All posts tagged: gay

Rugby League International Kane Evans Comes Out as Gay in a TV Interview

Rugby League International Kane Evans Comes Out as Gay in a TV Interview

Published by Sam Flores

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ex-rugby league international Kane Evans won’t have to worry about the extortion threats any more or be concerned about his family finding out about his sexuality before he’s ready to tell them. In a television interview Monday with Channel Nine’s “100% Footy,” Evans said he was gay and that he felt like a weight had lifted off him when he finally could talk about it publicly. Evans played 131 games in the elite National Rugby League from 2014-2021 for clubs including the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta and the New Zealand-based Warriors before finishing off his professional career in England in 2023. He played 13 international games for Fiji. “I had three goals in life: It was to play NRL, to buy my parents a house, and then I wanted to top myself, because I was living in denial from a young age,” the 34-year-old Evans said in the television interview. “I know that I’m gay. But I went down every other avenue to sort of build up these walls … to escape …

Rugby League International Kane Evans Comes Out as Gay in a TV Interview

Rugby League International Kane Evans Comes Out as Gay in a TV Interview

Published by Sam Flores

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ex-rugby league international Kane Evans won’t have to worry about the extortion threats any more or be concerned about his family finding out about his sexuality before he’s ready to tell them. In a television interview Monday with Channel Nine’s “100% Footy,” Evans said he was gay and that he felt like a weight had lifted off him when he finally could talk about it publicly. Evans played 131 games in the elite National Rugby League from 2014-2021 for clubs including the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta and the New Zealand-based Warriors before finishing off his professional career in England in 2023. He played 13 international games for Fiji. “I had three goals in life: It was to play NRL, to buy my parents a house, and then I wanted to top myself, because I was living in denial from a young age,” the 34-year-old Evans said in the television interview. “I know that I’m gay. But I went down every other avenue to sort of build up these walls … to escape …

A Mormon father and his gay son, LDS pop culture icons, choose to ‘stay in the room’

A Mormon father and his gay son, LDS pop culture icons, choose to ‘stay in the room’

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — When Jeff McLean was a little baby in the early 1980s, silver-screen icon Jimmy Stewart held him in his arms. And on one of Jeff’s childhood birthdays, theater and movie legend Celeste Holm was there to help celebrate. Such was life in the McLean family, where music, celebrity and Mormon faith intersected. The stars were on hand because of Jeff’s father, Michael McLean, who made many of the movies and ads for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1980s and 1990s. Michael was a shining star who also wrote and recorded inspirational music — “Mormonism’s answer to Billy Joel.” He traveled the world performing for thousands and bearing testimony of his religious convictions. Jeff loved a lot of things about growing up in that orbit. The youngest of the three McLean kids, Jeff was a natural performer and talented singer. He enjoyed touring on the road with his dad and fulfilled many of the church’s expectations for young men: Eagle Scout, mission, BYU. Check, check, check. But always, Jeff …

Doctor Who legend Brian Hodgson: “It’s still dangerous for gay couples to hold hands”

Doctor Who legend Brian Hodgson: “It’s still dangerous for gay couples to hold hands”

Published by Daniella Wilson

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When Brian Hodgson joined the BBC in 1960, he found it a progressive environment to work in, even if old-fashioned attitudes were not uncommon. “The head of Programme Operations – a man I respected greatly – said he would never employ any homosexuals,” recalls Hodgson. “Had he stuck to that, he wouldn’t have had a department, because two thirds of us were gay.” By 1963, Hodgson was established as an avant-garde ace at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, creating the sound world of early Doctor Who – from the grating voices of the Daleks to the roar of the Tardis as it tore through time and space. He features in my new book, You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who, whose key contributors also include the original director Waris Hussein, actors Katy Manning, Matt Lucas, Mandip Gill and Matthew Waterhouse, as well as current showrunner Russell T Davies. Published just ahead of Pride Month in the UK, it follows the series’ 63-year timeline to explore …

These Privacy-Conscious Gay Dating Apps Want to Dethrone Grindr

These Privacy-Conscious Gay Dating Apps Want to Dethrone Grindr

Published by skeptic

You could argue, and people have, that the top gay dating apps are now optimized for monetization and juicing engagement loops. Increasingly overrun with bots, they are at times even devoid of actual connection. Grindr, with its 15 million monthly active users, is drowning in ads while pushing expensive upsells on users. (In February, as part of its “gAI” overhaul, the company announced a new premium monthly subscription tier for $500.) Sniffies was beloved by cruisers until the seismic reaction in April to Match Group’s $100 million investment sparked concerns that another queer space could get absorbed into a larger dating conglomerate. As public backlash against popular queer apps continues to mount, a batch of tech entrepreneurs are scrambling to meet the demand by doubling down on privacy-conscious, community-driven alternatives. Calum Bowden, who posts under the internet persona @donjackoghue, launched MeetMarket in March. Currently only available as a web app, MeetMarket includes all the core features of your typical hookup app—a customizable profile, a grid of nearby users—with one major difference. It was built on …

