Italy’s Most Flamboyant Men Get The Wildlife Documentary Treatment, And It’s Perfect

Pitti Uomo is a four-day menswear trade show in Florence, Italy. With an abundance of photographers in attendance, extravagantly dressed men flock the streets in hopes of attracting their attention with their flashy frocks. Filmmaker Aaron Christian turned the event into his own wildlife special with this mockumentary following the Pitti Peacocks.

Here’s what Christian has to say about his project:

After working in the fashion industry for over 5 years, and regularly attending the biggest fashion shows in the world I started to notice that there was a small change happening in and around the shows.

Street style by this time had become a huge industry with photographers shooting for the world’s biggest fashion publications showcasing the hottest looks on the street to eager consumers.

However, the last few years I began noticing that those attending the shows became all to aware of the photographers.

Unlike the cues outside of the city shows, where photographers have a few seconds to snap their favourite look. Pitti Uomo is a four day long menswear trade- show.
It’s a vast space where attendees spend all day walking around, visiting stands, eating in the sun or catching up with fellow fashion colleagues – and so consequently it has become a prime spot for the worlds top street style photographers to document and shoot some of the most stylish men on the planet.

It’s become a peacock parade where the men show off their outfits in all their glory hoping to get snapped by the top photographers.

It’s quite comical, the way the fully grown men pace around subtly trying their best to get snapped, and it’s the perfect location for this wildlife style mockumentray to take place.

Watch below:

The Life Of Pitti Peacocks – Pitti Uomo Mockumentary from Aaron Christian on Vimeo.

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PHOTOS: Dusty St. Amand’s Male Nudes May Cause Homoerotic Overload

“I so rarely shoot agency models,” photographer Dusty St. Amand tells Queerty. “The men I shoot are generally just the men in my life–lovers, friends, or people who I become intrigued by and feel I must have a memento of.”

Dusty is based in New York City, though he recently published a fine arts photography book called “Of Messages and Men: Los Angeles”, showcasing models he photographed in Southern California.

“The experience of the shoot and the images that come later are both very personal, so I have to feel connected to the people,” he continues. “And I think the ease that generally emerges allows me to capture images of seduction. I tend to click the button right when I have them at their most vulnerable state.”

Scroll down for a taste of Dusty’s work, and see more on his website and Instagram page…

Related: PHOTOS: The Beauty And Uniqueness Of Every Day Men Captured In Powerful Nude Series

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Coming Out Twice: Once as Undocumented, and Then as Gay

Dago Bailón remembers realizing he was undocumented, and what that would mean for his future.

He was a junior in high school. His economics teacher had planned a trip to Hawai’i for an academic decathlon. In order to go, Bailón had to fill out a form. In order to fill out the form, he needed a social security number.

He didn’t have one.

“I realized at that moment that I was not going to be able to be part of the program and that there was going to be more barriers to come,” he recalls.

It made him feel like he was the only person who was facing those kinds of problems. “I just kind of shut down,” Bailón says.

But a couple of years later, a law passed by President Barack Obama — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — helped Bailón stay in the US.

And before that, circumstances had pushed him to become an activist. In 2006 he started campaigning against Arizona’s Proposition 300, which took away scholarship opportunities due to his undocumented status. Bailón said the work gave him butterflies because it took acknowledging his status in public. It was both liberating and very scary.

It was the same feeling he had when he came out as gay.

“I was going public about my status. I felt uncertain, I felt like I was gonna lose a lot of my friends,” he says. “I felt alone again … and when I came out of the closet it was the same feeling. Those butterflies that I thought had gone away had not.”

Bailón was 23 when he came out to his parents.

“My parents didn’t take it lightly. I had to sit them down and really talk to them,” he says. “I realized that they were really important in my life and that I wanted them to be part of my life. I sat them down and told them that it had been 23 years of lying and suffering, and that I wanted to wake up the next day feeling like a complete person, and that meant that I needed to tell them that I was gay. My mom cried and my dad pretended not to hear, but in the end my mom said ‘what kind of parents would we be if we didn’t support things that you do.’”

In a way, Bailón came out twice: as undocumented, and as gay. He soon realized that experience wasn’t so rare — and it still isn’t. In last weekend’s mass shooting at an Orlando gay club, some of the victims weren’t out to their families, either.

Today, he offers guidance to other immigrants who want to come out, and helps parents of these immigrants accept their children. His group is called Trans-Queer Pueblo, and it focuses on working with families.

