Issue 304: Anthony Bowens, Israel Folau, Jussie Smollett, JK Rowling, Jay Dymel, Troye Sivan, Stonewall, Itika, and more..


Left &
Found

Darkness falling
Putin is right about the collapse of liberal values - but the EU shares the blame. "Rightwing demagogues across the world, including in Europe, go unchecked. Darkness threatens to engulf us all."

New report suggests "high likelihood of human civilisation coming to an end" in 2050.

It gets worse
Three years after Pulse, violence against LGBT people feels overwhelming

It’s time gay people stepped aside... hetero whiners have rights tooIn making its hateful point, the Super Happy Fun America group trivialises oppression.

Paris is Burning shows the seductive nature of inclusion – but queer people need more. "The mainstream loves to fly the Pride flag, but being subsumed by the dominant culture can leave LGBT people open to exploitation."

Pride has sold its soul to rainbow-branded capitalism. "Fifty years after Stonewall, the LGBT movement has abandoned its dream of sexual democracy."

Why culture’s "queerbaiting" leaves me cold. "From Taylor Swift’s new video to M&S sandwiches, everyone is capitalising on Pride. Is it cause for concern?"

Stonewall 
The Stonewall you know is a myth – and that’s ok

The progress we’ve made and the work still left to do

What does Stonewall tell us about LGBT activism today? 

The Stonewall rioters would be in disbelief at what transpired since. Half a century of horror and progress. 

You don’t have to march at Pride to show your pride.

The religious roots of pride. Homophobic forces have falsely claimed ownership of organised religion. Time to take it back. 

Parents of gay kids take years to adjust to their coming out.

Ten iconic photos of LGBT history from Getty Images.

LGBT writers, artists, and activists of the '80s and '90s, in pictures.

Why we need to get to know the “bad gays” of history. "LGBT history often focuses on the heroes. The creators of the Bad Gays podcast explain their mission to fill in the gaps."

Pulse
When I think about Pulse, I think about numbers.

Pride
Pride isn’t a party, it’s a time for queer people to fight again for their rights. "In the face of homophobic assaults and attacks on trans people, this isn’t a time for commercialised parades – but for rage."

No kink at pride? What's next, a drag ban?

Here’s what a good LGBT ally looks like"Unlike Taylor Swift, the best supporters rarely take the spotlight."

Queer
LGBT people explain how they love, hate, and understand the word "queer".

Move I'm gay 
Why do gay men walk so fast? The truth behind Twitter’s favorite gay stereotype. 

To the left
Left-handed boys more likely to be gay, boffins claim.

Sex
Why people still go cruising"As cruising spots in London are under threat and apps have made casual hook-ups more convenient, what role does going outside in search of sex play in queer lives today?"

Men on how bottoming affects their eating habits.

Friends
What it feels like to not have a best friend"Two big studies found that young adults report being more lonely than older people. But what if you just don't have that one best mate?"

Bad guys
Why conservatives are winning the internet"A new book explains why digital activism helps conservatives more than liberals."

Socialism for the rich
The evils of bad economics"The economic arguments adopted by Britain and the US in the 1980s led to vastly increased inequality – and gave the false impression that this outcome was not only inevitable, but good."

How to
The science of influencing people: six ways to win an argument.

Can you help?
Every contribution, however big or small, makes a difference, and helps keep the lights on. Please consider leaving a tip if you can - thank you.


US
News 

Do the math 
Americans overestimate LGBT population in the US, survey finds. 

Betta work 
Discrimination at work experienced by half of all LGBT employees. 

Viral "Best Western" hotel clerk is gay - and a transphobe.
The internet cheered when he inconvenienced a racist. Then years of hateful tweets surfaced.

Suicide 
Nearly two million LGBT teens consider suicide each year. 

Dante Austin 
This is 27-year-old Deputy Sheriff Dante Austin. He was found dead at his office of what is thought to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Ronald “Trey” Peters 
This is 28-year-old gay social worker Ronald “Trey” Peters (pictured here with his partner, Joseph Titus Davis). He was killed by masked gunman in a homophobic hate crime in Decatur, Georgia. 

Brooklyn Lindsey 
Police identify Brooklyn Lindsey as 11th murdered trans woman this year. 

Black trans women are being killed and the world shrugs - why is no one screaming about this epidemic of violence?

"It’s like we’re not even human": the reality of being a trans black woman in America"A spate of murders in Texas has triggered old traumas and the harsh reminder of just how dangerous being trans black woman is."

Black trans women want the media to show them living, not just dying. "If the crisis of violence against black trans people is new to you, you haven’t been paying attention."

Nigel Shelby 
Mother of gay teen who died by suicide says school knew about risk. 

Sick
Mom "disturbed" by pedophile lusting over her 12-year-old drag queen son.

Elizabeth Johnston
"Activist mommy" terrorises LGBT prom with hateful phone campaign.

New York 
40-year-old Winston McKay (above, left) tragically killed by a stray bullet the morning after twentieth anniversary party celebrating meeting his husband Terry Solomon. 

Harlem gay bar’s Pride flags burned in suspected hate crime. 

We've been to a marvelous party: when gay Harlem met queer Britain.

New York LGBT community hosts alternative Pride march. 

The Queer Liberation March is New York’s alternative to corporate Pride. 

NYC park steps to become city’s largest Pride flag.

