Issue 223: King B, boylesque, Philippe Petit, Petite Noir, Craig Stewart, Stonewall, Tom Daley, Thierry Essamba, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

left & found

On black queerness/queer blackness.

In defense of gaydar.

The problem with "straight-acting" gay men. "Are queer spaces moving towards homogeneity and inward prejudice?"

If you think "straight-acting" is an acceptable term, you're an a**hole.

A brief, personal history of the word "faggot".

Homophobia linked with psychoticism, dysfunctional personality traits.

Courtney Francis: As someone who is BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic) and LGBT, I feel a duty to share my journey.

What it's like to be gay at a historically black university.

Queer shame and how liberal communities harm the children they embrace.

Slut-shaming through the disclosure of HIV positive status.

Don't dismiss me for being genderqueer.

Bisexual visibility week may be over, but gay mens’ responsibilities aren’t.

Coming out as straight is harder than you think.

How a tragedy helped me accept myself as a gay pastor.

Ten fictional gay man-straight woman relationships that aren’t obnoxious.

A theory of jerks. "Are you surrounded by fools? Are you the only reasonable person around? Then maybe you’re the one with the jerkitude."

news - america

Gay right-wing journalist Milo Yiannopoulos has claimed he would choose to cure his homosexuality.

On "Do Ask, Do Tell", the first-of-its-kind event supporting Southern California LGBT military veterans.

On the still curious case of Rentboy.

They made New York: “But while this historic gathering was notable for its presences, it was equally so for its absences: a whole group of people (the artists David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujar, Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, Tseng Kwong Chi and Felix Gonzalez-Torres among them) who were lost to AIDS. Those who remain are survivors — of a plague, of time and, most of all, of the wonders and the ravages of the era.”

The "Lavender Scare": Homosexuals at the State Department.

The worrisome media narrative behind the false post-Ferguson crime wave story.

The black family in the age of mass incarceration. "American politicians are now eager to disown a failed criminal-justice system that’s left the U.S. with the largest incarcerated population in the world. But they've failed to reckon with history. Fifty years after Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s report “The Negro Family” tragically helped create this system, it's time to reclaim his original intent."

Philippe Petit's real-life walk between the World Trade Center’s twin towers, in pictures.

The real heroes are dead. "The epic life story of Rick Rescorla: immigrant, war hero, husband, and head of security at Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, occupant of 22 floors in the South Tower."

The avenger. "Ken Dornstein’s older brother died when a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103. For the past three decades, he’s been obsessed with identifying who’s really responsible."

The prophet of paranoia. "John McAfee created one of the first anti-virus programs. Then he traveled to Belize, where he lived with a harem of young women and a lot of guns. His neighbor was murdered under mysterious circumstances. Today he’s convinced he’s being followed by members of the Sinaloa Cartel, as evidenced by packets of cream cheese he claims to have found near his residence. He also wants you to use his new mobile security apps."

Racism against Asians and Asian Americans is prejudice you can still get away with.

news - uk

This is 29-year-old John Walker, a male escort who has been jailed for attempting to extort a married man.

TV doctor Christian Jessen has condemned "joke" HIV test apps, and called on app stores to ban them.

The lost rivers that lie beneath London.

news - europe

Ireland | Prominent journalist Jonathan Clynch comes out as "gender fluid".

France | The deputy Mayor in the southern French city of Marseille, Sabrina Hout, has been sentenced to five months in prison (suspended) for refusing to marry a gay couple.

Sweden | On the Ikea attack: Two migrants, two slayings and rampant fear of refugees.

Ukraine | LGBT equality activist Nick Carter and male friend beaten in Kiev.

Germany | Why accept refugees, yet reject LGBT activists?

Germany | On Helping a Minority in a Minority (HAMIAM), the activist group supporting LGBT Africans.

Italy | This is Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a Polish priest fired by the Vatican after he came out as gay and criticised the church in an Italian newspaper.

news - latin america

Jamaica | Groups opposing LGBT equality protest the arrival of visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Jamaica | We Jamaicans can’t blame our entire malaise on the evil white bogeyman. "Whatever David Cameron’s motives for the repatriation scheme, our prisons are a disgrace – and the whining of the reparations lobby masks the screw-ups of our own governments."

news - africa

Tunisia | Justice minister Mohamed Salah Ben Aissa seeks repeal of gay sex ban.

Kenya | "Close your eyes and pretend to be dead." "What really happened two years ago in the bloody attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall."

Cameroon | National team bans Thierry Essamba, the country's fastest-ever hurdler, for being gay.

