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JAMES LOCK TOWIE’s newest hunk loses his pants inside EXCLUSIVE Miss Piggy on marriage, money and making bacon

Final Tales Armistead Maupin’s goodbye to Anna Madrigal

25 of rs yeaonna’s A Mad Likeyer Pra GAY MARRIAGE! Your guide to getting hitched GAY DIVORCE! When the party’s over... GAY SWITCHBOARD Dan Gillespie Sells talks charity

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THE ORIGINAL GAY MAGAZINE APRIL 2014 UK £4.30

Happy Tails How dogs turned one gay man’s life around

QUESTION TIME CAMERON, CLEGG, MILIBAND, & FARAGE ANSWER TO YOU!

Foxes / PJ Brennan / Christina Perri / Jerry Mitchell / DWV / Michelle Visage

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with this ring...

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Editor DARREN SCOTT Assistant Editor LEE DALLOWAY Staff Writer RYAN BUTCHER Editorial Assistant BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH Design & Art Direction MARK KING Style and Grooming LLOYD-SCOTT TYLER Music BOB HENDERSON Editor-at-large JOHN MARRS Columnists PJ BRENNAN, BENJAMIN COHEN, THE GUYLINER, EDD KIMBER, ALAN ROSENTHAL, PAUL THORN, MICHELLE VISAGE, MIKEY WALSH Contributors JOE MCCORMICK, MATT PEAKE, LUKE SMITH, TIM MITCHELL, MIKE HIRD, MILO WAKELIN, JUSTIN MYERS, TOM JONES, PERRY JUBY, LEE BINDING, ROBERT GERSHINSON, MARK SINGLETON, CHRIS HITCHINGS, FRAZER LOUGH, ZARRION WALKER, AARON GOLIGHTLY, MAMA MAKEUP Pug-at-large TOBY Thanks to SARAH PEACOCK (Big Talent Group), ANDREI HARMSWORTH (Metro), GEMMA COX (Disney), BEN HOPKINS (Warner Bros), TESSA HENDERSON (Transworld), GEORGIE ROBINSON (Emma Holland PR), JANE CHAMBERLAIN (Cicada Communications), OLLIE CHARLES (Peccadillo Pictures), LUKE MORRISON (BSkyB), ANNEKA WAHLHAUS (Roche Communications), ALANA IRWIN (Clarion Communications), HARRY SEYMOUR (Marks and Spencer), MICHELLE SMITH (Lemonaide PR), ROBYN DAVIS (Palm PR), JOE SATARI (FanClub PR), DENNIS SCHULZ (Bruno Gmünder), CHARLES DEAN (Islington Council), CHLOE MELICK (Inside/Out), DAVID CHARPENTIER and JAKE LEMMENES (Producer (QWHUWDLQPHQW .(9,1*,%621+LOOV%DOÁRXU .$5$ CARMICHAEL (Choose Chicago), BOBBY BROWN (For Fucking On Stage) Production & Distribution Manager ALEXANDER SMITH Marketing & Advertising Designer LUKE BENJAMIN IT & Digital Management FERNANDO SAFONT Magazine Marketing Executive LLOYD PHILLIPS Management ant ARNAUD SEGUIN GT Advertising Sales KEITH MCDONNELL 020 7424 7406 [email protected] Subscriptions Overseas 01795 414 896

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© 2014 GAY TIMES All rights reserved ISSN: 0950-6101 The mention or appearance or likeness of any person or organisation in articles or advertising in GAY TIMES is not to be taken as any indication of the sexual, social or political orientation of such persons or organisations. “Oh Bride of the
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WorldMags.net [contents] LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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features

06 Fitty at the front 10 *7·V(DVWHU-R\ 14 0LNH\:DOVK 18 DWV 20 0LFKHOOH9LVDJH 22 'DQ*LOOHVSLH6HOOV 26 6ZHHWLH'DUOLQJ"

44 -DPHV/RFN 56 (TXDO0DUULDJH 62 (TXDO'LYRUFH

news

entertainment

28 3DUW\3ROLWFDO/HDGHUV 34 1HZVGHEDWH 36 7KLQJV*D\TXRWHV 39 Ben Cohen 40 +HURHV7LP6LJVZRUWK 41 Nigel Farage

82 Madonna 88$UPLVWHDG0DXSLQ 94-HUU\0LWFKHOO 100'DUUHQ6WHLQ 103 Geek 104 Tech

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style 68*URRP·V*XLGH 74+RPHVW\OH

real life 1075HDGHU·VOLYHV 1087KH*X\OLQHU 1113-%UHQQDQ 114 The Dog Walker 120(GG.LPEHU 121$ODQ5RVHQWKDO 122)LWQHVV 125 HIV

travel

Equal rights are something that have been at the heart of Gay Times for the 30 years we’ve been in print. More, in fact, considering we actually existed as HIM magazine for ten years before that. So it’s overwhelming to be at the helm of such a historic title for such a historic change in equal rights in the UK. And that’s equal marriage (yes, we called it gay marriage on the cover – it’s a better headline) for everyone. Well, almost everyone, as we address in this very issue. Yes, that’s the one you’re holding in your very hands. We wouldn’t dream of charging you separately to read about something that’s at the heart of modern day gay life in 2014. And who thought we’d ever get to say that – that it’s legally a part of gay life in 2014. How far we’ve come in recent years has been quite staggering. And you’ll see it reflected in the pages of GT, as we will, of course, be bringing these changes to the heart of the world’s longest-running gay magazine. And what better way to start by asking Britain’s leaders – what’s next? Let me tell you, it was easier to get Miss Piggy to answer questions. A lot of people might be saying ‘look at what’s happening abroad!’, and we do, we have, we will. Always. Our columnist Ben Cohen addresses that in his usual eloquent way this month – and I happen to agree with him too. The fight doesn’t end because of an excuse to buy a hat... Speaking of hats, I doff mine to those of you that have been in touch to congratulate us on our anniversary and new look, it’s genuinely appreciated. Here’s to the next 30 years being as groundbreaking for equal rights. Q Darren Scott @darren_scott

127 Letter from... 128 Chicago 132%RUGHDX[

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ON PRIL 16 A

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GT431 APR 2014 Cover image by Joe McCormick Grooming by Evan Huang

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LEFT TO RIGHT DAVID, MANU, COLTON AND STEPHEN

Cupid, shoot that arrow If there’s one thing we love more than a superhero in his skin-tight lycra, it’s a superhero out of his skin-tight lycra. Let’s not pretend that Sky 1’s Arrow isn’t beloved by many a gay for the shirtless wonderment of Stephen Amell, Colton Haynes, David Ramsey and Manu Bennett. And, seemingly, anyone else that appears in it. We’ve not ruled out John Barrowman and Alex Kingston yet. Did we mention Colton Haynes? Give him a Google. You’re welcome. Q Arrow is on Sky 1 HD, Thursdays, and on the move with Sky Go

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Christina Perri 396,114,697 viewers can’t be wrong... “Your maths will be better than mine, I’m a musician, I don’t do math…” Christina Perri tells us as we try and do the sums. With 400 million YouTube views in sight, we’ve concluded that the emotional singer songwriter and US balladeer du jour must have racked up LIFETIMES worth of pop video watching. “Woah! That’s so trippy. I’d feel really bad for the person who spent their whole life watching my videos. Oy oy oy. I’ve never thought about it that way, that’s really crazy.” Though Perri’s whole career can be marked with figures and dates. We share an anecdote with Christina we’d heard in the pub the night before; that it takes five years to become an overnight success. “I think it’s really true about the five year thing,” she says, “I definitely hit it overnight in America, I felt like I was 8



Cinderella. At 8pm, June 30th 2010, my whole life changed. That afternoon I was waitressing, that evening I quit my job, I flew to New York City the next day, I signed a record deal 21 days later.” And the rest is pop history. From the moment her song Jar of Hearts was used on So You Think You Can Dance?, all the hard work and songwriting from the age of 15 paid off. There came countless TV appearances, a deal with Atlantic Records, 70 tattoos, a Christmas album, four penguin pillows, the Twilight Soundtrack, and 27 months of nine tours. And now, finally, album number two. It’s called Head or Heart, and it’s nowhere near as bleak as her debut. “Album one was pretty much a breakup album,” she says, “pretty much about the same guy. Album two, I’ve captured more dynamics in my real life. It covers way more ground than the first one, it’s a little

less melancholy for sure. But don’t worry, I have the really tragic stuff too. Always.” And if a cheery duet with Ed Sheeran wasn’t enough, there are some bona fide gay remixes on the way after divine inspiration struck her during a SoulCycle work out (basically a spin class to EDM). Oh, of course she loves the gays, she grew up in Philadelphia with two hairdressing parents. “I had male gay best friends from when I was a tiny girl – so I loved the gay community without even knowing it, my whole life. I grew up understanding there was no difference, so that’s a nod to my parents and how I was raised.” It gets better. “Sometimes I feel like a gay man inside for how much I love Cher. So I just appreciate and love that whole culture…” Amen. Q Head or Heart is out 31 March on Atlantic Records, christinaperri.com @christinaperri

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WORDS BOB HENDERSON

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Mark Foster

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GT’s Easter Joy OR we could just run with the news that RuPaul is releasing a chocolate bar, go one step further and make our very own RuPaul’s Drag Race Easter egg! Why? Why not. Easter’s camp too you know…

Pig out Chocolate, but ÁDYRXUHGOLNH3HUF\ 3LJ$QGWKHQFRYHUHG LQKXQGUHGVDQG WKRXVDQGV Percy Pig Egg, £6, 215g, marksandspencer.com ----------

Posh nosh )DQF\ORRNLQJHJJV DWSULFHVWKDWDUHQ·WD FRPSOHWH\RONVRUU\ The Dulce De Leche JUHDWGUDJQDPH FRPHVZLWKFKRFRODWH JDQDFKHPLQLHJJV 'XOFH'H/HFKH )ODYRXUHG&KRFRODWH Speckled Egg, £12, 300g, marksandspencer.com ----------

Pop goes the weasel (rabbit)

Toy soldiers 7KLVORRNVOLNHDUHDO HJJLW·VDFWXDOO\PDGH RIJLDQGXMDFKRFRODWH &DUOXFFLR·V¶VRIWERLOHG· egg, £2.95, 60g, &DUOXFFLR·VIRRGVKRSV and carluccios.com ----------

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Dress the part! 6RUWRIOLNH0HDQ*LUOV IRU(DVWHUH[FHSW \RX·UHGUHVVLQJ XSDVDUDEELW LQVWHDGRIDFDW /LQGW*ROG%XQQ\DQG )OXII\(DUV…J OLQGWVKRSFRXN ----------

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eggstravaganza!

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sights and sounds

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WHERE IS THE LOVE? New York photographer Braden Summers has travelled the world taking “dreamy illustrations of what open expressions of love could look like in a future, more accepting time”. His goal is to showcase images of progress and equality around the world, and push large corporations to create more positive images of same-sex relationships in advertising campaigns. He’s already raised $23,000 through Kickstarter and is gaining attention from media outlets worldwide. Q bradensummers.com/menu/all-love-is-equal/

It was on Suede’s Pantomime Horse when Brett Anderson asked us – had we ever tried it “that” way? For an entire generation who liked things on the alternative side, Suede were a rock and roll band fuelled by sexual adrenaline and nihilist rebellion. But blurring the lines of sexuality aside, Suede have also spent the last 22 years cementing themselves as one of the best singles bands Britain has ever 12



produced. And from 14 April, 2,000 lucky fans will get their hands on one mammoth collection of each of their 24 singles, dating from 1992 to 2013. There are 1,000 copies each of both CD and 7” single box sets, including classics like androgynous anthem The Beautiful Ones and the suburban decadence of Animal Nitrate. Visit myplaydirect.com/ suede and pre-order to get your hands on a copy now. Q

GLE SIN DED MIN

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30 March – 6 April Boy George returns ZLWKDQHZDOEXP DQGWRXU7KHLQÁX HQWLDOVXSHUVWDUKDV VSDQQHGWKHJHQUHV and decades, and LQVXSSRUWRIKLV new release This Is :KDW,'RKHNLFNV off a nationwide MDXQWLQ(GLQEXUJK %R\JHRUJHXN com Q

From 1 April 7KH7URXVHUVQDNH himself, Justin TimEHUODNHKHDGOLQHV a 10-date UK tour. Following a sell-out DSSHDUDQFHDW Wireless Festival last summer, he hits WKHURDGLQSURPR WLRQRIODWHVWDOEXP 7KH([SHUL HQFHMXVWLQWLPEHU ODNHFRPQ

2 April 7RFHOHEUDWH:LO OLDP6KDNHVSHDUH·V WKELUWKGD\WKH *UDVVURRWV6KDNH VSHDUH&RPSDQ\ ZLOOVWDJHDSURGXF tion of Othello at the Leicester Square 7KHDWUHZLWKH[ EastEnder James $OH[DQGURXDV,DJR leicestersquaretheatre.com Q

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From 9 April Jean Paul Gaultier is one of the most iconic names in fashion and fragrance, and he gets his dues in The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, WKHÀUVWH[KLELWLRQ dedicated solely to the French designer, in London. EDUELFDQRUJXNQ

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[mikeyWorldMags.net walsh] THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF GYPSY BOY

So who wants to get married? I DO! First off, because I’m a big old sap of a romantic. And secondly, because I’m fucking lucky enough to be allowed to! Well… after I get divorced anyway. That’s right, I’m a gay divorcee and it’s a royal pain in the ass! It was 2009 when my ‘husband’ and I were civil partnered. We chose to marry at a town hall, which had just kicked up a massive fuss in the news because some bigoted bitch registrar publicly refused to perform any gay civil partnerships in her establishment. And get this – her main wedding room was where Culture Club’s Do You Really Want To Hurt Me video was shot… What a WASTE of gay history space. After several days of very long waits on phone lines, we were informed that – regardless of the current issue – we were only allowed to marry in a borough we both lived in, and would have to move to another part of London if we wanted to get married at the time we had wanted. All because of one bigoted old trout. Holding out was going to be very 14



tough. Not only did we have family booked to fly over for that time, but my husband’s work visa (he was an Aussie) had also ran out, meaning he was unable to legally work at all until he got his citizenship. So I, being a good husband-to-be, was working enough hours for both of us at the local pub, as well as trying to finish my first book with a hideous deadline the publishers had given. Eventually the evil registrar was replaced. But not before she swore that same sex marriage was an abomination and would bring and end to the civilised world. I know, right? The SHADE of it all! Sorry, I’ve been watching LOADS of RuPaul’s Drag Race, so you must excuse my new drag words. Anyway, after some hideous suit fittings, a party venue that got shut down and my future mother-in-law going all Maleficent on our asses, wishing us nothing but DOOM, we finally got civil partnered. And the day turned out wonderful. We weren’t allowed to walk down the isle to Like A Prayer (by law, any mention of God or Jesus was not permitted at a gay wedding),

There are far too many who’d sooner run for their lives than truly risk their heart for someone. Love is about give and take. Many people forget that

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but at the last minute we replaced it with Time After Time. All in all, with so many wonderful friends and family, it turned out to be a dream wedding. And I, a usual rock-faced Romany, cried for most of the day. Partly through exhaustion, slightly from disbelief that I’d finally landed a keeper and, secretly, through relief that I’d never have to date another dastardly dickhead ever again. Little did I know… The curse of old mother-in-law came to , and my husband left me to move back to Australia within a year. And just as I actually started to get along with his mum too! Oh, what a world, what a world. One thing I did learn, though, was that a certificate actually means sweet FA when it comes to marriage. An old man once said to me, ‘If they don’t make you feel dirty, it ain’t never gonna work’. I’d agree to some extent. But I’d also add that laughter is a must. And the knowledge that you can ALWAYS rely on and trust each other. You won’t be ripping each other’s clothes off forever, like Carrie Bradshaw and Big would have you believe. A relationship expands and changes as time goes on, and you become family. And this is the most incredible part of it. There are far too many who’d sooner run for their lives than truly risk their heart for someone. Love is about give and take. Many people forget that – and take for granted those who make the effort. My husband had his reasons to leave. And, in hindsight, to free me was the best thing he could’ve done for us. A piece of legal paper won’t keep you in love if it’s not right. Who knows, maybe one day I will again… But better! I may even go for Liz Taylor’s record. Thirty-one husbands, wasn’t it? Q gaytimes.co.uk

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it’ s a knockout

Hello, sailor! Written by Liam Rudden and inspired by the life and works of Jean Genet, Thief is a dark, explosive new play, not for the easily offended, we’re told. We’re in! Q

Gays, grab your silk shorts and robes, because Paris-based dance company Campagnie Käfig are hitting the UK with their new show Boxe Boxe, and it looks like they’ll be packing a punch or two. With eight exceptional dancers showcasing martial arts, street and contemporary-inspired routines, this show is more than just a little rough and tumble; highlighting the duality of boxing as a sport, with its equal-parts elegance and brutality. With music from the Debussy String Quarter playing the likes of Schubert and Philip Glass (that’s classical, for you cultured types), and, y’know, hot men, Campagnie Käfig really do create a unique experience for all the senses. In your corners please. Ding ding. Q

Thief premieres at the Brighton Fringe from 13-18 May, brightonfringe.org, and will also run at Edinburgh Fringe, playthief.com, @playthief

Boxe Boxe will be playing at the MayÁRZHU7KHDWUH6RXWKDPSWRQIURP April. Tickets and more information are DYDLODEOHDWPD\ÁRZHURUJXN

Box of delights If you like to – ahem – receive, you’ll love these personalised packs to keep your beauty (and gayness) preserved. Just answer a few simple questions and a ‘gay stylist team’ will match you up with stuff that’ll be right up your street, once a month. Goodies for your hair, skin and even underwear… Qnextgaything.com 16



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DWV If you haven’t experienced tasty trio Detox iCunt, Willam Belli and Vicky Vox, you must have been hiding under a rock with glitter in your ears. Better known as DWV, we caught up with the gurls on their recent whirlwind visit to London, and we haven’t stopped giggling since 18



We’re in a delightfully cut price Downton Abbey-esque bed and breakfast in London’s leafy Hampstead, waiting for three jetlagged drags to slip into something less comfortable. Despite a long flight and a breakneck schedule of gigs and promotion, DWV are in frighteningly good spirits. Naturally, RuPaul’s Drag Race fans will recognise former contestants Willam and Detox. Willam was famously disqualified from the show’s fourth season for breaking the rules of the queen quarantine the contestants live in – by inviting his boyfriend over for “conjugal

visits”. Soon after, Willam met fifth season contestant Detox, “drag daughter” Vicky and DWV, a delicious take on 90s RnB girl groups, was born. The ladies collectively made a name for themselves with protest song Chow Down (at Chick-fil-A), a loving homage to Wilson Phillips’ Hold On, with a bit of TLC’s Waterfalls thrown in courtesy of Detox’s rap (“I’m a black girl at heart,” he coos). It’s a pop at bible-thumping US fast food chain Chick-fil-A, who donated millions to political organisations that oppose LGBT rights, and a catchygaytimes.co.uk

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WORDS LEE DALLOWAY PHOTOS GREG BAILEY STYLING LUKE ALEX TAYLOR HAIR SHIORI TAKAHASHI :,//$0·60$.(83 JOSEPH HARWOOD :,//$0:($56 FUR COAT BY CHRISTIAN COWAN-SANLUIS, '(72;:($56 EARRINGS BY FINCHITTIDA FINCH, 9,&.<:($56 COAT BY CHRISTIAN COWAN-SANLUIS ':9:($5 JEWELLERY BY MAWI

as-hell song in its own right. The follow-up, Boy Is A Bottom – a rude twist on Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire – catapulted the girls to international interweb stardom. As Willam says, “Chick-fil-A is very American, but bottoms are international!” Willam doesn’t hold back when revealing the inspiration for Boy Is A Bottom. “I pretty much wrote it after a really bad threeway,” he confesses. “My boyfriend and I were hooking up with a guy, and the first two times he kept saying he was versatile and nothing happened… at least with me. The third time, I left the room to answer my phone while him and my boyfriend were fucking. I come back and they’re still going at it. Rude! So, I go downstairs and do the international sign for ‘get the fuck out’, which is vacuuming. By the time I’d done the first floor of my house, the song was written in my head. To this day, the guy doesn’t know it’s about him.” After what was probably the world’s first love letter to the sexually ive, more gems followed, such as the Amanda Bynes/Robin Thicke spoof Blurred Bynes. The ladies with a lil’ extra continue to watch their fame grow around the world, but what do they love about the UK? “The boys here are completely my type,” says Detox. “Everyone’s tall and gorgeous; twinky, very English with pale skin. Gingers everywhere! Foreskin! We’re whores…” Willam also reveals his delightfully geeky obsession with the London Underground, where Vicky fell into the tourist trap of using the never-ending spiral staircase instead of the lifts and escalators. “I just kept going ‘round and around!” she shrieks. “I’m like, am I on camera?”. “The sign said 375 steps!” exclaims Willam. “I thought it was a joke!” shoots back Vicky with a laugh. There’s a clear mutual respect between the trio and everyone

has a role to play. Willam is the business brain, Detox is the sass and Vicky is the heart. Willam has the most star-studded back catalogue of work, with parts in Glee, CSI and a five-episode stint in Nip/Tuck, where he worked with TV savant Ryan Murphy. “That was fantastic, I learned a lot”. He also trod the boards in Rock of Ages, appeared in Rihanna’s S&M video and was once in the same band as American Idol’s Adam Lambert. Willam also promises his fab online series Willam’s Beatdown, which stopped due to funding issues, will return. “They said it cost five grand per episode to make. A YouTube green screen show with three people and me writing the jokes myself!” scoffs Willam. “It’s back as Billam’s Weatdown in March.” Detox has been a fixture of the queen/cabaret scene since he was just 16. “I was pretty much brought up by trannies and club kids, it’s a huge part of my drag influences.” Those Detox met at this time became a source of when his parents weren’t so enamoured by his career choice. “At first my parents were hesitant about it, but I was emancipated at 15 and lived with my sister, who was a huge inspiration. She taught me to blossom, flourish and to be an individual, so I really never cared what my parents thought. Mum hated it, but now I’m successful and have a career, she’s my biggest fan.” Detox has cemented his fame by appearing in videos for Rihanna and Ke$ha, on top of being one of Drag Race’s most original and outspoken characters. Although he also faced accusations of bullying another contestant. “People thought I was in a clique, but it never was”, says Detox. “I was friends with Alaska and Roxxxy for years. We were the smokers. It was just kind of stupid and silly.” Detox also reiterates that “reality

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television” often doesn’t live up to its name. “We were definitely at the mercy of the editors, but, whatever, you sign up for that.” In the real world, Detox is fun, friendly, with a naughty sense of humour and a real flair for creativity. Did you see him arrive at a RuPaul’s Drag Race reunion as a walking black and white photograph? Amazing! Detox its, however, he’s looking forward to some down time. “I’ve been touring for, like, three years now, I just wanna take a nap. Willam’s like, ‘lets do some more shit’ and I’m all, ‘why don’t we just sit down for a minute!’” he laughs. Meanwhile, Vicky, the only nonDrag Race contestant of the group, is relatively new to the queen game, rocking the cock in a frock shtick for just a couple of years. “I was a performer my whole life,” says the warm and down-toearth Vicky. “I had a band, and I was a session singer while I was in school. Then came this gig where the promoter changed, the venue changed and everything fell to pieces. They called were like, ‘OK, if you don’t want to lose the money you have to, one, lose the band and, two, can you host it in drag?’ I’d never thought about that before but I wasn’t losing that money, so I agreed. And then I never stopped working!” Vicky’s thankful. Not just for a ive family, but also that he gets to provide entertainment and encouragement for a large number of people. “I’m so lucky, because when I first started drag my mum would take me shopping and be like ‘does Vicky need anything?’ he laughs. “Although, I hate drag.” …say what? “No, I hate it. I don’t enjoy wearing heels, I don’t enjoy wearing wigs, I can’t stand putting makeup on. But I have fun. I have fans that say, ‘you inspired me’ or ‘you’ve saved my life’. And, you know what, if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t still be around.

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life’s a drag

[first] WorldMags.net Everyday that makes me go ‘OK, get it together, get out there.’ It boggles my mind but that’s why I keep doing it.” 2013 was certainly DWV’s year – a divalicious tornado that included the ladies becoming the face of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, performing at the Vienna Ball in front of 45,000 people, including Bill Clinton, an epic turn modelling for the Marco Marco fashion show and rounding out the year with an original festive composition, That Christmas Song. We’ll leave the last words to Willam on what he thinks makes DWV successful: “We love each other. I get to travel the world with my girls, form a little supergroup and have some fun. It doesn’t get much better than that.” Q 9LVLWIDFHERRNFRP':92IÀFLDO3DJHIRU PRUHRUIROORZRQ7ZLWWHU#7KH2QO\'HWR[ #ZLOODPEHOOL#7KH9LFN\9R[

Question

How do current gay rights issues in Russia compare to WKLQJV\RX·YHVHHQ in the 80s/90s in the US? From @MrBrianLloyd

Answer

e l e h iM cisage V

So, here we are bitches, three weeks into season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Didn’t I tell you how amazing this new batch of queens would be? Talk to me, who are you falling in love with and who really grinds your gears? Am I living up to my reputation as the bitchiest judge of all? There’s nothing quite like the sound of a gaggle of drag queens – a draggle – making their way to the back of the runway. Drag Race Fun Fact: the elimination days are usually the longest days to shoot, lasting up to 12 hours sometimes, including hair and makeup dragging time! Now, some of you may know how it feels to spend an hour or three out for some drinks and a pub quiz in a high heel, but after you get to hours six, seven and beyond, those heels feel like nails digging into your feet and they better not even THINK of kicking them off! The faces I pull when they try that are like

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daggers into their unsuspecting drag souls. I can say this though, those queens are some bad ass bitches standing in those heels for as long as they do. Also, if you think my comments are harsh at times, you should hear the ones that are edited out. Someone has to tell those queens the real T. I’m counting down the days until I get over to see you in fair old Blighty. The confirmed dates to come play with me thus far are: Glasgow on 17 May, Manchester on 24 May and London on 29 May. There are more being planned out as we speak. So, how do my UK Glitterazzi feel about cabaret and comedy? I’ve got it for you and I’m going to give it to you hard. As any self-respecting top should. Do you have any favourite tunes you’d like to hear me do? If so, let me know on Twitter, as I’m on there waaaay too often. It’s @michellevisage, and you can also come and visit me at michellevisage.com! Q

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WorldMags.net Dare to be Different

Is your current app crashing, losing data & draining battery? Does it have group messaging, chat, networks & places? Can it find 500 local guys who match your mood & type? Can you work off-line?

Does it look good (like you)?

If you answered no to any of these questions then what the GiFi are you waiting for?

www.mygifi.com WorldMags.net

Disclaimer: the image content used within this ment is being used under license for illustrative purposes only and that any person depicted in our images is a model and not a of the app.