“We understand that when we come out of the closet, also our parents are forced out of the closet with us,” Bailón says. “We have a family acceptance program in which we educate parents about identities and the curriculum that we have is rooted in our migrant and people of color experiences. … [With] our parents there is a lot to work with. There is a lot of love and we have to start from there.”

Bailón is featured in a documentary by Venezuelan filmmaker Juan Freitez and produced by Guatemalan Journalist Pita S. Juarez. You can watch a preview below.

This article first appeared on PRI’s The World.

The post Coming Out Twice: Once as Undocumented, and Then as Gay appeared first on Towleroad.

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ABC Drops Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins From Orlando Massacre Roundtable: VIDEO

ABC dropped Tony Perkins, the leader of hate group the Family Research Council (FRC), from a This Week discussion about the massacre in Orlando.

Perkins has been a staunch opponent of LGBT rights and has used his demand for “religious freedom” to push his supposedly Christian agenda. He has backed ex-gay therapy, claimed that gay rights signal the onslaught of a Christian holocaust and suggested that the “high risk behavior” of gay men would ruin Obamacare. In 2014, FRC used the death of Robin Williams to promote ex-gay therapy. In response to the Orlando massacre, the organization announced “It’s a little ridiculous to suggest that disagreement over special rights for people who identify as LGBT are responsible, since even the gunman’s ex-wife alleges he was gay.”

@MSNBC should be deeply ashamed for inviting Tony Perkins on as a rep of Christianity. He leads a hate group. #notalllikethat

— katie m ladd (@katiemladd) June 20, 2016

Do you find that “disagreement” has been redefined as “intolerance?” Is there any room to “agree to disagree” on difficult issues?

— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) June 16, 2016

While uncomfortable, Paul didn’t regret confronting immorality. It prompted sorrow, producing repentance, leading to salvation. 2 Cor 7:8-10

— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) June 10, 2016

Perkins was set to appear yesterday on This Week’s “Powerhouse Roundtable” but was quietly dropped by ABC following criticism from groups including Faithful America, a Christian group aiming to “challenge [religious right] extremism and renew the church’s prophetic role in building a more free and just society.”

I commend Gov. @PatMcCroryNC for his political courage and moral clarity in resisting the Obama administration. pic.twitter.com/Ctlgaljrsc

— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) May 9, 2016

Is this really who @ABC and @GStephanopoulos want on the network when talking about #Orlando? t.co/wFc5ZQoIgW @aravosis: bad choice!

— Kyle Franklin (@KAFranklin07) June 17, 2016

Faithful America launched a petition urging ABC to remove Perkins, noting that he “has repeatedly accused gay men of molesting children, causing the Southern Poverty Law Center to formally designate FRC as a hate group.”

Think Progress noted that transgender Christian author Laura Bethany Taylor wrote an open letter attacking ABC and host George Stephanopoulos for offering Perkins a platform.

@ABC over 20k Christians are telling you that Tony Perkins doesn’t speak for them. Do the right thing. #NOH8

— lauramariemusic (@lauramariemusic) June 18, 2016

“How tolerant would the national media be of a KKK leader speaking on a massacre of African Americans?” she wrote. “What sort of outcry would we hear if anti-military pacifists were given center stage on Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day as we seek to honor our service men and women?”

RELATED: Tony Perkins: Gay Rights Are Part of A Wider ‘Anti-Life’ Population Control Agenda: AUDIO

ABC has not as yet confirmed why Perkins was dropped from the panel discussion. Perkins managed to book an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday to discuss the evangelical response to Donald Trump.

Watch Perkins explain how Christians are being forced into “spiritual ghettos” below.

The post ABC Drops Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins From Orlando Massacre Roundtable: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

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Boxers or Briefs: Dad Bods Edition – WATCH

For Father’s Day, the Underwear Expert’s Daniel X Miller talked to a couple of real dads about — what else — whether they wear boxers or briefs. Luke Weaver and Adam Gordon have no problem showing off their ‘dad bods’ and talking about what it means to be a great father.

The post Boxers or Briefs: Dad Bods Edition – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: June 17, 2016

HRC ENDORSES COMMON-SENSE GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES: This morning, HRC announced its endorsement of common-sense gun violence prevention policy measures. The news comes following the aftermath of last Sunday’s’ hate-fueled attack in Orlando targeting the LGBTQ community at Pulse nightclub’s Latin night. For decades, LGBTQ people have been a target for bias-motivated violence, and easy access to deadly weapons has compounded this threat. The new resolution establishes HRC’s organizational position that the safety of LGBTQ people in the United States requires the adoption of common-sense gun violence prevention measures, including limiting access to assault-style rifles, expanding background checks, and limiting the ability of suspected terrorists, and those with a history of domestic abuse, to access guns. More from HRC.

