Issue 234: Gareth Thomas, Monica Lewinsky, Matthew Rush, chemsex, King Cobra, RuPaul, Brendon Ayanbadejo, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

Left & Found

Chemsex: Why is gay sex causing straight panic? (Image)

How Chuck Holmes engineered gay beauty.

Almost 50% of straights carry the "gay gene".

How bachelorettes are ruining gay nightlife. "I’m chatting with Yaz outside his DJ booth at Wave Bar when a hen party gyrates through the door. Now Yaz has a simple solution to get rid of them. 'I just immediately put on gay nightclub classics. Classic disco and show tunes are the audio equivalent of Mace to those people.'”

Patriarchy will not be dismantled until we can ALL acknowledge our privileges and each other’s oppressions.

The worst part of Buzzfeed’s shockingly self-loathing “27 questions black people have for black people”.

How hotep thinking like Erykah Badu’s robs black children of their childhoods.

No one would listen to Stephen Fry if he was poor. "The actor sneers at child sex abuse victims and says free speech is being stifled. But he is part of the 1% who enjoy a platform – it’s ordinary people who struggle to be heard."

On both sides of the Atlantic, the rise of the right is over.

News

America

On the campaign trail with Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson.

What’s the use in disrupting Donald Trump?

"Sodomite slayer" pastor James David Manning of New York’s soon-to-be-defunct ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church claims God will make flames shoot out of gay men’s buttholes.

Seventeen anti-gay leaders exposed as gay or bi.

Federal officials investigate the treatment of LGBT inmates in Georgia's state prisons.

Now Deutsche Bank has hit back at North Carolina, scrapping plans for more jobs in the state.

LGBT pride flags burned outside North Carolina church.

Study proves there's no difference in the family relationships of same-sex vs. hetero parents.

Miami Beach Gay Pride, in pictures.

Bill Clinton's crime bill destroyed lives, and there's no point denying it.

Monica Lewinsky: "The shame sticks to you like tar." "Nearly 20 years ago, Monica Lewinsky found herself at the heart of a political storm. Now she’s turned that dark time into a force for good."

How credit reports are ruining the lives of Americans.

What happened in East New York? "East New York is sicker, sadder, more dysfunctional, more isolated, harsher, frailer, madder, toxic, broken through and through everywhere."

Something uneasy in the Los Angeles air. "How much do the Santa Ana winds affect us, and how much are we affecting them?"

The secret of Grey Gardens. (January 1972) “...It was not clear after the mess hit the papers who put whom up to what. But three forces conspired against the ladies of Grey Gardens: Village Fathers, a few neighbors, and closest kin...”

News

UK

This is 17-year-old Myron Yarde, the second teenager to be murdered in London this year. Nineteen were killed last year.

No jobs, no hope, gunfights at your door – the tough streets that claimed Myron Yarde’s life.

Why Myron Yarde’s death affects us all.

Metropolitan police officer Gordon Semple allegedly strangled and dismembered by man he met on Grindr.

On the tragedy that chemsex drugs can cause.

Super-gonorrhoea’s spread "causing huge concern".

The government is worried that too many young people are trying anal sex.

Half of British Muslims think gay sex should be banned.

The UK must do more to support LGBT rights globally.

Stephen Fry hits out at "infantile" culture of trigger words and safe spaces.

Live in the former BBC TV Centre - if you've got a spare £700k.

The battle to save the Curzon Soho.

1950s Home Office document listing "types of homosexuals".

Working boys. "London's male brothels offer a more lucrative way for young men to ply their trade than the streets and a more discreet service to the discerning customer." (August 1994)

SCOTLAND  Lost Loch Ness Monster prop found.

NORTHERN IRELAND  New campaign launches for marriage equality.

News

World

IRELAND  At least two gay couples are getting married every day since it was legalised last year.

SWEDEN  Gender-neutral pronoun "hen" finds its way into the dictionary.

RUSSIA  Russia police raids target the Japan Aum Shinrikyo cult, which was responsible for the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway.

JAMAICA  Majority of parents would kick out their gay children - unsurprisingly, given the number of people on the island who “hate or reject” homosexual relationships has risen over 20% since 2011.

KENYA  A case has been filed with the High Court aimed at striking down the country’s ban on gay sex.

KENYA  The nightmare that awaits East African gay refugees.

NIGERIA  Government launches investigation into claims that Switzerland’s Ambassador to the country is living with his husband.

Arab youth survey highlights the dangers of desperation. "The majority questioned rejected terrorism. But unless the region offers its young jobs and stability, it will be hard to contain the destructive power of despair."

IRAQ  The hell after ISIS. "Even as the militant group loses ground in Iraq, many Sunnis say they have no hope for peace. One family’s story shows why."

ISRAEL  The young Arab sex workers making a living in Tel Aviv. "Israeli [Jewish] gay men have a fetish for Arabs," he explained. "Sometimes they want to dominate me and sometimes they want to be dominated, but for a Jewish man, sex with an Arab is always about who has the power, the control."

BANGLADESH  Police arrest gay activists, then out them to their families.

CHINA  Court blocks first same-sex marriage in landmark case.

