Do you want good news first, or bad? Today’s Happy Hour Headlines is a potpourri of both, and so, in the interests of having a good weekend, we’ll sandwich the bad between the good.

The Bitch is Back . . . On Film

Last year, Kingsman films star Taron Egerton had to travel to a supervillian’s secret mountain hideaway to save the world and rescue Sir Elton John, who had been kidnapped and forced to play his hits while dressed in the most ridiculous of his excessive ’70s regalia.

Now Egerton is set to play young Elton in a biopic called Rocketman, which tracks the rise of the superstar from his humble origins to his platform shoes, spangles and feathers. According to the showbiz bible Variety, the film will be directed by Dexter Fletcher, the same fellow who replaced Bryan Singer on the forthcoming Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

The trade journal reports that the picture is being produced in part by John’s husband, David Furnish, who directed a 1995 documentary about the pop star called Tantrums and Tiaras. Shooting on a script penned by Lee Hall (of Victoria & Abdul and Warhorse)fame, is set to begin this summer. .

Egerton was eager to discuss his coup on a British talk show. Have a look:

No Safe Word

According to a new report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), last year was the deadliest for the LGBT community since record keeping began. What’s more, 2018 promises to be even more dangerous for transgender Americans, with a death toll that could surpass 2017 totals by as soon as October.

During 2017, Americans experienced an 86 per cent rise in hate crimes, up from 28 in 2016 to 52. Some of the increase, the source says, is undoubtedly due to more accurate reporting, but there’s no question that in their view, the rise in violence is also due in part to the political cover provided by the current occupant of the Oval Office and the administration’s virulently anti-gay policies.

Such statistics were alarming enough to warrant an early release, the NCAVP concluded. Armed with the facts, the group says it seeks warn “of the crisis of fatal violence against LGBTQ and HIV affected communities,” adding “NCAVP hopes that this sharing this information now will encourage people to reject anti-LGBTQ bias whenever it occurs and to resist any hateful rhetoric or policies put forward by this administration or by legislators.”

Details of the report are deeply disturbing. Their data finds an upsurge in fatal attacks across the strata of sexual minorities, but certain subsets of the community are even more at risk — with transgender women of color being most often targeted as the victims of hate-based homicide. At least 27 transgender Americans were killed in 2017, and all but three were identified as women of color. If that wasn’t bad enough, the murder rate among gay/bi cisgender men increased a staggering 500 per cent, up from four in 2016 to 20 last year.

The NCAVP’s records go back to anti-LGBT hate crimes committed since 1996. As stated, the organization’s mission is to “prevent, respond to, and end all forms of violence against and within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities.”

Bianca Bounces Back

And on a happier note, we’re delighted to report that there’s second trailer for the sequel to Bianca Del Rio’s Hurricane Bianca. This one: From Russia With Hate.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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Last modified: July 23, 2019