Clik here to view.
Getting Naked after Christmas: The British Boxing Day Dip
In Britain, Christmas is traditionally a time for caroling, exchanging gifts, going to pantomimes...And plunging naked into the frosty Atlantic Ocean. Porthcawl, Wales, has been holding an annual...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Summer 1988: A Preacher, a Porn Star, and Two Cute Young Things
Alan the ex-porn star returned to West Hollywood in late May 1988, having failed to start gay Pentecostal churches in Japan and Thailand. Always optimistic, he planned to try again -- this time in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Little Brown Koko: Teaching Tolerance Through Racism
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I never saw anyone who was Black, except at the Longview Park Pool in the summertime, and when I visited my Cousin George in South Carolina. Over 20% of the population...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nothing Like Before: Homophobia Condemns a Gay Teen
They say "hello" pleasantly as you pass on the street. They don't cringe when you hold hands on the bus. They let you join their churches, as long as you don't take on a leadership role. They will...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bhutan: Land of the Penis
Bhutan a tiny, land-locked kingdom in the Himalayas between Tibet and India, hard to get to from the West (there's only one airport, with regular flights to Bangkok, Katmandu, and Delhi).Buddhist, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kafka's Boyfriend: 10 Surprising Gay Facts about Franz Kafka
The one thing I learned from studying literature for ten years at Augustana College, Indiana University, and USC:Writers must never, ever be gay.If their gayness is undeniable, it is a trivial thing,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Terminator: A Boy and His Robot
I saw The Terminator (1984) during my horrible year at Hell-fer-Sartain State College in Houston, Texas, the most horrible place in the world. So the post-apocalyptic horror plotline didn't seem that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spring 1992: A Dwarf Goes into a Gay Bar
It's not the beginning of a dirty joke. It's the beginning of the worst date in West Hollywood history. I have always been attracted to guys who are short, the shorter the better. Under 5'8" is good,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gay Tibet
Buddhists in the United States are generally gay-positive, but not in Asia. This article by lesbian travelers Katie Cook and Maggie Young discuss the utter impossibility of being open in Lhasa -- to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dorian Nkono: African-Australian Beefcake Star
So I'm watching all of the Terminator movies in order, and in the credits for Terminator: Salvation (2009), the fourth installment, I see Dorian Nkono listed as "Dave."And this rather amazing beefcake...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jimmy Cavaretta: 1970s Trapeze Artist and Playgirl Model
Donny and Marie Osmond weren't the only gay-vague brother-sister act of the 1970s. They had to contend with Jimmy and Terry Cavaretta.Born in 1949, Jimmy Cavaretta began training in the circus arts...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hillside Penis of Cerne Abbas
Who isn't fascinated by lost civilizations and ancient mysteries? Stonehenge, the Palace at Knossos, Mayan temples, Easter Island, the serpent mounds of Ohio. But the museums usually hide the gay...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spring 1992: The Worst Date in West Hollywood History
I have always been attracted to guys who are shorter, the shorter the better. And muscular. So in the spring of 1992, when I got the number of the muscular, 4'10" Ryan at the Faultline, it was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cruising the Romance Novel Aisle
My brother's wife was a big fan of romance novels, so I occasionally got a glimpse of the covers: a paradise of beefcake.One day I stopped by the romance aisle at the bookstore. Incredible! Cover...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fall 1997: Me and the Gay Russian Teenager
In West Hollywood in the 1990s, we practiced a strict age segregation: dance clubs when you were a Cute Young Thing, then leather bars when you started greying, balding, or getting a belly.If you had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Steve Sandvoss: From Gay Mormon to Goat Farmer
I liked Max Sandvoss back when he was Steve: Latter Days (2003) is #3 on my list of the 10 Gay Movies I Love. Maybe because he was playing a Mormon missionary, and I have a thing for clergy-types.But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mr. Peabody and Sherman: Gay Adoption and Preteen Heterosexism
I first encountered most great figures of history, from Leonardo Da Vinci to Alexander Graham Bell, on the Mr. Peabody's Improbable History segment of the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show (1959-64, rerun...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fall 1989: Cruising the Orthodox Cute Young Thing
During my 20s, I was single about half the time, and the other half, involved in short-term romantic relationships.Raul, about 15 months.Fred the Ministerial Student: about 7 monthsJimmy, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins: Adding the Muscle to Modern Dance
Choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991) was famous for two innovations in the dance:1. Modern dance, a "pure" art form divorced from plot, character, and political-social context (though she...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Firesign Theatre: We're All Bozos on This Bus
The youth counterculture of the 1960s listened to Jefferson Airplane, Donovan, -- and the Firesign Theatre.They were a comedy troupe consisting of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip...
View Article