Socialism Will Not Cure LGBTQ Oppression

There will be benefits if the government starts lifting up the most disadvantaged Americans, but queer equality won’t be one of them.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2020/1/17/socialism-will-not-cure-lgbtq-oppression

Haaz Sleiman on his new show and how coming out as a “total bottom” impacted his career

Little America is a new anthology series by Apple TV+ that highlights stories of eight different immigrant experiences.

Haaz Sleiman stars in “The Son” as Rafiq, who is forced to flee his home in  Syrian village of Qardha after his father catches him kissing another man. Initially, Rafiq goes to Damascus, where he meets another gay man, who encourages him to seek asylum in the West.

Sleiman, an openly gay Arab who moved to America from Lebanon as a young person, tells Salon he immediately connected with the story.

“I felt [the script] was so strong, and relatable, and universal,” he says. “There are similarities to my story. My father emotionally set me on fire, but over time, he actually did love me. He told me he loved me and would defend me.”

Growing up in Lebanon in the 1980s, Sleiman kept his sexuality a closely guarded secret. He says the fear of being found out was “debilitating ” and “crippling.”

“I felt so isolated and lonely,” he recalls, “and I felt I couldn’t share who I am with anyone. I felt I was not seen, that I didn’t matter, that something was wrong with me. But no matter how much I tried to change, you cannot fight nature, and I kept losing to what’s natural.”

Of course, that is no longer his experience. In 2017, Sleiman made headlines when he came out publicly as both gay and “a total bottom.”

“Fans around the world have thanked me for the way I came out and said I made them feel powerful and not apologize for the way I am,” he recalls. “I’m glad I’m inspiring young queer people across the globe and giving them a role model.”

He continues, “That I came out and said, ‘I’m a total bottom,’ might turn off executives. I didn’t care. Coming out made me a better actor. And I don’t regret it. … I’m ready to break out and change the conversation and challenge the world that we live in.”

Asked what he hopes audiences take away from Little America, Sleiman says he hopes it opens their eyes to the immigrant experience.

“I think the show is a reminder that it is a land of immigrants, and Americans should be kinder to each other because we all come from a different part of the world, different continents, different religions, backgrounds, and ethnicities,” he says.

“It reconnects us to the humanity of that journey of the American immigrant and what the nation is really based upon. It reminds us about that in a beautiful way and the truth of that. Even when an immigrant moves to America for a better life, it’s not sweet and perfect.”

Watch the trailer for Little America below.

Related: ‘Nurse Jackie’ actor Haaz Sleiman comes out: ‘Not only am I gay, but I’m also a bottom.’

www.queerty.com/haaz-sleiman-new-show-coming-total-bottom-impacted-career-20200117?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Eminem Recreates Las Vegas Massacre in Controversial Plea for Gun Control, ‘Darkness’: WATCH

Eminem’s surprise new album released early Friday, Music to Be Murdered By, is stirring plenty of controversy.

In a video for the single “Darkness,” Eminem raps from the point of view of the gunman — literally and figuratively — in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, which left 58 concert-goers dead. (Warning: graphic content)

CNN reports: At the video’s end, Eminem looks on at a wall of TVs flashing familiar news clips from previous shootings, including those at the Capital Gazette newspaperbuilding in Maryland, Santa Fe High School in Texas and the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, among others. “When will this end?” a card reads at the end of the clip. “When enough people care.” Eminem encourages viewers to register to vote at Vote.Gov to “help change gun laws in America.”

The Guardian reports that on another track from the album, “Unaccommodating,” Eminem compares himself to the Manchester Arena suicide bomber, who murdered 22 people in 2017: In the track, the star raps: “But I’m contemplating yelling ‘bombs away’ on the game / Like I’m outside of an Ariana Grande concert waiting.” Hours after its release, the musician faced a backlash on social media. The mother of 15-year-old Charlotte Hodgson, who died in the attack, called the track “disgusting” and “disrespectful”. Meanwhile, Figen Murray, whose 29-year-old son Martyn Hett died in the attack, called the song “pointless.”

The Atlantic‘s Spencer Kornhaber notes that Eminem is following in the footsteps of Madonna, who also recently released a graphic video calling for gun control. But in addition to potentially traumatizing survivors, Kornhaber says the rapper may end up doing more harm than good:

Experts on mass shootings say that in addition to enacting stronger gun laws, one of the best ways to prevent future tragedies is to deny fame to murderers. The copycat phenomenon is real, and when the media broadcasts the names and faces of criminals and obsesses over their backstories, would-be killers get the message that they could become more famous than any of the people whose life they take. If Eminem jolts his fans into taking action to support gun control, that effect will have to be weighed against this grim fact: One of today’s best-selling musicians has humanized the perpetrator of the deadliest mass killing in modern U.S. history.

