Wordsmiths T Cooper and Felicia Luna Lemus certainly have their own storytelling styles, but these lovers' respective works follow similar trajectories. Nothing is every permanent in their stories.

The sand shifts at the precise moment their protagonists seem to have it all worked out. Their impermanence bleeds into everything, from family history to gender and sexuality to interpersonal relations. Lemus’ new novel Like Son follows Frank, a thirty-year old who has to unearth the meaning of a photograph his dying father hands him.

In Cooper’s Lipshitz 6, or Two Angry Blondes, recently released in paperback, the 100-year-old history of a family starts in the pogroms of Europe and ends with the last offspring impersonating Eminem.

This queer couple's unique manner of brandishing the written word make them a perfect addition to The Style Issue.

We sent their friend and Queerty contributor, James Withers on a mission to mine their minds for a look into their literary idiosyncrasies, the evolution of their relationship and the difference between German and American readers. And, as we find out - um - straight away, this trio has more in common than just writing. They all love gay porn. Who knew?

CONTINUED »

Bent book worms may want to cancel their plans for May 7th. The Publishing Triangle has chosen that night to host their 19th annual self-titled awards show. Not only will the foundation be granting a slew of gay-named honors, (the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry and Randy Shilts Award), but they'll honor Andrew Holleran with a lifetime achievement award.

Holleran, has penned four novels, a collection of short stories and a series of essay. The American University professor garnered - and deserved - endless praise for his classic pre-AIDS gay tale, Dancer from the Dance. The 1978 beauty opens thus:

He was just a face I saw in a discotheque one winter, but it was I who ended up going back to Fire Island to pick up his things. Now my father used to say, and I agree: There is nothing so unhappy as going through the clothes of a friend who has died, to see what may be used and what should be given to charity.

If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and order a copy.

CONTINUED »

Mankind's sex obsessed. Not just the acts of sex, but the facts of sex. For example, what causes Sam's proclivity for whips, while Sally prefers chains? What makes one person desire one thing, while their lover yearns for another? Some shrinks may lay the blame on childhood memories, but some scientists are looking at the more nebulous realm of desire.

Writing for The New York Times, Natalie Angier takes a look at the birds, the bees and everything inbetweens:

Unabashed about acting on their academic appetites, sexologists have gained a wealth of new and often surprising insights into the nature and architecture of sexual desire. They are tracing how men and women diverge in their experience, and where they converge. They are learning how and why people pursue the erotic partners they do, and the circumstances under which those tastes are either fixed or fluid.

Historically, sex research has focussed on the acts themselves - the dirty deeds that inform one's so-called sexual identity. New research suggests, however, that sex isn't so much about the acts as the arousal - the seemingly backward prerequisite for desire.

CONTINUED »

It's common knowledge that Islamic countries forbid homosexuality. It may come as a surprise, then, that Saudi Arabia - the only country ruled entirely by Islamic law - actually affords queers more freedom than other parts of the Middle East. According to The Atlantic's Nadya Labi, not only are Saudi sissies largely unregulated, gay sex has long been the norm.

One of the main tenets of severe Islamic law, or Wahhabism, rules that unrelated men and women cannot socialize. The entire country's been divided into gendered regions. Men hang with men and women hang with women. Gay girls and boys, then, can socialize freely without fear of anti-gay recrimination. Labi writes:

...The kingdom leaves considerable space for homosexual behavior. As long as gays and lesbians maintain a public front of obeisance to Wahhabist norms, they are left to do what they want in private. Vibrant communities of men who enjoy sex with other men can be found in cosmopolitan cities like Jeddah and Riyadh. They meet in schools, in cafés, in the streets, and on the Internet. “You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day,” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah. “They’re quite shameless about it.”

The shamelessness comes not from gay acceptance, but from a distinct divide between one's acts and one's so-called sexuality.

CONTINUED »

We’ve loved BUTT since we discovered our own... Well, okay, that’s not true. We’ve loved BUTT since its 2001 inception. And it’s grown like a five-year old, too. Only bigger. BUTT’s so big, in fact, even straight men have been turned on to the Amsterdam-based pink-papered lit-porn fag rag.

Nerve's Sarah Sundberg writes:

I began to notice Butt surfacing in unexpected places. The first time it happened it barely registered — a straight friend mentioned he liked the irreverent style of BUTT's bedside interviews.
...
Suddenly it seemed to be everywhere... BUTT, the gayest magazine in existence, is achieving name-recognition that signals more than simple crossover appeal — it is sincerely resonating with straight men.

How queer...

CONTINUED »

Baptist Reverend Albert Mohler Jr. made headlines when he advocated aborting would-be gay babies, writing:

If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.