Florida
Governor sets execution date for killer of six gay men. Gary Bowles received the death penalty for the 1994 murder of Walter Hinton, but later confessed to the murder of five additional gay men whom he said he killed because of their sexual orientation. 

"Living joyously is a radical act"
Why America's gay bars still matter"Fifty years after Stonewall, and with Trump trying to roll back LGBT rights, Dominic Rushe visits three gay bars in different states – and finds them as vibrant and vital as ever."

Stonewall 
Presidential candidate Joe Biden pays a visit to Stonewall Inn. 

NYPD Commissioner apologises to LGBT community for the 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn. 

How the New York media covered the Stonewall Riots. 

Watch
NYC LGBT Community Center and Google unveil "living" digital monument of LGBT history. 

SAVE 
LGBT rights group under fire for celebrating accused gay bashers at annual equality gala. 

New Jersey 
Accused pastor extracted "evil spirits" from young men through oral sex. 

Gay waiter wins $20,000 settlement after being branded a "faggot". 

Rhode Island
RI PrideFest, in pictures.

Milwaukee
PrideFest Milwaukee, in pictures.

Aaron Schock 
Disgraced former Congressman filmed putting cash go-go boy's briefs. 

Alabama
Mayor suggests killing LGBT people in Facebook post.

Bad dad 
Real Housewives husband Jim Marchese refuses to pay for son James’ college education because he’s gay. 

Watch 
Activist has an emotional story to tell about discovering gay life in NYC in 1969 just after the Stonewall riots, and the years since. 

Jack and Mike 
The longest married gay couple in the US reflects on that moment 48 years ago. 

Cody Barlow 
Straight ally drove his famous rainbow pickup truck in Oklahoma City’s Pride parade. 

Visibility 
Neighbourhood kid leaves note for gay couple: your pride flag gave me the courage to come out

Gay dads adopt six siblings to stop them being separated.

Acceptance Street 
New York City’s "Gay Street" renamed "Acceptance Street" for every orientation. 

San Francisco 
How homeless sweeps endanger queer houseless people.
In a city with a homeless crisis declared "cruel and unusual" by the UN, crueler efforts to displace them — alongside politicians and real estate developers pushing for increased surveillance and policing — are putting LGBT lives at risk.

Volunteers install giant pink triangle on city’s Twin Peaks. 

Lovin' it 
Support for homeless McDonald's worker shamed on Facebook changes his life

Plush Daiquiri
Restaurant defends server who described customer as "fat" and "gay" on receipt. 

Detroit 
Devon Robinson charged with killing two gay man and a transgender woman. 21-year-old Alunte Davis, and 20-year-olds Paris Cameron and Timothy Blancher were all allegedly shot by Robinson at a house in May. 

Neo-Nazi protesters disrupt Motor City Pride celebrations. 

Los Angeles 
Barbershop fined $75,000 after refusing to cut HIV-positive Nikko Briteramos’ hair. 

L.A. Pride, in pictures.

The last L.A. Pride before the plague, in pictures.

Salt Lake City
Utah Pride, in pictures.

Texas 
Body of black transgender woman Chynal Lindsey pulled from White Rock Lake; 22-year-old Ruben Alvarado arrested

Texas clings to unconstitutional, homophobic laws – and it's not alone.
The legislature has again spurned an opportunity to end its ban on "homosexual conduct" and 15 other states retain similar laws.

Dallas approves rainbow crossings in LGBT neighbourhood to mark Pride.
  
Governor signs anti-LGBT "Save Chick-fil-A" bill into Law. 

Queer people can’t forget our own mortality — except in Montrose"Houston’s historic gayborhood is gentrifying into something new. But for me it will always be a place where you could, for so many queer folks who’d been told they could not."

Washington 
Teenagers arrested for violent attack on gay couple; Karl Craven and his boyfriend Braden Brecht were surrounded by a mob who beat them up, then robbed them. 

Gun-wielding man demands sex from trans women outside LGBT centre. 

Tennessee 
Cracker Barrel bars homophobic pastor who called for LGBT executions. 

Knox Pride apologises for policy to "punish" people who argue with neo-Nazis.

Nashville Pride, in pictures.

Iowa 
Iowa City Pride, in pictures.

Snapchat 
High school football players burn LGBT Pride flag, say "all gays die" in Snapchat video. 

Chicago 
Gay high school student’s home targeted with "kill yourself" graffiti, forks, and suicide hotline "for-sale" sign. 

Pride flag vandalism backfires as church vows to hang "hundreds" more. 

Trevor Noah 
Comedian defends his old, offensive tweets and slams cancel culture. 

Jussie Smollett
Special prosecutor appointed to investigate why charges were dropped. 

Police video shows Smollett holding a noose around his neck after the (alleged) staged attack. 

Listen
The 911 call has been released too. 

Smollett's (former) boss Lee Daniels says he’s "beyond embarrassed" about forcefully defending Smollett on social media... 

...no wonder he's definitely been ruled out from returning to Empire

The Grindr grifter
Daniel Spence used dating apps to scam his way across the U.S. Could he be caught before taking over one of Brooklyn’s hottest media companies?

Smells good 
Axe body spray on Straight Pride Parade: "We’ll be at the parade that matters and this one isn’t it." 

Odious Milo Yiannopoulos replaces Brad Pitt as Straight Pride mascot; Pitt had demanded organisers remove his photograph from their website.
  
Florida 
Republican Mike Hill "jokes" with constituent about killing gay people. 

tRump 
Twitler kills AIDS research as gift to anti-abortion activists. 

