Civil Unions Begin in Chile
Today marks a historical day for Chile as the nation’s civil union law comes into force.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/civil-unions-begin-in-chile?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Daily Archives: October 22, 2015
Sam Smith Applies To Be The Gay Community’s Official Spokesperson
Sam Smith Applies To Be The Gay Community’s Official Spokesperson
I want to be a spokesperson. I want to be a figure in the gay community, who speaks for gay men. I sell records in countries where gay men get killed and that’s a big thing for me, because maybe one person in that country will pick up my album, realize it’s by a gay artist, and it might change their opinion…
I’m a gay man who came out when I was 10 years old, and there’s nothing in my life that I’m prouder of…. I didn’t want the album to appeal to just one community, I wanted it to appeal to all of them. I wanted anyone, gay or straight, to be able to relate to me singing about men, like I was able to relate to Stevie Wonder or John Legend singing about girls.”
— Singer Sam Smith, who in 2014 stated that he “wasn’t trying to be a spokesperson” for the gay community, has consciously revised his stance in a new interview with NME
Jeremy Kinser
The OXD Mirror: New Order and Hot Chip Get ‘Frutti’
The OXD Mirror: New Order and Hot Chip Get ‘Frutti’
by There’s something to be said for a band that’s been together for 35 years (for the most part, minus a few breakups here and there). New Order, known best for hits like ‘Blue Monday’ and “Bizarre Love Triangle,’ helped define a signature 80’s new wave sound, paving the way for other artists to embrace this genre and evolve it over the years, including modern day acts like Interpol and The Killers.
Last month they released their 10th studio album, Music Complete, the band’s first album without former bassist Peter Hook. The album includes the single ‘Tutti Frutti,’ which features vocals from La Roux‘s Elly Jackson. The song gets a remix treatment by Hot Chip, who just this past week debuted a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’. Hot Chip’s remix nearly doubles the song’s length, which is given a whole new life as a winding journey, marrying elements of New Order’s traditional sound with Hot Chip’s innovative approach to electronic music.
- If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’ll know that the three of us are big fans of Brooklyn’s 27-piece disco outfit Escort. Lead singer Adeline Michèle, who also happens to be the bass player on the Meredith Vieira Show, dropped her single ‘Redo’ back in February. The upbeat, R&B track shows off Michèle’s vocal chops while adding in bits and pieces of the disco sounds we’re used to hearing from her as part of Escort. The track was produced by Razor & Tape’s JKriv, who also contributes a deeper, extended version as part of the remix EP that dropped last week.
- In 1998, DJ Dozia released ‘Pop Culture’, which has remained a standout deep house track track since its release 17 years ago. Usually I’d agree “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” however some of today’s most influential producers like Joris Voorn, KiNK, and Phil Weeks have done a great job at reinventing this classic.
- Till Von Sein‘s soulful ‘It’s All In The Spirit’ features vocals from Russoul and premiered last week on the aptly named Suol records. Tanner Ross gives the song his signature haunting, deep treatment on this remix featured here, also out this week.
- Situation‘s ‘Get To Know Me’ gets a breezy, disco remix by Hot Toddy that’s making me yearn for summer yet again.
- We may have lost house music legend Frankie Knuckles in 2014, but his music continues to live on. His friend and colleague David Morales has commissioned some new mixes of his Director’s Cut track ‘Boyz!’, featuring Jamie Principle, on his Def Mix label. Farley and Heller contribute a slick dub remix to this vinyl release, which also includes a remix by Morales himself.
- I first stumbled upon Bristol’s Applebottom purely out of curiosity for his chosen artistic name (and its similarity to my last name). He got his start doing some really cool bassed-out edits of some catalogue hits, like Liberty X‘s ‘Just A Little Bit‘. ‘Bottom (see what I did there?) has shown he’s more than a one-trick pony, with his latest original track, ‘Resolute,’ getting the attention of BBC’s Annie Mac.
This Weekend in NYC: Night Fever at The303
This Saturday night, Occupy The Disco’s monthly residency at The303, Night Fever, returns for another go-round at SoHo’s best subterranean dance den. We’ll be spinning plenty of house, disco and techno tunes, many of which you hear right here on our weekly Towleroad column. Admission is always free, so come down and dance with your fellow Towleroad readers! 10P-4A at the303 @ Louie & Chan, 303 Broome St.
