Issue 211: Doug Locke, Freaky Boiz, Bruce LaBruce, Blackbird, John Waters, Reggie Yates, McDonalds, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

left & found

Reinventing the Hanky Code.

What Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism really think of LGBT people will surprise you.

Think diversity creates a racism-free utopia? Check out this California poll.

Depression's peculiar grip on black LGBTs.

"How are all black men not crazy?"

The myth of black gay privilege.

Indian Americans on balancing family with their LGBT identity. "For many gay and lesbian South Asians living in the US, coming out involves bridging gaps between culture, community and sexuality."

The trials of being gay and ginger.

On aging in Gayville. "I turned 26 a mere week after moving to New York City. I felt the freedom to be myself - to be gloriously gay, to drink, to smoke, to live. I felt the city was my oyster and wanted to shuck it in as many ways as I chose as often as I chose. However, I couldn't be bothered to give a second glance to an older man or return a smile with sincerity for that matter. Now I'm the older man and I'm receiving that very same treatment." (Image)

Sixteen things asexuals want you to know about asexuality.

The most common questions about the trans community, answered.

The gay culture every queer should know about.

Why rape is good fodder for comedy.

news from america

LGBT people of colour are at risk of lifelong poverty, study finds.

Why it's time for all LGBT people to care about police brutality.

This is 16-year-old Timothy Jefferson. The gay high school student's face was slashed with a screwdriver - whilst the principal watched. But police say it isn't a hate crime.

Gay man called "faggot," given burger "seeping with blood" at Washington McDonald's.

Meet Kevin Kantor. After Facebook suggested his rapist under People You May Know, he turned the experience into art.

"Beer Pong Rapist" Joey Poindexter sentenced to 150 years in prison for sexually assaulting numerous male victims.

Straight Pride posters appear on Ohio university campus.

Gay high-schooler gets a date for prom — with his straight best friend.

HIV organization Impulse Group South Florida sparks outrage with "free if you're 40 or younger, $50 if you're 41 or older" policy for pool party.

Multimillionaire gay hoteliers Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass host intimate "fireside chat" with anti-gay Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Gay equality activist Konrad Juengling buys up the domain names of Indiana "religious freedom" legislators.

Religious freedom laws suffer another blow — in public opinion.

Baptist pastor Acra Lee Turner - who has branded trans people as sex offenders - is himself a serial rapist.

"I’m not gay no more" viral star Andrew Caldwel assaulted with frozen yoghurt, he claims.

Buddhist, Jewish Americans are the biggest supporters of marriage equality.

The 1975 government document stating marriage cannot exist "between two faggots".

Tallywackers, the male Hooters, to open branch in Dallas' gay Oak Lawn neighborhood.

Nathan "Seven" Scott, a well known advocate in the LGBT community, is dead. He was 44.

The exile of the Bohemians. "The artists are leaving San Francisco."

Can young gays enjoy Fire Island? (Image)

Homelessness in America, in one map.

The Cornel West-Michael Eric Dyson feud is petty. Black people are dying in the streets. "The circular confrontation is of such an insular nature there are no sides to take, just disappointment that the two academics are fighting one another."

The ghost of Cornel West. "President Obama betrayed him. He’s stopped publishing new work. He’s alienated his closest friends and allies. What happened to America’s most exciting black scholar?"

Why Hillary Clinton must also be vocal on issues black gay men face.

news from the uk

General Election 2015: Never mind the SNP. The real danger is if the DUP are in government. "While the Tories shamelessly fan anti-Scottish resentment, one of their likely coalition partners is a homophobic, creationist, anti-women throwback to several centuries ago."

Britain’s criminally stupid attitudes to race and immigration are beyond parody.

This is Ross Boulter and his partner Mikey. They were told that a Guildford flatshare they applied for was for "a straight couple".

Meanwhile at a London branch of JD Sports, Gavin Matthews and his boyfriend Craig Hards were allegedly called "battymen" by a member of staff. The sportswear retailer has since suspended three of its staff.

The new owner of London's iconic gay pub The Black Cap - which closed suddenly last week - has claimed the decision to close its doors was made “long ago”.

London's original gay gym - Paris Gym in Vauxhall - is to close after twenty years.

So, just what's happening to the gay clubbing scene in an increasingly sterile London?

And this: Save our scene - the heroic fight to rescue London’s LGBT venues.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell publicly confronts right wing bigot Katie Hopkins at London's LGBT Awards.

The first HIV self-testing kits have gone on sale after legal restrictions were lifted.

The mother of bisexual asylum seeker Orashia Edwards says she will sue Britain if they send her son home to Jamaica to die.

LGBT asylum group welcomes Labour’s pledge to reform system.

So, what else is in Labour's LGBT manifesto?

Sex-toy company creates a new range of blow up dolls in the likenesses of political party leaders ahead of next month’s “general erection”.

Edge Hill University in Lancashire to offer first "Drag Studies" course.