Only 24 percent approve of Trump’s handling of LGBT rights. 

Young people less accepting of LGBT community in Trump era. 

Banned by Trump from flying rainbow flags, US embassies hang them instead

Elle
columnist E. Jean Carroll accuses Trump of rape.

The man who was upset.
Making sense of Trump's petulant reign.

Trump’s big problem is that he’s unpopular. "Democrats should worry less about him and more about everything else on the ballot."

Why the Trump family always looks so ’80s"Melania and Ivanka Trump’s clothes call to mind [his] heyday."

Joe Biden 
First act as President would be to advance LGBT protections

Obama v Doma
How gay Americans marched towards equality"From Joe Biden’s unplanned endorsement to a White House lit by the rainbow flag, LGBTQ Americans lived through three extraordinary years."

Elijah Daniel
YouTuber buys the small town of Hell, Mich., and renames it Gay Hell to protest Trump.

Bill Cosby
How the Cosby story finally went viral — and why it took so long. "A journalist who reported on the accusations long before they went viral wonders, 'what kind of profession am I in, where stories have no logical reason for unfolding?'"

Lumbersexuality
A sport and a pastime"Why do people — mostly men — want to throw axes and dress like lumberjacks?"

"The river is treacherous"
The migrant tragedy one photo can't capture"The father and his toddler daughter pictured face down in the river were two of dozens who drowned this year while crossing the border to seek asylum."

Chilling mystery
On high-altitude suicides"US counties above 4,000 feet have twice as many suicides as counties at 2,000 feet. Is it because there's less oxygen in the air, or is something else going on?"

All-American despair
For the past two decades, a suicide epidemic fueled by guns, poverty and isolation has swept across the West, with middle-aged men dying in record numbers.

Chicago hopeless
"It's totally unfair": Chicago, where the rich live thirty years longer than the poor.

On every Harlem corner
Big money and bulldozers threaten black history.

Prohibition
It worked better than you think. "America’s anti-alcohol experiment cut down on drinking and drinking-related deaths - and it may have reduced crime and violence overall."

Interview
Talking to O.J. Simpson's attorney, F. Lee Bailey. "Even though he’s barred from practicing law in several states, absolutely no one can stop him from roasting his enemies."

A Manson murder investigation 20 years in the making"Everything that Manson did with his women was exactly what the CIA was trying to do with people without their knowledge, in the exact same time, at the exact same place."


UK
News 

Brexit 
UK citizens will have less human rights after Brexit. 

Hate 
UK parliament to consider making online homophobia illegal. 

Clap back 
Gonorrhoea and syphilis cases are surging among gay men. 

Poisonous 
Tory horror Ann Widdecombe dragged for gay cure comments. 

Rory Stewart and the myth of the "good Tory".

Ken Macharia
Gay rugby player facing deportation to Kenya gets reprieve. "Ken Macharia allowed to return home but deportation threat remains after fresh asylum claim rejected."

As a gay man, my life will be over if I'm deported to Kenya. I urge the Home Office for mercy. "After making my home in England for 10 years, I have received a notice to leave everything I love behind."

Ally 
Straight teen spends hours building "fabulous" Minecraft castle for gay friend rejected by parents.
  
Rotterdam 
LGBT-themed play canceled after assailants strike actors with stones in homophobic hate crime. 

Leamington 
Hate crime victims "stunned" after police give them a panic alarm

Colchester
Gay couple spat on, clawed and violently attacked in Essex pub.

Train in vain 
Man fined just £613 for threatening to stab train full of LGBT people. 

Media 
PinkNews parent company sues Out magazine publisher for breach of contract, fraud. 

London 
Police warn of Grindr killer after man’s murder, ask public to come forward

London bus attack: fifth arrest after homophobic assault.
Couple say they will not be frightened into hiding their sexuality after the attack.

You saw me covered in blood on a bus. But do you get outraged about all homophobia? "The photo of me and my date went viral after our attack – but only as we’re white, feminine and cisgender. Sympathy and action must be for all."

Do these homophobic attacks mean we’ll again have to hide our same-sex relationships? "I like to hold hands with my girlfriend in public. But now we know it’s still not safe to do this."

Gay nightclub XXL faces closure to make way for flats. Club complains of ‘social cleansing’ after being given three months to wind up. 

Why Hackney is the perfect new home for UK Black Pride.

Does UK drag have a misogyny problem?

Gay's the Word bookshop sold "obscene material". "A court heard yesterday that material on Aids and novels by Tennessee Williams were seized by customs." (June 1985)

Man jailed for life for pushing 91-year-old on to tube tracks. Paul Crossley will serve at least 12 years after judge dismisses schizophrenia as ‘excuse'. 

How Grenfell survivors came together - and how Britain failed them. "The strongest campaign group to emerge from the disaster is facing its most devastating challenge: government inaction."

What lies behind? The facades of London, in pictures

London Bridge attack 
Brutality, heroism and troubling questions. Families fought to turn the inquest into an inquiry into the effectiveness of national security. 

How the atrocity unfolded. Attack lasted 10 minutes and in that time eight people were killed and 48 seriously injured. 

Victims' families criticise authorities for clearing MI5 and police. Relatives of eight people killed in terrorist attack said security services had fallen short. 

Boris Johnson 
Johnson defends calling gay men "bumboys" claiming comments were "wholly satirical". 

A charlatan with bravado. Barely a word he spoke was trustworthy. He charmed the Tory faithful with bluster but this launch was a policy-free performance from a man without qualities. 

