KAOS: July 2019

Left &

Found

Gym, eat, repeat

The shocking rise of muscle dysmorphia. "The idealised male body has become bigger, bulkier and harder to achieve. So what drives a generation of young men to the all-consuming, often dangerous pursuit of perfection?"

What they do

Black queer people still regularly harassed and threatened.

An open letter to straight people.

The LGBT civil rights fight is far from over. "Marginalised people in the queer community do not feel victorious."

HIV

The nurses who were there warn 80’s-style epidemic could happen again.

Qu'ran

Why LGBT people should consider reading the Qu’ran.

Stalking

Nightmares, flashbacks and constant fear: how a stalker brought me to my wits’ end. "I blocked them, threatened legal action and finally informed the police. But my stalker’s persistence made me afraid for my life."

Gun violence plagues the LGBT community. Queer liberation means fighting back.

Patriotism

Patriotism has always fueled marginalisation. "In my sleepy Oklahoma town, patriotism was an unspoken mandate. Little did I understand how it was used to eat people like me."

Privilege

I wanted to know what white men thought about their privilege. So I asked. "The author teaches a college class about what it means to be white in America, but interrogating that question as a black woman in the real world is much harder to do."

Disney

Queer people love Disney parks. They don't always love them back.

Jerks

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

News

Guilty

19-year-old Abel Cedeno convicted of manslaughter, assault, and criminal possession; Cedeno stabbed fellow student Matthew McCree to death, and wounded another, during a fight at their Bronx high school in 2017. Cedeno was subjected to repeated racist and homophobic bullying from his victims.

Monstrous

Jeff Graves, the Alabama police officer who resigned after mocking the suicide of gay teen Nigel Shelby, has been rehired two months later.

Kent Mendez

Gay teen writes emotional letter to parents who won’t accept him.

Michael Johnson

"Tiger Mandingo," jailed for thirty years for not telling his sex partners he was HIV-positive, is free 25 years early. "In a racially and sexually charged trial, Michael Johnson got a longer sentence than many murderers do." (See The Kaos Theory Issue 213)

Ed Buck

Human trafficking, gay revenge porn added to charges against Ed Buck.

Category is

How voguing became a competitive sport at an elite Boston college.

Morehouse

College places administrator on leave after students accuse him of sexual assault.

Dumb

High schoolers who wore masks during homophobic graffiti spree identified by auto-connect wi-fi.

Dumber

School bans book on Pulse shooting over "extreme homosexuality".

Mason Bleu

High school valedictorian comes out to ovation from class.

SAVE

Florida LGBT rights group SAVE fires official who celebrated gay bashers at equality gala as video surfaces.

Hate crime

Hate crime rising in 30 US cities as overall crime rates decline. "Fifth consecutive rise and steepest since 2015, and trend continues in 2019, as ‘white supremacist’ homicides also increased."

Jussie Smollett

Former Empire actor seeks to overturn the appointment of the special prosecutor investigating why charges against him were dropped.

Gay San Diego

Newspaper - established in 2010 - for sale, as publisher plans retirement.

Wedding snaps

Dear gentlemen, your 60-year-old wedding pics are ready. "Decades after having photos from their same-sex Philly-area ceremony confiscated, a search is on for the owners of a historic set of prints. Can they be found before it’s too late?"

San Francisco

The local news documentary about "Bay Gays" that shocked viewers in 1976.

San Francisco Pride, in pictures.

Kamala Harris dazzles San Francisco Pride in technicolor jacket.

Why San Francisco techies hate the city they transformed. "San Franciscans have long complained that tech workers ruined their city, driving up rents and homelessness and eliminating diversity. Now even the tech workers agree."

New York

World Pride, in pictures - more here.

How the death of Eric Garner changed the NYPD and New York City.

California

Berkeley to lose its manholes.

Detroit

This is Demetris Nelson. He's been charged with murder after shooting and robbing gay men he met using Grindr.

Michigan Central and the rebirth of Detroit.

Chicago

Sidetrack Chicago, in pictures.

Chicago Pride parade canceled as attendees told to seek shelter from severe weather.

ICE

Migrants in trans unit describe dire conditions, beg for help.

tRump

Trump denies he’s racist with racist attack on "dumbest man on television" Don Lemon.

John Waters responds to racist Trump attacks on Baltimore: "come on over and say it in person!"

Baltimore residents: Trump's attacks denigrate, dehumanise black people. "After Trump’s attack on a Baltimore district as ‘disgusting’ and ‘dangerous’ , residents share their perspectives on the city."

Trump’s racist rants and the susceptibility of wishy-washy acceptance.

The Trump racism spin cycle. "Trump is forcing conservatives to confront the real reason their base hates Rep. Ilhan Omar."

