Issue 218: Michael Johnson, Kristian Dawawan, Bisi Alimi, Ali Forney, Jonestown, Zebra Katz, Taye Diggs, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

left & found

The coming gay equality letdown.

The queers left behind: How LGBT assimilation is hurting our community's most vulnerable. (Image)

The gay community is dying. Here's why it needs to live.

Goodbye to all the gay bars. Are dating apps killing queer culture? "As gay bars close down to make way for trendy delis, it’s time to question what queer culture has sacrificed at the feet of profit-making dating apps."

MUSED Magazine, Viktor Kerney and a hankering for racial segregation. "If there's one thing we can take for granted, it's the obsession MUSED Magazine (apparently, the "Authoritative Voice For Modern Black Gay Men") has with interracial relationships."

The LGBT movement needs to diversify or die. "Journalist Ernest Owens says he and other LGBT people of color are tired of being invisible."

The latest made-up phenomenon: The "straight homo". "If heterosexual celebrities want to cater to gay audiences to boost their bottom line, so be it. But let's not pretend it's more than it is."

Why I unfriended my mother.

Surprise! Homophobes are likely to be closet gays.

I am not cisgendered. "By imposing the label 'cisgendered' onto me, you do me psychological and intellectual violence. You are saying that I am the same as all the people who do accept and inhabit the normative roles attached to the social construct of 'men,' 'male,' or 'masculine.' You are silencing my voice and rejecting my right to determine my own identity. You have put me into a binary that alienates me from gender discourse.”

LGBT people of color are not monolithic - in reality or fiction.

#BlackLivesMatter: The birth of a new civil rights movement.

Eric Garner killing, one year on: "Sit down son, it’s time for The Talk". "A year ago, Eric Garner died at the hands of the police. His last words – ‘I can’t breathe’ – sparked a wave of protest and changed the way African American parents speak to their children."

On being young, black, liberal and Catholic.

How sci-fi and fantasy can be refuges from homophobic parents.

the news - america

Why Donald Trump is the poison his party concocted.

Republican senators kill LGBT students' anti-bullying Bill.

This is 20-year-old Bryan Michael Canchola (left). He stands accused of beating his 18-year-old boyfriend Stephen Sylvester (right) to death after a night of drinking.

Michael Johnson sentenced to thirty years in prison for “recklessly infecting” a sexual partner with HIV, a decision HIV experts have branded irrational and barbaric.

The justice system failed Michael Johnson. "Michael Johnson was recently sentenced to 30 years for reportedly infecting a sexual partner with HIV. Here''s how the legal system failed him."

Michael Johnson was convicted on evidence that shouldn't even exist.

On Michael Johnson. "Michael Johnson - aka Tiger Mandingo - has been sentenced to thirty years in jail for not disclosing his HIV status. Once upon a time, I knew a 'Tiger Mandingo'. This is my story."

Remembering Andre Gray.

Gawker's top editors resign over controversial outing story's takedown.

Gay pastor Rick Sosbe responds to hate crimes against LGBT-affirming Georgia church.

Man organises "straight pride" parade, blames gays when no-one turns up.

New York LGBT homeless shelter named after Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur breaks ground.

How Bea Arthur became a champion for homeless LGBT youth.

Here is what Martin Luther King told a teen struggling with his sexuality.

Watch | "We have done what the slave master did to us. Dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage.” Pastor E. Dewey Smith denounces anti-gay church leaders in fiery sermon.

Rachel Dolezal is still black.

Contractor sues Ford for firing him after he complained about it "promoting sodomy".

Gay veterans fired under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" are still waiting to clear their service records.

U.S. Navy Sailor Christopher Brewer endured a six-hour sexual assault whilst in service. But what happened next was worse. This is his story.

San Diego Pride, in pictures.

Heatwave. "In July 1995, a scorching three-day stretch caught the city unprepared, leaving 739 dead. The key players recount how one of Chicago’s worst disasters unfolded."

How Chicago is trying to integrate its suburbs. "The city, long divided into black and white neighborhoods, is asking affluent counties to pitch in."

The destruction of a black suburb. "Lincoln Heights, Ohio, once had the potential to become a thriving community, but today it’s in crisis. This is no accident."

Christelle de Castro's pictures documenting the movement sparked by Eric Garner's murder.

Dru Donovan's photographs re-creating scenes of encounters between men in the Bronx and the NYPD.

They killed her. They fucking killed Sandra Bland.

The moment that ended Sandra Bland's life.

Latinos and black Americans have an enemy – and it is not each other.

White people have a race — but everyone flips out when we talk about it.

How I became a white supremacist.

