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Meet Ben Ryan, The Nearly Naked AIDS Activist Who Can Dance
Meet Ben Ryan, The Nearly Naked AIDS Activist Who Can Dance
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When Benjamin “Ben” Ryan began taking dance classes ten years ago, the personal venture was a complete whim. After all, he was in his late twenties at the time – ancient for a beginning dancer – and by his own admission, was “just awful” for the first few years of classes. And nothing about his vocation as a writer specializing in the science of HIV suggested that Gene Kelly was trapped inside.
Cue the victorious final production number of your favorite musical. Not only did Ben get better – a whole lot better – he was cast in the spectacular HIV fundraiser Broadway Bares seven years ago and each year since, hoofing alongside actual Broadway dancers. Performers can also raise money through the event’s “Stripathon” page, through which Ben has raised more than $80,000 for beneficiary Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (you can visit Ben’s stripathon page here and add to that impressive tally).
Oh, and Ben Ryan has done all of this while wearing very, very little on stage.
“For the last 15 years,” Ben said, “I’ve written about the HIV epidemic as a reporter.” He currently covers science as editor-at-large for POZ Magazine, and getting his facts straight is incredibly important to him — especially when every detail of each new HIV or PrEP study is parsed and debated online. “The way I make sure my back is covered is I fact check like crazy,” he said. “Even one word can change the meaning of something. If I do get something wrong, I’m really upset. I’m a perfectionist.”
Those same qualities have served him well as a late-blooming dancer. When he started out, “I was at the rock bottom of my dance class with a bunch of kids,” Ben said. “Even my teacher made fun of me. Until she didn’t.” He still finds it hard to believe he now shares the stage every year with Broadway professionals.
But what must the scene be like backstage, with all that naked flesh running around? “Most of the guys in the show are really friendly,” Ben said coyly. (For more visual information on the scene backstage, check out Ben’s own photography page for images of all the action behind the curtain. You’re welcome.)
Ben Ryan and Laverne Cox backstage at Broadway Bares 2015
Ben has nothing but love for special guest performers like Laverne Cox and Judith Light. “The whole room exploded at rehearsal last year when they announced that Laverne would perform,” he said. “She was such a darling, always hanging out with everyone. And Judith will just wander around backstage with this amazing grin on her face. She gives a speech at the end of the show that always gives me goosebumps.”
Ben Ryan being named Mr. Stripathon at Broadway Bares 2015
Star power is great, but nothing beats a volunteer like Ben who knows how to raise money. “Ben is not content to take the stage in bare-bottomed pride,” said Tom Viola, the highly regarded director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “He raised $17,346 just last year and was named Mr. Stripathon.” Tom also credits Ben with helping to craft HIV prevention and treatment messages that are shared with the entire company each year, “so everyone associated with the production understands how to take care of themselves and each other.”
Amidst all the revealing fun, Ben knows Broadway Bares isn’t simply being titillating for its own sake. “Ultimately, the show is a celebration of the body,” he said. “We harken back to a time when we were afraid to touch each other, so to celebrate our sexuality is a profound thing. That, as opposed to HIV stigma and anxiety about sex and transmitting disease.”
Ben also admits that the show is a nice escape from his more cerebral work in HIV science. “It’s so much fun to be silly and outrageous,” he said. “I wanted to be involved in an event that I thought was the most exciting thing in New York City. And I am!”
(Ben’s fund raising page for Broadway Bares is here.)
PHOTOS: The Beauty And Uniqueness Of Every Day Men Captured In Powerful Nude Series
PHOTOS: The Beauty And Uniqueness Of Every Day Men Captured In Powerful Nude Series
“My aim is not to look for beautiful men to shoot, but to shoot the beauty and even more important the uniqueness in the men I work with,” photographer Robert Siegelman tells Queerty. “The men need not be beautiful in any conventional way, but I would like the pictures to have a beauty and, even more important, to have meaning.”
Related: PHOTOS: Sexy Body-Positive Series Challenges Perceptions Of Male Beauty
Siegelman, who lives and works in Boston, has shown his work in museums and galleries around the world, including at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York, The Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago and “untitled mail id” at the Angus-Hughes Gallery in London.
Related: PHOTOS: The Softer Side Of BDSM
“My work can certainly be provocative, and I like that,” he explains. “It is also quite intimate, and sometimes explicitly sexual. I want to be able to touch people on various levels, and hope that my work may play a part in how we look at sex and sexuality.”