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DAN GILLESPIE SELLS :25'6/8.(60,7+

He might look like the docile pop prince next door, but Dan Gillespie Sells is angry. Really DQJU\$QGKH·VUHDG\WRGRVRPHWKLQJDERXWLW The handsomely boyish frontman of The Feeling is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the gays of Russia after their FRPPXQLW\·VQHDULQWROHUDEOHDQGVXSSUHVVHG existence was highlighted by the Sochi Winter 2O\PSLFVÁLQJLQJDVSRWOLJKWRQWKH(DVWHUQ (XURSHDQQDWLRQ·VJURWHVTXHDQGVXSSUHVVLYH anti-gay laws and rhetoric. Now, as he s the 40 year milestone of the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard here on our shores and turns his attention to PDUULDJH'DQZDUQVZK\VXSSUHVVLYH5XVVLD LVYHU\PXFKRXUSUREOHPWRR :LWKHTXDOPDUULDJHNLFNLQJLQLV¶FRPLQJ RXW·VWLOODELJGHDOWKHVHGD\V²ZK\GRZH VWLOOKDYHWRPDNHDVRQJDQGGDQFHDERXW it? ,WKLQNLW·VVRPHWKLQJZRUWKVWDQGLQJXSIRU (VSHFLDOO\ZKHQWKHUHDUHNLGVJHWWLQJEXOOLHG at school and our language is so fucking EDG:HVWLOOKDYHUHDOO\KLJKVXLFLGHUDWHV LQWKH/*%7FRPPXQLW\,IZHORRNDWZKDW·V happening in Russia and other places and you WKLQN´2KP\JRRGQHVVµWKHUH·VDORWRIZRUN WREHGRQH,·PGRLQJDORWRIZRUNRQWKDWDW the moment. 7KHSXEOLFLW\DURXQGWKH6RFKL2O\PSLFV H[SRVHGZKDWJD\DQGOHVELDQVLQ 5XVVLDJRWKURXJKRQDGDLO\EDVLV 7KHSUREOHPVHHPVPLOHVDZD\EXW ZK\LVLWLPSRUWDQWWKDWZHFDUH",W·V 22



LPSRUWDQWIRUJD\SHRSOHDQGLW·VLPSRUWDQW IRUVWUDLJKWSHRSOHEHFDXVHLW·VDERXWZKR WKH\DWWDFNÀUVWZKHWKHULWEHWKH-HZVRU WKHJD\V,W·VMXVWDVWDUWLQJSRLQWIRUWKHVH bigots, because they start with someone like that who they can use as a scapegoat, EXWZKDWWKH\·UHUHDOO\DWWDFNLQJLVQRWWKH IDFWWKDWPHQZDQWWRORYHPHQRUZRPHQ ZDQWWRORYHZRPHQRUSHRSOHZKRDUH transgender want to dress differently. What WKH\·UHUHDOO\DWWDFNLQJLVSHRSOH·VDELOLW\WR H[SUHVVWKHPVHOYHVRUKDYHIUHHWKRXJKWV DQGEHFDXVHLWLVDQH[WUHPHYHUVLRQRI IUHHWKRXJKWDOLIHVW\OHFKRLFHWKDW·VZKHUH WKH\FODPSGRZQÀUVW 6R\RX·UHVD\LQJWKHSUREOHPVLQ5XVVLD DUHHYHU\RQH·V²VWUDLJKWRUJD\",·P VD\LQJHYHQLI\RX·UHQRWJD\RU\RXGRQ·W KDYHDQ\JD\IULHQGV\RXQHHGWRNHHSDQ H\HRQWKLVDVZHOO,W·VQRWMXVWDQ/*%7 thing. This is a thing about freedom of speech. Anyone who has any kind of liberal WKRXJKWVRUZDQWVWRH[SUHVVWKHPVHOYHV freely, you need to keep an eye on us PLQRULWLHVEHFDXVHWKDW·VZKHUHWKH\VWDUW 7KDW·VZKHUHWKHIDVFLVWJURXSVVWDUWEHFDXVH minorities are easy targets and then they PRYHRQDQGEHIRUH\RXNQRZLW« :KDWZRXOG\RXVD\WRVRPHRQH struggling to come out?
RQHRXWDVRIFRXUVH\RXZHUHUDLVHG E\\RXUPXP.DWKDQGKHUSDUWQHULQD JD\KRXVHKROG'R\RXZDQWDIDPLO\RI \RXURZQ",·GGHÀQLWHO\OLNHLW\HV,¶GOLNHWR KDYHDIDPLO\DWVRPHSRLQWDQGKDYHNLGV (VSHFLDOO\EHFDXVH,·YHVHHQLWKDSSHQ, grew up with gay parents and I know it can EHGRQHZHOODQGLWFDQEHDMR\IXOH[LVWHQFH IRUDFKLOG,·GOLNHWREHDEOHWRRIIHUWKDW WRDFKLOGEXW,·GKDYHWREHLQWKHULJKW relationship for stability. :RXOG\RXJHWPDUULHG²QRZ\RXFDQ²WR do it?7KHIDFWWKDWZHKDYHJD\PDUULDJH LVEULOOLDQWDQG,ZDVGHÀQLWHO\RQHRIWKRVH ÀJKWLQJIRULW%HLQJQRQUHOLJLRXVWKRXJKDQG QRWUHDOO\EHLQJDELJIDQRIUHOLJLRQ,·PNLQG RIDPELYDOHQWDERXWWKHIDFWWKDW,FDQJHW PDUULHGRUFLYLOSDUWQHUHGRUZKDWHYHULWLV :KDWDERXWLI\RXPHW0U5LJKWDQGKDG kids?,WKLQNDVDJD\PDQLQ/RQGRQ,·P TXLWHOXFN\,GRQ·WKDYHWRUXVKLQWRLWDQG, FDQZDLWXQWLO,·YHJRWLWUHDOO\ULJKW7KHJUHDW WKLQJDERXWDOWHUQDWLYHIDPLOLHVHVSHFLDOO\LI \RX·UHDGRSWLQJRUVRPHWKLQJZHUHDOO\KDYH to work hard and be sure. It has to be planned DQGLW·VQRWVRPHWKLQJWKDWKDSSHQVE\ accident with us. We put a lot of thought into it. Marriage would be a nice part of that. Q Dan Gillespie Sells is ing 40 years of the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. To help the FKDULW\FRQWLQXHWRSURYLGHFDOPZRUGVZKHQFDOOHUV need them most, go to LLGS.org.uk or follow them on Twitter, @gayswitchboard

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New kid on the block Sam Smith is taking the world – and the charts – by storm. Here are our top five reasons why the singer is the one to watch in 2014

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[03] «EXWEHIRUHWKDWKH DOUHDG\WRSSHGWKH FKDUWVZLWK1DXJKW\ %R\RQWKHLQIHFWLRXV /D/D/DDQG SURYLGHGYRFDOVRQ RQHRIRXUIDYRXULWH WUDFNVIURPODVW\HDU ²'LVFORVXUH·V/DWFK ----------

[04] +H·VFXWHDVDEXWWRQ +DYH\RXVHHQWKDW SUHIDPHPXVLFYLGHR KHPDGHZKLOHVWLOO DWVFKRRO"
[05] 0RVWLPSRUWDQWO\ WKRXJKKHKDVRQH RIWKHÀQHVWYRLFHVWR FRPHRXWRIWKH8. IRUDORQJWLPHDQG ZHDOUHDG\NQRZKLV GHEXW/RQHO\+RXU RQ0D\ZLOOEHDQ DEVROXWHVPDVKKLW :HFDQ·WZDLWQ ----------

Mum’s the word We all love our mums, right? The strong, powerful women that raised us, us – and still lend the odd tenner when we’re a bit strapped before payday. Now you can tell your mum exactly why you love her, and through some wonderfully kitsch 60s typography. Just come up with 15 phrases about your Supermum, and online art wizards More Than Words will do the rest. Perfect for Mother’s Day. What do you mean you don’t know when it is? 30 March. Put it in your diary – now! Q $YDLODEOHQRZIRU…PRUHWKDQZRUGVXNFRP 24



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bursting with pride Call us ol’ softies, but we love Pride season. The sense of pageantry and community… OK, and it might have something to do with being let off our leash and wearing something completely outrageous. A leather studded mask, though, isn’t just something for cavorting around the bedroom, if you’re into that kinda thing. It’s symbolic of the many diverse sub-groups within our community. And they’ve all been captured perfectly in photographer Robert Gershinson’s new exhibition – Pride. Made up of portraits taken on the morning of last year’s London Community Pride, the exhibition shows the diversity of the LGBTQI gaytimes.co.uk

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community, and proves that it’s only the hats, glitter and makeup that separate us from the Eltons and the Gagas. “The leather puppies were literally queuing up,” says Robert, “they loved all the attention, all bouncy and barking as they waited. “When I completed this project, the images were so strong and the so great it made sense to turn the series into my first solo exhibition.” And thankfully, he did; beautifully demonstrating that there are many, many colours that make up our rainbow. Check it out. Q Pride: A Photography Exhibition runs from 14 April until 30 May at Reading Room gallery in Soho, London, readingroom.com, @RobbyPhotoVideo

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WorldMags.net She’s performed with (and outshone) more stars than you’d on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The leading lady in Muppets Most Wanted, she’s not only an actress, she’s also a singer, a magazine editor, a designer, and lover of amphibians – well, one in particular. Ladies, gentlemen and flamboyant gentlemen, we give you the legendary Miss Piggy! WORDS DARREN SCOTT

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Swe e t Da ie, rlin

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WorldMags.net If you could be any human, what human would you be and why? When I can be moi, why would I possibly want to be a mere human? But I’d certainly take a shelf full of Meryl Streep’s Oscars if you’re offering. What song do you like to get freaky to? Muskrat Love. I have no idea why, but this one always gets Kermie and moi out on the dance floor letting our freak flag fly. If someone wrote an autobiography about you, what should the title be? “Call Me Moi!: The Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell and Kiss Some More Story of the World’s Most Powerful Diva: Volume I” Have you ever stolen anything? Just moi’s frog’s heart. The rest of the stuff, I charge. What would you choose as your last meal? A never-ending all-you-caneat buffet. You’re not getting rid of me that easy, buster. Which celebrities would you most like to be your parents and why? Angelina Jolie and Bill Gates. Her, for the looks, him for everything else. Isn’t interspecies dating wrong and against Mother Nature? Look, if Mother Nature doesn’t want to date outside her species, that’s fine with me. But I believe that love between a pig and frog is beautiful, natural… and hot. Should you really be chasing after a frog like that, though? …At your age. Moi’s age? Do you have a death wish? I’m 23-ish, and don’t you forget it. And you should never ever think that moi has to go “chasing” after Kermit. He merely plays hard-to-get; in truth, we’re inseparable – except when I’m seeing other people. If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you have and why? I’m already a diva, with the power to throw tantrums, hurl insults, and make outrageous demands. Additional superpowers would be redundant, don’t vous think? When you go on holiday, what do you pack in your case? Case? Surely you jest! I travel with an entourage, each of whom is responsible for one aspect of my essentials – wardrobe,

hair, shoes, accessories, makeup, more shoes, jewellery, more shoes, more jewellery… etcetera. If I can’t take it with me, I don’t go. What do you think of people on Twitter always asking for people to bring them bacon? If you keep asking me inappropriate questions like this, I will find you and then you’ll see what getting “freaky” is all about. If you could go back to any time period in history, which one would you visit and why? I’d go back to see Marie Antoinette and find out if the cake really was that good. If you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead, who would it be and why? I’d have dinner with someone alive. Dinner with someone dead is dreadfully boring, as I’ve discovered at assorted dull Hollywood parties. Who? Kermie, of course. And if he’s not available, I’ve got George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe on speed dial. Why? Sweetie, if you gotta ask, I can’t help you. What’s your favourite cocktail? Moi doesn’t imbibe… but if you’re buying, I’ll take a case of Cristal. Garden gnomes? Tacky or joyous? It depends on who they’re wearing. Couture is everything! If aliens landed and offered you any position you wanted on their planet, what position would you want? I’d want to be royalty, of course… but only if I don’t have to wear that weird makeup like Queen Amidala. You worked at Vogue – what’s your advice for magazine editors? If you want to sell magazines, put moi on the cover. Works everytime. Madonna, Kylie, RuPaul, Eartha – who did the best version of Santa Baby? You forgot to mention moi’s version of Santa Baby, which was recently chosen “best ever” by some of my closest friends. However, after that, I have to go with the original, the lovely Miss Eartha Kitt. Grrr. It goes without saying, you’re a gay icon. What do you think of your gay fan base? I am? That’s fabulous! Well, if I’m your icon, then I love you all. You

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have fantastique taste! So I say to my fans: Be yourself. Celebrate life and stay the way you are. Oh, and, of course, as I say to all my many fan bases – go see my new movie Muppets Most Wanted. What do you think about gay marriage? I’m still working on interspecies marriage right now. One issue at a time, okay? Snog, marry, avoid; Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle? To moi, that’s a triple avoid. But I’m sure there’s someone out there for all of them. I just don’t want to know about it when it happens. What do you think of Lady Gaga? Is it safe to say she’s ripped off your style a bit over the years…? It’s true that Lady Gaga was inspired by moi and moi’s style, but then again, who hasn’t been influenced by me? After all, that’s what being an icon is all about. (I know. I looked it up online.) When we first met, things were a bit tense, but once I realised she and I shared so much in of talent and appeal – and that we could swap wardrobes – we quickly became BFF. Who would you like to see star as yourself in a movie based on your life? Asides from yourself, of course. Either Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Meryl Streep or Clint Eastwood. There’s a little bit of moi in all of them. How can you tell if you’re in love? When you start dancing all freaky to Muskrat Love. What’s the best piece of advice someone ever gave you? If you don’t carry money, someone else will pay. So, tell us – what is it that makes Kermit so special? How did you know he was the one? Kermit is moi’s soul mate. He completes moi. He had me at “hi ho”. Those skinny arms and legs, that adorable collar thingy, those big goggly eyeballs, put them all together and he’s the closest thing to perfection this side of moi. Q Muppets Most Wanted is in cinemas 28 March, @RealMissPiggy, @TheMuppets, @Disney_UK

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Prime Minister David Cameron on the monumental introduction of same-sex marriages…

“While the fight for equality goes on, it’s important to celebrate when progress has been made. As we see the first same-sex marriages we can look back and marvel at what has changed. Fifty years ago homosexuality was a criminal offence, so we have come a long way quickly.” 28



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WorldMags.net WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

Four years ago, David Cameron became the British Prime Minister. A great deal of his time since has been spent changing the law to allow samesex couples to marry, something he felt personally committed to. But his party was hesitant, and most Conservative MPs ended up being against the change. FROM THE OUTSET, CAMERON has put himself forward as a modernising, moderate choice – a ‘comionate conservative’. The blue torch-wielding images of Margaret Thatcher have been resigned to the past, in appearance at least. David Cameron is a leader who wants to be seen as at ease with modern Britain – and that includes gay and lesbian voters. But he didn’t get into power on his own. It took the Liberal Democrats – traditionally more ive of gay rights – to put him there. But if he is to serve a second term, this time with just the agenda of Tory MPs, can he be trusted to keep our equality as a high priority? On the historic advent of samesex marriage coming to , GT wanted to reach out to the leaders of the main political parties, and task them with answering questions suggested by you lot. As always, the best laid plans of mice and gays often go awry, and with the breaking international crisis in Ukraine, the Prime Minister had to pull out at the 11th hour. We suppose that’s another one we can blame on Putin. He did, however, find the time to write some words for you, the GT readers, on his own opinions of the state of LGBT equality in Britain. And hey, there aren’t many magazines – gay or straight – who get exclusive access to a serving Prime Minister.

gaytimes.co.uk

This is what he had to say… ----------

For me it was summed up by a mum in my constituency who said “I’ve got a straight son and a gay daughter. Now I know I’m going to be able to go to both of their weddings, and that makes me really happy”. It isn’t every day someone tells me something like that – and it reinforces that what we’ve done on same-sex marriage says something positive about the country we are, the respect we have for each other and the values that are important to us. Of course there are details still being worked on – such as when civil partnerships can be converted into a marriage – but it’s important that from 29 March the love people have for each other will not be divided by law. The heart of this issue is this: equality matters. People should be valued for who they are and what they contribute. It’s a person’s character that matters. Their sexual orientation should be neither here nor there. We want people to achieve their maximum potential, whether as a worldleading scientist, an entrepreneur or even Prime Minister, because it is a person’s ability to do the job that counts. I’m proud to be PM of the country judged to be the best place to live in Europe if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans – and the government I lead is doing everything possible to fight prejudice where it remains. In schools, we are doing all we can to help children and young people who might be being bullied on of their sexuality. Maybe they are uncertain about their sexuality; maybe they have come out as gay and are being treated differently or appallingly by their peers – either way, we’re holding schools to through Ofsted for how well they tackle this bullying, including a school’s effectiveness in dealing with derogatory and discriminatory language. We’re also working closely

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with anti-bullying organisations to make sure this sort of behaviour is tackled on the ground. We’re working to break down barriers in sport, too. People should be able to excel in sport regardless of their sexuality – but we know how hard it’s been. That’s why the government introduced a charter against homophobia and transphobia in sport. This was an important step as it forced those g up – the sports’ governing bodies and clubs – to consider the culture in their sport and the action that needed to be taken. And the world of sport is making slow progress. We have seen the enormously positive reaction to people like Thomas Hitzlsperger and Gareth Thomas being open about their sexuality, and hopefully that will encourage others to be more open too. But we need more role models, straight and gay, to encourage the best behaviour and clubs must tackle problems on the terraces. Abroad, we’re seeing terrible persecution and discrimination taking place and, again, we must speak out. I’m determined that the British government challenges other countries where outright persecution of gay people takes place, and in recent weeks we’ve done just that – making clear the strength of feeling in the UK to governments in Russia and Uganda. Where there is cruelty and prejudice we should always make a stand. We are a country where the values of marriage – commitment, responsibility, stability – are available to all; a place where people are able to choose the person they wish to spend their life with and have that bond recognised. Of course, none of us can be complacent and collectively we need to work together day-in, day-out to challenge homophobic behaviour and attitudes in order to make the future even better for our children and grandchildren. Q

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Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on whether or not the public would be accepting of a gay person as PM…

“Yes and why not? Being gay doesn’t affect how you work, how you interact with people or how you make decisions. I’m confident that the British people would judge him or her on their ability to lead and be a good Prime Minister and not on who they choose to share their life with.” 30



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WorldMags.net WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

The last time a liberal party had their own government in the UK was May 1915, almost a century ago. Except for a brief pact in the late 70s, no liberal politician has held serious power since. That was until Nick Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister in 2010. Neither Labour nor the Tories secured enough MPs to form their own government. ON TO THE SCENE CAME NICK Clegg, and the highly contentious business of coalition government. Nick Clegg has had to compromise on a host of policies that were in his party’s manifesto while in the coalition. If Clegg were to play a role in another government, can we trust him to keep our rights secure? TheyWorkForYou.com rates Nick Clegg’s voting record on gay equality as ‘moderately for’. He voted for same-sex marriage, for reforming human fertilisation laws to forgo the need for a father, and he ed the Equality Act. He has been absent from some of the votes on these measures, which would explain why his ranking isn’t higher. That’s probably what comes with being Deputy PM, though. There’s only one way to know exactly where he stands though, and that’s to ask the man himself. In a gay press exclusive, Nick Clegg answers your questions. ----------

The numbers of young gay men contracting HIV has rocketed in recent years. What should the government do to tackle this problem? Most people with HIV can expect to live a long and healthy life if they are diagnosed early. But what’s very worrying is that new HIV infections continue to increase in gay men of all ages. The simple message is to use a condom and get tested regularly for HIV and other STIs. gaytimes.co.uk

There needs to be a concerted effort from everyone to get to grips with this, particularly local councils, who now have both the power and budget to tackle the health problems that affect their communities in England. The government continues to fund the important work the Terrence Higgins Trust is doing to help tackle two of the most at-risk groups of HIV; gay men and African communities. Do you believe that gender reassignment surgery should be available on the NHS, equally, wherever you are in the country? Yes I do. And since last year we have been working with the transgendered community to produce a single and consistent policy, which will be finalised by later this year. Given the high rates of mental health problems among LGBT youth, what more do you think the government should be doing to help? This is a very important issue for me. Research suggests people who are lesbian, gay and bisexual have a higher risk of mental health problems and I’m concerned that some people report that their experience of services designed to help them is not always as good as it should be. Last month I launched our Mental Health Action Plan, identifying 25 aspects of mental health care and where government – along with help from health and social care leaders, academics and representative organisations – expect to see real changes in the help available for LBGT youth over the next couple of years. Help for young people is a priority area, with schools being ed to identify those who need sooner. What plans do you have to make the same-sex marriage bill more trans friendly, such as making it easier to transition within existing marriages? It’s hugely unfair that a married couple, who are committed to one another and don’t want to separate, have to divorce if one of

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them changes their legal gender. If a couple want to remain married then they should be allowed to. When the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act comes into force it will put an end to the era of stolen marriages, allowing trans people for the first time to change their legal gender without having to end their marriage. This is an important development and one which will hopefully make the transition process a little easier. Which Liberal Democrat MPs have inspired your belief in gay rights? When she was in the Home Office, Lynne Featherstone set the equal marriage bill on its way through the Westminster machine. I was very impressed with the way she worked tirelessly in the face of a lot of opposition, both inside government and out. I was very proud of Lynne for what she started, and same-sex couples simply wouldn’t be getting married from 29 March without her efforts. It will mark a significant day for many, many couples, but also it’s a significant day for Lynne, and I hope people will raise a glass in her name. Who was the first gay person you befriended, and how did they influence your views? I have quite a few friends who are gay but I tend not to think them as ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ even. If I’m friends with someone, it is because I trust them, I get on well with them and we share the same interests. I’m a Liberal Democrat. Even if I didn’t have any LGBT friends, that would not affect how I would want them to be treated. Everyone deserves to be treated equally. How do you think you would react if one of your children were to come out? I would have no issues at all if one of my boys told me that he liked another boy. It’s not a choice, it’s who you are and I would love my boys regardless of their sexuality. I just hope that someday coming out to your parents is not going to be something you dread but something you will fondly. Q

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Labour leader Ed Miliband on how he would feel if one of his children were to come out…

“I would love them equally as much. The most important thing to me is that my kids are happy and I don’t care whether they’re gay or straight. That’s what matters to me.” 32



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WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

In 14 months Ed Miliband could be the British Prime Minister. Currently the polls predict – by a small margin – that Labour will form the next government. But what do we really know about Ed Miliband? And, more importantly, what can he do to stand up for the many gay and lesbian voters across our country? BORN ON CHRISTMAS EVE,1969, Ed is the son of two left-wing academics. His father, Ralph Miliband, fled to Britain on the last boat to England from Belgium as a Jewish refugee. Ed’s mother, Marion Kozak, was originally one of Ralph’s students after he became a sociology lecturer at the LSE. But with a similar background – a Polish-born Holocaust survivor – the pair soon found love. And their two sons, Ed and David, would become the most powerful political fraternity of a generation. Now he’s on the cusp of becoming one of the most important men in the world. And if Ed does become PM, what can we expect for our rights? Since his election to parliament in 2005 as MP for Doncaster North, in Yorkshire, the vote monitoring website TheyWorkForYou.com rates his record on gay rights as being ‘very strongly for’. He voted to change the law on human fertilisation so that a child could have same-sex parents, voted in favour of the Equality Act, and voted in favour of marriage equality. Now, in this exclusive interview, GT put the questions you wanted answering to the Labour leader to find out what he can do for us, and why it is he cares for our rights. ----------

Which Labour MPs have inspired your belief in gay rights? The Labour Party is hugely proud of the gaytimes.co.uk

role our played in the fight for equality. I’ve been a ionate advocate for equality and human rights all of my life. It’s one of the reasons why I am in politics and in the Labour Party. As the first openly gay MP and minister, Chris Smith did a huge amount for sexual equality. Later in his career, his decision to make public the fact that he is HIV-positive was incredibly brave and has had a significant impact on public awareness of HIV. When I was a student in the 1980s, I also all of those MPs, mostly Labour, who spoke out against Section 28 at a time when LGBT rights were not as widely accepted. I also hugely respect Angela Eagle – who was the first openly lesbian MP. I know, from talking to her, the pressures she faced before coming out soon after she was elected. What more can be done to put pressure on the likes of Qatar and Russia that anti-gay discrimination won’t be tolerated? We have made significant progress on equality in Britain over the last 20 years, but we must not forget that in many countries across the world being gay is illegal and discrimination is not only allowed, but encouraged by governments. The Russian and Qatari governments should be in no doubt that their rejection of LGBT rights is in violation of basic human rights. The response of some African leaders stirring up hatred and legislating against LGBT people is equally horrendous. We live in a global community and equality should not stop at the border. Labour has repeatedly called on the British government to do more to challenge these countries on their politics towards the LGBT community. Does the derogatory use of words like ‘gay’ and other slurs in the classroom matter? There should be a zero tolerance approach to homophobic bullying in all schools. Schools should be safe

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[news]

environments, conducive to learning, enquiry and discovery. They should be spaces for young people to develop as individuals. This is really important. I will continue to raise awareness on this issue and hope that together we can make homophobic bullying a thing of the past. I recently visited Blatchington Mill School in Hove – the school has an excellent record on combating homophobic bullying and has been recognised by Stonewall for its work. Given the high rates of mental health problems among gay youth, what more would you do to help? Mental health is the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age. As there are higher rates of mental illness in the LGBT community, we urgently need to take action to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who suffer from mental health problems. We know people will use services which are LGBT-friendly and where professionals understand their health needs – for example some trusts have a dedicated LGBT mental health nurse. We need to look at how these services can be expanded. Who was the first gay person you befriended? The first time I met openly gay people was at university. There were lots of arguments going on at the time about equality issues, including about Section 28. These debates certainly opened my eyes and heavily influenced what I think about equality issues today. Can you foresee there being a gay Prime Minister? Yes. I think the world has changed a lot. If you think about the way it has changed in the last 20 years since I was at college, we’ve seen the repeal of Section 28, we’ve seen civil partnerships, the lowering of the age of consent, equal marriage and that has been driven by change in social attitudes and that is why I think absolutely it’s foreseeable to have a gay Prime Minister. Q

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DOES MARRIAGE MATTER? It’s the final piece in the jigsaw for gay equality, but is marriage all it’s cracked up to be? We asked two couples contemplating a walk down the aisle what marriage means for them HITCHED Joseph McCormick

PARTNERED Paul Thorn

Joseph is deputy editor of PinkNews.co.uk, and proposed to his boyfriend, James, in the Houses of Parliament last year.

3DXOLV*7·V+,9FROXPQLVWDQGKDVEHHQLQDFLYLOSDUWQHUVKLS with his other half, Rob, since 2009.

