Issue 293: Jussie Smollett, Kedarie Johnson, Matthew Shepard, Gabriel Fernández, Devan Shimoyama, Diahann Carroll, and more...


Left &
Found

Coming to terms with my teenage rape. "Sexual assault can happen to anyone. This is one gay man's story."

Toxic masculinity and me. "One of my earliest childhood memories is the smell of grass. Jose (the class bully) loved shoving my face to the ground in my elementary schoolyard. He’d make sure everyone saw too, especially the girls. One day, my teacher pulled us apart and wiped broken bits of lawn from my hair. I thought she was going to comfort me but instead she demanded, 'Why didn’t you fight back?' I assumed my teacher was right to question me. Why didn’t I fight back? Even if half the class saw my face being shoved in the ground, I could at least say I didn’t back down. After all, that’s the real test. I never forgot it."

Embracing maleness in an age of toxic masculinity. "Masculinity, I’ve always thought, is a trap. But I pursued it anyway. I still do."

How do I reconcile my masculinity with the toxicity of men? "How to reconcile one's masculinity with the often-abhorrent nature of men."



Watch
Jussie Smollett's PSA for The Trevor Project.

800,000 people kill themselves every year. What can we do? "In too many places mental health support services are non-existent and those with treatable conditions are criminalized. Bold action is long overdue."

Majority of Catholics want more positive approaches towards LGBT community.

Our cult of personality is leaving real life in the shade. "By reducing politics to a celebrity obsession – from Johnson to Trump to Corbyn – the media misdirects and confuses us."

It comes as no shock that the powerful hate identity politics. "The right denigrates equal rights campaigns as ‘grievances’ while cornering the market in victimhood."

Long read
Could populism actually be good for democracy? "A wave of populist revolts has led many to lose faith in the wisdom of people power. But such eruptions are essential to the vitality of modern politics."

As global poverty declines, we should beware the new class wars. "We’re told the world is turning middle class, but those at the bottom have little to cheer."



Kavanaugh, Ronaldo... how many more male victims must there be? "Amid the tumult of all these sexual assault allegations, thank goodness we have the men’s rights movement to fight back."

Long read
The myth of the she-devil: why we judge female criminals more harshly. "A man who kills is a murderer, but a woman guilty of violent crime becomes a proxy for all that is evil."

Long read
The secret joys of schadenfreude. "It gives us gleeful moments of guilty pleasure. But finding fun in the misfortunes of others is also an emotion that plays a crucial part in binding society together." (Image)

Belief is back: why the world is putting its faith in religion. "Fifty years ago, religion was on the retreat as science advanced. Now it is centre stage of global politics." (Image)


US
News

Long read
Why did no one save Gabriel? "He was 8 years old, and the signs of abuse were obvious. Yet time and again, caseworkers from child-protective services failed to help him."

Thirteen alleged sexual assaults turn up in Utah high school investgation; three male high school students charged. "Two boys held him down, a third boy pulled his own pants down and rubbed his backside and genitalia all over my son’s face."

Ms. Colombia, LGBT icon in New York City, found dead.

Second man found guilty in the 2016 murder of "genderfluid" teenager Kedarie Johnson.

Matthew Shepard’s ashes to be interred at Washington’s National Cathedral twenty years after his brutal murder.

Matthew Shepard: twenty years on, what has changed?

Matthew Shepard: the legacy of a gay college student twenty years after his brutal murder.

How the world got the Matthew Shepard story wrong (and why it doesn’t matter).

Watch
Robert Ortiz, a gay Trump voter, filmed attacking a patient Lyft driver with racial slurs and threats...

...and then posts self-serving "apology" video.

Shooting outside Texas gay bar leaves three injured.

Westboro Baptist Church outnumbered by LGBT protesters and allies in Washington.

The Proud Boys, the bizarre far-right street fighters behind violence in New York, explained.

Edie Windsor street sign unveiled to honour lesbian campaigner.

Why California dreamin’ is a nightmare for some LGBT people. "For the Golden State's most marginalized queer residents, soaring rent costs can make life hell — and politicians aren't doing enough to help."

How gentrification is eroding San Francisco's historic leather scene. "To survive, the city's leather community is allying with real estate developers. But new, wealthy residents threaten to change the character of their community's home."