Queer people of colour reflect on being told to “go back”. "For many queer people, Trump’s recent comments invoke memories of microaggressions, blatant racism, and the complicated nature of intersectional identity in America."

Trump's gay press secretary Judd Deere lies, makes excuses.

Trump is letting Kim Jong Un do almost anything he wants.

How Trump took over America’s courts. "How Trump and Mitch McConnell are changing the country for a generation."

Trump and the dead end of conservative nationalism. "A conference on 'national conservatism' barely mentioned Trump — but gave voice to Trumpism."

The alt-right’s love affair with Trump is over. Here’s why.

Jared Kushner was my boss. "What I learned about power, real and imagined, from Trump’s ‘senior adviser’ and son-in-law."

Notorious Republican homophobe, William Dannemeyer, has died.

White men keep killing themselves with guns. The NRA is making it worse.

I'm with her

Kamala Harris makes her case. She "has been criticised as a defender of the status quo. Can she prove that she’s a force for change?"

Straight Pride

Organisers claim they were "terrorised" by glitter.

Author of Christian relationship guide says he has lost his faith. "Joshua Harris says his marriage is over and apologises to LGBT people for promoting bigotry."

Pulse

Pulse needs to become a museum, not rubble.

New Jersey

Pastor said he was "sucking demons" out of men he sexually assaulted.

Gallery

GayDays Orlando, in pictures.

Preach

The queer mother-son duo tackling the bible belt's traditions.

Charity

The unbearable whiteness of American charities. "You’ve heard of the racial wealth gap. Meet the racial philanthropy gap."

Seattle

Seattle Pride, in pictures.

Honolulu

Splash Pride, in pictures.

News

Gerald Matovu

The link between a Grindr murderer and a serial killer. "Gerald Matovu has become the first person since the serial killer Stephen Port to be convicted of murder with a fatal overdose of the drug GHB."

Stephen Port

Police escape misconduct charges over case of serial killer Stephen Port. "Systemic failings found in the Met but none of 17 officers investigated will face disciplinary proceedings."

Pride

The radical roots of British gay pride.

Refugees

Four LGBT Syrian refugees arrive in UK in time for Pride. "Four men are first of 15 to be brought from Turkey after long wait for resettlement."

LGBT asylum seeker unlawfully deported gang-raped in Uganda.

Sign of the times

Acceptance of gay sex in decline in UK for first time since AIDS crisis.

Asda

Bigot flies into abusive rage over gay pride garden gnomes

Liverpool

Homophobic sisters who attacked man with hammer in Liverpool spared prison.

Mr Leather Europe raises funds for lesbian refugee forced to eat soap to survive.

Liverpool Pride, in pictures.

Bullying

LGBT bullying the most common in UK schools, study finds.

London

Four teenagers charged over bus attack on lesbian couple.

Court sides with student who branded gay people an "abomination".

Two people arrested on suspicion of planning Pride terror attack in London.

UK Black Pride, in pictures - more here.

Pride in London, as it happened.

London Underground station has the very best message for Pride.

Pride journeys now a part of London Transport Museum’s LGBT project.

Marble Arch lit up in rainbow colours to celebrate Pride.

This year’s Pride biggest yet, claim march organisers. "Estimated 1.5 million people attended London parade."

Pride in London organisers fend off pinkwashing claims. "30,000 people to take part in march that critics say has become too commercialised."

Pride in London parade, in pictures.

Woman in niqab hurls homophobic abuse at Pride attendee wearing rainbow flag.

Man stabbed to death in south London named as Kye Manning. "Five males aged 15-20 have been arrested over killing of 19-year-old in Croydon."

Body of plane stowaway found in London garden. "Man, who fell from Kenya Airways jet, landed just feet away from a sunbather, neighbour says."

London's answer to New York's High Line? You must be joking. "A tree-scattered, elevated walkway through air vents, The Tide is a textbook piece of artwash and greenwash – more pointless whimsy amid the tortured cityscape of Greenwich Peninsula."

London before gentrification, in pictures. "From denture repair shops to raunchy laundrettes, Niall McDiarmid’s portraits of the overlooked parts of deepest south London are a wonderful throwback to a time before the developers descended."

Boris Johnson

Is the new Prime Minister anti-immigrant, a homophobe, and a bigot – or just politically expedient?

Boris Johnson cabinet "most anti-human rights" in decades

Here's how that cabinet voted on equal marriage

Johnson appoints anti-trans rights journalist as Downing street advisor.

Johnson "ignored expert advice" over £1bn mayoral vanity projects. "No 10 frontrunner defied senior officials over doomed projects including Routemaster and garden bridge."

