Hillary Gets Last Laugh in Incredible 'Between Two Ferns' Q&A (Video)
The presidential candidate’s well-regarded, but little known, sense of humor shines in the Zach Galifianakis clip.
www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/9/22/hillary-gets-last-laugh-incredible-between-two-ferns-qa-video
Get To Know Bob Mizer, The Physique Photog Behind America’s First Gay Mag
The name Bob Mizer may not mean anything to you, but his story is the stuff of legend. In 1945, the 24-year-old spent his time lurking around California’s Muscle Beach, convincing its bulky, bikini-clad denizens to participate in provocative photoshoots and short films, wearing tiny posing straps (an early ancestor of the g-string, each sewn by Mizer’s surprisingly supportive mother out of tube socks and thin strips of elastic.)
Related: Bel Ami Helps Preserve The Beefcake Legacy Of Athletic Model Guild’s Bob Mizer
That same year, Mizer opened the Athletic Model Guild as a means to market his photography, inadvertently inventing “physique photography” as we now know it. Although bodybuilders had certainly been photographed before, it had never been with such a slyly seductive lens aimed at a gay audience. In 1951, he launched Physique Pictorial, which was the very first gay magazine to ever be released to the public worldwide.
Related: PHOTOS: First American Museum Exhibit Of Bob Mizer And Tom Of Finland’s Physique Art
As The New Yorker reports in its excellent piece on the late Mizer, he’d “produced more than a million negatives and some three thousand hours of film and video” by the time of his death in 1993. He previously highlighted some of his strongest work 1968’s “Thousand Model Directory,” which Taschen Books is now re-releasing in two volumes that will instantaneously transform any coffee-table into a beefcake table.
Related: Stroke Artwork Goes From Under The Mattress To Out In The Open
The original copies were little 98-page books and the images were so tiny — 12 to a page — that they were as infuriating as they were seductive. Fortunately, Taschen used the original 4 x 5 negatives to present these male specimen in all their glory — or at least as much glory as was legal in 1968.
You can get order both volumes for $99, and the collection includes an hour-long DVD featuring 18 of his erotic black-and-white films, which range from simple posedowns to campy “sword and sandal” male burlesque.
Here are some highlights from the collection:
Gay Teen Sues High School After He Couldn’t Bring Boy To Dance
A former student is suing his Memphis, Tennessee Catholic high school under Title IX for refusing to let him take a male date to his homecoming dance, arguing it unlawfully discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation.
Lance Sanderson, 19, asked permission to bring a male date to an upcoming dance during the end of his junior year at Christian Brothers High School (CBHS), an all-boys private school. He was told via email by his principal that he “really struggle[d]” with allowing Sanderson to bring a boy to the dance. When Sanderson posted the email to Twitter, he was reprimanded and told he could no longer be a school photographer, as he had been, even though he was not accused of violating any rules.
Related: Gay Man Fired By Catholic Diocese Files Federal Lawsuit
The school had no rules against bringing another male to a dance. Their code of conduct still states, “All CBHS students should feel safe, secure and accepted regardless of color, race, background, appearance, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, religion or nationality.”
Sanderson felt anything but safe, secure and accepted.
He put up a petition on Change.org, which received support from tens of thousands of people, but it was ultimately not successful in changing the school’s mind.
In the petition, Sanderson states that he had been out at his school since freshman year and that when he first brought up the idea of bringing a same-sex date to homecoming a school official told him they didn’t discriminate.
“But when that school official left over the summer, I was met with harsh opposition by my school,” he wrote. “One administrator told me that even though some people interpreted Pope Francis’s teachings on the issue as meaning they should support same-sex couples, these people are, ‘not the authority to which Christian Brothers High School is accountable.’”
Related: Pope Francis Clarifies Earlier Remarks About Gay People
In the days leading up to the dance, the school began to broadcast daily messages over the intercom that students were not allowed to bring boys from other schools as dates.
The lawsuit states that this left Sanderson feeling “bullied by both the school administration and by some of the students.”
“As a private school, CBHS held itself out to be nondiscriminatory with regard to sexual orientation,” Sanderson’s attorney, Manis, told NBC. “In our eyes, it seems very clear those were hollow words…They were not interested in treating [Sanderson] the same as other students.”
He chose not to attend the dance, and CBHS sent him home for a “cooling off” period of indeterminate length. When he returned a week later, he says he felt unwelcome.
“Everyone thought I had been expelled,” Sanderson said. “It was pretty clear that I wasn’t welcome on campus…I was sure it wasn’t going to be good for me to be there for the rest of the year.”
“I was very active at school,” he said. “It was a big part of my life, and it was all of a sudden gone. I was alone 24/7.”
Sanderson and the school worked out an agreement where he would finish his senior year with online classes and at-home study. He received his diploma that spring but did not attend the graduation ceremony.
With his lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Circuit Court, Sanderson is seeking up to $1 million from CBHS.