Lambda Legal in crisis: "The 45-year-old organisation has lost about half its staff since 2016, when a new CEO, Rachel Tiven, initiated an acrimonious shakeup, deep cuts to employee benefits and a messy fight over Lambda’s tactics, priorities and limitations. The group’s caseload was roughly 150 lawsuits in mid-2016; today, it’s about half that. Lambda enlisted a law firm known for its work on 'union avoidance' to negotiate with a newly formed employee union. It has not resolved long-standing issues of racial equity, and its health insurance plan does not adequately cover transition-related health care — a potential violation of the law over which Lambda frequently sues other companies."

Hillary Clinton lays into "racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ" President Trump.


Republican election leaflet depicts gay Democrat with limp wrist.

Trump administration forces same-sex partners of UN staff to marry or leave. "Marriage is now a condition for obtaining a spousal visa, which could create huge problems for those from homophobic countries."

Mike Pence’s wife is backing a candidate who wants to jail gay people.



Omarosa says that Trump and Ivanka’s relationship is even creepier than we thought: “He would kiss her on the lips. He would rub her for a very long period of time. It was awkward.”

Watch
Don Lemon trashes Kanye West’s "embarrassing... minstrel show".

The biggest political problem in America, explained in one chart. "Americans don’t just disagree on the issues. They disagree on what the issues are."

Homeless in US: a deepening crisis on the streets of America. "They seem to be almost everywhere, in places old and new, no age spared. Sleeping on cardboard or bare ground, the homeless come together under bridges and trees, their belongings in plastic bags symbolising lives on the move. Many have arrived on the streets just recently, victims of the same prosperity that has transformed cities across the US West Coast. As officials struggle to respond to this growing crisis, some say things are likely to get worse."

On Washington's McNeil Island, the only residents are 214 dangerous sex offenders. "Civil commitment centers, which exist in less than half of US states, are meant as a community safeguard, but they’re riddled with controversies."

Canada
Alberta Pride crosswalk vandalised, repainted within hours.


UK
News


Plumber sentenced to three years in prison for seducing and blackmailing closeted married man.


Family and friends pay tribute to gay man found dead at Manchester’s Britannia Hotel.


Rightwing hate-rag Mail on Sunday comes under fire for "outing" transgender soldiers.

Another allegedly anti-trans billboard appears in Birmingham above a sex shop.

National Autistic Society cuts links to transgender charity.

UKIP politician blasts own party as "vehicle for hate" towards gay people.

Civil partnerships to be opened to straight couples.

More than 70% of LGBT people have experienced mental health issues because of work.


Number of non-binary students skyrockets.

LGBT activists edit artist’s posters amid fears of being "traumatic for those living with HIV".

Why is the gay leather scene dying? "Not long ago, many clubs catered to enthusiastic leathermen. But predatory property developers, changing attitudes to gender and the rise of rubber threaten the scene’s existence."

Black History Month: five black LGBT heroes who fought for equal rights. Above, Frank Mugisha.

Shaun Bailey’s offensive comments make him unfit to be London mayor. "The Tory candidate’s dangerously divisive remarks suggest he should not be in charge of such a diverse city."

London remains a safe haven for the world’s dirty cash. "The government’s new unexplained wealth orders are a hopelessly weak weapon against money laundering."

Northern Ireland
UK supreme court backs bakery that refused to make gay marriage cake. "Judges find in favour of appeal, ruling there was no discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation."

Everything you need to know about the "gay cake" row case.

Scotland
Twelve men allegedly performing sexual acts in an Edinburgh public restroom shock straight man.


Wales
Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru elects its first openly gay leader, Adam Price.

Gay minister defies trolls’ death threats by kissing his husband.


World
News

Australia
This is Moud Ul Hasan Nuri. The 40-year-old has been granted bail after alleged raping a 13-year-old boy he met on Grindr in the teenager's own front garden.

Man caught spray-painting "bash a gay" graffiti in Sydney.

How a homophobic, misogynist, racist "thing" could be Brazil’s next president. "Jair Bolsonaro is the monstrous product of the country’s silence about the crimes committed by its former dictatorship."

Brunei
In fear for their lives: the hidden LGBT community of Brunei.

Cambodia

Cameroon

China
New media centre looks like a giant penis.

Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo's Caravan of Pride, in pictures.

Egypt
What it’s really like to be a young gay man in Egypt. "There are other people like me in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, which is why I choose to live here. We know how to be. It’s like an algorithm."

