Issue 250: François Sagat, André Aciman, Kiddy Smile, Micah Brandt, Mahershala Ali, Théo & Hugo, Giles Terrera, Wylie Draper, Tom Daley, Mary Tyler Moore, and more...



the week's
news
& pop
culture,
with a
gay
bias.

 photo strip post a 10 Jan 2017_zps7ksvqdtn.png

Left &
Found

On the meaning of Moonlight. "As a black gay boy, I felt crushed by a sadness I couldn’t place, stunned into a silence I couldn’t understand."

What's driving gay black and Latino teens to tanning salons? "Could homophobia and racism be behind the higher rates of tanning bed usage — and skin cancer — among gay men of colour?"

Ten questions you always wanted to ask an albino.

Gay bars are under threat but not from the obvious attackers. "The disappearance of gay bars and clubs is an unhappy side-effect of a far more cheering trend."

How statistics lost their power – and why we should fear what comes next. "The ability of statistics to accurately represent the world is declining. In its wake, a new age of big data controlled by private companies is taking over – and putting democracy in peril."


To defeat Trumpism will take an extraordinary popular resistance. "Protesters mobilising against Donald Trump’s fascistic travel ban must recognise what they are up against. He wants to rig elections and delegitimise opposition."

The weakening of the 'alt-right': How infighting and doxxing are taking a toll. "As the far right movement has emerged from obscurity, it has also become a target, facing what Richard Spencer calls ‘a literal and figurative punch in the face’."


How to intervene when you see street harassment: An illustrated guide.

Just devastating: The AIDS Memorial Instagram, dedicated to the memories of people we've lost to AIDS. Above, Askia: "Askia is my uncle. He was a pianist, visual artist, and singer. He sang in the navy choir. He sang in front of Ronald Reagan. He was the most pro Black person I knew. Askia died misunderstood and at times scorned for being the person he grew into - that he sometimes wanted to change, but couldn't."

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."

How to stop arguing and actually change someone's mind on social media.


News
America

Gays Against Guns: Can the LGBTQ community curb the power of the gun lobby? "After the Orlando nightclub shootings, America’s LGBTQ community has the gun lobby firmly in its sights. Can they succeed where so many have failed?"

This is 25-year-old Dontae Lampkins. He is the third gay man to be murdered in Tampa since December.

Gay Hungarian sex traffickers face trial in Miami.

The gay cop who turned around one of America's most dangerous cities.

Missouri denied effort to overturn ruling granting Michael "Tiger Mandingo" Johnson new trial in HIV transmission case.

All evidence points to Trump having zero plans to battle HIV.

The fifteen cities with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses.

Anti-gay litigation group Liberty Counsel claims first responders at the Pulse nightclub massacre were traumatised because they had to “get tested for AIDS-related conditions.”

Manager of Washington, D.C. gay bar JR's exposed as racist after allegedly requesting a “hot white guy” replace a black model in an advertisement.

Hillary Clinton plots her next move. "The Democrat has been studying election presentations, including reports on where she underperformed... Former Pennsylvania governor and DNC chair Ed Rendell, a longtime family friend: 'I’m certain Trump will screw up enough that by the fall of ’18, Hillary’s numbers will be way up again.'"

It took three years for George W. Bush to hit 50% disapproval. Trump is there after 8 days.

The American left will be reborn under President Trump. "Clintonian-centrism was defeated in November, but attempts to repeal Obamacare show the Republicans are weak and divided. Now is the time for the left to craft a populist alternative."

Why white fear of demographic change is a powerful psychological force.

LGBT National Pride March on Washington planned for 11th June.


Surprise! Post-Presidential election youth survey paints a shocking picture of bullying.


What’s so strange about Trump’s White House portrait? Experts explain. "Trump’s inauguration crowd photo isn’t the only picture he should be worried about."

What it's like reporting on the inauguration while queer. "Covering gay Republicans, witnessing protesters twerk outside of Mike Pence's house, and interviewing queer women at the Women's March on Washington."

The radical crusade of Mike Pence. "He's trampled on the rights of women, LGBTQ folks and the poor. Then there's the incompetence. Meet, quite possibly, the next president."

