Issue 212: Micah Brandt, BAIT, Baltimore, Brixton, He-Man, Mika, twinks, Jeffrey Dahmer, Drag Race, Rylan Fox, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

left & found

Why black gay privilege is a ridiculous notion.

Americans think prison rape is funny because of who gets hurt. "Prison rape is a staple of American comedy because nothing is as hilarious as bad people getting their comeuppance – especially if they are black men."

Falling through the cracks: My struggle to survive as a homeless gay youth.

LGBT mental health: Are we doing enough?

The Last Black Man in San Francisco will put a face to those displaced by gentrification.

Former homophobes reveal what changed their minds.

The twink is dead.

Why the penis is having a moment in men's fashion. "Fashion has found a new obsession: nude men, specifically men with their penises out. From Rick Owens to Fantastic Man magazine, what’s all the fuss about?"

The casual racism I deal with as an Asian in an interracial relationship.

Watch | Next time someone says racism isn't real, show them this video...

news from america

Why gay people refuse to leave states that ban gay marriage.

Hillary Clinton's evolution on marriage equality is totally believable.

Meet Tevin Johnson-Campion. The son of the gay couple in the SCOTUS marriage equality case has been blogging about his parents’ journey.

More events have been canceled at the Out NYC Hotel, owned by gay billionaires Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, in the wake of their cosy Ted Cruz dinner party, and protesters have been demonstrating outside the hotel.

Woman banned from Airbnb after throwing gay couple out her home. Jonathan Wang and his partner Brent booked the Texas home of "Heather" but when they arrived she told them she had a "straights only" policy.

Ohio's “straight pride” posters have been removed after it was determined that the message went beyond free speech

High school jocks Michael Martin and Logan Westrope attend West Virginia prom together.

Watch | Jacob Lescenski and Anthony Martinez - the gay/straight prom boys - talk to Ellen...

Group offers to donate more than $50,000 to the Boy Scouts - if they drop a ban on gay adults.

Watch Cyndi Lauper's passionate Senate speech on LGBT youth homelessness...

Christopher Scarver explains why he murdered gay serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Welcome to Pariahville. "When you are a registered sex offender in America, you lose the right to choose where you want to live. By law. Your backstory doesn 't matter. Nor does the nature of your crime or your excuse. You are exiled from society, and only a few places will welcome you. Like this place in South Florida. The City of Refuge. Jay Kirk reports on life in an American community—yes, that's definitely the right word—like no other."

The rebellion in Baltimore is an uprising against austerity. "Gentrified cities, the fall of manufacturing, the filling of jails with black men - all fuelled the violence that followed the killing of Freddie Gray."

Baltimore doesn't need the "black crisis clergy" and their same old message. "For years, the same self-appointed black leaders have visited every city mourning yet another black man killed by the police. But the youth aren’t listening."

Black Baltimore residents aren't "animals". We punish people for killing animals.

18-year-old Allen Bullock, who smashed a police car with a traffic cone, faced higher bail than cop who allegedly murdered Freddie Gray.

How Baltimore reached its boiling point.

The Wire's David Simon's brutal diagnosis of the problems with Baltimore policing.

The important thing everyone calling for nonviolence in Baltimore fails to say.

Time’s Baltimore-themed cover asks how much has changed since 1968.

Nine pictures that show the more peaceful side of Baltimore’s protests.

America’s 1,407 executions since 1976, mapped.

America's trailer parks: The residents may be poor but the owners are getting rich.

The underground inferno that created a ghost town. "Fifty years ago, this prosperous Pennsylvania coal town was ripped apart by a devastating subterranean mine fire. Today, the flames still burn in Centralia."

Canada | When philanthropist Salah Bachir received this year’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art award, worth $25,000, he donated it to human rights activist Maurice Tomlinson to support his LGBT equality work in the Caribbean. Tomlinson thanks him.

news from the uk

Teachers in Birmingham are receiving death threats for teaching gay equality.

Christians and Muslims should be able to disapprove of gay lifestyles, says UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

Britain is "incapable" of treating HIV because of immigrants, Farage claims.

Openly gay comedian Paul O’Grady - famous for his drag alter ego Lily Savage - has said he will move to Venice if Conservative David Cameron is elected as Prime Minister again.

David Cameron compares himself to a firefighter. He has no right. "I grew up in the Fire Service and know how difficult their job is – the Tory leader wouldn’t last five minutes."

Warning: These Tories won’t jump. They must be pushed.

