Issue 206: Fisayo Akinade, Cucumber, Le1f, Michael Sam, Syriza, Steve Grand, gay bikers, Tesco, Lee Daniels, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

left & found

What your selfies say about our culture as black gay men.

Straight women, gay men are friends, not accessories.

Always the gay best friend, never a bridesman.

Side eye for the "straight" guy.

I’m a gay cliché — and that’s ok.

The word "queer" is only offensive if you're a jerk.

The problem with the "G" word.

Black men are much, much more than our blackness and maleness.

How our obsession with masculinity is destroying young men.

Wearing dad jeans and other premium benefits of mentoring a young gay man.

The story of one gay man's 46-year-long polyamorous relationship.

Twenty-four questions about gay polyamorous relationships you wanted to ask but were too polite to. (Image)

Is getting married to yourself the next hot self-esteem trend?

Please stop spitting on me during sex.

news from america

Seven percent of people who identify as LGBT are opposed to same-sex marriage.

Popular Republican website wants NFL player Michael Sam and his fiancé to go to Iraq and confront ISIS.

Homophobia is running “rampant” in the black community, Precious director Lee Daniels has warned. (Image)

The Bronx gets its first LGBT senior centre.

How the Russian River became a gay playground.

Fundraising is underway for a LGBT veterans monument.

On the road with New York’s oldest gay bikers club.

Remembering Tony Daniels. "A fierce southern black gay organizer, HIV educator, poet, and cultural worker, he was a founding member of the iconic ADODI Muse (the black gay men’s performance poetry group) and instrumental in the 1990s Black Queer Atlanta Renaissance."

Becoming a black gay man: Activism, identity, and community-building in the South.

The town without wi-fi. "The residents of Green Bank, West Virginia, can’t use cell phones, wi-fi, or other kinds of modern technology due to a high-tech government telescope. Recently, this ban has made the town a magnet for technophobes, and the locals aren’t thrilled to have them."

The aging of Abercrombie & Fitch. "Behind the decline of Abercrombie & Fitch and the fall of its mastermind, Michael Jeffries."

Inside Miracle Village: Florida's isolated community of sex offenders.

news from
the middle east

Yemen | Young men in Sanaa's old city, 22nd January 2015.

Israel | The disappearing Dead Sea, in pictures.

news from europe

England | Top London lawyer arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, after his 18-year-old boyfriend dies of a suspected drug overdose.

The terrified gay London virgin: Why getting laid isn't straightforward for everyone.

England | London council denies plans to close city's only domestic violence shelter for gay and bisexual men. (Image)

England | Threatened Soho gay bar The Yard given temporary reprieve as plans for a major redevelopment are put on hold.

England | Brighton gay club defends "chav-themed" night.

England | Former TV weatherman Fred Talbot accused of showing "gay porn" to Stone Roses singer Ian Brown when he was 11.

United Kingdom | Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has criticised the Tory leadership for “alienating” voters over same-sex marriage, claiming David Cameron is "rubbing it in."

United Kingdom | Royal spongers William and Kate have declined to back a campaign to pardon at least 49,000 gay men who were convicted of gay sex convictions.

United Kingdom | Tesco towns count the cost of a retail empire in retreat.

United Kingdom | Tesco timeline - the highs and lows of the UK's biggest retailer.

United Kingdom | Tesco store closures - the list in full.

United Kingdom | Tesco's store closures and abandoned developments - interactive.

United Kingdom | Tesco to pull up to a third of its products off its shelves.

United Kingdom | The Tesco store they should have closed.

Scotland | Living in the shadows of Glasgow's high rise ghettos before they get blown up.

France | Twitter users fined for hashtags saying gay people should be burned.

France | Catholic group snaps up Toulon gay bar at auction. The Missionaries of Divine Mercy said, "The bar of Sodom will now become the pub of Mercy."

Greece | Radical left-wing party Syriza sweeps to victory - will it bring marriage equality?

art & design

OUT magazine's LOVE PORTFOLIO 2015.

Oscar nominee Lee Daniels and his stylist boyfriend of five years, Jahil Fisher: Their story.

word!

These queer black writers deserve your attention.

Talking to Jeremy Helligar about his book Is It True What They Say About Black Men?: Tales of Love, Lust and Language Barriers on the Other Side of the World.

at the movies

Rich expressions of gay boyhood masterfully portrayed in Salvation Army and Nubes Flotantes don't get the acclaim afforded to the white heterosexual celebration Boyhood.

Charlie Carver opens up about his sizzling threesome with James Franco and Zachary Quinto.