The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned.

The State Department's Lavender Scare apology has been taken down...


Trump said that ordinary people would be heard under his administration - but he was shut down the White House comments phone line.

The new lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the Constitution, explained.


Want to understand what Trump and Bannon are up to? Look to the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Trump and the nuclear codes. Be afraid.

Trump invokes "All Lives Matter" logic to erase Jews from Holocaust.

The women who helped Trump win.

These “nice guy” Trump supporters were the real story at the inauguration.

"This is the best moment, isn't it?" An open letter to Trump, from the creator of Veep and The Thick of It. "Soon the consequences of what you are doing will spread throughout the world. And, once done, they can’t be undone. Yes, you will be remembered for a very, very long time. Fact."

Thousands around the world protest Trump's immigration bans. "From London to Glasgow to Tokyo, demonstrators sent a message to their governments that they oppose Trump's anti-immigration policies."

Backlash against Trump migration order grows as Obama issues warning. "Draft memo circulating among US diplomats dissents against Trump administration as White House defends policy."

Is this a Muslim ban? Trump's executive order explained. "The immediate consequences have been dire for many, including valid visa holders and legal residents, and lawsuits have already begun – but the order’s vagueness leaves much up in the air."

The Muslim ban has brought the US close to constitutional crisis. "A series of troubling events since Friday’s order have pushed the country into uncharted territory – and Stephen Bannon was central to the chaos."

Trump's travel ban: stories of those who were detained this weekend. "Following the president’s executive order, at least 109 people were held at airports en route to seeing family, moving to the US or just coming home."

A brief history of Islam in America.

White supremacist leader Richard Spencer punched in the face during anti-Trump protests...
...But is it okay to punch Nazis in the face? An ethicist says not. "No. You don't get to punch people in the face..."


This is Maysam Sodagari, an Iranian chemical engineer. When he tried to return to the US from a gay cruise that went to Mexico and Haiti, he was detained.

Trump's Muslim ban is hurting LGBT people, not helping them.

Seeking an escape from Trump’s America. "Why some people are withdrawing from mainstream society into 'intentional communities' — and what the rest of the country can learn from them."

Trump breaks campaign promise, won't overturn LGBT protections - for now.

Racist, homophobic, misogynist, anti-Semite, admitted white nationalist Steve Bannon has been added to Donald Trump’s National Security Council.

Steve Bannon is calling the shots in the White House. That's terrifying. "He is unvetted, unconfirmed but immensely powerful – all thanks to the undisciplined and distracted Trump."

Why evangelicals are speaking out against Betsy DeVos. "The conservative Christian education secretary nominee would seem like an evangelical favorite. But some from within her own faith say she’s not right for the job."

If you want to see America’s future, look at Turkey. "From attitudes towards women to the media, they’re worryingly similar: Turkey’s spiral into authoritarianism is a warning about what could happen if Trump has his way."

Vile gay billionaire (and Trump puppet) Peter Thiel defends Trump's Muslim ban.

Why is Thiel a citizen of New Zealand? "The gay billionaire and Trump supporter may consider the island nation an escape hatch in case of political or natural disasters."

Two nights on Milo Yiannopoulos's campus tour: As offensive as you'd imagine.

The Deploraball, in pictures (if you can stomach it.)

Don't abandon us in the red states! "Telling an LGBT person to 'just move' is making this bad situation worse."

Why red state queers are the new frontier.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has canceled a LGBT youth summit.

The Boy Scouts of America is to allow transgender boys to participate in its boys-only programs.

The meaning of Melania. "If you’re waiting for the first lady to blink twice for help, don’t hold your breath..."

...And yet, Trump’s treatment of Melania on Inauguration Day was abhorrent. (Fortunately, the Obamas were on hand.)

Lock him up! "Crooked FBI director James Comey almost makes you long for the days of J. Edgar Hoover."

Burst your bubble: Five conservative articles to read during Trump's first week. "Rightwing commentators on the foreign policy implications of the president’s inaugural address, his likely line on the culture wars and even his mental health."


Doomsday prep for the super-rich. "Some of the wealthiest people in America — in Silicon Valley, New York, and beyond — are getting ready for the crackup of civilization."

