Terk Lewis Releases 'The Great Outdoors: Vol. 1' Single
At Huffington Post, we’ve seen a number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rappers making a name for themselves over the past several years.

Now, another gay rapper is aiming to take the industry by storm with his new EP titled “The Great Outdoors: Vol. 1.” Terk Lewis was born in Ohio but currently lives in New York City and also works as a dancer and a model. Check out Lewis’ Soundcloud below and read the brief interview to learn more his music.

The Huffington Post: What inspired this EP?
Terk Lewis: The great outdoors derives a couple of different meanings, including NYC, as it’s often referred to as the concrete jungle, Ohio — my place of birth and the actual great outdoors — as well as the numerous situations in our everyday lives where people act like animals.

It’s about predator/prey relationships in all kinds of contexts.

How does your background in dance inform your music and vice versa?
My dance background has taught me how to fuse styles and blur lines… and that’s what I wanted to do with this project. I’ve been experimenting with rapping/singing on everything from dance and EDM tracks to strum n bass “folkie” beats. Dance has also opened my eyes to different music genres. Because of that, a shuffle through my music library could take you from Rachmaninov to Lil Wayne and back again.

Do you consider yourself a queer (or gay) artist? How does your sexuality influence your work?
Sure. But in my art, the same as in my everyday life, I don’t get much into labels. Of course, my sexuality influences my work; on this track I rap about some of my NYC antics and “conquests.” But I try to write it in an abstract and intelligent way so that my music is accessible, smart and easily relatable. I want my art to surpass sexuality, race and gender.

What’s up next for you?
The full EP “The Great Outdoors Vol. 1” will hit virtual shelves in the next couple weeks — I haven’t really thought past that. Stay tuned to terklewis.com or follow me on Instagram.

Head here to check out Lewis’ single on iTunes and visit his official site for more info.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/16/terk-lewis-the-great-outdoors_n_6664122.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Looking at “Looking”: Season 2, Episode 5

Before watching this week’s episode, I settled in to catch SNL’s 40^th anniversary celebration. The dazzling array of comedic talent on display made me suddenly nervous, because I’ll never be as funny as those legends. Then I caught the tense, mopey adventures of our favorite San Franciscan relationship repellers and took solace in the fact that I’m still much funnier than them.

We start off on a sour note with Patrick making spin art at his office party while everyone else drinks and has a good time. Unable to handle the awkwardness of a situation that he has spent months actively cultivating, he decides to bounce early. Kevin, of course, begs his concubine to stay because that dude is all about having his cake and also eating a different cake, but Babyface is stone cold. I’m not sure where this sudden backbone came from; he must have watched Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale last night or something.

Or not. When he gets home, he falls back on the two most common crutches that aren’t alcohol: jerking off and Facebook stalking your ex. Turns out Richie needs someone to drive a truck for him! And certainly commuting alone with your recent ex through their old neighborhood couldn’t possibly turn into a bad situation. You know things are going south when even Agustin says you should tread lightly. He’s all, “think of Richie’s new boyfriend!” And he’s right. Seriously, Pat, is homewrecking just your new thing? Are you balancing the sociopath scales now that your roommate got a soul during the break between seasons?

Though Ag goes into the office today, the show doesn’t want to give its audience a mass heart attack by showing him contributing productively to an office or larger community, so take a deep breath: it’s his day off. He’s there to find Eddie, who is nowhere to be found. Just text, dude. This isn’t the ‘90s, it’s exceptionally easy to figure out where people are. One of the kids is there to lay down the facts: Eddie is Ag’s boyfriend, and is home sick. As usual, trans youth knows what’s up. Just listen to them. That’s good advice for life in general. You’re welcome.

Next: food. Patrick consumes an awkwardly large burrito that symbolizes his overall awkwardness. Even a simple lunch becomes a comedy of errors in his clumsy hands. Also, this menu selection further illustrates his versatility, because bottoms do not eat giant burritos. Meanwhile, Ag has descended on Eddie’s apartment with matzo ball soup because soup is what you get sick people and balls are all Ag talks about. It’s a fight to get the door open, but only because Eddie is faking his illness and wants some alone time, not because there’s another dude in there. Sharp misdirection, Looking. You almost fooled me into thinking there would be dramatic conflict this week.

Back at the office, Kevin mopes in his glass cage. There’s alcohol right outside, yo! You already paid for it. How are the two saddest people at this company the only ones who didn’t think to get plastered? Instead, he calls his boyfriend. There’s a vague hint that he might actually start the difficult conversation that desperately needs to be had, but instead they kiss and get cute and enjoy the festivities. Which is probably for the best. Like, your snack is gone, but don’t lose your main cake. It took so long to bake it, and you’ll never have that recipe again.

The trip down memory lane with Richie turns out to be less of a meet-cute than Patrick had hoped for. Getting to know someone’s family is theoretically the kind of thing that brings you closer to someone, and if you perhaps had an ulterior motive of trying to make that person feel emotionally invested in you, then establishing your link to their relatives and personal history would be a smooth move. Sadly, Babyface lacks smoothness, and Richie’s family is wildly blunt and sometimes homophobic. Cousin Ceci is not hesitant about doling out the sass because blood is thicker than lube and how dare you break her Ricardo’s heart, white boy? We learn second-hand, though, that Richie’s father is not supportive of his son’s homosexuality, and it’s a whole thing. And not the kind of thing that can be fixed with pouty eyes and platitudes, try though Pat might.

Ag and Eddie have some deep conversations of their own to get through. First, they have to clear up how exactly HIV came into Big Bear’s life. It’s a topic that is handled with humor and little depth because, as it turns out, the two men have somewhat different perspectives on where they are in their relationship. Remember earlier when Eddie wouldn’t let Ag into the apartment? He wouldn’t let him in? HE WOULDN’T LET HIM IN. Metaphors, y’all. So when Ag goes in for a kiss, Eddie has to shut him down, and then tentatively allow it on the condition that it doesn’t mean anything.

Back outside, our hapless hero and his barber friend are ostensibly having a good time. Like, two hot gay dudes driving through San Francisco in an ice cream truck is pretty much a Cazwell video waiting to happen. Instead, Pat uses the knowledge that he once broke Richie’s heart as a reason to break it again right now, while they’re trapped together in a motor vehicle. Richie’s all “no, really, whatever you’re about to tell me DO NOT DO IT” and Pat is all “I have verbal diarrhea (and maybe actual diarrhea because that burrito was legit large) and I slept with my boss while we were still together.” And despite this truly terrible revelation, they decide that they will still try to be friends. They claim to need each other, but I think the truth is that the writers need Richie not to disappear from the plot.

Then again, if they wrote him out, maybe there would be room for Dom in every episode. Where is he this week? Why isn’t he here to buy this ice cream truck? How did this episode not end with the establishment of a mobile chickenwindow? (Chickenwindow is all I care about.)

Chris Kelly

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/qlNGFp3j2Po/looking-at-looking-season-2-episode-5-20150216

GOP 2016 Hopefuls Punt on Alabama Gay Marriage Questions

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/gop-2016-hopefuls-punt-on-alabama-gay-marriage-questions.html

I'm the Same Person – Being Gay and Loving God
This book is a lesson on Self-love for Valentine’s Day

Brooke Dozier is an amazing young woman based in Houston, Texas. This author has released her new book on Valentine’s Day called “I’m the Same Person – Being Gay and Loving God”. This is a unique and controversial story that will help young people as well as their parents to be more sensitive and supportive when confronted with having to come to terms with issues around sexual orientation.

In this book, Brooke describes her experience and shock at the reactions she got from family and friends when she revealed her sexual orientation at the age of thirty two. She talks about the disappointment she felt when close friends and family could not support her sexual identity and seemed to forget that she was the same person underneath despite the new label of being gay. This is what inspired the title of her book.

All her life Brooke struggled with her sexual identity and in the book she even goes back to her mother’s journals when she was three and how they would fight about what to wear or what toys to play with when she was little. The book has a lot of photographs which show the times when she fought with her mother and reveals her gradual transformation into the confident woman she is now.

Coming from the deep south of the United States did not help either. She struggled with how she felt about herself as a person and whether she should reveal her true identity. She explained that once she entered into a relationship with God, she realized that it actually did not matter either way; however the rest of the world made her feel abnormal and wrong.

The community and society around her told her that she could not be both. She could not be gay and love God at the same time. In her quest for understanding; Brooke went into the ministry and obtained a master’s degree in Theology and went into a seminary knowing that she was called into the ministry to help kids and parents understand each other better. Brooke describes how in the back of my mind she would pray that God would take away the gay; however the struggle would go away. She would date men but it just did not feel right and it just did not fit.

For 10 years Brooke was very active in the ministry and at this particular church they suspected that she was gay because she wasn’t dating and she was asked her to leave. There was a secret petition going around in all of the parishes in this small town in West Texas and fortunately some kind people in the community heard about it and made her aware that the church was attempting to ask the seminary to revoke college degree. Brooke left in the middle of the night and nobody even knew what was going on.
This is a beautiful story about self love and acceptance. Brooke eventually found love and is now happily settled with her new partner in Austin, Texas.

A perfect story for Valentine’s Day – LOVE begins within.

Get more information about Brooke Dozier HERE

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www.huffingtonpost.com/getrude-matshe/im-the-same-person-being-_b_6679132.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Honoring Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin, the brilliant organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, lived openly as a gay man.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/honoring-bayard-rustin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Watch the Hilarious Return of Celebrity Jeopardy on the SNL 40th Anniversary Special: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/watch-the-hilarious-return-of-celebrity-jeopardy-on-the-snl-40th-anniversary-special-video.html