I got engaged to my fiancé James in the State Rooms of the Houses of Parliament in October 2013 (if you want to see it, there is a slightly cringe-worthy video on PinkNews). Now, I’m tasked with starting to write guest lists, find venues and grapple with the politics of who to invite to the reception. Maybe we should just sack everything off and elope to Sweden or Mexico City. Somewhere along the way, hearing the gears of equality slowly turning, I began to feel equal to my straight friends. As of March, I had the freedom to fight with James over who to invite to a reception, if we have one, to feel proud at the thought of all of our friends and family gathered around to congratulate us, and the freedom to just be equal. We also have the freedom to not do any of those things. By the time you read this, we may have gone to a registry office and married with a few friends present, or we may have resigned ourselves to a long engagement and a more lavish affair. Whichever we chose is not important, but it is the option to do, or not do, that we want. It’s what makes marriage important. It’s possible to argue that there are more pressing human rights issues for gay people around the world (bullying in schools, to name one), but what equal marriage represents is just a small piece in a larger equality puzzle. Seeing two people of the same sex get married is invaluably important to any teenager coming to with their sexuality and possibly feeling alienated. Gay couples marrying in England and Wales will hopefully provide a beacon of hope to those in other parts of the world, particularly that struggling kid, that maybe one day, equality will be reached. But for now, things aren’t necessarily as bad as they may seem. Same-sex marriage is a step forward which makes gay people feel able to breathe a little more easily just because we have the option – nobody can argue with that. Q 34



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Rob and I have been in a civil partnership for, erm… it may be three or four years. It feels like it could be longer! Maybe it is. We don’t celebrate our anniversary. Our relationship started in 2005. It was never a very sexual relationship, but emotionally it was all there, and still is today. I trust Rob completely. It was for this reason that I asked him to become my civil partner. Our ‘marriage’ wasn’t motivated so much by romantic reasons, as legal ones. Being civil partners offers us both the protection of the law. Should anything ever happen to me where I’m not in a position to make a decision myself – for example, if I were unconscious on life – I know Rob would make the right decision about whether to pull the plug or not. I’m also safe in the knowledge that he will inherit and my family (who I have no with) can’t turn up out of the blue and lay a claim to what little I do have. He will get it all. Being civil partners offers both of us the protection of the law. That’s enough for us. I wouldn’t marry Rob in the conventional sense of the word. He wouldn’t marry me. It isn’t something we want to do. I have come across too many gay men who have jumped into a civil partnership at the drop of a hat. Some of them don’t seem to understand that it’s a legal status, but they sure enough find out when things go wrong and the solicitors start to take their cut to undo what has been done. Marriage for same-sex partners is a good thing, if that’s what you want. But for Rob and I, being civil partners offer us all of the legal protection we need. Like many gay men as they inevitably get older, Rob and I live very independent lives. We have separate sex and social lives, even different friends to some degree. Romantic? No. Clinical? Maybe. Practical? Yes. Q gaytimes.co.uk

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words from the wise

[04/14]

WorldMags.net

From Tony Blair to Jay Z, we look back at the 30 greatest pro-gay quotes of all time WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

[01]

“You know, I understand not everybody is for gay marriage. But if you’re not for gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person.” – Whoopi Goldberg

[02]

“Be who you are and say what

you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr Seuss

[03]

“If anybody can find

someone to love them and to help them through this difficult thing that we call life, I that in any shape or form.” – Will Smith

[04]

“If Britney Spears can

party it up in Vegas and go get married on a whim, and annul her marriage the next day, why can’t a loving same sex couple tie the knot?” – Brendon Ayanbadejo

[05]

“There’s this illusion

that homosexuals have sex and heterosexuals fall in love. That’s completely untrue. Everybody wants to be loved.” – Boy George

[06]

“Understand that your

morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking.” – Derek Jarman

[07]

“Equality, absolutely, that’s

what defines us. It’s what makes us great. If it doesn’t sit well with your religion, let your God sort it out in the end, but that’s us. We’re equal.” – Brad Pitt

[08]

“The only queer people in

the world are those who don’t love

30 THINGS

anyone.” – Rita Mae Brown

[09] 36



“I might not be the same, gaytimes.co.uk

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net [news] but that’s not important/No

issue?” – Janet Jackson

freedom ‘til we’re equal, damn

[21]

right I it.” – Macklemore

[10]

“Just because I like to suck

cock doesn’t make me any less American than Jesse Helms.” – Allen Ginsberg

[11]

“Portia and I have been

married for four years, and they’ve been the happiest of my life. I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbours and they say they’re fine.” – Ellen DeGeneres

[12]

“When I was in the military

they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.” – Leonard Matlovich

[13]

“Life is only complete when

your loved ones know you. When they know your true feelings, when

[22] “I said: ‘Mom, you know the forbidden love that Spock has for Kirk? Well, me too.’ It was easier for her to understand that way.” – Holly Black [23]

“I do not care whether there are 50,000, 500,000 or five million; it matters not a damn. What matters is that they have full hip of society.” – Tony Blair

they know who and how you love.”

[23]

– Robbie Rogers

rights!” – Hilary Clinton

[14]

“Why is it that, as a culture,

we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?” – Ernest J Gaines

[15]

“When all Americans are

treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.” – Barack Obama

[16]

“The important thing is not

the object of love, but the emotion itself.” – Gore Vidal

[17]

“At least 260 species of

animal have been noted exhibiting homosexual behaviour but only one species of animal ever, so far as we know, has exhibited homophobic behaviour – and that’s the human being.” – Stephen Fry

[18]

“If gay and lesbian people

are given civil rights, soon everyone will want them.” – James Howe

[19]

[25] “The denial of gay marriage sends a prejudice message. Our youth deserve a fair and hopeful future with government that values us equally.” – Lady Gaga “I gay marriage. I believe they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us.” – Kinky Friedman

[27] “New Rule: Gay marriage won’t lead to dog marriage. It is not a slippery slope to rampant interspecies coupling. When women got the right to vote, it didn’t lead to hamsters voting.” – Bill Maher

[30]

“It’s two people that are in

love with one another – what’s the

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OF RS S YEAYTIME A G

17 YEARS AGO Issue 223, 1997 British playwright Mark Ravenhill brings philosophy kicking and screaming into the 21st century with a bang with his new play Shopping and Fucking, based loosely on the writings of Michel Foucault, and revolving around a fictional San Francisco fetish scene.

[28] “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. It’s no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination, plain and simple.” – Jay Z

Howard Dean

[20]

Our editor writes a touching obituary in the memory of American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose work capturing the bondage scene of the 1960s challenged attitudes that not only women could be used as sexual objects.

[26]

not have created gay people.” –

homosexuality is a sin, he would

25 YEARS AGO Issue 127, 1989

“Gay rights are human

[29] “If homosexuality is a disease, let’s all call in queer to work: ‘Hello. Can’t work today, still queer.’” – Robin Tyler

“From a religious point

of view, if God had thought

GT VAULT

“I cannot keep quiet while people are being penalised for something about which they can do nothing – their sexuality. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as apartheid ever was.” – Desmond Tutu

“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every

15 YEARS AGO Issue 247, 1999 With the original version of the groundbreaking Queer as Folk coming to an end, and the 13th annual Lesbian and Gay Film Festival just getting started, we celebrated everything there was about being gay and on TV or on the big screen at the time.

closet door.” – Harvey Milk Q

gaytimes.co.uk

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Some people need renovation or retouching, some are pretty perfect apparently, some are in need of a polish and some are just as found.

We believe wonderful and extraordinary things are much the same…

71–73 Lots Road, Chelsea, London SW10 0RN

T: +44 (0)20 7376 6800 E: [email protected]

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column

[news]

PUBLISHER [benjamin cohen] WorldMags.net OF PINKNEWS

Russia, Russia, Russia. You’d have had to have been on another planet to have missed the coverage and interest in the gay media and gay community about the issue of LGBT rights in Russia. Although the attention was intensified due to Russia hosting the Winter Olympics, there’s been unprecedented interest and condemnation of this particular country’s attitude towards equality. Last year, more than a thousand people stood outside Downing Street to protest against the country’s policies. Around the world, tens of thousands of people participated in similar protests, and many millions more have done so online. The scale of the protests far outweigh the number of people that we were ever able to persuade to turn out to protest for same-sex marriage in England and Wales, or to engage with the equal marriage cause online. Perhaps, you could argue that the situation in Russia is about more fundamental human rights violations than the former British ban on gay couples marrying.

Sure it is, the country’s anti-gay propaganda laws are severe. Although, there are similar laws prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality to young people that apply in nine US states. There’s also the persecution of gay people by gangs of fascist thugs. But around the world, there are so many worse places to be gay than Russia, where it remains legal, despite the sentiments of the government. It’s remarkable that protests outside the Ugandan High Commission, when the country attempted to institute the death penalty for ‘aggravated homophobia’, mustered only a few dozen participants. I didn’t see hundreds of thousands of people change their Facebook profile pictures to photographs about the situation in Nigeria either, when it introduced harsh new anti-gay laws. I’ve also not noticed a huge groundswell of attention over the fact that our Queen is head of state for 11 countries where you go to prison for being gay. Gay people being regularly executed in Iran now barely garners a whimper. You probably get the picture.

I’ve not noticed huge attention over the fact our Queen is head of state for 11 countries where you go to prison for being gay

@benjamincohen

gaytimes.co.uk

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Russia captivated the public imagination, thanks in part to the brilliant highlighting of the issue by Stephen Fry to his millions of Twitter followers. People woke up to a situation that was and is wrong. In some ways, we feel that we can relate to the situation in Russia a little better than we can in Africa, the Caribbean or the Middle East. Russia is, after all, a European nation, a signatory of the European Convention of Human Rights and a member of the Council of Europe. Russia is industrialised, wealthy (despite its economic challenges) and with a hugely powerful military. The gay people in cities like Moscow and St Petersburg could very easily be us, a world away from totalitarian theocracies like Iran or the still hugely undeveloped Uganda. What I hope though is that the people who’ve been woken up to LGBT rights abroad because of this spotlight on Russia can somehow be encouraged to care about the issues globally, understanding that LGBT people come in all shapes, sizes, races and backgrounds. Now that the Olympic flag has been lowered, why don’t we focus our attention on the Commonwealth Games, not being held in a foreign city you’ve never heard of before, but in the UK, in Glasgow in July? It will be a games where the majority of the countries competing imprison people for being gay. Yes that’s right, imprisoning gay people like you or me. And not because of the whims of some local Russian politician whose name you probably can’t (it wasn’t Putin’s idea), but instead because of the British homophobic laws imposed on many of the competing countries in the time of the British Empire by our Parliament. Let’s stand together with one voice and place the same attention on the Commonwealth as has already been placed on Russia, I’m up for it. Are you? Q

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TIM SIGSWORTH HEROES

WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

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gaytimes.co.uk

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WorldMags.net On the 25th anniversary of the Albert Kennedy Trust, GT talks to its chief executive and life-long gay rights campaigner, Tim Sigsworth

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OF RS S YEAYTIME GA

IT WAS 30 APRIL, 1989. ALBERT Kennedy was 16-years-old, being chased by a group of angry, homophobic thugs wanting to attack him. They didn’t know he was gay. Even his mum didn’t know. At 16, he hadn’t yet come to discuss his identity, whatever it was. But alone, chased by angry thugs, and on the top of a high-rise car park in Manchester, he was in complete terror. As the group got closer, the teenage boy’s fear grew. He jumped. Albert was dead. Killed by the thugs that chased him, with nobody there to help. “I was just appalled at the fact nobody was protecting us, nobody gave a damn. In the 1980s, there was this backdrop of negative press around LGBT people. The backlash from HIV and AIDS. The backlash from Section 28,” Tim Sigsworth, the head of the trust that bares Albert’s name tells GT. The youth worker who looked after Albert, Cath Hall, decided something had to be done. But back in 1989, public discourse around homosexuality was veiled in myths of gay ‘recruitment’ and ‘promotion’. The fear was so strong that the Charity Commission refused to grant any organisations working with gay youths charitable status – up until the Albert Kennedy Trust became the first, 25 years ago. Albert’s story inspired Tim Sigsworth, AKT’s chief executive, to be a gay rights activist. “I went to the youth group when Albert was there. I knew the people that Cath had ed through the

trust. I was very wedded to the charity before I even walked through the door. From the age of 17 I’ve been an LGBT activist and involved in the campaigns, and it’s always meant a lot to me. “It was in the local LGBT youth group in Manchester where we built our defence. Where we realised we had to go on the rallies, and we had to go out on the marches, and we had to write articles.” In the 1980s, Manchester’s police force was led by James Anderton; a notorious, polarising figure, describing AIDS patients as “swirling around in a human cesspool of their own making”. “We used to have cameras pointing at all the bars and clubs so that they could see who’s going in and out, because we were seen as subversive. They used to raid Clone Zone in Manchester, because apparently it was propagating gay filth. I when we’d come out of the clubs in Manchester, and we’d have to run. There’d be gangs of lads waiting to beat you up.” Tim, like many, faced this intimidation on a weekly basis. “I one night going out in Manchester. I thought I was really clever, because I was a sprinter, and I thought they [the homophobes] would never get me. Then one of my friends tripped up. I went back to help him, and they laid into us both. “It was the most terrifying thing to be set up on and not know when someone’s going to stop. You just go into panic mode. I just thinking, ‘someone has got to help us, someone has got to come’. And they didn’t. Nobody helped us.” The attack was a turning point for Tim, who decided if nobody else would do something – then he would. “I thinking ‘I’m going to have a terrible life. I’ve got to make myself straight’. Then, suddenly, I made some close friends, and we were angry, and we realised we had to change things.”

gaytimes.co.uk

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[news]

Tim went on to work as a social worker for some years, following in the steps of AKT’s founders. Eventually he came back to his roots, and took a job heading up mental heath services at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation. “I wanted to set up innovative projects. We set up a group at a secure hospital for LGBT patients. These people were very isolated – they needed the help. We set up drug and alcohol projects, we set up mental health services in-house. I loved that job, because it allowed me to develop solutions with the community for their needs.” Tim spent years of his life setting up these projects to help vulnerable LGBT people. The hours were long, and results would sometimes take years to see, but Tim didn’t care – so long as he was being a part of the community he loved, and doing his bit to help. How many people he has helped is hard to gauge. Tim, in his characteristic modesty, is reluctant to put a figure on it. “Well it’s all subjective isn’t it – they might not say I helped!” In actual fact, after three decades of working with young people and helping lead two charities, the number of LGBT people in Britain he has helped is huge: “It must be a few thousand. Well, OK, I’d rather say how many we as charities have helped, rather than me alone. It’s more than 50,000. Well, OK, OK, it must be about 100,000. Actually it’s quite a lot, isn’t it?” Politicians and prominent figures will this month celebrate the introduction of same-sex marriage. But it’s because of people like Tim Sigsworth, who held the placards on rallies in the 1980s, and today holds the hands of young people facing their own challenges, that these freedoms were ever won. Tim Sigsworth is an unsung hero, from a generation of heroes. Q 7RÀQGRXWPRUHDERXWWKH$OEHUW.HQQHG\ 7UXVWYLVLWDNWRUJXN

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column

WorldMags.net [nigel farage] ON UKIP, EUROPE AND GAY FLOODS

[first]

be the staple for any couple that decides to wed, and that all matrimony should be bound independently by law and given equal weighting and rights. The religious ceremony and religious endorsement of a marriage would be entirely separate. We have many out and proud people in the party and a thriving LGBT group. But we don’t believe in tokenism and pushing forward certain people to target a media agenda. We think this is wrong. That means treating everyone as equals and not singling out particular demographics. ----------

Didn’t expect to see Nigel Farage in here, did you? UKIP aren’t obvious representatives of the gay community. They were the only major party to oppose same-sex marriage and one of their local councillors blamed the recent spate of flooding on, er, men marrying men. In spite of this, UKIP still has its own thriving LGBT group Out and Proud (as in, ‘out of the EU’, geddit?), and until 2012 they were the only party to have a trans Member of the European Parliament. Though Nikki Sinclaire, the trans MEP, quit UKIP rather sensationally, claiming she faced ongoing threats from fellow because of her gender identity. Like it or not, though, UKIP is expected to top the polls in this May’s EU elections. So we went straight to Nigel Farage, their firebrand leader, to ask: what are you going to do for us? ----------

Despite the many myths put out about UKIP, we’re not a party of old, disaffected half-colonels from true blue Conservative shires. We’re 42



also not prejudiced or bigoted. Trying to find stories to embarrass UKIP has become a Fleet Street sport. That’s because UKIP is really shaking up the political system and all the other parties are scared. Let’s look at the councillor in Henley who UKIP recently expelled after he attributed the floods to biblical judgment on gay marriage. He’d only recently defected to UKIP and we’ve since found out that he’d been writing to local newspapers expressing these views as a Conservative. We acted swiftly and he’s been expelled. Of course, many LGBT people may be put off voting for UKIP due to our opposition to the samesex marriage act. But this was also grossly misreported. What UKIP said was very simple. We were uncomfortable about the government involving themselves in religious affairs, be they Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish or otherwise. We don’t believe the state should be able to legislate religion, which is strictly in the private and personal domain. What we proposed was that civil partnerships should

We have many out and proud people in the party and a thriving LGBT group. But we don’t believe in tokenism and pushing forward certain people to target a media agenda

@Nigel_Farage

One of UKIP’s candidates repeatedly claimed there were links between gay people and pedophilia, while another was adamant physical exercise would rid gay men of same-sex lust. So will UKIP pledge to expel any future homophobes? ----------

It would sound great to say, ‘yes, we would expel anybody who was a homophobe’, but how would that be judged, investigated or enforced? Are there limits to what is acceptable and unacceptable, in of political correctness? Who is the ultimate arbiter of morality or taste? Even within one section or group of society there will be very different notions of what is fine and what is deemed insulting or upsetting. We are a political party, not the thought police, and never would we wish to become anything different. It’s very dangerous grounds to start moving into the territory of telling people how they should think or act – that is fundamentally fascistic. For that reason we have a written constitution like all other political parties based upon discipline and good behaviour. It’s within those rules that we must operate. Q EU elections are on 22 May. In the words of %XFNV)L]]²,W·VPDNLQ·\RXUPLQGXSWLPH

gaytimes.co.uk

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[cover]

There’s a lot choice when it comes to picking your favourite TOWIE boy... Joey Essex, Mark Wright and, yes, Dan Osborne. Problem is, we’ve seen them all before. That’s why Team GT pulled out all the stops to bring you, the lucky readers, an exclusive naked shoot with James Lock – the show’s hottest acquisition since, well, ever. We also sat down with James to talk life as a telly star, why he hates other reality shows, oh, and blow jobs from Bobby Norris. Crikey. Lock yourselves in, it’s gonna be a hell of a ride. gaytimes.co.uk

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[cover]

It’s a wet Wednesday afternoon in north London. People wrapped up in warm coats with umbrellas are going about their way to work, already counting down until 5pm. But inside the GT studios, we’ve got The Only Way Is Essex’s hottest new star James Lock writhing around on the floor in his pants, with girlfriend (and fellow TOWIE cast member) Danielle Armstrong telling him to “pull the poses he does in the bedroom”. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. Whatever you think of TOWIE, it’s evolved into an unstoppable telly phenomenon, shaping styles, fashions and even introducing new words into the Oxford dictionary. James, 27, first started on the show last year with real life best friend Dan Osborne, but it’s only in the new series that he’s started to take centre stage and light some fireworks of his own. “It took me a little while to get used to the cameras,” James tells us, after we begrudgingly let him put his clothes back on. “Sometimes I wasn’t speaking clearly enough, or my voice would go because I’d got a little bit drunk, ‘cos I was nervous. But I feel much more comfortable this year. I’ve come out of my shell a lot. I’d never been on camera before or been involved with this industry, so it took some getting used to. Like this, though [James’ GT shoot], I like to take things out of my comfort zone.” James was working as a sparky before he was scouted for TOWIE in an Essex nightclub. Half cut, he thought the offer was “jackanory”, but just a few weeks later he was being interviewed and screen tested, and now he’s one of the show’s rising new stars, with a massive following – gay and straight – growing by the day. And at 6”4, classically handsome good looks and a body sculpted at the gym, it’s clear to see why. “I do like going to the gym, yeah,” James says, when we ask about his gaytimes.co.uk

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WorldMags.net impressive physique. “I’m quite metrosexual – I think that sums me up perfectly. I’d say I’m vain, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s good to take pride in your appearance – I don’t agree with any of this growing old naturally stuff. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a line you can cross. But if you take care of yourself and keep fit, it’s only going to benefit you in the long run. “If a man walks in wellgroomed and in a nice suit, and another man walks in who doesn’t give a shit and is a bit of a slob, who’re you going to pay attention to?” Well, James has definitely caught our attention. But as a hot, young lad on TOWIE, there are big shoes to fill. Boys like Joey Essex and Mark Wright have gone on to be stars outside the show, weaving themselves into the fabric of pop culture. It might be early days, but is James going to follow in their footsteps? “Well, I don’t aspire to be Joey Essex,” James laughs. “I think he’s a bit of a plum. But – to be honest – I don’t like how people assume that reality TV stars are just fame hungry. Personally, I’m not fame hungry. I’m success hungry. “All reality stars seem to get tarred with the same brush, but shows like TOWIE and Made in Chelsea are in a league of their own. Look at all the boys who’ve copied Joey’s style, or the girls with Lucy. People aspire to be us. But with something like The Valleys, they’re laughing at them, not with them. And Geordie Shore is very seedy. It’s just a house full of idiots being videoed and getting pissed. “The Valleys is an absolute joke. The thing is, you meet them and think they won’t be as bad in real life. But I’ve met a couple of the girls, and they really are that bad. I don’t mean this in a snobby way, but they’re just not the sort of people you want to associate with. Going out and having a laugh is one thing, but it’s another thing going out and 48



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being disrespectful, and disgracing women. The Valleys is making Wales look bad, and Geordie Shore makes everyone up north look like chavs – and they’re not!” You might’ve guessed by now, but James isn’t the kind of bloke who shies away from saying what’s on his mind. And he’s got a few choice words for some of his fellow cast , too… “I don’t mean Dan when I say what I’m about to say, because he’s a brother to me. There’s no rivalry there. We’ve got a lot of similarities, and I hold my hand up, he’s doing a lot better than me at the minute. But I don’t feel jealous – I’m happy for him. He’s in my corner, and me, him and Elliot [Wright, fellow TOWIE cast member] are on the same team. But most of the boys on the show I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw them. Everyone’s out for themselves, but that’s just society, ain’t it? “I’m really good friends with [TOWIE veteran] Bobby Norris, too. I feel really comfortable with gay men, and between scenes I’ll always be having a laugh with Bobby. We have a lot of sexual banter and he’s always talking to me about blow jobs and telling Danielle the best way to give me one. He’s challenged her to a blow job competition – so you might see that in a season coming up! [Laughs] If the ratings ever start dropping, we’ve always got that one to pull out of the bag.” Blow jobs from Bobby Norris leads us naturally to the question about James’ man crush (obviously). As we’ve learned in this business, every straight guy’s got one. Or in James’ case – five. “I’m going to say two different people… They’re my boyhood heroes and I still love them now, even though I’m 27, and that’s Arnold Schwarzenegger and JeanClaude Van Damme. Then there’s another two… no, three! More for their fashion and looks over anything, but Brad Pitt, Leonardo gaytimes.co.uk

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WorldMags.net DiCaprio and David Gandy – Gandy especially, though. I just love how he dresses. I aspire to be like him. He’s a very good looking guy. “If I was going to marry any one of them, though, it’d have to be the boyhood hero Arnie! He’s the worst actor ever but I can watch him over and over again. I just love him.” Speaking of marriage, and as this is our marriage issue, what advice does James – a man whose relationship with Danielle is playing out in front of the whole world – have for any couples planning a trip down the aisle? “Gay or straight, it’s all about compromise. The fundamental foundation of any relationship might be trust, but even the best couples have arguments. If you learn to compromise, you can’t lose really. I think everyone wants to get married in some way, though. It’s a symbol for how committed you are with a person. Certain parts I don’t agree with, like having a big £100,000 wedding just to prove you love someone, or whatever. You can just go to Vegas or something.” We’ve had a lot of stars in front of our camera lens over the years, but James isn’t only one of the most earnest, he’s also one of the most comfortable with his body we’ve encountered in a long time. “I’m not going to lie – I love the buzz, I love doing things like a shoot for GT, and I feel comfortable doing it. I’d liked to have been in better shape, though, I’ve been trying to hit the gym and bulk up to get my summer body. I’m going to be a lot trimmer after summer – actually, yeah, can you get me in again? I’d definitely be up for that. Can you get me in for the naked issue? Put me down for that!” As our new favourite TOWIE star, we’re sure we can squeeze you in, James. From here on out, for us at least, The Only Way Is James Lock. Q The Only Way Is Essex is on ITV2, Sunday and Wednesday at 10pm, @JamesLockie86

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29 March

will go down in UK history books as the day a fundamental human right became available. It will be a day for celebration. The day same-sex marriage is finally written into law. A day we’ve been waiting on for years. But for

Paul and Michael Atwal-Brice, T

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it will be a day tinged with bitter disappointment. Like tens of thousands of other people in England and Wales, they’ve been robbed of the right to the historic festivities on this fateful day.