Johnson's early days as mayor: "It was total, total chaos". "The politician’s years in London’s City Hall give clues to his possible working style as PM."

I worked with Boris Johnson as mayor. He’s not fit to lead.

Watch

The worst tweets about Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister. The "jokes are so grating because, rather than attacking Johnson, they play into an image that he himself has painstakingly curated. It's in his interests that we think of him as an affable clown."

Jesus Army

Jesus Army sex scandal: The dark secrets of life in a commune.

Rotherham

Teenager "kicked, stamped on and punched with knuckle duster" in homophobic attack.

World

News

Australia

New HIV diagnoses reach 18-year low.

Botswana

Government to appeal against law legalising gay sex.

Brazil

The jungle metropolis: how sprawling Manaus is eating into the Amazon. "Informal settlements are expanding, with a new occupation attempt every 11 days, and the threat to the rainforest is severe."

The sad story of Brazil's great urban experiment. "How an urbanist dream of fixing Brazil’s chaotic metropolises became a nightmare."

Bulgaria

Court recognises same-sex marriage in groundbreaking ruling.

Chechnya

A victim of the anti-gay purge speaks out.

Chile

Man stabs 18-year-old son for being gay.

China

Gay Chinese find a place to be themselves on "Rainbow Cruise" to Vietnam.

The city of Jinan is banning men from exposing their stomachs.

The suicide catcher. "In the rapidly modernising, constantly churning city of Nanjing, China, there is a legendary bridge, four miles long, where day after day, week after week, the desperate and melancholy and tormented come to end their lives. Most end up in the Yangtze River, 130 feet below. But some do not meet their maker. They meet someone else. They are pulled back from the brink—sometimes violently—by an odd and unlikely angel."

Cyprus

Gay people exist because pregnant women have anal sex, bishop claims.

Dominca

Man files legal action against laws banning gay sex.

DR Congo

The horrific consequences of rubber's toxic past.

France

The invisible city beneath Paris. "Under the southern portion of the city exists its negative image: a network of more than two hundred miles of galleries, rooms, and chambers.".

Germany

Asylum more likely to be granted to "flamboyant" LGBT refugees.

India

This is 19-year-old Avinshu Patel. He took his own life, his final, heartbreaking Facebook post reading: “Everyone knows I am a boy. But the way I walk, think and talk is like a girl. People in India do not like that. Please do not blame my family. Help them. We are poor. I love my mom, dad and sister. I thank them for supporting me. It is not my fault that I was born gay.”

I was bullied as a gay teen and it also made me want to end my life. "For several queer Indian youth, growing up means developing a thick skin against bullies. But not everyone gets past them."

I lost myself to India's chemsex scene and overdosed, but survived to tell the story.

Meet the guy who showers in the middle of India’s nightclubs.

How homophobic small towns celebrate pride.

Indonesia

City pushing for anti-LGBT law.

Ireland

The wrong kind of trees: afforestation meets resistance. "Residents and campaigners say fast-growing Sitka spruces are spoiling the landscape."

Israel

Tel Aviv stabbing: Hundreds protest attack on 16-year-old living in LGBT centre.

Italy

Italian Olympic swimmer Filippo Magnini saves gay newlywed from drowning.

Nun removes anti-LGBT protesters from church courtyard during Brianza Pride.

Japan

The dark side of Japan’s anime industry. "Anime brings in more than $19 billion a year. Its artists are earning barely enough to survive."

Japan approves controversial experiment to grow human organs inside animals. "Bioethicists are worried about the implications of the research, including the possibility of creating a human-animal hybrid."

Lebanon

Mashrou' Leila concert cancelled after homophobic pressure from Christian groups. "Human rights organisation says decision to remove popular Lebanese indie rock band from Byblos international festival amounts to enabling hate speech."

Macedonia

Skopje hosts its first ever Pride parade.

Malaysia

Police make "several arrests" in gay sex tape scandal.

Malawi

Police arrest two leading LGBT activists.

Mexico

Owner of gay club found dead in his apartment in Puebla.

Myanmar

Monk ridicules gay librarian who died by suicide.

Nigeria

Tackling open defecation in Kano state. "Regular patrols are helping to ensure villagers are practising good hygiene, to improve sanitation and cut disease."

Netherlands

Gay teen's earlobe cut off by his family to "mark" him

Priest who came out as gay fired by Catholic church.

Sehaq, the party space for Amsterdam's queer refugees. "As well as contending with racism, queer refugees face homophobia and transphobia – even from their fellow refugees. One Dutch group is trying to carve out a safe space."