Tales from the Tombs: The legacy of violence at the Manhattan Detention Complex.

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: Guyana After the Jonestown Massacre. "Rolling Stone's 1979 story piecing together what happened after the tragedy masterminded by Rev. Jim Jones."

Inside the family battle for the Newman’s own brand name. "When Paul Newman died, in 2008, he left his Newman’s Own food empire, and the charitable foundation it supports, in the hands of his adviser Robert Forrester. But, his eldest daughter says the family believes their father’s principles are being betrayed."

The strange, sad story of the man named Mr. Hands who died from having sex with a horse.

the news - uk

DJ found dead in Birmingham gay bar.

First ever UK Leather Pride event to be held in Bristol.

Shopping centre closes toilets that were outed as gay cruising hotspot.

Northern Ireland | Biblical sign erected at gay cruising spot.

The scourge of homophobia in UK hospitals. “I was told I should be hanging from a tree by a nurse from Nigeria with strong religious beliefs. People refused to drink from a mug I had used in case I had AIDS.”

Huge rise in syphilis among gay men, figures released by Public Health England show.

the news -
latin america

Cuba | DC's gay men's chorus finds Cuba's LGBT community struggling to be heard. "A groundbreaking cultural tour by a gay choir from the US found reasons for hope in Havana but wariness about the limits to self-expression."

Cuba's moment of transition, in pictures.

Grenada urged to repeal its law criminalising homosexuality.

the news - europe

Sweden’s army launches new Pride campaign.

Germany | Chancellor Angela Merkel says gay couples should not be allowed to call their unions "marriage".

Germany's amnesty on paedophiles.

Italy | How the Mafia has turned desperate migrants into a cash cow.

the news - africa

Uganda | On being gay in Uganda. “Even if you go to the wash room people wanted to rape us. They were saying, ‘You are sodomising yourself, let us also enjoy you.’”

 

Uganda | Gay equality activist Frank Mugisha calls for more visible LGBT role models.

Kenya | President Barack Obama has delivered a strong message of gay and lesbian acceptance to the nation of his father’s birth.

Ethiopia | Rainbow heralds the arrival of US President Barack Obama.

Zimbabwe | Don’t mess with Grace Mugabe – she could be the next president. "For two decades, she was a demure companion at her husband’s side. Now she has taken the stage as a fearsome political figure in her own right. Can Grace Mugabe seize power before it’s too late?"

Nigeria | LGBT activist Bisi Alimi speaks.

the news - asia

Philippines | 84% oppose marriage equality in the majority Catholic country.

Taiwan prepares same-sex partnership law.

China | Police arrest a battalion of Spartan soldiers who marched through the streets of Beijing as part of a promotional stunt to promote lettuce.

the news -
middle east

Iraq | A gay 24-year-old medical student has described his escape from Iraq, and how his father threatened to turn him over to the Islamic State. “If I’d stayed, Isis would have come for me and killed me the way they’ve killed others. If Isis didn’t get me, members of my family would have done it.”

Iran | 14-year-old Akbar Zargarzadeh hanged from a tree at an Islamic boys’ camp in Isfahan after a cleric accused him of being gay. Except, he wasn't.

Saudi Arabia | School fined for having rainbow colours painted on its building.

Kazakhstan | A week in the mysterious sleeping villages of Kazakhstan. "Radiation. Government conspiracy. Mass hysteria. There are plenty of theories as to why the residents of a tiny Kazakh mining region keep falling asleep for days at a time, but no answers. BuzzFeed News spends a week there and tries to stay awake."

médecins sans frontières

Botched robotic surgeries linked to 144 patient deaths.

Passing on HIV while undetectable is very unlikely.

How drug cocktails disable the sexual transmission of HIV.

The French teenager whose HIV is still in remission after more than a decade without treatment.

Five tips on dating when you're HIV-positive.

Interview | Talking to Suzanne Crowe, one of the first Australian doctors to fight back against AIDS.

Boffins call for our sugar intake to be be halved.

Why neglecting your teeth could be seriously bad for your health.

What it's like to be a blackout drunk.

The mean drunk. "When people act differently under the influence, it could be a sign of an alcohol problem."

On "exploding head syndrome".

What's the best way to fight memory loss?

I’ve never masturbated and I feel fine.

Scientists think they've figured out what makes a good-looking penis.

inside the spaceship

Grindr: A great place to make friends.

The sexy emojis you've been waiting for.

The reason every meme uses that one font.

Google doodles aren’t just naff – they’re trying to rebrand the past.

Where does your Facebook profile go when you die?

