New era dawns in bearded drag imperial court
The National Bearded Empress Pageant announced this week that it has entered a "a new day, a new dawn, and era" by proclaiming Kenzie the first-ever National Pacific Northwest Bearded Queen, after a regional contest at the Skylark Café. Competing for the title were the talented Babylon Brooks, Athena Nuff, and Nemesis.

In the announcement on the organization's Instagram account, it thanked the host Dion Dior Black for "a wonderful pageant and safe space for these fierce bearded beauties to celebrate their artistry!"

It also confirmed that all participants qualified to compete at the National Bearded Empress Pageant on April 17, in honor of 2022's winner, Empress Vagenesis.

Free speech groups decry cancelation of school play
After administrators at a high school in Duval County, Florida, canceled a student production of Paula Vogel's play Indecent, free-speech organizations like the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund have responded with condemnation.

"The decision has no relevance to any legislation but is rather a function of our responsibilities to ensure [that] students engage in educational activities appropriate for their age," said Sonya Duke-Bolden, a Duval County district spokesperson.

The canceled play is a true story about a controversial Yiddish play from the early 1920s, which itself featured the first Broadway stage kiss ever between two women, and at the time of its debut, it was censored, often violently.

The Duval County district has put on shows of Rent and Chicago in the past, which both address sex and other adult topics, without such pushback.

In a joint statement, the free-speech groups said that canceling Indecent is "deeply hurtful to LGBTQ+ students, including members of the cast, who see the rejection of the play as a denial of the historical experience of LGBTQ+ people and the persistence of discrimination against them."