Cameroon | Maxime's story.

Nigeria | Activists in London have delivered over sixty-five thousand signatures demanding the repeal of anti-gay laws.

Uganda | High-profile sports figure Chris Mubiru convicted of drugging a young man to have sex with him, but acquitted him of sodomy in a separate consensual same-sex encounter.

Ghana| Sulley Fuiseni, the leader of the violent anti-gay gang Safety Empire, has been arrested.

Ten reasons Zimbabwe is super gay.

Gambia | Two decades of fear and repression for LGBT people, journalists, human rights defenders, student leaders, political opposition members and religious leaders.

Ivory Coast | Police chief fired for ignoring anti-gay attack.

news - middle east

Syria | The LGBT refugees who are fleeing Syria for the US.

Yemen | On the murder of four gay men in the port city Aden.

news - asia

Philippines | A Filipino man talks about gay life in Manila.

Australia | Gay man who posted an ad for sex on Craigslist kidnapped, threatened with having his penis cut off.

Watch | Being gay in a brown household...

art + design

Bill Yates' pictures of Florida youths in the 1970s.

Zaha Hadid's High Line condos, in pictures.

Ed Harrington's illustrations of horror film villains as IKEA instruction manual pictographs.

3D pavement art around the world, in pictures.

word!

How LGBT literature creates social justice in the classrooms and beyond.

8th December 1310, the earliest use of the word "fuck".

Review | After The Parade, by Lori Ostlund. "A lyrical, intricately constructed first novel."

Review | A History Of The Unmarried, by Stephen S. Mills "...will have you second-guessing everything you thought you knew about love, marriage, relationships, sex, and boys who dedicate books to their mothers."

Craig Stewart reads from his novel, One Thing for Certain, Two Things for Sure...

shouting in the night

The girl king of boylesque. "Lou Henry Hoover is a force in boylesque, the traditionally male offshoot of the traditionally female world of burlesque. He’s also an outsider: Hoover is the drag persona of the dancer Ricki Mason."

Sixteen big shows coming to Broadway this autumn.

picture house

Is it time for a moratorium on “inspiring” LGBT movies.

“Straight-acting” lead aside, nobody wanted to see Stonewall.

Enough with the queer films that are actually about straight people.

Gay film From Afar wins the Venice Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion.

On the new gay cinema flourishing in Venezuela, as country becomes more censored.

The best gay pictures from the Toronto International Film Festival.

Thailand chooses gay-themed drama How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) as its entry for foreign-language category at next Oscars.

Alan Poul (Six Feet Under) is to direct a feature film adaptation of gay literary classic Dancer from the Dance.

Interview | Talking to Nigerian filmmaker Habeeb Lawal about Veil of Silence, his documentary on LGBT Nigerians.

Interview | Talking to Anglo-Nigerian filmmaker Adaora Nwandu about her film Rag Tag.

A 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake is coming.

Ten great posters for terrible films.

Stonewall’s unpleasant depictions of gay sex reveal everything that’s wrong with the film.

Review | Stonewall. "Stonewall may have birthed Gay Pride but this Stonewall is a Shame."

Review | Stonewall. "Don't boycott it. Just skip it."

Review | From Afar. "This is a work of bracing maturity and jagged sensuality; its gaze, simultaneously tender and harsh, is never judgmental."

Review | Closet Monster. "Sheer oddness... Evocative and confidently eclectic."

Review | The Walk. "The usual dramatic intensity and psychological profiling of true stories is shooed away at every opportunity to focus on a colorful comic dash through Petit’s life to collect his funny band of 'accomplices' before they head to NYC to achieve the impossible."

Review | The Walk. "An electrifying climax in search of a movie."

Fifty films that capture the dark side of New York City.

The scandalous affairs of old Hollywood.

The fifty creepiest films about cults.

James Dean crash site: Sixty years later, fans still leave cigarettes, beer cans and bras.

Ten crazy Hollywood curses.

Ten unexpected comebacks in cinema.

Richard Wall, the actor, is dead. He was 71. Wall appeared in the 1986 film Parting Glances, filmed at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Watch | From Afar (trailer); Love (trailer); and don't miss this very clever mash-up of classic movie club scenes...

the box

On Love & Hip Hop Hollywood's "Miles effect". "The relationship between rapper Miles aka Siir Brock and producer, rapper, model Milan Christopher shocked and stunned viewers watching on premiere night."

