A new breed of plays and musicals this season is presenting gay characters in love stories, replacing the direct political messages of 1980s and ‘90s shows like “The Normal Heart” and “Angels in America” with more personal appeals for social progress.

These productions about gay life make little or no mention of H.I.V. or AIDS and keep direct activism at arm’s length, with militant crusading portrayed with ambivalence more than ardor. The politics of these shows — there are seven of them opening in New York in the next several weeks — are subtler, more nuanced: they place the everyday concerns of Americans in a gay context, thereby pressing the case that gay love and gay marriage, gay parenthood and gay adoption are no different from their straight variations.

While persecution remains a reality for most of these gay characters, just as it does in many movies and television shows featuring gay love stories, the widening acceptance of AIDS as a pandemic rather than a gay disease — and the broadening debate on gay marriage and gay soldiers — have led, and have to some extent freed, writers and producers to use a wider lens to explore a broader landscape.

read more @ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/theater/23gaytheater.html

A new breed of plays and musicals this season is presenting gay characters in love stories, replacing the direct political messages of 1980s and ‘90s shows like “The Normal Heart” and “Angels in America” with more personal appeals for social progress.
These productions about gay life make little or no mention of H.I.V. [...]

By Megan Carpentier 2/25/10 3:27 PM

Jason Goldberg is the CEO of a company called Fabulis, which is developing a website, iPhone app and social media application targeted at gay men. His company — which is at least his third start-up — is funded by investors including The Washington Post and the venture capitalist Allen Morgan, and they just launched their beta version this month. You would think he would be the kind of customer Citi would want — but Citi decided otherwise after a compliance officer reviewed his site and decided that a social networking application for gay men was “objectionable.”

Without notifying Goldberg or anyone at Fabulis, Citi shut down their bank accounts for objectionable content on Fabulis’ blog, though it refused to specify which content. After hours of phone calls, several articles and a threat to take their banking elsewhere, Citi finally called Goldberg to say that the three Citi employees who had decided Goldberg’s social networking site was objectionable were “wrong to have said what they said.” Note that the bank did not say they were wrong to have suspended his account without notification, or to have flagged his blog as objectionable because it talks about the gay-themed (but not pornographic) company that he is starting, but just that the three employees statements to him were wrong.

In fact, what they told Goldberg was likely right out of an employee handbook, if the phrasing is anything to go by: “Content was not in compliance with Citibank’s standard policies.”

Read more @ http://washingtonindependent.com

By Megan Carpentier 2/25/10 3:27 PM
Jason Goldberg is the CEO of a company called Fabulis, which is developing a website, iPhone app and social media application targeted at gay men. His company — which is at least his third start-up — is funded by investors including The Washington Post and the venture [...]

Many gorgeous naked men and women in the video. I like several muscle hunk of them very much. 50% of the male models suppose to be gay?  What do you think?

Many gorgeous naked men and women in the video. I like several muscle hunk of them very much. 50% of the male models suppose to be gay?  What do you think?

The Strains of DADT on One Couple

Andrew Cirner tells the story of his relationship with a military man, evading “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a blackmailing ex-lover, and the extreme steps his mother took to save the day.

By Andrew Cirner

Andrew Cirner

I met Rocco in April of 1993. He was a Navy master chief serving in San Diego. He was 35, butch, built, and very sexy.  I was 24, good-looking, and a psychiatric nurse working for the state of California. I first laid eyes on him during registration at the Buffalo Bar in Las Vegas. He was wearing shorts, a tight-fitting T-shirt, and construction boots.

After my friend Eric told me a little bit about Rocco, he warned me, “He does have a lover, but they’re in an open relationship.”

“I just want to meet the guy, Eric,” I told him.

I spent the better part of the meet-and-greet staring at Rocco as I mingled with other motorcycle men. Eventually, he introduced himself as I was walking away from the bar. “Hi, I’m Rocco. I understand you want to meet me?” Speechless and feeling awkward, I stammered for words.

Soon I was at ease and laughing at his witty humor. I later met his lover, Christian, who was there with Drill, who was, fittingly, a drill sergeant. He looked like a pit bull on steroids with a penchant for getting drunk and picking fights. I realized that most of the people around me were in the military. Aren’t any of them afraid of being caught? I wondered. Rocco was a master chief, Drill was a drill sergeant, and another guy was a first lieutenant and a pilot.

At 3 a.m., I was exhausted but still sitting in the bar. I had to sponsor the eye-opener cocktail party in three hours and needed to get back to my hotel room.

“Hey, um, we are leaving too. Would you like company?” Rocco asked.

“I am sorry, I don’t do groups,” I said. Rocco laughed, and for a second I felt insulted.

“Did you think I meant all of us?” he asked. I told him I was staying at the MGM Grand. Coincidentally, he was staying right across the hall.

The moment I opened the door, we were on each other, ripping clothes off as if they were on fire. After a night of wild passion, I was falling for him. I knew this was completely crazy — I barely knew him. Read the rest of this entry »

The Strains of DADT on One Couple
Andrew Cirner tells the story of his relationship with a military man, evading “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a blackmailing ex-lover, and the extreme steps his mother took to save the day.
By Andrew Cirner
I met Rocco in April of 1993. He was a Navy master chief serving in San [...]

Lucas Entertainment is promoting a new porn movie, “Men of Israel” in 2009. The big hook here is that it’s the first gay porn movie to feature only Israeli men and be shot on location in Israel.

Middle east men are very attractive to me. Hope more Arabic, Israelite gay men could come out to show  in gay porn.

Lucas Entertainment is promoting a new porn movie, “Men of Israel” in 2009. The big hook here is that it’s the first gay porn movie to feature only Israeli men and be shot on location in Israel.

Middle east men are very attractive to me. Hope more Arabic, Israelite gay men could come out to show  [...]

Have you ever seen a stained glass penis? Well, you will if you read the rest of this post! Juan Martin del Campo Jr. creates stained glass art pieces with a homoerotic edge. What motivates him to do such a thing? “I wanted to infuse my own subversive personality into the preconceived notion of mainstream stained glass,” he writes on his website. “…My art is meant to inject humor and titillation in an increasingly safe and boring pop world.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever seen a stained glass penis? Well, you will if you read the rest of this post! Juan Martin del Campo Jr. creates stained glass art pieces with a homoerotic edge. What motivates him to do such a thing? “I wanted to infuse my own subversive personality into the preconceived notion of mainstream [...]

A week ago China’s first gay pageant was cancelled, on orders from the police.

The event had been hailed as a new chapter of openness towards the gay community in China, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997 and defined as mental disorder until 2001.

Here three gay men in China describe the pressures they have to live with and the compromises they have to make.

Michael Tsai, 23yo

I was going to be the host for the gay pageant Mr Gay China, but unfortunately the government has once again oppressed its people silently. It would have been a wonderful step but there is much more fear than understanding.

Although I wouldn’t call it discrimination, there’s definitely a pressure to conformity in Chinese society. The goal is to to marry and produce male offspring. Since the Chinese are allowed to have only one child there is even more pressure to conform.

Thankfully I come from a family of two boys and the need to carry on the family name has already been fulfilled. I am out to all my family, my friends and colleagues.

Although I do feel that the country as a whole has become a lot more tolerant, it isn’t necessarily more understanding

My family feels that if something is not spoken about then it either doesn’t exist or it will be forgotten. Even though they know I’m gay they still say things like “When you find your wife…”

I’m sure my parents are not thrilled by my sexual orientation but they seem to be dealing with it through denial and that’s perfectly fine with me.

China has become a get-rich-fast society, a society where you build up power and forget about everyone else. There are more things to worry about than who’s attracted to who.

Most of the older Chinese feel that being gay is just a phase and that eventually it will work itself out.

I don’t feel that there are any problems in China that I’ve come across. If we aren’t too loud and proud about it then the subject doesn’t even cross anyone’s mind.

Although I do feel that the country as a whole has become a lot more tolerant, it isn’t necessarily more understanding.

Read two more China gay’s stories at http://news.bbc.co.uk

A week ago China’s first gay pageant was cancelled, on orders from the police.
The event had been hailed as a new chapter of openness towards the gay community in China, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997 and defined as mental disorder until 2001.
Here three gay men in China describe the pressures they have to live [...]

This year, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project or CHAMP presented a forum at the Center in NY on Rethinking HIV Risk for Black Men Having Sex with Men. Speakers included Kenyon Farrow from CHAMP, Greg Millet from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Tokes Osubu from Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), and Michael Angelo Robeson from People of Color in Crisis (POCC).

This year, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project or CHAMP presented a forum at the Center in NY on Rethinking HIV Risk for Black Men Having Sex with Men. Speakers included Kenyon Farrow from CHAMP, Greg Millet from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Tokes Osubu from Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), and Michael [...]