Trump’s new culture war has left liberals reeling. They thought they’d won that battle. "The American coastal elites are living in a different country than they thought and it has a powerful voice in the new president."

The crack in the shield. On the rise and fall of the Seven-Seven - stationed in 1980’s war zone Crown Heights, Brooklyn - and how an idealistic young recruit became part of cash-snatching, drug-reselling, renegade clique of cops. (December 1986)

The Believers: Cult murders in Mexico. "They thought their rituals of human sacrifice would make them invincible. In the end, a much stronger force prevailed." (June 1989)


News
UK

Posthumous pardons issued for thousands of gay men. "Justice minister hails ‘momentous day’ as so-called Turing’s law receives royal assent, but critics say move does not go far enough."

The Church of England won't change its doctrine regarding marriage equality.

A gay man in Guernsey has refused to pay his Parish Rates, which contribute to the upkeep of churches, because the church is “homophobic”.

The Government is backing plans to tackle the UK’s "last anti-gay law".

Meet 18-year-old Gage Vye-Parminter and 19-year-old Matthew Howes. They have been jailed for nearly six years for a brutal gay bashing in Brighton.

Prisoner caught with two mobile phones, charger cable, herbal medicine and SIM card in his anus.

Poisonous rightwing tabloids crucify LGBT ally Lily Allen for quoting the word "fags".

Former intern Benjamin Myers claims Piers Morgan tabloid News of the World paid him to spy on gay youth group.

This is 15-year-old Quamari Barnes. He is the latest teenager to be stabbed to death in London this year.

Veteran human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell vows to keep on campaigning until he’s 95.

UK protests over US Muslim ban. "Four people give their reasons for getting involved with protests over Trump’s executive order on US immigration."

Parliament to debate keeping Trump out of the United Kingdom after nearly two million sign a petition to bar the demagogue.

Prime Minister Theresa May didn’t mention equality once in her big speech to US Republican leaders.

Why Theresa May won't condemn Trump. "She's not a moral coward, she's a dangerous ideologue."

The big white men of Brexit are a throwback to Britain’s imperial past.

Ed Miliband is hot again.

How Ed Miliband's opposition to Trump reignited the #Milifandom. "The US president’s travel ban forced the Labour politician to stand up against it in the Commons. And his fervour has won him some fans in the States..."


My 30 years as prisoner of a London cult. "Three years after escaping the abusive Maoist ‘collective’ who had held her captive since birth, Katy Morgan-Davies tells her story."

Is chlorinated chicken from America about to hit UK shelves? Thank Trump and May.


News
World

The ruthlessly effective rebranding of Europe’s new far right. "Across the continent, rightwing populist parties have seized control of the political conversation. How have they done it? By stealing the language, causes and voters of the traditional left."

NORWAY  The Lutheran Church is to permit same-sex marriages for the first time.

SWEDEN  Transgender people will no longer be classified as “mentally ill”.

POLAND  Nearly every resident of the village of Bobrowniki voted for this gay man as mayor.

ESTONIA  Nearly there with marriage equality after court recognises marriage of two gay men.

GERMANY  83% support marriage equality.

GERMANY  A killer who idolised Hannibal Lecter has been jailed for life for murdering his homophobic flatmate.


GERMANY  New evidence reveals gay men were castrated decades after Nazi rule ended.

RUSSIA  Airbnb rival launches tool to warn customers about high numbers of gay people

BRAZIL  One person is murdered every 25 hours in Brazil.

COLOMBIA  How Islam took root in one of South America’s most violent cities. "The Colombian port of Buenaventura is home to a small Muslim community who have successively embraced the Nation of Islam, Sunni and Shia interpretations."

MEXICO  The Hustlers and Hooligans Awaiting Trump’s ‘Economic War’ on Mexico. In a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Guadalajara, where jobs are already scarce, uncertainty and drug trade go hand in hand.

SYRIA  America just turned its back on Syrian refugees. Here is the hell they are fleeing.

LEBANON  Judge concedes that homosexuality should not be illegal in landmark case.

