Issue 265: Dexter Pottinger, Gemmel Moore, DACA, Colin Jackson, Karamo Brown, Simon Webbe, Sean Zevran, and more...

the week's

news

& pop

culture,

with a

gay

bias.

Left &
Found

What happens to black gay activists after forty?

Twenty-one celebrities you didn’t know were patrons of LGBT charities.

The world’s most dangerous Pride demonstrations.

At last men are joining our conversation about toxic masculinity.

I’m black, middle-class and surrounded by crime.

My fellow white people: if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. "Munroe Bergdorf’s assertion that all white people are racist has upset many, but society is skewed in our favour and it is right to acknowledge that."

Whiteness is useless without the nigger. (Ed: direct quotation from Very Smart Brothas.)

Why your grief over a celebrity’s death is real.

Seven truisms creatives will appreciate.

It’s all about Me, Inc – how to get ahead in the age of egonomics. "In a world ruled by social media, online image is the key to success, and now a host of services are springing up to optimise your personal brand – by supplying fake followers, monetising your pets or revealing how to write an Amazon bestseller overnight."

News
America

This is 26-year-old Gemmel Moore (centre), who died in July following a methamphetamine overdose at the home of Democratic Party donor Ed Buck. Buck has been accused by activists of forcibly injecting young men, particularly young black men, with drugs. Now, the L.A. County District Attorney's office has granted immunity to possible witnesses in the investigation...

Meanwhile, Democrats' silence surrounding the death of Moore has sparked outrage.

Henry Amador-Batten, the gay father accused of having his hand "too close" to his son’s genitals, believes racism was at the root of the incident.

Married former Oklahoma senator (and homophobic bigot) Ralph Shortey hit with Federal child porn and sex trafficking charges.

L'Oréal fires trans model Munroe Bergdorf for racist "all white people" are racist post.

Even after trans teen Leo Etherington's suicide, his school refuses to recognise his gender.

Trump's Justice Department supports homophobic baker, claiming he has a First Amendment right to turn away same-sex couples who want wedding cakes.

Equality California files suit against Trump's trans military ban.

Betsy DeVos wants to give rights back to campus rapists.

Long read

The first white President. “The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy.”

Trump promised to put American workers first. He lied. "Proposed cuts to federal agency budgets and changes to employment law benefit only the US president and his cronies."

LGBT groups denounce plan to end DACA.

Obama: Ending DACA "contrary to our spirit, and to common sense".

Why ending DACA is so unprecedented.

Who Trump hurts by ending DACA, explained with a cartoon.

Why Trump's Dreamer nightmare won't go away anytime soon. "Faced with a backlash after his decision to remove protections from 800,000 child migrants, it’s not inconceivable that Trump may reverse position."

Asylum once defined America. Now, it stands imperiled.

They know they can’t win; they just want black and brown people to lose too.

Latinos rebuilt New Orleans after Katrina. Who will rebuild Houston?

All the relief money in the world won't rebuild Houston. Undocumented workers will.

Decade of disaster: a timeline of $1bn extreme weather damage in the US.

State and Federal prisons see drastic drop in HIV rates.

Anti-gay hate groups would like you to stop calling them anti-gay hate groups.

Cleve Jones: this Labor Day, remember unions have our back.

A lesson of Labor Day. "The shared work of the LGBTQ community and the labor movement dates back to the days of Harvey Milk, writes Mary Beth Maxwell of the Human Rights Campaign."

Rainbow lifeguard tower in Venice, California saved, will be "monument to acceptance".

Mayor impeached after announcing ban on straight people.

Man sues Alabama for the right to marry his laptop computer.

Trump voters still oppose marriage equality.

Why Trump keeps doing unpopular things to please his base.

Trump cut a deal with the Democrats. Is a new era upon us?

We need political parties. But their rabid partisanship could destroy American democracy.

How young Americans fell in love with socialism. "Young Americans blame capitalism for crises in housing, healthcare and falling wages. Once demonised, the word ‘socialism’ is back as a new political movement takes root."

The school system is rooted in whiteness in the way it determines who has value and who doesn’t.

Long read

The trials of a Muslim cop. "Bobby Hadid joined the N.Y.P.D. after 9/11, to protect his new country. But when he questioned the force’s tactics, his life began to erode."

American policing is broken. Here’s how to fix it.

Mad Magazine remixes a Norman Rockwell painting for the age of Trump.

Denton, Dallas, gay bar Mable Peabody’s, open since 1979, abruptly shutters.

Canada

Toronto-based group Rainbow Railroad helps thirty-one persecuted Chechen gay men to safety - while Trump stays silent...