Amazon at 20: what has the online giant ever done for retail? "The e-commerce site is 20 years old this week. So what influence has it really had on the retail and internet industries?"

Toshiba’s woes show how PC sales slump is squeezing big tech firms. "The accounting scandal at the Japanese giant exposes a cut-throat battle in the dwindling desktop computer sector."

Microsoft Windows 10 free upgrade: the last roundup. "With the free upgrade to Microsoft Windows 10 shipping on 29 July, should I upgrade Windows 7? Can I revert to my old operating system?"

art + design

Black art matters: Jean Michel Basquiat. "Uncovering the cultural legacy of the iconic 80s painter as a new retrospective of his work opens at Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum."

The lost art of the VHS cover. "They were loud and brash and full of ripped men, busty women and guns. But was there more to video covers? Chris Campion celebrates the heroes – and villains – of this lost art."

The underground and alternative magazines from the ’70s and ’80s that capture NYC’s downtown art world.

Life After Disney: The photo manipulations that imagine an abandoned and decaying Disney World.

word!

Visions and Revisions, Dale Peck's powerful testament to his time in the trenches of the AIDS epidemic. Here he recalls his friendship with Derek, a man he considered “a more authentic version of myself,” although almost everything he knew about him would turn out to be false.

The hard truths of Ta-Nehisi Coates. Is he the modern era’s answer to James Baldwin?

French gay magazine Têtu goes bust after annual losses of over €1million.

Brian Andersen’s queer superhero Psyche begins a new adventure with his husband in Super Boys Meet Baby.

Why the book world need not fear Amazon. "It’s good for books so why are so many publishers hostile to the online giant?"

Review | The Way Out: A History of Homosexuality in Modern England, by Sebastian Buckle. "A useful account of Britain’s begrudging and fitful progress toward equality. As an inquiry into the relationship between public discourses and the construction of individual and group identity, however, it could use further work."

Review | On the Move: A Life, by Oliver Sacks. "Compulsively readable, if intimidatingly long."

Review | Shirtlifter, by Steve MacIsaac. "These stories expand the view of the gay male experience by examining stereotypes and the realities behind them, and by sharing the real joys and frustrations of gay life."

beats, rhymes
& life

The tragic last days of The Voice’s Anthony Riley. "The story seemed like something out of a movie: a Philadelphia street performer suddenly catapulting to national fame on a reality show. But the truth about Anthony Riley’s life — and tragic death — turned out to be much darker."

George Michael responds to crack cocaine allegations: "I am perfectly fine".

It's illegal to rip your CDs again - just nine months after law allowing it was introduced.

Interview | Talking to Cakes Da Killa.

Interview | Talking to Ari Gold about his coming out story, the eroticism of Orthodox Judaism and his new album, Soundtrack to Freedom.

On Double Duchess, the electro-hop duo inspired by all-things Grace Jones.

The twenty-two best and worst Bond theme songs ranked: Every single's here, but which are classics and which need their 00 status revoked?

Interview | Talking to gay rapper EarthTone on the release of his new EP GMale.

Does Drake write his own raps? Ghostwriter rumours heat up.

How 50 Cent made millions and then lost it.

If you laughed when 50 Cent went bankrupt, you don’t understand hip-hop.

Warren G’s Regulate robbery was set up by the lightskin girl in Aaron Hall’s I Miss You video.

Follow the leaders. "Big Daddy Kane and Rakim were the alpha and omega of rap’s golden era. Nearly 30 years since their prime, Kane has settled into the nostalgia circuit, while Rakim continues to move in the shadows, plotting a comeback. This is the story of how hip-hop grows old."

“There’s no fucking future; what we do today creates tomorrow.” "Goldie takes us back in time to the early days of breakbeat, D&B and Jungle."

Watch | Zebra Katz - Blk Diamond; openly gay rapper Kore Stacks - Love or Hate; QBoy - DragOn; Ari Gold - Sex Like A Porn Star; Harrison Scott - Locked Up; Scotty Dynamo comes out in his new video, Show Me Yours; Miguel sings Coffee live; Bitch, I’m a Condom, a parody from gay health charity Impulse Los Angeles...

picture house

A brief history of violence in American movie theatres.

Why so many Disney villains sound "gay".

Playing Gay: How America Came Out on Television the new documentary chronicling the decades of LGBT characters that helped shaped America's hearts and minds.

Outfest LGBT Film Festival announces 2015 honorees. Above, Naz & Maalik.

$1 million reward offered for the return of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers, which were stolen in 2005.

Does True Story hammer the final nail into the frat pack coffin? "James Franco’s 147th film is simply the latest in a long line of duds emanating from Judd Apatow’s band of merry men. Is the party finally over?"