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When the clock strikes 12 on 28 March, Islington couple, Peter and David are set to become one of Britain’s first gay newlyweds… ´:H·UHGHOLJKWHGWR EHRQHRIWKHÀUVWµ 3HWHU0F*UDLWKWHOOV *7´$OWKRXJKLW·V GLIÀFXOWLPDJLQLQJ ZKDWRXUZHGGLQJ LVJRLQJWREHOLNHµ 7UXO\¶QRUPDO· ZHGGLQJFRQYHQWLRQV DUHFDVWDVLGH :KHQZHDVNHG DERXWSRSSLQJWKH TXHVWLRQ3HWHU FKXFNOHG´(QJDJHG WKDW·VDIXQQ\ZRUG 'DYLGDVNHGPHLI ,ZRXOGPDUU\KLP LQLWLDOO\WKUHH\HDUV DJR,VXSSRVH,·YH QHYHUTXLWHWKRXJKWRI LWWKDWZD\:HPHWLQ DJD\FOXELQ/RQGRQ DORQJWLPHDJR, WKRXJKWLQVWDQWO\KH ZDVMXVWZRQGHUIXO, ZDVOLYLQJLQ*ODVJRZ DWWKHWLPH,ZDV WKLQNLQJWRP\VHOI ¶GR,JRWR/RQGRQ WROLYHZKHUH,KDYH IULHQGVDQGWKLVJX\ ,·YHIDOOHQIRU"·µ7KH DQVZHUZDVREYLRXVO\ yes. ,W·VÀWWLQJWKH\·YH FKRVHQ,VOLQJWRQ 7RZQ+DOOIRUWKHLU KLVWRU\PDNLQJ FHUHPRQ\%ULWLVK 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ

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partnership (get gay divorced, basically), which would only be accepted by a court on the grounds on unreasonable behaviour, or more than two years of separation. Not a solution, then, for a loving couple like Paul and Michael. And, as such, the government is yet to tell anyone how it plans to resolve this. “What marriage means to us is equality,” Paul tells GT. “It’s important to us, as it’s important to thousands of other couples, because we believe in equal rights. But the simple truth is we’re being punished for already being in a civil partnership. If we knew same-sex marriage was going to come in March, we’d have waited. “When same-sex marriage was brought into force in New Zealand last year, almost all of the couples already in civil partnerships wanted to convert to a marriage. The government should’ve known this was coming. “What’s really upsetting is the fact that a gay couple could meet now, and agree to get married after 24 hours of knowing one another, and they’d still be able to do it before we can. If we want to get married on 29 March, we have to get divorced. No loving couple should be asked to get divorced – and we don’t have any grounds to, anyway. If we did, we’d be committing perjury. “It should have been a big day for us, and for our two sons, but now it’s been taken from us. We want to raise awareness of this problem – not just to other couples in the same situation, but to the government as well, for the mistakes they’ve made already in the same-sex marriage bill.” GT reached out to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the arm of the government overseeing the same-sex marriage bill, to ask when it expects the tens of thousands of couples in waiting will finally be able to convert to a samesex marriage. “We’re continuing to work hard

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The battle for same-sex marriage has been in no way an easy one. Somehow, right-wing Christians managed to draw comparisons between two men exchanging their vows with neo-Nazi ideals. Madcap UKIP councillor David Silvester even went as far as to blame the legislation for Britain’s recent spell of bad weather; as if a monotheistic deity had sent a flood to wash away our ‘sinful’ equality-driven agenda – but only in the south of the country, mind. Haters gonna hate. Despite the countless hurdles that’ve been put before same-sex marriage, each and every one has been overcome. The problem is, it’s still not completely right. Back in December 2005, the government introduced civil partnerships; an alternative to same-sex marriage, allowing gay couples to declare their union in the eyes of the law. Since then, more than 60,000 couples have entered into civil partnerships. But for most, it was just a placeholder, until the historic day when same-sex marriage finally came to . Those thousands of couples have stood at the front of the metaphorical queue all this time, waiting for their chance to marry. But now, they’re being pushed unceremoniously to the back. Paul and Michael are one of those couples. They entered into a civil partnership in 2008, in the absence of marriage as an option at the time, but planned to become two of the first to make the conversion on the fateful date of 29 March. From Barnsley, both working as full-time carers for their twin seven-year-old autistic sons, they’d been planning their special day for months – picking a venue, a cake and even which suits they were going to wear. Only for the registrar to give them the bad news. Or, as Paul describes it, a “legal bombshell”. The only way they would be able to get married would be to ‘dissolve’ their civil

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WorldMags.net to ensure that couples wanting to convert their civil partnerships into marriages are able to do so as soon as possible,” a spokesman told us. “We aim to do this before the end of 2014. “The conversion process will ensure that couples in civil partnerships do not have a break in their legal relationship, which could have implications for matters such as their pension entitlements. “It will take a little longer because we need to introduce completely new procedures and processes. This contrasts with the work to make new marriages for same sex couples possible, where we have been able to build on existing processes so implementation is more straightforward.” Saturday 29 March is a momentous and memorable day, and a huge step forward for equality and LGBT rights. But while you’re sipping Buck’s Fizz and chowing down on canapés as same-sex ceremonies take place across the country, , there are still thousands like Paul and Michael for which there’s still a long way to go. Q You can follow the progress of Paul and Michael in their quest for a same-sex marriage on Twitter, @atwalbrice

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It’s almost half a century since homosexuality was legalised. It’s been a long road, but while this issue is on the shelves, the very first same-sex marriages will take place in England and Wales. Here’s how it happened... United Kingdom

Rest of the World 1960s

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1970s

1967

England and Wales Homosexual acts legalised

1968

United Kindgom +RPRVH[XDOLW\GHFODVVLÀHGDVLOOQHVV

1980

Scotland Homosexual acts legalised

1982

Northern Ireland Homosexual acts legalised

2000

United Kindgom Allowed to serve openly in armed forces

2001

United Kindgom Age of consent equalised

2002

United Kindgom Same-sex adoption

2003

United Kindgom Repeal of Section 28

2004

United Kindgom Gender Recognition Act

1980s

1990s

2000s

Netherlands Full gay marriage legalised

Belgium Full gay marriage legalised

2001

2003

Canada, Spain Full gay marriage legalised

2005

2005

United Kindgom Civil Partnerships

South Africa Full gay marriage legalised

2006

2006

United Kindgom Equal rights for LGBT immigrants

Norway, Sweden Full gay marriage legalised

2009

Portugal, Iceland, Argentina Full gay marriage legalised

2010

2010

United Kindgom Equality Act

Denmark Full gay marriage legalised

2012

Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Full gay marriage legalised

2013 2014

United Kindgom Full gay marriage legalised

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18.5%

of Caribbean islands have legalised samesex marriage Saba, Saint Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Guadeloupe and Martinique are part of the Netherlands and respectively, so abide by their laws. ----------

African country has marriage equality – South Africa. Almost 4,000 have taken place since its legalisation

10% of men in civil partnerships have previously been divorced (ONS)

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22 out of 51 countries in Europe recognise some type of same-sex union

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The average age of men in civil partnerships

11 European countries define marriage as between a man and a woman in their constitution

,W·VIRUZRPHQ

ISRAEL RECOGNISES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, BUT THEY CAN’T TAKE PLACE WITHIN THE COUNTRY

400 MPs voted for same-sex marriage 175 MPs voted against same-sex marriage

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Asian countries have same sex-marriage

120,000 Britons are in civil partnerships at the moment

100%

20%

The increase in civil partnerships being dissolved from 2011 to 2012

of living UK Prime Ministers marriage equality. (We got there in the end.) ----------

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It’s going to take more than a few squat thrusts to work this one off at the gym; a cake worth a staggering £32.4 million was unveiled last year at The National Gay Wedding Show. The extravagant six-tier dessert is just short of 5ft tall, and is decorated with more than 2,000 diamonds. That’s 2,046 carats. A carat cake. Geddit? It was made by Liverpudlian bespoke jewellers Russell and Case, in collaboration with Chester’s aptly-named CAKE. On the other hand, if you don’t have too much of a sweet tooth, Tesco offer a Finest Red Velvet cake for a tenner. Throw a couple of those in your trolly and stack them on top of one another with some cocktail sticks and it’s near enough the same thing. Or you could always try your luck in the reduced aisle the night before. Q

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You’re obviously going to want to look like a million bucks on your big day, right? Well, tailor Richard Jewels from Manchester might be

£1 0

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So you met your hubby-to-be across a sweat-soaked dance floor soundtracked by Cher’s Believe. Well, if you want to believe in life after love at your wedding, and get the mecha-diva herself to perform live, it’s going to set you back a cool $1.5 million. That’s a smidgen under £1 million, sterling. For those on a bit of a budget, though, you can bag yourself Mariah Carey, who’ll do a four-song set for just $1 million – an absolute steal at $250,000 per song, we’re sure you’ll agree. But maybe you’ve got your sights set on the mother load – Beyoncé. You see, reports online have Queen B’s price tag raining between $500,000 and $2 million, so there’s perhaps some room for negotiation. Problem is, as organisers of Maldon Carnival found out when they tried to book her for a little charity event last

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year, she’ll only start to consider your offer after an initial fifty grand. Not bad work if you can get it, eh? A few years back, it was reported Kerry Katona would show up at your pub for £50. That’s one thousandth of what it costs to even talk to Beyoncé. Granted, it’s 2014 now and the cost of living has gone up. But if she’s still charging the same rate, we reckon you could get her in a taxi and singing an Atomic Kitten medley at your reception for a whip round and a packet of pork scratchings. Q

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Gay weddings are going to be coming thick and fast over the next few months; there’s no escape now. Expect invites in the post to ceremonies of all shapes and sizes – from lavish bashes to quickies in the back of a working men’s club (so to speak). If you’re planning on getting hitched yourself, we here at GT have done the hard work and priced up a few things for your own big day

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able to help you out with that one. His magnum opus is a hand-stitched cashmere, wool and silk two-piece worth an eye-watering £599,000. That’s just short of $1 million. It takes 600 man hours to put together and is embellished with 480 diamonds. You can always top up the cost, though, with a pair of dress shoes from the House of Testoni, in Bologna. They’re crafted with a soft goatskin, decorated with a diamond and gold buckle, and come in at a pinch at just $30,000. Or, y’know, you can get a formal suit from Géorgé at Asda (we added a couple of French accents to make it sound a bit posher). Just £9 for the tros, £20 for the jacket, and a pair of black slip-on shoes for £16. Done. Stick ‘em in your trolly. Q

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Venue ----------

A few years back, Premier Inn offered a wedding package for £199. That’s right, for less than the price of a PS4, you could get the whole shebang – buffet for 20 guests, two night’s honeymoon and even a pre-written best man’s speech. For some reason, they stopped doing that deal. But we had a look online and you can rent out one of their function rooms for £25 per person. They’ll even throw in some sandwiches too. If you ask really nicely, we reckon they might let you in. After all, it is meant to be the biggest day of your life… Although, if you fancy spending your special day surrounded by a few old bones (steady now), you can hire out the National History Museum for around £15,000. Sure, you’re only allowed in AFTER the museum has closed, but the architecture! And imagine chowing down on canapés underneath the skeleton of a dinosaur! And THAT staircase. You’d literally be making history. Right, GT have got some saving to do… Q

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WorldMags.net No couple, gay or straight, goes into marriage expecting it to one day fall apart. But what happens if it does all go wrong? GT’s editor-at-large John Marrs and his exhusband Stuart Goodman explain how their three year civil partnership ended in divorce Countless debates, arguments and newspaper column inches have been given to civil partnerships and samesex marriage. But what few people seem to discuss is what happens if a civil partnership – or a same-sex

in the middle. But that was naïve – some things cannot be compromised on, no matter how hard you try, and the gap between us widened to such a distance that we both had to shout to be heard. I wanted children, Stuart didn’t. He wanted to try living and working abroad, I didn’t. He liked luxury holidays without worrying about finances, I didn’t like credit card debt. And on it went. I’m not Liz Jones, so I won’t be washing all my dirty laundry in public, but those and other sticking points that we should have addressed thoroughly before we married were mutually brushed under the carpet until the pile of debris grew so tall, it was impossible to ignore. “The thought of getting married filled me with excitement and I couldn’t wait to start planning our

before, now started to really bug me. I found myself withdrawing into my shell and just ignoring what I could see was happening.” The one thing Stuart and I could agree on was that we needed outside help to see if our relationship was worth salvaging. I booked us an appointment at Relate, the counselling service for couples of any sexuality, married or not. Unloading your problems in front of a total stranger was much easier than either of us had anticipated. When you’re arguing at home, you begin to associate it with a place of negativity and you dread spending time there. The neutral environment of Relate offices meant it was somewhere to air our grievances and actually listen to each other. “If a couple or an individual

I DO, NOW I DON’T marriage – comes to an end. More than 120,000 gay people have entered into civil partnerships in the UK, and the number rose by 3.6% last year. But gay divorces also rose by 20%. My ex-husband Stuart and I never imagined we would be included in that 20% when we organised our civil partnership in 2010. In front of 100 friends and family, we pledged that we’d be together come what may. Only, what came was the end of our relationship, three short years later. Stuart and I were together for six and a half years before we took the civil partnership step. But once the honeymoon period ed, it didn’t take long for our relationship to gradually erode. We had both taken it for granted that even though we had different interests and goals, being married meant we would automatically meet somewhere 62



big day – that was the first failure,” Stuart recalls. “The fact there would be a wedding and we could have all our friends and family in one place to witness it seemed to overtake why we were actually doing it. “We knew we had lots of things that didn’t match in our relationship, but that didn’t seem to matter in the grand scheme of us getting married. I wish now we had taken just a step back and actually thought it through properly. It wasn’t that I didn’t love John, but I think I was too young for marriage at the time. But because of the amount of time we’d been together, it just seemed the next logical step. Well, that or splitting up. “Neither John nor I liked confrontation, so we had been pretty happy for six years. But something changes when you marry and an almost impossible weight is added to your relationship. Little things that John did that had never annoyed me

is experiencing difficulties we encourage them to seek some assistance sooner rather than later,” explains Denise Knowles, relationship counsellor for Relate. “If you reach a point where you can’t talk to each other or don’t feel listened to, then Relate can help you look at your relationship, talk about it and see whether there are things you’re both willing to do to make it better. Counsellors are neutral and non-judgmental so they don’t take sides. “If that’s not possible, we can help couples to separate with greater understanding and therefore less acrimony and hurt. We can’t take it all away but we can help couples understand what brought them to this point, and to leave the relationship and still be courteous to one another.” After half a dozen Relate sessions over the next three months, Stuart and I realised our relationship was gaytimes.co.uk

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drag on for months and cost you an arm and leg to escape your ball and chain. It’s been almost a year since I officially became a divorced man. I still feel there’s a stigma attached to being gay and divorced, but maybe that’s more in my head than other peoples. Stuart and I still remain good friends; we are both in relationships with new people – one year for me with John, and six months for Stuart with Craig. Our partners are accepting that we will always be in each other’s

document saying there’s no reason why we can’t divorce. And finally, six weeks after the conditional order came through, I had to apply for the final order which legally ended our civil partnership. Of course, it’s not all as simple as that. There’s a lot of legalese to muddle through, but with only one error that delayed us by just a few days, we were ‘dissolved’ in three months for the grand sum of £490. If you can put any feelings of resentment to one side and act like adults, this kind of legal DIY divorce could save you thousands of pounds. However, if property, children or bitterness get in the way, then be prepared for it to

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In our micro-world, we were poster boys for happy, successful gay relationships. So informing everyone we’d separated just 18 months after they’d witnessed the happiest day of our lives was humiliating. We felt like failures.

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hit and miss whether we were filling the extensive (and often baffling) forms in correctly. The first stage was for me to apply to my nearest court for a dissolution petition, for permission to end our civil partnership and show reasons why. First you must choose which of the four reasons they offer for ending a relationship – unreasonable behaviour, desertion, you’ve lived apart for more than two years or more than five years. With Stuart agreeing to the petition, I then applied for a conditional order, which is a

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beyond repair. On the anniversary of our eighth year together as a couple, we agreed that while we loved each other, we were no longer in love. And there’s only one direction to go from there. Civil partnerships are only a decade old, thus relatively new compared to straight marriages. Ours was the first gay wedding many of our straight and gay friends had been to. and we felt there was a much heavier weight of expectation placed upon our shoulders to make it work. In our micro-world, we were their poster boys for happy, successful, gay relationships. So informing everyone we’d separated just 18 months after they’d witnessed the happiest day of our lives was humiliating. We felt like failures. It took time for me to tell my close friends that we were no more, and another three months until I mentioned it at work. The murky pool of dating had the added complication of informing prospective gentleman callers I was married but separated. Living with my ex, but sleeping in different rooms. Still close friends but no longer together. Even I knew this was unattractive baggage. A year after Stuart and I threw in the towel and the dust had settled, we were both in the right mental place to start looking into divorce. Luckily, because we were on such good , agreeing to who got what was painless. Financial and property were agreed upon; iPads, sound systems, art work, crockery, furniture and aftershaves were split amicably. Our dog, Oscar, would remain living with me and Stuart could see him whenever he wanted. Because our split was so civil, we decided there was no need for lawyers so we dissolved our partnership online, via guidelines on the website gov.uk. Both of us lacked legal knowledge, so it was

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lives, even if they don’t always understand it. It hasn’t put me off entering another civil partnership or getting married, but next time, I won’t be brushing any problems under the carpet. “Since we divorced, John and I have remained close and I’ve met his new partner – and he mine,” adds Stuart. “We don’t speak or see each other all the time but I’m glad he has found someone that can make him happy and I’ve found someone who makes me happy. Has our experience put me off of marriage? Absolutely not. I would do it again – but I’d ask different questions of myself next time around.” Q

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We’ve married the iconic styling of our 50s and 60s furniture, with our renowned comfort and craftsmanship. Original inspiration. Timeless quality. To find your nearest G Plan Vintage stockist visit gplanvintage.co.uk or call 01225 700880. Image shows The Fifty Nine in Tonic Charcoal with Flying Saucer Orange scatter cushion.

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WORDS LLOYD-SCOTT TYLER

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TIGER OF SWEDEN TARTAN The 18th century tradition of clans having their own tartan has been given a modern and sophisticated update. Tiger’s designer, Glasgowborn Ronnie McDonald, has always wanted to create his own tartan, and the project has now come to fruition with astonishing results. The pattern, woven on a hand loom in rich blue and grey hues, is now officially on the Scottish of Tartans. Q Tiger of Sweden Tartan is available in the London Piccadilly and Canary Wharf stores and Selfridges stores throughout the UK. Prices are £219 for the scarf and £999 each for the jacket and kilts. tigerofsweden.co.uk

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the big day GROOM’S GUIDE

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It doesn’t get much more personal than a wedding, and everyone has their own idea on what their big day will be like... and certainly about what they’re going to wear. We’ve pulled together a few things that’ll work with any outfit, to help as you plan your own trip down the aisle and beyond Oh, suits you sir! Johnny Tuxedo sounds like a government agent, and that’s how their fitted tuxedos will make you look. Not only does the brand boast a trendy yet classic slim-fit tux, but it’s also unveiled the super-stylish limited edition Britannia in romantic midnight blue. Made from 100% wool and boasting a Union Jack lining, each one is individually numbered with an embroidered signature underneath the collar. They get a thumbs up from us; certainly affordable and good for many occasions. Q

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The classic Johnny Tuxedo suit, shirt and bow tie retails for just £120 all in with the limited edition Britannia at £199. johnnytuxedo.co.uk

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WorldMags.net [style] WORDS LLOYD-SCOT TYLER

Everyone needs a sock Add a pop of colour to your outfit with ITEM m6, a German brand of intelligent legwear. Their sock collection scores high on comfort with its skin-friendly, high performance fibres to guarantee a constant, comfortable fit. The fabric is enriched with silver ions for an antibacterial effect, even after 100 washes. This fancy technology means that these socks are good for travel, exercise or just as fashion socks, increasing circulation and energy levels. Great for days when you’re on your feet. Such as your wedding day. Q

Dapper gents Cock & Bull Menswear’s range of tweed waistcoats are made in their Bethnal Green studio in London, in the basement below Cock & Bull & Co – the UK’s first sustainable menswear boutique. They predominately create bespoke waistcoats which can be ordered at the studio and, if you’re lucky, occasionally ‘off the peg’ garments are made and sold upstairs in the boutique. These aren’t just any tweed waistcoats, though; they’re hand-woven on the Isle of Lewis and are beautifully made using Shetland wool. Every waistcoat is lined with a divine blend of organic hemp and silk, and a deep colour not too dissimilar to a Cabernet Sauvignon. Something for both the more traditional guy and the modern sartorialist. Q cockandbullmenswear.co.uk

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W NEU

Neuw is set to hit the UK this spring; the origin of the brand began on Nieuwlandstraat, in Brussels. This is where designer Par Lundqvist began to tailor and alter vintage pieces from his massive denim archive. The brand is now a collaboration between Par and his two Australian friends; Steve Little and Richard Bell. The denim carries three unique features; the repair stitch on the back right hand pocket, the ring on the front belt loop and the dart in the bottom KHP,W·VJUHDW denim, durable, looks fantastic and, best of all, each pair is named after a rock legend – Lou, Iggy and Ray. We love them and think you will too. Get yours in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. neuweurope.com Q

Take Two As with everything from Acqua di Parma, the Colonia Essenza range looks fantastic; bottled and packaged in a way reminiscent of a fine tuxedo. The range now includes an aftershave balm and a quick-absorbing gel emulsion, with a soothing yet refreshing action. Another

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new addition is the aftershave lotion, which calms the skin post-shave and leaves it soft – ideal for both normal and greasy skins. The new additions the existing fragrance, shampoo, shower gel and deodorant; all come in black and feature the elegant Eau de Cologne. Q

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Thedoes Kooples watches

The Kooples, known for their stunning advertising campaigns with real couples, have launched their first collection of watches. These stylish timepieces have been developed to reflect the contemporary and elegant codes of the brand, and would sit well on the wrist of any dapper gent. Each watch contains The Kooples’ iconic skull head logo subtly positioned on the winder. It’s a bit of a luxury, with prices starting at £230, but worth splashing out on. Qthekooples.co.uk/watches gaytimes.co.uk

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[04/14]

WorldMags.net Lacoste L!ve Artist Series launches For SS14, Lacoste L!ve launch a collection of collaboration t-shirts. Each artist involved has created fun and vibrant prints for the brand, including So-Me – KH·VWKHJX\EHKLQG French electro label (G%DQJHUZKR·V also directed music videos for the likes of Kanye West, Justice and MGMT, GRQ·W\DNQRZ" 7KHUH·VDOVRJUDIÀWL artist Honet and Japanese illustrator Hisashi Okawa, among others. The entire collection is fun, simple clothing featuring retro shapes, all-over prints and bright colours. Unmistakably Lacoste. lacoste. com/live Q

Lacoste L!ve Artist Series Revenge gets even sweeter Bluebeards Revenge is a range of quality VKDYLQJDQGPHQ·VVNLQFDUH products. Designed with real men in mind, the products combat tough stubble and common shaving problems, like razor burn and rashes. Shaving is a chore, and DFFRUGLQJWR%OXHEHDUGV· recent survey, men spend 72



an average of 45 days of their lives shaving. Fear not, though, the brand has launched a new shaving solution that contains Decelerine, which is proven to slow down growth of hair. With regular use, you can save 18 days of shaving time and get back those tedious lost minutes. Also added to the range is

a new moisturiser with key ingredient jojoba, which is said to help prevent oily skin and outbreaks of irritation. It also contains a cooling agent, making application a real treat. Luckily, the brand has gone to great lengths to ensure that the product is free of those nasty parabens, SLS and MIT. Use VSDULQJO\WKRXJKLW·VDJUHDW product that goes a long way. Q gaytimes.co.uk

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A STORY OF T.LIPOP T.Lipop is where technical men’s tailoring meets a ‘less is more’ aesthetic, producing masculine garments that are both innovative and subtle. Using progressive cutting techniques, luxurious cloth and innovative technology, T.Lipop brings minimalism to the forefront. After launching to acclaim in 2011, the brand was recently highlighted as ones to watch during London Fashion Week. T.Lipop was also the first to collaborate with high street stalwart River Island as part of the first menswear Design Forum, creating a collection of 16 pieces and a film with director Aoife McArdle. The SS14 collection A Story for Tomorrow is described by the creative director Tom Lipop as “chilin’ in the Spanish Riviera by the pool, sipping on your margarita and puffing away on a cigar”. Well, quite. It does, however, offer a distinct focus on cut, inspired by casual fitting blazers and the cool colours of summer. The result is sophisticated with a nod to the 80s; modern meets classic tailoring. Lipop has also introduced the technology known as Nano Bloc, a water repellent finish added to fabrics, which can be seen throughout the collection – including linen suits, linen shirts and bamboo jersey t-shirts. This is summer tailoring at its best and is suited to one and all, masculine or feminine, big or small. This is a brand to invest in.Q tlipop.com

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interiors

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If you’re one of the millions gripped by Nordic Noir then you’re probably just as thrilled by the settings. The Scandinavians may like their drama dark and complex, but their interiors are the polar opposite. Simple, clean forms in muted natural tones set the scene. Quiet and confident – yet full of Nordic drama

The broom

The light

%DIÀKDQJLQJ brooms by Swedese, £380, skandium.com ----------

Icefox pendant by Lightyears, from £225, skandium.com ----------

WORDS MARK KING

The servers Salad servers by Seth-Andersson, £45, skandium.com ----------

NORDIC LIGHT The table 70/70 table by Muuto, £1,175, nest.co.uk ----------

The pitcher Teema pitcher by iittala, £18.50, skandium.com ----------

The cushion Puzzle Mix graphic cushion by Hay, £77, hayshop.dk ----------

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ING T T CU DGE E

The bowl Crushed bowl by Muuto, from £35, skandium.com ----------

The sofa Connect modular sofa by Muuto, price varies according to modules, nest.co.uk ----------

This stark yet elegant lighting and glassware is by the brilliantly-named Western Trash in Berlin. Each one of their products is born out of a wonderfully simple idea – but an idea that’s hugely difficult to put into practice. Every item is created by slicing through a bottle at a different angle. This is upcycling at its most technical – don’t try it at home kids – with used bottles polished, sliced by diamond saw then ground and sandblasted to finish. It must take a steady hand, and a lot of nerve, but the results are both beautiful and ecologically sound. Smashing! Q

The vase Aalto vase by Iittala, £74, madeindesign.co.uk ----------

Above Burgundi and Mosel lights, 239 Euros Below Festi carafe with four glasses, 85 Euros, shop.westerntrash.com

The chair Egg lounge chair by Fritz Hansen, £4,038, conranshop.co.uk ----------

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WorldMags.net LONDON KITCHEN SHOP

SEE IN-STORE FOR CURRENT OFFERS Arch 70, Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London SE1 7TJ Tel: 020 7793 9091 [email protected]

MAKE A STATEMENT

LONDONKITCHENSHOP.COM

City Bodywear T a w n y P h i ll i p s J e w e ll e r y

Enter code GT20 for 20% off at the checkout!

