As Out's cover star Luke Macfarlane reminds us, there is strength in empathy, writes Out editor in chief Daniel Reynolds.
March 22 2025 12:00 PM EST
March 22 2025 12:00 PM EST
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The above video is from the Advocate Channel's Cover to Cover, in which host Stephen Walker reviews the making of Out's March/April issue. Learn more at AdvocateChannel.com.
Our favorite season — awards — will have been wrapped by the time this Out issue hits newsstands. But through the glitz and the glam (and the occasional controversy), I was struck by one noteworthy speech at the SAG Awards from the great Jane Fonda that cut through. In it, she declared that “empathy is not weak or woke. And by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”
As attacks on LGBTQ+ people rain from the federal level, the way forward seems hazy and perilous. Sometimes, it can feel safer to tune out and to rest on the sidelines while more marginalized groups are targeted. But I urge you to not to lose sight of the power of empathy, of being awake to the dangers that we not only personally face, but of those threatening the lives of others. This empathy is our strength.
In our cover story with Luke Macfarlane, the Bros star also bemoans this cultural shift toward prizing the “brutal and tough and mean.” As he reminds us, “it doesn’t hurt you to be kind.” Though he often felt pressured to adopt a harsher form of masculinity in Hollywood, he resisted, and this principle of kindness has guided him as an out actor — and now, as a family man and transformer of homes on reality TV, as he shares in our interview.
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This is the Spring Fashion issue, which is a perfect opportunity to highlight beauty in the world. Stylist Martin Gregory Jerez attended Paris Fashion Week to report on the latest trends. Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell discusses a legendary career of dressing the world’s best performers on stage and screen. And Antoni Porowski sports spring fashion and praises the power of “diversity exposure” in an increasingly siloed world — lessons learned from his new food travel docuseries, No Taste Like Home.
Speaking of stage and screen, Ang Lee’s gay classic The Wedding Banquet has been revived for a new queer generation by director Andrew Ahn. After 13 years, Smash — NBC’s cult musical dramedy about backstage Broadway — is finally premiering on the Great White Way, as we discuss with star Brooks Ashmanskas. Yellowjackets star Liv Hewson talks breaking the binary on the hit Showtime series and awards season. And the queer songwriters of today’s biggest hits are only amping up the volume in the face of silencing and erasure.
In these tumultuous times, our Finance columnist offers fiscal tips to steady ourselves amid the chaos. Escape it all in Out Traveler, which visits some LGBTQ-friendly islands in this issue, along with a trip to the ultimate fantasy flight: Canada. Wearing flip flops? Don’t forget to treat your feet with our new Beauty guide. And for some light beach reading, revisit the Nazi scandal that rocked the leather community earlier this year in Last Call.
I’d like to leave you with one last noteworthy quote from Fonda’s SAG speech. “Have any of you ever watched a documentary of one of the great social movements — apartheid or civil rights or Stonewall — and ask yourself, would you have been brave enough to walk the bridge? We don’t have to wonder anymore. We are in our documentary moment. This is it, and it’s not a rehearsal!” she declared.
The bridge is before us, dear reader. Just remember: You’re not walking it alone.
Sincerely,
Daniel Reynolds
Editor in Chief, Out magazine
@dnlreynolds
This article is part of the Out March/April issue, which hits newsstands April 1. Support queer media and subscribe— or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting March 20.
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