He may be an incompetent liar, but charm is his secret weapon. His record as London mayor is farcical. Yet disillusioned Labour voters are as mesmerised by him as punch-drunk Tories. 

Lee Boxell
The missing teen whose cold case was revived with the probe of a "warlock" paedophile ring. "In 1988, Lee Boxell disappeared without a trace, and the case gradually went cold – until 2011, when an investigation into child abuse at a youth club gave the family some hope of closure."


World
News 

Australia 
This is 27-year-old Brenton Erkens-Goss, a gay police officer in Victoria. He committed suicide after he "tragically succumbed to his inner demons". 

Brewery forced to apologise after posting a homophobic meme about non-alcoholic beer. 

Don't panic! Poppers won't be banned after all.

Botswana 
High court decriminalises gay sex in landmark ruling. 

Brazil
"We're afraid": the queer Brazilian sex artists targeted by Bolsonaro"After the far-right president tweeted a video of their transgressive street performance, the two artists fled São Paulo – but now they’re pushing back."

China
Humans v the city: the staggering scale of Chongqing, in pictures"Chongqing’s population is estimated at just below 10 million but that rises to more than 31 million if the built-up surroundings are included. Belgian photographer Kris Provoost finds that in a city so large, individuals can get lost."

Dominican Republic
Tourist deaths sparking concern among travelers. "It’s not yet clear whether the deaths of 10 Americans over the past year are connected." (Image)

Ecuador 
Constitutional court in Quito votes five-to-four to approve same-sex marriage. 

Egypt 
Fifty years after Stonewall, nothing has changed for LGBT people. 

Ethiopia
LGBT tour operator faces death threats over Ethiopia trip.

France 
Paris Pride gets cooled off by fire fighters in record-breaking heat. 

Georgia
Preparing for their first LGBT pride amid threats of violence"After being beaten in Tbilisi six years ago, the country’s LGBT activists are ready to be bold."

Germany
Gay victims of the Nazis remembered at Holocaust ceremony.

Iran
Foreign minister defends gay death penalty: We have "moral principles".

Ireland 
Alternative protest held alongside Pride parade in Dublin. 

Restaurant ordered to pay over £17,000 to man called "queer" by bosses. 

Man claims he was kicked out of the police force for being gay.

Ana Kriégel murder trial: the complete story. "In May 2018, schoolgirl Ana Kriégel was lured from her home, brought to an abandoned house, and murdered. A year later two 14-year-old boys were found guilty of her killing, becoming the youngest people in the history of Ireland to be convicted of murder."

Israel
Gay Israelis hold mass wedding to campaign for same-sex unions. "'We will marry, and in a huge way,' organisers say of wedding ceremony not legally recognised in Israel."

Tel Aviv Pride, in pictures.

Italy
Are your tinned tomatoes picked by slave labour?

Japan
Tokyo dawn: is the impenetrable city finally opening up?

The Tokyo neighbourhood where people come to disappear. "For hundreds of years people have come to Sanya in search of labouring jobs, shelter and a sense of belonging – but the area is changing fast, and its residents are struggling to adapt."

How Tokyo's suburban housing became vast ghettoes for the old"They have no lifts, shops or medical services – yet they are home to mostly poor, elderly people. They're Tokyo’s massive 'homes for solitary death'."

Can "guerrilla picnics" end Tokyo's 50-year war on public space"In 1969 Japan had its own 'Occupy'-style moment – then the police cracked down. Now a new generation is fighting to bring public space back to Tokyo."

Carlos Ghosn's former home: inside Tokyo's notorious detention centre. "Short tour allowed inside Japanese prison accused of keeping suspects in conditions designed to "break" them for confessions."

A city built on water: the hidden rivers under Tokyo's concrete and neon. "More than 100 rivers and canals flow beneath Tokyo, but from the ground it’s hard to notice them. Why has the city turned its back on water?"

The curse of Masakado: why a malevolent ghost haunts Tokyo. "The tale of the ‘first samurai’ whose severed head still terrorises Tokyoites today is the story of the city itself."

Unbuilt Tokyo: "depthscrapers" and a million-person pyramid"Had the creators of the underground skyscraper had their way, the Japanese capital might have looked very different indeed."

Kenya 
Kenya sends LGBT refugees back to "homophobic" camp. 

Binyavanga Wainaina: obituary. "Kenyan writer and LGBT activist who made a revolutionary impact on literature from and about the African continent."

Malaysia
Gay sex video rocks politics.

Mexico
Puerto Vallarta Pride, in pictures.

Middle East
Honour killings are more acceptable than being gay in Arab nations, study says.

Myanmar 
Gay librarian’s suicide prompts LGBT rights debate. 

Nigeria
Gay Nigerian ex-priest honoured for supporting asylum-seekers.

Nepal 
First Pride parade held in Kathmandu. 

Phillipines 
Gay high school law student shot dead for trying to do human rights work.

Manila Pride hosts its largest ever parade over its 25-year history. 

Rodrigo Duterte spokesman says LGBT people "should be happy" about gay cure joke. 

Russia
What does Putin really want? "Russia is dead set on being a global power. But what looks like grand strategy is often improvisation—amid America’s retreat."

San Marino 
Europe’s smallest country San Marino bans anti-gay discrimination. 

South Korea 
Taxi driver jailed for blackmailing gay passengers.

Spain
Life in a Barcelona drug squat, in pictures.