Pakistan

The new city for a million outside Karachi. "Bahria Town promises Pakistan’s middle classes respite from traffic, terror attacks and blackouts – local villagers are fighting to be heard by developers."

Philippines

Metro Manila Pride March, in pictures.

Poland

IKEA faces boycott after firing anti-LGBT employee.

The struggle for LGBT equality: Pride meets prejudice. "Two weeks after 1.5 million people celebrated gay rights in London, marchers in the Polish city of Białystok met only rage and violence."

Russia

Yelena Grigoryeva, the LGBT rights activist targeted by a Saw-inspired "gay hunting" website, has been found murdered.

Website for hunting gay people finally taken down.

Adopted kids ordered removed from their gay dads.

Putin called trans people "transformers".

South Africa

19-year-old gay Jewish man dies by suicide, leaves heartbreaking note.

The corruption investigation that has shaken South Africa. "Gavin Watson was a hero of the struggle against apartheid. But this once-powerful businessman is now caught up in a sweeping inquiry that goes to the heart of how a nation is run."

South Korea

Banning gay sex between soldiers fuels abuse, rights group warns.

How the military’s anti-LGBT law fosters a culture of abuse. "Amnesty International’s new report reveals disturbing evidence of violence and bullying towards gay and trans soldiers."

Spain

Man attacked in McDonald’s for dressing too feminine.

Switzerland

LGBT youth dying by suicide at alarming rates.

Syria

This heartbreaking photo captures the horrors of Syria's civil war.

Turkey

Istanbul police use tear gas to disperse gay pride march.

Zambia

President won’t budge on gay rights even for international aid.

Ghetto

Romance

Happily ever after

Amit Shah and Aditya Madiraju's big Hindu wedding.

Dumped

Guy dumps lover by leaving his sex toy in gym toilet.

Choked

The fatal, hateful rise of choking during sex. "Too many women’s lives are ending after what those accused of their deaths say were ‘sex games gone wrong’. But how did strangling ever become normalised?"

Sexercise

What kind of sex burns the most calories?

Friends

What your friendships say about you.

Watch

ZednRay take the no hands kissing challenge; and advanced blowjob tips!

Medicine

Ball

HIV

Vaccine poised for major test.

For the first time, HIV is eliminated from a living animal.

Fifty years of HIV: how close are we to a cure? "It’s half a century since the first known HIV-related death and two patients appear to have been cured of the virus. What does this mean for the 37 million still living with it?"

Crabs

Turns out they didn't disappear along with our pubes. "When pubic hair became less fashionable, so did talking about crabs—but they're just as common as they've ever been."

Dementia

LGBT people may be more likely to develop dementia.

Head cases

Scientists are giving dead brains new life. What could go wrong? "In experiments on pig organs, scientists at Yale made a discovery that could someday challenge our understanding of what it means to die."

Lyme disease

Ticks spread plenty more for you to worry about.

GPS

Is it really ruining our brains? "A neuroscientist on fears that GPS navigation might lead to our brains shrinking."

The science of regrettable decisions. "A doctor explains how our brains can trick us into making bad choices — and how to fight back."

Men who send unsolicited dick pics are bigger narcissists, study finds.

Should we take our sex dreams seriously? "A recent study found women are having more saucy dreams. But what is the significance of our erotic reveries?"

How secondhand drinking ruins lives. "Passive smoking is treated as a serious hazard. So why have we been so slow to wake up to the dangers alcohol poses to those who live with – or have a devastating encounter with – a heavy drinker?"

Explainer

Why you should wash your face twice. "The double-cleanse method many skin care gurus swear by."

Planet

Earth

Waterworld

Warm water is melting glaciers one hundred times faster than we thought.

The California coast is disappearing under the rising sea. Our choices are grim.

Burning

Rainforest on fire. "On the front lines of Bolsonaro’s war on the Amazon, Brazil’s forest communities fight against climate catastrophe."

Gone. "Decades of greed, neglect, corruption, and bad politics led to last year’s Paradise fire, the worst in California history. It should never have happened. It will happen again."

Vampires

Glass skyscrapers have turned entire cities into energy vampires.

Vanished neighbourhoods

The areas lost to urban renewal. "Some of the world’s most fascinating neighbourhoods from Chicago to Shanghai have been razed by regeneration – and it’s not just the buildings that go."

Cities

Which is the world's most vertical city? "You might think of Hong Kong, given its famous skyscraper skyline, but by different measures of verticality other cities come out on top."

Terrariums

Why terrarium plants like a nice cup of tea. "Suspended in their glass bowls, terrariums are a delight but they are susceptible to mould. Here’s how to tackle it."

