KAOS: Issue 186: Saah Exco, Gabriel Fernandez, Ferguson, Fukushima, Matthew Rush, Manchester Pride, Notting Hill carnival, Cosby, Doug Locke, Truvada, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

| ponder this |

| The stigma of black suicide is killing us. Gay African-Americans "are particularly vulnerable to suicide and it’s time to start talking about why."

> The naked Italians in Barcelona are a sad reflection on modern tourism. "You can’t just have fun any more. You have to be seen to be having fun, whether touring central London dressed as an animal, or taking all of your clothes off."

| america |

< This is eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. He died after he was "beaten, doused with pepper spray, forced to eat his own vomit and locked in a cabinet with a sock in his mouth to muffle his screams", all because he "acted gay". His mother Pearl Fernandez (right) - and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre - are in jail awaiting trial.

< Seattle man Ali Muhammad Brown has confessed to the June murder of gay couple Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young, which he said was "vengeance" for Iraq, Syria.

> Memorial held for gay activist Bryan Higgins, who was killed earlier this month in a San Francisco anti-gay attack. Police have released video of a person of interest.

| "God Loves Gays" billboard campaign launched to fight Westboro Baptist Church hate-mongering.

| Hookup apps to blamed for the closure of Baltimore gay bar Quest...

...And the uncertain future facing gay bathhouses.

| Provincetown annual Carnival celebration, in pictures.

| New Orleans middle schoolers are beating the shit out of artists and gays.

| Half of black men in the US have been arrested by age 23.

| Ferguson unrest: Demonstrators confront police during demonstrations in Ferguson, whilst looters took advantage of the chaos to raid local businesses, 16th August 2014. Two brothers light candles at a memorial for Michael Brown, and on 19th August 2014, children on a school bus chant, "Hands up, don't shoot":

< Why tear gas is so painful — and why exposure is so hard to treat.

| White supremacy is the real culprit in Ferguson. The excuses just prove it.

| Ferguson is a story going back decades. And there is no new ending.

| Guess what? White-on-white murder in America is out of control.

| The crisis of migrant children.

| For the first time this year, most public school students are nonwhite.

| The mystery of the falling teen birth rate. Did unleaded gasoline, Plan B, and the internet reduce teen births too?

| New York: The city that goes to bed at a completely reasonable hour.

| europe |

< England: Manchester Pride, in pictures:

> England: Hundreds of police officers, staff, investigated for anti-gay, racist social media posts.

| England: Gay man attacked for holding hands with boyfriend in London.

< England: Anti-gay Ugandan Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to appear at London conference.

| England: Leading family lawyer "surprised" at the "low take up" of same-sex marriage since the law changed on 29 March. So, just how many married gay couples are there in the UK?

| England: Notting Hill carnival, in pictures.

> England: Things you never knew about carnival.

< England: Why I hate Notting Hill carnival. "The massed bodies, awful clothes, stilted behaviour, slightly ashamed body language, the piss, the arrests, the weather, the traffic, the concrete, the white Rastafarians, fat jolly policemen being twerked on by big black women... No black people live in Notting Hill or Ladbroke Grove now. People from Huntingdonshire do."

| Spain: Senator Luz Elena Sanín blames trillion dollar national debt on NGOs and homosexuals.

> Italy: Gossip magazine Visto faces backlash over free supplement entitled The Best Gay Jokes.

< Russia: Maxim "Machete" Martsinkevich, leader of the group Occupy Pedophilia, to spend five years in a Siberian penal colony – but the penalty is for his racism not his persecution of gays.

| africa |

| Liberia: This (below) is 10-year-old Saah Exco. On 16th August, he was left destitute after fleeing from a centre for people suspected of contracting Ebola, which was overrun by looters. His mother and brother died of suspected Ebola virus. Despite being very ill, a local clinic refused to treat him. In the last picture, taken on the 19th August 2014, Saah is asleep in an alley, still desperately ill. Saah didn't make it.

> Morocco: Are gangsters being paid to beat up sub-Saharan migrants?

| Uganda: President Yoweri Museveni signs law criminalising HIV transmission.

| Uganda: Archbishop John Baptist Odama tells church, "Don’t harm gays, they’re God’s creatures".

< Uganda: Before anti-gay legislation was overturned earlier this month, a brave same-sex couple wed in a covert ceremony near Kampala. This is their story.

| Kenya: Members of parliament spurn a proposal to enact a harsh new anti-homosexuality law.

| Kenya's growing ketamine problem.

| asia |

| India: How gay men are using the internet to connect with one another in small towns...

...Leaving their wives trapped.

> Cambodia: Arthur and Paul, the country's first gay men-only hotel, opens in the capital Phnom Penh.

| China: People in Beijing don't like the gays very much.

| China: Court orders gay man to compensate the woman he married.

| China: Gay men a big challenge in curbing HIV transmissions.

| Japan: No one wants you to know how bad Fukushima might still be.