...But a Russian diplomat has warned there will be consequences if such actions prove to be true.

Long read

Hanging: the mysterious case of the boy in the barn. Was the 1989 suicide of 10-year-old Joshua Sean Klaver something more?

News
UK

Hate crime against gay and bisexual people in Britain rises by 78 per cent.

Gay men and LGBT people "afraid to hold hands in public", Stonewall survey finds.

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith says people need to be more tolerant of anti-gay marriage views...

...And fellow Tory bigot Jacob Rees-Mogg’s hashtag has been flooded with gay kissing after he announced he was against marriage equality and abortion under any circumstance.

Even LGBT Conservatives think Rees-Mogg "should not be Prime Minister in any circumstances".

Rees-Mogg isn’t old-fashioned, he’s a thoroughly modern bigot. "The MP exploits his portrayal as an eccentric, but the views he espoused on Good Morning Britain show how reactionary he really is."

British Army officials confront homophobia in new Stonewall campaign.

"I was groomed and sexually abused by 30 or 40 men." From the age of 13, "Ben" (not his real name), was groomed and sexually abused by 30 or 40 adult men. It began shortly after he came out as gay on social media.

15-year-old boy jailed for "pure evil" murder of Quamari Serunkuma-Barnes.

19-year-old Joshua Clements jailed for 14 years for knife attacks on two men at Hyde Park.

Four black men die. Did police actions play a part? "They all died after police contact, but none of the officers involved has been suspended, and there are no official accounts of their deaths. Here, we reveal new testimony from bystanders." Clockwise from top left: Edson da Costa, Darren Cumberbatch, Shane Bryant and Rashan Charles, who all died between June and July this year after police contact.

Funeral held for man who died after police stopped him in east London. "Tributes paid to Edson Da Costa, who died six days after being stopped and whose death is being investigated by the IPCC."

Concern over Met police use of spit hoods on black detainees.

Grenfell Tower: All the victims named so far. "Police think the final death toll will be about 80. Only 51 have been named, along with 17 of the missing."

Grenfell Tower: Inquest hearings continue as investigation slows. "Westminster coroner opens and suspends inquests into victims including ‘loving, pure-hearted’ Biruk Haftom, 12."

Grenfell Tower: Just eight out of 173 social housing blocks pass fire safety tests on cladding.

Enough of the patronising myths about the white working-class. "Angry, macho and unemployed: that’s the stereotype. It’s a simplistic narrative that suits British society’s ruling elites very well."

Long read

How the aristocracy preserved their power. "After democracy finally shunted aside hereditary lords, they found new means to protect their extravagant riches. For all the modern tales of noble poverty and leaking ancestral homes, their private wealth and influence remain phenomenal."

The UK’s leading department store, John Lewis, scraps "boys" and "girls" labels from children’s clothing.

Transgender woman selling her virginity to pay for gender reassignment surgery.

Health watchdog says GPs should routinely test for HIV.

Southampton Pride, in pictures.

How a Gambian manhood ceremony helps turn London boys into men. "When Davis Williams went to the Gambia, he saw boys undergoing a formal ceremony celebrating manhood. He now uses the idea to help boys from African and Caribbean families in London."

Northern Ireland
Why doesn’t Northern Ireland have equal marriage yet?

News
World

Ireland

Gay couple attacked, bitten by rabid homophobic gang after kissing.

Germany
The gay porn star who became a Jihadi double agent because he was bored.

Germany
Fairouz in exile. "How hellish could it be after the horrors of Syria? Until Ahmad got to Germany, he could never fathom the warnings from these lucky Syrians in Europe."

Poland

How underground magazines helped liberate gay men in the Cold War.

Romania
The ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) is planning a referendum to block marriage equality.

Why is Bulgaria's population falling off a cliff?

Malta
Marriage equality law finalised.

Venezuela

“There's no hope left in Venezuela,” HIV advocates announce, as empty pharmacy shelves lead to thousands of needless deaths.

Chile

Man left with fifteen stitches in his face after violent homophobic attack.

Jamaica

Dexter Pottinger, "Face of Pride" in Jamaica, found murdered.

To Jamaica’s murdered gay icon Dexter Pottinger. "Remembering the island’s ‘Face of Pride’, someone who boldly and without fear encouraged a community to live out loud."

Israel
Chief Rabbi says gender equality would be worse than Holocaust denial.

Tanzania
Fleet of drones to deliver HIV drugs.

Nigeria

The city that won't stop growing. How can Lagos cope with its spiralling population?

Muslim police arrest seventy youths for "gay" party.