Turkey 
Police launch tear gas at Istanbul Pride parade. 

Ukraine 
Thousands march in Pride parade amidst tight security. 

Singapore 
City lit up by LGBT campaigners calling for gay sex to be decriminalised. 

Ukraine
Chernobyl welcomes the tourists – "a messy and morally queasy experience". "Interest in the site of the 1986 nuclear reactor disaster has grown hugely in the wake of the HBO series – but it is a long way from being a place of solemnity and reflection."


Medicine
Ball

HIV
Gay men wrongly think "attractive" guys are less likely to be HIV positive.

Poppers 
Not addictive, study concludes

Horny 
Young people are developing horns due to mobile phones, technology. 

Night owls 
Simple sleep tweaks boost wellbeing. 

Tell us what you need
When patients turn to crowdfunding for medical costs, whoever has the most heartrending story wins.

Watch
Simeon banned salt.


Planet
Earth

Plastic
We're likely inhaling eleven tiny bits of plastic per hour.

113 degrees in France
Why Europe is so vulnerable to extreme heat. 


The White
Heat of This Revolution

Bodies in seats
At Facebook’s worst-performing content moderation site in North America, one contractor has died, and others say they fear for their lives.

Social media
Surveillance of LGBT people is life-threatening, expert claims.

Jack’d 
App ordered to pay users for failing to protect their nude photos. 

Grindr 
Grindr users more likely to hook up when battery is low. 

YouTube 
"Being mean is lucrative": LGBT users condemn YouTube over homophobic content.

After inaction on harassment, queer YouTubers feel resigned and defeated.

CEO Susan Wojcicki grilled on platform's treatment of LGBT community: "Are you really sorry... or are you just sorry they were offended?" 

Apple
It's officially killing iTunes. The music store that changed the industry forever is an ugly old clunker, scrapped for parts.

Google
Tries to justify why it's restricting ad blockers in Chrome.

The Google outage highlights the perils of a centralised internet.

Instagram
It's going to show you even more ads.

The hired guns of Instagram. Companies can’t advertise on social media — so they have female influencers do it for them.

Amazon
Who are these people who write thousands of Amazon product reviews?

What you see on Amazon’s public warehouse tours.

Windows


I Own
51% Of This Company! 

Cashing in 
Companies can’t just have a rainbow logo next year: they must do more

Icey this, icey that 
Big Gay Ice Cream launched ten years ago. 

Brick link
Lego hosts the world’s smallest Pride parade to celebrate Stonewall 50.

Skin deep 
Big advertising agency dumps Nivea as a client after alleged anti-gay comment. 

Fauxrage

House plants
The new bloom economy.

Watch
A look inside a British supermarket from 1980.


Arena 

Anthony Bowens
Gay wrestler crowned inaugural Battle Club Pro Franchise champion.

Israel Folau 
He wants $10 million in damages over firing for homophobic slurs. Guess he skipped the bit in the Bible about greed. 

The vile rugby star's GoFundMe campaign raises nearly half a million dollars after he begs his supporters to fund his legal defense... 

...That is until GoFundMe shuts the page down. GoFundMe spokesperson Nicola Britton said, “As a company, we are absolutely committed to the fight for equality for LGBTIQ+ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity. While we welcome GoFundMes engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion... Our platform exists to help people help others.” 

But don't celebrate too soon. Following the GoFundMe cancellation, the Australian Christian Lobby has claimed to have raised over $1 million for Folau. 

His former teammate Drew Mitchell totally owned the bigot, lambasting him on Twitter: “YOU are in a fight that YOU chose to be in after YOU broke the terms of YOUR contract, the kids below are in a fight they NEVER wanted to be in & yet YOU think YOU deserve donations more than they do??!! It’s no longer about religion, it’s about YOU and YOUR greed." 

Folau went on to attack LGBT people in a church sermon - claiming the devil is to blame for transgender children. 

Still, never mind - he says gay people shouldn’t take his Bible comments personally.

With Israel Folau the church demands a kind of free speech that keeps gays in the firing lineAs the archbishop of Sydney decries the rugby player’s sacking for his words, his church insists on sacking teachers for their sexuality.

Israel Gutierrez 
Gay ESPN sports reporter speaks about Tyson Fury homophobia. 

Ohio 
A high school basketball coach harassed and benched a player he said had college potential after the student was outed as gay. 

Cristiano Ronaldo 
Footbller flaunts it

Taking the plunge 
Matthew Mitcham gets engaged to British boyfriend Luke Rutherford. 


Art
Skool

Bhupen Khakhar
Painting by Indian artist depicting gay lovers sells for US$3.2 million.

Rinaldo Hopf
The artist's Stonewall Mural on 1969 Advocate Pages.

Interview
Talking to Physique Pictorial’s art director, Frederick Woodruff.

Basquiat
Defacement: the tragic story of Basquiat's most personal painting. "The death of artist Michael Stewart, allegedly the result of police brutality, inspired Basquiat to create one of his most impactful works."

Get Up, Stand Up Now
Black British art's response to the Windrush scandal.
A new exhibition celebrates black British creativity from the 1970s to the present day. Its curator discusses the show and talks us through eight key pieces.

Sky high 
The skyscraper infinity pool – sorry, but where's the diving board? It is meant to be a boundary-busting ‘punch for the sky’. But this design for a London rooftop pool is just another high-rise ego gimmick. 


Word! 
  