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Let me help you create the most important pieces of jewellery you’ll ever wear! Affordable bespoke wedding rings hand-made to commission in central London studio to suit your budget using all precious metals and stones View designs at www.tawnyphillips.com or call 020 7401 3737 or 07814 677589 for an informal chat

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ooooft

[04/14]

WorldMags.net [reviews]

A THING OF BEAUTY You’re wondering where you recognise him from, aren’t you? Don’t play coy. It’s none other than tattooed totty Jake Bass, star of the world-renowned porn site CockyBoys. Now you can see all your favourite faces and more (steady…) from CockyBoys in A Thing of Beauty – a 128-page book, suitable for your coffee table or your bedside table… y’know… in case you fancied a read in bed… Q Available in hardback from prowler.co.uk and in Prowler stores, £49.99

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albums

[reviews]

WorldMags.net Fake Club Fuckable As sleazy as their anagramatic album title, )DNH&OXEDUHDVFX]]\URFN·Q·UROO band – they recently committed their ZDUHVWRFHOOXORLGDVWKHLQÀOPEDQG WKURXJKRXWLQGLHÁLFN3RZGHU5RRP LW·VRQRXUWRZDWFKOLVW 7KH\EDWWHU old school riffs over a constantly rattling high-hat, like Operator Please but with their pop sensibility swapped IRUDERWWOHRI-DFN'DQLHOV7KHLU female vocalist sings with the accent DQGKXVNLQHVVRI$OH[7XUQHUIURP the Arctic Monkeys, and songs like Beauty Queen pay homage to more obvious references like Blondie QDPHO\5LS+HU7R6KUHGV ,W·VD pleasingly anarchic (if not particularly G\QDPLF FRPELQDWLRQQQQQQ

Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ,W·VEHHQPRUHWKDQ\HDUVVLQFH*RRGE\H
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Tim Paris Dancers When DJ remixer types get in a string of featured vocalists, you fear for the cookie cutter Guetta effect. But not so for Mr Paris, who is cut from the same cloth as Soulwax. Brazenly cherry picking across JHQUHKH·VIRUPHG housey rock songs for a club audience. QQQQQ Jesca Hoop Undress A strippedback reworking of her album Hunting 0\'UHVV-HVFD·V voice takes centre stage with its pure, piercing harmonics. Playing this album is a bit like Jesca pitching up to

your bedroom and serenading you with an acoustic guitar DQGWKHRGGIULHQG ,QWLPDWHDQGRQO\ slightly terrifying. QQQQQ Voluntary Butler Scheme A Million Ways to Make Gold 7KHWKLUGRIIHULQJ from this one-man band is surprisingly well-rounded, dreamy indie, harking back to the VEXWLQNHHSLQJ with the current crop of tweecore EDQGV7KHO\ULFV are as swooning and sentimental as the gentle plinks, plonks and hushed orchestration that decorate the whole album. QQQQQ

Foster The People Supermodel 7KH\·UHVWLOOJRLQJWREHNQRZQ as the band who did Pumped Up Kicks, a song so pervasive and XELTXLWRXVLW·VKDUGWRPDWFK7R WKHLUFUHGLWWKH\KDYHQ·WUHDOO\WULHG %HVW)ULHQGFRPHVFORVH DQGDV the album unfolds, it becomes more experimental – and interesting. Hints RI%HFN·V7URSLFDOLDVXUIDFHDQG VRQJVOLNH7KH7UXWKVRXQGOLNH'DYLG *UD\IURQWLQJ3DVVLRQ3LW7KHDOEXPV hidden jewel though is A Beginners *XLGHWR'HVWUR\LQJ7KH0RRQZKLFK sounds unexpectedly like a Britpop FRFNWDLO²SDUW%OXU·V%HHWOHEXPSDUW shouty early punk Ash, part Mansun SURJURFNWULS,IRQO\WKH\FRXOG harness more of these confusing contradictions. QQQQQ gaytimes.co.uk

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WorldMags.net [music] WORDS%2%+(1'(5621

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WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY You’ll be hearing a lot about Grammy Award-winning singer Foxes as she goes full pelt into promoting her debut album Glorious. We caught her performance at London’s G-A-Y last month and hunted her down for a chinwag. Here’s a few of our favourite things that she said to us

---------Gay Times! ´,ORYHLW0\IULHQG ERXJKWLWWKHRWKHU GD\DQGZHQW WKURXJKLWZLWK PH7KHUH·VQRW XVXDOO\ORDGVRI QDNHGPHQLQLW DQGKHZDVRQWKH WXEHJRLQJWKURXJK LWDQGKHVDLGKH ORRNHGDEVROXWHO\ PHQWDOEHFDXVHLW ORRNHGOLNHKHZDV UHDGLQJDSRUQR RUVRPHWKLQJ+H ZDVOLNH¶WUXVW PH/RXLW·VQHYHU QRUPDOO\OLNHWKLV·,W ZDVMXVWDUDQGRP PRQWK,·PQRW FRPSODLQLQJµ

---------Sayings!

Her Mum!

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---------The Fashion! ´,FDQ·WVWRS ZHDULQJPXPMHDQV DWWKHPRPHQW ,·PDZDUHWKDW,·P DOUHDG\PDNLQJD IDVKLRQIDX[SDV EXW,FDQ·WVWRS ZHDULQJWKHP EHFDXVHWKH\·UH VRFRPI\,W·V GLIÀFXOWLW·VOLNHDQ DUJXPHQWZLWKP\ PLQGHYHU\GD\, WKLQNLI\RXEHOLHYH VRPHWKLQJORRNV JRRG\RXFDQ PDNHLWORRNJRRG ,·PWKHVRUWRI SHUVRQWKDW²\RX NQRZZKHQWKHUH·V DVDOH"$QGWKHUH·V DOOWKHVWXIIOHIWWKDW QRRQHZDQWV", ZDQWWKDWµQ

---------Disney! ´,DOZD\VZDQWHG WREH7KH/LWWOH 0HUPDLGVKHZDV IXQ6R,XVHGWR SXWWLJKWVRQP\ OHJVMXVWRQHRIWKH WLJKWVDQGWKHQ,·G ÁDSDURXQG,ZDVD ZHLUGNLGµ

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profile

[reviews]

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B

ulgarian born minimal rap artist DENA is not your average girl rapper. Based in Berlin (obviously), she’s been quietly carving her own niche, distinctively dropping broken English over Balkan beats. She first caught our eye with Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools; the video of which sees DENA looking like a Muriel-era Toni Collette fronting a Shoreditch rap act. Her trademark slow moving videos compliment her minimal rapping style, overloaded with immigrant irony. The aforementioned single appears as a centre piece to her debut album; a mangled electroclash mantra that’s cut from the same vaguely anticapitalist cloth of Lorde’s Royals, but was released well over a year ahead of that curve. Re-release, stat.

DENA There’s a 90s side to DENA’s work, namely a classy re-imaging of Skee-lo’s retro-sexist shorty anthem, as she croons “You wish I was a little bit smaller, you wish I wasn’t such a baller,” on You Wish. It’s the perfect introduction to her stark compositions, with no clear reference point to pin her sounds on. As much as we describe her as minimal, her music is deceptively complicated; busy with blips, stabby chords and layered vocals. Songs like Front Row Girl could be a Little Mix b-side, with some toothy raps thrown in. Though she’s never going to enamour herself to such a young crowd of pop fanatics, she’s all set for hipster adoration at the very least. Q

'(1$·VGHEXWDOEXP)ODVKLVRXWQRZRQ. UHFRUGVGHQDIURPWKHEORFNFRP

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Mariah Carey You’re Mine (Eternal):H·GOLNH WRWKLQNVKH·VJXQQLQJIRUWKHJLUOEDQGEXWWKLV WZLQNVPRRWKVFKPDOW]IHVWLVDSXUHWKRURXJKEUHG 0DULDKEDOODGFRPSOHWHZLWKDVWRQNLQJKLJKQRWH DWWKHHQGQ Manou Loving You%RWKUHWURDQG IUHVKWKLVLVEOLVVHGRXWKLSVWHUIRGGHUWKDWJLYHV 6N\)HUUHLUDDUXQIRUKHULFHFRROFUHGHQWLDOVQ Marcella Summer Anthem$QHDUO\KHDGVXS RQWKLVRQHDVWKHWLWOHLVDVHOIIXOÀOOLQJSURSKHF\ $OOWKHEXR\DQF\RI0LOH\ZLWKDQDGGHGXKRKXK RKQRGWR%H\RQFH·V;2Q Annie Russian Kiss :LWKDVW\OLVKYLGHRRIOLSORFNLQJ\RXQJXQV$QQLH ZLWKSDOV5LFKDUG;%MDUQH0HOJDDUGDQG5LFKDUG .HUQ LVVWDUWLQJDUHYROXWLRQIURPWKHGDQFHÁRRU$ FOXEDQWKHPUDOO\WKDWFRPHVWRDJULQG\RUJDVPLF FOLPD[%DQJLQJDQGULJKWRQQ Villagers Occupy

[tracklist]

Your Mind$QRWKHUSURWHVWVRQJ6RUWRI7KRXJK IDUPRUHREOLTXHWKDQ$QQLH·VÀVWVLQWKHDLUDQWKHP WKLVJODPURFNWLQJHGWUDFNZDVZULWWHQ¶IRU\RX \RXUPRWKHU\RXUIDWKHUDQG\RXUJD\EURWKHUVDQG VLVWHUVLQ5XVVLD·Q Iggy Azaela ft Charli XCX Fancy:LWKDEUXWDOLVWEDVVOLQHLW·VPLQLPDOUDS VRXQGVDZIXORQÀUVWOLVWHQEXWJHWVEHWWHUZLWKHDFK SOD\Q Blue Broken7KLVVWUDLJKWIRUZDUGEDOODGLV WKHÁLSVLGHWRWKHFOXEQXPEHU$\RDQGFRXOGHDVLO\ VOLSLQWRWKH2QH'LUHFWLRQUHSHUWRLUHQ Klaxons There Is No Other Time,W·V.OD[RQVDWWKHLUPRVW ER\EDQGFKDQQHOLQJ-DPLURTXDLDQG7KH:DQWHG :KLFKLVPXFKPRUHDSSHDOLQJWKDQLWVRXQGVQ

Trust When we met Robert Alfons to talk about his debut album a mere two-years-ago, he told us how much 90s Eurodance was an influence on him – Snap!, Whigfield, that kind of thing. We raised an eyebrow and forgot about it, as Trust had carved their niche in the dark arts of electro-goth. But the time has come for a second album and these influences have fully blossomed, as the band are releasing the aptly titled Joyland; an electro-pop masterpiece conducted in a minor key. They immediately switch paces with a curve ball opening track; part William Orbit, part Sigur Rós nonsense, Slightly Floating eases you into the new vision far gentler than the two gutsy first singles. Rescue, Mister has a bassline bounce that Nicki Minaj could sit on, where as second single Capitol has a sing-a-long chorus – something you’d struggle to wring out of their debut. The defining experiment of Joyland is the pitched vocals. You can still hear the dominance of Alfons’ deep, gruff voice that keeps the electro goth sound alive and bought them warehouse party success. But he also jumps up a to Smurfy highs that harken back to the days of Happy Hardcore cassettes – in short, the title track could be a duet with Grimes. But it’s just Robert having a fiddle, presumably. This vocal trickery, combined with their bolder swipes with those Euro-tastic synths, make for a landscape that is indeed joyous. Q -R\ODQGLVRXW$SULORQ$UWV &UDIWVWWUXVWWFRP

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time after time

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25 years of... WORDS JOHN MARRS IMAGES WARNER RECORDS

This month celebrates 25 years since we first heard Madonna sing “life is a mystery.” Her Like A Prayer album became a turning point that transformed her from critic-fodder boy toy to a respected artist. GT looks back at the darkness, the controversies and the struggle that made it her most important work to date

I

t could have been commercial suicide. Pop albums inspired by Catholicism, girl power, a dead parent, AIDS and domestic violence are few and far between for a reason. But by infusing those themes with pop, funk and gospel influenced melodies, Madonna’s Like A Prayer became a pivotal moment in modern music. Before the Prayer era, came the disco-lite First Album; then the more-image-than artistry Like A Virgin before semi-transitional True Blue. But Like A Prayer revealed an all-new Madonna we hadn’t been invited to meet before. A woman who demanded to be heard, and not just seen. “I didn’t try to candy-coat Like A Prayer or make it more palatable for mass consumption,” Madonna explained at the time. “I wrote what

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I felt. I definitely have that slick, glamorous, manufactured side that I feel very comfortable showing to the public. But there’s the other side to me, too. What I am is what I’ve digested throughout my life.” In September 1988, she enlisted the help of previous collaborators Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard to help her co-write and coproduce each of the 11 tracks. The bulk of Madonna and Patrick’s collaborations were completed in just weeks. “Everything is very quick,” Patrick recalled. “We wrote Like A Prayer, Spanish Eyes, Til Death Do Us Part, Dear Jessie, Promise To Try and Cherish in a two week period. Nothing took more than four hours, ever. She sits on the couch, takes a pad out, writes the lyrics, sings it and we’re done.” Madonna drew from her

Catholic upbringing for much of the record, including the stunning title track. “It just came out of my head,” she explained. “I wanted to do something really gospel oriented and a cappella, with virtually no instrumentation, just my voice and an organ. So we started fooling around with the song, and we’d take away all the instrumentation so that my voice was naked. Then we came up with the bridge together, and we had the idea to have a choir.” The reality and frailty of family is another of Like A Prayer’s underlying themes. Her declining relationship with husband Sean Penn – and the well documented domestic abuse she suffered – inspired Till Death Do Us Part; the young Madonna’s need for attention amidst eight siblings animated Keep It Together; the premature gaytimes.co.uk

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loss of her mother motivated the heartbreaking Promise To Try and her fractious relationship with God and her dad Silvio was spelled out in Oh Father. “Oh Father and Promise To Try are companion songs,” revealed Madonna. “We did Promise To Try first. Then Pat came to New York where I was doing the play Speed the Plow and I was in a very, very dark state of mind. We got together in this really dingy, awful little studio – it was grotesquely dirty and cramped, and that’s what came out of me. But Oh Father is not just me dealing with my father. It’s me dealing with all authority figures in my life.” Dear Jessie was inspired by Patrick’s daughter while Spanish Eyes confronted the then-still taboo subject of AIDS. But the track that jars many a Like A

Did you know? ---------Randy Jackson of American Idol fame plays bass on LAP. ---------/LNH$3UD\HU·V gospel section was sung by the Andraé Crouch Choir, but they refused to appear in the video. ---------The single cover was drawn by her brother Christopher, and contained the letters MLVC, with a P falling away. They represented 0DGRQQD·VLQLWLDOV Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, ZLWKWKH¶3HQQ· falling away as the couple had separated. ---------The actor in the video who played the black saint is Leon Robinson, who played Derice Bannock in Cool Runnings.

Prayer disciple is Love Song, her sparse duet with Prince. The two met regularly to discuss writing a musical together. But when that was aborted, Prince put together a cassette of their sessions to date. “I thought it was just fabulous,” she said. “Originally he seemed to fight the idea of just writing songs for a record together, because he’s done that with so many people. Love Song was one of the songs and I just said, ‘It’s such a great song – why not put it on the record?’ He agreed and we sent the tapes back and forth and we’d keep building it. He would write a sentence and I would add on to it.” That wasn’t the end of Prince’s contribution though; unaccredited, he played guitar on the single mix of Like A Prayer and album tracks Keep It Together and Act Of Contrition. The latter – a two-

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[music]

minute, backward masking track – closes the record. “It was purely conceived in the recording studio on a whim,” said Madonna. “We turned the tape and played everything backwards. And then, of course, the saying of the prayer, that was totally conceived in the studio. I just started fooling around and it’s totally unedited.” Several tracks failed to make the final cut. Supernatural, the story of a love affair with a ghost, was judged too whimsical and banished to Cherish’s B-side. Possessive Love was given to Marilyn Martin; Just A Dream was handed to Madonna’s backing singer Donna De Lory. Love Attack, Angels With Dirty Faces and First Is A Kiss have yet to surface. With Like A Prayer complete, her then-manager Freddy DeMann was already heralding the new age of Madonna. “It’s the best album

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she’s ever done,” he enthused. “It’s the first time she’s really opened up to the world, taken her deepest thoughts and translated them for the world.” Despite possessing the most famous face in the world, Madonna chose not to display it on the album cover. Instead, it was a Herb Ritts image of her torso that adorned the sleeve when it was released on 21 March, 1989. The patchouli oil scented sleeve notes were to simulate church incense and continue the album’s religious imagery theme. And as an early er of AIDS charities, inside the packaging came an insert card with safer sex guidelines, and a warning about the dangers that read ‘AIDS is no party!’ Very few artists are able to generate even one iconic video in their career. But Madonna, who 84



had already accomplished it with Like A Virgin, Open Your Heart and Papa Don’t Preach, managed three very different videos for three very different Like A Prayer songs. Two months before the album’s release, Madonna signed a $5 million deal with Pepsi-Cola for TV ads and tour sponsorship. The first two-minute advert centred around the Like A Prayer song, debuting to 250 million viewers world-wide. But one day later, when the actual video for the song debuted, its scenes of stigmata, rape and burning crucifixes were condemned by the Vatican as sacrilege and heresy. Pepsi withdrew the ad and cancelled her sponsorship. It was impossible to purchase such publicity. But remarkably, Madonna’s original video treatment went even further.

“I would play the song over and over again and I kept imagining a girl who was madly in love with a black man, set in the South, with this forbidden interracial love affair,” recalled Madonna. “The guy she’s in love with sings in a choir so she goes to church all the time. And then it turned into a bigger story, which was about racism and bigotry. “Then Mary Lambert got involved as the director, and she came up with a story that incorporated more of the religious symbolism I originally wrote into the song. The video still has the sadness, but it’s got a hopeful ending. I had these ideas about me running away with the black guy and both of us getting shot in the back by the Ku Klux Klan. Completely insane. So Mary made it more palatable.” Both the Like A Prayer single and album were worldwide commercial gaytimes.co.uk

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and critical hits, with Rolling Stone magazine hailing it ‘as close to art as pop music gets.’ But once the video controversy faded, Madonna released what was, in 1989, the most expensive video ever made. David Fincher directed the homoerotic Express Yourself, which ‘celebrated the power of the female sex and its ability to cripple the machine that dehumanises it.’ And she did so in a purpose-built Metropolis set, surrounded by sweating shirtless gym bunnies while she lay naked, wrapped in chains and poured milk over herself. “This video I had the most amount of input,” said Madonna. “I oversaw everything from the building of the sets, costumes, to meetings with make-up and hair and the cinematographer. Casting, finding the right cat – just every aspect.” Herb Ritts made his directorial

([SUHVV
debut with mermen in the Cherish video, and academics claim the finned men are symbols for the gay community and the oppressions we face. And while Europe got Dear Jessie and an animated video as single number four, America received another Fincher video, the Citizen Kane inspired Oh Father. Keep It Together became single number five in the US before the Like A Prayer era wrapped, boasting 15 million album sales. Like A Prayer has everything a gay man desires in his ingénue – drama, a victim, emotion, vivid stories, the questioning of a deity, tragedy, survival and tunes to shake your arse to. Yet it does all this without being a ‘gay’ album. In fact she’s made much camper records such as I’m Breathless, Confessions On A Dance Floor and MDNA. But

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Like A Prayer is multi-textural and works because it’s an album for everyone, regardless of age or sexual orientation. 25 years later and it has yet to be re-mastered or re-issued with bonus tracks or the plethora of remixes the singles received at the time. And while Madonna’s former record label Warners has been criminal in its failure to acknowledge this masterpiece’s anniversary, it may have worked in Like A Prayer’s favour. Because no special edition means its legacy has remained untweaked and undiluted. Madonna opened herself up in a way she did not repeat for another nine years until Ray Of Light. And while she has yet to trawl such emotional depths again, Like A Prayer first proved the Queen Of Pop should, and never would, be underestimated again. Q

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WorldMags.net [print] …and then you’re dead! Jim Rai:LWKWKHXQIRUWXQDWHHPRWLRQDO WXUPRLOWKDW·VVRPHWLPHVLQÁLFWHGRQ PHQZKROLNHPHQZH·YHSUREDEO\ ERXJKWPRUHVHOIKHOSERRNVWKDQ ZHKDYH.\OLHUHFRUGV%XWWKLVRQH LVVRPHWKLQJHOVH7KLVWKRXJKW SURYRNLQJELEOHJLYHVSRZHUIXO OHVVRQVWKDWDLPWRHPSRZHU\RX ZLWKDQHZYLVLRQRIOLIHDQGWKHZLOO WRPDNHFKDQJHVWRZDUGVOLIHORQJ KDSSLQHVV…EHIRUHLW·VWRRODWH 7KHUH·VDOVRDQDFFRPSDQ\LQJ UHÁHFWLYHQRWHERRN²VRUU\¶EODQN FDQYDV·²IRU\RXWRZULWH\RXURZQ IHHOLQJVDQGUHLQIRUFHWKDWQHZ SRVLWLYHRXWORRN2U\·NQRZ\RX FRXOGXVHLWWRMRWGRZQKRWER\V SKRQHQXPEHUV… QQQQQ

Arctic Summer Damon Galgut +DYH\RXHYHUZRQGHUHGZKDWOLIHZDVOLNHIRU DKRUPRQDOSXEHVFHQWODGLQ(QJODQGLQWKH HDUO\V"3UREDEO\QRW,Q$UFWLF6XPPHU 6RXWK$IULFDQJD\DXWKRU'DPRQ*DOJXWSDLQWV DERXWDVQHDUDSLFWXUH\RX·UHHYHUJRLQJWR JHWHYRNLQJWKHÀFWLRQDOLVHGOLIHRIWKFHQWXU\ (QJOLVKZULWHU(GZDUG0RUJDQ)RUVWHUNQRZQ IDPRXVO\IRUKLVQRYHO3DVVDJHWR,QGLD )RUVWHUIDOOVIRUKLV,QGLDQIULHQG0DVRRGZKR KHDWWHPSWVWRWHDFK/DWLQ$VHPRWLRQVXQUDYHO WKLVEHFRPHVDQHPSDWKHWLFVWRU\RIIULHQGVKLS DQGXQUHTXLWHGORYHEHWZHHQWZRPHQZKLOH KLJKOLJKWLQJKLVWRU\FXOWXUHDQGIUHHGRPERWK KRPHDQGDIDU)RUVWHUWUDYHOVWR,QGLDIRUWKH ÀUVWWLPHLQRQWKH66%LUPLQJKDPWR HPEDUNRQDMRXUQH\RIVHOIGLVFRYHU\DQGZULWH DQHZQRYHO+H·VEHVWGHVFULEHGDVDKRUPRQDO ER\WKDWSRXUVKLVKHDUWRXWLQZRUGVWKURXJK QRYHOVDQGOHWWHUV)RUVWHUSRQGHUVPDQ\WLPHV DERXWPHQRIP\VWHU\LQDWLPHEHIRUHVH[XDOLW\ ZDVVRRSHQO\VSRNHQDERXWPDNLQJVRPHFORVH HQFRXQWHUVDORQJWKHZD\ $UFWLF6XPPHULVDQHQLJPDWLFSDJHWXUQHUZLWK WHQVLRQFUHDWLQJFRPSDVVLRQIRU)RUVWHUDQG WKHP\VWHULRXVSHRSOHDURXQGKLP&RXOGWKLVEH WKHPXVWUHDGERRNIRU":HNQRZLW·VRQO\ HDUO\EXWZHZRXOGQ·WFRXQWLWRXWQQQQ Q

Benedict Cumberbatch: The Biography Justin Lewis Who GRHVQ·WORYHDELW RI&XPEHUEDWFK" :HOO\RXPLJKWORYH KLPDOLWWOHELWPRUH DIWHUWKLVELRJUDSK\ E\-XVWLQ/HZLV DOORZLQJUHDGHUV WREHLQWLPDWHZLWK RO·%HQQLHIURPKLV WUDYHOVWR7LEHWDQG EHLQJKHOGKRVWDJH LQ6RXWK$IULFD WRSOD\LQJVH[\ 6KHUORFNRQRXU WHOO\VFUHHQV QQQQQ The Rise of Alec Caldwell: Erotic Adventures of a Young Businessman Casey K Cox /RQGRQRIÀFHER\ $OHF&DOGZHOOLV \RXQJVXFFHVVIXO KDQGVRPH…2K

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Maggie & Me Damien Barr 7KLVZLWW\PHPRLURI'DPLHQ%DUU UHSXEOLVKHGLQSDSHUEDFNKDUNVEDFN WRWKRVHGDUNRO·GD\VRI7KDWFKHU·V %ULWDLQ7KHFUX[RIWKHVWRU\LVD \RXQJJD\ER\JURZLQJXSRQD 6FRWWLVKFRXQFLOHVWDWHIDFLQJDOO PDQQHURIEXOO\LQJLQDVWHHOZRUNLQJ WRZQ/LYLQJLQDQHUDRILQGXVWULDO VWULNHV$,'6DQGWKHGDPPLQJ 6HFWLRQZH·UHVXUHZHZHUHQ·WWKH RQO\RQHVVXUSULVHGWRÀQG%DUUÀQGV LQÁXHQFHLQWKH,URQ/DG\·VYRLFH &RPIRUWHGE\KLVSROLWLFDOJD\LFRQ 'DPLHQHVFDSHVWRIDOOLQORYHDQG GDQFHWR0DGRQQDLQ*ODVJRZ·V RQO\JD\FOXEDWWKHWLPH$KHDUW ZDUPLQJÀOPLFQRYHOÀOOHGZLWK ODXJKWHUDQGVRUURZQQQQQ

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[print]

THE TALE END OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN Armistead Maupin. A name that will cause many a gay eye to go a little misty. He’s credited with bringing humour and humanity to gay literature, and chances are you’ve miraculously either never heard of him (Google your nearest library IMMEDIATELY you heathen) or that you’ve read all eight of his intoxicating Tales of the City novels. And the eagerest of beavers have probably already polished off the last instalment, The Days of Anna Madrigal – but Armistead implores us not to spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it yet, so don’t worry about reading on. If you’re dying to know what happens, though, we can save you some bother – read the book. All you need to know is it’s an elegant farewell, and some of it takes place at Burning Man. It’s everything we’ve come to know and love about Maupin’s work; warm, pun-ridden, humane and moving. Which is exactly how we find the real life, living, breathing Maupin (except with less puns). WORDS BOB HENDERSON

We’re sat in the terribly English confines of his hotel restaurant and find a miraculously intimate table in the loud surroundings. There are two things you notice about Armistead’s in-the-flesh story telling style; he drops more names than a bad waitress and has an incredible memory. The conversation often steers to the sexual – and who wouldn’t with such a charming white haired daddy bear? – and he’s regaling us with his first missed connection on Hampstead Heath. “I walking across the heath when I was 19, in 1963, and ing a hot 35-year-old in brown corduroy tros who looked like he was giving me the eye. I was too stupid or naïve or whatever you want to call it to even realise I was being made an offer. But I thought about it and whacked off to him for days,” and he lets out a casual, open laugh. All these little details, experience and moments find their way into the Tales cannon. “I wrote about it in Babycakes, the English novel where Michael is reminiscing about his teen years. Only he did something about it. He went home with a guy. I have a lot of things that I write about that I didn’t act on at the time, but I improved in the writing.”

