A Wedding Magazine For ‘Upscale’ Gay Men Is Coming To Make You Feel Worse About Being Single

A Wedding Magazine For ‘Upscale’ Gay Men Is Coming To Make You Feel Worse About Being Single

 

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A new magazine catering exclusively to gay guys getting married is coming, pushing single gays all closer into the anxiety ridden ‘why am I not married’ phase that was previously exclusively relegated to single straight women.

Damn equality.

It’s called Groom and Guy (cute), and it’s unabashedly targeted at the “upscale gay wedding market.” Because, yes, that’s a thing.

The magazine is coming straight outta Sydney, and The Sydney Morning Herald has the scoop:

The first edition of Groom and Guy will be available in more than 1200 newsagents and stores on Thursday and features eight real wedding stories, and sections on fashion, honeymoons, tailoring and entertaining. Unashamedly aimed at high-end grooms, the magazine targets couples who are earning “$100,000 plus”.

OK, it’s more than a little barf-worthy, but still kinda adorable, especially if you’re in the market for this kinda thing.

Founder Matty Bulger told the Herald the magazine fills a niche for gay couples, who are generally both hands-on when it comes to wedding planning:

Mr Bulger believed gay wedding planning was a more egalitarian process than heterosexual weddings, where the bride tends to make most of the arrangements.

“With a gay couple generally it’s very heavily dictated by both of them and that’s a challenge in itself – how do they get what they both want and be happy with the day,” he said.

Groom and Guy will be published quarterly. You can pre-order the first issue here or find it when it hits newsstands across the world on June 2nd.

Related: Before He Married His Wife, This Groom Cuddled Hard With His Best Man

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LGBT Superheroes Brought to Life in Stunning New Trailer – WATCH

LGBT Superheroes Brought to Life in Stunning New Trailer – WATCH

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If you want to #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend or are an LGBT fan of comics hoping for more LGBT representation in comics, you’ll likely enjoy a new video that imagines what would happen if major movie studios portrayed openly LGBT superheroes.

Director Mike Buonaiuto created a video titled #LGBTSuperheroes which urges studios to “stick to the script” when it comes to the sexual identities of some famous superheroes.

Writes Buonaiuto on YouTube,

Iceman, Mystique, Catwoman & many others are LGBT in the comic books but appear as straight on screen.  It’s time all superheroes were accurately portrayed.

Buonaiuto says that the video was in part inspired by the #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend campaign.

I saw #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend @thewntersoIdier! So thought you’d like t.co/qFwcwRM1ai launching today😊 pic.twitter.com/5S8BCQqT3p

— Mike Buonaiuto (@videographer88) May 31, 2016

mikeBuonaiuto told Mashable, 

“Growing up I used to love characters like Iceman, Mystique and Catwoman, but never realised they were originally written as LGBT in the comic books and therefore affectively stripped of their sexuality when they hit the big screen.”

“It’s such a shame because when I was ‘coming out’ as, having positive icons and role models of LGBT people in mass media would have be a huge confidence boost to myself and millions of others who look up to characters such as superheroes.”

According to Buonaiuto, video will be physically delivered to Marvel and DC studios wth accompanying web analytics.

Watch the video, below.

Also check out a behind the scenes making of video, below.

The post LGBT Superheroes Brought to Life in Stunning New Trailer – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.



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TurnOUT! NC Teams Up with NoH8 Campaign To Repeal HB2

TurnOUT! NC Teams Up with NoH8 Campaign To Repeal HB2

This past Sunday, TurnOUT! North Carolina (NC) teamed up with the NoH8 campaign in Charlotte to talk with voters about the dangers of the discriminatory HB2 and the need for full repeal.

NoH8, which promotes marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest, joined TurnOUT! NC for a photoshoot to spread awareness and engage Charlotteans in the efforts to repeal HB2. Founder, Adam Bouska and Co-Founder, Jeff Parshley, spoke about the importance of bringing the NoH8 to the Tar Heel State.