ISRAEL  Hundreds of new settlement homes approved for East Jerusalem. Meir Turgeman, chair of the municipality's Planning and Building committee: "I was told to wait until Trump takes office because he has no problem with building in Jerusalem."

SOUTH AFRICA  Restaurant in Johannesburg caught red-handed denying entrance to gay couple on "date night".

SOUTH AFRICA  A tale of the Boer war. "An English officer speaks about how he tried to track down the mother of a Boer soldier killed at Spion Kop in 1900." (January 1905)


IVORY COAST  Officials refuse to explain why two gay men were jailed.

UGANDA  Brutalised in his homeland, LGBT refugee Kwesigabo Simon has been approved for resettlement in the United States. This is his story.

...But what of Ivan Kimbugwe? "Shunned by his family for acting too girlish, attacked by his neighbors for being gay, Ivan Kimbugwe fled to Kenya, only to face further homophobia there. Now he has a chance to reach safety in the United States."


INDIA  Manvendra Singh Gohil, India’s first openly gay Prince of Rajpipla, claims local police are raping volunteers who try to do HIV education and promote safer sex.

INDIA  Thousands flock to the annual Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride Parade. In pictures.

TAIWAN  Legislative committee approves marriage equality bill, paving the way for Taiwan to become the first Asian country to allow same-sex marriage.

HONG KONG  LGBT equality is slow to come, despite the island's progressive neighbours.

THAILAND  Government considering opening world’s first prison exclusively for LGBT inmates.

PHILIPPINES  LGBT people now welcome in the military “as long as they behave”.

PHILIPPINES  Murderous Manila: On the night shift. “No one will be safe until many, many more have died.” (Image)

JAPAN  Nights to remember with a Couple of Men at Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo.

AUSTRALIA  26-year-old Dimitrious "Jimmy" Gargasoulas stabbed his gay brother in a fight over his sexuality, and hours later crashed his car into a crowd, killing five people, including two children.

AUSTRALIA  Police are investigating claims gangs killed gay men for sport.

AUSTRALIA  In a global trend towards crimmigration, Australia has led the world. "Trump’s plans to detain and deport non-citizens follows the lead of Australian policies that inflate executive powers and criminalise immigration."

AUSTRALIA  The year-long visceral backlash over a chalkboard message. "For Matt Chun, the national ritual is fraudulent and indefensible and he wants visitors to his cafe in the coastal town of Bermagui to know it."


Arena

Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black get the tabloid treatment. Over this.

On Greg Louganis at 57. "He’s the most decorated diver in Olympic history, has been HIV-positive nearly 30 years, and has battled addiction, homophobia, depression, and bad boyfriends."

Bisexual boxer Nicola Adams quits the Olympics to go pro.

Olympic sprinters James Ellington and Nigel Levine suffer horrific career-ending accident.

Olympic champion Ashton Eaton retires from athletics at 28.

Usain Bolt stripped of 2008 Olympic relay gold after Nesta Carter fails drug test.

Despite decades of racist and sexist attacks, Serena Williams keeps winning.

Mexico is appealing FIFA fines for fans chanting gay slurs.

Sexual abuse in football: How a flawed system still places youngsters at risk.

Seven things you never knew about being a sports camera operator.


Art +
Design

A New York artist has threatened to sue an African nation over a commemorative Marilyn Monroe stamp featuring an image of the artist in drag rather than Monroe herself.

Stolen Australia: the ferocious anti-colonial art of Helen Johnson. "From fat landowners farting the national anthem to gentlemanly chaps passing round bribes, Helen Johnson tells the ugly truth about how Australia was carved up."

2017 London toy fair at Olympia, in pictures.


Ten works of architecture in harmony with nature.


Word!

Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay cancels book deal with Simon & Schuster over vile alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos.


INTERVIEW  Talking to Martin Patrick, author of the new novel Love Both Ways.

INTERVIEW  Talking to John Edgar Wideman on his new book, Writing To Save A Life, and the isolation of black men in America.

Read a book with a LGBT Asian protagonist.

'I was weak, despairing, confused': Did writing a novel make me ill? "It started with a bottomless tiredness, and soon novelist Sarah Perry was unable to function. Had she brought it all on herself?"