Scroll down for a taste of Siegelman’s portraits, and see more of his work on his Tumblr page…
Somebody Sprayed ‘Die Fags’ Inside a Hamburger Mary’s Restaurant in Chicago
Somebody Sprayed ‘Die Fags’ Inside a Hamburger Mary’s Restaurant in Chicago
The Chicago outpost of the popular LGBT-friendly restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s was hit by a hate crime over the weekend. Someone spray-painted “Die Fags” on the inside of the bathroom door, NBC Chicago reports:
“My first reaction when I saw it was actually annoyed,” said owner Ashley Wright. “Literally a split second later it was just sort of this gut wrenching feeling.”
The LGBT-friendly North Side restaurant, described as an “open-air bar and grille for open-minded people,” is one of 14 restaurants nationwide and one of two in Chicago. It was recently featured on an episode of CBS’ Undercover Boss.
“This was someone who came into my house, my establishment and spray painted a hateful message to me and my customers and staff,” Wright said.
The owner has since painted over the graffiti with rainbow colors and the word “Love” and notified police of the incident.
Good news: the suspect was captured on surveillance video and police are investigating.
Watch the report:
The post Somebody Sprayed ‘Die Fags’ Inside a Hamburger Mary’s Restaurant in Chicago appeared first on Towleroad.
Steward Butler, Sao Paulo, Marco Rubio, Alzheimer’s, Mika, Dragonette: NEWS
Steward Butler, Sao Paulo, Marco Rubio, Alzheimer’s, Mika, Dragonette: NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA. UNC says it won’t enforce transgender restroom rules: “The declaration came in a motion asking a federal court to halt civil legal proceedings against the university system while a higher court decides a separate case on transgender rights from Virginia. University system President Margaret Spellings wrote in an affidavit that, pending the outcome of the North Carolina case: ‘I have no intent to exercise my authority to promulgate any guidelines or regulations that require transgender students to use the restrooms consistent with their biological sex.’”
ALBERTA. Gay Rodeo canceled with no explanation: “The event, organized by the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA) and held in Strathmore, Alberta, was scheduled for June 30 to July 3, 2016. But on May 19, ARGRA replaced its website’s landing page with an announcement the event has been cancelled. ‘We have made the extremely difficult decision not to proceed with the 2016 festival,’ the messages states. ‘This decision was not made lightly and we sincerely apologize to all the people this decision affects: the fans, artists, competitors, industry partners, vendors, corporate partners, suppliers and all of our supporters within the community.’”
2016 ELECTION. Marco Rubio told Trump he’s sorry for mocking his dick size: “I actually told Donald — one of the debates, I forget which one — I apologized to him for that. I said, ‘You know, I’m sorry that I said that. It’s not who I am and I shouldn’t have done it.’ I didn’t say it in front of the cameras, I didn’t want any political benefit.”
WEST VIRGINIA. Hate crime charges dropped against Marshall U. football player Steward Butler in anti-gay attack: “In a decision this month, Cabell County Circuit Court Judge Paul Farrell said West Virginia civil rights law protects people based on sex, but not sexual orientation, and ruled to drop the hate crime charges against Butler in 60 days, giving prosecutors time to appeal. Many other states specifically mention sexual orientation in listing the categories that elevate violence or threats of violence to a hate crime. West Virginia lawmakers had plenty of chances to follow suit but didn’t, Farrell wrote. The ruling leaves two options for West Virginia prosecutors: hope for a favorable upcoming appeal with the state Supreme Court, or — if they lose — lobby for changes to state law with a Legislature that typically hasn’t added LGBT protections.”
HEALTH. Could Alzheimer’s be caused by past infections? “More than five million Americans live with the degenerative brain disease that robs people of their memory. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. a study led by Harvard University researchers and published this week in the journal “Science Translational Medicine” suggests that Alzheimer’s could stem from the brain’s past attempts to fight off infections.”
SAO PAULO. World’s largest Pride parade held. “Brazilians have little to celebrate at the moment. The country is dealing with a Zika outbreak, the president’s impeachment, and pressure to postpone this summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But the parade was an opportunity for people to dance, dress up and enjoy themselves, even if the overall theme of the gathering – a demand for equal rights – is a serious one.”
DONOVAN LIVINGSTON. Student’s convocation address at the Harvard Graduate School of Education goes viral: “I had no idea the poem would be so well received, but I’m certainly grateful for all the positive attention that it’s been getting, whether it’s from Hillary Clinton or friends that I’ve grown up with my entire life,” Livingston said. “It means the same to me that I was able to touch and inspire some folks for five minutes.”
THE BELLS. They’re keeping Mika up in Strasbourg.
NEW POP. “Lonely Heart” by Dragonette.
SCIENCE AT HOME. Here’s what happens when you set your pool on fire and try to put it out with liquid nitrogen.