Half of young British people think the phrase "that's gay" is acceptable.

Peter Tatchell: The renegade who came in from the cold.

Developers, up yours! Anti-gentrification postcards, in pictures.

I spent nineteen hours inside a London ASDA.

news from europe

Europe's cruel, ineffective immigration policy is leaving young children to die at sea...

...If Europe becomes a fortress against migrants, it fails humanity.

Juan Medina's horrific pictures of the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean.

Ireland | Dublin City Council demands giant marriage equality mural in city centre be removed.

Italy | Priest who "indulged in sexual role play where he made men pretend to be Judas Iscariot atoning for betraying Jesus during gay orgies" is fired.

Russia | Meet Elena Musolina. She "grew up thinking homosexuality was an affliction of alcoholics and drug addicts. Now she marches alongside her son at LGBT rights protests and goes head-to-head with Russia’s most vocal anti-LGBT politician."

news from latin america

Jamaica | Maurice Tomlinson on affluent gay men’s barriers to understanding poor LGBT Jamaicans, Trinidadians, and themselves.

Chile | The woman who adopts dead babies.

El Salvador | The world's most dangerous prison.

news from africa

Black pastors launch African tour to counteract Rick Warren’s anti-gay movement.

Close your heart. "The Central African Republic’s sectarian civil war has divided a once peaceful nation, and pitted brother against brother."

Kenya | Court rules that government can’t block gay equality groups.

Uganda | LGBT solidarity celebration coming in May.

Uganda | Bill proposed that could shut down any gay group or charity.

South Africa must confront the roots of its xenophobic violence.

news from asia

India | Thahir Mohammed Sayyed, the country's entrant to Mr Gay World, has withdrawn from the competition and gone into hiding after his family was threatened.

India | Doctor slashes her wrists in an apparent suicide, blaming the emotional abuse her husband subjected her to after she found out he was gay.

Thailand | Thai-German gay couple bullied online for holding hands on train. Noparuj Kaendi is the creative director of a Thai modeling agency, and Thorsten Mid, his boyfriend of two years, is a model.

China | This skywalk in Chongqing Province.

South Korea | Support for marriage equality among younger people doubles in four years.

Tonga | Polynesian island nation moves to ban same-sex marriage.

Australia | Meet Lyle Shelton, the man determined to prevent marriage equality.

Australia | "Tiny hearts" and "balls of steel". Is this really what the world thinks of Australia? "Katie Hopkins has held Australia up to the world as some kind of racist role model for our violent treatment of asylum seekers. And why wouldn’t she?"

Australia | Evicting Indigenous Australians from their homelands is a declaration of war. "Australia occasionally interrupts its ‘normal’ mistreatment of Aboriginal people to deliver a frontal assault, like the closure of Western Australia’s homelands."

news from
the middle east

Syria | ISIS militants hug gay couple in "forgiveness," then stone them to death anyway.

Saudi Arabia | Meet the openly gay Muslim who risked his life to film his new documentary A Sinner in Mecca.

art & design

Bruce LaBruce gets retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The Eiffel Tower’s secret apartment.

The yard for red phone boxes that ring no more.

Why Chicago’s new high line is more than an elevated park. "At 2.7 miles, Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail is more than twice the length of New York’s High Line, and as the final touches are made to it before its June opening, the city has been trumpeting its achievement."

word!

Stop using these overused short story titles!

Toni Morrison: "I’m writing for black people … I don’t have to apologise."

John R. Gordon's writer's diary: A thousand glittering openings.

Review | The Completely Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, by Eric Orner. "A treasure trove of emotions, queer characters you both know and want to know, engrossing art, humor and good storytelling."

shouting in the night

Broadway Cares cancels benefit Solo Strips, which was to be held at the hotel owned by the gay men who hosted an event for the antigay Republican Ted Cruz.

A musical adaptation of E. Lynn Harris's Invisible Life will open at Harlem's Apollo Theatre 25-30th June.

at the movies

Why we need to keep the activism of New Queer Cinema alive.

Robin Williams' last film, Boulevard - which tells the story of a married man who falls in love with a male prostitute and struggles with coming out late in life - will finally get a release.

Blackbird actor Isaiah Washington got "beatdown" when he was a dancer, was mistaken for being gay.

Blackbird actress Mo'Nique says the film is her “love letter” to the gay men she knew growing up.

Blackbird chosen by Robert L. Johnson - one of Hollywood's biggest moguls - to promote his latest venture, the Urban Movie Channel "the black Netflix".

Review | Blackbird. "A compelling drama with so much extra baggage." (The Washington Post); "With its surfeit of plot and character, and veering tone encompassing dream sequences from Randy's fevered, restive nights, Blackbird is a hodgepodge; but thanks to Polk's development as a director (compared to the noxious, arch posturing of his gay black TV soapera, Noah's Arc) and a winning, endearing cast, you gladly go along on this bumpy wayward ride that offers some definite emotional rewards." (FilmJournal International)

Don't miss the National Film Festival for Talented Youth's six teen-dade LGBT short films.