OCCUPY THE DISCO (OXD) is a gay, New York City-based DJ collective who got their start curating alternative night life and music events for the LGBT community. The OXD Mirror serves to showcase house, disco and techno tunes that are definitely off-the-beaten-path but rightfully deserve the attention of the gay ear.
Check out these tracks and more on our Soundcloud. For more information on OXD, visit our website at www.occupythedisco.com, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter/Instagram: @OccupyTheDisco.
The post The OXD Mirror: New Order and Hot Chip Get ‘Frutti’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Occupy the Disco
The Dos and Don'ts of Discussing HIV
The Dos and Don'ts of Discussing HIV
With HIV diagnoses up by 132.5 percent among young gay and bisexual men since the 21st century began, it has never been more evident that conversations about HIV among young people are painfully needed. And the best way for these discussions to begin is by empowering newly HIV-positive folks to use their voices to bring awareness to the communities they occupy. This, however, is easier said than done for many living with the virus due to the fear of being stigmatized for being HIV-positive by their family and friends. In order to foster an environment where people living with HIV feel comfortable talking about their experiences, here is a list of things you should never say to someone with HIV, and some helpful alternatives you may want to ask.
Don’t Ask: Have you learned your lesson?
This type of question is exactly the reason why people are afraid to talk about HIV in the first place. HIV isn’t a punishment and no one deserves to contract it. So quit talking about it like it is a consequence of being a bad person.
Do Ask: How are you handling it?
This will give your friend the opportunity to elaborate on the feelings he or she is going through. This is your opportunity to learn how they are dealing with the shame and self-stigma that they might be experiencing. This is also where you can learn how to affirm your friend in the way he or she needs at that time.
Don’t Ask: Who did you get it from?
Chances are they got it from someone they had sex with … duh. Don’t be rude by asking a person who is opening up to you about details that they may or may not be sure of. Instead, ask them how they are feeling. If your friend is comfortable talking about the details of transmission, they will bring it up on their own.
Do Ask: How long have you been dealing with this?
This provides a chance for you to learn how long your friend has been living with HIV without any support. Try following up with questions about who else he or she has confided in so you can possibly help with facilitating more opportunities for your friend to disclose their status in a safe and stigma-free environment.
Don’t Ask: (If they are in a relationship) Is your boyfriend or girlfriend HIV-positive as well?
Although you may be surprised, this is irrelevant to the conversation. Your friend is revealing his or her status, but it is not his or her place to reveal someone else’s. Don’t put them in an awkward situation of having to disclose their partner’s status if they aren’t comfortable doing so.
Do Ask: How are you protecting yourself from transmitting?
It is OK to be concerned about the health and safety of your friend, and that includes his or her risk of transmitting the virus to someone else. But make sure you do so in a way that doesn’t assume that they aren’t being safe. This question will give your friend the opportunity to share with you their safe sex practices and will allow you to lend your insight to the conversation without a judgmental tone.
Don’t Ask: Will you get AIDS?
Chances are, your friend will not be diagnosed with AIDS, which is merely a term used to classify the advanced stages of HIV. The term “AIDS” was created when HIV medications where not as effective as they are now. When a person’s T-cell count would dip below 200, they would receive an AIDS diagnosis, which meant that their body’s immune system was now vulnerable to opportunistic infections that could be fatal. The management of HIV has drastically changed since these days of AIDS, so you can wipe the term from your vocabulary.
Do Ask: How are you doing with your treatment?
A person who is diagnosed with HIV today can now expect to live a normal lifespan, but only if they enter treatment and stay on their medication. Unfortunately, only 30 percent of people living with HIV are properly managing their health, which often means as little as quarterly doctor’s visits and taking one pill a day. Make sure your friend is taking care of himself or herself properly and encourage them to invest in their health if they need it.
TYLER CURRY is an activist and the author of A Peacock Among Pigeons, a new children’s book that celebrates diversity. Get your copy at www.apeacockamongpigeons.com.
Tyler Curry
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/10/22/dos-and-donts-discussing-hiv
Eating Disorders Are Rampant in Gay Men and These Are 5 Things We Can Do to Help
Eating Disorders Are Rampant in Gay Men and These Are 5 Things We Can Do to Help
When I came out of the closet at the age of 20, my body had already been through a lot.