On A Nasty Boy, the new magazine challenging masculinity and femininity. (The BBC also covers this story here.)

The Nigerian boys who wear makeup, wigs and paint their nails.

Ghana
Lesbian gang-raped by five boys on her 14th birthday.

India
The Supreme Court has confirmed an individual’s right to privacy – including sexual orientation – under the country’s constitution.

Student removed from halls for "showing tendencies of being homosexual".

Kd Sajjad Hossain's family forced him to marry; he chose death instead.

Myanmar
On the Rohingya: the Lady’s failings, the military’s crimes.

The brutal, bloody, and ultimately pointless mistreatment of a Muslim minority shames Aung San Suu Kyi.

Australia
The High Court has ruled that the upcoming mail-in vote on marriage equality is legal and will go on as planned.

Ben Rogers and Mark Poidevin are in a long-term relationship - and opposed to marriage equality - but they deny that they are homophobic. “If we make one exception for one community, that being the same-sex couples, where does it stop?” Poidevin says. Really.

Doctors claim they have been "abused" for opposing marriage equality.

Homophobic advert comparing gay people to seat belts sparks outrage.

Australia’s politicians are late to the marriage equality party – but they are finally arriving. "MPs have resisted public opinion on same-sex marriage for a decade. The reasons are complicated, but new research shows they are gradually being won over."

Marriage equality: lots of support but little funding from corporate Australia.

Catholic school students take on homophobic Bishop by covering school crest with rainbows.

Priest claims "all gays should be shot" at memorial for woman who killed herself after struggle with sexuality.

Arena

Colin Jackson: phenomenal athlete who came out at 50. "His 110m hurdles world record stood for a decade but only Jackson knows why saying he was gay took so long."

Pro wrestler Anthony Bowens talks about the stigma and erasure around bisexuality.

College football kicks off season with record-breaking six out players; Xavier Colvin was the latest footballer to come out as gay.

College football: a moneymaking sham where everyone is making millions — except the players.

NFL still a giant as it prepares for new season but storm clouds gather. "The NFL is set to haul in $14bn this year. But the league is beset by racially charged protests, a ratings dip and players brain damaged by the contact sport."

Danish soccer players get rainbow faces to support LGBT equality.

Heritier Lumumba hits out: "The AFL is incompetent in dealing with racism."

Familiar whiff of corruption continues to taint Olympic Games. "Investigations in France and Brazil offer hope that IOC members may be targeted and Tokyo’s bid for 2020 is likely to be scrutinised."

Art +
Design

BlackOut UK launches BlackGaySlay; "a series of photos and interviews with Black Gay Men who make an impact".

The creatives redefining black masculinity.

The Jean-Michel Basquiat I knew. "The graffiti artist turned painter became the star of the 1980s New York art scene. Since his death aged 27, his reputation has soared. On the eve of a major UK show, we speak to those who knew him best."

Nova building crowned UK's ugliest. "Worthy winner of Carbuncle Cup, £380m complex outside Victoria station embodies overblown ‘crystalline’ lumps in vogue on drawing boards a decade ago."

Word!

Interview

Talking to Rob Smith about his new memoir, Confessions of a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Soldier.

James Wharton - one of the first openly gay men in the British army - on his new book Something for the Weekend: Life in the Chemsex Underworld.

Chicago library keeps gay children’s book on the shelves after backlash.

Free libraries are "instruments of culture". (September 1910)

Read
An excerpt from Mark Fleishman's upcoming memoir, Inside Studio 54, in which the nightclub's former owner gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the infamous New York party palace.

Review

The Clothesline Swing, by Ahmad Danny Ramadan. "The hardships that gay Syrian refugees experience... culturally significant and important."

Review

Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever: The Completely Ridiculous Edition, by Tom Neely. "Well worth your time. The collection displays an astounding amount of diverse work, and just about every reader will find something to giggle at in the goofy and loveable relationship of Henry and Glenn."

They made a children's book out of Die Hard.

The Advocate, Out, Pride, Plus, LGBT.com are all under new ownership.

Marvel's Iceman finally comes out and that's just the beginning.

On the rag: your guide to the gay weeklies.

Shouting
At Night

Angels in America to be revived on Broadway with Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.

What can Angels in America teach us about the marriage equality debate?

On 9 Grams, Maisha Yearwood's new play about what it was like for a black lesbian in a Turkish prison.

Film
Forever

Watch
On Survival Sex, Ukachi Arinzeh's new drama about 17-year-old Caleb Carter's (played by Tre Summers) fight for survival on the streets of New York.