Since the North Carolina legislature passed the dangerous HB2 in March, nearly a dozen HRC staff as part of the TurnOUT! NC project have been on the ground mobilizing pro-equality supporters and talking with voters about  the dangerous implications of this harmful legislation.

HB2 threatens LGBT North Carolinians and puts the state at risk of losing millions of dollars in education funding. Further, the law has had a severe economic impact on the state – resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs, cancellation of conventions, concerts and more. Sunday’s photoshoot was a way for Charlotteans to publicly and proudly say “NoH8 in My State, it’s time to Repeal HB2.”

TurnOUT! NC is working to mobilize thousands of pro-equality North Carolinians to speak out for full repeal of HB2. TurnOUT! NC has field organizers based in Asheville, Charlotte and the Triangle area. Additionally, HRC staff is on the ground working with coalition partners across the Tar Heel State. There are daily opportunities to volunteer with weekly phonebanks and weekend canvassing opportunities.

If you live in North Carolina and want to join the efforts to repeal HB2, RSVP for upcoming phone banks and volunteer opportunities. For more information about our work in North Carolina, contact HRC Associate Regional Field Director Ryan Rowe at [email protected].

TurnOut! North Carolina; HB2; NoH8 CampaignHRC Field Organizer, Hope Jackson and NoH8 Participants Dayle and Elizabeth

TurnOut! North Carolina; NoH8 Campaign; HB2
NoH8 Participants, Dayle and Elizabeth want full repeal of HB 2!

NoH8 Campaign; HB2; TurnOut! North Carolina
HRC Regional Field Organizer, Hope Jackson and her partner, Adrienne, photobombed by NoH8 Co-Founder, Jeff Parshley. 

www.hrc.org/blog/turnout-nc-teams-up-with-noh8-campaign-to-repeal-hb2?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

HRC Mourns Amos Beede

HRC Mourns Amos Beede

Amos Beede, a transgender man, died Sunday after he was attacked at a homeless encampment in Vermont last week.

The investigation to find the perpetrators is ongoing. Beede was 38-years-old.

“The department has not ruled out the victim’s transgender status as a possible additional motive, and will seek to determine what role if any it may have played as the investigation continues,” Police Chief Brandon del Pozo told the Burlington Free Press. “Until the attendant facts are clarified, we will continue to view this homicide as a possible bias incident. We will release further information as it develops.”

Transgender people, and transgender women of color in particular, face disproportionate levels of fatal violence. At least 10 other transgender people have been killed this year, and several others have died under unclear circumstances.

HRC extends our sincere condolences to Beede’s friends and family.

For more information on addressing anti-transgender violence, visit hrc.org/trans-violence.

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‘Dangerous When Wet’ Author On Alcoholism, HIV And The Bond Between Gay Sons And Their Mothers

‘Dangerous When Wet’ Author On Alcoholism, HIV And The Bond Between Gay Sons And Their Mothers

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Memoir Dangerous When Wet is a wild and witty ride from author Jamie Brickhouse, where he details his struggle with alcoholism, living in the ’90s heyday of gay NYC and dealing with his mother, the headstrong Mama Jean.

Dangerous When Wet is newly out in paperback, and we caught up with Brickhouse to talk about the gay man/mother relationship, meeting his partner of 25 years after a cruising park hookup and how gay life has changed for the younger generation.

QUEERTY: How do you think a younger gay audience can relate to Dangerous When Wet?

BRICKHOUSE: First of all, I think that the story of my relationship with my mother Mama Jean is universal no matter what age you are, whether you’re 50 or 15, that the parent/child relationship is universal, that the mother/son relationship is universal, and that the mother/gay son relationship is universal. Though my mother was what some consider to be a stereotypical “gay” mother, dominant, overbearing, but certainly that type of mother will always exist, and the common dynamic between mothers of gay sons. I think they can certainly relate to that story whether it happened to someone their age or to someone a generation or two ahead of them.

 

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Brickhouse and Mama Jean in New York City

Why do you think so many gay men are close to their mothers, or that that’s such a strong relationship?

