Two people are in a room with yellow curtains and a desk. One person is holding a pillow as if about to throw it, while the other looks surprised holding another pillow. A portrait and statues are visible.

‘Will & Grace’ returns, undetectable HIV fallouts, and other top stories


By Johnny Trlica

The new fall television season is in full swing. While it’s still early we’ve already seen Sheldon propose to Amy, Kevin Can Wait kill off Donna and a pillow fight in the oval office. It should be a great fall.
Here’s a bit of what we’ve been reading at HoustonRainbowHerald.com.

Triumphant return

It was 11 years in the making but was it worth the wait? Will & Grace returned to television on September 28, right there on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. Central, the spot they occupied for most if its original eight-season run, 1998-2006.
Donald Trump jokes seemed to dominate much of the conversation, with some hits and a few misses. The Atlantic.co wrote, “Will & Grace has expanded in its worldview—so decidedly that much of the action of the Season 9 premiere takes place not in Will’s apartment, and not in New York, but rather in Washington. At the White House, Grace has come to redesign the Oval Office, after Karen recommended her for the job to her friend “Melanioâ€; Will has come to meet the congressman, whose politics he loathes but whose angular face he does not. Cue Jack flirting with a Secret Service agent. Cue Karen perched on a couch in the Oval Office, knees bent underneath her, Conway-style. Cue the fabric swatch that Grace color-tests against a bag of Cheetos. Cue Will and Grace getting in a pillow fight before the Resolute desk, the pillows’ contents exploding with feathers as a portrait of Andrew Jackson gazes on.â€
Watch parties were held at Guava Lamp, JR’s, Neon Boots, Eagle Houston and several other locations. Early ratings reported by ZapToIt.com showed that Will and Grace was the most watched scripted show on Thursday night with over 10 million viewers.

Undetectable equates to non-transmittable

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed what HIV/AIDS organizations have been saying for some time; that those living with HIV who are undetectable cannot transmit the virus to others, reports LGBTQNation.com.
In a memo issued on National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the CDC said, “When [antiretroviral treatment] results in viral suppression, defined as less than 200 copies/ml or undetectable levels, it prevents sexual HIV transmission.†That is the scientific way of saying that an HIV positive person who with medications controls the virus to the point of not being detectable in tests cannot pass on the virus, even if no protection is used.

Mayor names Guy to LGBTQ Advisory Board leadership

The city of Houston has a new co-chair on an influential LGBTQ program. Mayor Sylvester Turner has selected board member Harrison Guy to be co-chair of the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board, reported a city press release.
“Guy is one of Houston’s beloved artists/activists with a passion for community organizing. He began his community work in Houston in 2005 through the Donald R. Watkins Foundation which focused on eliminating HIV/AIDS in the black gay community. Guy will serve alongside co-chair Melanie Pang.â€

Remembering the battle of the sexes

On September 20, 1973, I was a senior in high school No one in my family seemed especially interested in the Astrodome clash of “The Battle of the Sexes†except for my mother and I. My mom wasn’t a women’s libber but seemed to support the movement, albeit never very vocally. She never burned a bra (that I know of). I guess she was a closet feminist.
The “Battle of the Sexes†was carried on national TV on ABC but was blacked out in Houston so as not to affect ticket sales. A big audience, in fact the biggest audience to ever see a tennis match tuned in—an estimated 50 million in the U.S. and 90 million worldwide. (I sound like Sean Spicer all of a sudden). The attendance in the Astrodome was 30,472. It remains the largest audience to see a tennis match in the United States.
I listened to the match on the radio while Mama was sitting at the dining room table and
Daddy was standing at his usual spot in the kitchen, drinking a beer. When I told Mom that King had won she smiled so broadly that I never forgot that smile. Daddy was not pleased and shrugged it off as if he didn’t care. I know he did.
Mama and I made it a point to watch the 10 o’clock news later that evening, both of us wanting to catch a glimpse of what we were unable to see live. King not only had won, she cleaned Riggs’ clock, wiping the Astrodome floor with him in three straight sets 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3.
And by the way, yes, I was pulling for King. As time goes by I realize that I must have identified more with a 29-year old feminist than a 55-year-old male chauvinist pig. Or maybe it was just the feelings of a 17-year old adolescent still trying to find himself. As a 61-year-old gay man, I still identify more with that 29-year-old feminist.
That tennis match changed the world, yet misogyny still exits. Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Billie Jean King made headlines again in 1998 when she came out of the closet and became a prominent voice in the fight for LGBTQ rights. She currently lives with her life partner Ilana Sheryl Kloss.
Now playing in theatres, The Battle of the Sexes stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell.

For the latest LGBTQ news and current events in 2017, click on HoustonRainbowHerald.com. Johnny Trlica is the editor of the HoustonRainbowHerald.com, the Bayou City’s only daily LGBT internet newspaper. Contact him at jtrlica@houstonrainbowherald.com.

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