How the Tory's benefit sanctions have driven the vulnerable to suicide.

London's anti-gentrification protest Reclaim Brixton, in pictures.

Winston Churchill's tube station bunker could reopen to the public as Transport for London seeks to cash in on its estate.

Amnesty International calls on Northern Ireland to allow same-sex marriage.

Bigots beware – you have fewer places to hide in mixed-heritage Britain. "The makeup of Britain is changing. Anyone who thinks they can get away with casual racism is making a big mistake."

Northern Ireland | Health Minister Jim Wells resigns after anti-gay remarks.

Northern Ireland | Marriage equality rejected by the Legislative Assembly for a fourth time. Amnesty International said the country "is being left behind as a discriminatory backwater for gay and lesbian people".

Tesco’s fall tells a wider story about our failing capitalism.

news from europe

An expert describes what would happen if the EU opened its borders to everyone.

Ireland | Leaflets linking homosexuality to Hitler and the Moors Murderers handed out in Dublin.

France | The European Union's highest court has refused to strike down the lifetime ban on gay blood donors.

Russia | Gay equality activists march in Labor Day parade in St Petersburg; police prevent anti-gay legislator Vitaly Milonov and his supporters from blocking the gay contingent.

news from
latin america

Cuba | The Cuban and US Gay Men’s Choruses are to perform together this summer in a display of unity.

Argentina | Buenos Aires grants birth certificate listing three parents.

El Salvador | Congress approves measure banning same-sex marriage.

news from africa

The great African rip-off. "As Russian and American oil companies stream into a new energy hotspot, most residents of rural Uganda are left with only broken promises and degraded land."

Uganda | Meet Frank Kamya, a queer sex worker activist who has been a driving force behind two activist organizations fighting HIV in Kampala’s poorest neighborhoods, the Youth on Rock Foundation and the Come Out Post-Test Club.

Mali | The desert blues. The musicians of Mali find themselves in the middle of a civil war.

Kenya | "We will not allow homosexuality in our society," Deputy President William Ruto has vowed.

Kenya | Court ruling compels the government to officially recognise the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

South Africa | This is 35-year-old from Zimbabwean Andrew Chimboza. He has been jailed for ripping out 62-year-old Mbuyiselo Manoma's heart and eating it to "prove he wasn't gay".

news from asia

India | The "stupid and irresponsible" checklist to detect a "gay husband".

Watch | Being gay in India...

China's obsession with hyper-real sex dolls.

Japan is "confused" over how to treat its LGBT citizens.

Japan | Three thousand march in Tokyo's annual LGBT Pride parade. In pictures.

Australia | Tasmania passes "religious freedom" bill allowing schools to refuse gay students.

Australia | News anchor congratulates woman for looking white.

news from
the middle east

Israel | The gay youth group in Jaffa reaching out to Arab LGBTs.

Syria | ISIS stone gay man to death after he survived being thrown off a roof.

art & design

Photographer Dirk H. Wilms has been taking self-portraits daily since he learned he was HIV-positive 14 years ago.

Men over 50, in pictures. Above, 62-year-old Joe.

The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, "a rare look at images from more than 30 years of the most powerful man in the universe".

The architecture of the strangest Village in Lebanon, in pictures.

word!

Brad Gooch's new memoir Smash Cut "chronicles twelve years in New York City as one of its brightest cultural eras becomes one of its darkest with the arrival of AIDS, taking an entire generation of gay men with it."

How conservatives took over sci-fi's most prestigious award.

Austrian queer men's mag Vangardist prints issue in HIV-positive blood-infused ink.

How France’s libraries are discovering a new lease of life beyond just books.

John R. Gordon's writer's diary: What is spurious erudition and can I get me some?

Review | Smash Cut: A Memoir of Howard & Art & the ’70s and the ’80s, by Brad Gooch. "A fine example of what a happy gay couple holding onto each other through tumultuous and finally tragic times looks like."

Review | Visions and Revisions: Coming of Age in the Age of AIDS, by Dale Peck. "The sexual details infused throughout the narrative [are] less gratuitous and more almost elegiac. Some of it is exhibitionist, some of it revealing, all of it in service to his aspiration: 'I’ll show you what AIDS has shown me, if you’ll show me what AIDS has shown you.'"

shouting in the night

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, a new one man show at the Stella Adler Theater in Los Angele, "gives voice to the oral histories of black gay men who range in age from 27 to 92".