In middle school, I was teased for having a “girl’s body.” Not only was I overweight, but also, I was biracial. The result was a body type that was easy fodder for my classmates: My ass was huge. My chest was swollen into “man boobs.” My face was round and full.
I learned to be ashamed of every step I took, to apologize for taking up space, to flinch whenever someone looked at me for too long.
Eventually, I got sick of being made fun of. I made the radical decision to starve myself.
If I ate too much, I threw it up. If I skipped a day of exercise, I punished myself twice as much the next day. If my body ached, if it was in pain, if it was begging for nourishment, I didn’t care — I wanted to look “normal.”
In all, I shed over 100 pounds.
But it didn’t matter. I was still trapped in my body.
We celebrate “coming out” as an act of personal liberation. And when I finally did, it’s true, a lot of things got better for me.
My eating disorder was not one of them.
When I came out, my mental health was fragile. I was dysmorphic, bulimic and eager to seek out validation for a body I had been conditioned to hate.
But validation wasn’t what I found. Instead, I found an environment where my body was even more inadequate than I had previously imagined.
I found a community full of damaged people like myself, people who, like me, were torturing themselves to conform to a very rigid definition of beauty. I found a community where only a select few body types were considered to be ideal.
I found a community that was sick like me.
Gay and bisexual men are 7 times more likely to binge and 12 times more likely to purge than heterosexual men. Despite making up 5 percent of the male population, some 42 percent of men with eating disorders are gay.
It’s clear we have a problem.
Here are five ways we can help.
1. Diversify the representation of bodies in gay media.
When we open up the gay male standard of beauty, we take a positive step for our community’s mental health.
How often do we need to see the same white, chiseled body upheld as the paragon of attractiveness? Why, when our community has so much diversity to pull from?
Not only is this lazy, but in a community with such staggeringly high rates of eating disorders, it’s also irresponsible.
Gay media should be taking the lead on this. Instead of heaping praise on just one kind of body, why not put a spotlight on people of different body types and ethnicities?
No matter your race, no matter what kind of body you have and even if you fit the profile of the Adonis that is typically featured in our media, affirming different kinds of beauty will take some pressure off all gay men trying to change themselves to look “sexy.”
It’s such a simple step, but we’re doing a terrible job at taking it.
2. Make mental health a priority in the gay community.
I’m proud of how the gay community is championing issues like HIV/AIDS awareness and challenging the stigmas associated with it.
But we need more campaigns tackling mental health in the gay community.
Beyond body image issues, gay men are also much more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Many suffer from PTSD and substance abuse.
We should be doing everything we can to tackle the mental health crisis that has plagued our community.
Body dysmorphia, eating disorders and bulimia are all issues that therapy can assist in treating. In my experience, group therapy can be especially effective. We need to be pushing for mental healthcare access for LGBT people and pushing for more gay men to seek treatment.
3. Normalize getting treatment for mental illnesses.
The above being said, there remains a stigma for people across all demographics in seeking mental healthcare.
And yet, one of my favorite things about being a part of the gay community is how we, when we put our minds to it, reject societal stigma and find empowerment. This is the essence of Pride.
So what we need to do, then, is be leaders on this issue.
Normalize seeing a therapist. Normalize talking about mental illness. Normalize getting help.
4. Tackle internalized homophobia.
Toxic masculinity plays a huge role in keeping men, both gay and straight, from admitting they have an eating disorder.
Many gay men are afraid of being associated with femininity for doing so, or they still believe mental illnesses aren’t real and that they should just suck it up.
This creates a perfect storm for gay men suffering from eating disorders: the male gaze puts the pressure on them to look a certain way, but masculinity dictates that they not seek help.
What we can all do to tackle this problem is deconstruct the rigid concept of masculinity and the internalized homophobia that stigmatizes eating disorders as “effeminate” and that perceives femininity as a weakness.
5. Validate each other.
This is probably the simplest thing we can do for each other.
I love being gay. I love being in the gay community. It has given me some of the most amazing friends and experiences of my life. But we can do better in validating each other.
It seems like we are quick to dismiss gay men we see as unattractive, quick to write people off if they don’t look a certain way, quick to judge someone on their appearances.
What we should be doing is creating an environment where people can be attractive in different ways. We should be building each other up, celebrating our differences and taking a critical eye to some of the attributes we hold to be positive — gaunt features, bulging muscles, etc.