First of all, I believe that gay men and straight women have a natural affinity for each other, and I think that dynamic starts with the mother. I think that for many gay men, their mothers are their first fag hags. Because I think gay men are in touch with the feminine sides of ourselves, and we’re in tune with that with our mothers in a way that a straight son is not and in a different way that a straight daughter would not be.

You deal with alcoholism and promiscuity. Why do you think these things are still a problem among gay men?

I think that for a lot of gay men, part of being gay is part of being “fabulous and sophisticated” and glamorous, and a lot of times people perceive alcohol and drugs as being a part of that sophistication and glamour, which continues to prevail in the gay world as it did time immemorial. In the old days before the pickup apps, booze was a problem because most gay men went to bars to meet each other, that was just where you had to go, so there was that drinking culture that was ingrained in the gay world.

Certainly gay bars are still prevalent and popular, but you don’t need them anymore to find gay men whether it be for sex or boyfriends or companionship. But still, the alcohol and drug culture continues to prevail with the party circuit, which is drug infused. So I think we still continue to glamorize and fetishize alcohol and drugs as something that makes life fun, and it certainly can. For some people, alcoholics and addicts who can’t handle it, there’s the feeling that you need it to have fun and to be sophisticated and glamourous. I think that’s just the way it’s sold in the gay world today.

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Brickhouse at age 22

How was New York in the 90’s? How have things changed or stayed the same?

When I came here in 1990, Times Square was still the crossroads of Broadway and sleaze, and the Gaiety which was a legendary all male, all nude strip club right near Times Square. So I came here when Times Square was still Times Square. And the crime rate was at an all time high, so there was still this grittiness to New York. It was like a hangover from the 70’s which I loved. Also, the gayborhood was Chelsea. It was the new gay neighborhood.

At that point, Chelsea was just starting to become the gay hub, having moved from the West Village, now it’s Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea is pretty much the Upper West Side, there are almost no gay bars left. And you could still pick up people on the street. I miss that! It just doesn’t happen anymore, or maybe it’s because I’m too old and nobody wants to pick me up on the street, I don’t know, but this was before the apps. I feel like New York isn’t as cruisy in public spaces as it used to be because now everyone does their cruising behind the veil of Grindr, Scruff, Growlr, or pick your app of choice.

OK, so how do you feel about these apps? You bring them up a lot.

I think they’re all rolled into how social media is changing the culture at large, gay, straight, trans and everything in between. I use the apps, so I’m a part of the “app culture.” I don’t use them addictively but I use them and they’re convenient. There’s not a lot of spontaneity like the kind that came with meeting people out in public or in the cruising areas. There’s not the excitement of meeting someone face to face and just going with it, as opposed to meeting someone on an app where it’s just kind of clinical…you give each other a clinical description of who you are and what you want, so there’s not the excitement of finding out what a person likes to do in bed or what they look like naked.

What was your most exciting pickup experience?

It was meeting my partner, Michael, who I’ve been with for 25 years. We met at the rambles, which was a popular cruising area in Central Park, which probably isn’t now, we met there 6 weeks after I’d moved to New York, he’d been here for six years, and neither of us had been having any luck with anyone else, and he just magically appeared. And we had sex, and then afterwards, there was something special about the way we held each other, and then we talked afterwards, then we went out on a date later. We’ve been together ever since. Rarely do those kind of hookups turn into a long term relationship, and now ours is a quarter of a century.

What’s your secret to longevity?

Fucking other men.

Is that so?

Well, a lot of people have asked me that, and when I say this, straight women’s faces fall because it’s not the answer they wanted, straight men are jealous, and gay men kind of smile and nod. We opened our relationship 3 or 4 years into it and that works for us. I mean, in every relationship gay or straight, the sex part goes away or at least seriously ebbs, and a lot of people can’t get past that. Of course, we still have our sexual needs, and a lot of people think that because they have to look for sex outside of the marriage, the marriage or the relationship should end. I think that being in an open relationship and being open about it with each other has kept us together for as long as we have been.

How do you feel about gay men getting married?

