Remembering Patrick Stewart, His Friendship With Ian McKellen and Support for Gay Rights

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Remembering Patrick Stewart, His Friendship With Ian McKellen and Support for Gay Rights

Sir Patrick Stewart, the acclaimed actor known around the world as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, has died at 86.

His family announced on October 29 that he had died the previous day at his home in Los Angeles, in the care of his wife, singer and songwriter Sunny Ozell, following Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

The announcement was reported by Reuters and other major news organizations.

For LGBTQ+ audiences, remembering Stewart also means remembering his public support for gay rights and his affectionate friendship with Sir Ian McKellen.

A friendship audiences loved to see

As Professor Xavier and Magneto, Stewart and McKellen shared the screen in X-Men. Their work together also extended to the theatre, including productions of Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land.

Away from those roles, photographs of their adventures together became a source of delight: two distinguished actors enjoying one another’s company, posing for playful pictures and showing their affection without embarrassment.

The friendship was part of Stewart’s family life too. McKellen officiated at Stewart and Ozell’s wedding in 2013.

In a 2015 interview with The Advocate, Stewart described McKellen as among his closest friends and discussed why he was comfortable supporting LGBTQ+ equality.

Support that felt natural

Stewart explained that gay and lesbian friends and colleagues had long been part of his world, particularly through the theatre.

“It was always a natural and uncomplicated choice,” he said of supporting gay civil rights.

Getting to know activists such as McKellen brought opportunities to join campaigns, march and lend his support.

It was a personal account of allyship rooted in the people around him. His ease with McKellen, and the humour they shared publicly, gave that support a familiar human face.

Stewart was straight. His friendship with McKellen was one of friendship and affection, while Ozell was his wife.

From Shakespeare to the stars

Born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, in 1940, Stewart built a distinguished stage career before becoming an international television star.

He first appeared as Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, later returning to the character in films and Star Trek: Picard. As Xavier in the X-Men films, he brought another widely loved mentor figure to the screen.

His career also encompassed Shakespeare, comedy and voice work. He was knighted for services to drama in 2010.

The family’s announcement remembered his wider humanitarian work, including advocacy for survivors of domestic violence, refugees, veterans and animal welfare, as ITV News reported.

Stewart is survived by Ozell and his two children, Daniel and Sophia.

For fans mourning him, the memories reach beyond any single performance: a commanding voice, a playful sense of humour and a friendship whose warmth was a pleasure to witness.

📷 @sirpatstew

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Mikah Meyer’s Miss Adventure Brings Gay Visibility to the Open Road

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Mikah Meyer’s Miss Adventure Brings Gay Visibility to the Open Road

A rainbow tutu is not standard running equipment. For Mikah Meyer, it was one way to make sure people noticed who was coming down the road.

The gay adventurer ran 172 miles across Mississippi in February 2021, sometimes wearing the tutu, sometimes an Elvis jumpsuit and sometimes a unicorn onesie.

Now that journey is reaching a new audience through Miss Adventure, a documentary short scheduled for its official world premiere at England’s Kendal Mountain Festival, with screenings on November 20 and 21.

In a new Outsports interview published October 28, Meyer discussed the film and his ambition to bring its message of LGBTQ+ belonging to more viewers.

A deliberately visible journey

The idea began with a question to his social media followers: which state did they consider America’s most homophobic?

They chose Mississippi. That was an informal poll of his followers, rather than an objective ranking of the state or everyone who lives there.

Meyer turned the response into a challenge. He would run across Mississippi while making his identity visible, bringing a gay presence into an outdoor adventure story.

His support crew documented the trip. The resulting film combines the physical journey with a conversation about the experiences LGBTQ+ people carry into places where acceptance can feel uncertain.

His college mentor, Larry Edwards, also appears. Their connection gives the documentary an intergenerational dimension, with both men hoping younger LGBTQ+ people will face an easier path.

Making the representation he missed

Meyer was already experienced at ambitious travel. In 2019, he completed a continuous journey to all 419 U.S. National Park Service sites that existed at the time.

His official trip map records the three-year adventure, which ended at the Lincoln Memorial on April 29, 2019.

As Banff Pride’s screening announcement explains, Meyer grew up watching travel television without seeing someone like himself. His work now helps create that representation for others.

