Photo by Gustavo García-Villa
Artists
Jordan Firstman
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
On social media, TV, and the big screen, Jordan Firstman is a leading voice in queer comedy. A writer alumnus of Search Party — the acclaimed dark comedy satirizing unmoored millennials — Firstman went on to debut a short film at Sundance, Men Don’t Whisper, alongside Search Party co-creator Charles Rogers. He returned to the prominent film festival this year in Rotting in the Sun, directed by Sebastián Silva. The meta production, serving up Hollywood satire and graphic gay sex, shows the chaos that ensues after a listless filmmaker (Silva) collaborates with a shallow influencer (Firstman). The characters meet on a beach in Mexico, which is where Silva and Firstman also first met one another.
Firstman became a social media star during lockdown with his series of zany impressions, portraying everything from Mother Nature to “the woman who wrote the copy for the Dr. Bronner’s bottle.” Previously, he made headlines by penning an ode to his icon Laura Dern, sung to her by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles at the 2020 Spirit Awards.
Despite his many hats, Firstman rejects labels. But he allows, “I guess if a farmer doesn’t feel like a farmer, and yet he is still farming…he would technically still be considered a farmer.”
He’s learned to take life’s obstacles in stride. “Sometimes the smallest thing can feel emotionally life-threatening — then you’ll get in a car accident or something and handle it with complete grace,” he reflects. “You can never predict what is going to take you down down down and what you’ll be able to deal with easily. I’ve had a couple extreme events in my life that had been especially challenging, but they taught me something or led me somewhere.”
Firstman also has advice for his peers: “To the gays in my world, I would say let’s be nicer to each other. I know it’s hard to be nice and easy to judge. Especially when you don’t feel good about yourself. But let’s try to be nice.” @jtfirstman
Artists
Troye Sivan
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Photo by Stuart Winecoff
It’s been five years since Troye Sivan’s second studio album, Bloom, was released to much acclaim. And Something to Give Each Other, which came out this October, was well worth the wait.
Sivan and his art routinely spark conversation in pop and LGBTQ+ culture. “Rush,” the album’s lead single that dropped in July, is no exception. It became (along with Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam”) the queer song of the summer. The steamy music video, an explosion of dancing, abs, and hedonism, unleashed its own rush of think pieces about popper use and body diversity in queer spaces.
Sivan, who as an actor had a role this year on The Idol — Max’s much-skewered scripted show on pop stardom— also made headlines for his candor this year. He revealed on the High Low podcast that, despite the reputation he received from 2018’s “Bloom,” which was widely received as a bottom anthem, he is, in fact, not a “power bottom.”
Whatever his preferences, Sivan has proven himself a versatile artist. The release of Something to Give Each Other was Troye’s proudest accomplishment of 2023 — along with the launch of Tsu Lange Yor. The Australian lifestyle and homeware brand, for which Sivan serves as creative director, sells candles and scents as well as home objects. “My brother and I started it together, had to trust our guts, find incredible people to work with, and have learnt so much along the way,” the 28-year-old says.
In art and in life, Sivan remains inspired by his community. “Through so much adversity, the LGBTQ+ community pushes to be a safe space for all — pulled together by pillars of love, support, chosen family, and freedom,” he says. “Queer people everywhere need to be protected and be able to celebrate themselves as loudly as they want.” @troyesivan