Related: LGBTQ Rights Groups Ask Big 12 Not To Include BYU Over Discriminatory Policies
“We have confirmation that CBHS receives federal funding and also potentially state funding for certain programs at the school,” Howard Manis, one of Sanderson’s lawyers, said. “That makes them responsible for following the letter of the law under Title IX.”
While Title IX does not specifically include LGBTQ persons in its language concerning protection against sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, recent court rulings have set precedent that they are to be protected under the law.
This includes a ruling by a federal judge in California who sided with two lesbians who sued Pepperdine, a private Christian university.
“I hope they don’t do this to anyone else in the future,” Sanderson, who now attends DePaul University, said of CBHS, “and that other schools that try to abide by similar philosophies don’t do this to their students. I really don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through this year.”
Neil Patrick Harris Talks to Seth Meyers About His Family’s Epic Group Halloween Costumes – WATCH
Neil Patrick Harris appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday and talked about his twin kids growing up and how his family takes Halloween very seriously.
In case you haven’t been following along over the years, Harris and husband David Burtka have a history of dressing in group costumes with their kids. In 2013, Harris’ family dressed as a clan of monsters. In 2014, they went full Gotham, done up as the Riddler, the Joker, Batman and Batwoman. And last year, the family channeled Star Wars with a Force Awakens themed menagerie.
But speaking with Meyers, Neil Patrick Harris explains that now that his kids are getting older it’s getting harder to coax them into group costumes. “It’s a little bit annoying,” he joked because they have their own opinions, now.
So will Harris be able to convince his kids to do another group costume? And if so, what does he have planned for this year’s All Hallow’s Eve?
The post Neil Patrick Harris Talks to Seth Meyers About His Family’s Epic Group Halloween Costumes – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Neil Patrick Harris Talks to Seth Meyers About His Family’s Epic Group Halloween Costumes – WATCH
Kaytranada, the Out Gay Canadian 2016 Polaris Prize Winner, Just Dropped the Chillest of Mixtapes: LISTEN
Kaytranada, the 24-year-old Haitian-Canadian electronic musician, producer and DJ who came out as gay in April and this week won Canada’s biggest music award, The Polaris Prize, has released a super-chill mixtape on Soundcloud.
The mixtape, titled .0001%, a play on his album 99.9% which won the Polaris Prize honoring the year’s best album by a Canadian artist, is 90 uninterrupted minutes of chill goodness.
Lacking track breaks or names and an accompanying description of “?????????” not much is known about the project—but a quick listen to the loose, free-wheeling tape reveals plenty of surprises including Anderson .Paak vocals (at 1:04:50) and a remix of Usher‘s “U Don’t Have To Call.”
Listen:
Kaytranada, aka Louis Kevin Celestin, came out as gay in an interview with THE FADER in April, telling the publication how he came out to his family in 2015:
One day, he got in a fight with his mom and his brother about “stupid shit,” and he ran down to the basement. “I knew what was wrong,” he says. “I knew why I was pissed off out of nowhere.” His older sister, who also lives at home, came down to console him. She found him in tears and started to cry, too. It was then that he told her a truth about himself, the root cause of his turmoil: he was gay. “I just snapped,” he says. “Something inside me was like, ‘Wake the fuck up.’ I felt like there were two people inside me. I was trying to be somebody I was not, and I was frustrated that people didn’t know who I was.”
His sister offered to help him find a psychologist, but he declined. Instead, he focused on coming out to his mom and his brother. In truth, he had sort of already told them. At the age of 16, in a fit of self-assertion, he had admitted to both of them that he was bisexual, but had quickly retreated and never spoke about it again. “It was too many emotions at the same time,” Louis-Philippe remembers. “I was like, ‘Oh that’s good,’ and at the same time, I was like, ‘Oh what does mom think?’ We’re Haitians, and Haitians don’t appreciate gay people at all. I thought maybe it was a phase.” And on the outside it may have looked like one: not long after, Kay ended up involved in a long-term relationship with a woman that ended only last year. Finally, in early winter, he told his brother and mother definitively that he was gay. Though his mother, a Catholic, did bring up Bible verses that condemn homosexuality, Kay says both were supportive and told him that they’d always love him no matter what. “I feel better than I ever have, you know?” he says. “I’ve been sad my whole life, but fuck that. I know I have good things ahead. I don’t know honestly if I’m fully, 100 percent happy, but I’m starting to get there.”
Read the full interview with Kayandra at FADER, and listen to a couple of the tracks and remixes that put him on the map, below:
The post Kaytranada, the Out Gay Canadian 2016 Polaris Prize Winner, Just Dropped the Chillest of Mixtapes: LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.
Kentucky Judge: ‘I Don’t Hug (Men) the Way I Used To’ Because of Gay Marriage
A Kentucky family court judge who frequently presides over gay adoptions says that since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, he doesn’t hug other men ‘the way he used to.’
Speaking in Wilmore, Kentucky before the Francis Asbury Society, a religious organization “wholly devoted to Christ and to assisting people move toward spiritual wholeness”, Fayette Circuit Court Judge Tim Philpot said the “biggest bugaboo with the whole thing” (the thing being marriage equality) is the impact it has had on relationships between straight men.