Doctor Who 
Writer Gareth Roberts dropped from book over anti-trans slurs. “I ❤️ how trannies choose names like Munroe, Paris and Chelsea. It’s never Julie or Bev is it? It’s almost like a clueless gayboy’s idea of a glamorous lady. But of course it’s definitely not that,” he Tweeted. 

JK Rowling 
Author under fire for alleged anti-trans views. 

Michael Rumaker
Michael Rumaker, the poet and novelist, is dead. He was 87.

31st Annual Lambda Literary Award winners announced.

Page turner
Why the death of the novel is greatly exaggerated.
Books industry shrugs off a 3% decline in fiction sales, with strong stories driving recent growth in non-fiction.

Reviews
Crossing, by Pajtim Statovci. "A very emotional and intense read, full of relatable characters and a loving, but critical, tribute to Albanian culture."

Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall, by James Polchin. "It collects and rescues significant gay history and goes a long way toward clarifying why we fight, what we fight for and how prejudice is an historically institutional force."

New
Like This Afternoon Forever, by Jaime Manrique.  "Two Catholic priests fall in love amid deadly conflicts in the Amazon between the Colombian government, insurgent groups, and drug cartels."

Alex in Wonderland, by Simon James Green. "In the town of Newsands, painfully shy Alex is abandoned by his two best friends for the summer. But he unexpectedly lands a part-time job at Wonderland, a run-down amusement arcade on the seafront, where he gets to know the other teen misfits who work there. Alex starts to come out of his shell, and even starts to develop feelings for co-worker Ben ... who, as Alex's bad luck would have it, has a girlfriend. Then as debtors close in on Wonderland and mysterious, threatening notes start to appear, Alex and his new friends take it on themselves to save their declining employer. But, like everything in Wonderland, nothing is quite what it seems..."

Ramen Assassin: Book One, by Rhys Ford. "When life gives Kuro Jenkins lemons, he wants to make ponzu to serve at his Los Angeles ramen shop. Instead he’s dodging bullets and wondering how the hell he ended up back in the Black Ops lifestyle he left behind him. After rescuing former child star Trey Bishop from a pair of thugs in the middle of the night, he knows it’s time to pick up his gun again. But it seems trouble isn’t done with Trey, and Kuro can’t quite let go… of either the gun or Trey Bishop. Trey Bishop never denied his life’s downward spiral was his own fault. After a few stints in rehab, he’s finally shaken off his Hollywood bad-boy lifestyle but not his reputation. The destruction of his acting career and his relationships goes deep, and no one trusts anything he says, including the LAPD. When two men dragging a dead body spot him on a late-night run and try to murder him, Trey is grateful for the tall, dark, and deadly ramen shop owner he lusts over—not just for rescuing him, but also for believing him. Now caught in a web of murders and lies, Trey knows someone wants him dead, and the only one on his side is a man with deep, dark secrets."

Accidental Prophet, by Bud Gundy. "Intelligent, handsome, and struggling to make his rent, thirty-year-old Drew Morten loses his only meaningful relationship when his grandmother dies. A famous television anchor, Claudia Trenton leaves Drew the legacy of her secret memoir. From the fate of a vanished medieval prince to a top-secret NASA study about a mystifying space object, her unreported discoveries hum with wonder. But history merges with the present and upends Drew’s life when he has a terrifying revelation. Teaming up with a brilliant woman who receives the same vision and a handsome man whose arrival is either fortuitous or sinister, Drew follows the clues in his grandmother’s memoir and races against time to save the world from an apocalyptic nightmare about to be unleashed in downtown San Francisco. As catastrophe looms, so does the question: Who, or what, is the real enemy?"

In Case You Forgot, by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar. "Two newly single, Black, queer, and socially aware men have packed up to start again—in love, career, and life—in the West Hollywood neighborhood of LA. Zaire James, on the cusp of 30, has decided marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Despite friends, family, and coworkers loving Zaire’s “perfect” partner, divorce is a necessary step for finding himself and being free. If only it were that easy. Kenny Kane has made a career of deferring dreams, lowering expectations, and chasing partners not on his level in hopes of finding a love to call his own. However, on the verge of the big 4-0, he realizes the clock is ticking on all his dreams."

Here Is What You Do, by Chris Dennis. "A debut short story collection that explores the vulnerability, grit, and complex nature of our humanity from a new, vital queer voice. A yacht races to outrun a tsunami. A young man jailed on a drug charge forms a relationship with his cellmate that is by turns tender and brutal. A family buys a rural slaughterhouse, and tensions with their religious neighbors quickly escalate. A teen raised by his eccentric gay father, a Turkish immigrant, finds his life fractured by violence. Here Is What You Do is a bravura, far-ranging collection, its stories linked by sorrow and latent hope, each one drilling toward its characters’ darkest emotional centers. In muscularly robust prose, with an unfailing eye for human drives and frailties, Chris Dennis captures the raw need, desire, cruelty, and promise that animate our lives."

Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime, by Alex Espinoza. "From ancient Greece to Grindr, the underground practice of cruising has changed in fascinating ways, and also not at all. Acclaimed author Alex Espinoza takes readers on an uncensored journey through the underground, to reveal the timeless art of cruising. Combining historical research and oral history with his own personal experience, Espinoza examines the political and cultural forces behind this radical pastime. From Greek antiquity to the notorious Molly houses of 18th century England, the raucous 1970s to the algorithms of Grindr, Oscar Wilde to George Michael, cruising remains at once a reclamation of public space and the creation of its own unique locale—one in which men of all races and classes interact, even in the shadow of repressive governments. In Uganda and Russia, we meet activists for whom cruising can be a matter of life and death; while in the West he shows how cruising circumvents the inequalities and abuses of power that plague heterosexual encounters. Ultimately, Espinoza illustrates how cruising functions as a powerful rebuke to patriarchy and capitalism—unless you are cruising the department store restroom, of course."

