Daily Archives: July 21, 2015
Sweeping LGBT Rights Bill to Be Introduced This Week
Sweeping LGBT Rights Bill to Be Introduced This Week
The Equality Act would include protections in public accommodations, public education, employment, housing, federal funding, jury service, legal protections, and credit.
Bil Browning
www.advocate.com/politics/2015/07/21/sweeping-lgbt-rights-bill-be-introduced-week
The Outsider Has Officially Squeezed Its Way Inside The Art World
The Outsider Has Officially Squeezed Its Way Inside The Art World
“Character Traits” is the summer exhibition of your wildest, wettest dreams. If, that is, you prefer adorably deformed critters to the formal aspects of picture-making; fart jokes to the histories of aesthetic order and structures; boobies to experiments in monochrome.
Which, let us be clear, we absolutely, most definitely do.
The exhibition, featuring work from artists including Raina Hamner, Nel Aerts, Brian Scott Campbell and Austin English, feels like someone cracked a “Looney Tunes” episode open and spilled its insides into a frying pan, boiling and scrambling them beyond recognition. The artists on view weave together the influence of sources you wouldn’t find on the white walls of MoMA — sources like outsider art, undercover zines, comic books and thrift store kitsch.
“I was looking for artists that weren’t generally represented in New York,” artist Matthew Craven, who curated the show, explained to The Huffington Post. “Artists who have more of an interest in cartooning, zines, the stuff I grew up making — the stuff that influenced me that maybe isn’t considered high art by a lot of people. Influences can come from anywhere. Me, personally, I never took an art class until I was 22. I grew up drawing comic books.”
Take Dawn Frasch‘s “Pussy Phanatic,” an overflowing cesspool of visual information. In it, a naked lady, vagina spread open, spews pinkish innards from her genitals, coming to life like it was the pornographic sequel to “Flubber.” The ejection eventually forms its own muppet-like character, who appears dressed up for a baseball game as he vomits blood. It’s all the bad parts of an orgy combined with the even worse parts of an all-you-can-eat buffet.
It’s part of an appealing narrative — plucking the weirdos and perverts from the fringes of the hoity-toity art world and gathering them together for one raucous visual display. Except, the story doesn’t quite hold up. The grotesque, excessive aesthetic of “Character Traits” isn’t an anomaly. In fact, it’s a trend.
In the past year, a number of New York exhibitions have highlighted artists interested in the styles of cartoon animation, underground comics and punk zines. There was “Puddle, Pothole, Portal” at SculptureCenter, “Heartbeats, Hard-ons and Freakouts” at Marlborough Chelsea, “Far Out” at Malborough Chelsea, Trenton Doyle Hancock at the Studio Museum in Harlem. There was Peter Saul’s exhibition of 1960s work at Venus Over Manhattan and “What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, from 1960 to the Present,” chronicling outsiders from Jim Nutt to Niagara to Mike Kelley.
Many of the artists in “What Nerve,” including Saul himself, have been swapping conceptual quandaries for gory details since the ’50s. “Mr. Saul, who was born in San Francisco, started pushing buttons in the late 1950s when he discovered that although he liked the way certain Abstract Expressionist artists painted, he couldn’t stomach the Existentialist mumbo-jumbo that surrounded their work,” Holland Cotter explained in 2008. “So he adopted the brushy style but dumped the pretensions. Instead of spiritual depths, he painted icebox interiors stocked with soft drinks, steaks, daggers, penises and toilets.”
Too many contemporary artists have been inspired by Saul’s gloriously bad taste, many of whom are on view in this exhibit. Then there are people like New Zealand-based artist Susan Te Kahurangi King, who stopped speaking at the age of four and had little contact with Western art history. And yet her work would fit right in in “Character Traits,” a show Craven acknowledges has somewhat of an “outsider” aesthetic.
“All of these artists are technically skilled,” Craven said, “but they think it’s more interesting to tune into a different side of your brain and look a different way. I think what artists are typically trying to do when you see that ‘outsider aesthetic’… It’s trying to tune out everything you’ve learned before, to really approach your work in a different way. Getting rid of things you’ve learned in the past is sometimes a bigger skill than focusing on the skills you’ve learned over time.”
Craven is also the first to acknowledge the timely relevance of this unlearned aesthetic. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” he said. “They own it,” he said of the “Character Traits” bunch. “They put their own spin on it instead of relying on what’s popular at the moment.”