Watch
Practice, the new short film about a 17-year old ballet dancer from Pretoria, starring Leroy Mokgatle.

Here's Mr. Robot's Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, the forthcoming biopic directed by Bryan Singer.

Finland selects Tom of Finland for best foreign-language film Oscar consideration.

Rotten Tomatoes, explained. "Does a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score affect its box office returns? And six other questions, answered."

Why Hollywood keeps making the same kinds of movies, in one chart.

Why Hollywood's cinematic universes are on the way out.

The terrific and terrible summer 2017 movie season, explained.

Seventeen LGBT movies to see at the Toronto Film Festival...

...And what you need to see at the BFI London Film Festival 2017.

Review

Saturday Church. "Writer-director Damon Cardrasis refreshes the queer coming-of-age tale with style, tenderness and some terrific music."

Review

It. "A superb Stephen King adaptation fueled less by scary clowns than by real-life evil The new film adaptation... exposes the dark rotting heart of 2017."

Watch

The Consistent Slay, a short film by five queer black men.

Watch
Here's the trailer for Screwed, in which 17-year-olds Miku and Elias find themselves, and each other, during a summer in the Finnish countryside.

The
Box

Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts unleashes vile homophobic, transphobic Twitter rant.

Artist Juan Ortiz has created posters for every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Twenty-seven must-see TV shows for LGBT viewers in 2017's autumn season.

The Will & Grace revival isn't just nostalgia, it's necessity.

Interview

Talking to Karamo Brown. “Hollywood at the bottom of it, is about money. So if you don’t like or don’t appreciate the fact that you’re not being represented, we need to stop watching and supporting things. And I think we’ve gotten complacent. You know, why [are] there not more LGBT reality show contestants? And why are you just watching all these shows and not saying, ‘Where am I?’ Why are there not more LGBTQ pop stars? You support Beyoncé, Madonna, everyone else, but we’re not lifting up our own. Music companies, TV executives — are not going to lift us up until we start demanding that.”

Can Facebook take on Netflix with its first season of original shows?

Watch
Narcos airs hot, dangerous, barrier-breaking gay scene.

Narcos season three finally gets a frustrating show on track.

Narcos season three and the lies we tell about the drugs war. "In popular culture the war on drugs is seen as us versus them, good versus bad, legal versus illegal. So why do our banks launder cartel drug money?"

Why the messy and uncomfortably real Insecure is getting harder and harder to watch.

Power is an escape fantasy for people of colour.

When good TV goes bad: how Prison Break absconded from reality. "The show was far-fetched from the beginning, but things got truly silly when it adopted a willy-nilly approach to the mortality of its central characters."

Twenty years later, Ally McBeal's queer legalese doesn't always go down easy.

Moonlight's Mahershala Ali to star as an Ozark cop in True Detective's third season.

Twin Peaks: [It] "was the culmination of Lynch’s life’s work. But its last, weary moments were surely proof that he’s bowing out on us."

Twin Peaks was the only TV show that made sense this summer.

Twin Peaks: the apex of TV as art, and the only show that chimes with our times. "With his bewildering masterwork, David Lynch has created television that makes perfect sense in an age where nuclear war via Twitter feels ever more possible."

Watch
Here's the latest episode of TRADE, back for a second season; new miniseries Trading Secrets: Jayden and Jamil; more of Love@FirstNight and About Him; the trailer for new series Ghosts of Fort Greene (starring Bry'nt); and a new episode of The Come Up.

Beats, Rhymes
& Life

Why is it so hard for queer rappers to find commercial success? Mykki Blanco, Cakes Da Killa and iLoveMakonnen on hip-hop's growing pains.

Todrick Hall slams backlash over appearance in Taylor Swift video.

This is MRSHLL, South Korea's first openly gay K-Pop artist.

Review

George Michael's new single Fantasy – a rework full of sex, funk and fabulousness. "The first new music since the artist died last year turns out not to be completely new after all – but Nile Rodgers gives pep and freshness to 1990 B-side Fantasy."

Jay-Z’s mother has explained how she came out to him as gay.

Simon Webbe opens up about depression, suicide and Duncan James coming out.

Grime MC Stormzy brands British Prime Minister Theresa May a “paigon”.

The great rock ‘n’ roll swindle. "From The Beatles to Wham! legal wrangles between artists and record companies have been part of the music business." (September 1986)

Why more pop songs should end with a fade out.

Red Light
District

All the free porn you watch is destroying the industry.

Tayte Hanson: Having body dysmorphia in gay porn is a nightmare. "When I entered the adult industry, the warped sense of self I already felt was magnified more than I'd ever imagined possible."