Michael Douglas says American male actors are too "asexual" to get film roles.

A Logan's Run remake is in the works, from X-Men producer Simon Kinberg.

Are these the fifty greatest movie characters of all time?

A visual diary of stunning ambient films.

Fifty international film noir classics that everyone should see.

Review | Beautiful Something | "Certainly not a movie for everyone, and some will undoubtedly dislike its slightly meandering nature and the fact it favours talk over action. However, those willing to invest will find a movie with more depth and ideas than it initially appears."

Review | You're Killing Me. "Despite a lot of effort, some good actors and a fun premise, You’re Killing Me never quite works out what to do with its set-up beyond a few smiles and an increasingly repetitive joke."

Watch | Director William Friedkin discusses Boys in the Band; Oriented (trailer), a new documentary looking at what it’s like to be a gay Palestinian in Israel; Everlasting Love (trailer); and a clip from the latest Boys On Film release...

the box

Are there too many transgender TV shows?

Interview | Actor Gavin MacIntosh on playing a gay teen on The Fosters.

Eastenders' Jake Wood pulled from judging gay Porn Idol competition.

Bigots complain over EastEnders' gay funeral parlour sex scene. Gay necrophiliacs get off.

Gay TV Doctor Christian Jessen’s naked pics and sleazy chemsex Grindr invites shame...

...“I just feel really stupid – I honestly didn’t think something like this would happen,” Dr Christian tells PinkNews.

RuPaul announces RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race will be back for a long awaited second season.

How the BBC claimed its 1970s gay actors were "just waiting for the right woman".

Wentworth Prison: the show Orange Is The New Black could have been.

The cast of The Wire reunite to recreate scenes from the Baltimore community in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death.

The slow creep of uncanny television. "From True Detective to Hannibal, contemporary TV is suffused with elements of the bizarre, surreal, and absurd."

Young offenders: how TV millennials became monsters. "From Girls and Broad City to Workaholics and Not Safe For Work, telly’s new trend is for ‘awful, unlikable young leads’. But might their audience identify with them?"

The evolution of TV's ‘Very Special Episode’. "Family sitcoms once embraced the preachy format to teach teens about important social issues, but more subtle, complex storytelling has since taken over."

What in the hell is the TV show NCIS, and why is it so popular in the US?

Review | Quatermass. "Quatermass has never looked better. Network have done a splendid job in returning to the 35mm film elements for their presentation."

Olaf Pooley, the man who was the oldest surviving actor to have worked on Doctor Who, is dead. He was 101. As well as having a notable West End theatre career, Pooley appeared as Professor Stahlman in the apocalyptic 1970 Doctor Who serial Inferno, and latterly in Star Trek: Voyager.

Watch | Rainbow Family, the hit sitcom from China; The Man in the High Castle (trailer), Amazon's forthcoming series imagining a United States ruled by Nazis; Where The Bears Are - season four (trailer); and a reckoning in Wayward Pines...

Watch | T.R.A.D.E IT ALL season 1, episode 4 - Unmasked; Triangle season 1, bonus episode 22 - Truth & Consequences; Social Theory series 2, episode 3 - Clock Work; and The Boyz Next Door LA episode 3 - Rumor Has It...

shouting in
the night

Here's Taye Diggs as Hedwig. In pictures...

...But are white consumers "reveling in the degradation of black masculinity"?

Behind-the-scenes with Taye Diggs as Hedwig. In pictures.

What's gay off-Broadway.

arena

Most eligible bachelor? Newly single Michael Sam hits the Hollywood club scene.

Michael Sam is still waiting to play for the Montreal Alouettes.

Italian sports magazine Sportweek sparks outrage over gay kiss on cover.

Tom Daley says he "always knew" he was attracted to guys.

Robbie Rogers and other LGBT athletes talk about what "a perfect body" means to them.

Cuban rowers at Toronto’s Pan Am Games drop out, defect to the US.

Rio 2016: "The Olympics has destroyed my home."

Hulk Hogan refers to “fucking niggers” in leaked transcript.

2015 Pan Am gymnastics, in pictures.

sex

Kristian Dawawan, the CocoDorm model, is dead. He was 22.

Read a 2013 interview with Dawawan. He's asked where he sees himself in five years: "I see myself living in Miami, having my own home. Being happy."

Former porn star Venom survives being shot in the back at work.

Treasure Island’s next movie will feature cocaine being snorted off a cock.

XL goes bareback. Commenters aren't happy.

Michael Lucas wants Muslims “sent back to their countries”.

Racist gay porn stars Paul Canon and Damien Kyle are getting married.