JAPAN  A demographic time bomb, in one chart.

AUSTRALIA  Indigenous student shares screenshots of racist Grindr abuse.

AUSTRALIA  The Catholic Church has pressured Qantas, SBS - and others - to drop their support for marriage equality. Telecoms giant Telstra has also dropped its support after an evangelical backlash.

AUSTRALIA  Germaine Greer unleashes another anti-trans tirade.

Picture

House

King Cobra director Justin Kelly on how, when it came to gay sex scenes, his "actors took things further than the script".

Sharon Stone ditches plans to make a movie in Mississippi over the state’s newly passed anti-LGBT law.

REVIEW  Strike a Pose. "Picked to dance on the star’s Blond Ambition tour, then starring in the hit documentary Truth or Dare, Madonna’s boys struggled with the aftermath."

Twenty-one out actors of colour Hollywood should cast as leading men.

So, why won’t Hollywood let black movies be great?

Small but supa tough. "Welcome to Wakaliwood, where rebellious, popular action films upheave classist Ugandan logic."

The Jungle Book, posters.

Why superhero movies suck.

REVIEW  Xenia "Undoubtedly a bit weird and idiosyncratic, but its road trip tale of two brother bonding in unexpected ways is also strangely charming and always keeps you guessing."

REVIEW  Loev. "Often smart, charming and intriguing as it explores a relationship that may be on the cusp of becoming something more, Loev sometimes undermines that (particularly with one scene), but still offers enough to make it worth watching."

REVIEW  Like You Mean It. A "rather melancholic film throughout its runtime, but it’s also an extremely good one, subtly dissecting a fizzling relationship in a way that feels real and very well handled."

REVIEW  What We Have. "A movie with lots of potential but it never quite works out how to merge dealing with a character who is closed and broken, with people who inexplicably think he’s the best thing since sliced bread. Individually the two sides could have worked but together they clash."

WATCH  Steel (trailer); and Bed Buddies (trailer).

The

Box

INTERVIEW  Talking to RuPaul about game shows, the gay aesthetic and his dirtiest charades.

REVIEW  Gay For Play. "This show seems like a fun display of something that never got to exist in the past, as well as an adjustment to acceptedly limited gay voices of the present."

The Golden Girls' most lasting legacy. "How Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia paved the way for shows like Living Single and Looking."

Law & Order is returning to television as a true crime anthology series, with an eight-episode re-creation of the Lyle and Erik Menendez trial.

Underground is a big step forward for diversity of TV protagonists.

Hannah Horvath, why do we (still) hate thee so?

Why it's time to stop rebooting TV shows.

WATCH  The latest episode of About Him; Go-Go Boy Interrupted is back; and here's a trailer for new webseries Love@FirstNight, a romantic comedy in which Spencer and Jayden find love after a hook-up.

Gareth Thomas, the actor best known as the star of BBC sci-fi show Blake’s 7, is dead. He was 71.

Gareth Thomas, obituary.

REVIEW  Blake's 7. "The latest fascist space fantasy... A mix of olde-worlde space jargon, ray guns, Western-style goodies and baddies, and punch-ups straight out of The Sweeney." (January 1978)

Shouting

At Night

Now Cirque du Soleil cancels North Carolina gigs over HB2.

Russell Tovey to star in the National Theatre's forthcoming Angels in America.

NEW  Terry Ray’s Electricity, at Los Angeles' Two Roads Theatre until 22nd May, about an "out gay sex addict [who] hooks up with closeted virgin Gary Henderson in a motel room after their 10th high school reunion in 1983. They form a connection that draws them back to that same motel room every ten years until 2013."

It's that time of year again.

The producers of Broadway's newest hit, Disaster!, discuss why the Me Decade is worth revisiting.

The crazy true story of Madonna's Truth Or Dare back up dancers (and where they are now).

Gabriel Trupin, obituary. (December 1995)

Art

+

Design

Andy Warhol paintings stolen in Missouri heist.

Eighteen art posters that redefine LGBT identity, sexuality, and politics.

GO SEE  Tease, artist Jan Rattia's first solo show, at New York City's ClampArt, until 21st May.

John Barrowman to write Torchwood comics For Titan.

Utopia now: the heritage of London's brutalist architecture, in pictures.

Belgrade's "socialist architecture", in pictures.

Dubai to get yet another record-breaking, obscene (and probably a death trap) skyscraper.

Word!

Reminder: Rudyard Kipling was a racist fuck and The Jungle Book is imperialist garbage.

REVIEW  Our Young Man, by Edmund White. "With sumptuous prose and continental style, White shows that he’s capable of returning to an old well and finding something new to plumb."

NEW  Promised Land, by Adam Reynolds and Chaz Harris, in which a prince and a farmer's son fall in love.

The triumphant return of Archie Comics' gay character Kevin.

On Japan’s gay-themed manga.

On the rag, a weekly look at the free gay 'zines.

WATCH  Prophets, by Rohan Ayinde.

Beats, Rhymes

& Life

Cyndi Lauper won't cancel her North Carolina concert, but she will be donating the proceeds to Equality North Carolina and other local nonprofits working to fight anti-LGBT legislation...

