Jake Shears turns 48 on October 3, with a birthday chapter that includes a Scissor Sisters reunion, a dream Broadway role and a relationship with fellow performer Jon Reynolds.

The singer is currently starring as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54.

He began performances September 11, succeeding Luke Evans.

For anyone who remembers Jake bringing theatrical queer energy to the pop charts, the casting feels wonderfully fitting. But the connection is more personal than that.

From teenage fan to Frank-N-Furter

In a Broadway.com interview published October 2, Shears recalls loving Rocky Horror since he was 13 and describes performing in it as a lifelong ambition.

There is a sweet family detail, too. His mother once barred him from seeing it when he was young. Now she is planning to attend an upcoming performance.

The teenager who wanted to experience that world has become one of the people bringing it to life.

Meet Jon Reynolds

Jake’s boyfriend, Jon Reynolds, has his own career in theatre. The actor and dancer’s credits include West End productions such as Sunset Boulevard, Back to the Future and The Devil Wears Prada.

At the end of 2024, Jake publicly introduced their relationship through a carousel of affectionate photographs. His caption described Jon as his favorite thing that happened that year.

B-Gay covered the announcement. The photographs offered a warm glimpse of the singer’s life beyond his performances.

Jon belongs in this birthday story as a person with his own work and presence—not simply a name added beside a famous singer.

The songs we grew up dancing to

Scissor Sisters emerged from New York’s early-2000s underground, blending club music, glam and theatricality with unmistakable queer confidence.

Their self-titled debut became the UK’s biggest-selling album of 2004, according to Official Charts. Songs including Take Your Mama and Filthy/Gorgeous helped bring that sensibility to audiences far beyond the clubs.

After more than a decade away, Shears, Babydaddy and Del Marquis reunited in 2025. Their return added another chapter to a musical history many listeners associate with nights out, friendships and the pleasure of finding their people.

A birthday worth celebrating

Shears made his Broadway debut in Kinky Boots in 2018. Now Frank-N-Furter brings him back to the stage in a musical that helped inspire him long before he became a star.

The production is The Rocky Horror Show, directed by Sam Pinkleton, rather than the film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A favorite show, a mother coming to watch, a band reunited and a boyfriend with his own theatrical life: there is plenty to celebrate at 48.

Happy birthday, Jake.

📷 Joan Marcus / The Rocky Horror Show; @jakeshears @jon_reynolds1

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Rock Hudson spent his career playing men audiences could fall in love with. Publicly acknowledging that he loved men himself was another matter.

On October 2, 2026, the 41st anniversary of his death, there is a moving way to revisit that history: through the voice of Matt Bomer, another gay Hollywood leading man.

Bomer recorded Hudson’s story for the Foundation for the AIDS Monument. Written by Irwin M. Rappaport, the tribute remembers both his stardom and the career pressures surrounding his sexuality.

The recording is not new. The foundation documented sharing a video of Bomer’s tribute in late 2023. Today’s anniversary, alongside a new People retrospective, provides the reason to return to it.

A familiar face changed public attention

Hudson’s films included Pillow Talk and Giant, which earned him an Oscar nomination. His romantic screen image made him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars.

On July 25, 1985, his AIDS diagnosis became public. Ten weeks later, he died at 59.

The news brought enormous attention to an epidemic that communities, caregivers and activists had already spent years confronting. Celebrity recognition did not make those earlier lives more valuable. It did help force a wider audience to pay attention.

People’s retrospective recalls the increased fundraising and more direct public discussion that followed. It also cites Hudson’s physician, Michael Gottlieb, recalling that Hudson was glad the disclosure was having an impact.

Two actors, different possibilities

The foundation’s account explains that Hudson never publicly came out as gay because the perceived career risks were too great.

Bomer publicly acknowledged his partner and children in 2012. He and publicist Simon Halls married in 2011 and have three sons. His family gives the connection between the actors a human dimension: the possibility of naming the people you love.

That does not mean every barrier facing gay actors has disappeared. It does make Bomer’s role in preserving Hudson’s story meaningful.

Hudson deserves to be remembered for his work, his life and the attention his illness brought to AIDS. He also deserves to be remembered as a man whose public image could not accommodate the whole person behind it.

Hearing another gay actor tell that story is a reminder to keep making room for the whole person.

📷 @mattbomer

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Gus Kenworthy had already said goodbye to competitive skiing once. Now his decision to keep going has helped international skiing reconsider who gets to come back.

The four-time Olympian is returning to the U.S. ski team after representing Great Britain at Beijing 2022 and Milano Cortina 2026. His return, reported by ESPN on September 24, came with an unusual obstacle.

In 2025, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, FIS, introduced a restriction allowing athletes to change their national affiliation only once. Kenworthy had already moved from the United States to Great Britain in 2019.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard argued that returning to his original team was different from moving to a third country. His first switch had also happened before the restriction existed.

FIS approved his return. It also agreed to change the rule more broadly, allowing athletes to return to their original country after at least four years, provided they meet additional requirements.

“Gus’ case initiated a thought process and a change in thinking,” acting FIS secretary general Urs Lehmann told ESPN.

The change is intended to distinguish a return like Kenworthy’s from repeated moves made to gain a competitive advantage. His case has therefore opened a path that could apply to other athletes, too.

That is a remarkable development in a career many fans thought had reached its final Olympic chapter.

Kenworthy won slopestyle silver for the United States at Sochi 2014 while still closeted. He publicly came out as gay the following year.

By Pyeongchang 2018, he was competing openly. A televised kiss with his then-boyfriend, actor Matt Wilkas, became a memorable moment of gay visibility at the Winter Games.

He subsequently represented Great Britain, the country of his birth and his mother’s home country. After Beijing 2022, he retired.

But the retirement did not last. Kenworthy returned to training and reached a fourth Olympics in 2026, finishing sixth in the men’s halfpipe final. He was 34 at the time.

He turned 35 on October 1. A fifth Games in the French Alps in 2030 would find him aged 38. He has expressed interest in continuing, although an Olympic place is something he would still have to earn.

There is another future taking shape away from the slopes.

On August 4, Gus proposed to Andrew Rigby on an island off Mallorca. The two had first met in Sydney nearly a decade earlier, but their relationship began after they reconnected in 2024.

Andrew supported Gus through his Olympic comeback. After a period of long-distance dating, they made a home together in New York.

For readers who have followed Gus since Sochi, this is more than another change of uniform. The young medalist who was hiding part of his life is now an openly gay veteran athlete, engaged to the man he loves and preparing to compete again for his original team.

The September announcement gives that story a new sporting chapter. His life with Andrew gives it a future beyond competition.

Retirement was real. So was the decision to return. And, apparently, there is still more he wants to do.

📷 @guskenworthy @ariggers

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