Rock singer’s wife of 14 years reacts after he comes out as ‘proudly gay man’

Rock singer’s wife of 14 years reacts after he comes out as ‘proudly gay man’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo’s wife, Fleur, has opened up about the “disorientating” experience of her husband coming out as a “proudly gay man.” Shomo, 33, founded the Ohio-based metalcore band Beartooth in 2012, the same year he married Fleur. He is the sole constant member of the group and records much of their music alone. They are expected to release their sixth album, Pure Ecstasy, later this year. In an Instagram post yesterday, Shomo wrote: “There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late and I feel compelled to set the record straight before it affects those I love any further. I am a proudly gay man.” Shomo continues to say that he has been “unpacking and reckoning” with the realization for “quite some time now.” He went on: “When it comes to my art / Beartooth, I have …

Barney Frank, a liberal congressman and trailblazer for gay rights, dies. He was 86.

Barney Frank, a liberal congressman and trailblazer for gay rights, dies. He was 86.

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — Barney Frank, the longtime Democratic congressman and leading liberal who brought new visibility to gay rights and crafted the most significant reforms to the financial system in a generation, has died. He was 86. Frank died late Tuesday, according to Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend. After representing broad swaths of Boston’s suburbs in Congress for 32 years, Frank and his husband moved to Ogunquit, Maine. He entered hospice there in April with congestive heart failure and is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, and sisters, the longtime Democratic strategist Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, along with brother David Frank. A self-described “left-handed gay Jew,” Frank was known for his acerbic wit, combative style and focus on marginalized communities. He represented the party’s left wing while keeping close with Democratic leaders who sometimes frustrated progressives. He is best known as a pioneer for LGBT rights. After decades of grappling with his sexuality, he publicly came out as gay in 1987, the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. With his 2012 …

How Animated Film Satire ‘Jim Queen’ Cast Gay Porn Icon François Sagat

How Animated Film Satire ‘Jim Queen’ Cast Gay Porn Icon François Sagat

Published by Daniella Wilson

French adult animated comedy Jim Queen, which world premiered in Cannes Film Festival‘s Midnight Screenings program, mixes comedy and serious themes. It tells the story of a ripped queer influencer and “king of the Gym Queens” community whose world crumbles when he contracts a mysterious virus that turns gay men in Paris into heterosexuals. The virus is called Heterosis. The titular Jim, whose full name is Jim Parfait, is voiced by Alex Ramirès, with Jérémy Gillet being the voice of Lucien, a closeted virgin who helps him on the hunt for a rumored cure to heal Jim and save the whole LGBTQIA+ community.   In a tribute to the queer community, the film also features recognizable names from it, including singer Philippe Katerine, drag performer La Briochée and gay porn icon François Sagat, who voices Jim’s rival, Pavel. Jim Queen was created by Nicolas Athané and Marco Nguyen in their feature directorial debut. They co-wrote the script with Simon Balteaux and Brice Chevillard. David Alric and Arthur Delabays of French animation studio Bobbypills (Creature Commandos) produced the movie, for which Global …

French Gay Animated Comedy Tells Old Jokes

French Gay Animated Comedy Tells Old Jokes

Published by Daniella Wilson

One goes to Cannes to see the highest of high-minded cinema, bold and searing visions from the world’s foremost auteurs. We peek in on the social upheavals of contemporary Romania, explore the fringes of city life in Tokyo and Seoul, roam the lonely foothills of Anatolia, experience the bustle of Dakar, examine the fraught history of Chile. It is an enriching experience, to see what the planet’s premier and emerging film artists have newly dreamt up. Sometimes, though, one needs a little break from all that heavy stuff. Which is just what the French animated comedy Jim Queen offers this year. Directed by Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen, Jim Queen is a crass, profane, giddily stupid romp through a heap of stereotypes about gay life in Paris. It’s teeming with jokes about prostate orgasms, about tops and bottoms, about fetishes and bodily fluids and G’d out party bois. It comes as a welcome shock to the system here at this august, black-tie film festival. I just wish the movie was funnier and fresher than it …

Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 of brain tumor : NPR

Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 of brain tumor : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Brooklyn Nets center Jason Collins dribbles the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Feb. 23, 2014, in Los Angeles. Mark J. Terrill/AP hide caption toggle caption Mark J. Terrill/AP Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of a brain tumor, his family announced Tuesday. Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He revealed in 2013 that he was gay, an announcement that came toward the end of his playing career. Collins had been diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which has an extremely low survival rate. He was 47. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” Collins’ family said in a statement released through the NBA. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the …