Eritrea
Conscripts wait in vain for freedom. "With their hopes dashed that peace with Ethiopia would bring an end to national service, young Eritreans must either accept a life of forced labour or flee."

France
Gay couple beaten up in Paris in second homophobic aggression in a month.

India
Why Muslim groups in north India want the government to re-criminalise gay sex.

Indonesia
Tech company Go-Jek under fire after vice president publicly promotes LGBT equality.

Iraq
Horrific video of "gay" teen boy murdered in the street goes viral.

Italy
Shattered dreams: life in Italy's migrant camps - a photo essay.

Jamaica

Japan
Tokyo bars LGBT discrimination ahead of 2020 Olympic Games.

Sapporo Rainbow Pride Parade, in pictures.

Philippines
Iloilo City LGBTI march, in pictures.

Poland
City of Lublin holds first LGBT Equality March despite protestors trying to derail the event.

Qatar
On Asian Town, the mall for migrants. "The new Asian Town mall was designed to cater to Qatar’s roughly 2 million migrant workers – but critics say it is simply a way to segregate them."

Romania
Anti-gay marriage vote voided over low turnout. "Just 20% of registered voters cast their ballot in referendum to define marriage as explicitly between a man and woman."

 Uganda
The rape of men: the darkest secret of war. "Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women. Yet huge numbers of men are also victims. In this harrowing report, Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world's conflicts." (July 2011)

Ukraine
The people who moved to Chernobyl. "The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 left a ring of ghost villages as residents fled, fearing radiation poisoning. But now people are choosing to live in the crumbling houses on the edge of the exclusion zone."


Art
Skool

Devan Shimoyama is creating new mythological narratives for queer black men. "The artist talks his new exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum, Cry, Baby, as well as challenging hypermasculinity through his work."

Ten queer activists come together across generations to share lessons and love. "To celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month, the It Gets Better Project gathered 10 leading queer activists to share wisdom in Los Angeles."

A new exhibition resurrects one of New York's most subversive queer performance artists. "Stephen Varble's guerilla-style performances challenged gender binaries and privilege in the 1970s. Much of his work was lost during the AIDS crisis — until now."

The Tom of Finland Art & Cultural Festival, in pictures.

The Modern Ken, the interactive Ken Doll exhibit aiming to shatter stereotypes of masculinity.

How Puppyteeth's unsettling art turns film noir tropes upside down.

How explicit should public art get? "Censorship in metro stations and other public places reveal limits to how far we’re prepared to be challenged by art."

Walkways in the sky: the return of London's forgotten pedways. "They were planned after the second world war to whisk people above car-choked streets in the financial district, but remained unpopular and half-built. Now, pedestrian walkways are being reimagined for a 21st-century city."


Word!

Alberto B. Mendoza didn't see queer Latinos like him in media — so he told their stories himself.

Review
The Parting Gift, by Evan Fallenberg. "Set against the backdrop of modern Israel, The Parting Gift is a passionate erotic tale, but a cautionary one."

Review
That Was Something, by Dan Callahan. "A vivid novel that chronicles how youthful exuberance is ultimately highjacked by time... [A] slim debut [which] makes up for its size with a supreme dose of tenderness."

An oral history of Vibe Magazine, as it celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary.


Shouting
At Night

Queer the leads and unleash the nudes: how to reboot a sexist classic for the #MeToo age. "From the misogynistic Don Giovanni to the heteronormative Calamity Jane, Australian theatre-makers are finding new ways into problematic texts."

Intimate, sexy drama Electricity happens in a room at a Palm Springs naked hotel — and only twenty people are invited to be in the audience.

Interview
Talking to Michael Urie about the Broadway revival of Torch Song.

Gaslight: the return of the play that defined toxic masculinity.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Mexico City fought immigration scrutiny to bring their songs to LA.


Film
Skool

Bryan Singer: Esquire magazine is going to try and destroy my career with "fictional" hit piece. (Image)

Rupert Everett "never" told actors to stay in the closet, he claims.

Gay film Ka Bodyscapes - a film about gay love, which has battled censorship from the Indian government since 2015, is finally released.

Icelandic gay horror film Rift to get US remake.

Six super hot guy-on-guy gay sex scenes in modern movies, ranked.


From the streets to the screen: how Hollywood is tackling police brutality. "In films such as Monsters and Men and The Hate U Give, real-life tragedy is making its way to the cinema with anger and purpose."