I think it’s absolutely fantastic that same sex couples can be married. It’s a huge step for gay rights and I’m absolutely for it. Because I came of age when gay marriage was an option, I’d never needed the validation of marriage. I’ve never needed marriage to validate our relationship. We might get married more for practical and legal reasons, but it’s not something that I’ve ever needed. It might be generational for me. I came of age when I didn’t think it was an option nor did I need it to be an option. I thought ‘well, I’m gay, so I don’t have to get married.’ I saw it as ‘I don’t have to get married,’ not ‘I can’t get married.’

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The book is also your coming out as HIV positive. Why was it important for you to do that here?

I was diagnosed as HIV+ in 2002 and I was in the semi-closet about it until I published this book. Of course my partner knew, he’s not positive, and a handful of close friends knew, and that was it. I never told my mother Mama Jean, and that was the main reason that I kept so quiet about it because I knew it was her biggest fear. I never wanted her to know that and she died not knowing it.

When I started writing the book I was on the fence about it because I certainly didn’t judge anyone else for being positive, but I realized I still had my own shame and embarrassment about it. I came of age when the AIDS crisis was exploding and it was a death sentence and safe sex was protocol, so I felt ashamed that I got it, like I should know better. I was on the fence about revealing it. I didn’t think I wanted the world to know that.

What pushed you toward revealing it?

I wanted this book to be completely honest and true, and the fact that I’m HIV+ is an important part of this story. Me becoming positive was my mother’s biggest fear and I became HIV+ because of my drinking, because that was when my safe sex protocol went out of the window. It is germane to the story I’m telling.

It was the best choice because it was right for the book and it was right for me. I told my father and he died knowing that about me, and I’m glad. Now everyone knows I’m HIV+ and I don’t care who knows. Nobody has shut the door in my face or shunned me or told me I’m stupid for becoming HIV+ or any of that. It was all really about my own fear and shame and how to deal with that.

Tell me about this concept of “POZ Pride”

Not only am I glad that I revealed that, but I’m proud to be HIV+. What I mean by that I’m owning who I am and it’s a part of who I am. It’s not all of who I am, but it’s a part of it. Being gay is a part of who I am, just like being an alcoholic in recovery is a part of who I am just like being HIV+ is a part of who I am, and I’m proud of all of those things. That’s what pride is really about. It’s about owning who you are. When I first thought about it, it didn’t make sense because I thought ‘why would you be proud of having a disease or having a virus?’ but I am.

I’m proud to be open about being an HIV+ person who is living with it and living well with it. I’m very lucky because by the time I was diagnosed, the cocktail had already happened, so there were already good drugs. I’ve never had any side effects from the drugs that I’ve taken. I’m lucky. I think that the more people who come out as HIV+ just as they’d be out about any other aspect of themselves, it takes away that shame and that fear that society still has around HIV.

Will we see a Dangerous When Wet movie?

I hope so! I can’t say anything right now, but there are a couple of movie deals in the works.

Who would you cast as yourself?

I’d love Eddie Redmayne to play me because I’d finally be really hot! Actually, I do think he’d be a great choice because he’s such a great actor, he can play anyone, and he’s a ginger like I am. I’d love for Meryl Streep to play Mama Jean…actually I’d love for her to play Mama Jean and me. I think that’d be a real tour de force for her. Also, Melissa Leo would make an amazing Mama Jean. The role she played in The Fighter was a working-class Boston version of Mama Jean.

What’s next for you?

I’m doing a West Coast book tour for the Dangerous When Wet paperback, and I’m working on another memoir, this time about my father. He called me Jamie-poo and I called him Daddy-poo in the last years of his life. That’s a memoir about my relationship with him. So Mama Jean had her turn, now it’s his. The working title for that is I Favor My Daddy.

Dangerous When Wet is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. On Wednesday June 1st, Brickhouse hosts Dangerous When Wet: Hilarious & Heartbreaking Stories about the Lush Life – An Evening of Storytelling at The Duplex in New York City. For more information about the author or upcoming events, visit www.jamiebrickhouse.com.

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