Tyler Sky, the porn star, is dead. He was 26.

Sean Zevran and bendy bottom Beaux Banks do it.

Ashton Summers and Joey Mills do it.

Don't you hate when porn stars change their names? Well, Corbin Fisher’s Colt has returned to gay porn as Calvin Chambers.

Dante Martin gets creampied by a man mourning the death of his father.

Of course Men already made a Right In Front Of My Salad sequel.

The trouble with Ryan Rose.

The White Party, in pictures.

Ghetto
Romance

How to have anal sex.

Fifteen lessons in love this gay man learned from kink.

Five things I learned from dating a bi guy.

The messy science of wet dreams.

Hell's
Kitchen

Boffins have invented millennial pink chocolate.

I ate wasps and scorpions at New York's first bug eating festival.

Rag
Trade

Why does Steve Bannon wear all his shirts at once?

VFiles streetwear spectacular, in pictures.

The second coming of Abercrombie & Fitch. "The once-mighty, desire-slinging teen brand has faltered in an age of wokeness and social media. Can a new creative team change that?"

Iconic A&F Quarterly covers, in pictures.

Betta
Work!

Meeting the McStrikers at McDonald's first ever UK strike.

Poverty, illness, homelessness – no wonder McDonald’s UK workers are going on strike. "Staff are fighting for £10 an hour. The boss earns £5,684 in the same time. Now employees like Tyrone are saying they’ve had enough."

All power to the McDonald’s strikers. Young people can’t live like this. "The workers striking in Cambridge and Crayford are standing up to a system that too often forces young people into a life of low pay and chronic insecurity."

If the McDonald’s strikers’ demands are met, it will be a victory for all. "We need to stand up for those who dare to fight for decent pay. Anger towards them is self-destructive."

In praise of idleness. Bertrand Russell on the merits of working less. (October 1932)

I Own 51% Of
This Company!

Is buying online from China a good idea? "At AliExpress you can get an iPhone case for 86p or a smartwatch for £10. But beware the pitfalls when shopping overseas."

Tomorrow's
World

"Vandalism of a graveyard": hundreds of Instagram posts remembering the lives lost in the AIDS epidemic deleted.

This tweet about gay culture and coming out is hitting home for a lot of people.

Facebook sold $100,000 in ads to Russians seeking to influence the US election.

The five stages of an internet shaming.

Every valid reason to unfollow someone on social media.

Médecins Sans Frontières

Why gay teens should take PrEP.

Watch
Video pits HIV stigma and PrEP prevention head to head in WWF-style smackdown.

Learning to forgive yourself for a HIV diagnosis.

Long read
How science found a way to help coma patients communicate. "After suffering serious brain injuries, Scott Routley spent 12 years in a vegetative state. But his family were convinced that he was still aware – could a pioneering ‘mind-reading’ technique prove them right?"

Could lithium in tap water cut dementia?

Antidepressants work, so why do we shame people for taking them?

Pains and needles: brain scans point to hidden effects of acupuncture.

Planet
Earth

Melting permafrost in the Arctic is unlocking diseases and warping the landscape.

The unprecedented drought that's crippling Montana and North Dakota. "It came without warning, and without equivalent. Now a flash drought is fueling fires and hurting the lives of those who work the land."

Is urban sprawl as much to blame as climate change?

Disaster aversion. "The quest to control hurricanes." (October 2009)

On plastic: learning to love it wisely. "It chokes our oceans, is strewn across our landscapes, and is found in our drinking water. We do not need to stop using plastic, but to learn to value it more highly."

The week in wildlife, in pictures.

Planes, Trains
& Automobiles

London’s newest museum – the Postal and Mail Rail - opens to the public.

The ninety second railway: making the Victoria the most frequent metro in the world.

What a geographically accurate New York City subway map looks like.

L.A. — the city of traffic jams — finds a way to get people out of their cars...

...But bus service has declined as rail expands. "Given the tens of billions of dollars that L.A. will spend on transit over the next few decades, it's all the more important to invest it in ways that will be useful and attract riders. But since 2014, ridership has been dropping."

The most anticipated transit projects opening in time for the 2028 LA Olympics.

And
This...

Watch postcards of mid-century resorts transform into their abandoned ruins.

And finally, Walter talks about the death of Gemmel Moore; Jontavion and Brandon up to no good; Andrew struggles; and King Neutral on dating DL dudes...

Issue 265: 1-7 September 2017

On the cover: Dexter Pottinger.

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Postcript

"You know, we might just as well not have

bothered to come. The whole thing's been ridiculous."