The wonderful holiday of Halloween—or as we like to call it at Outward, Hallowqueen!—has come back around, and with it, the temptation for gays and straights alike to try their hands at a little drag. But the road to contoured glory is paved with bad wigs and broken heels. To help you avoid the worst mistakes, we’ve resurrected this first-time-in-drags tutorial from regular contributor Miz Cracker. Read More
Dolly Parton Q&A: The Country Legend on 50 Years in Nashville and Why She Supports Her Gay Fans
On a recent fall afternoon at Nashville's NorthStar Studios, Parton is an animated conversationalist, throwing her head back and laughing often. In person, the legendary entertainer possesses a down-home, self-effacing charm -- disarming for someone who helms an empire that includes the Pigeon Forge, Tenn.-based Dollywood theme park, which annually hosts nearly 2.5 million visitors, and a valuable publishing catalog of such songs as "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You," which she took to No. 1 long before Whitney Houston. In 2014 alone, Parton's 42nd studio album, Blue Smoke, debuted at No. 2 on Top Country Albums and No. 6 on the Billboard 200 -- marking her highest-charting solo album on the latter list -- and wrapped a successful world tour that included performing for 170,000 at the United Kingdom's Glastonbury Festival. Read More
Russian lawmaker wants Finnish Tom of Finland stamps banned as ‘gay propaganda’
Gays in the Military Exhibition
From November 2009 to June 2013 documentary photographer Vincent Cianni made a series of road trips across the United States to interview and photograph roughly 100 gay and lesbian U.S. military veterans and active-duty service members. Cianni, whose work explores community, memory, and the human condition, set out to document how the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service personnel impacted their professional and personal lives.
The culmination of this project, Gays in the Military, which features essays by Alison Nordstrom, Lt. Donald R. Bramer, and Alan M. Steinman was published with Daylight Books this May. Read More
Kenyan police arrest ‘Stories of our Lives’ producer over film licence
‘Stories of our Lives’ is a film about gay and lesbian Kenyans that was banned on allegations it promotes homosexuality. Read More
India talk show changes views on gays
Indian actor Aamir Khan’s hit talk show Satyamev Jayate last night tackled the taboo subject of ‘alternative sexualities,’ with many viewers saying the program changed their perception of LGBTI people. Guests included transgender woman Gazal Dhaliwal and her parents, popular psychologist Deepak Kashyap and LGBTI activists.
Khan listened sympathetically as his LGBTI guests told their coming out stories. Several stressed the importance of parental relationships in shaping their lives and fighting depression and suicidial thoughts. Read More
Kyrgyzstan anti-gay group blocks Kazaky show
Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks Up About Being Gay
While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. [...] I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy. Read More
Elton John AIDS Foundation makes $300,000 (€236,000) donation to the HRC
Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish announced a donation to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the US. The money will be used for HIV awareness and prevention programs, with a focus on young bisexual and gay men and transgender women. Read More
US and Russia Fight Proxy War Over Gay Rights in Kyrgyzstan
'The Red Umbrella Diaries' Documentary Shares Stories Of Queer Sex Workers
Why do individuals make the decision to engage in sex work? The Red Umbrella Diaries is different from other explorations of sex work because its driven by first person stories and though we collaborated with filmmakers who are not sex workers, we had the final say about the content and representations in the film. It's also unique in the spectrum of sex worker media representations because of the variety of people in the film - all are LGBTQ identified, three are women of color (one of whom is trans), and two are men. Read More
Gay in Nunavut: How politics, culture, religion and the English language shape sexuality in the North
This February Inuit people were confronted with questions over homosexuality which had perhaps been brewing for a while: Was homosexuality part of traditional Inuit society? Does it matter? What do the elders say? Are gay people born that way or is it a choice? Are gay kids killing themselves? What should leaders be doing?
The answers to those questions will vary, depending on who you ask, and will be influenced by bravado, wisdom, Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, bigotry, self-righteousness, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, vocabulary, experience, ignorance, fear, courage, and love. Read More