MUSED Magazine, Viktor Kerney and a hankering for racial segregation

"If you only have love for your own race, then you only leave space to discriminate."

If there's one thing we can take for granted, it's the obsession MUSED Magazine (apparently, the "Authoritative Voice For Modern Black Gay Men") has with interracial relationships, packed as it is with articles like "Seeking The Ideal Black Gay Couple When Interracial Ones Aren’t Enuf", and most recently "28 Questions For Black Men Who ONLY Date White Men". What surprised me most about the latter article was the author, someone I had admired for years, Viktor Kerney, who also writes the blog Maybe It's Just Me. But his stance on this issue saddened me.

Let's be clear about this. The gay community has huge problems with race, and the problem lies primarily with the majority of white gay men, who are, without a doubt, horribly racist. There's an excellent series on this at FS Magazine. But articles like Viktor Kerney's are bigoted and mean spirited, calculated to cause hurt and and inflict harm to the one group that's actively working against racism in the gay community by, literally, making love, not war. It drags down the dialogue about race to the level of America's right.

That dialogue is now so dysfunctional - and so dominated by hate filled bigots - that moderate voices can't be heard; white men are always just "seeking a Big Black Dick", and the black men who love them are always sick and in need of therapy. No doubt Kerney and his ilk advocate some sort of "cure" for black gay men who prefer white partners, you know, like the "gay reparative therapy" that's worked so well for no one ever. His article even suggests black gay men try other "men of color" if they just can't make it with a black dude.

What Kerney is telling black gay men who prefer white partners is that there's something fundamentally wrong with them, that they are broken, that their lives as they stand are worthless. Only when they abandon the path they have chosen will they be happy, fulfilled, worthy. What message does this send to mixed race gay men, or don't they matter? It tells them that they are a mistake, conceived as the result of a warped fetish. In this sense, Kerney is no different to the extreme right, to the evangelicals who tell gay men they are going to hell. They believe they have the right to tell others how to live their lives, and who to love. Kerney, too, believes he has that right.

America long ago legalised interracial marriage, but it seems like the law is playing catch up with hard hearts and poisoned minds. But there's a simple solution to gay men who don't like interracial relationships: Don't have one!

It's sad that MUSED and Viktor Kerney are so obsessed with interracial couples that they can't see that their hankering for racial segregation is part of the past. Men who date outside of their race - for whatever reason - are very much a part of the here, the now, and the future. It is they who are pushing that dialogue on race forward, whilst MUSED and Viktor Kerney seek to keep it mired in the past.

And in answer to the first MUSED article I mentioned, here's one from the superior Cypher Avenue site: These 14 Popular Black Gay Couples Shut Down All Bitter Black Gay Critics of Interracial Relationships.

More on interracial love at KAOS

Have a problem with interracial dating? Take a look in the mirror.

KAOS talks exclusively to Skin Deep the Series creator David Summers.

We influence a man and all of a sudden it turns and he has influenced us

Everybody loves Sam Smith, we're told. But I was always pretty ambivalent about him. His old, churchy voice was off-putting; there was something cold and calculated about the mournfulness, something of The X Factor. But I was pleased one of us had made it. Then I discovered his not-so surprising background as the son of wealthy bankers. He's not one of us, he's one of them: the 1%.

Sam Smith's privileged, elite background matters, and something the establishment doesn't want us to think too hard about. According to fellow posh boy James Blunt, we aren't allowed to discuss the advantages afforded to the spawn of billionaires. It's the "politics of jealousy", apparently. But not discussing it ensures that the status quo is maintained, and we're all kept in our place (with Sam Smith and Blunt at the top, of course).

Smith's success hasn't been earned through blood, sweat and tears, but bought with the hard cash of posh, pushy parents with sharp elbows. Really, what could a 22-year-old rich kid, who has been handed everything he ever wanted, possibly have to say? Where is the life experience, the suffering, the pain? "Rich kids can be artists if they want," someone bleated on a friend's Facebook page after I posted a comment dismissing Sam Smith's validity. Well, of course they can be artists. They can be anything they want, which is the point. If Sam Smith had been the son of a plumber, he wouldn't be where he is now.

And what of the disproportionate coverage afforded to him by the mainstream gay media? They themselves aren't a million miles from the Sam Smith mould: white, well-off, in a cosy metropolitan world of their own; they boost Smith because he is like them. Sam Smith is big news. Le1f, Zebra Katz - even David McAlmont - not so much.

