DIASPORA DISPATCH: The Queerness of 'Ironheart'; 'Heightened Scrutiny' To Open Theatrically; Protecting Public Media
DIASPORA DISPATCH: 07-01-2025
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‘Ironheart’ is So Queer and I Live
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is queer.
I mean, c’mon. There’s so much spandex; so many muscles; so many hot bods; so many bulges; so much peacocking; so much flaunting; so much grunting — it’s just so queer.
But, alas, Marvel Studios is in the Disney family. And they are so hot and cold when it comes to being so… how should I put this… gay. Sometimes they are down with the rainbow mafia, sometimes they aren’t.
In the latest MCU offering, Ironheart, they don’t necessarily embrace the queerness in the first three episodes with a wide open-armed bear hug… but it’s there. Let’s say it gives it a nice dap.
Set after the events of Wakanda Forever, Ironheart pits tech against magic when uber-genius Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) returns to her hometown of Chicago determined to leave her mark on the world. She meets Parker Robbins aka “The Hood” (Anthony Ramos) and gets involved in some questionable business.
With Ironheart, they are leaning into the LGBTQ of it all as much as they can because of blatant queer characters like Drag Race alum and All Stars season 5 winner Shea Couleé as sickening hacker Slug.
I mean, to have a Drag Race queen on a Marvel show is a big deal.
There is also sooooo much queerness boppin’ about — specifically with the band of villains which also includes non-binary trans masculine actor Zoe Terakes. Ironheart can be added to the ranks of the canon of MCU queer movies and TV series that include Eternals, Agatha All Along, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. You know how there are parents who refer to their queer son or daughter’s spouse as “their roommate” — but it’s still done out of love? This is the energy Disney gives to their queer projects, and this includes Ironheart.
I say this because I was talking about how queer Ironheart was with fellow LGBTQ journalists. They were shocked. When I told them that Shea Couleé had a huge part in it, their jaws dropped. One of them said, “I had no idea. Now I am going to watch!”
Was there no LGBTQ press outreach when it came to Ironheart? If not, they are leaving a whole audience untapped. Either that, or the outreach needs to go further and more intersectional because Drag Race audiences would love to see a queen serve MCUnt in the MCU.
‘Heightened Scrutiny’ Opens Theatrically July 18
If there is one documentary you watch this year, make it Heightened Scrutiny.
The urgent feature film directed by Sam Feder and produced by Amy Scholder premiered at Sundance and was recently acquired by Four Act Film and will open in theaters in Los Angeles and New York on July 18 before rolling out across the nation.
Heightened Scrutiny follows Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney and the first out trans person to argue before the Supreme Court, as he fights a high-stakes legal battle to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. He not only confronts the legal system but also a media landscape that distorts public perception and threatens the struggle for trans rights. With the recent SCOTUS decision to allow states to ban gender-affirming care for youth, Heightened Scrutiny is an urgent call to action against bigotry and injustice.
"Releasing the film on the heels of the devastating Supreme Court decision (LW v Skrmetti) last week, we turn our focus to the work ahead with renewed conviction – bringing the film to audiences,” said Feder and Scholder. “In a mainstream media climate that is increasingly hostile to the trans community, the film explores why and how we have arrived at this moment. While the right for all to access healthcare is a fundamental democratic value, why has it become a debate when it comes to trans lives? We made this film capturing a historic moment of the enduring fight for trans rights; in releasing the film, we hope to inspire coalitions with all struggles for civil rights and bodily autonomy, because an attack on some of us is an attack on all of us. While our film ends at the steps of the Supreme Court, the story is far from over."
Visit www.heightenedscrutinydoc.com for more information!
Help Protect Public Media!!!
Imagine this.
You get in your car, hop on the train, or walk out the door of your house. You can’t wait to hear the latest episode of your favorite NPR podcast. You pop in your earbuds or turn on your car stereo and find said episode… but it’s not there.
It’s gone. As is access to a lot of local public radio and TV stations. Welp, as you may have known, the White House is seeking the elimination of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation that supports 1,300 local public media stations across the country as well as NPR and PBS.
Federal funding ensures local public radio and TV stations can continue to give audiences access to essential educational, local, and cultural programming. News and journalism have been volatile and, let’s face it, untrustworthy as of late, with corporate media misconstruing facts and leaning towards biases.
Public media is rooted in community trustworthiness, in-depth news, and community-based services.
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)in San Francisco has been instrumental in many careers of AAPI filmmakers and storytellers — myself included. In 2014, I worked for CAAMFest while living in San Francisco. And I continued to work with them — even when I lived in Los Angeles.
They have provided me and other storytellers with unconditional support, defining what it means to be a community. In return, I have volunteered, offered my services to CAAM, and they have also helped with my work, including The Problematic Fave podcast. People from CAAM have even checked in on me and my career without being prompted, proving they are just good people. CAAM is a microcosm of what public media is.
CAAM’s work and ALL public media are facing an immediate threat with a bill that would rescind $1.1 billion in public media.
Send a message now urging your Senators to vote against rescinding public media funding. Click here to enter your email and click send. It’s easy and you’ll help a lot of people do good!