REVIEW  Queer & Trans Artists of Color: Volume 2, by Nia King and Elena Rose. "The perfect antidote to fear and an inspiring handbook of activist creations."

REVIEW  Enigma Variations, by André Aciman. "A rewarding excavation about one man’s inner life, mapping out the way our emotional and romantic ties can shape our self-knowledge for the rest of our lives."

REVIEW  Eros and Dust, by Trebor Healey. "A collection that tosses out nuggets of insight. For instance, in Pedro and the Mark, Healey writes, 'It’s why Theo didn’t miss America and hadn’t gone back: the endlessly neurotic moralizing which made every SUV-driving, coffee-swilling, sanctimonious resource hog an expert on what to do about the ravaged planet that apparently wasn’t their fault.'"

On the new book, And The Band Was Playing A Gay Tune, a photo documentary of gay life, by Sam Shahid.


Nine 'zines by black artists.

New indie comic book The Pride features an entire team of gay superheroes.

Marvel Comics’ Iceman gets his first gay kiss.

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

WATCH  Giles Terrera reads I'll Walk With You, a poem. (October 2013)

Shouting
At Night

This show is for my friend David, who died of AIDS. "Nora Burns has created a moving, funny show to remember her best friend David, who died of AIDS in 1993, about their deep bond, grief, and how close he still feels."

Seattle drag queens rework Cabaret for Trump's America .

REVIEW  Jitney, starring Moonlight's André Holland. "August Wilson peers into the lives of men steering gypsy cabs around Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The year is 1977, and the mostly Black neighborhood is staring down the fate of foreclosures and gentrification. But Manhattan Theatre Club’s beautifully realized production finds hope in Wilson’s detailed portraits of men so often marginalized and rarely represented with such loving detail."

First cast members revealed for West End production of Hamilton, including Giles Terera.


Film
Forever

How queer films learned to put sex front and centre. "New French film, Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo, kicks things off with 18 minutes of straight-up gay sex. It's part of a wave of new eroticism, and it's a more radical act than you might think."

On Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo. "Thanks to the brave young actors and the cinematic verve of the directors (a real life couple, best known previously for the gay road trip movie The Adventures of Felix, 2000) what follows their anonymous encounter, is an unexpectedly moving and even sweet movie about budding relationships, personal responsibility, and frank honesty."

Why we need to stop saying 'this is the movie we need right now'. "A devastating election result has led film critics to stress the importance of cinema as a political force but is it an overly optimistic notion?"

"What if Vito Russo ran for President? What if Mapplethorpe got into a Twitter feud with a Kardashian? What would David Wojnarowicz do about the gay executions in the Middle East?" Imagine an alternate gay universe where AIDS never happened.

On Nobody Speak, the new documentary on gay billionaire Peter Thiel's destruction of news outlet Gawker.

The hyped films that failed to get any Oscar nominations. "From Ben Affleck’s Live by Night to Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, many stars have seen their awards-hyped films fall at the first hurdle this year."

Moonlight scores eight Oscar nominations.

A Moonlight revolution: The black queer experience comes of age in America. Trevante Rhodes, Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney discuss the making and impact of the Oscar-nominated film.

From House Of Cards to Moonlight, why Mahershala Ali is having a moment. "He’s the breakout star of this year’s buzziest films, next as a Miami drug dealer in Barry Jenkins’ tender coming-of-age drama. Will it win him an Oscar?"

WATCH  Mahershala Ali’s SAG Award acceptance speech, the blackest thing that ever happened this week.

On The Wound. "What happens when traditional beliefs and modern life come into conflict? In The Wound, director John Trengrove explores this dynamic in a traditional Xhosa initiation ceremony."

REVIEW  The Wound. "John Trengove's hard-edged but beautifully wrought study of clashing Xhosa models of masculinity will be an eye-opener to outsiders — and some South Africans too."

REVIEW  The Wound. "Trengove builds a sense of dread among the three central characters, their wary gazes and physical provocations brimming with potential violence. Recognizing uneasy truths about themselves in one another, they’re each threatened, with Xolani caught between the swaggering Vija, whom he loves, and the defiant Kwanda, who boldly questions, and withdraws from, the rite of passage."