That’s for certain. Raina Hamner’s 2014 “So Much Tenderness Is In My Head, So Much Loneliness In My Bed,” featured above, shows two bald men in matching turtlenecks and tangerine heels clasping hands, pants down. Their dangling penises are complimented by eyeballs and noses, so their nether regions resemble two drooling puppies gazing into each other’s eyes. If a scorned reader of the 1970s children’s books Barbapapas went rogue, this could be the erotic revenge art.
So, what does it mean when some of the most prestigious galleries and museums across the country adorn their halls with genitalia-happy cartoons? Are art world pretensions giving way to the silly, the sick and and the strange? Or is there a more sinister glint to this turn towards the outsider, a fetishization or appropriation that estranges a style from its original imperative?
Does bringing fringe culture into the spotlight in some way sanitize it or deactivate it?
The exhibition’s content seems to warn against over-thinking, and I’m taking the hint. “Character Traits” is a show of young artists, most of whom are not yet established or mainstream, making work like the stuff they grew up drooling over. If younger artists are opting for more accessible, democratic and underground material instead of haughty art school theses, there’s no reason for me to complain.
While “Character Traits” bills itself as a fun exhibition of emerging artists, in reality, it’s much more. It’s a precise snapshot of the moment the outside successfully squeezes itself in, and let me tell you, it looks good.
The exhibition, featuring work by Nel Aerts, Brian Scott Campbell, Austin Eddy, Austin English, Ryan Michael Ford, Dawn Frasch, Raina Hamner, Sojourner Truth Parsons and D’Metrius Rice, runs until August 14, 2015 at Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York.
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Gawker editors resign in protest after story outing Conde Nast executive is removed
Gawker editors resign in protest after story outing Conde Nast executive is removed
Two of Gawker’s senior editors have resigned in the wake of the website running a controversial story that outed a senior executive at publishing company Condé Nast.
Tommy Craggs, the Executive Editor of Gawker Media, and Gawker.com editor-in-chief, Max Read, stand by the decision to run the story and suggest that removing it came about because senior management were concerned about losing advertising revenue.
The story was posted last Thursday. Written by Jordan Sargent, it included allegations made by a former porn star (who was granted anonymity by the website), that the media executive concerned – who Gay Star News has chosen not to name – had attempted to hire him for sex.
The article included screenshots of text messages and identified the executive concerned. He is married to a woman and has children. He is not a public figure, but has a brother who previously worked for the Obama administration.
Gawker – which was founded by gay entrepreneur Nick Denton – was immediately criticized by many commentators for appearing to out the executive as gay or bisexual.
Craggs informed Denton of the story on Thursday afternoon, a few hours before it was posted. According to the New York Times Denton expressed reservations but did not ask to read the article before it was posted online later that evening.
On Friday, the story was removed and Denton, who is CEO of Gawker and owns 68% of the company, posted a message saying that running the story was ‘a decision I regret.’
‘This story … does not rise to the level that our flagship site should be publishing.’
This was followed on Monday by a memo from Denton to staff. It said: ‘That post wasn’t what Gawker should stand for, and it is symptomatic of a site that has been out of control of editorial management.
‘Our flagship site carries the same name as the company, and the reputation of the entire company rests on its work. When Gawker itself is seen as sneering and callous, it affects all of us.’
The fallout from the story continues. Yesterday it was announced that Craggs and Read were resigning.
In a posting on Gawker.com, it was made clear that they stood by the decision to publish the original article, and were outraged that Gawker management had voted to remove it.
‘In letters sent today, Craggs and Read informed staff members that the managing partnership’s vote to remove a controversial post … a unprecedented act endorsed by zero editorial employees – represented an indefensible breach of the notoriously strong firewall between Gawker’s business interests and the independence of its editorial staff. Under those conditions, Craggs and Read wrote, they could not possibly guarantee Gawker’s editorial integrity,’ said J.K. Trotter in the posting.
The posting went on to reproduce the letter from Craggs. He says that the vote to remove the article came about because, ‘Advertisers such as Discover and BFGoodrich were either putting holds on their campaigns or pulling out entirely.’
He strongly criticized Gawker’s partners for not informing him or Read that that they were voting on whether to remove the article: ‘None of the partners in a company that prides itself on its frankness had the decency or intellectual wherewithal to make the case to the executive editor of Gawker Media for undermining (if not immolating) his job, forsaking Gawker’s too-often-stated, too-little-tested principles, and doing the most extreme and self-destructive thing a shop like ours could ever do.’