On the rag
The month in gay mags. Week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4.


Shouting
At Night 

The Inheritance 
The epic gay play which won London’s Olivier Award for best new play, is coming to Broadway

The Vaults 
West End and Broadway cast announced for queer musical Bare: A Pop Opera

Jesse Williams 
Actor to star as gay closeted baseball player in Broadway’s Take Me Out revival. 

Todrick Hall 
Dancer joins cast of Waitress on Broadway. 

Review
Staging issues and noisy distractions mar a coming-of-age musical that offers tantalising flashes of fervour.


Film
Skool

Bryan Singer
Director to pay $150,000 to settle rape allegation suit. "Cesar Sanchez-Guzman (above) alleged Singer assaulted him on a yacht in 2003 when he was 17-years-old."

It's complicated 
Meryl Streep doesn’t think toxic masculinity is a thing because women can be toxic too

Is Loqueesha the worst film ever made? "Jeremy Saville’s movie – about a white man who pretends to be a black woman – is flawed in many ways."

The new films bringing a queer bite to the thriller genre. "Dildo-switchblade BDSM murders, psychedelic-fueled nightmare hookups, and tense intergenerational lesbian relationships: these new thrillers are centering queer sex and desire in a way seldom seen before."

Film forever
Are these the 200 best LGBT movies of all time? 

The ten best queer films you probably haven't seen.

Will Hollywood’s new youthifying tech keep old actors in work for ever?

Box office blues
Can Netflix save the movie starWhile A-listers are struggling on the big screen, the streaming platform is providing a splashy solution to ailing stardom.

Only 2% of actors make a living. How do you become one of them? It’s a notoriously tough profession, so what can you do to avoid being one of the 98%?

I Am Mother: why blockbuster sci-fi faces an extinction event.

Teen wrestlers, sci-fi road trips and lesbian vampires: the brave new world of trans film.

Brokeback Mountain
Jake Gyllenhaal breaks down his performance as Jack Twist. 

Watch
A Bigger Splash, documenting David Hockney’s gay life in the 1970s, has been re-mastered, and captures Hedonistic gay life before AIDS.

Reviews
We the Animals. One of the discoveries of the year. "A young boy sees his family financially struggle while grappling with his sexuality in an outstanding coming-of-age drama."

The Last Black Man in San Francisco. "A stunning, elegiac debut drama."

Midsommar. "A brutish, nasty daylight nightmare from the director of Hereditary."

Storyville: The Raft. Almost too deliciously ludicrous to be true"Marcus Lindeen’s account of a 1973 anthropological experiment aboard a raft on the Atlantic has it all: mutiny, hallucinations and a huge dollop of hubris."

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A riotous return trip"In this smart, lovable gem, now rereleased, a trans woman and two drag queens kick up the dust in Australia’s outback."

Shaft. Regressive sequel swaps out style for ugly homophobia. "Samuel L Jackson returns in the latest take on the 70s detective to unleash a toxic stream of bigotry in a misjudged attack on millennial masculinity."

The Wizard of Oz at 80
How the world fell under its dark spell. "The 1939 classic has inspired everyone from David Lynch to Salman Rushdie. Novelist and super-fan Luiza Sauma explores why the film’s message about home still holds such power."


The
Box

Pose
Season two takes an expansive, captivating look beyond the ballroom. "With a renewed focus on its main characters (and a bit more Madonna), the show's focus shifts without losing its magic."

Black Mirror
How straight guys "going gay" changed my view of sexuality.

Queer fears: the problem with Black Mirror's "no homo" episode. "There’s a frustratingly regressive tone to an episode about two men exploring their sexuality that feels embarrassed and coy about its subject matter."

Striking Vipers is like San Junipero without the heart.

Every episode of Black Mirror, ranked.

Sex 
LGBT people reveal the first queer sex scenes they saw on film or TV. 

Wilson Cruz 
Noah's Arc
star covers EW, reveals his parents kicked him out when he came out at 19. 

New 
Juntos, El Corazon Nunca se Equivoca
, (Together, the Heart is Never Wrong), is the first Mexican TV telenovela to feature a gay couple as lead characters

Interviews
Talking to Armistead Maupin about Tales of the City

Talking to trans actor Garcia about Tales of the City

Talking to Murray Bartlett about Tales of the City

How Tales of the City blazed a trail for queer representation.

Watch
New web series Insomnia.

Feel-bad TV
Why are we obsessed with small-screen tragedy? "The surprise success of devastating fact-based dramas Chernobyl and When They See Us has shown that summer audiences aren’t always seeking escapism."

The Handmaid’s Tale
June goes to Washington in the latest horrifying episode. "
Are the show’s problems simply so tied to its core now that it can’t solve them?"

The best
Twenty-five episodes that changed television.

TV's identity crisis
Here’s how to fix it. "The rest of TV can learn something important from Chernobyl and Superstore."

I like to watch
TV has this really fraught relationship with the audience. "Why TV’s relationship with its audience has become more intimate, whether we can blame Trump on True Detective, and how a TV critic’s biggest challenge is just figuring out what to watch."