Michael Musto's sexy scenes from the nightlife.

Just how submissive should a bottom be?

Gay porn star and escort Kurtis Wolfe on why he loves his job...

So someone made a thing called Jurassic Porn.

ChocolateDrop models perform live in front of an audience at Zone Amsterdam. Video.

Sizzling Micah Brandt gets it again on Twitter.

Do not miss stunning Latino model Drae Axtell's scene with real-life husbands Tomas Brand and Logan Rogue.

Drae Axtell and Pablo Hernandez in bed.

Another new Lucas Entertainment model is Ashton Summers, a Puerto Rican ballet dancer.

Behind-the-scenes with Bel Ami models Kris Evans, Adam Archuleta and Andrei Karenin.

Behind-the-scenes with Kris Evans, Corbin Fisher's Quinn, and Darius Ferdynand.

Bel Ami teases Scandal In The Vatican 2: The Swiss Guard.

Interview | Talking to Suki Lee Taikomochi.

Interview | Talking to Zoe.

Interview | Talking to Landon Conrad.

Watch | Armond Rizzo on being porn's most famous bottom.

ghetto romance

Why do gay men have so little sex?

Open relationships: What the real rules need to be.

In defense of ghosting out of relationships.

Everybody sexts. So why do we treat it like a shameful secret?

What I now know about asexuals.

rag trade

On Fiorucci, the gay-centric fashion palace that shocked NYC.

Bloxers, the underwear that conceals erections.

The myth of the ethical shopper. "When it comes to sweatshops and child labor, your $7 H&M gym shorts aren’t really the problem (or the solution)."

Why the fuss over a white woman having a black hairstyle? "I see it as a welcome cultural export, not pernicious appropriation. The politics of hair is becoming another issue that exacerbates the racial divide."

hell's kitchen

Gay bars can offer entry to community - but the cover charge can be steep.

Pictures from from The Hole, San Diego's most glorious gay bar.

The late night snacks that won't wreck your sleep.

What is hydrogenation? And why is it in all your food?

What’s so bad about "processed food"?

A bag of "fat, chemicals – and hepatitis": Why Britain has stopped eating sausages.

Eggs are now more expensive than chicken.

Is the banana going extinct?

Food fight: the secrets of the supermarket price war. "Grocery pricing is mysterious and highly competitive — and as Lidl and Aldi turn up the heat, the ‘big four’ have come under fire again. But if we’re being taken for a ride, why don’t we notice?"

People in the self-checkout line are terrible. Here's how to make them faster.

Scorpions, spiders and lizards: when did buying bananas become so dangerous? "There seems to be more creepy crawlies lurking in the fruit bowl than ever before – and it could be down to the consumer aversion to chemicals."

Seven surprising facts about cannibalism.

betta work!

I work at the US Capitol and KFC. Colonel Sanders pays me more than Uncle Sam.

I spent two years cleaning houses. What I saw makes me never want to be rich.

I own 51% of
this company!

If we really want DVD stores and bookshops to survive, why don’t we shop at them more?

Back from the brink: five successful rebrands and why they worked.

planet earth

The really Big One. "An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when."

There's a way to make big earthquakes safer. The US won't pay for it.

NASA has estimated there are one billion "Earths" in our galaxy alone.

What would happen if a massive comet struck the sun?

zoo

The incredible rescue of a beached great white shark.

The fanged fish that lives inside a volcano.

Animal pictures of the week.

planes, trains
& automobiles

On suicide on Bucharest's Metrorex subway-trains.

What the people who do New York, Chicago, and DC's subway voices look like.

Up in the air. "Inside the compulsive world of airline rewards hobbyists, who spend the bulk of their lives flying around the world for free."

I like the bus. There’s something to be said for taking the long way home.

Chinese-built zero-emissions electric bus prepares for service in London.

Driving is making a big comeback in the US — after years of decline.

We don’t say “plane accident.” We shouldn’t say “car accident” either.

and whilst you're thinking about that, think
about this...

A print magazine devoted to vlogging? It’s a generational thing. "Those who are so quick to dismiss the launch of Oh My Vlog! and its coverage of the new breed of online superstars are missing the point."

And finally, Walter discusses Michael Johnson; Andrew gets into butt sex; the Baddie Twinz reveal how they came out to each other; get in bed with Jacob; introducing the Trilogy; and Rogue "Marbie" Scott tries life as a white girl.

See you kids next week - it's been emotional! Zee Jai

Issue 218: 13-26 July 2015

On the cover: Kristian Dawawan, who has died.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

bothered to come. The whole thing's been ridiculous."

© 2015