Legendary Violinist Itzhak Perlman Cancels North Carolina Concert In Protest Of HB2

From: NewNowNext

 Violinist Itzhak Perlman canceled his performance in North Carolina yesterday in protest of the state’s anti-LGBT law.

On Tuesday, Perlman posted about his decision on Facebook:

As my fans know, I have spent a lifetime advocating against discrimination towards those with physical disabilities and have been a vocal advocate for treating all people equally.
As such, after great consideration, I have decided to cancel my May 18th concert in North Carolina with the North Carolina Symphony as a stand against House Bill 2.
As Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently stated, HB2 “is about a great deal more than just bathrooms. [It] is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens.”
I couldn’t agree more and will look forward to returning to North Carolina when this discriminatory law is repealed.

Perlman, who contracted polio as a child and walks with the assistance of crutches, later told NPR he had been mulling over what to do for some time.

“The first thought was to cancel,” he said. “And then I thought, ’Well, what’s going to happen to the orchestra musicians? They’re going to suffer. It’s not their fault.’ So I thought that I was going to go, and that I would donate my fee to Equality North Carolina. And I wanted to put fliers into the program explaining my position. So I thought that was all set.”
“And then yesterday morning at 9:30 AM,” Perlman continued, “I get a phone call — and the symphony said, no, the state would not allow that statement. After that exchange, I thought, ’I am going into a hostile situation.’ And that’s when I said, ’As much as I hate to cause problems and stress, I have to have a stand. I’m canceling.'”

Perlmen, who was awarded the Medal of Freedom, calls HB2 “ugly and hostile.”

His performance on Wednesday was to be with the The North Carolina Symphony, which received a quarter of their funding from the state of North Carolina. He says he’s sorry local musicians have been negatively impacted by his decision.

“I really think they are caught in the middle of this ugly period. All I can say is that my thoughts were very pure on this matter… I’m hoping that if the law is repealed, and of course if you still want me, if I’m invited again, we’ll be able to play together in the future.”

Kentucky Woman Beaten For Looking “Too Masculine” While Bystanders Did Nothing

"He told me that he would 'beat me like the man I want to be.'"
From: NewNowNext

A Kentucky woman was taken to the hospital after being beaten by a man who targeted her for looking “too masculine.”

“A man assaulted me because I look like a ‘dike’ [sic]… He told me that he would ‘beat me like the man I want to be.’” Brittany Nicole Wallace posted on Facebook. “He said, ‘people like me make him hate the world.'”

Wallace says the man punched her in the face repeatedly until she was down on the ground, then “he began to kick me in the stomach, side, and face.”

While the two grappled on the ground, a crowd of bystanders stood by watching.

“The sad part is that no one would come help me either,” she recounts. “Several people stood around and watched this happen to me. Again, I truly believe that if I had a more feminine appearance someone would have helped.”

Wallace says the assault damaged her not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. She promises she will work to “put a stop to this hate and violence.”

Ken

Joe Jonas Gets Intimate In DNCE’s New “Toothbrush” Video

White tanks FTW 🙌
From: NewNowNext

 Joe Jonas’ purity ring days are officially long behind him in the new video for DNCE’s latest single, “Tootbrush.”

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter appears in the steamy video alongside Sports Illustrated model Ashley Graham, who made headlines this month as the magazine’s first plus-sized cover model.

👀 #ToothbrushVideo coming very soon...

A photo posted by J O E J O N A S (@joejonas) on May 16, 2016 at 9:01am PDT

For nearly four minutes, the two roll around in bed together, make out at a club, and head back home for a quiet night on the couch as Joe sings “Baby you don’t have to rush / You can leave a toothbrush / At my place.”

Check out the video for “Toothbrush” below, as well as the band’s recent live Vevo LIFT performance of the song:

Hillary Clinton Calls For End To HIV Criminalization Laws

"This issue matters deeply to me."

From: NewNowNext

Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton spoke to attendees of the HIV is Not a Crime Training Academy via a pre-recorded video. In the video, she thanked attendees for their hard work and vowed that, if she were to win the Presidential election, she would reform antiquated HIV criminalization laws.

“This issue matters deeply to me,” she began, “and I’ve always tried to do my part in the fight against this epidemic.”

She went on to say that “we’ve come a very long way” since the early days of HIV but that we still “have a long way to go.” She then acknowledged how the disease disproportionately affects “communities of color, transgender people, gay and bisexual men and young people, around the world.”