Not surprisingly, these alarming comments made international headlines and riled gay activists. Gay activists Wayne Besen, however, wonders about turning the tables and eliminating religious fundamentalists.

CONTINUED »

Receiving a regular column on a popular gay Asian website's quite an honor. That's why Fridae's newest homo-journo, Jonathan Zhang used his first weekly installment to discuss one of Gayville's most pressing topics: underwear.

It may seem like a frivolous topic, but underwear's the unsung sartorial - not to mention social - hero. As Zhang points out, the right pair of undies can boost your confidence, your crotch and/or your crack. But, of course, those are mere superficialities:

...The most practical aspect of a good pair of undies would be that they make great conversational topics. I’m sure everyone has experienced that great big ominous silence when conversation topics have run dry... Well, just let me say that it did get me out of a ‘tight social spot’ now and then, by suggesting the following activity:

‘Okay, let’s play a game. Guess what is the colour of my underwear?’

We love it! No need to read the paper, have an opinion or even think! Just what the doctor ordered.

But, as Zhang's quick to point out, it's not the underwear that makes the man, "[It's] what’s inside that matters. Inside your ass, that is." A boy after our own fart. Oh, we mean, heart.

ah men! under where? [Fridae]
Image via Vintage Skivvies

Coming across an openly gay lesbian in Syria's like finding an honest drug dealer: impossible. Imagine our surprise, then, when we came across this interview with such a woman named Lina.

She may have been abandoned by her family for loving the ladies, but Lina's just like almost all her country men. She dresses like all the other women, she certainly prays at least five times a day and she definitely, undoubtedly disapproves of most gay rights activists.

CONTINUED »

We had a bit of trouble finding an appropriate image for an earlier post: "Faggot Crackers Still Racist, Say Negro Nancies".

A rainbow flag seemed a bit trite, so we went on a mad search for the perfect visual compliment. Now, we use a variety of image sources, one of which is Google. As part of our quest, we googled "shame" to see if perhaps one of the correspondent images were suited to our desired aesthetic. They weren't...

We were intrigued, however, by the first image that popped up. What was it? Dive into the jump and find out. It's totally NSFW and even more perplexing....

CONTINUED »

There's not enough space in the world to properly discuss this article. In it, five gay black men discuss the reality of racism in gay communities and the controversial - and oft-referenced - parallels between the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement. Rather than getting into the enormous debates and emotional issues here, we'd like to feature three quotes. The first comes from Noah's Arc creator Patrik-Ian Polk:

The truth of the matter is white gay people don't really care about racist and racial issues. They really don't. There's just as much racism within the gay community as anywhere else. You would think gay people would be less racist, but they're just as much.

It's true. Simply being gay doesn't give someone a radically reprogrammed world view. There's no vaccine against racism. Well, except for knowledge...

CONTINUED »

Snickers really couldn't have paid for better publicity. Okay, yes they paid for those abhorred ads - one of which features the two "straight" men accidentally kiss and then go on to prove their hetero bona fides with some wholly bone-headed moves, i.e. ripping out huge swaths of chest hair - and later pulled them, but corporate daddy Masterfoods got exactly what they wanted: endless attention.

The seemingly ubiquitous deliberation, The New York Times' Guy Trebay asserts that the current deliberation only proves the enduring scandal of the gay kiss.

CONTINUED »

Now's the perfect time to mention an AfterElton piece in which Brian Juergens explores the difference between American athletic images and those found in Europe, where calendars like Dieux du Stade have changed the way sportsmen present themselves. Of the difference, photographer Ewoud Broeksma says:

They are not seen as homoerotic, but first of all as art. This is true. I'm not saying this to put the context right in my view, but it is what I hear. They don't think in terms of gay or straight, probably — they're just boys acting like they are in control of the world.

Broeksma's statements recall Mark Simpson's New York Times endorsed, Out Magazine published essay on "Sporno" in which he writes:

Being equal opportunity flirts, today’s sporno stars want to turn everyone on. Partly because sportsmen, like porn stars, are by definition show-offs, but more particularly because it means more money, more power, more endorsements, more kudos.

The essay goes on to wonder why a similar wave hasn't crashed Stateside. The answer, we think, can be found in our old friend Frank Griggs' statement:

I doubt they see it as homoerotic at all. We Americans are just fetishizing cultural difference. Most would say that gay men are responsible for the sudden naked footballer craze, and I think they are, but not in the way you might expect. Homos are definitely styling the best of these shoots, but the end product is being enjoyed by plenty of women along with the frequently acknowledged gay following.

If that damn Snickers commercials any indication, it doesn't seem as if American sportsmen will be allowing themselves to be fetishized by the fagalas anytime soon. And even if they do allow themselves to be marketed to the gay demographic, they probably won't let them oil 'em up. Shame...