victims, and an inquiry into how to stop the violence. If you would like to know more about Marsha P Johnson, please visit marshap.org/about-mpji.