Streaming TV
It's about to get very expensive – here's why.  "With Disney, Apple and others about to launch their own services, a lot of your favourite shows are likely to vanish behind paywalls. The golden age of streaming is over."

Friends 
Homophobic, transphobic sitcom was "never poking fun at being gay," actor claims

Judge Judy
Still judging you. "For more than 20 years, Judith Sheindlin has dominated daytime ratings — by making justice in a complicated world look easy."


Beats, Rhymes
& Life

iLoveMakonnen
Out, proud, and back to conquer hip-hop. "With the release of a new EP, M3, and a slew of highly anticipated upcoming projects, the rapper is set to reclaim the spotlight rap’s establishment tried to deny him."

Smashby
How homophobic managers left the singer suicidal as a teen.

The day the music burned
It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew. This is the story of the 2008 Universal fire.

It’s like that
The makings of a hip-hop writer. Hip-hop was a different kind of music that needed a different kind of writer to cover it. This is how Michael A. Gonzales came of age in a time when Black writers began breaking the white ceiling.
  
Watch 
Talking to Troye Sivan. 

Review
Mystify: Michael Hutchence. A heavyhearted portrait mainly for the fans. "INXS frontman’s genius is implied throughout Richard Lowenstein’s choppy documentary but never given the chance to speak for itself."


Meat
Market

Conner Habib
What I want to know is why you hate porn stars. "What is it about us that you don't like?"

Jay Dymel
Julian Pereza, better known as the Falcon Studios model Jay Dymel, is dead. He was 27. 
  
Blu Kennedy
Blu Kennedy pleads guilty to charges of aiding and abetting the possession of indecent images of a child. 

Racist
Sean Cody model Zane slammed for sporting a Confederate flag tattoo. Zachary Sire writes, "Having a Confederate Flag tattoo is bad enough, but you know what’s actually worse? Sean Cody being fully aware that the flag is considered a racist symbol, choosing to put the guy in their videos anyway, and then haphazardly trying to hide it from viewers. If Sean Cody really believed in their content, they should’ve just released this scene without blurring the racist symbol. What are they afraid of? While this video could’ve just been dumped in the trash, the studio must be so short on content, they couldn’t bear to scrap even one scene." 

Collin Simpson
Model announces GayHoopla retirement due to “struggle with addiction”...

...only to be banned from Chaturbate after fans accuse him of overdosing on drugs during live show.

Arrested
Corbin Fisher’s Travis arrested for having sex with a woman in a shopping center parking lot.

CockyBoys
Taylor Reign and Cole Claire accuse CockyBoys of non-payment and scene cancellations.

Galleries
DaddyWood, in pictures.

The photography of Nick Mesh, in pictures.

Porn Stars at Sidetrack Chicago, in pictures.

Called to the bar
DeAngelo Jackson and Bar Addison do it.

Bob-a-job
Bob Marghiela and Niko Vangelis do it.

Kael smoothie
Enrique Vera and Jon Kael do it.

Back
BelAmi's Lars Norgaard returns after two year hiatus.

Big Ben
Alam Wernik, Ben Masters and Clark Davis do it.

The Brady bunch
Travis Stevens, Josh Brady And Ashton Summers do it.

Sweet meat
Corbin Colby, Jacob Hansen and Tyler Sweet do it.

Adams family
Pheonix Fellington and Collin Adams do it.

Seed
William Seed and Matthew Parker do it.

Dante's peak
Meet identical twins "Dante and Diego".


Hell's
Kitchen 
  
Marrot 
The carrot made from meat

Going
The race to save endangered foods.

Drive-Thru Dreams
Fast-food restaurants represent the best and worst of America.

Dine in
Don't eat before reading thisA New York chef spills some trade secrets. (April 1999)

Natural wine
Natural wine is ancient, and the latest trend. What makes a wine “natural”?


Zoo 

Counting sheep 
1 in 12 sheep is gay, according to documentary

Chicks
Why billions of baby chickens are killed every year.

The great green expansion
How ring-necked parakeets took over London. Was Jimi Hendrix responsible for the bright-green tropical birds’ presence in the capital? Or was it Katharine Hepburn? 

Gallery
The month in wildlife, in pictures: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4.

Planes,
Trains & Automobiles

London
TfL shows diversity with Pride roundels featuring black and brown stripes.

Chicago
Ride the Pride train.

Venice 
Cruise ship crashes into pier. 

Berlin Brandenburg 
The airport with half a million faults

Boeing 
Boeing finds wing defect, including among some 737 MAX 8. 

Flight MH370
What really happened to Malaysia’s missing airplane.
Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say.


And
This: 

The storm
Six young men set out on a dead-calm sea to seek their fortunes. Suddenly they were hit by the worst gale in a century, and there wasn't even time to shout.

Fake
Identifying a fake picture online is harder than you might think

The pursuit of high self-esteem is making us miserable.

The D
The stories of penis gods and the people who worship them.


Vloglife 

Etika
Desmond “Etika” Amofah, the YouTuber, is dead. He was 29.
Amofah had struggled with mental illness and spoke of his discomfort with internet fame.


Life's A
Goddamn
Laugh Riot 

Watch
Max Emerson takes shirtless selfies while the Titanic sinks, in a forgotten chapter from history; Michael nails Tony; Webseries: The Movie; and Jermaine Fowler on black porn.

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