The whole subject of race, and soul, R&B and hip-hop is a separate issue that needs discussion. I don't have a problem with white soul artists per se. I've been an Annie Lennox fan since forever, and of George Michael since the crushing Jesus To A Child. Both artists have had tumultuous lives, and life experiences - Jesus To A Child, famously, is about Michael's lovers' death from AIDS. The question is why is soul and R&B - and, increasingly, hip-hop - a playground for rich white kids like Smith and Ed Sheeran? (The BBC's 1Xtra Power List was last year branded by rapper Wiley "the saddest list in music history. Not taking anything away from Ed [Sheeran], he is sick. But black artists in England, we are getting bumped. We influence a man and all of a sudden it turns and he has influenced us.")

A lack of authenticity isn't Smith's only problem. Not only is his gold plated background not very sexy, but (to be blunt) neither is he. In an industry that increasingly peddles softcore porn to sell music, chinless wonder Smith actually looks like a banker.

Unquestionably derivative, he is a rich kid playing dress up, a parasite, and whilst he might be a perfectly nice guy, everything he represents is rotten.

Looking for something better

HBO's Looking has been renewed for a second season, news that comes as a huge relief to this fan. But not everyone gets the show, with critics and the audience divided over this tale of sex, love and friendship in San Francisco. It's been branded slow and boring, but if, say, Noah's Arc is your yardstick for gay TV drama, then Looking's slow-burning, nuanced, and unforgiving take on gay men's lives will inevitably disappoint.

Some will cry "but Noah's Arc represents us! Those white shows don't" but I wonder how many black gay men live the kind of life the characters in Noah's Arc live. Noah's Arc is many things (fabulously entertaining, for one) but no one could ever accuse it of being realistic or deep. It's pure T.V. bubblegum fantasy, as true to life as Lost In Space is representative of space travel, and some of its tropes (gay boy falling for straight boy) were tired and played out even in 2005.

On the other hand, Looking is a genuine attempt to shine a light on the lives of a group of gay men in San Francisco. It is slower than, say, Scandal, and if that's a problem for you, maybe Glee might fit you better? Looking is to gay T.V. drama what The Wire is to cop shows: profound, literary and cinematic (yes, it also looks visually stunning).

The characters hale from a variety of racial backgrounds, and manage to cover age and class, too. Patrick (Jonathan Groff) is the classic whitebread American WASP. His awful friend August (Frankie J. Alvarez) is a spoilt rich (Latino) kid. Their other friend, Dom (Murray Bartlett), is the daddy of the group, a man who's just hit the dreaded forty. Their friends and lovers are Britain's own (black) O.T. Fagbenle; Lauren Weedman, as the best fag hag ever ("he can sit on my face anytime"); and Raúl Castillo's painfully sensitive blue collar Richie.

Patrik-Ian Polk - demonstrating a disappointing grasp of professional courtesy - said of Looking, "It's dull as ditchwater." That's ironic, coming from a guy whose entire oeuvre consists of rehashing the same storyline: a group of conservative gay college dudes, one of whom falls for a "straight" guy. In Polk's world, "racial diversity" amounts to a token (hot slut) Latino dude. There's nothing wrong with being a hot slut, but if I was a gay Latino, I'd question why Polk thinks "hot slut" encapsulates the entirety of my identity.

Some people can't accept the fact the central character is a WASP, and yeah, I'd love to see a gay drama of this calibre about a black dude who is neither a stereotypical thug, or one of Patrik-Ian Polk's pearl-clutching elites. But you know what, in the gay community, there's many, many more dudes like Jonathan Groff's Patrick than there are that smart, blue collar black dude we've yet to see represented on screen. Looking's writers have written about a WASP, but they've written about a WASP who's in love with a blue collar Latino, and who is, at the very least, on the road to recognising that his background doesn't make him a better person. That's infinitely more relevant in 2014 - that juxtaposition of economic background and class - than Polk's tired obsession with the HBCU down low brotha.