The White

Heat of This Revolution

Closed

UK-based LGBT news site Gay Star News shutters. “There are a number of reasons, of course. But the biggest change was the level of confidence brands and businesses in the UK have, due to the uncertainty over Brexit. It won’t surprise anyone to hear that many media organisations are struggling with the same problem. There has also been another trend which has become more apparent this year. Brands which are wishing to ‘do’ LGBTI work are increasingly doing so in a tokenistic way.”

Tinder

App now hides sexual orientation in anti-LGBT countries for your own safety.

Match made in heaven

Scruff acquires Jack’d, the dating app that exposed users’ nudes.

Instagram

Is it the end of likes.

Hot air

Gay porn causes more carbon emissions than 121 countries.

Explainer

Why you have to keep logging in to read news on your phone.

LMFAO

Is the internet killing language? LOL, no. "Linguist Gretchen McCulloch says Twitter banter and text-speak are signs of an evolving language — and that’s good."

The man who built the retweet: "'We handed a loaded weapon to 4-year-olds.' The button that ruined the internet — and how to fix it."

The key the secret

Mechanical keyboards are thriving because Apple and Microsoft don't make them.

Betta

Work

Sick

Flight attendants keep getting sick. It’s likely because of their uniforms. "Delta is the latest airline to be sued by its in-flight staff over allegedly illness-inducing uniforms."

Automation

Why automation is a feminist issue. "Working women are twice as likely as men to lose their jobs to AI, according to a thinktank. Which perhaps isn’t surprising, given that most of that work is menial and badly paid."

Burnout

I was a fast-food worker. Let me tell you about burnout. "As technology ratchets up the stress, low-wage jobs have become some of the hardest in America."

The workers bearing the brunt of retail’s struggles? Primarily women and people of color. "As stores shutter due to private equity, automation, and increased competition, the most vulnerable employees are at risk."

Who pays for Amazon’s “customer obsession”? The service reps who pick up the phones. "Call center employees at an Amazon subcontractor in the Philippines report 24-hour shifts and flouted safety regulations."

Taxi driver

These taxi drivers thought they were buying the American dream. Instead, they got despair.

I Own

51% Of This Company!

Sales

The psychology of sales, explained. "Discounts make us think we’re getting a good deal. But are we really?"

Part of the...

Photos of dated furniture signs will take you back to a different time.

Arena

Simon Dunn

Former bobsledder blasts homophobic meme bearing his photo.

Wrestling

How WWE’s CEO reacted to Darren Young coming out as gay.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Football star "wasn’t offended" over speculation that he’s gay: "Love is love".

Avery Saffold

College football player had his best season after coming out as gay. "Avery Saffold felt he had to live up to an image of being a black athlete from the city. Then he decided to be himself."

Cristiano Ronaldo

Footballer flaunts it.

Back on the market

Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and Matthew Wilkas split...

...but Michael Henry is there to take up the slack!

Bigot

England rugby star Billy Vunipola stands by "man made for woman" jibe.

Wedding

Figure skating power couple Eric Radford and Luis Fenero marry in beautiful Spanish wedding.

Anthony Ogogo

Boxer responds to haters after officiating his queer sister’s wedding.

Dwight Howard

NBA star denies gay rumor.

Crossfit

How the world's most "bro" sport is making space for LGBT people.

Tokyo 2020

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics might just be the best one yet.

Ballers

"These kids are ticking time bombs": the threat of youth basketball.

Art

Skool

Gay museum

The museums bringing LGBT artefacts out of the closet. "From Michelangelo’s suggestive David to a gender-fluid Hindu deity, cultural institutions are digging into their vaults to display once-hidden objects of same-sex desire and gender nonconformity."

Butts

A collection of beautiful round butt illustrations.

Tattoos, tans and techno

The photographers capturing unseen Beirut. "Ravers, semi-naked sun-worshippers, booming queer culture… photographers are chronicling a new generation of Lebanese shaking off the trauma of civil war."

Carbuncles

How to spot an architectural carbuncle. "After a week in which Norman Foster’s ‘Tulip’ tower planned for London was culled, a book on the aesthetics of ugly buildings is timely."

Cartoons

Out of toon. "Political cartoons don’t make a huge chunk of change, but they do change the culture. If only that were as valuable to the media as money."

Word!

Mapplethorpe

Sexual perversity in Manhattan. "The fast life of a Satanic exploiter, obsessed with erotica and 'thwacked out of his gourd'." (September 1995)

The New Metropolis

Landmark book on gay history updated and re-released for a new generation.

Country boys

The top ten queer rural books. "Sexual freedom is most often associated with the city, but a small but growing canon including EM Forster and Sarah Waters tells a different story."

Pulp fiction

Brown University is archiving gay pulp fiction to preserve a moment of LGBT history.