The movie assassin. "How The English Patient almost ruined my life."


The
Box

Diahann Carroll, the actress known for her roles in Julia and Dynasty, is dead. She was 84. "Actor and singer was first black woman to star in a non-servant lead role in a TV series."

Diahann Carroll: obituary.

BBC shows to have more LGBT characters as part of diversity reforms.

Netflix unleashes torrent of rainbows at homophobe angry over gay storyline in new teen drama Elite.

Todrick Hall apologises for putting his break-up on blast on pulled Instagram video.

Watch
18-year-old Cameron Cole comes out on Big Brother.

Can the Jodie Whittaker era secure the future of Doctor Who? "The show is making one of the most high-pressure returns in its history, but with the many bold changes, including a new Sunday-night slot and a reduction of episodes, the early signs are good for a successful reincarnation."

How Doctor Who shaped my queer identity.

Review
Doctor Who. "It would be good to see them challenge the concept of science fiction and push it beyond the hackneyed and obvious, in the way Charlie Brooker has re-thought the dystopian novel in the shape of his TV series Black Mirror, which focuses on 21st century concerns. It's fine for Sci-Fi to be funny, but it should be unsettling too - and the only way to do that is to make it real: Doctor Who needs to tell us our worst nightmares, contemporary stories that are so darkly embedded in our unconscious minds we need to hide behind a sofa when they are revealed to us."

Better Call Saul season 4 finale: The hugely important final shot, explained. "How the brilliant AMC drama turns the act of watching it into a kind of tragedy."

Better Call Saul is nearing its end game. Here’s how long its showrunner thinks it has left.

How Better Call Saul became superior to Breaking Bad. "It may not have always been obvious but now the truth is unavoidable: Vince Gilligan’s spin-off is better."

Can TV soaps like EastEnders and Coronation Street really change lives?

Steptoe and Son was a genius creation. We won’t see its like again. "The flair of Ray Galton, who died last week, lives on in a series of tragicomic characters."


Beats, Rhymes
& Life

Trump puppet Kanye West and Kim Kardashian slammed for meeting notoriously homophobic Ugandan president.

T.I. disavows Kanye West: "I'm ashamed to have ever been associated with you."

Trump signs the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.

From Vanilla Ice to Macklemore: understanding the white rapper's burden.


Arena

Aaron Hernandez’ gay lover speaks out: "We didn’t want people to know".

Gay Olympian Tom Bosworth says fifty people unfollowed him after he posted photo kissing his husband.

Twelve LGBT college athletes to cheer for.

Watch
US volleyball player Sam Lewis comes out as gay.

Gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy flaunts naked birthday skiing photo.

Cristiano Ronaldo hits out at rape allegations.


Meat
Market

Long read

Brandon Chrisan, the model who performed as Kyle Dean for Corbin Fisher and GayHoopla, is dead. He was 21.

Jailed gay porn star Brandon Dale Woodruff's appeal rejected; Woodruff was convicted of murdering his parents Dennis and Norma Woodruff in 2005.

Tom Faulk arrested for drug possession and evading arrest.

A day in the life of an OnlyFans adult film performer. "What it's like to work as a performer who self-shoots, directs and uploads their own videos of real sex with other models."

Folson Street Fair, in pictures.

Twenty-seven Dos and Don'ts for Folsom Street Fair.

Watch
Talking to gay porn newcomer Theo Brady.

BelAmi had “reservations” about releasing Maori Mortensen’s first gay sex scene because of his arm tattoo.

BelAmi releases its final Dolph Lambert photoset, with his last scene to follow.

Meet new BelAmi boy, Niko Vangelis.

FraternityX films an outdoor basketball game for the first time (which leads to a bareback orgy, of course).

Miller Axton and Theo Brady do it.

Pietro Duarte, Gabriel Phoenix, Louis Ricaute and Orson Deane do it.


Ghetto
Romance

Gay ex-wrestler and boyfriend go on adorable double date with his gay dad.


Gay couple’s Parisian wedding photos go viral.

One in 10 older gay men have had sex with a woman in the last three months.

What it’s like hooking up in cis gay spaces as a queer trans guy. "From dating apps to sex clubs, queer trans masculine people are fighting for visibility in the places traditionally associated with cis gay men."


Medicine
Ball

Rare PrEP failure reported in San Francisco.