Noah's Arc may be about black gay men, yes, but it also happens to be about a particular kind of gay man; that privileged, college-educated, gay man who looks down on blue collar men as, at best, sexual playthings, and at worst, inferior beings. Looking, at least, has the grace to call into question the assumption that class, background and education make a better man. In Noah's Arc, the lead characters consistently use and dispose of "blue collar" men - T-Money, Wade's boyfriend Dre - as if their lives are of less value than those of Noah, Wade, Ricky, Alex and Chance. Noah's Arc flirts with the issue of economic disparity and class privilege, but is terrified to face it head on, and so we end up with scenes where Chance is stranded - terrified - in the ghetto. If Chance had been a white character, the audience would rightly be appalled at his prejudice, but because he's black, it's somehow okay to denigrate the denizens of the 'hood. Looking faces up to it in blistering detail; an entire episode is devoted to Patrick and Richie's first date (none of the other characters appear) and we're allowed to fall in love with the characters as they fall in love with each other. That makes the subsequent car crash even more brutal: Patrick's cringe-inducing snobbery about Richie's job, and rich kid August's stomach-churning snideness towards his fellow papi. Patrick hates that side of him, and fights it. As a working class boy, I love that; the characters in Noah's Arc seem to not only embrace their class privilege, but positively revel in it.

Back to Looking, which ended, beautifully, on a nod to The Golden Girls. Me and my boy were watching together, laughing out loud at Blanche and Dorothy, laughing along with Patrick in the final moments of the surprising and heartreaking season finale. The credits rolled over The Golden Girls theme tune, a genuinely clever and touching move: these guys know what they're doing.

Looking, like HBO sibling The Wire, feels more like a novel, or arthouse cinema, than the conventional network T.V. we're used to. It forgoes intrusive background music and the tedious plot conventions viewers are usually force-fed. It goes deeper, and some people just don't get that. Looking isn't just the best gay T.V. series I've seen in a long time, it's one of the best T.V. shows in recent years. Look no further.

Skin Deep the Series

kaos talks exclusively to Skin Deep the Series creator David Summers.

||| Let's kick off with "Skin Deep the Series" - what's it all about?

In a nut shell, the shows about six gay men, three black, three white who struggle with their experiences and understanding of race culture and sexuality while living in Atlanta, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. Since Atlanta's gay population is primarily from the Black and White communities, and since that is where the majority of racial tension have been historically, we begin there. The other cultures which are very important will be introduced as the show progresses.

||| What was the inspiration for the show?

This has been a process of steps and experiences over the past fifteen years of living in ATL, and my personal experiences of the last twenty-five years or so. But if you want something specific, I can say it was due to an observation when we travelled. "We," meaning my husband Chuck and I. It became apparent we would see more interracial gay couples as we travelled to other cities than we see living here. So I wondered, with a city the size of ATL and the large gay population of black and white guys, why were there so few. So I pondered the thought. I discussed it with others, and the more I talked the more thoughts and feelings began to flow. I found there was a lot of emotion about the subject that everyone seemed to be afraid to discuss on record. So I wanted to find a way to generate an open discussion on why the gay community is so segregated, but especially here in the ATL.

A book was too limiting, a movie didn't allow for proper and lengthy character development, a documentary was out of the question because people didn't want to express their personal feelings on film, and I was not going to create another reality show were people just behave badlyand make fools of themselves. So I thought a scripted TV series was probably the best route to go. I had conversation with some friends in the business who confirmed my thoughts. I then began a development process for ideas, characters, storyline etc. I decided to started with focus groups. My feeling was that I must get the absolute truth from the people who attended, therefore it must be in a comfortable environment. So I decided to hold three separate groups. One with black and white guys who were comfortable with dating outside their race, one with only black guys and one with only white guys. I did not attend the all black group, being a white guy I would have been an obstacle to the truth.

And so it began. I received fantastic information that helped format the show. characters and story line. I continued to interview anyone who wished to be interviewed. My total is now about 150 or so.

||| That's incredible. So your series really is "about something" - a contrast to the sort of gay scripted series we've seen in the past. Is Atlanta really that polarised, compared to other major US cities?

Yes this is really about something. And I will be recreating major events that occurred here in the city that will be very controversial, but true.

And yes the city really is that polarized. I am not saying that this doesn't exist in other cities, I am not that misinformed or naive. But in comparison, yes. Especially for the size of the city.

And I have interviewed men who moved here or visit often from other cities and they can't believe it, the energy or consciousness of the city. "You can just feel it", they say. This is from guys who have attractions for men outside their own race.

||| That's intriguing. The view from the UK is that interracial relationships in the US are really frowned upon, and there's a very vocal section of the black gay community that's actively opposed to them - something that's really apparent online, with the dialogue on sites like BGCLive and Rod 2.0. What are your thoughts on that?

