Ben Kimura

 A R T 
 S K O O L 
"Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth..."

Issue 183: Tiger Mandingo, David McIntosh, James Baldwin, Boyhood, EJ Johnson, Eric Lembembe, Albert Kennedy, Poz Lyfe, Hot House, Nubius, and more...



the week's
news
& pop
culture,
with a
gay
bias.


| ponder this |

|  If you only read one article this week, read this: Gay men need to stop being the bigoted caricature I have of them in my head.


>  Colour-blind love is the mark of a healthy and dynamic society. "In Britain, there are ever more 'mixed' marriages such as mine. And society is enriched by this trend."

|  The Proud Whopper? This is not the gay liberation we fought for. "The gay community has bought into marriage, babies and big business at huge cost to its radical potential."

<  The fine line between gay pride and alcoholism. "Why is heavy drinking so acceptable among gay men?"

|  The Queer Acronym Alphabet – limiting in its inclusiveness? How many more letters do we need to add before we realize that no one is 'normal'."

|  Reversing the re-write of gay history. "That vapid gay men are attempting to rewrite history by centering themselves is not news. That they conscripted a New York Times reporter to do the heavy lifting for them certainly is."

|  Gay sex through the ages: A timeline.


|  The age of entitlement: How wealth breeds narcissism.


|  Celebrate the strikers this week – they are fighting for us all. "The case to walk out is unanswerable, but will be eclipsed by outrage from a media utterly opposed to trade unions."

|  4 things that are wrong (and right) about the Millennial Generation.

| america |

<  Tiger Mandingo, and the danger of HIV scapegoating. "Rather than targeting the virtually non-existent HIV prevention programs in place at Lindenwood, the St. Charles Police Department's gross misconduct in handling the case, Johnson’s community seems concerned solely with demonising him for his actions."

|  Whose HIV is it, anyway? Tiger Mandingo and viral responsibility.

|  Smoking has overtaken HIV as the biggest health risk for gay Americans.

|  Gay man punched in Safeway store - employees allegedly helped attacker leave.

>  A taxi driver kicked gay Iraq veteran Eric Williams out of his cab for kissing his boyfriend - on Independence Day.

<  Gay porn model Jessie Colter called "queer", threatened with arrest for wearing red speedos.

|  Gay men and allies protest federal blood donation ban in 60 US cities.

|  Celebrating gay Pride at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.


|  Don't Ask, Don't Tell isn't dead yet. "Repealing the discriminatory 'don't ask, don't tell' policy was just the tip of the iceberg in getting a fully LGBT-inclusive military."

|  Former President Richard Nixon was “tolerant” of gays, who he thinks were “born that way”. But in newly released audio files, he also warns that homosexuality has a damaging and destructive effect on society.

|  Seattle Pride, in pictures:

 
THE BIG PICTURE: Boeing fuselages ended up in a Montana river following a train derailment.


>  Talking to E.J. Johnson, the flamboyant son of Magic.

|  Chicago's murder epidemic, explained in three minutes.

|  Why Detroit is cutting off tap water to thousands of people.

<  Manhattan to get world's tallest residential tower.

|  Canada: Toronto "crack mayor" Rob Ford votes against beds for homeless gay youth.

> Canada: Vancouver hotel adds pride rainbow to city skyline, permanently.

| great britain |

|  The Home Office remains intent upon deporting 28-year-old Isadore Rodrigue Kanko Signe, an asylum seeker persecuted by anti-gay mobs, back to Cameroon.

|  Anti-gay church leader finds a congregation of zero at first service.

>  Albert Kennedy Trust, which helps homeless gay youth, celebrates its 25th anniversary.

|  Banning same-sex couples from ballroom would be a big step back.

<  Essex Pride, in pictures.

|  Drag queens mauled in London's Soho, men arrested.

|  Welcome to London – the most toxic town on the planet. "Oxford Street's more polluted than Beijing and the sky's alive with cranes. Just what kind of city is Boris Johnson creating?"

|  London Mayor Boris Johnson's indifference to pollution is killing us.

>  The Job Centre bar's attempt to do gentrification ironically is an insult. "The injury caused by austerity is all too real, so why turn this pain into whimsical scenery for people lucky enough not to depend on an actual jobcentre?"