Review

Colson Whitehead’s spare, riveting, horrifying Nickel Boys. "Whitehead’s follow-up to his Pulitzer-winning Underground Railroad exhumes the unmarked graves of a hellish Florida reform school."

Moby-Dick

Subversive, queer and terrifyingly relevant: six reasons why Moby-Dick is the novel for our times. "The book features gay marriage, hits out at slavery and imperialism and predicts the climate crisis – 200 years after the birth of its author, Herman Melville, it has never been more important."

Baltimore

The top ten books about Baltimore. "Anne Tyler is indelibly tied to the city, but authors as contrasting as Frederick Douglass and John Waters have shown some of its different faces."

Afrofuturism

Why Afrofuturism is taking over sci-fi. "Thompson’s Arthur C Clarke winning novel Rosewater, NK Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor ... the most exciting sci-fi is coming from writers of colour."

~~Review~~

Why should authors read your bad reviews? "After Angie Thomas requested that she not be tagged into negative reviews of her books on social media, she has received a torrent of abuse."

Reviews

Men Touching, by Henry Alley. "A story of redemption, but it’s so much more. It’s a story of a gay man’s struggle with his identity as well as the ghosts of his past. It’s also... a brilliant look at the disease of addiction, and mental health in general."

Pagan Light: Dreams of Freedom and Beauty in Capri, by Jamie James. "A 2000-year chronicle of depravity, joy, and anguish on a tiny limestone island."

Ike’s Mystery Man: The Secret Lives of Robert Cutler, by Peter Shinkle. "What do you do if you’re gay, closeted, and a vital part of a homophobic president’s inner circle?"

The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out, by William Dameron. "At once brutal and beautiful… layers of secrets and decades of deception in startling, vivid prose."

Boyz

London gay magazine Boyz ends weekly publication to go monthly.

On the rag

The month in gay mags. Week 1, week 2, week 3.

Film

Skool

We need to talk about Kevin

Spacey sexual assault case dropped after accuser refuses to waive fifth amendment right.

Film skool

How to make an LGBT film: advice from 22 Outfest directors.

Under the rainbow: how directors make LGBT films in countries hostile to gay rights. "From bodyguards on set in Georgia to lies about the script in Peru, how do filmmakers in repressive regimes get round the hostility to gay movies?"

Fifteen LGBT sports films.

Nine LGBT sports documentaries.

Not suitable for...

Sex, violence, f-bombs and randy sausages: a day inside the BBFC. "They decide what we see. But how do they draw the line? Our writer encounters a cartoon food orgy, a potty-mouthed king and a horror film too vile to show, at the British Board of Film Classification."

Interview

Talking to Rupert Everett. "He lit up the screen in the 80s – but things did not go as planned. As he takes on Chekhov, Everett speaks about stardom, midlife crises and penis padding."

Gay Deceivers

Fifty years later, the film is still very gay, very bad.

Watch

Exploring queerness, race, and chosen family in dance music. "Follow Shaun J. Wright, a multitalented dance music artist, as he discusses how his identity intertwines with his career."

"White, male and brawny feels tired"

Is this the age of feminist Marvel movies? "The idea of a female Thor and a bisexual Valkyrie have the Marvel fanboys in a state … but the franchise is just reflecting the way the world is."

See You Soon

Is it the most hilariously awful film of the year? "A troubled footballer falls for a Russian single mother in a romantic drama so catastrophically incompetent it’s destined for cult status."

Irwin Allen

The master of disaster and The Towering Inferno.

Motion smoothing

Motion smoothing is ruining cinema. "Filmmakers hate it. Viewers do, too. So why is it the default setting on almost every new TV in America?"

Hammered

Armie Hammer posts - and quickly deletes - clip of his son sucking his toes.

Stoned

Director claims Putin isn't gay, praises Russia’s ban on "gay propaganda" as a "sensible law."

Dunaway with

Actress fired for verbally abusing, slapping crew members on one woman Broadway show.

Denise Nickerson

Denise Nickerson, the actress best known for her role as Violet in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is dead. She was 62.

Brokeback Mountain

Heath Ledger hated gay jokes, says Jake Gyllenhaal.

Midsommar

That twisted ending, explained.

Vacations

Worst holidays in cinema, ranked. "As Spider-Man: Far From Home and Midsommar bring the well-worn trip-gone-wrong back to the big screen, here are 20 of film’s most appalling vacations."

Reviews

Are You Proud? Bold, vivid celebration of LGBT rights movement. "From partial legal liberation to Barclays’ corporate rainbow colours, Ashley Joiner’s documentary tracks half a century of campaigning against prejudice."