None of this is a critique on the men we do celebrate. More power to them.
All I’m saying is, gay men, we have a challenge facing our community.
Let’s start working on solutions.
Also on HuffPost:
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Open Question: Lesbian and Gay Men questions?
Open Question: Lesbian and Gay Men questions?
I am just curious because I have decided to plan to join an LGBT Society. I am straight just in case. Here are the questions:
1. When did you realize you were gay/lesbian?
2. Who is your lesbian/gay hero?
3. Who does the house work?
4. Are you in a loving relationship right now?
5. Have you ever dumped your ex because you found out you were gay/lesbian? (My ex did)
6. Lesbians only: When you see a woman, where do you look first; Boobs, Face, Butt, Legs?
7. Gay men only: When you see a man, where do you look first; Chest, Face, *down there*, Body?
8. How did your parents react when you told them you were gay/lesbian?
9. Since women are always right, how do you sort out an argument? *lesbians only*
10. What do you have against the opposite sex?
11. Have you ever fell in love with a straight?
12. Have you dated bisexuals?
13. Have you done BDSM?
14. Why do most people hate gays and lesbians so much? Aren’t you cool guys HUMANS too?
15. Gay men only: do you ever find women attractive?
16. Gay men only: do you like breasts? Just asking, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to?
17. Lesbians: Why do men fetishize lesbians so much?
18. Gay men: How do straight guys often react towards U
Additional question *Lesbians*: The other day my good lesbian friend came up to me and told me that she loved me. I was flattered until she told me she meant it in a different way. I didn’t know what to say but I just said thanks. Now she is moving on to me even though she knows I am straight.
Olympic Freeskier Comes Out as Gay
Olympic Freeskier Comes Out as Gay
U.S. Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy came out as gay in this month’s edition of ESPN The Magazine.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/olympic-freeskier-comes-out-as-gay?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Caitlyn Jenner’s ‘I Am Cait’ renewed for second season
Caitlyn Jenner’s ‘I Am Cait’ renewed for second season
“I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation,” Jenner said in a press release about the news.
Derrick Bryson Taylor
First Look At Disney Star Garrett Clayton As Brent Corrigan In James Franco’s Gay Biopic
First Look At Disney Star Garrett Clayton As Brent Corrigan In James Franco’s Gay Biopic
There’s been some clever Insta-marketing generating conversation around James Franco’s gay project du jour, King Cobra.
The latest on-set share? Why it’s none other than ex-Disney Channel star Garrett Clayton showing off his booty shorts as Brent Corrigan.
Here’s the photo Garrett shared:
A photo posted by Garrett Clayton (@garrettclayton1) on
The film tells the story of murdered gay porn producer Bryan Kocis’ at the hands of two of his stars, Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, in 2007. Then-underage Corrigan found himself wrapped up in a turf war between rivaling studios, which ultimately contributed to the vicious crime.
Related: “Pretty Little Liars” Star Joins Gay Porn Murder Flick, Strips Down To Nasty Pigs With James Franco
In a statement on Facebook, Corrigan wrote, “I was originally approached to be a part of the film as a consultant and the cast. I was asked to play a small part in the film and declined the role.”
Here’s how Clayton stacks up to Corrigan even without those consulting fees:
Dan Tracer
Sam Smith: ‘I Want to Be a Figure in the Gay Community’
Sam Smith: ‘I Want to Be a Figure in the Gay Community’
Sam Smith tells NME in a cover story this week that “there’s nothing in [his] life that [he’s] prouder of” than being a gay man and he hopes to be a voice for acceptance internationally:
“I want to be a spokesperson. I want to be a figure in the gay community, who speaks for gay men. I sell records in countries where gay men get killed and that’s a big thing for me, because maybe one person in that country will pick up my album, realise it’s by a gay artist, and it might change their opinion.”
In 2014, Smith’s position on that was a bit different. He said he was not interested in being a spokesman for the gay community.
He explains:
“What I was trying to say was that I didn’t want the album to appeal to just one community, I wanted it to appeal to all of them. I wanted anyone, gay or straight, to be able to relate to me singing about men, like I was able to relate to Stevie Wonder or John Legend singing about girls.”
PREVIOUSLY: Sam Smith Says He’s Not Interested in Being a ‘Spokesperson’ for the Gay Community
The post Sam Smith: ‘I Want to Be a Figure in the Gay Community’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