I would agree. I have seen and heard comments and felt the energy from the black and white community. But the show is not about picking sides, far from it. This is merely showing the lives of six men who have different interpretations of attractions and how they live those attractions out. We are then lead down a path of challenges, successes, and failures in love and acceptance of others.

I hope to generate conversation between members of our community to open doors of understanding. There are so many untruths out there, and I hope to clear them up.

I on the other side of that, I will be showing that even though there are men who may frown upon interracial dating/sex/relationships. There are a good number of men who do it in secret.

I have been the "experiment" of a few black guys myself. Things like, "I've never been with a white guy before, wanna check it out" or "Oh and by the way, don't tell anybody we messed around". Those sort of comments. I never took offense to them. It sort of turned me on to be some guys first. But I also know there are a good proportion of white guys who fantasize or secretly play with guys outside their race.

There are fears of friends turning on them, or being pigeon holed into thinking that if you date one guy outside your race then that means you don't like guys who are within your race. To me, and hot man is a hot man is a hot man! Using skin tone to determine who you speak to or play with or date is a question I plan to propose in the show. And that goes for black guys who only date with other black guys who are light skin as an example.

||| That's a great point -  there's one particular celebrity in the black gay community who's had some success with his screen work, where he only depicts black-on-black relationships. But he also dates white men, "on the down low..." That's the kind of hypocrisy that's mind-boggling - the racial separatists who condemn interracial relationships, whilst putting light-skin and mixed race peeps on a pedestal. One of the refreshing things in the "SDTS" trailer - the way you flipped the convention of the white guy experimenting with being with a black guy.

What sort of reaction have you had to the trailer so far?

Very very very positive. 97% of the comments are great. People really are hungry for a gay drama. and this is ground breaking in so many ways. Casting is balanced, story's are real, men are masculine, breaking stereotypes. However some stereotypes are hard to avoid if you want to keepthe show real.

||| It's been a long time coming. Were you a fan of shows like "Queer As Folk" and "Noah's Arc"?

I watched them, but I recognized that there was much more that could be done. The shows had their purpose and were successful, in addition paved the way for others. So I must give them props for that. Now to be clear when I say that SDTS is a culmination of Noah's Arc, and Queer as Folk, I refer to that for casting only. Not for style or story line. The movie Crash obviously is the portrayal of the race and culture element and also the fact that none of the characters know one another, just like in SDTS. The characters live different lives in different universes.

I wanted to get away from the same formula of four, five or six friends who all hang together, eat together, call each other all the damn time, and sometimes sleep together. Each main character has their own core of relationships but they are all supporting roles.

And they will come and go throughout the series.

||| In other words, just like real life, rather than an artificial bubble world.

Getting back to reaction, there was a pretty unpleasant article about "SDTS" on The 360 Experiment. How did you feel about that?

It was a copycat post. The blogger just cut and pasted from another gossip blogger whose purpose was to bring down one of the actors. Nothing in the article was correct. It was gossip only. I asked the blogger from 360 to do a legitimate interview with me but of course I never heard from him. I guess that would have been too much work, its so much easier to cut and paste falsehoods. That's why I appreciate you so much. Thank you for the proper interview.

||| Ah, the joys of internet trolls, huh?

What's it going to take to get "SDTS" into production?

I am currently beginning negotiations with a company in Hollywood, as well as one in NY who has interest to to take it on. This is great news, but still a long way to go.

||| That's fantastic. Tell us a little about the man behind "SDTS"?

Me? Little ol me?

||| But of course!

I'm 55, so there is a lot to tell. I can tell you that Skin Deep The Series just didn't come out of thin air. I have twenty-five years experience in theatre and had my own company for seventeen years, wrote ten other productions and had audience totals close to if not over one million people during that seventeen years. But ask me some questions, I hate talking about myself.

||| Okay, tell us about your previous work.

Company was also called ARCH Productions (Artists Raising the consciousness of Humanity). But I organized as a Not for Profit. I was primarily working with youth who needed extra attention. Very very talented kids who were misguided or hurt in life and were acting out, badly in some cases. So I took those kids and put them through a very powerful self observation, acting, rehearsal process that compelled them to look at themselves and take responsibility for their actions. Kids did not come out the same as when they started.

