WATCH: Student Defies Russia's Propaganda Ban With Hozier's 'Take Me to Church'

Ignoring Russia’s antigay law, a Brazilian medical student risked it all by dedicating his public performance of Hozier’s international hit, ‘Take me to Church,’ to his boyfriend sitting in the audience.

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Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/world/2015/04/01/watch-student-defies-russias-propaganda-ban-hoziers-take-me-church

Andy Cohen's Top 5 Shirtless Moments from Watch What Happens Live! – VIDEO

Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/andy-cohens-top-5-shirtless-moments-from-watch-what-happens-live-video.html

The Funniest April Fools' Day Pranks Of 2015 From Around The Web
April Fools’ Day has become synonymous with brands and companies lying to everyone on the Internet, but let’s not forget what it’s really all about: clever pranks on friends.

People didn’t waste any time today in getting the drop on their friends, family and co-workers for April Fools’ Day. Some pranks took a lot of time, and some took a lot of evil. But all of them are at the expense of someone else and not us so let’s just sit back and be entertained by the good-natured misfortunes of others!

Here are some of the best ones from around the Internet.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/best-april-fools-pranks-2015_n_6988312.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Final Four Coaches Agree: “Discrimination of Any Kind Should Not be Tolerated”

Today, the Men’s Final Four coaches released a joint statement standing against Indiana’s discriminatory Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/final-four-coaches-agree-discrimination-of-any-kind-should-not-be-tolerated?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

This Bi-Curious Man Is Thinking About Losing His Anal Virginity, But He Has Some Concerns

A bi-curious Reddit user by the name of wormsaregreatlovers is thinking about jumping into the man pond, but he has a few questions before making the plunge. He starts out by writing:

“So, I’m bi-curious with no gay experience and I am thinking about popping my bum cherry. I’ve played with myself anally here and there but now I’m thinking about the real deal.

Question is I like the way I am now (character wise) I’m abit of an ‘alpha male’, I’m confident in myself and I like the state of mind I am in.”

(First of all, wormsaregreatlovers, it’s called a “chocolate cherry,” and some would argue that if you’ve “played with yourself anally here and there” then it’s already been popped, or at least half-popped.)

Wormsaregreatlovers continues:

“If I submit myself will my personality change in a way that’s more feminine? will my personality change in general? will I like gay sex more than straight sex? ultimately I’d still want a wife and kids and to live a straight life. help gaybrahs please

(apologies if it’s an ignorant question, there’s no where else I can really ask this question besides reddit ;| )”

Reddit user MattDM92 wastes no time answering the question in the clearest way possible: “Your personality won’t change if you get Rodgered up the bum.”

But jet_silver doesn’t totally agree. “Your personality will change a little,” he argues. “You’ll know what it feels like to have a cock inside you and it will make you a little proud and happy.”

Then he adds: “Having a cock inside you does not mean you are submissive. Having a cock inside you is fun.”

“Generally your personality is what it is,” ilikestripes says. “Also there’s no reason you can’t still be ‘alpha male’ and enjoy anal sex.”

(Word. It’s called “power bottoming.”)

Tinapasadena would like more clarity from wormsaregreatlovers, writing: “Your question seems to be more focused on anal sex vs the attraction to a same sex partner. Is this a bisexual question or an anal sex question? If it’s simply a desire to have anal penetration, then let me suggest pegging…Good luck and don’t forget to breathe.”

Meanwhile, ConsideratelyYours keeps it real: “If a potential shift away from alpha maleness is such a scary thought for you that you would rather bypass the pleasures of buttsex for it, then you should probably not engage in buttsex. Sex partners don’t need that kind of insecurity/baggage.”

(Sounds like someone’s been burned before.)

Ferny530 then chimes in, drawing from his own experiences as a once bi-curious male: “I was in your shoes not to long ago,” he writes, “I had never done anything with a guy before only with girls. But when I did it was the greatest experience in my life so far. It felt so right and so natural. It didn’t change who I am at all.”

But perhaps Nizzle-Mcfly has the best advice of all, telling wormsaregreatlovers: “You only have to worry if you come glitter, then it is too late.”