Why Love & Hip Hop Hollywood needs to end its tired gay black male stereotypes. "When [executive producer] Mona Scott-Young finally decided to put black gay male characters on her show - they had to be DL and pose a threat to a black woman's security of love."

Black-ish takes on the n-word in all its complexity.

What’s a boring series like Rosewood doing on an ambitious network like Fox?

Trevor Noah’s confidence smooths out an uneven Daily Show debut.

Interview | "They get replaced. I stay the same." Talking to Lee Daniels about Empire, Hollywood, and survival.

Interview | Talking to Terrence Howard. "He's the leading man on network TV's biggest new show, but trouble and turmoil have chased him his entire life."

Interview | Talking to RuPaul's Drag Race's Manila Luzon.

Is Doctor Who in crisis? "Ratings are down. The knives are out. So what's next?"

Binge-watching killed the syndication star: Law & Order at 25.

Reboots of Lethal Weapon and MacGyver are coming to TV. Be warned.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar reveals what Saved by The Bell fans got wrong about him.

Why do we love Lifetime’s tame “unauthorised” movies about ’90s TV shows that weren’t even good?

The Golden Girls: Fifteen unbelievably progressive episodes.

Catherine E. Coulson, the actress, is dead. She was 71. Coulson played the Log Lady Twin Peaks.

Gays of our lives: The latest news from your favourite LGBT characters in soap.

Watch | Freefall, season 3, episode 303; #NoHomo, episode 3 - The Gayru; I Hate New York, episode 3 - A New York Roommate; Where The Bears Are, season 4, episode 3 - Big Time Bears; Real Eyes Realize Real Lies, season 2, episode 6 - What About Your Friends...

Watch | Are these the top ten "coming out of the closet" scenes in TV history? And Scream Queens' Lucien Laviscount explains his body...

beats, rhymes & life

Azealia Banks rages against the LGBT community on social media.

Azealia Banks is the Donald Trump of rap.

That awkward moment Steve Grand corrected a news anchor who didn’t know he was gay.

Liam Payne of One Direction says those gay rumours drive him insane.

Ariana Grande on why she’s a "raging lunatic" over "dumb as f**k" homophobes.

On Petite Noir.

Kendrick Lamar pens letter on Tupac’s website on the anniversary of his death.

Elton John's epic Putin fail.

Gay iconography: Little Richard’s rocking legacy.

Whitney Houston hologram to embark on world tour in 2016.

Janet Jackson: The stories behind the songs.

sex

If they build it, will we come? Meet the tech entrepreneurs trying to take back the porn industry. "Porn has long been a driving force in tech and internet innovation, but the industry now finds itself in unprecedented danger thanks to piracy and free 'tube' sites. These are some of the pioneers and entrepreneurs who are trying to fight back."

Mehran Chestnut, perhaps better known as the porn model King B, is dead. He was 25.

Meet NYPD Police Officer Michael Counihan.

ghetto romance

Tom Daley announces his engagement to DILF Dustin Lance Black with newspaper ad.

Donovan Thompson on gay dating - single in your 30s. "I was in a relationship for the majority of my twenties. When it was finally over, I spent about a good two years getting to know myself as a 20-something year old, newly single man. I did some good self-reflective work in those years, but I didn't prepare myself for navigating the dating world. Why didn't anyone warn me?"

The "about me" as a blind gay man.

Send help! I'm being held captive in a place called the "friendzone."

On loving a bisexual man.

médecins sans frontières

HIV in the military.

Watch | Why self love is good for you...

planet earth

Why the next two years could be the hottest on record globally.

Google maps now shows you if climate change will put your home underwater.

The man who loved grizzlies. "For Timothy Treadwell, the grizzlies of Alaska weren’t just the world’s largest terrestrial predators. They were his soul mates, his salvation, and his cause. Last October, when a 1,000-pound male tore him and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, to pieces, Treadwell died as he’d lived – by the bear."

On the amazing inner lives of animals. "Dolphins may have the capacity for mourning, and elephants sometimes bury their dead."

On Big Black Dog Syndrome.

tomorrow's world

The beauty of vain, gay passive-aggressive Facebook users in one post.

Is a "dislike" button coming to Facebook?

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

The butt lamp is a thing in the world.

LGBT history walking tours for every city.

And finally, Walter on monogamy; the Baddie Twinz discuss relationships; Andrew experiences newness; and Sex Sirens at the Rags to Riches Ball...

See you kids next week - it's been emotional! Zee Jai

Issue 223: 06 September - 04 October 2015

On the cover: Mehran Chestnut, who has died.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

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

© 2015