It seems painstakingly obvious to explain these stories to the many converts out there, but they charted the loves and lives of a bunch of hippish misfits all living in San Francisco, their lives unfolding in real time since their first appearance in a newspaper column in 1976. He always describes this time as flying by the seat of his pants, creating these characters from his observations, friends and real life experiences. Hampstead Heath included. The first novel was collated from these newspaper columns in the living room of Rock Hudson (the famous actor who is sadly known to younger generations as being one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS). At such a young age, and indeed throughout his whole career, it feels as if he’s known or met everyone. But from the off he learnt how to deal with being starstruck. “If you’re in the presence of someone that floors you, who is overwhelming to you for whatever reason, then do your best to hide it. That’s the way I was around Rock Hudson all those years ago and I could become his friend because I wasn’t saying…” Armistead has a think. “Well, I guess I was at one point, ‘God I feel like Doris Day’ or

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something terrible. You probably don’t know who these people are…” Excuse us, Mr Maupin. You don’t work at the world’s longest-running gay magazine without picking up more than a bit of queer history. “She was this leading lady. And he said ‘you’re not the first guy to say that’,” and he does one of his warm little chuckles. “Anyone who feels objectified wants to run screaming from you. And I must say, I met a lot of these people simply because I was out of the closet very early and proud of it. The thing that everyone thought would be the big disadvantage, proved to be the advantage.” It’s what we like to call playing the gay card. “The gay card, as it were,” Armistead half concedes, “and people that I really like, David Hockney, Ian McKellen, were people who were dealing with their sexuality in a public way very early on. And that becomes a club. It’s a much bigger club now.” We’re teasing him at this point, saying it’s a much less exclusive club now. Not as fun. “No, I wouldn’t say that. I’m not one of those people who would say ‘oh it was so much lovelier when we could scrounge around in the

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WorldMags.net bushes for dick’. No it wasn’t! It was terrifying and oppressive and a little bit shame making.” We’ve gone off topic, as our conversation often does. You could sit down and fire names at Armistead and be entertained for days. From cruising, we steer back to the starstruck element. “I met Susan Sarandon at Ian’s house the other night,” he says offhandedly. The Ian he’s referring to so casually is the aforementioned McKellen one. “That kind of got to me. She was sitting on the sofa and there was a spare place so I sat down and we talked about a gay man that she once had a lovely, romantic, sexual affair with. She’s very open, [an] interesting person. But I wasn’t starstruck – in the sense that I was thrilled to meet Susan Sarandon but I didn’t feel like I was any less than her, so I was able to talk to her.” Sadly, we aren’t here to fire names at him all day. There’s this book, The Days of Anna Madrigal. That we keep saying wrong, adding “last” into the title. (*klang!* “Yeah, my friend Patrick Gale keeps doing that”). Though we’re keeping our promise not to give too much away, we can talk about Burning Man, the radical counter-culture festival held in the desert end of Nevada. Armistead writes with a cynical observing eye, which is handy as we still can’t read – or write – the name of this festival without hearing Jeff from American Dad elongate the final vowel. Armistead’s been twice (with hubby) and although not planning to throw himself into the dusty planes this year, is already recruiting for 2015. “Ian [McKellen] was staying at Peter Jackson’s house, that was big enough for a whole fraternity of gay men. So I stayed with him, and while I was there we talked about Burning Man. I can see Ian there quite easily and he was pumping me about it as he read the novel. So it’s quite possible that we’ll take him next summer.” 90



Excuse us, we’re off to book tickets and dig out a backpack and water bottle… Daydream over, we move on to intergenerational relationships. They’ve always been a part of gay culture, as the daddy/son dynamic has played out from Greek mentors to the oily fantasies of Tom of Finland. And there’s certainly a more accepting renaissance in the publicity of high profile relationships like Elton John and David Furnish, or more recently Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black. The mere mention of the latter send Armistead into a fit of laughter. “I love the fact that Lance Black is supposed to be the older man – he looks like he’s 12! He’s 39, I really had to laugh when that became a scandal…” But that’s the point we were making. It’s not really been a scandal, apart from the obvious knee-jerk reactions from the predictable places. “A lot of people have been quite ugly about it on the gay comment boards,” he says while we nod and murmur in acknowledgement of queeny behaviour. “Bitter, secret queens, sitting at home, hating the fact that those two are getting together.” To be fair though, if you’re going to be Tom Daley’s boyfriend, it doesn’t matter who you are – you’re going to get shit for it. In retrospect we realised the only person Tom Daley could date and get more shit for it than his boyfriend would be Justin Bieber. And that’s a parallel universe we’re not too keen to inhabit. We’re trying to talk about hot intergenerational relationships and Armistead throws us another amazing story. Packed full of his completely unconscious, totally natural name dropping. It’s not so much he waves his gay card around in your face, as simply wears it on his sleeve. “I know Lance and like him very much, I’m really happy for him and

for Tom. Plus, he invited me to the set of Milk when James Franco and Sean Penn were doing their kiss on the curb. Lance Black told David Letterman that realising I was there made him nervous. I don’t know what he thought I was going to do – run in and say ‘Stop! You’re doing it wrong! That’s not the way to kiss a man!’ It made me twinge a little bit, but I wasn’t critical.” Between Milk and the complete Tales of The City enterprises (the hugely popular TV series, and a musical penned by Jake Shears), they can’t have done much more for the gay tourist board of San Francisco. “I wish I had a nickel for every person who’s said ‘I moved to San Francisco because of you’. I know that with a certainty and it makes me very happy.” When you’re faced with the friendly, snowy-lipped father figure of Mr Maupin, it’s hard not to start oversharing. We ask for some relationship advice, or as he puts it, ‘how to put up with an old geezer’. “It’s our job not to be insecure if we’re lucky enough to have a younger partner. But I have those thoughts around Chris, although it’s easier now that he’s 42 and I’m 69. We’ve been in it for ten years so now we have something of value, with any luck it’s going to last. It’s easier to get more panicked as you get older about that. If you’re with someone who loves you, you can feel it most of the time and you should relish it. Because it’s not all that common. People are paired off, but love has less to do with it than other conveniences.” Armistead is so in love with his boyfriend that he married him. Twice. Is marriage reassuring, then? “No, because divorce is as possible as breaking up,” he chuckles. “I don’t feel like I’ve locked him down if that’s what you mean. And we have an open relationship, so I think a long term relationship has a better chance gaytimes.co.uk

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LEFT OLYMPIA DUKAKIS PLAYING MRS MADRIGAL IN THE TV ADAPTATION OF TALES OF THE CITY

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of surviving under those rules, because nobody feels really cramped and secrecy, deceit doesn’t creep into the equation.” After giving us some tips on our own relationship, we can’t convince Armistead to take up a career in giving advice. “I’m still sorting those things out myself, don’t you worry… I have to remind myself at least twice a day not to fret. I’m lucky that I’m with a guy that’s very loving and direct and I never have a moment where I feel like I’m asking far more from him or him from me. If anything it’s…” he lets out another hearty laugh, “it’s easier for the old to let down the young by not being energetic enough.” We take a moment to absorb that. “If you follow me…” We’re familiar with euphemisms about fucking, and keep things on the advice level. Does Armistead have a therapist? “No.” And then in a heartbeat he deadpans, “Mrs Madrigal.” “I did years ago, I had one for about six months, years ago, and I went in one day and told him one extra thing about my partner at the time and he looked at me and said ‘he’s leaving you’. And I said ‘WHAT?’ ‘Everything you’ve told me for the last six months indicates that he’s leaving you.’ And he was right. I didn’t have to go back.” We’re wrapping things up and preparing to part ways, almost ending the conversation on scabies and crabs (not for advice). Instead we opt for the observation that everyone should be more open about their failings. “I think it’s what the books have always been about for me. I try to record my neuroses as much as possible and then you find that a lot of people identify. You feel less alone and they feel less alone and they think you’re terribly brave for having mentioned it.” Q The Days of Anna Madrigal is out now, armisteaupin.com, @armisteaupin

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WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

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La Meute Oh yes, we speak French now. It means “The Wolf Pack” – but don’t worry, it’s not a dodgily translated play about that pub in Emmerdale. La Meute is a group of scantily clad men who have mastered the art of the Russian swing. Six bulky blokes propelling themselves through the air like sexy men monkeys, pushing their bulging bodies to the very limit. Need we say more? Q 26 March – 6 April, roundhouse.org.uk

Until 22 March Is it hot men in not many clothes you want? We can do that. Kings of the Dance is an acrobatic extravaganza performed by the sort of hunky types we dream of. Live at the London Coliseum, LW·VEHFRPHZRUOG renowned, so you SUREDEO\VKRXOGQ·W miss it. Eno.org Q

Until 5 April Adolescence: those ZHWGUHDPÀOOHG testosterone fuelled ÀQDOGD\VRILQ nocence. Oh, to be young again. Chew LQJ*XP²WKDW·V the play – brings all the memories ÁRRGLQJEDFNIRO lowing one teen girl through the trials of boys, sex and, well, more boys. Nationaltheatre. org.uk Q

Until 5 May Brotherly love can be a strong bond. Even stronger if WKH\·UHWZLQV²DQG you know how we like twins. In the Vale of Health tells the story of two extraordinary broth ers whose parents die unexpectedly, leaving them with a life of insepa rable paranoia. Hampsteadtheatre. com Q

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26 March – 21 June From Downton Abbey to Doctor Who, great British drama is so quiche right now. Another Country is the quintessential English tale of two public school ER\VZKRÀQG themselves in the midst of a summer scandal. A scandal that goes on to rock Britain. Atgtickets.com Q

10 April – 31 May Privacy. Many of us surrender it these days, between Twit ter, Facebook and that orange Argos catalogue of boys. 7KDW·VDOOEHIRUH the government sift through it all for national secu rity. Privacy tells the tale of how our private parts are no longer private. Donmarwarehouse. com Q

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WorldMags.net He’s the hottest producer in town – quite literally – and Jerry Mitchell assures us that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is just the beginning of his West End domination. Kinky Boots are heading this way... WORDS TOM WICKER IMAGES ROBERT GERSHINSON

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A

t eight-years-old, Jerry Mitchell decided he wanted to be a GDQFHU+HKDVQ·W stopped moving since. By 23, he had six Broadway shows under his belt; at 26 he was an assistant choreographer in the West End. Flash forward three decades to DQGKH·VFKRUHRJUDSKHG or directed some of the most successful musicals on either side of the Atlantic – from Hairspray and Legally Blonde to Kinky Boots. Now, Michigan-born Jerry, 54, is back in London directing what he hopes will be another hit. Based on the Steve Martin classic and starring the likes of Robert Lindsay, Samantha Bond and Rufus Hound, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a comic musical about two con men competing over who can swindle a young American heiress out of ÀUVW,WRSHQVDWWKH6DYR\ Theatre in April. “Sam Bond is just blowing me away,” Jerry marvels when we meet during rehearsals. “I knew she could DFW%XW,GLGQ·WNQRZVKHFRXOGVLQJ DQGGDQFHDQGVKH·VGRLQJERWK She studied when she was young.” Freed from the acres of lace and period dress of Lady Rosamund, her character in Downton Abbey, “she has DNLOOHUERG\,PHDQMXVWFUD]\6KH·V in amazing shape.” -HUU\·VIDFHOLJKWVXSZKHQKH WDONVDERXWKLVFDVW´,·YHEHHQLQ awe of Robert since I saw him in Me and My Girl in the West End,” he VD\V´7RGD\ZDVWKHÀUVWWLPHZH had other people in. You could just VHHWKHVSDUNVVWDUWWRÁ\EHWZHHQ him and Rufus because there was laughter in the room.” From Lauren Bacall (“she yelled at me, I yelled right back, we became fast friends”), Tim Curry and Patti LuPone, who he met via Hairspray songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, to the “sensational” Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde, Jerry has worked with a dizzying array of talent. Tall, gaytimes.co.uk

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charming and in better shape than PRVWPHQKDOIKLVDJHKH·VFOHDUO\ not overstating when he says “my life is musicals.” :LWKDGDQFHU·VÁDLUDQG discipline, Jerry has established a globally successful career. And the latest chapter in his story is what has brought him back to London in 2014. While he loves Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, having choreographed LWVGHEXW%URDGZD\UXQLW·V actually part of a bigger picture. +H·VMXVWODXQFKHGKLVRZQWKHDWUH production company here. Jerry Mitchell Productions will develop new shows in Ambassador Theatre Group venues across the ZRUOG,W·VEDVHGLQ/RQGRQEHFDXVH “the cost is much less” than New York, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is just the opening act. “Pulling together artists I have JUHDWDGPLUDWLRQIRULVVRPHWKLQJ,·P really looking forward to doing,” he says, clearly relishing his shiny new SURGXFHU·VKDW´:K\VKRXOG\RXOLPLW yourself when musical theatre is a world entertainment?” ,I-HUU\·VFDUHHUKDVEHHQGULYHQE\ a desire to continually try new things – from dancing and choreographing to GLUHFWLQJDQGSURGXFLQJ²KH·VUHDOO\ H[FLWHGDERXWRQHSURMHFWKH·VKRSLQJ to get off the ground: an original PXVLFDOEDVHGRQ7HUU\5RQDOG·V beautiful coming-of-age novel, %HFRPLQJ1DQF\2QFHKHÀQGV VRPHRQHWRDGDSWLW´LW·OOEHWKHÀUVW WLPH,·OOKDYHSURSHOOHGDERRNLQWRD musical,” he enthuses. Becoming Nancy is about Dulwich teenager David Starr, who is cast as Nancy in a school production of Oliver and falls for the handsome captain of the football team playing Bill Sykes. Mitchell picked up the novel while ZDLWLQJIRUDÁLJKWDIWHUUHDGLQJD UHYLHZRILWLQ*7·VYHU\RZQSDJHV ´$QG,FRXOGQ·WSXWLWGRZQµKHVD\V´, GLGQ·WÀQLVKLWRQWKHSODQHEHFDXVH, GLGQ·WZDQWLWWRHQGµ Why did he love it so much? ´%HFDXVHLW·VDERXWWKHSDUHQWVDQG people around the two boys just as

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WorldMags.net PXFKDVLW·VDERXW'DYLGDQGZKDW KH·VGLVFRYHULQJDERXWKLPVHOI $QGLW·VVHWLQZKHQ,ZDVMXVW ÀQLVKLQJKLJKVFKRROµ(YHU\WKLQJ about it spoke to Jerry, who is also JD\´,W·VP\VWRU\EDVLFDOO\7KHRQO\ GLIIHUHQFHLVWKDWLW·V'XOZLFKDQGQRW Paw Paw.” Paw Paw is the tiny farming town in south-west Michigan where Jerry grew up. “When I was a kid there was one stop light, now there are WKUHHµKHMRNHV,W·VHDV\WRSLFWXUH him there as a child, kicking his heels and dreaming of Broadway. $QGLIWKHUH·VDFRPPRQWKUHDGWR KLVPXVLFDOVLW·VSHRSOHLQVPDOO communities dreaming big and challenging the status quo. Jerry happily acknowledges this. “[Director and choreographer] -HUU\5REELQVRQFHVDLGWRPH¶,W·V KHOSIXOLIWKHUH·VDIHQFHDURXQGLW·µ What does that mean? “A problem comes into a small community and they have to decide how to move IRUZDUGµKHH[SODLQV´7KDW·VDJUHDW VWRU\,W·VRQHRIWKHJUHDWHVWSORWV you can have,” he enthuses. ´$QGLW·VPXFKHDVLHUWRWHOOWKDWVWRU\ in, say, Northampton [where Kinky Boots is set] than it is to try to tell it with the entire world. The attitudes in small communities are often alike, and often the problem is that somebody has to change their attitude. So, by offering that on a small scale, you KRSHLW·OOUHJLVWHURQDELJVFDOHµ Jerry came out to his parents and his brothers in his late twenties, ZKHQWKHHQGRIKLVÀUVWORQJWHUP relationship left him so devastated he FRXOGQ·WSUHWHQGWREHKDSS\DURXQG them. Thankfully, “it was a nonevent,” he says. “For my friends and family it always has been.” Jerry knows how lucky he is. When it comes to the general attitudes towards difference, he is dismayed by the abuse Tom Daley got when he came out and points to the backlash that greeted .LQN\%RRWV·DSSHDUDQFHLQ0DF\·V Thanksgiving Day Parade – in New York a few years ago – as a sign of 96



how far society still has to go. “You know why that happened?” he asks exasperatedly. “Because Billy Porter [as Lola] looks like a real ZRPDQDQGWKDW·VWKUHDWHQLQJWR SHRSOH&ORZQGUDJLVÀQH6HULRXV GUDJ"7KDW·VWKUHDWHQLQJµ -HUU\LVQ·WRYHUWO\SROLWLFDO´EXW,·P YHU\DGDPDQWDERXWZKDW·VULJKWµ,Q 1992, he founded Broadway Bares, an annual burlesque fundraiser show for AIDS charity Broadway Cares. And from the fabulous cross-dressing Lola to the civil rights backdrop of Hairspray, his work is invariably about celebrating social inclusiveness and individuality in song and dance. “Musicals are the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down,” he says, smiling. He points out that shows like Hairspray and Kinky Boots are “full of joy, but they also have great, great lessons in them.” His goal is for audiences to “go out KDSS\²EXWZLWKWKRXJKW7KDW·V UHDOO\LPSRUWDQW7KDW·VWKHNLQGRI show I always hope to do.” ,W·VDOVRDIDFWRULQZKR-HUU\ collaborates with, such as well-known LGBT ally Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the music and lyrics for Kinky Boots. He and book-writer Harvey Fierstein were keen to get her. “I thought VKH·GEHDIUHVKYRLFHDQGEHFDXVH VKH·GEHHQDELWRIDQRXWVLGHULQKHU own life, I thought it would be great IRU/RODµ7KLV-DQXDU\WKHVKRZ·V soundtrack won a Grammy. &XUUHQWO\LI\RX·UH%ULWLVKDQG you want to see the multi-award ZLQQLQJ.LQN\%RRWV\RX·GEHWWHUEH DEOHWRVWXPSXSIRUDÁLJKWWR1HZ
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[stage]

97

cinema/disc

[reviews]

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier We had a soft-spot for the ‘skinny’ pre-transformation Captain America, so we hope he makes an appearance in this sequel, even if it’s in a flashback. If not, we’ll just have to settle for Chris Evans flexing his guns for two hours… Q Noah Our hipster sources tell us that beards are officially ‘in’, and facial hair doesn’t get more epic than when it’s sprouting from Russell Crowe. We can’t wait to see how Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman and Emma Watson help him repopulate the human race after the deluge. Q Divergent In the near future, people will be segregated based on personality traits, depending on whether they’re selfless, brave, knowledgeable, honest, or peaceful. Those who possess none of those qualities will be forced to write for magazines. Q The Raid 2: Berandal This sequel promises yet more choreographed brutality, but if we wanted to see dozens of furious people fight to the death in an enclosed space, we’d wait for the Harrods sale. Q

[also out]

Carrie Disc¶
FILTH ARE MY POLITICS! Not one but two 'LYLQHPRYLHV PDNHWKHLUZD\ WRVKLQ\GLVFWKLV PRQWK)LUVWXS WKHRIWHQ RYHUORRNHG/XVW,Q 7KH'XVW,WPD\ QRWKDYHEHHQ

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The Essential Jacques Tati Collection Disc,IWKHLGHDRID)UHQFK 0U%HDQGRHVQ·WPDNH\RXZDQWWR FODZ\RXUH\HVRXWWKHQWKLVFRXOGZHOO EHWKHJUHDWHVWFLQHPDWLFWUHDWRIWKH \HDU$OORI7DWL·VIHDWXUHVDUHLQFOXGHG IURPWKHSHUHQQLDOO\HQGHDULQJ0RQ 2QFOHDQG0U+XORW·V+ROLGD\WRKLV H[SHULPHQWDOHSLF3OD\WLPHZKLFK IHDWXUHVRQHRIWKHPRVWVSHFWDFXODU VHWVHYHUEXLOWDVZHOODVDFROOHFWLRQ RIVKRUWV5HPHPEHUZKHQ)UHQFK FRPHGLHVXVHGWREHIXQ"QQQQQ gaytimes.co.uk

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A Long Way Down Cinema 7KHUH·VQRPHVVLQJDERXWZLWKWKLV ODWHVW%%&ÀOPDVZH·UHVWUDLJKW LQWRZLWQHVVLQJ3LHUFH%URVQDQ·V GLVJUDFHG79SUHVHQWHU0DUWLQ 6KDUSUHDG\WRKXUOKLPVHOIRIID /RQGRQVN\VFUDSHU7KDQNIXOO\KH PHHWVWKUHHPRUHVXLFLGDOPLVÀWV ,PRJHQ3RRWV$DURQ3DXODQGWKH DOZD\VDPD]LQJ7RQL&ROOHWWH ZKR PDNHDSDFWWRNHHSHDFKRWKHULQ WKHODQGRIWKHOLYLQJXQWLO9DOHQWLQH·V 'D\'HVSLWHWKHJORRP\SUHPLVH WKHIHHOJRRGIDFWRUPDVVLYHO\ RYHUULGHVWKHVOLJKWO\GLVMRLQWHG VWRU\WHOOLQJ/RQGRQLVWKHÀIWKVWDU LQWKLVJRUJHRXVO\VKRWWKRURXJKO\ HQWHUWDLQLQJPRYLH+DUGO\HDUWK VKDWWHULQJEXWFKHHUIXOO\VDFFKDULQH IUHH\RX·OOFHUWDLQO\DSSUHFLDWHWKH EHDXW\RIOLIHDIWHUZDUGVQQQQQ

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Yves Saint Laurent Cinema +DXWHFRXWXUHLVIDVFLQDWLQJEXW ZH·GEHPRUHLQWHUHVWHGLQZHDULQJ 3LHUUH1LQH\WKHSUHWHUQDWXUDOO\ EHJXLOLQJVWDURIWKLV)UHQFKPDGH ELRSLF7KHÀOPIROORZV<6/IURP DWZLWFK\SURGLJ\JURZLQJXSLQ )UHQFK$OJHULDWKURXJKWRWKH GUXJDGGOHGWULXPSKRIKLV2SpUD %DOOHWV5XVVHVFROOHFWLRQLQ FKDUWLQJWKHXSVDQGGRZQVRIKLV UHODWLRQVKLSZLWKORYHUDQGEXVLQHVV SDUWQHU3LHUUH%HUJp*XLOODXPH *DOOLHQQH +RZHYHUPRVWRI WKHÀOP·VSDVVLRQLVUHVHUYHGIRU IDVKLRQDQGLQWHULRUGHVLJQDQG DOWKRXJKWKHUHDUHVFHQHVVKRW LQ<6/·VEUHDWKWDNLQJ0RURFFDQ JHWDZD\ZHQHYHUVHHPWRJHW LQVLGHWKHPDQKLPVHOIQQQQQ

99

teen dream

[reviews]

WORDS ALEXANDER SMITH

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It’s been 15 years since Darren Stein wrote and directed the teen murder-comedy Jawbreaker. This year he returns with GBF, a film that deftly tackles, and dismantles, the ‘fabulous gay best friend’ stereotype. Tanner, a comic book-reading queer, happily sailing under the radar, gets accidentally outed by his closeted best friend, Brent. The school’s rival queen bees immediately start a turf war over him. All knowing that a GBF is the hottest celebrity trend, and their key to prom queen winning popularity. Subversive, bitchy and as smart as it is funny, GBF reinvents the teen movie for a post-Glee audience. GT talks to Darren Stein about GBF and about Jawbreaker – the film that defined teen bitchery on screen for the generation that fell between Heathers and Mean Girls

GBF Why has it taken you so long to direct another film? It’s not for lack of trying! I wrote a movie that I’ve been trying to get made for years. I’ve written scripts and pilots for FOX and ABC. I produced a feature length documentary and a horror-comedy movie called All About Evil. But I just haven’t had the stars align for me to direct another movie, so I felt very fortunate when the screenplay for GBF came across my desk. What attracted you to GBF? It read like something that I could’ve written. It was the first movie that was designed to be a big teen comedy that appealed to everybody, not just gays, but that happened to feature a gay protagonist. Every character has their own secret – their own closet. Exactly, and that’s really what’s so subversive about it – the fact that it’s really not a

100



gay movie. Where does your love of teen films come from? I think that might have to do with my own adolescence, feeling like it wasn’t a satisfying experience, as far as not being accepted by my peers, and turning to cinema as a place to grow up. How did you get Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and Natasha Lyonne (But I’m A Cheerleader, Orange Is The New Black) involved? I’d worked with Natasha in All About Evil. She’s a buddy of mine now. Megan had appeared with Paul Iacono [Brent in GBF] in the Fame remake. She’s such a lovely person and she brought a warmth that you haven’t seen with Karen. She was the one actress that when she turned up I was like “Oh boy!” And it was a bit overwhelming, but she was super-sweet and really easy to work with.