"Filmmaking is terribly colonial. We'll grab you, take what we want from you and then fuck off, and you'll never hear from us again." Danny Boyle discusses Trainspotting 2 and more.

REVIEW  Beach Rats. "A stunning impression in Eliza Hittman's beautifully rendered study of repressed sexuality in un-hip Brooklyn."

Gay actor Chris Salvatore (Eating Out) took in his ailing 89-year-old neighbour.

Why a Bollywood memoir has kicked up a storm about being gay in India.

From Sean Connery to Harrison Ford: actors who secretly played roles gay. "The sexual orientation of film characters isn’t always what it first seems – some leading men have reinterpreted their parts as they move from page to screen."

REVIEW  I Am Michael. "[Director] Kelly doesn’t dare touch on spirituality. He sells the gay Christian experience short and that, finally, diminishes Franco’s art to cuteness."

A look back at Star Trek: Nemesis, the film that killed a franchise.

Compare all the different Hill Valleys in Back to the Future.

Hell upside down: The making of The Poseidon Adventure.

Please stop remaking The Wizard of Oz.

On seventy years since The Big Sleep, Howard Hawks’ electrifying film noir masterpiece.

The movie with a thousand plotlines. "Will interactive films be this century’s defining art form?"

WATCH  Here's the trailers for The Wound; and Fair Haven.

The
Box

On When We Rise, the new drama that looks at the LGBT equality movement through the eyes of those who lived it.


WATCH  Here's the trailer for deaf, gay-themed show The Chances. Darryl Stephens and Wilson Cruz star.

Forget Joseph Fiennes, read the tragic story of Wylie Draper, the first man who dared to play Michael Jackson on screen.

UK TV star "left suicidal" after rent boy blackmailed him with threats to expose sex sessions.

Celebrity Big Brother is televised torture – and I don’t want to miss an episode. "Housemates must choose between food and seeing their families – an idea cribbed from Guantánamo Bay."

The greatest peep show on earth. "Now the ultimate in exhibitionism is C4's Big Brother, a programme in the vanguard of a new culture. Are we all voyeurs now?" (July 2000)

Desperate Housewives star Charlie Carver reflects on a year since coming out as gay.

INTERVIEW  Talking to Andrew Rannells about the upcoming final season of Girls.

Riverdale, The CW’s dark and sexy update of Archie Comics, is a surprisingly great teen soap.

Inside the weird, industry-shaking world of Donald Glover. Atlanta, Star Wars and Childish Gambino.

From Westworld to Homeland: Pop culture's obsession with gaslighting. "Why have stories about men mind-controlling women come to define much of modern pop culture?"

What is gaslighting? The 1944 film Gaslight is the best explainer.

Netflix’s Frontier tries to turn Canadian history into Game of Thrones. It's a mess.

On Skins at ten. "Skins is now a period drama about a long-lost breed of hedonistic teens. But a decade on, it’s still funny, still outrageous – and it propelled its stars to greatness, from Game of Thrones to the Oscars."

What Maxxie from Skins looks like now.

Fourteen of the most expensive flops in TV history.

Nine of the darkest TV shows ever to sap the joy out of your life.

Doctor Who: our casting wishlist for the BBC. "Now that Peter Capaldi is standing down, the 13th Doctor is all to play for. But will it be Richard Ayoade, Ben Whishaw... or Miranda Hart?"

Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who: Your verdict on the outgoing Time Lord. "It’s a shame his tenure coincided with some truly awful writing."

Doctor Who: Why the new Time Lord can and must be a woman. "Without a massive shakeup, the time-travel fantasy will die. Casting the 13th Doctor is a key decision for the BBC – and it needs to think outside the Tardis."

This Doctor Who quote about "alternative facts" sounds awfully relatable forty years later.

INTERVIEW  Talking to Dalek creator Terry Nation. (January 1966)

Catch up and download: from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air to LifeAfter. "Netflix has acquired Will Smith’s classic sitcom, while the creators of The Message podcast have unveiled a new fiction series about an FBI agent."

Gays of our lives: Your latest from gay soapland.