Related stories:

Five Tips To Losing Your Anal Virginity With Aplomb

Dude Gives Cabbie A BJ In Exchange For A Ride, Wonders If He Was Raped

Straight Guy Opens Up About All The Stuff He Likes Done To His Butt

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/FFgWyBRTS18/this-bi-curious-man-is-thinking-about-losing-his-anal-virginity-but-he-has-some-concerns-20150401

Two Gay Killers Become First Same-Sex Couple To Marry In UK Prison: VIDEO

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/two-gay-killers-become-first-same-sex-couple-to-marry-in-uk-prison-video.html

WATCH: Conan's Hilarious Interview With Indiana's 'Religious Freedom Czar'

Conan O’Brien sat down with Indiana’s Religious Freedom Czar to get all of the ‘real’ details behind the highly disputed Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

read more

Raffy Ermac

www.advocate.com/comedy/2015/04/01/watch-conans-hilarious-interview-indianas-religious-freedom-czar

Fear of Violence Connects Cis and Trans Women

I stopped by a little produce store on my way home to pick up a few things. I had my two-year-old with me. There was a woman standing behind an outdoor fruit stand with her parcels of produce. She was moving from foot to foot, unable to stand still and trembling. When I looked her in the eyes, I saw that she was choking back tears. When I asked if she was okay, she told me she was spooked because someone had tried to grab her from outside a motel. Her terror emanated from her body in waves. I noticed she had a scissor attached to her bag.

The produce store employees kept walking outside and giving her dirty looks, as if her fear was inconvenient or bad for business. I wondered why they couldn’t invite her inside the store and give her a place to sit. I asked how I could help her, but because I had my child with me, was hesitant to stay because of the scissor. As she continued trembling with fear, she said her mother was coming to pick her up.

While I was paying for my groceries, I decided to wait with her until her mother arrived. When I walked outside, I saw her striding toward a white car. They drove off with her mother’s placid face behind the wheel, and the woman’s face crumpling into a mask of tragedy. They drove away, but her agony and anxiety stayed with me — the undercurrent of fear that laces its way into every woman’s life, the fear of being violated.

I have felt familiar with this fear from a young age, from my own experiences, but also from the news stories of horrible things happening to girls. I was just a couple of years younger than Mary Vincent, a teenage hitchhiker, who survived after being raped and mutilated when she was 15 years old. Her attacker chopped off her forearms. He cut off her physical agency, her ability to hold something in her hand, her ability to hug freely, or to hold her hand up in protest. He only served eight years for his crime.

The experience of being female is intertwined with the fear of violence. Even so, I have always felt empowered to be a woman and would never have it any other way.

Recently, a friend brought her two children to my home for a playdate. Her oldest went to preschool with my daughter. His shoulder length black hair was tied back with a rubber band to keep it out of his beautiful dark eyes. His peach colored t-shirt with the sequined heart appliqué reminded me of a shirt my daughter has. He was adorable down to his purple and white polka dotted socks. In contrast, his brother was like a miniature linebacker Lothario in the making, handsome and strong-headed. Their parents have compassionately risen to the challenge of creating a social and academic world where it is safe for their children to express their gender organically. As I watched the children play, I couldn’t help but wonder about this gender variant Latino child’s future and hope for a safer world for him wherever he goes, no matter his eventual gender identity and expression.

As I watched him play, I found myself thinking about the many trans women who have been willing to give up everything — safety, family, male privilege, societal acceptance — to actualize their gender. As Cecilia Chung, of Transgender Law Center so aptly stated,

Statistically, trans women of color are more likely to experience discrimination and violence. According to a meta-analysis, trans women of color are 49 times more likely to have HIV when compared to the general population. So why do we still choose such a path when odds are stacked against us? Because the pain of not being our authentic (selves) outweighs any perceived risks.

Nationwide, seven trans women have been murdered in 2015 alone. The year started with a murder per week. This is chilling and tragic. I can’t help but think about those old blame the victim tropes — that women invite violence and rape based on how they are dressed. Women don’t dress for violence — not the terrified woman nearly abducted from outside a motel, not Mary Vincent who had her arms taken from her and not the murdered trans women. Trans women don’t invite attack when they choose to be their authentic selves, just as cisgender women don’t invite violent attack with their choice of clothing and self-adornment. However, by choosing to live their lives as their authentic female selves, despite all the risks, they enter the sisterhood — the sisterhood of the fear of violence.

What can we do to help? Make eye contact, offer to help, be present, be a friend. And as Cecilia Chung suggests,

If you know a trans woman of color, please give her a hug and let her know her life is precious and you accept her unconditionally. It might mean giving her a glimpse of hope that she thought she had lost.

While our culture of violence isn’t going away any time soon, we can make efforts each day to counteract it by creating a culture of love and acceptance. Love the woman who is shaken and scared at the produce market. Love the sweet gender variant child. Love the brave trans women who risk everything to live authentically. And most importantly, love yourself. Be safe, my friends.

www.huffingtonpost.com/georgia-kolias/fear-of-violence-connects-cis-and-trans-women_b_6972772.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices