Them’s annual Now Awards honor 12 LGBTQ+ people across 12 categories who represent the cutting edge of queer culture today. This year, amid an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ hate, these honorees are fighting for the right to do drag, creating space for trans athletes in sports, ushering in a new wave of queer food culture, and telling LGBTQ+ stories that that America needs to hear right now. Collectively, they represent our community’s endless, drive, ingenuity, and unstoppable power. Say hello to Them’s 2023 Now Awards Honorees and head to the link in our bio to read more: Vanguard: Andrea Jenkins (@shesgotgame1) Visionary: Kristen Lovell (@kplgrams, presented with @humanbyorientation) Art: Friends of George’s (@friendsofgeorges) Fashion: Raul Lopez (@raulzepol) Film & TV: Yasmin Finney (@yazdemand) Food: Silver Iocovozzi (@silveriocovozzi8) Internet Influence: Dylan Mulvaney (@dylanmulvaney) International Activism: Féminas Perú (@feminasperu) Literature: Geena Rocero (@geenarocero) Music: Villano Antillano (@villanoantillano) Politics & Activism: Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) Sports: Nikki Hiltz (@nikkihiltz)

Dear Trans Youth: You are a gift to this world. Your identity is not just valid; it’s irreproachable. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. For this year’s Trans Day of Visibility, we asked some friends to share a message of love and solidarity with our young trans followers, and send a rallying cry to the culture at large that we will not stand for the right wing’s political attacks. So far this year, all but six states have moved to enact some form of anti-trans legislation, totaling more than 430 bills. These measures, many of which have already become law, attack trans life from every conceivable angle: They seek to bar trans kids — and increasingly all trans people — from accessing gender-affirming healthcare; to force schools to misgender and/or deadname trans students; to prevent trans people from accessing the correct single-gender spaces; to outlaw instruction related to gender identity and/or sexuality from public schools; to criminalize public displays of gender-nonconformity; and even to kick little girls out of youth sports. Our current crisis is not just an attack on our rights, but a coordinated attempt to push us out of public life. Even more cruel, the vast majority of anti-trans bills introduced so far take aim at the youngest members of our community. If being a trans kid wasn’t hard enough, young trans people must now contend with bullying not just from peers, but from elected U.S. officials who are trying to make it impossible to simply be who they are. To that we say: Hate ends here. Visit the link in our bio to see how you can help defend trans rights, and check out our pinned comment below to follow everyone involved in making this letter to trans kids around the world. #TDOV2023 #transkids

Let’s get into it. Link in bio for more.

Janelle Monáe (@janellemonae) just dropped a new music video, and we’ll be watching it on repeat all summer long. The visual for “Water Slide” off their new album, “The Age of Pleasure,” is set at what appears to be the best pool party ever. That’s in keeping with the first video from the album, “Lipstick Lover,” which similarly found a crew of hotties shaking ass, splashing in the pool, and sensually feeding each other. But where “Lipstick Lover” is an ode to summer lust, “Water Slide” is a self-love anthem — quite literally. Head to the link in bio to check out Monáe’s latest video.

Long before the term “bisexual lighting” was coined, there was “giallo,” an Italian film genre that infused murder mystery stories with scenes of lurid horror. Typically awash in color, the “gialli” of the 1970s were often phantasmagoric, transforming blunt acts of violence into intricate works of art, each kill becoming its own chamber play. In modern slang, they are perhaps best described as “extra” — and so it’s perhaps no surprise that a new generation of queer horror filmmakers have gravitated to the form. “Bad Girl Boogey,” a new slasher from 18-year-old Australian director Alice Maio Mackay (@alice_maiomackay), proudly wears those influences on its sleeve. The film’s core duo, Angel and Dario — played by Lisa Fanto and Ethan Mcerlean — seek to solve the mystery of the masked killer slaying their queer friends in the local punk scene. “Bad Girl Boogey” is an unabashedly queer film that effectively captures a certain punky queer Gen Z aesthetic. Head to the link in bio to read more about the film.

“Drag Race U.K.” queen Victoria Scone (@victoriascone) has called for greater inclusivity in the franchise’s casting practices, joining the growing number of people advocating to see drag kings on the reality competition show. In an interview with Digital Spy, Scone, who was the first cis woman to compete in any “Drag Race” franchise, called diversity “a plus in every sense.” “It brings variety to performance as well as the fact that everyone deserves a seat at the table, regardless of what gender you happen to be assigned at birth,” she explained to the news outlet. Scone went on to reference her drag king look on “Canada’s Drag Race: Drag Race vs. The World,” stating that drag king inclusion was “obviously… something I’m very passionate about.” Head to the link in bio to read more.

@asabrinawu of “Joy Ride”(@joyridemovie) proposes a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” polyamory arc — yay or nay? Discuss. And watch the full video on your YouTube.

“The Flash” is on track to be one of Warner Bros.' biggest flops of all time and perhaps one of the worst-performing superhero films in history, per the analysis of the entertainment news website The Direct. The film has grossed less than $250 million worldwide in 3 weeks against an estimated total budget of $400 million, when including marketing and production. “The Flash” didn’t need middling critical reviews to falter at its opening; the project was hobbled before it even hit theaters by news of Miller’s bizarre behavior and alleged history of abuse in public and private, which has made headlines around the world. Head to the link in bio to read more.

Get ready with Tinashe (@tinashenow) as she gets glammed and gorgeous to headline at Pitchfork and Them’s “Night Out.” Director: @ali.farooqui23 Producer: @madisoncoffey DP: @alfonsoxox Editor: Lindsey Marie Fink Associate Producer: @rafaelvasquezactor Audio: @reh.chan Gaffer: @meicenmeng PA: @gotgriff611 Make up: @udstevek Hair: @hairbykmiller  @urbandecay

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Presidential campaign is flopping. The latest setback? A homophobic smear video against Donald Trump, which was heavily criticized by both the right and the left after it was posted by the campaign last week. DeSantis’ “rapid response team” reposted the video from a conservative Twitter user on Friday. It’s since faced widespread mockery, including from the Log Cabin Republicans and George Santos. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg also weighed in: “I’m going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled-up, shirtless bodybuilders…and just get to the bigger issue that is on my mind whenever I see this stuff in the policy space — which is, again, who are you trying to help?” Head to the link in bio to read more.

Sure, Hari Nef (@harinef) is trans and a Barbie — but her role in Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster new movie is so much more than “trans Barbie.” Speaking with Out magazine this week, the model and “Transparent” actor explained that not only did her role on the film go beyond mere representation, but that producer David Heyman didn’t know Nef was transgender before she was cast. “It’s probably positive for Mattel to include me in this because we’re trying to show all different kinds of Barbies, but that’s not why I got the role. I got the role because I fit the role… I don’t look much different in the movie than the Barbies that I had when I was a kid,” Nef told Out. In Gerwig’s “Barbie” Nef’s Barbie is a doctor who, like almost all the other dolls, lives in a perpetual state of stylized hyperfemininity. It’s a gender performance that Nef calls “candy with a little poison,” one that runs to the core of Gerwig’s loving satire. And although Nef strongly resists the notion that any of the film’s characters are precisely “human,” she thinks the film has a lot to offer trans women. Head to the link in bio to read more from Nef’s interview.

Keke Palmer’s (@keke) “I Don’t Belong To You” served as a word to everyone trying to control her life and career.