Polari is a form of slang or cant used in Britain by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals, sex workers, and the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced back to at least the 19th century and possibly as far as the 16th century. There is a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppet performers, who traditionally used Polari to converse.
A stock character is a stereotypical fictional person or type of person in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of stock characters, covering men and women of various ages, social classes and demeanors. They are archetypal characters distinguished by their simplification and flatness. As a result, they tend to be easy targets for parody and to be criticized as clichés. The presence of a particular array of stock characters is a key component of many genres, and they often help to identify a genre or subgenre. For example, a story with a knight-errant and a witch is probably a fairy tale or fantasy.
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Initially running for eight episodes, a two-part follow up was shown in 2000. It was written by Russell T Davies and produced by Red Production Company for Channel 4.
2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts.
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels and radio stations. It is one of the biggest broadcasters in Italy competing with Mediaset, and other minor radio and television networks. RAI has a relatively high television audience share of 35.9%.
Logo TV is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment programming targeting LGBT audiences. As of January 2016, approximately 50 million households receive Logo.
Priape is a privately held Canadian company, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Priape owned and operated several retail stores specializing in DVDs, books, clothing, leather, sex toys, and other products that appeal to the gay consumer.
Bruno Tonioli is an Italian choreographer, ballroom and Latin dancer, and TV personality. He has appeared as a judge on the British television dance competition Strictly Come Dancing and its American adaptation Dancing with the Stars on ABC TV in the US. Tonioli co-created and appeared on the BBC talent show DanceX and its American adaptation, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann.
The Venus Award is a film award in the adult film industry presented yearly in Berlin since 1997 as part of the Venus Berlin trade fair, an international erotic trade festival, on the exhibition grounds at the Funkturm.
Gay TV was an encrypted subscription channel from the UK that broadcast over Sky and Virgin Media television platform from 20:00 to 05:30 daily, targeted at gay men.
TLA Releasing is a US film distribution and production company owned by TLA Entertainment Group. In March 2011, a new LLC was formed for the operation. Its primary output is LGBT-related films from all over the world under the "TLA Releasing" label, as well as horror films under the label "Danger After Dark". Since 2000, they have released over 200 films on DVD and various VOD platforms.
Maleflixxx Television is a Canadian exempt English language specialty channel. It is a premium adult entertainment television channel, with programming consisting of gay male pornography. It is also noted as the first 24-hour channel of its kind in the world. Maleflixxx Television also has plans to be distributed internationally in the future, including the United States and Europe.
Sky Show was a channel on satellite TV, owned by Sky Italia and broadcast on channel 116.
The Ambitious Servant Girl is a 1962 TV play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was an opera and was directed by Christopher Muir. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.
Chéries-Chéris is an annual international LGBT film festival held in Paris in October or November. Original titled "Festival of Gays and Lesbians of Paris", it was founded in 1994 by Yann Beauvais, Philip Brooks, Élisabeth Lebovici, and Nathalie Magnan. The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles of Île-de-France.
Alessandro Mahmoud, known professionally as Mahmood, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence after competing on the sixth season of the Italian version of The X Factor. He has won the Sanremo Music Festival twice, in 2019 with the song "Soldi" and in 2022 alongside Blanco with the song "Brividi". His Sanremo victories allowed him to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in those respective years, finishing in second place in 2019 and in sixth place in 2022 as the host entrant.
The Eurovision Song Contest has had a long-held fan base in the LGBT community, and Eurovision organisers have actively worked to include these fans in the contest since the 1990s.
Mariano Gallo, known by the stage name Priscilla, is a drag performer best known for hosting the drag competition television series Drag Race Italia.