...But Ringo Starr cancels his, saying he "stands with those fighting against the bigotry of HB 2."

Eurovision singer Ivan wants to perform naked with a live wolf called Shakira.

Who do you trust? "Metro Boomin has been climbing rap’s ranks since high school. In a competitive and fickle industry, how did he become the guy everyone wants on their team?"

Why being an Asian American rapper is so hard.

Half of people who buy vinyl don't actually listen to it.

The many ways the music industry fucks with your mental health.

LISTEN  The dancers of Blond Ambition on life after Madonna. "Luis Camacho, Kevin Stea and Carlton Wilborn go in-depth with Josh Sabarra about life on the road with one of the world's most enigmatic performers, and the highs and lows of living in Madonna's spotlight."

WATCH  RuPaul - Be Someone; and Qaadir has something to say to Janet Jackson.

Red Light

District

Porn legend Matthew Rush reunited with his biological father.

Is Austin Wilde retiring?

Darius Ferdynand threatens to sue Str8UpGayPorn over post promoting his escort ad.

TitanMen goes bareback, pays just $400 per scene.

White Party Palm Springs, in pictures.

The Hôtel Gaythering at the Miami Beach Gay Pride festival, in pictures.

Presented without comment: Treasure Island Media’s Sick Fucks.

Meet sizzling new porn star Lawrence Portland.

Ghetto

Romance

Kaleb and Kordale Lewis reunite, are expecting a fifth child.

Meet Tymur Levchuk and Zoryan Kis, the first gay couple to marry in Ukraine.

ABC News reporter Gio Benitez marries Tommy DiDario, in pictures.

WATCH  The weird things gay couples do: Public vs. private.

Médecins Sans

Frontières

Foreskin doesn’t make a man more “sensitive”.

Facing my fear: I watched too many friends die of Aids. Then I was diagnosed. "After witnessing my best friend’s death, I swore I’d never let myself get infected. When I did, I had to learn that my fate would be different."

The perilous connection between HIV and gender inequality.

Surprise: PrEP = decreased condom use.

Second injectable PrEP shows promise.

Drinking three cups of coffee a day increases HIV treatment success and reduces side-effects by 80%.

Is a combo Hep C and HIV vaccine on the horizon?

Be afraid: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first US male-to-male sexual transmission of the Zika virus.

Why a yellow fever outbreak in Angola is a "potential threat for the entire world".

Is empty nose syndrome real? And if not why are people killing themselves over it? "This medical mystery — a byproduct of common nasal surgery — has stumped many doctors and scientists, some of whom suspect the suffocating condition may just be imaginary. But that isn’t making the people who feel suicidal over its horrific symptoms feel any better."

Is eating fat really bad for you? Here's what the science says.

Being an overweight teen could come back to haunt your health.

Hell's

Kitchen

The first time I went to a lesbian bar in North Carolina.

Ten great remaining lesbian bars.

The Zankou Chicken murders. "When the patriarch of the hugely popular fast-food chain killed his mother and sister, then himself, he left behind a family wrestling with fate—and each other."

Group dinners at restaurants are never fun, and we need to stop having them.

What it's like working at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Why McDonald's fries taste so good. (January 2001)

Another reason to worry about seafood.

I ate frozen fast food so you don't have to.

Cake.

Rag

Trade

American Eagle Outfitters' April Fools' joke backfires.

Betta

Work!

Gay Air France stewards revolt over flights to Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death.

From Fight for $15 to the Verizon strike: We must protect workers' right to walk out.

The kitchen network. "America’s underground Chinese restaurant workers."

I Own 51% Of

This Company!

Misterbnb revolutionises travel for gay couples.

Tesco: Business hits and misses.

Planes, Trains

& Automobiles

More than fifty London tube stations are at high risk of flooding, a London Underground report has revealed.

Inside The Spaceship

POZ, the new dating app to help people living with HIV find love.

Arena

Super Bowl champion - and LGBT ally and activist - Brendon Ayanbadejo on North Carolina's anti-LGBT laws.

NBA’s reigning MVP Stephen Curry speaks out against North Carolina’s HB2.

How gay slurs toward Cristiano Ronaldo speak millions about sports homophobia.

Is there a London 2012 Olympics curse? "It's been reported that 18 athletes who competed in the 2012 London Olympics have died since the Games. French-language media have begun talking about a "curse", but is there any justification for this?"

How the Rio Olympics victimise street children.

The last true days of Kobe Bryant.

Planet Earth

Two male lions show gay "pride" by mounting each other, ignore lionesses...

...And here's some more gay penguins.

The latest form of animal cruelty – death by camera phone.

Deep-sea crab invasion caught on camera off the Pacific coast of Panama..

The Thames monster might be a hoax. But sea beasts still patrol our imagination.

And Whilst

You're Thinking

About That,

Think About

This...

Is the beard dead?

And finally, Walter discusses problems in the black gay community; Junior on getting over fuckboys; Andrew's click bait; and Kevin on being stranded in Ghana.

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

Issue 234: 11-17 April 2016

On the cover: @andreasdemodel, lensed by @jamtronstudio.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

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

© 2016