MONDAY MUSCLE. Offical It Boy C. Tuck
The post Steward Butler, Sao Paulo, Marco Rubio, Alzheimer’s, Mika, Dragonette: NEWS appeared first on Towleroad.
Nick Jonas: ‘I’d Be Lying’ if I Said I Haven’t Had Sex with a Man
Nick Jonas: ‘I’d Be Lying’ if I Said I Haven’t Had Sex with a Man
Nick Jonas says he can’t “technically” say ‘no’ when asked if he has had sex with a man.
The star’s sexuality has been a hot topic after he revealed he had filmed a gay sex scene for his role in Kingdom, the US martial arts drama series.
But he assured me his only sexual experience with a man was in front of the cameras. He said:
“On Kingdom I have a sex scene with a guy. It is always this thing have I, has Nick? No. But it’s my lips, it’s my hands, it’s my body, even if I’m playing a character. So technically I have done that, so I wouldn’t say I haven’t, because that would be lying. But as me, Nick, I am very open about who I am and that I have nothing to prove. I know what I am, I’ve been honest about that.”
And why does Jonas keep bringing this up? Journalists keep asking him.
The post Nick Jonas: ‘I’d Be Lying’ if I Said I Haven’t Had Sex with a Man appeared first on Towleroad.
HRC Arkansas Celebrates Pro-Equality Businesses
HRC Arkansas Celebrates Pro-Equality Businesses
Post submitted by James K Rector, HRC Arkansas Field Organizer
Last week, HRC Arkansas joined thousands of people in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Sixth Annual Block Street Block Party presented by the Block Street Business Association. The purpose of the association is to help promote locally owned and independent businesses on Block Avenue. Many of the businesses are proud signatories of HRC Arkansas’ Equality Is Our Business Pledge.
The Equality Is Our Business Pledge is a concerted effort by businesses and individuals to advance workplace equality and equal treatment in housing and public accommodations for LGBT and their allies. The business community and like-minded individuals understand that if we want to compete for top talent, we must have diverse and inclusive workplaces.
HRC Arkansas volunteers tabled at this event, engaging with members of the community and educating them about HRC. They signed up new supporters and members to help expand and connect the LGBT and allied community in The Natural State.
The goal of Equality Is Our Business Pledge is simple: Encourage businesses and organizations to stand up for diversity. Businesses and organizations of all sizes who sign the Equality Is Our Business Pledge publicly join thousands of other businesses and organizations that support workplace equality and equal treatment in housing and public accommodations.
Click here to learn more about the pledge and click here to learn more about HRC Arkansas.
www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-arkansas-celebrates-pro-equality-businesses?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Beautiful Colors
Beautiful Colors
ArthurMatsuo posted a photo:
Beautiful Colors (car “Tokyo No Hate” and people following it with positive messages – “Life is Beautiful” – Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade 2016)
Cores Bonitas
5 Reasons Peter Thiel’s Gawker Vendetta Is So Dangerous
5 Reasons Peter Thiel’s Gawker Vendetta Is So Dangerous
We may never know just why mogul Peter Thiel hates media site Gawker so much. The operating assumption is that Thiel hates Gawker for calling him out in 2007 for living in a glass closet and that fellow Facebook billionaire Sean Parker talked him into doing something about it. Whatever the reason, vendetta is the only way to describe Thiel’s $10 million investment in Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker.
As vendettas go, it’s been a success. Hogan won an absurd $140 million judgment against Gawker for leaking a sex tape. And defending Gawker isn’t always an easy task. As a site, it runs the gamut from snark to skeevy to hilarious and brilliant. High on the list of examples of the former was its story a year ago naming a high-profile married CFO for trying to arrange an assignation with a male escort. The story created a well-deserved Twitter storm and was eventually taken down.
Yet Thiel’s decision to secretly fund Hogan’s lawsuit is more than distasteful. It’s dangerous. Here are five reasons why Thiel’s attack on Gawker is a big threat, not just to the media, but to society in general.
1. Thiel is feeding a trend for rich people to buy the legal outcome they want
In a society where financial inequality is a huge problem, the one percent are using their money in attempts to drive pesky media out of business or at least tone down their reporting on the rich and powerful. Thiel is just one example of an out-of-touch billionaire throwing his wealth around to get what he wants. An even more disgusting example is the case of Mother Jones magazine, which was sued by a major Republican donor, Frank VanderSloot, after it ran an unflattering article about him (which included mention of VanderSloot’s antigay stance). The suit, which Mother Jones won decisively, cost millions and was clearly aimed at punishing the magazine and driving it out of existence. If you’re rich enough, you can bankroll nuisance suits that will force your target to fold and or least suffer substantial losses. Peter, there a hundreds of great causes that could do amazing things with a fraction of the $10 million you have sunk to defend Hulk Hogan and bring down a media company.