One of the most powerful steps to the program was it was kids teaching kids about behavior, and the kids on stage, the actors were the ones who usually were the perpetrators. I know that I worked kids who killed. They never admitted it, but I just knew. I saw their power, brilliance, talent and potential and turned it into something healing and transformational.

In 1994, ARCH received recognition from the Presidents Council on the Humanities as one of the top 100 companies in the country. This was under Bill Clinton.

||| That's amazing, truly inspirational - and a real life story worthy of adaptation itself! What happened to ARCH?

Well. I got burnt out. After seventeen years, I needed to find something that was going to pay better, less hours, and not as much stress. As much as I loved it, it was time to move on. So I sold it to another organization who wanted to carry on the work, but they failed and were out of biz in a year.

It pointed out to me and, gave me pride to know that not many people could do what it took to keep ARCH afloat. I was honored to have had the opportunity to serve the community in which I lived, and to have been touched by the lives of some many young people.

||| David to finish off, would you like to tell us a little about you and your husband, who you mentioned earlier?

I am in love with this man. I don't want to sound co dependent, but I couldn't do anything without him. We spend twenty-two hours a day together. Not many people can do that, and we've been together for going on thirteen years. Married in Montreal five years ago, just had our anniversary. He is bright, humble, loving, accepting, supportive, sexy, gorgeous, and other attributes you will have to use your imagination on.

||| That's beautiful, and a great foundation to build "SDTS" on!

He also was crucial in my writing process. I would write a scene and he would critic it, spell check it etc. He was/is a very big part of my life and of this show. He just doesn't like to do interviews. He will be part of the production team when its picked up.

||| David, thank you so much for talking to kaos today. I for one can't wait for a full series of a "Skin Deep the Series".

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

||| Skin Deep the Series - Official Site.

||| Visit Skin Deep the Series on Facebook.

||| Watch the trailer:

Skin Deep - The Series

LONGTIME READERS of kaos will know that over the years, I've expressed my disappointment at the racial segregation in gay TV series, from Queer As Folk to Noah's Arc. Only Rikki Beadle-Blair's cult drama Metrosexuality was brave enough to depict a world where people don't just mix with "their own kind".

That seems to be changing, with Larry Kennar's promising (and multiracial) DTLA in production, and now David Summers' Skin Deep - The Series is in the works. Take that, Jill Scott!

"Skin Deep - The Series is a new scripted TV pilot that addresses racial and cultural differences within the gay community specifically in Atlanta. In short, it can best be described as Queer as Folk, meets Noah's Arc, meets Crash, taken to a new and vibrant level. The arc of the show will take us into the lives of three black men and three white men. The supporting characters will extend off into other racial arenas such as Asian and Latino, and will build as the series evolves."

Exciting stuff, and a project that deserves all our support.

Visit the official Skin Deep - The Series website, join the show's Facebook page, and enjoy the trailer!

ka-os|theory supports Ken Livingstone for London Mayor

LONDON TODAY FACES a simple choice between good and evil: on the one hand, former Mayor Ken Livingstone, and on the other, the incumbent Tory Boris Johnson. ka-os|theory urges all our London readers to vote for Ken Livingstone.

Prior to taking office - a mere diversion for a millionaire playboy steeped in privilege - Boris Johnson made various racist statements, referring to "piccaninnies" and the "watermelon smiles" of black people. He axed anti-racism music festival Rise, and slashed funding for Black History Month.

On the subject of the GBLT community, Boris Johnson has branded gay men "tank-topped bumboys". On taking office, he pulled Transport for London out of the Stonewall equality index, and refused to appear at London gay pride events, as Livingstone did when in office. Boris Johnson won't release a GBLT-specific manifesto, despite repeatedly promising one.

Boris Johnson has overseen a staggering increase in public transport fares, whilst Transport for London - of which he is chairman - sits on a massive cash surplus. Over the last four years, he has campaigned tirelessly to cut the tax rate for the super rich.

Knife crime has soared. Housing costs have surged by as much as 75% in some parts of London, with overcrowding and homelessness the outcome.

Ken Livingstone, during two terms in office (despite a relentless, dirty smear campaign by London's right-leaning, Tory-controlled daily, the Evening Standard), was a beacon for tolerance and social equality.

Livingstone oversaw Britain's first civil partnership register, supported Pride and Soho Pride, worked with Stonewall against homophobic bullying in schools, and unlike Johnson ensured the Greater London Authority took a leading place in the Stonewall Employers' Index.