How Selma got smeared. "On historical drama and its malcontents."

the box

Self-appointed spokesman for the LGBT community Michelle Visage claims Perez Hilton "sets the gay community back 50 years" - whilst she takes sides with rightwing mouthpiece Katy Hopkins, who has made it her business to bully Hilton. Way to go, Visage!

The BBC has cancelled "gay zombie drama" In The Flesh.

UK broadcaster Channel 4, which is part-funded by the taxpayer, has introduced a new diversity charter requiring that the channel "become significantly more diverse in both its staffing and programming by 2020. Going forward scripting shows that air on Channel four will have to prominently feature characters that are women, Black, Asian, minority, or other ethnicity (BAME) according to the organization’s new diversity guidelines."

Talking to Cucumber creator Russell T Davies about rimming, Grindr and the image of Ryan Reynolds masturbating.

Cucumber creator Russell T Davies: "TV is shockingly white."

A preview of Channel 4's multi-channel triptych of shows, Cucumber, Banana and Tofu. The shows will air in the US on cable network Logo TV later this year. A rainbow light display splashed over London's Trafalgar Square to promote the show.

Review | Cucumber, Banana and Tofu: "Gloriously, triumphantly, explicitly gay and the television event of the week."

Review | Cucumber, Banana and Tofu: "You’d be hard-pushed to find faults."

Why you should be watching Banana, as well as Cucumber.

Media regulator Ofcom receives two complaints over Channel 4’s Cucumber.

Freddie Fox on his Cucumber character: "He’s been hard-wired to f**k".

Freddie Fox refuses to identify as straight: "I wouldn’t wish to say 'I am this or I am that,' because at some time in my life I might fall in love with a man."

Talking to Cucumber's Fisayo Akinade.

Andrew Hayden-Smith hooks up with Fisayo Akinade in Cucumber sister series Banana, and strips for Snooty Fox.

Vincent Franklin on playing gay: "Nobody asked me if I was really a Tory."

Dino Fetscher on first onscreen threesome in Banana: "I was in nothing but a cock-sock."

Watch behind-the-scenes video of Attitude’s Cucumber shoot.

Why we need more penises on our screens.

Russell T Davies to follow Cucumber with dramas about AIDS and "sextortion" gangs.

Thunderbirds get new "twink" line-up, with tight-fitting costumes with visible bulges.

Gays of our lives: A round-up of everything gay in soap.

Watch this delicious deleted scene from Girls season three, in which the phrases "slutty store" and "poor person's vagina" come up; plus the latest episode of Triangle.

Rob Smith on Bill Cosby apologists...

beats, rhymes & life

Sam Smith ordered to pay royalties from the single Stay With Me, which plagiarised Tom Petty's 1989 single I Won’t Back Down.

Le1f. Naked in the snow.

The problem with Mykki Blanco.

Talking to out country singer Steve Grand about his debut album, being out, and funny fans on Instagram.

Kevin Thornton on what it's like to be a gay country singer in Nashville.

Why are movie awards so much better than music awards?

Justin Bieber for Calvin Klein: The full campaign.

Gay former Westlife singer Mark Feehily is now selling coffee from a van.

arena

St. John's basketball player Rysheed Jordan tweets anti-gay slur.

The three gayest logos in NFL history.

Michael Sam's former teammate Ethan Westbrooks: He should be on a roster.

I just can't find a fan who wouldn't want Michael Sam on their team at the Super Bowl.

Michael Sam: "If I want to kiss my boyfriend, I'm gonna kiss him."

Watch Michael Sam's Super Bowl week ad...

Team GB Olympians Louis Smith (gymnast) and boxer Luke Campbell strips for GT.

st. elsewhere

Why it is problematic using "clean" to describe HIV-negative status.

My friends and family slut shamed me for contracting an STI.

The bizarre, distressing, and totally exhausting world of the hypersomniac.

inside the spaceship

Google apologises for translating "gay" as faggot, fairy, and pansy boy.

Inside the tragic, obsessive world of video game addicts.

Gamers are dying in Taiwan's internet cafes.

The web is broken.

YouTube axes Flash, adopts HTML5.

Is the end in sight for the keyboard, the mouse and the monitor?

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

And finally, Andrew talks about privilege (with his shirt off); Walter is scared of young black men; Rogue "Marbie" Scott ponders on sleeping with his friends; and Newsnight on the horror of selfie sticks.

Issue 206: 01-31 January 2015

On the cover: Fisayo Akinade.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

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

© 2015