<  From the archive: Steve Bell on the 7 July London attacks.

|  Requiem for the petrol station. "Like record stores and travel agents, video shops and post offices, city centre petrol stations are a dying breed – under pressure from supermarkets and out of place in London 3.0."

|  Don't be fooled into thinking sexual abuse was just a part of 1970s hedonism. The impunity of male power is the big theme of the child abuse scandal.

| europe |

|  Ireland is the "goodest" of all countries.

|  France: Landmark ruling allows gay Senegalese man visa to wed his partner.

>  Germany: 700,000 march at Cologne Gay Pride. In pictures.

< Denmark: Copenhagen renames city centre Rainbow Square. The sign in the centre of the square reads: “Rainbow Square. Named after the rainbow flag: A symbol of the struggle of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people for equal rights, as well as of tolerance and open mindedness”.

|  Spain: Madrid Pride, in pictures:


|  Italy: Right-wing Mayor (and MEP) Gianluca Buonanno wants to ban all gay kissing.

|  Greece: Archaeologist uncovers erotic gay graffiti from ancient Greece.

>  Ukraine: A neo-Nazi mob tried to force its way into a gay club in Kiev on Monday.

|  Poland: Gay homeless shelter for 250 people planned for Warsaw.

| latin america |

|  Brazil's true national sport: cheating the people. "At the heart of Brazil's shame – whether in football or in politics – is the disdain those at the top feel for those at the bottom."

|  Dominica: Government insists it will never allow marriage equality.

| africa |

|  Uganda: 5 men arrested, but released without charge.

|  Uganda: A group of American Quakers have created an "Underground Railroad" for desperate gay Ugandans fleeing the country’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act.

|  Uganda: Government claims its "Jail the Gays" law isn't meant to punish gays, rather it's just intended to curb the "open promotion of homosexuality," in the interest of protecting children. That's alright then.

>  Cameroon: Activists demand new probe of Eric Lembembe murder.

< Kenya: 60 to 90 arrested in raid on gay-friendly bar in Nairobi.

|  Zambia: Reflections on the case of Philip Mubiana and James Mwape.

|  Nigeria: How the international community helps and hurts the gay equality movement in Nigeria.


| asia |

>  India: An epitaph for India's "appalling" national car, the Ambassador.

THE BIG PICTURE: A collapsed parking lot in the Chinese city of Chengdu.

|  Australia: Judge suspended for claiming incest is no longer taboo because homosexuality is legal.

| middle east |

<  Israel: Even when it brutalises one of its own teenage citizens, America is helpless against Israel. "Over the last fifty years America's 'strongest ally' has acquired a sense of smug invincibility."

|  Israel: Why gay people around the world need Israel.

>  Iran: Author Payam Feili persecuted for being gay flees to Turkey.

| planet earth |

|  Climate change, the gift that keeps on giving: Unprecedented UV storms. Yay!

|  And this: Caribbean coral reefs could disappear "within a few decades".

|  Why whale poo could be the secret to reversing the effects of climate change. "I have been at the wrong end of a defecating sperm whale: it smells, it's nutrient rich, and could just save the world."

|  The same insecticide that's killing bees is also killing birds.

|  Baboons keep their grouchy friends happy in the morning so they'll be nice the rest of the day.

<  Wild horses are gathered during the "Rapa Das Bestas" (or, Shearing of the Beasts), a 400-year-old horse festival in the Spanish village of Sabucedo, 5th July 2014.

| inside the spaceship |

|  30 times Tumblr got it so right on gay equality.

|  9 things you can learn about gay men from Grindr.

|  Why the right to be forgotten will turn the internet into a work of fiction.

| word! |

>  John R. Gordon's writer's diary: Strange knowledge.

|  Singapore libraries remove three gay-inclusive children's books.

|  James Baldwin vs. William Buckley.

| shouting in the night |

<  I've experienced racism in the acting industry, now I'm tackling it. "Wonderful artists are denied work due to something other than their talent, so I – a gay, mixed-race actor – worked to create the Act for Change project."

|  In Buyer & Cellar, Michael Urie stars as a struggling gay thespian who gets a job at the shopping center in Barbra Streisand’s basement. Los Angeles’s Mark Taper Forum, plying through to 27th July.

|  "Checking Boxes" explores the "intersection between immigration and the LGBT experience".

| at the movies |


|  "The Normal Heart" commands 16 Emmy nominations.

|  Campaign launched to recognise Elizabeth Taylor's AIDS activism.

> L.A.'s Outfest 2014's Opening Night Gala, in pictures.

| The Advocate's 27 favourite films of Outfest 2014. Below, Salvation Army, about a gay Muslim in Morocco.