2. Thiel is deciding what’s the public good
In the realm of false equivalency, a lot of chatter about Thiel’s funding argues that the ACLU and the Sierra Club do that sort of thing all the time. But that’s a bogus (and laughable) argument. Those entities are organizations with a public mission. You may disagree with that mission, but the organization pursues legal cases consistent with it. It doesn’t underwrite a lawsuit in which it doesn’t have an ideological stake out of personal spite. Yet Thiel is acting like those organizations in using the legal system to determine what’s the public good. Problem is, in Thiel’s universe it’s whatever he sees the as the public good–for him first and foremost and for his business class.
3. Secrecy is not the same as privacy
One huge difference between the ACLU and Thiel is that the ACLU doesn’t hide its participation in lawsuits. Thiel, of course, lurked cowardly behind the scenes for a long time before fessing up. In his interview with The New York Times, Thiel makes a big point about how Gawker routinely violated people’s privacy. But Thiel seems to think that privacy and secrecy are the same thing. It’s one thing to have your personal information blasted across the internet, but it’s entirely another to be wealthy enough to shape the public agenda and expect that no one should know you’re doing so. It’s a troubling trend that is poisoning politics. In Thiel’s case, perhaps it’s a lingering affection for the closet.
4. It’s a dangerous precedent for the press
Thiel seems to think that Gawker is a unique case and that his actions have no implications beyond that single site. “It’s precisely because I respect journalists that I do not believe they are endangered by fighting back against Gawker,” Thiel told the Times. He couldn’t be more wrong. For a fact, news leaders across the country are shuddering at the outcome of the Hogan and preying that a higher court reverses it. Of course suits likes this send a chill through the media because they establish that rich people can bring suits for whatever personal reason they choose in those cases where judges fail to respect the literal meaning of the First Amendment and slap these cases down before they cause ruin to speech.
5. Thiel is a hypocrite
Okay, this isn’t dangerous, just obvious. In a thudding irony, Thiel is a major funder of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Apparently, it’s only the journalists he likes. As perhaps the country’s highest-profile libertarian, Thiel should be allowing the marketplace to sort out free speech issues. If Thiel and Gawker have spend millions on expensive lawyers, remember that the courts–and taxpayers–must absorb the cost of frivolous score-settling lawsuits during a time when the the poor lack access to the legal system to address wrongs. As Nick Denton said, promote more speech, not less, which Thiel is quite capable of without resorting to litigation. But then again, why let the marketplace do the work when money can do it much more quickly? On one point, at least, Thiel is consistent. He’s going to the GOP presidential convention as a delegate for Donald Trump.
The lying, litigious Trump, of course, wants to make it easier to sue media for libel.
Anti-Gay Preacher Assaulted With Baseball Bat Outside Arizona High School: VIDEO
Anti-Gay Preacher Assaulted With Baseball Bat Outside Arizona High School: VIDEO
An anti-gay Arizona street preacher required hospital treatment after he was hit over the head with a baseball bat by an offended student.
Dean Saxton was hollering homophobic abuse outside Apollo High School when Tabitha Brubaker (19) attacked the Glendale preacher.
liberals, LGBTQ, Feminists Muslims promote the idea of killing people you disagree with. They preach tolerance but have none.
— Brother Dean (@brodeanIV) May 29, 2016
According to Raw Story, Saxton was heard yelling “The Bible says it’s not okay to be gay. You need to stop doing naughty, nasty things, Apollo High School. You need to stop looking up naughty, nasty things on the Internet.” He was also seen holding sign reading “You deserve to be raped.”
In a video recorded by Saxton, he is approached by students and staff regarding his comments. Saxton accuses one teacher of trying to influence students to which she replies:
“I’m trying to influence the fact that you need to be gone. I think you’re a disgrace to Christianity. Why don’t you go and preach it to somebody who really wants to hear your message, like Westboro Baptist Church?”
As another adult approaches Saxton asking him to leave, the preacher is hit over the head.
Glendale, Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton makes it a habit to stand outside local high schools and loudly… t.co/pUxRq1pG2A
— Aaron San Diego (@AHizz) May 28, 2016
Brubaker was charged with felony assault and possession of marijuana.
RELATED: Arizona Community Split on LGBT Anti-Discrimination Proposal: VIDEO
Watch Saxton’s video below. The assault takes place around the 17-minute mark.
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