Kornhaber notes that Eminem’s website features links to anti-gun-violence organizations, which we’ll repost here: the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and March for Our Lives.

The post Eminem Recreates Las Vegas Massacre in Controversial Plea for Gun Control, ‘Darkness’: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Eminem Recreates Las Vegas Massacre in Controversial Plea for Gun Control, ‘Darkness’: WATCH

Gay inmates make history by tying the knot in prison

Two prison inmates just made history for being the second same-sex couple ever to tie the knot inside a correctional facility of a European Union member country.

34-year-old Kevork Tontian and 30-year-old Wemson Gabral da Costa were wed inside Cyprus’ prison complex in Nicosia, Cyprus last week.

“We dare, we dare, we asked,” Tontian tells the AP. “There is no shame. Love has no shame.”

The newlyweds, who were both rejected by their families for being gay, met during a prison bingo tournament. Their relationship grew when they were granted special leave to attend the Pride parade in Cyprus.

Eventually, Tontian finished his sentence, but he was so in love with Da Costa that he intentionally broke the law again just so he could be sent back to prison and they could continue living together.

Prison guards have been supportive of the relationship from the beginning. The couple has been allowed to work together and share a cell, and inmates who harass have been transferred to other wings.

Tontian says they decided to formalize their relationship in an effort “to get closer to one another.”

In Cyprus, same-sex marriage isn’t legal but couples can enter into civil unions, which grant them all the same rights and privileges as married couples except for the adopting children.

Cyprus’ Prisons Director, Anna Aristotelous, and her deputy, Athena Demetrou, helped the couple in gathering the necessary paperwork to file for the civil union.

After some delays, mostly due to governmental red tape, a ceremony finally happened last week in the prison theater. Tontian and Da Costa exchanged vows in front of prison staff and a handful of inmates and friends. Afterwards, they enjoyed a wedding cake.

Aristotelous says the union shows the facility’s respect for people of all identities, sexual orientations, and backgrounds.

“The anachronistic perceptions of a few stood as no obstacle for us or to the equal treatment of all,” she says.

Both Tontian and Da Costa are scheduled to be released from prison around the same time in June. Once they are free, they say they plan to continue living together in Cyprus.

www.queerty.com/gay-inmates-make-history-tying-knot-prison-20200117?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Atlanta Stripper Gets Life for Murdering ‘Secret’ Boyfriend, Stuffing Body in Closet

An Atlanta man was sentenced to life in prison this week for murdering his “secret” boyfriend in 2016, then wrapping the corpse in trash bags before stuffing it in a bathroom closet.

William Bradley Morgan, 37, fatally shot Brian Campbell in his sleep after learning that Campbell planned to break up with him, according to news reports. Both were married to women at the time of the murder, but the two men had been together for a year and shared a condo in Midtown Atlanta. Morgan, who worked as a dancer at the gay bar Swinging Richards, was separated from his wife. But the 43-year-old Campbell lived with his wife and children in Delaware, traveling to Atlanta for his work as a Comcast executive.

Prosecutors say Morgan was addicted to methamphetamine, and financially dependent on Campbell.

“Morgan’s drug addiction, his reliance on Campbell, and the overall complications caused by the fact that both men were married and engaged in a secret romance, led Campbell to consider ending the relationship with Morgan,” prosecutors said in a news release, according to Project Q Atlanta.

“The defendant murdered the victim in cold blood because he was worried about losing his source of financial stability. The defendant attempted to hide the body and flee. And even after he was convicted, the defendant showed no remorse for murdering a man who he once cared for, a man who has a family and young children.”

After shooting Campbell twice in the head, Morgan wrapped his body in two trash bags and stuffed his body a bathroom closet. He then lowered the thermostat to 45 degrees, and lit a scented candle.

Morgan fled to Alabama with Campbell’s Land Rover Discovery, two of his high-end watches, his iPhone, a handgun, an iPad and his wallet. 

He was arrested a few weeks later.

Watch a report from WXIA-TV below.

Watch a report from 11 Alive below.

The post Atlanta Stripper Gets Life for Murdering ‘Secret’ Boyfriend, Stuffing Body in Closet appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Atlanta Stripper Gets Life for Murdering ‘Secret’ Boyfriend, Stuffing Body in Closet