<  New film "The Circle" tells story of the Swiss gay group that survived the Nazis.

|  Bollywood’s "gay Romeo and Juliet" Romil and Jugal back in production.

|  Cinema review: "Boyhood", filmed with the same actors over 12 years, is a slow-motion miracle.

|  Why Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the summer's best blockbuster so far.

|  Planet of the Apes: A timeline and an explanation.


|  Steven Spielberg finally gets called out on Facebook for being a cold-hearted dinosaur killer.

|  The harshest actor-on-actor insults in history. Starting with Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.


|  Trailers: "The Circle"; and "My Son Is Gay"; and "Age Of Consent", which kaos checked out back in March at London’s BFI Flare Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. Now it’s set to make its New York debut on Saturday 26th July at NewFest! And Everything Wrong With "The Matrix Reloaded".


| telly addicts |

<  Big Brother's gay-straight showmance.

|  "Seinfeld" is 25; here are 5 ways it changed television. From the growing whiteness of network television, to the death of the multi-camera sitcom.

|  The Golden Girls 100 most memorable guest spots.

>  Shemar Moore flaunts it on the beach.

|  Gays of our lives: The latest from our favourite gays in soaps, with Anthony D. Langford.

|  Check out new webseries "Poz Lyfe", which follows the life of 26-year-old old Kileal Smith, who is HIV-positive from birth. And what if "True Blood" was an '80s sitcom?


| beats, rhymes & life |

|  Is black British music being erased? No, it's just evolving. (This is a response to Kele Okereke's essay explaining how "black british music is being erased by cultureless dance music".)

< Choreographer and dancer Kyle Abraham shares his experiences being black and gay in America.

>  America's first gay "Massive", in pictures.

|  Tori Amos defies Putin with lesbian anthem at Moscow gig.

|  George Michael's tax avoidance shame.

|  The new sad boys of pop.

|  A psychologist explains how fame fucked over Robin Thicke.


<  Let's return, once again, to Neverland. It's terrifying.

|  Listen (if you dare) to Bareback Boys - "Big Black Cock".

|  Videos: Marck Angel (of Finding Me) - Summertime; and Jessie Ware - Tough Love.


| sex |

|  Falcon/Raging Stallion acquires Hot House, founded by one time Falcon man Steven Scarborough in 1993. It follows the merger of Falcon and Raging Stallion two years ago.

|  There's more to Colby Keller than meets the eye. He's been putting his anthropology degree "to good use, writing about art, barebacking, and capitalism on his blog, Big Shoe Diaries".

>  Cut and ripped supermodel Daniel Shoneye covers London's "QX" magazine with "gay twin" Kyle Goffney.

< Porn models Shujenko Blaze and Pleasure got married on 3rd July.

Talking to Nubius.

|  Insanely cute Armond Rizzo makes his Lucas Entertainment debut.

|  This week in David McIntosh news: kinky leggings.


|  The hilarious efforts of stock photo companies to portray gay sex.

| arena |

<  Michael Sam opens up about his relationship with Vito Cammisano, and covers OUT magazine.

|  Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe comes out, after years spent denying he was gay, and in his 2012 autobiography, This Is Me, calling the rumours hurtful.

>  In the ring with the velveteers, the heavy hitters of New York’s first all-gay boxing class.

|  Australian gay rugby team wins first professional match.

|  Nigel Sylvester gets naked for ESPN's Body Issue. Check out the rest of the meat on offer...


<  Rafael Nadal works little red shorts.

| the human body |

|  Nature’s most perfect killing machine. "Ebola is nightmare fuel: a biological doomsday device conspiring with our bodies to murder us in uniquely gruesome fashion. It’s also killed fewer than 2,000 people. How has a virus with such a modest body count so fiercely captured the darkest corners of our imagination?"

|  World Health Organization wants every gay and bi man to be on antiretroviral medicines such as PrEP.


|  Semen protein enhances HIV infection rates.

>  Poppers linked to sudden vision loss.

|  20 misconceptions about sex, and 7 myths about the brain you thought were true.


|  7 things I learned about plastic surgery in Colombia.

|  Should you eat wheat?

|  Food influences body clock, may ease jet lag.


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

< The bizarre tale of how Domino's Pizza lost its mascot.


>  Abandoned Soviet submarine bases, in pictures.

|  And finally, Rogue "Marbie" Scott returns; Andrew gets distracted; Walter talks about how white people aren't to blame; and Davey Wavey's guide to kissing.

 
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