‘All I got at the end of the day was a workshopped email from Denton, asking me to stay on and help him unfuck the very thing he’d colluded with the partners to fuck up.’
Read’s separate letter said: ‘This was not an easy decision. I hope the partnership group recognizes the degree to which it has betrayed the trust of editorial, and takes steps to materially reinforce its independence.’
Gay Star Business have approached Gawker for comment about Read and Craggs’ claims.
It’s not unclear what the motive was behind the publishing of the original article, although Read himself tweeted last Thursday: ‘given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies fucking around on their wives.’
given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies fucking around on their wives
— max read (@max_read) July 17, 2015
Gawker started life as a media gossip site, brazenly posting stories that other media may have been wary of touching. It has been involved with several controversies in its past, and is currently facing a $100million lawsuit from Hulk Hogan that could potentially bankrupt it.
However, it’s growing popularity and stature has seen it evolve its editorial stance; as Denton claimed last Friday when the article was removed: ‘Gawker is no longer the insolent blog that began in 2003.’
Some commentators have suggested that the controversy reveals a deep split between the management team at Gawker and the editorial staff. Andrew Wallenstein, Co-Editor-In-Chief at Variety, suggested ‘The battle for the soul of Gawker is underway. Presuming the publication has one, that is.’
More evocative still was Ryan Holiday, editor at large for the New York Observer: ‘The site is tearing itself apart. Or maybe, a better image is that old legend about a scorpion surrounded by fire, stinging itself to death.’
Image: Dave Winer | Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia commons
The post Gawker editors resign in protest after story outing Conde Nast executive is removed appeared first on Gay Star News.
David Hudson
BREAKING: Comprehensive New LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation To Be Introduced This Week
BREAKING: Comprehensive New LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation To Be Introduced This Week
Today, HRC released the following statement following a report from Buzzfeed News late last night that comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination legislation is expected to be introduced in Congress later this week.
HRC.org
DVD: “My Beautiful Laundrette,” “What We Do In The Shadows,” “Best Day Ever,” & More!
DVD: “My Beautiful Laundrette,” “What We Do In The Shadows,” “Best Day Ever,” & More!
One of the quintessential entries in modern queer cinema, My Beautiful Laundrette — with Daniel Day Lewis playing gay to boot! — gets a juicy new Criterion Collection release this week, heading up a lean but solid line-up.
Now for the details…
($35.99 Blu-ray, $26.99 DVD; Criterion Collection)
British director Stephen Frears is a true cinematic chameleon – his works include con artist classic The Grifters, The Queen with Helen Mirren, and 2013’s Philomena — who is also behind two of the ’80s best LGBT films. This 1985 dramedy, based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, sees a young Pakistani-British Londoner, Omar, fall for a former, punky schoolmate played by Daniel Day-Lewis while they attempt to turn a decrepit laundromat into a sudsy success. Besides the sexy sight of a peroxide blonde Day-Lewis getting busy with co-star Gordon Warnecke, this one touches on some serious social issues and the immigrant experience. Hopefully Criterion will eventually deliver us Frears’ other LGBT standout, 1987’s Joe Orton biopic, Prick Up Your Ears (starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina). Extras include a new conversation with director Frears and interviews with the writer and producers.
($39.99 Blu-ray, $29.99 DVD; Paramount)
This hysterical, genius mockumentary from Flight of the Conchords creators Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement follows a household of vampires living in modern day New Zealand. Clever, at times bloody, with some nifty special effects, this really does pump some new, wickedly funny blood — especially when the all-male household becomes enamored with a local human guy, into the genre. Extras include deleted scenes, making-of footage, interviews, and the half-hour short film that inspired the feature.
($29.99 Blu-ray, $17.99 DVD; Radioactive Cactus)
In this 2014 rom-com from prolific gay indie director Jeff London, a single gay man’s impending 50th birthday sets off a bout of midlife crisis. Fortunately, fate also has a 35-year-old romantic twist for him in store. Inspired by the real-life relationship story of London and his boyfriend/co-writer James Steven Handshoe, this is sweet stuff indeed, and a reminder that sometimes life doesn’t kick into gear until after 49! Blu-ray extras include bloopers, extended takes and a commentary.