Review | The Rolling Stone. "Chris Urch’s play examines the persecution of gay people and the hate campaigns published by a virulent Kampala tabloid."

Review | The Glass Protégé. "A powerful play, asking important questions and raising important issues... It isn’t perfect, but the rough, rushed, intimate feel adds to the plays appeal, giving it a passionate depth."

The life-changing power of drag...

...And how drag queens have the power to change your life.

All Adil Faraj wanted to do was dance. But the Iraqi boy had to face down conservatism and threats to make his stage debut.

at the movies

Brokeback Mountain writing team return with a new project based on the true, tragic story of father and son Joe and Jadin Bell.

Parvez Sharm risked his life to film A Sinner in Mecca. In the wake of its premiere, he's receiving death threats and hate mail.

Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival - India’s only LGBT film festival - has announced a line-up of around 180 films from 44 countries.

The best and worst films of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.

Reese Witherspoon on the actors who refuse to "play gay".

Fourteen camp classics we can't stop quoting.

How Hollywood keeps out women.

Out in the Night: New York City's racism and anti-gay bias plays out on screen. "In August 2006, four black lesbians went out for night of fun but what they got was a conviction for fighting back against an attacker. They finally tell their side."

La Haine twenty years on: What has changed? "La Haine, the controversial 1995 drama that held up a mirror to the social ills of modern France, arrived during a dark time in the country’s history. Twenty years on, with a sequel mooted and France again experiencing uncertain times, we reflect on the film’s lasting significance."

Disaster movies: What happens when real-life pre-empts Hollywood?

How Michael Bay redefined action cinema. "As the boombastic director’s first hit Bad Boys celebrates its 20th birthday, we pay homage to the godfather of the brainless billion-dollar blockbuster."

Why I'm dreading the new slate of superhero movies.

Spike Lee says people watching movies digitally is "heartbreaking".

Review | Silent Youth. "It may be difficult to understand why two men who can barely speak to one another are so drawn together, but by raising interesting ideas and getting you to care about the characters Silent Youth is pretty effective."

Review | Hidden Away. "A deceptively simple film that is heartfelt, sweet and by the end manages to be pretty moving. It may not totally get to the heart of some of the issues it raises, but it does a very good job of taking you into a world where what should be simple first love is threatened by a host of issues outside the lovers’ control."

Review | Drink Me. "[It's] sexual frankness is both extremely horny and also manages to capture a surprising amount about the intimacy of relationships, even while a lot of the stuff going on around it is a weird and confusing. It’s entertaining, but it’s often unclear how we’re meant to react to its more supernatural, horror elements.

Review | Gerontophilia. "Bruce LaBruce finds depth looking for 'Daddy'."

Watch | Gerontophilia trailer; Angels With Tethered Wings trailer; Chocolate City trailer; A Lego Brickumentary trailer.

the box

FX orders drama pilot Snowfall from John Singleton, "set in Los Angeles in 1981 against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its impact on the culture."

Why The Wire should be must-see TV for Baltimore pundits.

IFC orders Gigi’s Bucket List, which features David Krumholtz in drag playing a newly rich 76-year-old widow.

Absolutely Fabulous definitely making its way to the big screen.

Law & Order: SVU is prepping a transgender episode for Season 17.

Transgender actor Scott Turner Schofield joins the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful.

Out actor Greg Rikaart wants his character on The Young and the Restless to be revealed as gay.

Hollyoaks' Kieron Richardson marries partner Carl Hyland.

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

The Prancing Elites make it rain.

How RuPaul’s Drag Race saved itself in season 7.

RuPaul's Drag Race's prison-themed challenge raises uncomfortable questions.

Watch | RuPaul's Drag Race: Oh Pit Crew, with Detox - Bryce Caught in Heels!

Dr Oz, and how Oprah’s weakness for crackpot theories tarnishes her legacy.

Mark Gatiss: "Doctor Who is my first love, my last, my everything."

When is the right time to pull the plug on a long-running show?

This year's cancelled (American) TV shows.

Which TV show squandered its potential the most?

Shooting wraps on the second season of Finding Me the Series.

Watch | New web series BAIT, season one, episode one: The Boy Next Door; the latest episodes of Triangle and Miles + Cal; Brendan O’Carroll, one of the UK and Ireland’s biggest TV stars, has released a video in the guise of character Mrs. Brown supporting marriage equality...

beats, rhymes & life

Remembering Duke Ellington's openly gay pianist, composer, and friend Billy Strayhorn.