How Nighthawks opens a time capsule of the gay '70s.

The twisted tales of John Waters.

The stars of Girlhood: "Our poster is all over Paris, with four black faces on it."

Doris Day - who is now 91-years-old - recalls her emotional last visit with a frail and dying Rock Hudson.

Ten making-of documentaries that are better than the actual movie.

“I probably behaved badly.” Karen Allen on pulling away from Hollywood after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Trailer | Folsom Forever.

the box

Talking to Reggie Yates about LGBT life in Russia for his new BBC show Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia: Gay & Under Attack.

Karamo Brown on the the homophobic and transphobic backlash to The Prancing Elites Project.

RuPaul's Drag Race's Trixie Mattel: "I think Episode 4, it was the first time audiences felt like they weren't watching a competition, they were watching something scripted."

Anchorman: The legend of Don Lemon. "The CNN anchor may not be the clueless bumbler the internet believes him to be."

Empire: Behind TV's biggest drama in a decade. "The 'black Dynasty' has finally crossed the Atlantic with its slick, ratings-smashing mix of hip-hop and high drama. Is it a new dawn for African-American-led television?"

You may not have known Grey’s Anatomy was still on the air, but nine million viewers did.

Netflix is reviving the '80s sitcom Full House with much of its original cast.

Twenty one-season shows for background binge-viewing on Netflix.

Gays of our lives: What sort of a week have our favourite gay characters in soap had?

Watch the trailer Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia: Gay & Under Attack; plus the latest episodes of Triangle and Momma'z Boi. Meanwhile, on RuPaul's Drag Race Oh Pit Crew, Miles receives fan mail...

beats, rhymes & life

Talking to Cakes Da Killa.

Cakes Da Killa can break rap's queer glass ceiling.

Why openly gay singer Doug Locke is an artist to watch out for.

Frank Ocean officially changes his name.

Sam Smith: "I would rather be called a faggot than fat".

Meanwhile, fellow rich kid Ed Sheeran has been caught dropping an f-bomb.

The Blue boys cover Dont magazine.

Talking to R&B experimentalist Lotic.

Tori Amos: "I’m too raw and my gigs are torture for straight guys."

Videos | Freaky Boiz - None; and Todrick Hall + Disney songs + '90s R&B. I'm in.

sex

Abercombie & Fitch to phase out "sexualized marketing". Bummer.

The adult bookshop where Londoners can dispose of their dead relatives' porn stash.

Sebastian Young: “Monster” Michael Lucas sexually harassed me, then begged me to fuck an HIV-positive model bareback...

...Michael Lucas responds.

Sean Cody's Hudson was arrested for sexual assault of a child.

BelAmi model Florian Nemec is now Jamie Blyton at COLT.

Behind the scenes with KAOS favourite Ken Ott.

arena

College basketball player Terrence Clemens comes out.

Marcus Spears: If Michael Sam were straight he'd be in the NFL.

Has gay panic ruined bodybuilding?

Tom Daley poses at the Kremlin in Moscow, alongisde fellow divers Chris Mears and Jack Laugher.

Usain Bolt says Tyson Gay should have been banned for life.

st. elsewhere

A man cracked his penis open after injecting it with Vaseline.

Why coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone.

The psychology of why so many people bite their nails.

Weed is not more dangerous than alcohol.

ghetto romance

Don't call me daddy: Loving someone twenty-five years younger.

Does love fade as we grow older?

How to embrace loneliness.

A tale of two lovers (or three, or four): The truth about polyamory.

hell's kitchen

The art of butchery. "How we lost touch with animals, life and death, and learned to find butchery repulsive while eating more meat than ever."

Why California's drought hasn't sent food prices soaring.

New Coke debuted 30 years ago. Here's why it was a sugary fiasco.

The four charts that show McDonald’s is in crisis after hundreds of store closures announced.

McDonald's to axe deforestation from its global supply chain.

McDonald's to announce new plans to stop alarming sales slide.

zoo

The case against otters. "Otters are necrophilic, bestiality-inclined rapists and murderers who regularly kidnap children and spread swine flu."

Why you should never squash a spider.

Animal pictures of the week.

inside the spaceship

I met my best friend on Grindr.

Twitter's new feature shows how little it cares about harassment.

YouTube is ten years old.

Racially diverse emoji are a nice idea. But will anyone use them?

Why the Space Jam website is proof the internet is a big crap machine full of crap.

You are ruining the environment by throwing away your smartphones and computers.

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

Why air fresheners are filling our homes with dust.

And finally, Tevin talks about his two dads; Andrew points out that no, not #AllLivesMatter; Rogue "Marbie" Scott discusses boys wearing make-up; and spend some time with the Freaky Boiz.

Issue 211: 20-25 April 2015

On the cover: Doug Locke.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

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

© 2015