THE BIG PICTURE: A devastating landslide in the city of Hiroshima, western Japan, 20th August 2014.

| Singapore is becoming more tolerant despite anti-gay prejudices.

| Singapore: A group of young Singaporeans have set up a YouTube channel to highlight challenges gay people face.

< Australia: 2014 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras posts loss of $AU177,644.

| planet earth |

| Oregon court rules animals can be considered victims.

| How our meat addiction is destroying the planet.

| inside the spaceship |

> How emoji conquered the world.

| Have we reached peak app?

| Twitter demystified: How to RT, MT, #FF and fave like a pro.

| Why Internet Explorer can't get past its bad reputation.

| word! |

< Talking to publisher James Jenkins about republishing lost gay classics.

| John R. Gordon's writer's diary: Work is a sort of choice.

> Forthcoming anthology Black & Gay In The UK, edited by John R. Gordon, to feature work by Bisi Alimi (right), Dean Atta, Leee John, David McAlmont, Cyril Nri, Jimmy Akingbola, Rogue Scott, and more. The book is due out in October.

| at the movies |

< Why did the Motion Picture Association of America rate Love Is Strange R despite no nudity, violence or sex.

| Talking to Alfred Molina about Love is Strange, John Lithgow, and gay pop culture.

| Sydney hosts two-month Queer Arab Film Festival. Organiser Sahar Amer writes about a right to exist.

| DVD review: Tom At The Farm. "A film that has plenty to admire but also a lot that isn’t all that convincing."

> Check out these Star Wars: Episode 7 fan made posters.

| Looking back at the 1960s Doctor Who movies.

| the box |

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

< Coronation Street's Antony Cotton on the abuse he receives from the gay community. "'You’re a disgrace...' You’d be surprised how many kids say that to me.”

| What gay bars tell us about the Golden Age of Television.

| The new war for TV is just beginning.

| True Blood's Lafayette’s jewelry, clothes up for auction.

> Bill Cosby's untold story. "On the comedian’s relationship with his son and how it changed the course of The Cosby Show."

| beats, rhymes & life |

< Gay country musician Josey Greenwell has been rebranded, "straightwashed" for a heterosexual audience.

| Sam Smith faces backlash over his criticism of hook-up apps Grindr, Tinder...

...Like this: Sam Smith's fucked-Up gay conservatism...

...And this: Why is Sam Smith trying to eliminate Grindr culture?

| Why almost every Top 40 song is between three and five minutes long.

> CDs don't last as long as we thought.

| Videos: Do not miss out singer/songwriter Doug Locke's incredible #ThisCouldBeUs; MDNGHT is back with Breeze; Kele Okereke releases Doubt, a teaser from his sophomore solo album, Trick; and out news anchor Don Lemon has an awkward interview with rapper Talib Kweli.

| sex |

< Awkward! BrokeStraightBoy Paul Canon brings Mom, Dad, and brothers on camera to talk about gay porn career.

| What happened to Cocksuremen?

> Talking to Bamm Bamm.

< Eight people react to the insane hotness of Kris Evans and Rhys Jagger. More pictures from that photoshoot here.

| Seven tips to hosting a great sex party.

> Behind-the-scenes with the Bel Ami boy babes in Spain.

< Pictures of new porn stud Flex.

> Well, Lucas Entertainment's latest bareback orgy is a sizzling fantasy of what gay sex would be like in a world without HIV. It stars (amongst others) Tomas Brand, Fernando Torres, Fabio Lopez, and beautiful newcomer Joey Pele.

< Lots of behind-the-scenes pictures from, amongst others, Hot House, Tim Tales, Titan Men, Falcon Studios, Randy Blue, Corbin Fisher, and Raw Fuck Club.

> Porn legend Matthew Rush does the ice bucket challenge.

| arena |

| Pictures, video of Michael Sam in action for the St. Louis Rams.

< Why gay men love rugby.

| Lone China athlete wins silver at the Gay Games.

< Teen diver with gay dads Jordan Windle wins men's 10-meter title at national championship.

> Competitors at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, 18th August 2014.

| the human body |

| Truvada wars. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation launches misinformation campaign on PrEP.

< Sex sells, even in HIV Awareness. "There are plenty of sexy HIV-positive men. So why be afraid to show that in awareness campaigns?"

> Blogger Patrick Ingram attended the Young Black Gay Men’s Leadership Initiative’s 2014 Policy and Advocacy Summit earlier this year, and realised just how much pressure there is to act as if living with HIV is easy.

| One-third of American teens are unaware HIV is sexually transmitted.

| How sperm became one of America's hottest exports.

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

| When the joke isn't funny anymore.

| Most people don't use phonebooks. So why do we still get them?

| Tunnel vision. "How an obsessed explorer found and lost the world's oldest subway".

< The world's tallest unoccupied buildings, in pictures.

| And finally, Andrew discusses marriage, Walter explains why black people need to let go of Jesus, Davey Wavey talks about his first boyfriend, and Rogue "Marbie" Scott is all over the web...