All posts tagged: gay

A former SSPX priest embraces life as a gay man and tattoo artist

A former SSPX priest embraces life as a gay man and tattoo artist

Published by Sam Flores

Get RNS’ thoughtful, essential religion reporting every morning. Sign up for free! EXTON, Pennsylvania (RNS) — In March 2024, Francis Palmquist bent over his right calf and carefully tattooed the tear rolling down Mary’s cheek as depicted in the famous image. It was six years after he left Catholic priesthood and the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. “Happy Mary doesn’t resonate with me, but Mary in front of the cross feeling so much sorrow — a sword going through her heart — that’s where I relate,” Palmquist said. “Our Lady of Sorrows” was the first piece he tattooed on himself in the realism style, which has quickly become his signature. In some traditionalist circles, Palmquist’s story — from SSPX priest to his two-year stint on YouTube discussing the faith and being gay — is already infamous. Unlike in more mainstream branches of Catholicism, there aren’t other former members of the society, which rejects many Second Vatican Council reforms, who are talking on the internet about coming out. But in the last four years, Palmquist’s …

Quozy Mysteries (Be Gay, Solve Crimes!)

Quozy Mysteries (Be Gay, Solve Crimes!)

Published by Jenni Sidey

My hot take: cozy mysteries are even better when they’re queer. Quozy mysteries, as they’ve been dubbed, feature queer characters solving crimes. Because the mysteries are cozy, the crimes are typically rather bloodless and done off the page. And the settings of the books are more evocative than gritty. More apothecaries and bed and breakfasts, fewer dark alleys. If these are the kinds of mysteries you seek, you’re in luck. Quozy mystery is a growing subgenre. You can have historical quozy, paranormal quozy, even science fiction and fantasy quozy. There is no corner of literature to which authors won’t add a queer cozy mystery. For that, we should applaud them. Several of the books are also parts of series. I love to rely on an author who can bring me back to a familiar setting and give my favorite amateur detective a new villain to unmask. Most of these also involve some amount of romance as a plot alongside the mystery. I’m hoping some of these new series contain tantalizingly slow romances that play out …

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 …

Meryl Streep: ‘Would we have fashion without gay people?’

Meryl Streep: ‘Would we have fashion without gay people?’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Meryl Streep has reflected on the popularity of The Devil Wears Prada with the LGBT+ community as the release date nears for the hit fashion comedy’s upcoming sequel. The Oscar-winning actor played fashion editor Miranda Priestly in the oft-quoted 2006 original, and she reprises her role in the new film, which is due in cinemas on May 1. Speaking to Out magazine about the queer audiences who have embraced the films and her character in particular, Streep said: “It makes me so happy! Would we have fashion without gay people? Forgive me, would we have anything? I wouldn’t know how to put together anything. It’s a joy to have made it with [the LGBTQ+] community in mind. Top of mind.” She added that the new film has been well received by people from a wide variety of backgrounds, saying: “It’s cross culture. We’ve just been around the world with this. The reaction is the same in Mexico City as Tokyo, as Seoul, as Shanghai… I honestly was surprised. I really was surprised by the universality …

How Stereotypes Inform the Way Gay Men See Themselves

How Stereotypes Inform the Way Gay Men See Themselves

Published by Jenni Sidey

This week, Wired published an article titled “Inside the Gay Tech Mafia,” profiling the network of gay men in the tech industry. Beyond documenting professional influence, the piece emphasized stereotypes about gay men, including gossip, cattiness, and drama. The illustrations accompanying the piece depicted gay men as exaggerated stereotypes, including two limp wrists reaching out to give a handshake coming out of the zipper of their pants. As if the only way gay men greet one another is through our penises. The visual language reduced gay men to limiting stereotypes, which struck a nerve across social media. It demonstrated how even progressive publications default to a single narrative about who gay men are. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie gave one of my favorite talks, “The Danger of a Single Story,” where she explores stereotypes and the consequences of using one narrative to define a group or person. She draws on her own experience as a woman from Nigeria attending college in the United States. She recalls visiting Guadalajara, Mexico, and suddenly noticing people all around her …

Being gay in Uganda, where the death penalty looms

Being gay in Uganda, where the death penalty looms

Published by Sam Flores

Here and there, subtle signals emerged from the crowd, like imperceptible messages. A sidelong glance, a wink. On the evening of Saturday, November 22, two women’s bodies met and brushed against each other in front of the main stage at Nyege Nyege, East Africa’s largest electronic music festival, in Uganda. On the outskirts of Jinja, on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, this seemingly ordinary sensual moment was also an act of rebellion, courage or madness. In early 2023, following a call from the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, the main organization overseeing Islam in Uganda, demonstrations condemning homosexuality took place across the country. A few months later, at the end of May, the country, which has been led for 40 years by President Yoweri Museveni, aged 81, ratified one of the world’s most repressive laws against homosexuals. It introduced the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” meaning any same-sex relations that occur within a relationship involving hierarchy, authority or coercion. It also imposed sentences of up to 20 years in prison for the “promotion of homosexuality,” …

Gay porn’s most shocking taboo

Gay porn’s most shocking taboo

Published by Sam Flores

Based on their YouTube channel, Elijah and Milo Peters just seem like your average, slightly awkward Czech teenage twins. They enjoy role-playing games and steak. They like frolicking around on the beach in their elaborately patterned underwear and taunting each other while bodybuilding. (“Hey you lazy-ee boy! Put some weight on eet!”) But the Peters twins aren’t quite as innocent as their goofy grins and adorable accents suggest. Over the past few months, they have become two of the most controversial performers to hit the gay porn world in a very long time. That’s because they’re willing to break a taboo that, even in an industry that thrives on extremes, is too extreme for many: twin incest (or, more succinctly, twincest). While the concept of twin performers is not new to the gay porn world, the Peters twins are notable both because of the extent of their popularity and the things they are willing to do with each other on camera. They French kiss; they perform oral sex on each other; they have anal sex; …