“A project about beauty and desire…another non-profit initiative demonstrating do-it-yourself philosophy and artistic quality are compatible” is how Christian Fernández Mirón describes this free downloadable calendar. This drawing, by Spanish artist José Manuel Hortelano-Pi, is for October.
Bears, Illustrated brings together the work of a dozen very different artists from across the world, each of whom has contributed a suitably beary image, and an explanation of the thinking behind the work. You can download the calendar in .pdf format here.
Police closed down the Mr Gay China pageant in Beijing, just as it was about to begin. One of the organisers, Ben Zhang (pictured above from AFP) explained to the waiting media that he’d been told they didn’t have the correct license for the stage show. Most had expected the event to go ahead, given the level of advance publicity it had received in state-run media.
“Its a disaster. I’m full of disappointment. I thought the government was becoming more and more tolerant,” said Jiang Bo, 29, a contestant from Sichuan province in southwestern China. “They were making a big step. The whole world was thinking China was doing a very good thing. But now I think everybody will be disappointed.” (more here)
The clampdown on this event will sadden many in China and elsewhere, as it was being seen as an example of growing openness about homosexuality and an increasing level of tolerance towards the gay community by the authorities. And it appears that the cancellation of the event is creating more of a media stir around the world than the pageant itself might have done.
The extraordinary fall from grace of homophobic Northern Ireland politician Iris Robinson - you’ll recall that she called us “an abomination” - has led to a flurry of parodies of Simon & Garfunkel’s famous song for the film The Graduate. And a campaign has been launched to get the original version to the top of the UK’s pop charts, with celebrity endorsement from people including Boy George, who has urged his twitter followers to download the classic. In an echo of the plot of the film, in which Anne Bancroft played a married woman who seduced a young Dusting Hoffman, the real-life Mrs Robinson - who was 59 at the time of the affair - reportedly took 19-year-old Kirk McCambley to her bed while her husband Peter, Northern Ireland’s first minister, was away. “Posters have also been placed around Belfast encouraging people to download the song and it is currently at number 45 in Amazon’s download charts. The Official UK Charts Company told AFP yesterday that download sales of the song in Northern Ireland last week were up 1,200 per cent on the week before.” (pinknews.co.uk)
Of course, you can access the Gay Travellers Network via its special mobile interface and stay in touch with friends here, but there are a growing number of dedicated applications for gay men with iPhones. Grindr uses the handset’s GPS technology to help you to hook up with guys near you (and it will also work with the iPod touch in a wifi zone). And it’s catching on fast - it’s claimed that the app has more than 300,000 men listed with it already.
PinkMap aims to do much the same thing, and though its web site is largely in German, its user base extends to other countries. But if it’s venues you’re looking for, rather than individuals, one of the latest aids to cruising is AGaySpot, which allows you to find sex-oriented venues including bathhouses / saunas, sexclubs, adult theaters, bookstores with a video arcade, bars with a darkroom, and motels with action. Its makers claim it contains over 1,000 listings in 47 US States and 6 Canadian Provinces.
These are just five of the eight finalists in the first-ever Mr Gay China contest (you can see them all here). The winner will be decided this coming weekend in Beijing, and will go on to take part in the Mr Gay World Ambassador pageant in Norway next month. Ryan Dutcher, one of the organisers of the Beijing event told fridae.com about some of the challenges of getting gay men to enter a contest like this is in China. “Though most lead relatively open lives… and may be very active in the gay community and dedicated to the cause, they still tend to hide their sexuality from employers, old classmates, even family. They are afraid if they enter this competition, with all of its media exposure, they will not be able to keep their sexuality hidden from those people.”
Does the U.S. Constitution prohibit states from outlawing same-sex marriage? That’s the question the federal court hearing now under way in San Francisco has to decide. The proceedings involve a challenge to Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban approved by California voters. Whatever the outcome of this trial, the verdict will probably result in an appeal to the Supreme Court, whose eventual decision will have a profound impact on the legality of gay marriage across the United States.
Organizers have canceled Serbia’s gay pride march this Sunday after authorities said they could not guarantee protection for the event from extremist groups. more here
There’s very public support from LGBT groups in other countries, ILGA-Europe and the EU itself; everyone hopes that this Sunday’s Belgrade Pride passes without incident, eight years after the last one ended in beatings and street fights. More here.
The European Parliament has passed a resolution critical of Lithuania’s ban on the “promotion” of homosexuality to minors (due to come into force next March). This relates to the country’s new Law on the Protection of Minors from the Detrimental Effects of Public Information, and not to the even more draconian measures shortly to be debated by the Lithuanian legislature. More here.
Clippings from the web, and selected news items from the network for gay men who travel for work or pleasure - and sometimes both at once!