Does dance music have a nostalgia problem?

Twenty-two queer one-hit wonders from yesteryear.

Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan plans his comeback – with the man who actually sang the songs.

Talking to Cakes Da Killa.

Zebra Katz werks.

Watch | MIKA - Talk About You; and RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Miss Fame - Rubber Doll...

Listen | Asante Phenix - Baptism.

sex

Cocaine, meth contributed to Playgirl centerfold Dirk Shafer's death.

21-year-old German milk technician Klaus Burkart crowned Mr Gay World 2015.

Mr Gay World 2015 Knysna Grand Finale, in pictures.

What it's like to be a straight go-go dancer in a West Hollywood gay club.

The 26th White Party circuit party, in pictures.

Behind the scenes with Dominic Santos and Scotty Marx at Randy Blue...

...and Dominic takes on Austin Wilde, too.

Micah Brandt shares sizzling private sex videos on Twitter.

Dato Foland has announced his retirement from the porn industry.

Rylan Fox, the Falcon model, is dead. It's reported that he hanged himself in his boyfriend's apartment.

arena

Tom Daley takes gold in the 10m platform at the Diving World Series.

Jason Collins came out two years ago and little has changed in pro sports.

With the drafting of Shane Ray, the NFL confirms Michael Sam is the target of homophobia.

We will know soon if Michael Sam is going to the NFL or CFL this season.

Mayweather, Pacquiao: Checkered pasts with LGBTs.

st. elsewhere

Why I wish I'd received my HIV diagnosis at home.

HIV-positive and aging too quickly?

The internet is not a doctor.

Teratomas: The tumours that can transform into "evil twins".

Münchausen by internet: The sickness bloggers who fake it online.

Of course: Bullying affects mental health more than child abuse.

Children who are bullied feel traumatised and isolated. I know – it almost killed me.

When are we going to stop marginalising black and minority ethnic mental health patients?

How do you help someone you love when they're depressed?

How it actually feels to live with severe anxiety.

You have no idea what the term "depressed" really means until it devours you.

Inside Seoul's plastic surgery clinics, in pictures.

ghetto romance

The compelling argument against sexual monogamy.

I caught my new guy and my HIV+ ex having bareback sex at my party.

Watch | Unzipped episode 2: Good Sex And Bad Sex.

Thirteen texts you really want to send to your ex, but shouldn’t.

hell's kitchen

The gluten-free craze is out of hand. Here are eight facts to counter the madness.

The average supermarket is a chilly, fluorescent-lit hell. Here’s how to fix it.

US chains target pretentious UK foodies with premium burgers - and prices to match. "Smashburger is preparing to become the latest in a string of artisan US burger joints, including Shake Shack and Five Guys to open UK outposts."

McDonald's in crisis: Can it fight off the Five Guys threat?

How McDonald's took over the world, in pictures.

How stainless steel revolutionised eating after centuries of a bad taste in the mouth.

Why we learn to love spicy food.

betta work!

Are men who are very good looking less likely to be given a job in a competitive workplace than their plainer counterparts? Yes.

Your call to customer service can make or break my paycheck.

The secret life of a cycle courier.

Nine bizarre jobs that will redefine our lives in the 2050s.

zoo

What would happen if we lost one-sixth of Earth's species? We may just find out.

At home with the world's last male northern white rhinoceros.

The great coyote invasion of NYC. "As wild coyotes turn up everywhere from Central Park to Queens, one band of ecologists armed with tree-mounted cameras and cheese-scented lures seeks to understand just what these carnivorous canids are doing here."

Five reasons to love octopuses.

Animal pictures of the week.

inside the spaceship

The web could reach its limit in just eight years and use all of Britain's power supply by 2035.

Big Data’s big libertarian lie: Facebook, Google and the Silicon Valley ethical overhaul we need. "The tech world talks of liberty and innovation while invading privacy and surveilling us all. It must end now."

How old does Microsoft think these 18 gay icons are?

Every three-metre square on the planet now has a unique address.

and whilst
you're thinking

about that, think 
about this...

Why tidying up could change your life.

And finally, Jacob teaches his straight bro gay slang - or does he? Plus, Andrew ponders on growing up; Jemijo: the world's worst drag queen; and Rogue "Marbie" Scott enjoys PoNaNa...

Issue 212: 26 April - 03 May 2015

On the cover: BAIT The Web Series.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

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

© 2015