14 Times Miley Cyrus Had Our Backs

Pop music’s most fun-loving rebel girl is serious about LGBT rights.

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Gina Vivinetto

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2015/04/10/14-times-miley-cyrus-had-our-backs

Sara Benincasa's New Film Will Feature A Focus Group — About Her Body
Would you ever ask a group of total strangers to rate your body?

Comedian Sara Benincasa will play a woman who does just that in her new short film, “The Focus Group.”

Benincasa and co-directer Adam Wirtz are currently raising money on Kickstarter to create the short film, in which a woman has her body evaluated and her “flaws” pointed out by a team of people hired to critique her.

The film’s main character is a woman who is 34 years old, 5’3″ and 175 pounds — the age, height and weight of Benincasa herself, who will play said character.

“I am not supposed to tell you my age, I am not supposed to tell you my height and I am not supposed to tell you my weight,” Benincasa says in a video introducing the project. “Because I’m a lady, and those are private, secret lady things.”

Benincasa is breaking a taboo by sharing these facts about herself. In the film, the main character will appear in “various states of undress” in front of a focus group to found out “how she can be prettier, and better, and more attractive and more palatable to the mass audience she is trying to appeal to, aka dudes.”

“I was inspired to do ‘The Focus Group’ because it struck me that having one’s body analyzed in such a fashion would be an absolute nightmare,” Benincasa told The Huffington Post. “I learned early on in my classes at [comedy club] the PIT to follow the fear — go for what scares you.”

Benincasa hopes that the film will make people laugh, but also make people feel better about their bodies and less alone in the world.

She told HuffPost: “My message is that even when you see room for change, you’ve got to love yourself exactly as you are.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/sara-benincasa-the-focus-group_n_7033818.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Highlighting Responsibilities, Resources in Wake of Trans Youth’s Death

Taylor Alesana, a 16-year-old transgender teen, has died by suicide in San Diego, according to local news reports.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/highlighting-responsibilities-resources-in-wake-of-trans-youths-death?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Gay Indian Man Pens Heartbreaking Essay About Being Trapped In A Sham Marriage

“I hail from a small district in Rajasthan,” an unnamed 37-year-old Indian man writes in a new essay titled “My Wife Is Friends With My Boyfriend: A Gay Man on His ‘Situation’” published by the Hindustan Times. “I am not sure when I realized I was gay, but I was only four or five when I fell in love with a boy from my area. We would play a game, in which I would be the husband, and he would be my wife. … This went on till I was 10. That’s when he got married.”

Child marriage, the man explains, was common in India when he was growing up. At just 11 years old, his family arranged for him to marry to a girl, though he and his wife did not live together for many years.

“We used to talk over the phone,” he  says, “but I didn’t feel the need to tell her about my sexual orientation.”

When the two finally reached adulthood, a formal wedding was held.

“I had a boyfriend at that time,” he writes, “but we were not in a physical relationship. I even invited him to my wedding, and he didn’t mind attending it, since he knew my marriage was a social obligation.”

Up until six years ago, gay sex was considered a crime in India, punishable with life imprisonment. In July 2009, the law criminalizing homosexuality was declared unconstitutional by the Delhi high court. The law was reinstated, however, in December 2013, sparking international outcry.

It didn’t take long for the man’s “social obligation” to become a burden. Shortly after their wedding, he decided to tell his wife the truth. But when he did, she didn’t believe him.

“She was in denial,” he writes, “and thought I was talking nonsense. She suggested I get help. … I tried to explain to her that no one had forced me to be gay, but she couldn’t understand. She believed that two men can only be friends.”

Years passed and people started pressuring the couple to have children. So they produced two kids together, but, the man says, being intimate with his wife was incredibly difficult. “Whenever she would lie next to me, I’d feel anxious about the prospect of having sex with her,” he says. “Now, we have sex whenever she feels the need to, but not frequently. It pains me to make her go through this.”

“I have considered getting a divorce,” he continues, “but my wife and in-laws feel it would shame the family. My wife tells me that I am her first love, and that she won’t stop loving me till she dies, even if I am with another man.”