He also founded Outside Safe Space, a symbol people can wear to show LGBTQ+ people they are welcome in outdoor settings.

A community helped make the film

Miss Adventure is co-directed by Meyer and adventure filmmaker James “Q” Martin.

On the film’s official website, Meyer credits donations from viewers with making the project possible, highlighting support from churchgoers who heard him preach or sing and saw his earlier film, Canyon Chorus.

It is a fitting detail for a project about finding connection: audiences helped fund the next story after responding to the one he had already shared.

Banff Pride has announced an early look at the film on November 2, while identifying Kendal later that month as the official world premiere. The Mississippi run itself happened in 2021; the new development is the documentary’s upcoming screenings.

Meyer also hopes to find support for a feature-length version. For now, the short carries a clear invitation to see gay people as part of outdoor adventure — with room for endurance, vulnerability and a little roadside flamboyance.

📷 @mikahmey

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Five Lines on Matlock Helped Cheyenne Jackson Keep Health Coverage for His Family

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Five Lines on Matlock Helped Cheyenne Jackson Keep Health Coverage for His Family

Cheyenne Jackson knows how much a small acting role can matter. Last year, one helped him keep health insurance that covered his husband and their two children.

The actor, known for American Horror Story, 30 Rock and Glee, has now launched One Job Away, an initiative helping other performers find the work they need to qualify for SAG-AFTRA health coverage.

The inspiration was a kindness from Kathy Bates.

Bates helped Jackson secure a small role on Matlock when he was short of the qualifying earnings requirement in 2025.

A small part with real stakes

Jackson told Variety, in an interview republished by Yahoo, that he needed another $6,000 in qualifying work.

He asked Bates whether there was anything he could do on her show. She called back within minutes with an opportunity: a detective role with five lines and no character name.

For Jackson, the size of the part was no obstacle. It was work that helped protect coverage his family relied on.

He and his husband, Jason Landau, married in 2014. They welcomed twins Willow and Ethan in October 2016, as Playbill reported at the time.

Behind the recognizable television credits was a father trying to keep something essential in place for his household.

Putting other actors in the room

Jackson announced One Job Away on Instagram on October 25. The project shares performers’ photographs, professional backgrounds and contact information, aiming to connect them with casting directors, producers and others able to offer work.

Among the performers featured are Daniel Franzese, known for Mean Girls, Jai Rodriguez from the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Trace Lysette, whose credits include Transparent and Monica.

Jackson said he received hundreds of submissions within the initiative’s first day.

“Sometimes we all need somebody to put our name in the room,” he wrote in his announcement, quoted by BroadwayWorld.

Why another booking matters

Recognition from past roles does not automatically secure continued eligibility for the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan.

The plan’s official rules set minimum covered-earnings requirements during a designated base period, with an alternative route based on eligible work days. The earnings minimum is $28,090 for 2026 and $28,933 for 2027.

That distinction helps explain why established performers can still need another booking to qualify. A successful earlier year does not automatically settle the next eligibility period.

One Job Away aims to turn visibility into employment opportunities. Its launch does not establish how many participants will secure work or coverage, but it gives people who can hire them a place to start.

For Jackson, the idea comes from experience: somebody answered when he asked for help. Now he is using his platform to help other performers be seen.

📷 @mrcheyennejackson

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Mika Brunold Says Coming Out Helped His Confidence. Now He’s in Tennis’s Top 200

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Mika Brunold Says Coming Out Helped His Confidence. Now He’s in Tennis’s Top 200

When Mika Brunold publicly came out as gay in November 2025, breaking into the world’s top 200 was one of his sporting ambitions.

Less than a year later, the Swiss tennis player has reached that milestone — and says the freedom he feels since coming out is helping him on court.

The 22-year-old has climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 191, following ATP Challenger titles in Tulln, Austria, and Roanne, France. He has also made his ATP Tour main-draw debut at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.

In an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, covered by Outsports on October 27, Brunold described greater confidence, fewer negative thoughts and more energy to devote to his game.

A breakthrough built on the court

Brunold’s recent results mark a significant step forward. He was outside the top 400 as recently as August before a run that took him into the top 200.

His official website lists the Tulln and Roanne victories among his 2026 achievements, while his Tennis.com player profile records the No. 191 career high.

The Challenger circuit is a different level from the main ATP Tour. His two titles and his Basel debut are separate achievements, each representing progress in his professional career.

In Basel, his first-round match ended in defeat to Nuno Borges. Reaching that stage was nevertheless another milestone in a season that has opened new opportunities.

Brunold’s account of feeling freer adds a personal dimension to those results. It is his description of improved confidence, rather than a claim that coming out alone explains his rise.

The messages that mattered

Beyond the rankings, Brunold recalled hearing from people who said his announcement had helped them come out themselves.

Some had finally found the courage to tell their parents.

For readers who remember rehearsing that conversation, the significance needs little explanation. A public announcement from someone you have never met can make a private conversation feel more possible.

Brunold had that kind of example himself in Brazilian professional João Lucas Reis da Silva, whose coming out and positive reception encouraged him.

In September, the two met in the Tulln final. Brunold won the match and used his post-match remarks to thank Reis da Silva for helping pave the way.

The moment brought sporting competition and mutual encouragement together: two men pursuing their own careers, aware that their visibility could help others.

He wants his tennis to come first

Brunold is comfortable discussing his sexuality, while also wanting his sporting work to remain central.

“I’m a tennis player, not the gay tennis player,” he said in the interview, as translated by Outsports.

Those wishes can sit together. He can value the people his story has helped and still want attention paid to the hours of training, the matches and the results.

Right now, those results give tennis fans plenty to follow: two Challenger trophies, a first main-draw appearance on the ATP Tour and a place inside the world’s top 200.

For Brunold, being more comfortable with himself is part of the story of getting there.

📷 Peter Arnold

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Miguel Bernardeau’s Cheeky Answer About His Nude Scene in La Bola Negra

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Miguel Bernardeau’s Cheeky Answer About His Nude Scene in La Bola Negra

Miguel Bernardeau has found a mischievous way to answer a very personal question about his latest screen role.

The Élite actor’s appearance on Spanish talk show Al cielo con ella has resurfaced in an October 27 Out interview about La Bola Negra, the film taking him into a story of gay desire and historical repression.

Asked about prosthetics, Bernardeau initially answered no. He then corrected himself and joked that his character’s wounds were, of course, artificial.

The exchange leaves the question about his full-frontal scene open to interpretation. His teasing response offers no clear basis for a definitive claim about what audiences see.

A role reaching into queer history

Bernardeau plays Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, a historical figure associated with poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.

In the film’s 1937 storyline, Rafael is a wounded Republican soldier held by Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. His guard, Sebastián, is played by gay singer Guitarricadelafuente, making his acting debut.

Their encounter brings intimacy into a setting shaped by violence and fear. As a new Film Updates interview with both performers explores, the relationship gives Sebastián a glimpse of being seen without having to hide.

Rafael was a real person; Sebastián is fictional. The drama combines historical material with imagined encounters, rather than offering a documentary account of every relationship it depicts.

More than a revealing scene

Speaking to Out, Bernardeau described a demanding performance that required emotional exposure alongside physical vulnerability.

“You have to show everything!” he said.

For directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, desire is part of the storytelling. Ambrossi also emphasized his wish to reach audiences beyond the LGBTQ+ community: “They are for everyone and we can prove that.”

The film connects stories set in 1932, 1937 and 2017. Its cast also includes Carlos González, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close.

Finding a connection to his own family

In a separate interview with W, Bernardeau explained how preparing for the film brought him closer to his grandmother’s memories of the war.

He recalled listening to her stories about brothers who left to fight and the losses that followed. Researching Rafael’s world helped him connect those family memories with a wider history.

He also described the immediate chemistry he felt when reading scenes with Guitarricadelafuente at a callback, after spending days convinced that he had lost the part.

Bernardeau does not identify as queer. The intimacy between the performers belongs to their characters’ story.

The playful prosthetics exchange may draw viewers in, but the film offers a larger invitation: to spend time with gay lives that repression pushed out of view.

La Bola Negra is playing in select theaters. Out reports that it will arrive on Netflix on December 2.

📷 Kacy Bao / Netflix.

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