• HRC President Chad Griffin on the resolution: “Forty-nine members of our community were murdered on Sunday morning because of a toxic combination of two things: a deranged, unstable individual who had been conditioned to hate LGBTQ people, and easy access to military-style guns. It is imperative that we address both issues in order to mitigate safety risk to our community. As a society, we must hold accountable lawmakers, religious leaders and other public officials who put a target on the backs of LGBTQ people through hateful rhetoric and legislation, because they are complicit in the violence fueled by their words and actions. The safety of the LGBTQ community depends on our ability to end both the hatred toward our community and the epidemic of gun violence that has spiraled out of control.”
• The Stories: TIME… New York Daily News… Buzzfeed… Associated Press

TRIBUTE TO ORLANDO AT HRC HQ: This morning, HRC unveiled a tribute to those lost in the horrific Orlando shooting. Before dawn, HRC began installing images of all 49 victims of Sunday’s attack in its front windows, creating an 8-story composite image that carries the message “We Are Orlando.”Additionally, HRC has put together a memorial with a wreath, flowers and a place for passers by to leave their thoughts in front of our building. The average age of the victims’ was 29. Almost every one of them was either Black or Latinx. They were someone’s brother, father, sister, daughter, family and friend. They served in the military, worked at the local coffee shop, and brought joy to children’s lives at theme parks. They were the people HRC fights for every single day. As we continue to mourn around the globe, our hearts, thoughts and prayers remain in Orlando. HRC has also created an Online Vigil for the victims and survivors of the tragic Orlando attack. Here, members of the LGBTQ community and allies can send a message of comfort, solidarity, or heartbreak so we can heal – together.

#WEAREORLANDO: For more on vigils and events in your area and other ways to support victims, survivors and their families can go to WeAreOrlando.org and SomosOrlando.org. The press continues to highlight incredible stories in the wake of Sunday’s tragic violence. Here are some highlights:

• The grandmother of victim Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo has been overwhelmed with the support she’s received in the wake of the tragedy. On her flight to Orlando for Luis’ funeral every passenger as well as the crew offered their condolences. More from Gay Times.
• Artist ChadMichael Morrisette has created a moving display on a roof in West Hollywood to highlight the epidemic of gun violence. More from the Gay Star News.
• Following the massacre, billionaire Mark Cuban announced a one million dollar donation to help the Dallas police department protect the LGBTQ community. The Dallas area has recently seen an increase in anti-LGBTQ violence. More from CNN.
• Christina Aguilera will donate all of the proceeds from her new single to the families of the victims of the Orlando shooting. More from Huffington Post.

DISASTROUS DONALD BENEFITS FROM ANTI-LGBTQ COUNTRIES: Donny has made the rounds this week pretending to be a “friend” to the LGBTQ community as a mask to present his anti-immigrant, Islamophobic ideas. However, when it comes to countries where being LGBTQ is illegal, and sometimes punishable by death, Donald has no problem taking their money for his own gain. Trump does work in or with Libya, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia — all of which punish their LGBTQ citizens for simply being who they are and loving who they choose to love. More from CNN.

READING RAINBOW

Teen Vogue highlights 10 companies that support the LGBTQ community; Yahoo! Finance calculates the “surprising costs” of transitioning for transgender Canadians; Pink News reports that the bill to make “O Canada” gender neutral has passed Canada’s House of Commons; Buzzfeed gives us the latest on an anti-LGBTQ law that was upheld in Kenya; The Portland Press Herald highlights Portland Maine’s new trans-inclusive healthcare policy;and Bloomberg calls out Mississippi’s anti-LGBTQ law.

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to A.M. Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-june-17-2016?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

PHOTOS: Orlando Is Remembered at Portland Trans Pride

www.advocate.com/pride/2016/6/20/photos-orlando-remembered-portland-trans-pride

Even in Liberal Bubbles, Gays Have Grown Accustomed to Fear

Seamus Kirst built an “LGBT friendly” life in New York, but as a gay man, he’s still frightened.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/6/20/even-liberal-bubbles-gays-have-grown-accustomed-fear