ALSO OUT:
The Black Stallion (Criterion)
Here Is Your Life (Criterion)
Lawrence Ferber
Anti-Gay Kentucky Clerk Prayed and Fasted Over Decision to Stop Issuing Marriage Licenses: VIDEO
Anti-Gay Kentucky Clerk Prayed and Fasted Over Decision to Stop Issuing Marriage Licenses: VIDEO
A county clerk in Kentucky who degraded and denied a gay couple a marriage license earlier this month has said that she prayed and fasted for months before deciding to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, reports Philly.com.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, an apostolic Christian, was testifying yesterday at a federal hearing stemming from a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, two gay couples and two straight couples.
She said that her religious beliefs tell her that marriage can only be between a man and a woman and that her right to freedom of religion allows her to deny licenses to gay couples.
She added that she and other officials want an alternative way for same-sex couples to get marriage licenses so that county clerks would not have to sign off on them.
Attorneys for the ACLU say Davis’ rationale would mean clerks could also deny marriage licenses to divorcees or people who have “committed other actions that some consider sinful.”
The judge in the case said he expects to issue a ruling during the week of August 11th.
Watch a report below:
The post Anti-Gay Kentucky Clerk Prayed and Fasted Over Decision to Stop Issuing Marriage Licenses: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
Michael Fitzgerald
Anti-Gay Kentucky Clerk Prayed and Fasted Over Decision to Stop Issuing Marriage Licenses: VIDEO
Meningitis vaccination recommendation for gay men extended to Minnesota as outbreak spreads
Meningitis vaccination recommendation for gay men extended to Minnesota as outbreak spreads
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is urging gay and bisexual men to get vaccinated in the state after it recorded its first death from a strain of invasive bacterial meningitis, also known as meningococcal disease, that has flared up in major US cities in recent years including Los Angeles and New York City.
Minnesota’s first victim was a HIV positive man in his 40’s who died in mid-July.
He was found to be carrying the same strain of bacterial meningitis that caused seven people to be hospitalized in Chicago earlier this year – killing at least one of them.
Authorities fear that there may be more cases out in the community that are yet to be discovered and are urging men who have sex with men (MSM) in the state to get vaccinated to reduce their risk of being affected.
Men who have casual sexual encounters with strangers and those who are HIV positive are considered to be at greater risk of becoming infected with the disease.
‘We believe that the MSM community in Minnesota may be at increased risk for meningococcal disease,’ MDH infectious disease division director Kristen Ehresmann said in a statement.
‘We want to try to head off the possibility of an outbreak occurring here, so we strongly encourage all MSM, especially those who are HIV positive, to go get vaccinated.’
The disease is spread via saliva so it can be acquired by kissing, sharing drinks or cigarettes or being in close proximity with someone who is infected for extended periods of time.
People can have invasive meningitis for between two and ten days before symptoms appear and these include fever, headache, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and an altered mental status or confusion.
Meningitis causes accuse inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord and particularly invasive strains of bacterial meningitis have been identified in the United States.
Around 10% to 15% of those who catch invasive bacterial meningitis will die even with proper medical attention and 20% of those who survive will do so with some permanent injury such as brain damage, hearing loss or the loss of a limb.
If you live in Minnesota and want to get vaccinated you can search for your nearest clinic on the department’s website here
The post Meningitis vaccination recommendation for gay men extended to Minnesota as outbreak spreads appeared first on Gay Star News.
Andrew Potts
Colby Melvin’s Got His Own Brand, And It SOARs Above The Rest
Colby Melvin’s Got His Own Brand, And It SOARs Above The Rest
SOAR is an up-and-coming brand that aims to attract with positive energy. Their mission: to Stand Out Above the Rest and combat today’s rampant negativity.
The brand believes your clothes are a billboard that advertises who you are and what you stand for. But sadly that billboard is sometimes nothing more than “a meaningless mass corporate design.” Launched by model Colby Melvin and boyfriend Rocco Ybarra, SOAR is a new brand is all about designing “conscious propaganda.” That’s why SOAR fills its billboards not just with thoughtful designs, but with personality.
Colby models SOAR’s premier collection in their first photo campaign, and wouldn’t you know it, his sweet disposition shines through. It’s summer in L.A. and the perfect weather for SOAR’s tanks and swim briefs. Both are made with graphic prints that’ll inspire some grins of admiration. So even if you don’t have Colby’s body or looks, you can at least have his style.
You can see more of SOAR and Colby Melvin on The Underwear Expert.
Photo Credit: SOAR
Underwear Expert
Hullpride2 (5)