After 15 years of marriage, his wife has come to terms with her husband’s sexuality and even maintains a friendship with his boyfriend. Everyone in his family, including his children, now ages 11 and 13 years, also know he’s gay, “but they still don’t understand what that means.”

As a result, he says his children have been made to suffer. “I have fought with people in my society for troubling my kids,” he says. “I tell them not to treat them the way they treat me. I don’t talk to people in my area. I also don’t attend any festivals, family gatherings or marriages, for my family’s sake.”

“They don’t understand what it means to be gay,” he continues, “I don’t see things changing for me or for other gay men in the near future–not at least in my lifetime.”

“I’ll continue living the way I have lived my life so far. There is no other option for me.”

Related stories:

Here’s What Goes On Inside The All-Male “Akharas” Of India

Top Or Bottom? The Debate Rages On In India

Vindictive Wife In India Has Gay Husband Locked Away For Life, Feels Absolutely No Remorse

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/K4ySZHZ9WtQ/gay-indian-man-pens-heartbreaking-essay-about-being-trapped-in-a-sham-marriage-20150410

Madonna Slays 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon': VIDEO

Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/bitchiimmadonna.html

Op-ed: How to Get By When Your Community Betrays You

When your neighbors snatch your rights away it takes an emotional toll, but this writer refuses to be defeated.

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Chance Helton

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/04/10/op-ed-how-get-when-your-community-betrays-you

After Anti-Gay Controversy, Indiana's Memories Pizza Reopens To A Packed House
WALKERTON, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana pizzeria that closed after its owner said his religious beliefs wouldn’t allow him to cater a gay wedding opened Thursday to a full house of friends, regulars and people wanting to show their support.

“It’s a relief to get going again and try to get back to normal,” said Kevin O’Connor, owner of Memories Pizza. O’Connor closed the shop for eight days after comments by him and his daughter, Crystal, to a local television station supporting a new religious objections law. The law, which has since been revised, sparked a boycott of Indiana.

O’Connor said the criticism hasn’t changed his beliefs. He said gays are welcome in his restaurant in the small, one-traffic-light town of Walkerton, 20 miles southwest of South Bend, but that he would decline to cater a same-sex wedding because it would conflict with his Christian beliefs.

“I’d do the same thing again. It’s my belief. It’s our belief. It’s what we grew up on,” he said. “I’m just sorry it comes to this because neither one of us dislike any of those people. I don’t hold any grudges.”

A crowdfunding campaign started by supporters raised more than $842,000 with donations from 29,160 contributors in 48 hours. O’Connor said he hasn’t received the money yet, but said he plans to give some to charity and use some money to make improvements to the restaurant.

The 61-year-old father of eight who has owned the restaurant for nine years said he never thought about taking the money and retiring.

“I enjoy it. I don’t want to leave here,” he said. “I want this to be something that my daughter can enjoy.”

Crystal O’Connor said the amount of money was overwhelming.

“We were like, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!'” she said.

“It was really making us uncomfortable,” her father said.

The restaurant reopened about 4 p.m. Thursday. He says that within an hour, all eight tables were filled and six people were waiting for carryout orders. There were no protests as of 7 p.m.

Jeanne and Ken Gumm from outside LaPorte, about 20 miles northwest of Walkerton, said they had been waiting for the pizzeria to reopen so they could show their support.

“We couldn’t wait to get down here,” said Ken Gumm, 66, a tank truck driver. “To us this whole thing isn’t about gay marriage. It’s mostly about freedom of religion.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/indiana-memories-pizza-reopens_n_7039644.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

PHOTOS: Insert Coins Into These Nasty Boys And They’ll Do Anything You Like

The stars aligned and Insert Coin at the Eagle fell on the same day as Comicon Seattle, which meant it was WALL TO WALL/PANEL TO PANEL/BIT TO BYTE stuffed with sexy geekoids looking for some 1up+2up action.

Scroll down for a taste of what the night entailed, and check out the full gallery at GayCities.

Photo credit: Matt Baume

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/W7SjFHOVgtg/photos-insert-coins-into-these-nasty-boys-and-theyll-do-anything-you-like-20150410