The anti-racist festival Rise - axed by Johnson - was a key Livingstone achievement. Racist attacks were halved.

Real attempts to tackle London's air quality problem - the capital's second biggest killer - came in the form of the Low Emission Zone and a comprehensive programme to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions, as well as setting up the C40 group of world cities to share knowledge. Plans to tax polluting 4x4s were cancelled when Johnson took office.

But these facts and figures are largely ignored by huge numbers of Londoners, who are turned off by a serious and dedicated Livingstone - perceived as old and grumpy - and utterly seduced by the empty spectacle of Boris Johnson's scruffy hair, bluster and "colourful language".

The personalities are irrelevant. This isn't Big Brother, it's real life. You might not like Ken Livingstone, but he's the best man for London, because he truly loves London. Boris Johnson hates Londoners, and loves only himself.

Use your vote wisely.

Have a problem with interracial dating? Take a look in the mirror

Have you ever noticed that people who have a problem with "interracial dating" are just plain fugly? Here's today's top tip, kids: hot boys want hot boys, regardless of their race, and if you look like Shrek, you'd better lower your expectations, and stop blaming that hot white boy for getting his claws into the hot brotha you can't have.

Zeric Seymor-Armenteros

Oh oh - here we go again. A black guy has come out and said that he prefers white guys to "people in the African American community."

In this case it's a model called Zeric, interviewed on vlog Pillow Talk. Cue a tsunami of apoplectic outrage from The Righteous Brothas (you know - those self-appointed righteous guardians of black manhood, who think it's their job to police who fucks who) on blogs and vlogs all over the World Wide Web. Because, you know, this is America, and The Righteous Brothas don't believe in personal preference. Despite interracial marriage being legal in all US states since 1967, some people still can't break out of the "stick with your own kind" mentality. A Brotha's gots to be with a Brotha, and if he isn't, you can bet The Brothas (or that high priestess of hate, Jill Scott) will have something to say about it.

Remember when American news anchor Don Lemon came out? Shortly after that, the news that his boyfriend was white shocked and appalled certain quarters of the black gay community. Read, if you dare, the comments sections of blogs like Rod 2.0 and Living Out Loud with Darian, where you'll discover a tiny, narrow-minded world of race-baiting haterade.

Here's a simple truth: guys who have a problem with interracial relationships are, more often than not, fugly trolls past their use-by date.

Here's an another simple truth: The single most valuable commodity in the gay world is sex appeal, and that overrides race. If you're an ugly troll - say, the revolting love child of Kanye West and Cee Lo Green - you're just going to hate the fact that that hot white boy has got the hot black boy you can't have - and never will have. Because the sad fact is, even if that hot black guy was into the brothas, he still wouldn't want you, Shrek. He'd want Tyson Beckford. As Zeric says, "I love my black boys" - just not those pearl-clutching queens who sit in judgement on others.

This fact is bourne out by Zeric's haters. Lord ha' mercy, these queens are f**kin' ugly. Face it kids, righteous ain't pretty. That's why the world of blogs and forums is heaven for the racial separatist - the kids who look like the odious queens in the I Hate Zeric video, look like that.

One of the video's contributors says of Zeric, "Models should be seen and not heard." Oh, the irony!

They don't really hate Don Lemon's boyfriend, or the hot white boys Zeric is hookin' up with. What they hate is the ugly reflection in the mirror, and the fact that Zeric and Don just don't want them.

Is freedom of speech always a good thing?

S

o, the now infamous Racist Woman On The Tram has been arrested, charged with "racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment".

Should speaking your mind be a criminal offense? Fellow blogger and writer Oura doesn't think so, but I believe the UK's hate speech laws (the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 prohibits anyone "from causing alarm or distress", whilst the Public Order Act 1986 declares, "A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred) are a good thing. In America, where freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Westboro Baptist Church is permitted to picket the funerals of dead soldiers with banners delcaring "Thank God for dead soldiers".

Is that the kind of society we want to live in? Oura and I discussed the issue.

Sex and the soap

In the absence of religion, I have my soaps. I'm just slightly older than EastEnders, and Coronation Street's history stretches back to 1960s. I've watched both my whole life.

There's also Emmerdale, a series I never took to. Likewise Hollyoaks, the young upstart: loud, brash and shallow. It won't enjoy the sort of history EastEnders or Coronation Street do (as a child, Coronation Street's Steve McDonald was a devastatingly handsome teen; I now watch him as a middle-aged wreck) because its cast is an ever-changing parade of pretty young things cast solely for their looks. It's totally disposable.

Brendan teaches Ste a lesson in lurve.

All four soaps boast a variety of ongoing GBLT storylines: EastEnders has Christian and Syed, an inter-generational, inter-cultural, interracial relationship that could have been so interesting, yet is saddled with clumsy writing and cringe-inducing performances (particularly John Partridge's deeply embarrassing prima donna Christian). Coronation Street has its lipstick lesbian teens, and dreary asexual frumps Sean and Marcus. Emmerdale has a cute "lad" struggling with his sexuality.

Then there's Hollyoaks, a show I don't follow. I recorded the omnibus from a weekend or two ago, fast-forwarded through the tedious hetero shenanigans, and discovered a thrilling, red hot, super-sexual gay interracial love/lust triangle.

Brendan: "I am your father." Noah: "Love in the club."

Brendan Brady is a dangerous, nightclub-owning Irish thug, with an excellent line in menace. His psychosis is palpable. He became embroiled in a secret, abusive relationship with cute twink Ste, beating, bullying and manipulating him within an inch of his life. Enter nice guy Noah, a grounded personal trainer who takes Ste under his wing. Ste and Noah become love's young dream - but Brendan isn't about to let Ste escape his clutches, and embarks upon a campaign to destroy the couple, mainly by tempting Noah over to the dark side.

This can't end well.

The scenes between uber-psycho Brendan, and grounded nice guy Noah (who's fighting a losing battle to hold onto Ste whilst overcoming his lust for Brendan) are some of the most sexually charged scenes I've seen on TV in a long time. There's danger and sexual tension and lust.

EastEnders and Coronation Street, which command huge audiences, aren't doing the GBLT community any favours with their tepid, cringe-worthy gay storylines (both are currently fixated on gay parenthood, a massive turnoff for anyone with a pulse). Hollyoaks - lightweight teen soap, and underdog - is telling it like is, and giving us a helluva ride to boot.

The Guest Spot

Don Lemon's Boo: Much Ado About Nothing (Interracial Love is A Okay!)

Dear Friends

One week ago CNN news anchor Don Lemon was widely applauded for coming out as a gay man (at the same time he released his tell all memoir Transparent). Speaking for myself I was so very proud of him. Granted, I clocked his tea long before he ever said a word about his sexual orientation (hello, he is 45-years-old, unmarried, and still looks fabulous?); however, it was wonderful - as a young black gay man - to see someone as positive and influential as Don Lemon letting his truth be known.

Be that as it may, upon coming out, Don Lemon informed the public that he's been boo'd up (translation: In a relationship) for the past four years (which is nothing unusual). However, this became controversial when blogger "Wandering Caravan" (I will not link to the article because the blog has, apparently, been deleted) went on a tirade about Mr. Lemon's life partner being a white man. Honestly, I don't remember the specifics but the blog posting itself was pretty... well... racist (there is no other word for it, sorry). What I do recall is that the blogger in question said, "This is the reason Don Lemon is calling the black community out as homophobic."

Okay, deejay stop the music for just a moment...

Do I have to?

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The Guest Spot

Pervert. Heretic. Avant-Gardian. Forbidden Light makes it his mission to mix all things with sex and fetish. With the belief that "sex is a microcosm of the universe"; he tests his theories by making strange sexual juxtapositions. In his blog, Journals of an Intelsexual, he severely over-analyzes the basic and attempts to summarize the grandiose. Kink. Spirit. Headaches. Is there any more to life?

A Fetish for My Father's Curse

H

is words crawled across my skin, "What's the matter, Boy?"

My imagination colored his silent sentences with a southern accent, "You never seen big, white wood before?"

My blood boils as I continue to read, "I'd never let those black, field mitts anywhere near this good meat...but if there's one thing nigger lips are good for..."

I couldn't believe where my curiosity lead me this time...

Bitch. Slut. Pussy. It isn't uncommon for people to convert terms of degradation into dirty talk. Re-conceptualizing derogatory terms, we thrust ourselves into a state of hyper-sexuality. Meat. Stud. Beast. Giving in to these depictions of savage sexual beings, we give ourselves license to become mindlessly passionate. Thug. Nigga. Nigger? Too far? Believe it or not, there are black men and women who find being called a nigger, coon and other racial epithets erotic. More unbelievable than that, "race play" goes much deeper.

Humiliation. Shackles. Whippings. These elements are nothing new to the BDSM world, but it becomes especially jarring when given a racist twist. (At least, it does for me.) To indulge in their non-PC kink, men from all over come to Palm Springs, CA to participate in the "Plantation Retreat". Old fashioned slavery is recreated for white and black men alike to engage in homoerotic versions of slave auctions, forced labor and ownership. Black men return to being only 1/16th of their white counterparts and they love it. They're sexually excited by being owned as human property. They are turned on by the humbling experience of being inferior in every way... but one.

Ultimately, the slaves are bound under their own volition, under their own terms. Their experience goes only as deep as they have negotiated to go. A part of me is amazed. Have oppression become so far removed from our reality, that it can become fodder for fantasy? Is slavery such a distant memory, we can play with the scar tissue without opening old wounds? What's the difference between being aroused by hearing "Nigger" whispered in your ear and dancing to our favorite songs where "nigga" blares through the speaker?

I have too many questions...

Personally, this fetish hits too close to home. I can't imagine recreating a present reality and calling it "play". Let's face it, I doubt the white "masters" leave their superiority complexes at the retreat. When your fantasy is to purchase and trade me, is it possible to view me as an equal? Coming from these thick, full lips, can my words be heard objectively? Can you really call me a nigger and not mean it?

Forbidden Light wrote exclusively for ka-os|theory.

Visit Forbidden Light at Journals of an Intelsexual

Say my name

Playright Kofi Kofi Kofi.com has adapted his stage play Say My Name, producing a short of the same name:

"SAY MY NAME! is a contemporary Black British Gay Love Story set amidst a gritty grimy urban backdrop of 'street' reality. The story kicks off when 'rude-bwoy' Ricky ignores his undercover lover Chris while hanging 'on road' with his crew because he is afraid being 'outed'. This single act hurts, humiliates and infuriates Chris triggering a raging, brutally explicit, and frank row in which conflicting issues about masculinity, sexuality, race, self definition and love are confronted. With their relationship in the balance Ricky is forced to confront his deepest darkest most inner feelings. "To be or not to be" ...OUT! That is the question. Chris, through his own trials and suffering now reconciled with his gayness, believes he has found the answer, but does Ricky love him enough to break taboo and go against community, tradition and the laws of the 'street'? SAY MY NAME is in fact a love story in the truest sense as it tells the story of self love and what must be sacrificed in order to achieve this ultimate state of being."

Watch the film here.

The trick is to love somebody

review

BLUEPRINT

LAST TIME WE talked about Wrecked, a film with more sex than a Guys Go Crazy video, and about as much soul as Paris Hilton. The opposite is true of Blueprint, a film as notable for its lack of sex as it is for its enormous heart.

Funnily enough, I'd watched Spencer Schilly's The Houseboy just days before, the best thing about which was the charming Blake Young-Fountain. I wanted to see more of him, and lo and behold, here he is as one of two leads in Kirk Shannon-Butts' directorial debut, Blueprint.

Damion Omar Lee plays Nathan, the brash opposite to Young-Fountain's introverted Keith. Initially its hard to like either character: Keith is uptight and conservative, Nathan rude and crude. But as their journey progresses, the viewer can't help but quickly warm to the polar opposite college boys (mirroring, perhaps, the slow-burning course the boys' relationship takes). By the film's conclusion, we're fully immersed in their story, desperately hoping for a happy ending.

Lee and Young-Fountain carry the film on their shoulders - it's essentially a two-hander - and do so admirably, each slowly betraying their characters' vulnerabilities. Lee is particularly strong, his telephone conversation with his father a particular highlight in his performance.

Blueprint isn't what you might expect it to be. Understated, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, this taut little gem is more than deserving of your attention - and, perhaps, a place in your heart...

(Oh, and the record playing over the closing credits is To The Moon With Uche by Baron. Few things can win a movie buff's undying devotion more than a really smashing closing theme!)

Visit Flickeria to watch Blueprint.

Eduardo Guize interviews Kirk Shannon-Butts.

Blueprint on Facebook.

Blueprint on MySpace Films.

Title quote: "The trick is to love somebody... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently." James Baldwin, American writer, 1924-87.