REVIEW  The Mary Tyler Moore Show. "This hit 70s comedy show about a local TV news station combined biting social commentary, great jokes and a rebellious heroine in producer Mary Richards." (July 2013)

Mary Tyler Moore, the actress, activist, and entertainment icon, is dead. She was 80.

Mary Tyler Moore, obituary.

Mary Tyler Moore: A life, in pictures.

Mary Tyler Moore: A true cultural icon who changed the face of television. "Moore ripped up the TV rulebook by bringing feminism to the small screen and with her own company went on to produce some of the best shows ever seen."

Mary Tyler Moore: How she changed television.

Inside The Mary Tyler Moore Show's iconic apartment.

Gordon Kaye, the actor best known for his role as cafe owner Rene Artois in ‘Allo ‘Allo, is dead. He was 75.

Gorden Kaye, obituary.

WATCH  Here's the latest episodes of Real Eyes Realize Real Lies; Fallacies; and Entercourse.

Beats, Rhymes
& Life

Frank Ocean has written a commentary on Trump’s inauguration day - and Barack Obama's reaction.

In defense of Madonna. "Welcome to the Trump resistance, General Madonna. We need you more now than ever."

WATCH  Cyndi Lauper denounces Madonna’s Women’s March speech. And Boy George on George Michael’s later years - and their alleged feud.

INTERVIEW  Talking to Parisian DJ, producer, vocalist and fashion provocateur Kiddy Smile.

WATCH  Blue's Duncan James pays a visit to Here She Is.

George Michael’s "secret ex-lover" claims chemsex drug Liquid G caused the singer’s death...

...And his cousin, Andros Georgiou, claims Michael had become "a recluse" in his final years.

Wiley: the enigmatic Godfather of Grime. "After more than a decade of being fetishised and then written off, grime now dominates British pop culture. To understand why, you need to understand the man who created it."

E-40's eternal comeback. E-40 has returned “making music the way he did back in the late ’80s: completely independently, selling his raps more or less directly to his fans,” twenty-two years on.

LISTEN  Blood Orange and Starchild & the New Romantics - VeilHymn.

WATCH  Dick van Dick - Pony Rider. "I'm the type of bitch who take the dick, don't make me wait, just make it quick;" Kiddy Smile - Let A B!tch Know; Mykki Blanco's Berlin tour diary.

Red Light
District

The most popular gay porn websites in the world, ranked from 60-1.

INTERVIEW  Talking to Micah Brandt about racial preferences, escorting challenges, and being a gay porn star in 2017.

INTERVIEW  Talking to François Sagat. "Four years after quitting porn, he's ready for a comeback."

Porn actors lament the loss of legendary San Francisco Armory. "It’s a uniquely San Francisco institution: a huge faux castle and studio for the fetish site Kink. But in February, Kink performers will do their final shoot."



Meanwhile Vadim Black Tweeted this.



Sean Zevran on why dating apps shouldn't ask about HIV status.


Former gay porn star Kevin Falk is now a contestant on Game Show Network’s Divided.

Behind-the-scenes with the Helix boys, including Sean Ford.

Why the Sketchy Sex model info sheet is actually the best part of Sketchy Sex.

Liam Riley challenges Arad: “I’m very horny, and I want to get fucked.”

John Travis, the veteran director and founder of Studio 2000, is dead. He was 75.


Ghetto
Romance

The empowered bottom: Safer sex in the time of PrEP.

Eleven reasons every straight man should try bottoming.

Why sex and love don’t belong in the same bed. "There’s never anything profound about erotic contact. Sex is purely a hormonal act, whereas love, as expressed in a hug, brings true intimacy."

WATCH  Ellen talks to the gay Iraqi soldiers who fell in love, escaped the middle east, and got married.

I'm a gay man who spends hours looking at hook-up ads on my phone. "It is wonderful and awful in equal measure. How should I handle this time-wasting distraction?"


Worried your partner might have a bisexual history? Why?


Médecins Sans
Frontières

How Trump's gag order will reduce HIV care around the world.

Suicidal behaviour is higher in people seeking HIV tests.


Is PrEP safe for seniors? (June 2014)

What's an anal pap smear and do I need one?

The new hepatitis C cure drugs may not be as safe as you think.

Was it wrong for boffins to create a pig-human hybrid embryo?