“I meet with men four or five times a week [to minister] and we hug; we love each other at a certain level,” he said. “I don’t hug the way I used to.”
He said that shortly after the Supreme Court’s marriage decision in June 2015, he was at a Starbucks “when it really hit me like a ton of bricks. There was a man there, probably 45 years old. He had his arm around a young man who was about 20, and I would say there was a 90 percent chance it was just a father and son, but I had this moment when I thought – hmmm – I wonder what’s going on. They’re getting a little too close. They are making me uncomfortable.”
Philpot said that he loves homosexuals but same-sex relationships are “sterile” and just for “entertainment.”
He also complained that gay people had “stolen” the rainbow as a symbol from Christians:
“I’m gonna put one on the back of my car because I’m not going to let them steal it. I’m gonna take it back. I’m gonna drive around town with my rainbow and my 8-pound shorky (a Shih Tzu and a Yorkshire terrier mix) and let them think what they want.”
Philpot went on to call the effect of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, which he has called “pretty close to insane” and a harbinger of legal polygamy, tantamount to child abuse because it means children now have to decide whether they are gay or straight:
“Now kids not only have to decide which girl to date, or which boy to date, they’ve got to decide which gender to date,” he said, according to a video of his appearance posted on the society’s website. “There is not a 12-year-old or 13-year-old or a 14-year-old in Fayette County, Ky., that doesn’t have to decide ‘Am I gay or am I straight?’ Man, I’m telling you, that is some kind of abuse.”
Philpot is also on record saying that same-sex unions are “really very illogical … kind of like a dog show I was watching a few years ago where the announcer said that was a magnificent Chihuahua. Those words don’t make sense to me.”
[Photo via YouTube]
The post Kentucky Judge: ‘I Don’t Hug (Men) the Way I Used To’ Because of Gay Marriage appeared first on Towleroad.
Kentucky Judge: ‘I Don’t Hug (Men) the Way I Used To’ Because of Gay Marriage
HIV 360° Fellow Spotlight: Thomas Davis
Earlier this year, HRC Foundation announced the inaugural class of the 2016 HIV 360° Fellowship Program. Made possible with generous support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, HIV 360° is a capacity-building fellowship program for young, nonprofit leaders ready to take HIV-inclusive organizations and initiatives to the next level.
The HRC blog recently sat down with each of the fellows to discuss the program, their work, and their vision of an AIDS-free generation.
Thomas Davis, 24, works at the Los Angeles LGBT Center and has been a voice and advocate for Black gay and bisexual men living with HIV. After being diagnosed with HIV in 2013, Thomas wanted to share his story with others to let them know that they are not alone, and that each individual has an opportunity to turn a possibly devastating experience into a positive one. Since then, Thomas has spoken to audiences in the U.S. and abroad, and he’s been part of several youth-led initiatives aimed at empowering young people in the fight against HIV.
How did you first get involved with the movement to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic? How, if at all, did that inspire you to become an HIV 360° Fellow?
I didn’t see any Black gay or bisexual men speaking about their experiences with HIV when I was diagnosed in 2013, so I started to vlog about mine on social and digital media. I’ve always loved sharing my story, but I wanted to find more ways to be effective in this field after being involved with so many different initiatives, campaigns, and programs. Hence why I applied.
Each fellow has been asked to design, implement, and evaluate a community service project to combat HIV transmission rates in their respective communities. Tell us about yours and what you hope to accomplish with it.
Mine is called “The Catharsis Project” and it uses performance art — mainly dance — to educate people about the history the HIV and AIDS in the U.S. I worry that many people, particularly young people, don’t know what it was like in the early days of epidemic. I want to honor this history and also show that art can be an effective way to combat the spread of HIV.
What is one key learning you’ve gained from the fellowship program? What have you enjoyed the most about it?
From emotional intelligence to project management and delegation, I’ve really enjoyed learning about the different skill sets that are needed to be effective working at a non-profit organization. I’ve also learned how to measure the impact of my work in ways I didn’t know were possible.
How can people learn more about your organization and support the work you are doing?
Folks should visit our website to learn more about the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the extensive list of programs and services that we offer to the LGBTQ community.
Check back here in the coming weeks to learn more about each one of the HIV 360° Fellows. To learn more about the program itself, click here.
www.hrc.org/blog/hiv-360-fellow-spotlight-thomas-davis?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
What's Gay About the Smithsonian's African-American Museum? A Lot
From art to protest, the inextricable ties between black life and LGBT life are an “integral part” of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
www.advocate.com/race/2016/9/22/whats-gay-about-smithsonians-african-american-museum-lot
Journalists Reprimand Out Magazine for Its Journalism
LGBT media leaders issued an open letter shaming the magazine for its profile of Milo Yiannopoulos.
www.advocate.com/media/2016/9/22/journalists-reprimand-out-magazine-its-journalism
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