Darren Stein

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WorldMags.net [screen] Did you experience any hesitancy from any actors due to its gay content? Well it’s funny, but a lot of the young men in town wouldn’t come and audition just based on the material! If it’s a ‘serious’ movie like Brokeback Mountain or Dallas Buyers Club then for some reason it’s more important or relevant. The thing about a movie like GBF is that it’s subversive, it’s comedic, it’s light. So it’s like it’s not important somehow, it’s not worth the risk. Paul and Michael [J Willett] who play the gay kids in the film, are both gay in real life. I never set out to be, “Oh this has to be, they need to be gay”. But I think it’s really lovely that it has turned out that way. Because growing up, Molly Ringwald was straight, Lindsay Lohan was straight, Matthew Broderick was straight, all those John Hughes characters were. In this film it’s nice for the gay kids to know about Paul and Michael. They can fantasise about them and project on to them and it makes them more real. How was it reuniting with Rebecca Gayheart? Oh amazing! I had to have one of the Jawbreaker girls in there – obviously! I called her and she just filmed for a day or two. She’s so funny and such a great presence on screen. Were you tempted to cast anyone else from Jawbreaker? I was. To be completely honest I did talk to all of the girls about it! I knew that I was only going to get one and I had to cast the net wide. Jawbreaker is a cult classic. It’s a film that people either love ionately or don’t know about. How do you feel about it now? Thank you. It feels a lot better now that I’ve made another movie! Thankfully Jawbreaker has had a lot of mileage. The cool thing about a teen movie is that it gets ed down from generation to generation, so I feel every year people are discovering it. For gaytimes.co.uk

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example, the band MS MR used a clip from the film in one of their their videos [Hurricane]. That was a big moment to see it included in that montage of sub-cultural pop culture from the last two or three decades. And now it’s being turned into a musical. Getting a movie made into a musical is almost the ultimate validation. How did that come about? I got a call, probably seven or eight years ago, from a producer, and he connected me with this composer and lyricist in New York. They told me I had to write the book, the libretto. So we all embarked on this collaboration and we had a great reading a few months ago. Musicals take forever! What’s coming next? I’ve been hired to write a TV movie for a network in the States. It’s very exciting. It hasn’t been announced in the press yet, so I can’t really talk about it. It’s a gothic family type thing with a bit of camp to it. Then I have the musical and then Chloë Sevigny is attached to my project, The Female Lead, about a movie star and her transsexual son. It’s a labour of love movie that I’ve been trying to get made for more than a decade. I’m excited that someone like Chloë wants to be in it.Q GBF is in cinemas/on demand 21 March and on DVD/Blu-ray 7 April from Peccadillo Pictures

101

DATE

FREE TO WorldMags.net WITH FACEBOOK

WWW.GTDATE.CO.UK WorldMags.net

WORDS TIM MITCHELL

[reviews]

WorldMags.net [geek] &DUG:DUVThe most epic card game in the Land of 2RRRU\·NQRZ« anywhere for that matter). Now fans can play the actual Card Wars game Finn and Jake do! Pitch the powerful Husker Knights, or intimidating Legion of Earlings against the wise $QFLHQW6FKRODU,W·V PDWKHPDWLFDO,W·V not really). Q

IT’S A BIRD. IT’S A PLANE. NO WAIT, IT’S THE OTHER GUY

simpler time of crime fighting,

----------

pop art colours; the rogues gallery

“Bam!” “Zap!” ”Pow!”,

of guest star villains from Cesar

and deleted scenes! Batman is

Romero to Julie Newmar. And a

celebrating his 75th year as a pop

caped crusader you’ll find ready for

culture icon, so the timing of this

any eventuality – shark repellent

news couldn’t be better. The entire

from the utility belt anyone? This

series of popular 60s–era Batman

cocktail of daft, high camp and

(starring Adam West and Burt Ward)

over-the-top plots contributed

is FINALLY being released as a

heavily to sustaining the popularity

complete box set on Blu-ray and

of the Dynamic Duo at a time when

DVD in 2014. American comedian

comic book sales took a serious

and TV presenter Conan O’Brien

bash because Fredric Wertham

tweeted; “Very excited

was calling Batman ‘too gay’. So,

@wbhomeent is releasing the

why is this awesomeness only

Batman ’66 Complete TV Series in

just coming to a home

2014!” and we couldn’t be more

entertainment marathon near you?

excited because, guys, this is

A spaghetti junction of licensing

borderline superhero panto. It’s a

red tape and a decades long legal

huge step removed from the dark

battle between DC Comics and

and stormy knight we’re used to

20th Century Fox over who owns

seeing on the big screen nowadays

the merchandising rights vetoed

(and his unending parade of boy

any release on DVD, VHS or even

wonders). We’re talking about a

Betamax (shut up!) – until now! Q

where Batman worked during the day as a consultant to the police (like Sherlock). A time before the batsuit ever had nipples. The absurd and delightful acid trip

Wiggle your big toe A decade on DQGZHVWLOOFDQ·W get that bloody whistling out of our heads! Celebrate the absolute last word in martial arts revenge movies with this genius Minimates boxset based on the epic House of Blue /HDYHVÀJKWVFHQH from Kill Bill. Get your own pocketVL]HGJLUOÀJKWHUVQ

/HW·VJHW periodical! Get your head down on this, son. Go on! Add some Breaking Bad swag to your bedroom and \RX·OOEHJULQQLQJ like the chemistry king himself. Full disclosure: pillow GRHVQ·WFRQWDLQ crystal meth. Though it IS perfect for binge-watching Breaking Bad UHUXQVRQ1HWÁL[Q

Let’s hear it for the boys (of horror) A mother-load of classic movie maniacs (including Michael Myers, Freddy, Jason, Pinhead, and Scream’s Ghostface) are getting the Kenner-style treatment and being turned into retro action figures! This limited range of murderous psychopaths is a who’swho of horror gods. Okay, so, the articulation is a bit limited, but they all come with something extra: hockey mask, puzzle box, bloody knife etc. Now, you just need to drop one into your nieces Barbie Dream House then wait for the screams to start. MAXIMUM TRAUMA. Q

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103

idle hands

[reviews]

WorldMags.net [apps]

ES M A G Titanfall Game of the Month $UJXDEO\WKHÀUVWJDPHWRUHDOO\PDNHWKRVHZKR opted for a PS4 to quietly regret their decision, 7LWDQIDOOKDVPRUHWKDQK\SHEHKLQGLWZKHQLW FRPHVWREHLQJ;ER[2QH·VÀUVWUHDOO\ELJKLWWHU 6XUH8QFKDUWHGZLOOUHGUHVVWKDWEDODQFHDQG make Microsoft acolytes suck their teeth, but for QRZ7LWDQIDOOKDVWKHFRQFK*HQHULFVFLÀVWRU\ DVLGH7LWDQIDOOLVDWKLUGSHUVRQDFWLRQHUZLWKD difference – the ability to climb inside enormous PHFKVXLWVDQGUHDOO\IHHOWKHSRZHUWKH\SDFN 3UHPHFKDFWLRQVHHVRXUSOXFN\KHURUXQDQGJXQ ZLWKWKHEHVWRIWKHPEXWWKHJDPHFRPHVLQWR LWVRZQZKHQWKHURERVXLWVFRPHRXWWRSOD\2K and it looks just stunning, combining practically SKRWRUHDOLVWLFHQYLURQPHQWVZLWKVXSHUEOLJKWLQJ and environmental effects. Fears abound that the JDPH·VRQOLQHPLJKWQRWEHXSWRVFUDWFK²WLPHZLOO tell – but the solo player game acts as a brilliant VKRZFDVHIRUWKHZHOO\WKH;ER[2QHLVSDFNLQ·Q 2XWQRZRQ;ER[2QH

Right Limited edition Titanfall Xbox One controller

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Wuaki.tv Player 2IIHULQJVXEVEDVHG RUSD\SHUYLHZ options, Wuaki is the latest on the content SURYLGHUIURQW²LW·V optimised for iOS7 and features more WKDQÀOPVDQG TV series Q

TVPlayer Another service recently optimised for tablets, TVPlayer offers Android, iOS and Kindle s free live streaming of most popular UK TV channels (but pay your license!) Q

Dark Souls 2 ‘Bastard hard’ might not be the most technical of appraisals but the first Dark Souls game gained acclaim and caused ulcers in equal measure. Expect more of the same from Dark Souls 2, as another quest unfolds before you featuring a new array of hideous creatures happy to rip you to pieces if you so much as blink. Q Available on PS3 and Xbox 360

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Billed as a prologue to a more complete Metal Gear Solid 5, Ground Zeroes is a scene-setter and welcome return from series godfather Hideo Kojima. Much has been made about being able to complete the game in two hours – but Kojima himself has pointed out that it isn’t supposed to be a linear experience, and the depth comes in going off-piste. Q Available on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, 20 March

gaytimes.co.uk

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WorldMags.net[tech] WORDS MIKE HIRD

01

Wires are just so é, don’t you think? While we might not have got our heads around wireless charging of electronic products (I mean… how?) the wired speaker is definitely going the way of the dodo – and with this selection of aural beauties (also suitably easy on the eye) it’s not hard to see why

Blow The Budget Simple Audio Listen6OHHN VLPSOHSXQ LQWHQGHG DQG LQFUHGLEO\VW\OLVK 6LPSOH$XGLR·V /LVWHQVSHDNHUVDLP WRGHOLYHULQFUHGLEOH VRXQGZLWKSUHPLXP GHVLJQIRUWKH LPDJHFRQVFLRXV OLVWHQHU7KH\ VXFFHHGLQVSDGHV DQGWKHTXDVL LQGXVWULDOPRWLILV RQO\HQKDQFHGE\D YHU\VQD]]\WRXFK FRQWUROV\VWHPWKDW DGGVWRWKHRYHUDOO LPSUHVVLRQRIVKHHU TXDOLW\)URP… VLPSOHDXGLRFRPQ ----------

OUT & LOUD

02 GT Pick

Tivoli Audio Model Three 7LYROL$XGLR UHJXODUO\RXWFODVV WKHLUULYDOVDQG WKH0RGHO7KUHH $0)0UDGLR FRQWLQXHVWKDW WUHQG([WUHPHO\ KLJKHQGÀQLVKLQJ PHDQVWKLVFORFN UDGLRWUDQVFHQGV LWVIXQFWLRQDQG WKHDGGHGLQFOXVLRQ RI%OXHWRRWKRQO\ VHUYHVWRWDNHLWXS \HWDQRWKHUQRWFK DOORZLQJPXVLF WREHVWUHDPHG DORQJVLGH'$% UDGLRVWDWLRQV)URP …WLYROLDXGLR FRXNQ ----------

03 Easier On The Wallet

i-box Trax With a ÀQLVKWKDWVFUHDPV TXDOLW\PRUHWKDQ DQRGWRH[TXLVLWH GHVLJQDQG FUXFLDOO\DIDQWDVWLF VRXQGWKHLER[ 7UD[SDFNVLQDORW JLYHQLWVDFFHVVLEOH SULFHWDJ$QGZLWK DURXQGKRXUV SOD\EDFNWLPHRQD VLQJOHFKDUJHWKDW·V PRUHWKDQHQRXJK WLPHWRVKRZRII ZKDWLVHDVLO\RQH RIWKHQLFHVWORRNLQJ %OXHWRRWKVSHDNHUV DURXQG)URP… LER[VW\OHFRPQ ----------

JD\WLPHVFRXN

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E TH D L RE O OR PL W EX AY

G

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IMAGE JOE MCCORMICK GROOMING EVAN HUANG USING MAC, SHU UEMERA AND MAKEUP STORE WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

[04/14]

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[life]

Adam Dacre London, 28, porn actor, escort and go-go dancer At one point today I ZDVNLQGRIÁXIÀQJ myself to make it slightly bigger and better on the camera. And then I realised, “oh, no, LWGRHVQ·WKDYHWR EHOLNHWKDWµ,·PDQ exhibitionist. I think LW·VWKH/HRVLGH\RX know – “look at me, ire me.” It just JLYHVDGUHQDOLQH $QG,OLNHP\SULYDF\ as well. So, when I step off the stage, I just like to be on my own. ,·PDELWQHXURWLF I just like things to be a certain way. /LNHWKHZD\WKLQJV are laid out in the ÁDW,QHHGWKLQJV to be perfect and exact. Sometimes LW·VGLIÀFXOWWROLYH with me. I think, yes, I am a control IUHDNEXW,·PTXLWH DORYLQJSHUVRQDV well. I keep seeing myself still as skinny DQG,·OOZHLJKP\VHOI HYHU\GD\7KDW·VP\ $FKLOOHV·KHHO,·P YHU\PXFKLQWRERG\ hair and facial hair, DQG,·GORYHWREHWKDW myself. My partner is KDLU\DQG,MXVWORYH LW,VHHLWDVDYHU\ PDVFXOLQHTXDOLW\ I like to masturbate in the mirror. Not just with myself WKRXJKKDYLQJVH[ with others. I like intimacy. I like one RQRQH,·PIXOORI extremes, so either one, or ten. Q

readers’ lives

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readers’ dilemmas

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I want to get married and my boyfriend doesn’t. We’ve been together for five years, living together for two, and I want us to show our commitment to our family and friends by getting wed in front of everyone. My boyfriend has said he doesn’t want a big stupid wedding, and doesn’t agree with marriage. He’s not interested in civil partnerships, either. I don’t understand why he doesn’t want to commit. I want to show everyone that gay men are just as good as everyone else, but my boyfriend is ruining this for me. Will, via email

The Guyliner replies The introduction of gay marriage in the UK is fantastic, and we should be delighted for those couples who have been waiting to get married. But just because we can now get PDUULHGGRHVQ·WPHDQZHKDYHWR Marriage is a nice idea for those who want it, and can be a sign of commitment in a relationship, but deciding not to trot down the aisle GRHVQ·WPHDQ\RX·UHQRWFRPPLWWHG If anything, less formalised UHODWLRQVKLSVDUHPRUHGLIÀFXOWWR get out of – divorce certainly has an DLURIÀQDOLW\WKDWWKHDFWRIPHUHO\ ¶VSOLWWLQJXS·GRHVQ·W You say you want to marry to “show everyone that gay men are just

@theguyliner

need advice?

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as good as everybody else” and “show our commitment to family DQGIULHQGVµEXW\RXGRQ·WVD\ anything about doing this for you and your partner. You seem to be more concerned with staging the event and doing a PR job on your UHODWLRQVKLSWKDQ\·NQRZMXVWJHWWLQJ on with being in a loving relationship. 0DQ\VKULQNIURPPDUULDJHIRU SOHQW\RIUHDVRQV²LWGRHVQ·W PDNHWKHPDFRPPLWPHQWSKREH He may have been the product of an unhappy union himself or wish to preserve some level of independence and be his own person, all the while enjoying being with you. If you do press for PDUULDJH\RX·UHJRLQJWRKDYHWR SURYHWRKLPWKDWD \RX·UHGRLQJ it for the right reasons – in others ZRUGV\RXUVHOYHV²DQGE WKDWLW·V a positive, logical step for you to WDNHDVDFRXSOH ,IKHUHDOO\ZRQ·WEHVZD\HGZK\ QRWORRNDWRWKHUZD\V\RXFDQ commit to each other, whether LW·VJRLQJLQWREXVLQHVVWRJHWKHU or collaborating in some way on a project, buying a house (if you KDYHWKHPHDQV RUHPEDUNLQJRQ some personal journey together, ZKHWKHULW·VWUDYHOOLQJRUVHWWLQJ VRPHSHUVRQDOÀWQHVVJRDOVOLNH running a marathon. Getting married may be a way of VKRZLQJ\RXU¶FRPPLWPHQW·EXWLW GRHVQ·WPDNHLWDQ\PRUHDXWKHQWLF ,WKLQN\RXUVXVSLFLRQVKH·VZDLWLQJ for something better are unfounded, but if he really is, no day spent in PDWFKLQJWX[HGRVSLFNLQJFRQIHWWL RXWRI\RXUKDLULVJRLQJWRPDNH a blind bit of difference. Eyes still ZDQGHUZKHWKHUDULQJ·VRQWKH ÀQJHURUQRW7KHKHDUWZDQWVZKDW LWZDQWV'RZKDW·VULJKWIRUERWKRI you – even if it means you have the big day all by yourselves. Q

Need some good old-fashioned advice on matters of love, life or relationships? E-mail me in total confidence on [email protected]. I can’t respond individually and your e-mails may be edited for use in the magazine. We won’t use your real name or publish any details.

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WorldMags.net [advice] THE GUYLINER LENDS AN EAR TO YOUR LIFE DILEMMAS AND DISHES THE DIRT ON THE UNDATEABLES

The Graduate He’s young, rosy-cheeked, fresh out of university and ever so keen. He’s got a place on a graduate scheme in a huge malevolent global corporation and it’s his first foray into the real world. All that youthful vigour, that hope, that ambition – it’s nowhere to be seen. He’s knackered from all the photocopying he has to do, not to mention the flirting in the post room, and has the sleep cycle of an adolescent. He has but one suit, which he never gets dry-cleaned, leaving a purple mist behind him pungent enough to make Pepe Le Pew back away in horror. His ties – he will own only two – will have egg stains and the suit tros will be too short, exposing those sports socks he wears with what he calls his smart shoes. He won’t earn very much, but to him – having never had the pleasure of a paycheck before – it will be riches beyond his wildest dreams. Unable to cope with his newfound wealth, he will fritter all his cash away on being ‘fabulous’ with his friends, spending all weekend Instagramming porn star martinis and buying overbranded T-shirts. Weeknights he’ll be socialising with his ‘team’ to try to make an impression so he can get that all-important promotion of going out for the lunchtime bagels. Your date night is Tuesday – he’ll sleep through it.

WORDS THE GUYLINER IMAGES ISTOCKPHOTO

[01]

ALL THE MEN YOU SHOULD NEVER DATE

The solution Dating this fresh new talent already? You may as well make an investment of your own: in him. He might be a captain of industry someday. (Sort the socks out first). ----------

[02]

The Sulker Imagine going out for dinner

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with a brick, or a beanbag. You try, at regular intervals, to make conversation with the beanbag but, because it’s a huge swathe of fabric stitched around a trillion polystyrene balls, it doesn’t say anything. It’s just there, lumpen and miserable, being no fun whatsoever. Go to dinner with a sulker and arrive, say, five minutes late and the evening will pan out pretty much the same. The problem with sulkers is even they don’t know why they sulk. They just do. It’s a way of life. Whether that glowering pout got them extra sweeties from mummy as a child or they’re simply frightened of laughter lines, it’s impossible to say, but it takes the smallest of slights to plunge your sulker boyfriend into endless silence. He’ll usually opt to unleash his petted lip and go mute just as you arrive at a social gathering or special event. He’ll tie you up in knots without uttering a word, leaving you to explain away his behaviour to your incredulous friends as tiredness or “he’s having a hard time”. Or, you’ll jabber away making pleasantries at him all by yourself, trying desperately to talk his mood away from the precipice. The solution If your boyfriend is a sulker, you can either spend your entire life apologising to him for – well, you’ve no idea, but it must be serious because he hasn’t spoken to you for days. Or, and more appealingly, you can use these hours free from his chatter to indulge yourself doing what you really want to do. Boogie from room to room in your headphones, head to the gym, wink at that hot next door neighbour. Just whatever you do, don’t ask what’s wrong. Because you’re looking right at it. Q

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[life]

WorldMags.net [pj brennan] THIS IS A RANSOM NOTE: LOVE YOURSELF IN UNMARKED NOTES OR THE KID GETS IT!

I’m sat in JFK Airport in Queens, New York and I’m about to fly to Los Angeles. This is no different to a few thousand other people who are all making their way to Hollywood to hopefully break into the American entertainment industry, so I’m not saying I’m special. Let’s just get that out of the way. I am saying that this is a moment. I’m having a moment, so bear with me. The desire to be a success is a vague but incredibly powerful impetus in this world, isn’t it? It’s what sent me back to London a few weeks ago, incredibly prematurely. It’s what left me standing in a city I was not prepared to be revisiting, feeling completely and utterly lost. In that week I kept telling myself that the sinking feeling in my stomach was something I had to overcome, that I had to suck it up and get on with it if I was ever going to make something of myself. That lasted maybe four days, and then after one of many teary phone calls back home, I decided that I was trudging into my past too soon

and not trusting my gut. I flew home, hugged my mom as hard as I could, and took my dog, Emma, out for a walk. There was snow in Brooklyn – there’s basically been snow in Brooklyn all winter – and I could breathe again! After a couple of days, I began to sort through things. Being home, while it felt good, was not the right answer, and I came to a sort of realisation. My return to the UK was fuelled by this idea that the bit of success I had as an actor happened in England. I was a ‘niche’ in the market, as I had been told time and time again. My genuine American accent – and dual ports – made me a commodity worth selling in London. (Ironically, many people I’ve met on the streets tell me I have ‘a shit American accent’.) So, after six years of drilling this idea into my own head, I had effectively created this layer of insecurity about my craft: I was not employable but for the external traits that made me ‘different’. I started to doubt whether I could act at all. (Please, hold your opinions until the end!)

I’ve struggled with loving myself for as long as I can , but I chose a career where confidence goes a long way

@peejaybrennan

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Now, add the extra layer of being… wait for it, gay! See, the general understanding within the industry is that the UK is more tolerant and accepting of openly gay people in very public positions. A tutor mentioned this ‘truth’ while I was in drama school and I took it as gospel. From then on, I thought, I was lucky to be in the UK, where I stood a chance to be a successful actor, who would maybe play more than just the gay best friend, or the sassy gay coworker. America seemed a place where I’d perpetually be the Stanford to someone’s Carrie, or the Jack to their Karen. In my final few weeks at Hollyoaks, a cast mate and good friend got representation in the States. I went dizzy when I heard the news. Not out of jealousy, but because I felt like a failure. Somehow, his success meant I had not done something right myself. I smiled and congratulated him because it was what he deserved, with his affable and generous spirit, but inside I felt like crying. I realised my skin was tissue paper, a trait that will destroy even the most talented actor if she’s not careful. People keep asking me, ‘What sort of thing do you want to do next? Anything else you’ve been in?’ And while I stammer and search for a reason as to why I don’t have another credit yet, I just want to say, ‘I want to keep acting’. (And the Beyoncé fan in me wants to add, ‘and be happy’ à la Pretty Hurts). I’m glad I made acting my profession because when it’s good, it’s great. There were days where I would be overwhelmed with how happy I was to be acting six days a week, and getting paid for it. But I made that professional satisfaction mean too much in my life. I began to forget that I am a complete vessel, that I am a sum of parts. I forgot that hugging my parents was very different to

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WorldMags.net [pj brennan] talking to them over the phone. I forgot that my brothers getting married and having kids would make me feel so far away from the people whom I loved, and more importantly, who loved me back. So I am heading to LA. I say it’s for pilot season, but it’s really to get my heart back to where it should be. There is a fire burning in me still, persistently telling me to keep hustling, but it’s out of control; some teenagers left their spliff to burn out in a forest and now it’s consuming everything for miles. This trip isn’t necessarily about getting a pilot (though that would be great), but about tearing

were enough as ourselves, right? But there is a happiness I have not considered. I think many young gay people are realising they are capable of having the sort of happy lives that our predecessors could only dream of. Personally, I feel an immense amount of guilt when I consider the possibility of being able to marry the man I love in front of my family, and maybe even in the Catholic Church, which was such a massive part of my childhood (for good or worse). How lucky are we? So what’s stopping me? Why have I been on two (that’s right, TWO) dates in my 28 years on this planet?

We are fragile beings and most of us are still just piecing ourselves back together. It becomes worrying when your life seems to mainly consist of crazy glue and patience down all the bits of internal detritus that I’ve used to barricade myself in, self-doubt my only companion. I see the expressions on the faces of my friends and family when I talk about my future with them, and they make me want to weep. I hear their love when they tell me they believe in me. I try to imbue this onto myself; I try to transform this into self-love. Being gay has made this difficult for a lot of us, hasn’t it? I’ve struggled with loving myself for as long as I can , but I chose a career where confidence goes a long way. Of course a lot of actors are gay! We never quite felt like we 112



Why have I been frenetically tearing through this world looking for someone or something to make me feel valuable? Why does the present feel so tortuous and the future feel so terrifyingly unstable? I don’t know, but I am aware that something needs to change. I must change myself. So I’ve chosen a new journey and I’m heading west, in true American fashion. In the end, I will most likely end up back in London by the end of the year, but I will have improved. Not only will the LA sun make my skin look radiant (hopefully), I’m confident it will release whatever part of me that is

[life]

holding the rest of me hostage. By pursuing the thing I’ve dreamed of doing since I can , but on my , and without any specific outcome in mind, I am setting myself up for a far healthier and more productive adult life. I have a clean slate. I am pursuing the American Dream: no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, America holds the key to a future you didn’t yet know existed. I’m getting schmaltzy, I know, but I think there’s credence to it. Some people would call this a quarter life crisis, but I look at this as a reckoning, and one that was on its way for quite some time. Maybe it’s the final nail in the coffin of my ‘coming out’. Recently, during a conversation with my mom, she suggested that I have a more celebratory event to mark my coming out as a gay man. For a moment I was floored by how full of empathy that statement was, but I realised she was right. We are fragile beings and most of us are still just piecing ourselves back together. It becomes worrying, however, when your life seems to mainly consist of crazy glue and patience. RuPaul’s Drag Race has made a mantra out of ‘loving yourself’, and while repetition begets kitsch, I love her for g off in this fashion. I’ve watched men on that show who have struggled through adversity I cannot comprehend how they come out the other end with a smile on their face and their heads held high, exclaiming, ‘I LOVE MYSELF, HUNTY!’ A lot of the contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race live in LA, so I’m heading to West Hollywood once I land. I think that’s a good place to start; with people who probably feel just as lost but determined to find themselves as I am. And maybe they have some leads on some auditions. Who knows? Q gaytimes.co.uk

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REAL LIFE

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[life]

WORDS JOHN MARRS IMAGES ROBERT GERSHINSON

LEADER OF THE PACK Thrown into care homes as a boy after sexual abuse tore his family apart, Richie Womersley was bullied and forced into prostitution aged just ten. But his horrific childhood gave him the determination to make a success out of his life. Now aged 30, his dog walking business has just won him a major award BY ANYONE’S STANDARDS, Richie Womersley’s childhood was the thing of nightmares. A paedophile stepfather, a mother who kept him prisoner, bullied in care homes for being gay and then forced into prostitution. It’s hard to believe he’s now a successful businessman who’s turned his life around. Richie, 30, owns and runs The Dog Walker, a business targeting busy pet owners and which now has more than 1,000 dogs on its books. And it’s his love of his canine friends that gaytimes.co.uk

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helped transform his life from his torturous beginnings. “I was four when my dad left me, my mum, and my brother and sister,” he recalls. “I think because the break-up was so difficult for her that she resented my brother and I. She would lock us up in our bedroom for hours at a time with no access to water or a toilet. We had no curtains, light bulbs, carpets or toys – we couldn’t open the door or window or do anything. Meanwhile my sister was treated like a princess.

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WorldMags.net It was difficult to say the least.” But things took a turn for the worse when her new boyfriend was revealed to be a paedophile who was sexually abusing a member of Richie’s family. When he was eight, all three children were eventually taken into care. “When I went into care I was absolutely relieved because I was out of that bedroom and I was able to be myself,” Richie continues. “I’d always known I was gay even then and I never tried to hide it. But the other kids would beat me severely and ridicule me for it.” Eventually, Richie was moved to a different home, but his problems spiralled to a new low. “When I was ten, there was a boy in the home who took advantage of my situation and used me to do prostitution for him,” Richie explains. “I was forced into doing things for money with much older men, way into their 40s and 50s, which was quite traumatic. I was always unsettled. I was bullied by kids in the care home; by kids outside the home because I was in care and then sexually abused by those men who were paying to have sex with me. So I ran away a lot, staying in the city centre or sleeping in cardboard boxes just to get away from everything.” After four years of prostitution, Richie plucked up the courage to talk to someone about his living hell. “I’d got to know a member of staff really well and she ended up being like a mother to me,” he says. “I told her about the prostitution and eventually the men who abused me were prosecuted. For the first time, I felt like I’d accomplished something and that was the end of the nightmare. “It made me start to believe I could stand up for myself. It made me more determined about who I was and what I was about. At 16 I knew I didn’t want to be one of those young people who stayed at a halfway house and got dole money every gaytimes.co.uk

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[life]

week and who didn’t do anything with their life. “So I moved to another area and started from scratch. I knew I’d never be able to forget about what happened, but I didn’t want to be bitter and twisted for the rest if my life. I thought ‘Get over it and carry on.’ Richie threw himself into a multitude of jobs including kitchen pot washing, sweeping floors, employment agency work and working at local kennels. But seeing stressed out pets behind bars upset him. “I had so much love to give and I never had much of it in my life,” he recalls. “I was treated like an animal by my family and I saw all these dogs and cats locked in cages and I felt an affinity with them. I didn’t like it and I knew they didn’t either.” Three years later in 2006, The Dog Walker was born. Richie now employs 11 staff, has expanded across Yorkshire with six franchisees and has just gone national. He housesits for dog lovers away on holiday or takes them to his own home, where he lives with partner of six years John, who now works with Richie in Wetherby. And he recently won the 2013 Ackrill Media Group Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award. Although he is only recently in touch with one of his family – an uncle – he couldn’t be happier with the way his life has turned out. “When I look back on how my life started I really can’t believe how far I’ve come,” its Richie. “I pinch myself. Most of the kids I knew from home are in prison, dead or on drugs. But I had the determination and ion to be someone else. Everybody has the ability to change their future. I was dealt a bad hand of cards, but I gave some of those cards back because I knew I was going to do something else – something better.” Q the-dogwalker.co.uk, @the_dogwalker

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WorldMags.net THE BIGGEST FERTILITY SERVICES SHOW IN EUROPE COMES TO MANCHESTER IN APRIL ADVERTORIAL

The Building Families Show will be held in April 2014 in the northern gem of Manchester. Never before has the North West hosted such an event, EULQJLQJWRJHWKHUVRPHRIWKHZRUOG·V biggest experts on IVF, surrogacy and egg donation. The event promises to attract crowds not only from the North West but from all across the UK and (XURSH6RLI\RX·UHDFRXSOHORRNLQJ for IVF services, particularly egg donation or surrogacy, then this event is GHÀQLWHO\IRU\RX 7KHDPD]LQJOLQHXSRIVSHDNHUVZLOO include: Dr Guy Ringler, California Fertility Partners (USA) Andy Glew, Director of Embryology at Simply Fertility (UK) Barrie Dewitt-Barlow, Director, 6RFLDO:RUNDW%ULWLVK6XUURJDF\ Centre (USA/UK) Bobby Norris, TOWIE star and about to be a new dad through surrogacy Dubbed “The Biggest Baby Event in Europe”, the Building Families Show LVD´GRQ·WPLVVµIRUDQ\RQHZLWKDQ interest in IVF, surrogacy, egg or sperm donation. And if you are a business owner who contributes to the fertility industry, then this event will be the perfect opportunity to promote yourself. Whether you are a surrogacy centre, egg or sperm donation clinic, or specialise in IVF, then please get in with us.