Sickening, gruelling or frightful: how doctors measure pain. "Suffering is difficult to describe and impossible to see. So how can doctors tell how much it hurts?"

Which foods can improve your gut bacteria?

How burnt toast and roast potatoes became linked to cancer. "Advice that overcooked starchy foods can contain acrylamide, a chemical liked to cancer, has caused a furore this week. Is it just another health scare?"

Loneliness actually hurts us on a cellular level.



How music affects the brain - a neuroscientist explains.


Ten questions you always wanted to ask an agoraphobe.


Hell's
Kitchen

B.F.D., Los Angeles longest-running queer party, in pictures.

By request, Buttercream Bakery duplicated Obama's inaugural cake. By choice, it gave the proceeds to the Human Rights Campaign.

Free range is a con. There’s no such thing as an ethical egg. "Slapping ‘free range’ on a box of eggs simply hides the catalogue of routine horrors that are allowed under this reassuring banner."

Tomato flavor is broken. Can it be fixed?

The rise of the vegan bro.


On the rising popularity of Indian restaurants in Britain. "There must be about a dozen in the Manchester district, at least a hundred in London, and they are spreading over the rest of the country fast." (January 1957)

How chardonnay became chic again. "Yellow, chewy and far too oaky, chardonnay used to be a variety to be avoided. But a new wave of growers are showing what the grape is capable of."


Rag
Trade

Meet Julian Woodhouse, 27-year-old African-American, openly gay former soldier in the United States military - and the designer for the man who doesn't want to peacock.

Designer Raf Simons brings Robert Mapplethorpe back to life.

How ‘alt-beauty’ became the hottest trend in men’s fashion. "The new look is pale, thin and unglamorous – and its stars overwhelmingly come from former Soviet states."

Seinfeld had the worst clothes – but now the streets are awash with Jerry-a-likes. "The programme’s chinos, polo necks and bizarre blazers were the most influential in television – and they live on in east London."


Betta
Work!

The best European countries for LGBT workers.

Gay waiter gets unwanted tip.


Why the working class lose out on the career ladder. "Gender and background partly explain the gap in earnings, but the crucial issue is confidence."


I Own 51% Of
This Company!

Lush Cosmetics’ Valentine’s Day campaign features gay couples in the bath together.

Starbucks to hire 10,000 refugees over five years in 75 countries.


Kellogg's features gay couple in Corn Flakes ad.


Planes, Trains
Automobiles

San Francisco subway to spray stench from elevators. "Bay Area Rapid Transit authorities plan to use enzyme mists and open underground restrooms in an attempt to reduce odor-causing bacteria in subway."

The secret corners and peculiar nicknames of London's Victoria station.


Tomorrow's
World

#DeleteUber: how social media turned on Uber. "After Uber lifted surge pricing during a protest at New York’s John F Kennedy airport against Trump’s travel ban, condemnation online was swift."

Google launches $4 million crisis fund for immigrant rights organisations.

Trump voters set up their own dating site because everyone else calls them racist homophobes.

Why a rising number of criminals are using Facebook Live to film their acts.


Vanishing point: the rise of the invisible computer. "For decades, computers have got smaller and more powerful, enabling huge scientific progress. But this can’t go on for ever. What happens when they stop shrinking?"

Is it curtains for the photobooth? "Travellers can now use photographs taken on their mobiles when applying for a passport online. But the future for the photobooth is a developing picture."


Planet
Earth

Trump is copying the Bush censorship playbook. Scientists aren't standing for it. "The Trump Administration keeps trying to go after scientists, and being forced to retreat."

The Trump administration is an existential threat to every single one of us. "The government's stance on climate change is worse than just doing nothing. It's much, much worse, in fact."

Want to reduce the energy used by buildings? Make cities denser.


Zoo


Animals can feel pain. A biologist explains how we know.

Fish urinate on each other to show who's boss.


And Whilst You're Thinking About That, Think About This...

What your first day in prison is like.

And finally, Andrew (this week's delicious cover star) makes up; the Baddie Twinz put themselves about; Rogue "Marbie" Scott on transgender mothers; and Walter on why he loves Trump...
 
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