Hard Paint. Sex, lies and webcams in Brazil's underworld. "A lonely man young facing jail time strikes up an unlikely connection in this absorbing but exasperating urban drama."

Men behaving badly

Why cinema's great hellraisers were a breed apart. "Rip Torn belonged to a high-spirited tradition that was fuelled by too much booze and testosterone. Like it or not, we may never see their like again."

Rutger Hauer

Rutger Hauer, the actor, is dead. He was 75.

Rutger Hauer: obituary.

Rutger Hauer: a life, in pictures.

An icily elegant presence with a touch of self-aware drollery. "Hauer became a hall-of-famer with his ‘tears in rain’ monologue in Blade Runner, but there was much more to this talented, stylish actor."

Watch

Here's the trailers for The Way He Looks; A Very Sordid Wedding; Analysis Paralysis; and Socrates.

The

Box

Now Apocalypse

Gregg Araki hopes his "wildly weird series" - cancelled by Starz after one season - can be saved. "We are shopping for a new home since the show’s cheap, and with the most amazing cast and incredibly passionate fanbase. The fan reaction let me know that the people who watched it got it exactly as I hoped. The show really is a dream come true for me. I love it so much and am so proud of the work we all did together."

Mario Lopez

Saved By The Bell star apologises for "ignorant and insensitive" remarks about transgender kids.

Will & Grave

Cancelled, again.

The Golden Girls

Charles Levin, Coco the gay chef in the pilot episode of The Golden Girls, found dead in Oregon.

Seinfeld

Seinfeld is thirty years old. Here are five ways it changed television. "After the 'show about nothing,' TV sitcoms would never be the same."

Revealed

Seinfeld's never-before-seen fourth wall.

Goodnight Sweetheart

How bigamy reveal ended the show’s time-travelling tension. "At the start the sitcom was a compelling comment on male insecurity, but it soon descended into cartoonish plotlines."

Pose

Pose's funeral episode tells a vital, tragic story about trans women of colour. "Its plot parallels realities faced by the community today, while undoing harm perpetuated against them by other forms of media."

Last Chance U

You won't see a better drama all summer. "The American football documentary just released its new series and it is heady, heartrending stuff – hands down one of the best things on TV."

Dumb

How flagrant stupidity creates reality TV superstars. "Many Love Island viewers will have sniggered at an exchange between Joanna, Jourdan and Belle on European cities. But performative ignorance is woven into the fabric of the genre."

TV times

Liberals and conservatives have wildly different TV-viewing habits – but these five shows bring everyone together.

Number 96

Australia brought queer people to TV decades before anyone else. "Once upon a time Australian TV led the world in shattering LGBT taboos – with the world’s first regular gay character in 1972, followed by a trans character and gay kiss."

Oh là là

A French adaptation of Queer as Folk is in development.

Mind the gap

Tales of the City dares to tackle generational divides among LGBT people.

EastEnders

Walford just celebrated its first ever Pride...

...and introduces soap’s first Muslim lesbian.

Misfits

Young offenders: how cast turnover made us miss the original Misfits. "The sci-fi comedy about supernatural delinquents lost its way when the original heroes moved on to bigger things."

We like to watch

On the charms of modern television-watching.

Netflix

Netflix originals are more mediocre than ever.

The great race to rule streaming TV.

Watch

Camber's Dalek Disaster: a documentary; Josh Snares looks at Doctor Who's optional CGI effects; watch the trailer for the Blu-ray release of Doctor Who's tenth season; and another episode of Steam Room Stories.

Beats,

Rhymes

& Life

Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X came out, but has hip-hop? A macho culture faces a crossroads.

And now a black gay man has the longest-running #1 hit in Billboard Hot 100 history; his song Old Town Road has been in the top position for an unprecedented seventeen weeks, beating Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s 1995 hit One Sweet Day.

Masc for masc

The ways black gay men "act straight" to survive festival season. "Pride Month is over, but that doesn't mean the internal battles fought by queer and gay men magically stop, too."

House

How Chicago built house music from the ashes of disco. "With a disco sample and a drum machine, house music took over the globe."

Alfie Arcuri

Gay singer on coming out by getting caught in bed with a gay couple.

Jake Frost

From the macho society of Peru to a Taiwanese army camp.

Interview

Talking to Titus Burgess. "On his new album, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor faces his past in order to address the present."

George Michael

Late singer’s ex Fadi Fawaz arrested for allegedly smashing up the late singer’s mansion.

Le1f

Out, gay rapper flaunts it.

Blue boy

Duncan James unveils sizzling new boyfriend Rodrigo Reis.

Meat

Market

Future porn

Instagram killed the porn star, so what does the future of gay porn look like?