Want to live for ever? Flush out your zombie cells. "As time passes, the number of damaged, ‘senescent’ cells in our bodies increases. These in turn are responsible for many effects of ageing. Now scientists are working to eliminate them."

Seven ways to cut back on alcohol. "Many people are trying to drink less this October – but what do you do if your resolve is waning? Here are some ideas to keep you drinking in moderation all year round."

The slow, steady rise of conscious movement. "Forget high-intensity interval training. More and more people are realising that easy-going, thoughtful exercise can have surprising benefits."

Night terrors: what do anxiety dreams mean? "These are anxious times – but how does this affect our sleep, and what can we learn from the exam crises and missed trains that haunt the small hours."


How music and memory work together when you’re processing trauma. "A song can transport our minds back in time – but there may be ways to unlearn the pain we associate with a piece of music, too."

The return of the face. "Physiognomy is a discarded 19th-century pseudoscience. Why can’t we stop practicing it?"


Planet
Earth

The ghosts of the glacier. "What happens when climate changes quickly in a previously frozen place, when the earth heats up and the mountains melt? In the high Swiss Alps, here's what happens: The ice gives up the bodies—and the secrets—of the past."

Which cities will sink into the sea first? Maybe not the ones you expect. "The Earth isn’t solid – which makes it hard to predict how the submerging of our coastlines will unfold."

Cartoon

Zoo


The week in wildlife, in pictures.


The White
Heat of This Revolution

Dating apps allowing people to filter by race reinforce racial bias.

Facebook admits to blocking gay adverts.

Facebook restores Naked Boys Reading page amid "queer erasure" backlash.

An online decency moderator's advice: blur your eyes. "When I left, I didn't shake anyone's hand for three years. I'd seen what people do and how disgusting they are. I didn't want to touch anyone. I was disgusted by humanity."


Are you a "cyberhoarder"? Five ways to declutter your digital life – from emails to photos. "Most of us have an unmanageable amount of data on our devices. But a few easy tweaks could bring it all back under control."


Planes, Trains
& Automobiles

Virgin Atlantic launches "Pride" flight with LGBT crew.

Thomas Cook paints new plane and royally cocks it up.

New train blurs the line between China and Hong Kong.


I Own
51% Of This
Company!

Sears, once the world's largest retailer, files for bankruptcy, faces the end after 125 years. "Once a staple of the American lifestyle, Sears has filed for bankruptcy after losses top $11bn and 200,000 layoffs."

This map shows all the locations Sears once operated and what it has left today.

Sears has filed for bankruptcy, but that doesn’t mean it’s shutting down.

Why bankrupt Toys R Us might not be dead after all. "Toys R Us owners called off its bankruptcy auction. Could they be trying to revive the toy chain?"

The long, long history of long, long CVS receipts. "Why is a receipt for cough drops the height of a small child?"

Why cadmium, a metal that can cause kidney and bone damage, is still used in jewelry.

 Watch
Ace's Adventures visits Lenoir Mall in North Carolina; Retail Archaeology cruises Power Square Mall in Arizona; in New England, Faded Commerce looks in on Hampshire Mall; and Bright Sun Films picks over the ruins of a long-abandoned Kmart store.



Hell's
Kitchen

Would you eat slaughter-free meat? "There's a looming crisis over the world's growing appetite for meat. Could a chicken running around a farmyard in San Francisco hold the key to a solution?"


Rag
Trade

Real-life gay couple Johnnell Terrell and Tyrone Wells feature in new underwear campaign.

1930s Fashion and Photographs, in pictures.


And
This:


Hundreds of people have died taking selfies.


Vloglife:

Ask the Aunties: My boyfriend thinks bisexuality isn't valid! Plus: Nejhe gives face; Walter expounds on being a porn star; and the Cash Twins share their coming out story...

That's all for this week - please like, follow and share!
KAOS is on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.

Issue 293: 01-15 October 2018
On the cover: Johnnell Terrell and Tyrone Wells, for Adonis Underwear.

Missed the last edition? Get it.

The Small Print
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KAOS is an independent website and is not linked to any of the organisations which are listed within the website or the THE KAOS THEORY ezine.

The mention or appearance or likeness of any person or organisation on KAOS, or THE KAOS THEORY ezine, is not to be taken as any indication of the sexual, social or political orientation of such persons or organisations.

All rights reserved.

Postcript
"You know, we might just as well not have
bothered to come. The whole thing's been ridiculous."

© 2018
by KAOS on October 15, 2018

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