Returning headline sponsors this year already include the British Surrogacy Centre based in Essex, and California Fertility Partners, based in the USA. %RWKFRPSDQLHVUHSRUWKXJHEHQHÀWV from their involvement last year, so GRQ·WPLVVRXW7KLVRQHGD\HYHQWZLOO EHDQDPD]LQJPDUNHWLQJRSSRUWXQLW\ not only to meet future parents but also to meet other worldwide industry professionals. So do not hesitate to get in with us about having your own stand at the event. Repeat stand-holders are offered a GLVFRXQWRQODVW\HDU·VUDWHV

Saturday 5 April 2014 The Mercure, Manchester Piccadilly Hotel Conference Suite Manchester [email protected] thebuildingfamiliesshow.com 01621 878 658

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[life]

WorldMags.net[pets]

STEW AND THEO A DOG’S LIFE “Looks like his paws are firmly under the table”, the breeder said at the end of my first month with Theo. He’d been staying with me on a month’s home trial. Due to unforeseen circumstances, a friend – who also had Theo’s father – offered him to me aged two. His owner was heartbroken at giving him up, but knew I had owned Gordon Setters before and was looking for a new four-legged friend. The first month flew by, and his owner came to see how we had got on. “The two of you look like you’ve been together since day dot”, she said. We’ve not looked back since. Theo is a great testament to the Gordon Setter. It often seems a shame they aren’t a more popular breed, as their loyalty and constant energy make them great companions. I fear these characteristics would be ruined were they to get into the hands of non-experienced breeders, though. Theo acts daft at times but, like most dogs, is actually very clever. In fact the breed is said to have the IQ of an average six-year-old child.

We go for long walks at Richmond Park or the beach where he’s at his happiest. Theo can’t wait to swim and it’s often a nightmare getting him to stop. Which is odd, considering I have to don swimming trunks and a very firm voice to get him anywhere near a shower. He’s also not a fan of miniature pooches. Theo runs behind me at the first sign of a toy breed: paws on my shoulders, staring down at the ‘frightening’ miniature dog. A pretty odd sight. One thing Theo definitely likes, though, is women (he has only ever humped another boy, much to my amusement/embarrassment). He’s a complete chick magnet! I pretend to be upset by this, but really it just highlights what a hunky breed Settlers are. I would ask Theo for some tips on how to pull while out and about, but considering he has a habit of submerging his whole body in muddy puddles and exposing his ‘crown jewels’ for all to ire, I’m not sure the same rules apply. Unless you’re into that. Q @stewreedjones

April can mean only one thing for animal lovers – National Pet Month! It celebrates all things pet related and emphasises the importance of proper care and the special bond between a pet and its owner. We at GT believe you should treat your pet the way you want to be treated. For starters, make sure your pet is well trained; nobody wants their crotch sniffed at by an untamed beast like it’s closing time at G-A-Y. Provide a nutritious and well balanced diet, not the leftovers from last nights microwave meal. Suitable housing and (Versace) bedding is a basic requirement. Clean up after your pet, worm it regularly and get it neutered if required. Most importantly though, love and appreciate your pet. Not just this month, but all year round. Q

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romantic dinner

[life]

WorldMags.net

Yep that’s right, no wedding cake recipe. Sorry! Now, this doesn’t mean I’m miserable. I’m as happy as anyone that marriage is now equal (do send me your invites). It’s just that I really don’t like making wedding cakes. Fair enough, I’ve only made cakes for a few brides. But each and every time I get annoyingly stressed. It’s the pressure, knowing that this one cake is for their ‘special day’. It’s just something I don’t enjoy, at all! However, I can give you something perfect for a romantic meal. So if you’re planning to pop the question and you want to cook your boyfriend something to set the scene, then this dessert is perfect.

D D E BER KIM W BOY S E H E IS T BAK

HO

Chocolate fondant Makes 6 200g unsalted butter 200g dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids) 5 large eggs 125g caster sugar 100g plain flour 1 tbsp cocoa powder Pinch flaked sea salt Grease six dariole moulds (or ramekins) and coat with a little extra cocoa powder, tapping out any excess. Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water, making

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sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until fully melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Place the eggs and sugar and using an electric mixer, whisk until thick and pale, for about five to ten minutes. While still mixing, pour in the chocolate blend, mixing until fully combined. Sieve over the flour, cocoa powder and salt and fold together until you have a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared moulds and then bake in the preheated oven for eight minutes. Remove from the oven and then immediately invert the fondant onto a serving plate, serve with a little cream or ice cream. The fondants can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake. They can also be frozen and baked right from the freezer, just add on five minutes of baking time. Q Author of The Boy Who Bakes and Say It With Cake, @TheBoyWhoBakes

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WorldMags.net[food]

A SIDE ORDER OF ALAN ROSENTHAL Until yesterday, apart from some

mysteriously disappearing cooking

WRPDNHLWDWKRPH

in at home. However, last night,

the scoundrel’s only lasting legacy.

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inside one of my front door locks. Thankfully, the mangled key was

The £300 for a 24-hour emergency it could have been far worse...

The bitter taste left in my mouth after yesterday’s failed break-in

is a far cry from a much sweeter

experience during a recent trip to

Scotland. Retracing my old haunts

as a student at St Andrews a couple

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pots, I’ve been lucky enough not to experience any kind of break-

Absolut Originality Yes, yes, it’s fine to drink vodka again. Especially given that Absolut have always been staunch ers of gay rights. This new limited edition run features four individually designed bottles, with a drop of cobalt blue infused into the glass during production. So yes, technically, that makes each of them a one-of-a-kind work of art. Now all we need is an Interior Illusions Lounge to drink it in. Q

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with tom jones

[life]

WorldMags.net

A ROOKIE’S GUIDE TO COMPOUND AND ISOLATED EXERCISES

IMAGE JOE MCCORMICK

It can be a jungle out there in the gym. And if you want to survive, you need to know which exercise is right for you For a new starter, the gym can be intimidating, daunting and filled with wild animals. If you’re a bit of a rookie, there’s always going to be a niggling fear in the back of your mind that you’re using the equipment the wrong way, or you’re embarrassing yourself in front of the only hot guy. It leads us to a very common and popular question, though. What works best – compound or isolated exercises? Like any training programme, you need to have a clear idea of your goals before you work 122



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WorldMags.net [get fit] out the best route for achieving them. Compound movements are more associated with strength exercises like deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows and squats. Things that involve more than one t movement, basically. Isolation movements, on the other hand, only involve the one t movement. Things like tricep kickbacks, dumbbell curls, leg extensions and leg curls – causing a concentration in an isolated area. A simple compound workout is ideal for your first-ever training programme. It allows you to strengthen up ts and ligaments, while training the stabiliser muscles ready for when you want to step up. I’d only recommend all-in-one whole body workouts for extremely busy people. And even then, compound movements are the best for that kind of programme. Isolation workouts help target specific areas, like biceps, triceps and hamstrings. We can even dictate, through exercise, the part of the muscle we want to hit – inner or outer quadriceps, for example. Isolated movements are great additions to most programmes, but they’re not advised for those starting right off the bar. Most new starters don’t have the size they want, so need to get some mass. Once you’ve got the muscles, then you can isolate and tone them. A lot of weight-training athletes will have two phases – a bulking up phase and a cutting phase. Bulking up means you have to eat more calories and use some heavy compound movements to get some decent size on you, while cutting is usually where you strip yourself of carbs and fat and use a high ration of isolation exercises to get a leaner look. After six months or so on compound workouts, you should be ready to move on. But be sure to always work to your maximum ability. There’s no point finishing

your workout knowing you could’ve gone heavier, or pushed through the barrier for one more rep. Working to failure always gets the best results. That being said, when it comes to professional athletes, their recommended programmes would use both compound and isolated exercises in their workout plan. Something along the lines of three exercises per body part – or four if you’re working on your back. For example, a typical shoulder workout would start with barbell military presses, side-lateral raises and bent over lateral raises for the rear delts. That would be four sets of between eight to ten reps, depending on your goals. Including both kinds of exercises into your workout allows you to hit each area fully, hitting overall mass on the selected area to start with, and then isolating each head of the muscle group individually to make sure every fibre has been tackled from every angle. But , what works for Mr Olympia might not work for you. You need to that all of our bodies are completely different and react differently to certain movements. You should notice whether or not a programme is working after six weeks or so – especially as your knowledge builds on how exercises are meant to feel the deeper you get into your routine. As you develop a better understanding of how your muscles are meant to feel, you’ll be able to add and remove exercises to suit your needs. And that’s when you can start to add those all-important isolated movements. Balance is key to a well-rounded programme. You’ll get the best results if you work on strength, isolation and a bit of cardio vascular to finish. But , as always, eat well, train well, and you’ll be looking hot. Q

[ask tom] I’ve just started a new training routine, but how do I know the right amount

of weight to use during my workout? The best results are achieved when working to failure. So my advice would be to train as heavy as you possibly can. But to always train safely, without jeopardising your technique and form. Q

Need advice? Ask Tom on Twitter @tomgt1

I’ve recently been using Amino Chewables by Optimum Nutrition. They deliver an increase in focus and energy, an amino blend to aid muscle repair, plus a potent antioxidant system. And at only ten calories, they can be enjoyed at any time to give your training the edge that it needs.

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Mykonos Island, Greece Cyclades Islands Tel +30 22890 23952 +30 24210 24684 Fax +30 22890-23747 [email protected] WorldMags.net Email

IMAGE CHRIS GILES PHOTOGRAPHY

column

[life]

WorldMags.net [paul thorn]

Life isn’t completely random, at least I’ve come to believe that it isn’t. Without direction and a plan for the future, you’re going to need a big dollop of luck for everything to fall into place and work out the way you want. Less than a couple of decades ago, it may have seemed a pointless exercise for someone who is HIV-positive to plan too far into the future, because (and was sadly indeed true for many) there just didn’t seem to be a future on offer. Today it’s a completely different story, and the sensible people with HIV who are on treatment are grasping their future with both hands – and making plans for it. You may have heard the question during a job interview: ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ For a lot of us poz guys the answer to that question may once simply have been: ‘Still alive I hope!’ Personally, I find deciding where I want to be five years from now is a little too far away to even think about. I like seeing the results of the effort I put into things pay off

HIV: RECIPES FOR LIFE

quickly. I’m a ‘quick-fix’ kinda guy! I may be a bit vague on the ‘five years from now’ question, but I have a clearer idea of the near future; today, this week, this month, the next three months, and year ahead. I’m a big one for making lists. In fact I have several notebooks in my bag right now. It’s a source of mirth for some to see me pull one out mid-conversation and start to make a few notes. The notebooks, and other ‘scribblings’ I carry around, provide a sort of roap for the near and not so distant future. I have a simple methodology for assessing where I’m at now and where I want to go that I want to share with you. I always use an A5 spiral notebook (I have a favourite brand), and I buy one per month. The first few pages are always the same. What the overall aims are for the year ahead (just to remind myself), any inspirational quotes that have caught my notice, and a ‘theme’ for the month. The theme focusses on one of the four areas (described here) that

I find deciding where I want to be five years ahead of now is a little too far away to think about. I like seeing the results of the effort I put into things pay off quickly

@paul_thorn

gaytimes.co.uk

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anyone can break down their life into. I divide an A5 page into quarters with a pen and title each one; Home, Self, Work and Finances. I find that most aspects of my life all fall loosely into one of those categories. This method works whether you’re looking a year, a month or a day ahead. In the Home section, for example, I’m decorating my flat at the moment – I might write my next steps. (Be ambitious, but , it’s also important to be realistic about what you want to achieve.) It may also include anything you need or want to buy for your home. The Self column covers a variety of things; health, relationships, diet and exercise, clothes you may need or want to buy, etc. The Work section prioritises what projects or tasks need to be completed next. The Finance section covers which bills need to be paid first, debt repayments, savings, etc. It may seem anal, but I’ve found this method provides me a framework that keeps me on track. Most importantly, I get a better perspective of where I stand today. As I complete a task or goal, I cross it off. I get to see progress and feel a sense of achievement, of moving positively forward. To be a success today, all I need to do is ‘refine’ or make just one thing better. The next month the process starts all over again. While I don’t believe life is completely random, and that we need to take control of it, there are always going to be those left field events that thwart even our best made plans. That doesn’t matter. It’s about moving in the right direction and being able to adapt to whatever life throws at us. The other thing to , our plans and choices aren’t set in stone. It’s always OK to change your mind. Q

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As home to an eclectic assortment of restaurants, bars, bistros and cafes, you’re bound to find something that stimulates all your senses in Key West.

fla-keys.com/gaykeywest 0208 686 2600

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BIG PINE KEY & THE LOWER KEYS

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[life]

WorldMags.net [rights]

LETTER FROM EQUADOR WE LOOK AT THE LIVES AND RIGHTS OF GAY MEN FROM AROUND THE GLOBE IN 2014

Efraín Soria explains: 0\ÀUVWPHPRU\RI KRPRVH[XDOLW\LV YHU\FOHDU,WZDVDYHU\LPSRUWDQW PRPHQWLQP\OLIH2QHPRUQLQJ ZKHQ,ZDVDERXWHLJKW,ZDVRXW LQWKHVWUHHWLQ6DQ-XDQZLWKP\ PRWKHU,VDZWZR\RXQJER\V ERWKHULQJDQRWKHUSHUVRQZKR FDXJKWP\DWWHQWLRQEHFDXVHWKH\ KDGDVOLJKWO\GLIIHUHQWORRNWRWKH ZRPHQ,VDZHYHU\GD\,DVNHG P\PRWKHUDERXWWKLV6KHWROGPH HPSKDWLFDOO\¶GRQ·WWDNHDQ\QRWLFH WKDW·VDEDGWKLQJ· 7KDWPHPRU\FDPHEDFNWRPH ZKHQ,ZDV$WWKDWWLPH,EHJDQ WRIHHOVRPHWKLQJLQVLGHPHLWZDV KDUGWRGHVFULEH,ZDQWHGVRPHWKLQJ EXWLWZDVQ·WYHU\FOHDUZKDW6KRUWO\ DIWHU,EHJDQWRGHYHORSVWURQJHU IHHOLQJV,ZDQWHGWRVHHRWKHUPHQ DQG,ZDQWHGWRVHHWKHPQXGH7KH\ VHHPHGDWWUDFWLYHDQGKDQGVRPH, NQHZWKDW,FRXOGQRWWDONDERXWLWDQG NHSWVLOHQW%\WKHQ,ZDVDOUHDG\ LQKLJKVFKRRO0\DGROHVFHQFH ZDVWKHZRUVWWLPHRIP\OLIH,·YH QHYHUIHOWPRUHDWWDFNHGYXOQHUDEOH XQSURWHFWHGORQHO\DQGLQVHFXUH,

YES Same-sex sexual activity legal Equal age of consent Anti-discrimination laws in employment, the provision of goods and services and in all other areas (inc. indirect discrimination, hate speech) Recognition of same-sex couples Gays allowed to serve in military Right to change legal gender

NO Both t and step adoption by same-sex couples Same-sex marriage Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples MSMs allowed to donate blood

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CHICAGO UNITED STATES WORDS LEE DALLOWAY

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WorldMags.net [travel]

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YC? You’ve done it! LA? Facelifts and fake smiles. San Francisco? That’s a long way to go for an old prison and earthquakes (jokes – we love SF!) But there’s a gem of a holiday destination nestled in America’s Midwest that any self-respecting gayer seriously needs to see... Until recently, Chicago hasn’t had the glamorous PR afforded to certain other American metropolises. A city known largely to Brits thanks to supermarket pizza and a load of bob-haired actresses trotting around the West End in flapper beads and fishnets. But the last few years have seen a huge upswing in the popularity of The Windy City and we can see why. A city that taught us how to sing (the blues) and how to dance (the infamous 80s house movement), there was an inkling of what to expect from the people of Chicago before we’d even touched down on US soil. Two fabulous air stewards, Midwest born and raised, were soon falling over themselves to tell us the best gay bars to see during our stay. These jovial ladies knew what this group of homo-leaning Brits abroad wanted – strong drinks and sights too big to fit into our tiny island. For us, there’s nothing better that driving into a big city from the airport and watching the skyline appear, seeing both iconic and alien architecture gradually arriving into view. Chicago delivers on this big time; a city that built ever upwards from the Great Chicago Fire of

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1871 and never looked back. Or down. An impressive mixture of classic, heavy US architecture known as ‘Chicago School’ (yeah, they kind of invented it) and ultra modern, glass sky botherers. To really learn about the city, the Architecture River Cruise is highly recommended. Don’t let its slightly school trip-style name put you off, it provides a fascinating insight into a city with a relatively short but intriguing history. A city that seemingly learns from its mistakes and uses it to build a better, more prosperous place for its citizens. When you’ve stayed at (read: woke up in) a lot of hotels, you

the Magnificent Mile, a section of Michigan Avenue chock full of midrange to high end stores, a number of landmarks, restaurants, theatres, museums, bars and media. History, communication and the almighty dollar collide here for an experience that’s genuinely more sophisticated and visually stunning than the tourist fodder many cities serve up. But it’s an area naturally for visitors and affluent residents, not so satisfying if you like your holiday menu to have a taste of what life’s really like for your destination’s citizens. If you want to get under the city’s skin, and increase your chance

If you want to get under the city’s skin, and increase your chance of running into a buff slab of preppy man candy, then onward to Boystown know what to spot in well-run accommodation. If you’re looking for a slick, modern hotel which feels like your own apartment (only nicer) then the Dana Hotel and Spa is for you. Warm, contemporary and gorgeous in both energy and décor, with friendly staff you can have a bit of banter with, rather than the grinning drones America’s service industry loves to foist upon tourists. It’s reasonably priced and boasts a killer rooftop bar, too. Shout out to the girls from the gorgeous Dana Spa who massaged out months of tension from my shoulders and at least a year off my face! Dana is just a short walk from 130



of running into a buff slab of preppy man candy, rather than an excitable mother/daughter combo laden with shopping bags and hair extensions, then onward to Boystown. Famously the world’s first gaybourhood, the area has an extra buzz about it. Anywhere with an eclectic mix of cultures, communities and household incomes commingling together ideally breeds creativity and a sense of togetherness. Lakeview’s Boystown wins here with scores of independent shops, boutiques and speciality restaurants (in particular, Yoshi’s Cafe, a family run French-Asian fusion, and

Wood, a homo hotspot for food and cocktails). Sitting alongside this cultural melee are the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach, one of the few LGBT-specific churches, rainbow pylons featuring plaques dedicated to important figures in queer history and the community’s crowning achievement, the Center on Halstead. This is the largest LGBTQ community centre in the Midwest with more than 1,000 people walking through its doors every day. Offering sexual health services, therapy, training, events and programs, it’s truly inspirational and something the UK should be taking notes from. For a similar, diverse vibe, check out the Swedish-inspired Andersonville, another centre of homoxualiciousness (yes, we made that word up), home to the Gerber/ Hart Library, the largest gay and lesbian archive in the Midwest and the gorgeous Hollywood Beach, ridiculously popular in the summer. Art, culture and beauty thrive in Chicago and are readily available to the public. There’s a huge artist community, particularly around River North, which, after Manhattan, hosts the largest number of galleries in the US. Every form and style imaginable sit side-by-side in a bustling hive of coffee shops, eateries and bars; a perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon. Millennium Park proudly boasts award-winning credentials as a centre of leisure, and you can see why. The park is exquisite, particularly the architecturally stunning Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a sophisticated outdoor concert venue, and, of course, Anish Kapoor’s hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture, more commonly known as The Bean. Even if you’re one of those miserable buggers that has no time for what traditionally es gaytimes.co.uk

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net [travel] for art or culture, and sometimes even we’re guilty of that, you just can’t ignore jaw-dropping beauty of The Bean. A smooth, ultra modern, stainless steel structure that distorts reality in its reflective surface and contrasts beautifully with some of the more hulking architecture Chicago serves up. Chicago is certainly a town that loves to drink, and does so with an array of high end bars that allows you to take in the night skyline with a cocktail, right through to friendly dive bars where you can watch sports, drink cheap beer or even soak up some jazz. Chicago’s approach to boozing is refreshingly fun and lighthearted (Check out the awesome cocktail bar Three Dots and a Dash) in comparison to London’s less than charming alcoholism, where vomiting in the gutter deftly masks the fact you’re a highly ABOVE SKATING NEAR ANISH .$32256·6&/28'*$7( BELOW7+(2/'&+,&$*2 THEATRE

uninteresting person. Even in the most lowbrow of boozers and restaurants, Chicago musters up an atmospheric, quirky charm. If you don’t just want to get sloshed and are looking for some good eats, Chi-town is full-to-bursting with them! We highly recommend having a delicious breakfast at Beatrix, lunch at the well-heeled Siena Tavern and dinner at the ultra-funky Graham Elliot Bistro. These barely even scratch the surface of all the delicious dining options on offer around this town, but we don’t have an extra eight pages to go through them all. Quite honestly, we didn’t want to leave Chicago. This delicious melting pot of a city has now becoming a major player in international business and tourism while retaining the feeling of a warm and welcoming large town. Chicago – we’re in love! Q GT stayedDWWKH'DQD+RWHO GDQDKRWHODQGVSDFRPGT travelled with 8QLWHG$LUOLQHV8QLWHGFRP'LVFRYHUPRUH DWFKRRVHFKLFDJRFRP

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short break

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WORDS BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH

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I

t was recently reported that the world is facing a wine shortage – some 300 million more bottles were consumed than produced in 2012. And there are now more than three billion bottles a year being knocked back around dinner tables, wine bars and bike sheds – so we’re in dire need of some more places to produce it. That’s where Bordeaux comes in. Set in the sunny Aquitaine region of the south of , it’s become famous for its fine wine production, keeping much of and the wine bars of the world in stock. The city’s roaming vineyards and range of top end restaurants have long drawn in the French glitterati and overseas tourists alike. What’s better is that us Brits are

strongly in Bordeaux’s favour. Such a lot of Europe’s tourist hot spots – and indeed hot spots further afield – have found themselves in the self-parody stakes, losing the quirks and eccentricities that made them so inviting in the first place. For those who haven’t visited the south of , you might imagine the stereotype of Frenchmen taking long, leisurely lunches, cigarette in one hand and wine the other as some sort of bygone cliché. But in Bordeaux it’s as alive as ever, with local cafes and restaurants filled with people taking long lunches. No Tesco meal deals are getting flogged here. Le Saint-James itself is located in the village of Bouliac, with panoramic views over Bordeaux’s vineyards. The residence boasts 15 bedrooms, three suites, a heated outdoor

24 HOURS IN

up to head out and harvest the year’s production, hands on. Fortunately they follow up such a strenuous exercise with a big lunch. If you’re feeling more generous on the wine front after some unwinding in the sun (or if you’re an ill-thinking drunk) then you can bag yourself a 1989 variety costing €15,000 a bottle. Apparently 89 was a great year, but then if you can have a bottle of wine in the house for 25 years without drinking it, you deserve a pretty hefty reward. Not that we’ve ever had a €15,000 bottle of wine; so for what is essentially fermented grape juice, we expect it’s exceptional. Any readers pitching for the 15k stuff, do educate us. And maybe bag us a bottle too, y’know, like friends do? If it’s the cooking you’re in Bordeaux for, then the restaurant’s Michelinstarred chef is able to rustle up some impressive specialties (and for rather less than €15,000). Dining below huge bay windows overlooking the Merlot vines, there are impressive offers for all three meals of the day. Even breakfast is a multiple course meal here: with freshly baked breads, smoked fish, meats, yoghurt pots, sweet pots, fruit juices, fruit teas and even a full English option for those who request it. It’s a little posher than what you get down the Little Chef. The food doesn’t have to be left in , either, as chef Benjamin Bonnay is on hand for cookery lessons, so you can bring it back to Blighty. His foody lessons are great – partly because of the top-of-therange facilities and his amenable teacher manner, but mainly because he’s beautiful. There’s no need for ketchup with someone as saucy as Bonnay in the kitchen. Q

BORDEAUX practically locals, with easyJet flights to Bordeaux being barely one hour from London. About the time it takes to get through a bottle, appropriately. The city of Bordeaux packs in a string of Michelin star restaurants for its 1.1 million residents. In between vineries, traditional French cafes and the shards of continental sun that splinter its cobbled streets. Bordeaux is a city that feels every bit French. GT headed out to Le Saint-James, a hotel and cookery school on the outskirts of Bordeaux. Suffering no shortage of wine, Le Saint-James produces its own variety on site every year. In fact the whole place is surrounded by vines, so you can appreciate the grape vines growing strong and wise, while you sink the previous year’s stock. It’s the authenticity that goes so 132



swimming pool, a Michelin star restaurant and even its own cookery school. Pretty impressive. For the wine lovers (and let’s be honest, that’s the real motivation for going to ) Le Saint-James has some 2,000 bottles stacked up in its cellar. Which should be enough to last us a couple of nights. Or rather, a couple of courses, as the well-informed staff on hand are able to pick the best wines to go with every flavour during the restaurant’s many course meals. The wine grown in Le SaintJames’ own vineyards is the real treat. Le Vin du Jardon has been in production for more than a decade, but the expert team have only just become sufficiently satisfied with their product to sell it, at €50. You’re likely to want a drink of it, though, because if you’re there on picking day, hotel staff get the whole place

GT travelled with easyJet from London Gatwick to Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, easyjet.com. GT stayed at Le Saint-James hotel and restaurant. Rooms start from £165 per night with extra beds available from €50, saintjames-bouliac.com

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