Sebastian Young

Registered sex offender Joshua Noles (a.k.a. gay porn star Sebastian Young) tells fans to “stay tuned for new work”.

Active-ists

Michael DelRay and Dante Colle strip down and make out for homophobic street preachers.

Silas

Stephen Morgan, Jr., who performed under a variety of names for studios such as Cocksure Men and Military Classified, is dead. He was 25.

Chris Bines

Former Falcon, Randy Blue model battles 59-month marijuana prison sentence.

See you later, alli-

PETA slams MEN.com for using alligator as a "prop" for gay "Everglades" scene.

Taylor Reign

Taylor Reign apologises to CockyBoys for accusing them of non-payment: “We talked things out, and our family quarrel is over”.

Stark reality

Cyrus Stark claims he was “tricked” and “sexually abused” by director Paul Wagner during recent MEN.com shoot.

Gallery

Daddy Issues Pool Party, in pictures

Summertramp, in pictures.

We Party Pride Festival, in pictures.

Surge

Gay porn consumption jumps during World Pride in New York.

Watch

Arad, Nick Masc, Lyle Anthony, and UrielFit explore each other.

BelAmi

Kris Evans is back.

Joel Birkin flaunts it.

Andrei Karenin, Yuri Alpatow and Yannick Modine do it.

Adam's apple

Blake Mitchell and Adam Archuleta do it.

Taylor made

Ashton Summers, Andy Taylor and Jacob Hansen do it.

The Colbys

Corbin Colby and Tristan Alder do it.

Sweet deal

Micah West and Tyler Sweet do it.

To the max

Max Konnor and Nico Leon do it.

Max Konnor and Wess Russel do it.

The Simpsons

Julian Rodriguez and Collin Simpson do it.

Winwin for everyone

Arad Winwin and Andre Donovan do it.

Finn

Arad Winwin and Finn Daniels do it.

Dante's peak

Identical twins Dante and Diego and Eric Ford do it.

Knight rider

Mateo Fernandez and JJ Knight do it.

Andy Pandy

Andy Samuel and Gio Velasco do it.

~~Puerto~~ Rico

Rico Vega and Josh Farve do it.

Hell's

Kitchen

Toss it

Your bagged salad is full of frogs.

Gulls

It's disturbingly common for seagulls to get into our food supply.

Tuna

Can eating too much tuna give you mercury poisoning? "It's the go-to 'healthy' meal for gym bros. But how much tuna is too much? And how real is the risk of mercury toxicity?"

Tropical Sun

Why people are boycotting one of the UK's biggest Caribbean food brands. "Over the past two years, videos and blog posts have surfaced online that call on Britain's Caribbean community to avoid buying Tropical Sun products."

Explainer

How to eat fishcakes.

Zoo

Watch

Avian avenger destroys anti-bird spikes; and rare footage of a piglet squid.

Under the sea

A retired teacher found some seahorses off Long Beach. Then he built a secret world for them.

Cockroaches

One big reason you can’t get rid of cockroaches.

Why bugs deserve our respect. "Fruit flies helped us win six Nobel prizes in medicine. Architects have been inspired by termite hills. Ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson explains why bugs are so essential to the world we live in."

Birds

Are the UK’s seagulls getting more aggressive? "A chihuahua in Devon was recently taken by a swooping bird – and there have been countless other accounts of seagull attacks. Has there been a sudden change in the birds’ behaviour?"

Gallery

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

Planes,

Trains & Automobiles

London

Futuristic sounds to make electric buses safer hit wrong note. "Fears ‘spaceshippy’ proposals by TfL to make vehicles audible could confuse pedestrians."

Not Concorde

Commercial supersonic aircraft could return to the skies.

Mayday

Plane crash investigators describe the horrors of digging through wreckage.

Going down the pipes. "By the mid-’90s, the American air traffic control system was on the verge of a nervous breakdown: broken equipment, insane overtime, impossibly high stakes. A story from the frontlines of the world’s most stressful desk job."

Erased from history

How Sydney destroyed its trams for love of the car. "As the city prepares to open a new line built at vast expense, the decision to get rid of trams in the 1950s looks more questionable than ever."

Watch

Behind the scenes on the luxurious QE 2, en route to New York (January 1976).

And

This:

Leisure world

Theme parks, pubs and human zoos: how the Victorians invented leisure.

Clingy

What can I use instead of clingfilm? "What did we do before clingfilm? Is it time to revisit boxes with lids, greaseproof paper or just a bowl with a damp towel over it?"

Vloglife

Kids

The unstoppable rise of YouTube's child make-up artists. "A generation of kids are racking up huge follower counts and making big money with their beauty videos – and infuriating older MUAs in the process."

Watch