It was a frank address and demonstrates Clinton’s renewed interest in characterizing herself as a candidate dedicated to eradicating not only HIV itself, but also the negative stigma often associated with the disease.

The address comes a week after she met with leading HIV activists at her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn for a “blunt, heartfelt and productive” conversation. Many believed this meeting was necessary after she embarrassingly, and incorrectly, honored the late Nancy Regan for her “effective, low-key advocacy” that began the national conversation on HIV/AIDS.

Aside from Clinton’s speech, attendees at the HIV Is Not A Crime event enjoyed words from Kerry Thomas, who is currently serving a 30-year sentence for, essentially, having sex while also having HIV. Many in the activist community see in Thomas’ unjust incarceration the perfect justification for reforming HIV criminalization laws.

HBO Doc “Suited” Profiles A Brooklyn Store Tailor-Made For Trans and Gender-Nonconforming People

"A Bat Mitzvah is about becoming a woman—and I don't want to become a woman."
From: NewNowNext

Suited, a new documentary produced by Girls co-creators Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, profiles a Brooklyn tailor who specializes in clothing for trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.

The film follows New Yorkers who identify across the gender spectrum—including a transitioning young man in search of his Bar Mitzvah outfit and a trans groom who needs a tuxedo for his wedding—as they find their way to Bindle & Keep in Park Slope.

“No one contacts us and says, ‘I want a fitting,’” Bindle & Keep founder Daniel Friedman says in the trailer above. “They usually say, ‘This is my story.’”

The film underscores fashion’s role in crafting identity and self-confidence. “For a lot of people with all kinds of bodies and identities, clothes can make or break every day of their lives,” says one of Bindle & Keep’s tailors.

Suited screened at Sundance and will have its New York premiere at the BAM Cinemefest in June, before premiering on HBO on June 20.

Hasidic Trio Who Beat Gay Black Man Won’t Face Jail Time

The victim, Taj Patterson, is now permanently blind in one eye.
From: NewNowNext

 The three Orthodox Jewish men accused of beating a gay black man in New York have entered a plea deal that will likely see them avoiding any jail time, reports the Daily News.

Abraham Winkler, 40, Mayer Herskovic, 22, and Pinchas Braver, 20, allegedly attacked Taj Patterson, 25, as he was walking down Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg in 2013. The trio, members of a volunteer Jewish security patrol in the area, allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs as they beat him so severely that his eye socket became detached.

 Patterson is now permanently blind in one eye.

But after two witnesses recanted their testimony, the prosecution’s case was severely weakened. Patterson’s lawyer, Andrew Stoll, claims the witnesses were pressured into changing their story by members of the neighborhood’s insular Hasidic community.

 “The Shomrim claim they are committed to justice, yet they shut down witnesses with an efficiency the Mafia would envy. They banish and shun any member of their community who dares to come forward.”

The case largely crumbled once at least two witnesses to the December 2013 beat down changed their version of events after initially implicating the members of the Shomrim volunteer Jewish security patrol, sources said.

According to the News’ source, two of the suspects are accepting a misdemeanor charge, while a third will cop to a felony.

Gay Man Beaten With Chair In Brutal Dallas BBQ Assault Faces His Attacker In Court

"He just kept kicking my head over and over and stomping on it with his feet."
From:  NewNowNext

 The gay man who was brutally assaulted by a man with a wooden chair in a New York City Dallas BBQ restaurant last May was in court yesterday, and took the stand to testify against the man who attacked him.

“I’ve never been attacked like that in my entire life,” Jonathan Snipes told the court.

Last year, Snipes and his boyfriend were dining at the Chelsea restaurant when his assailant, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound man named Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, called him a “faggot” for allegedly spilling a margarita on El-Amin’s table.

When Snipes reacted verbally, El-Amin charged him and and cracked the chair over the back of Snipes’ head, causing severe injuries. After the blow, Snipes laid unconscious as El-Amin stomped his head several times before fleeing the restaurant.

Snipes added: “I’m screaming out at him — ’what’s your problem?’ He just kept kicking my head over and over and stomping on it with his feet.”

An attorney for El-Amin claimed Snipes had instigated the argument by throwing the first punch. El-Amin, he claims, reacted in self-defense.

The New York Daily News reports surveillance footage from the restaurant has been crucial in the case. According to reports, spectators in the courtroom “cringed at the sight and sound of the [chair’s] impact.”

El-Amin was charged with assault, but the attack is not considered a hate crime because El-Amin’s lawyer claims he is also gay.

You can check out surveillance video from the assault below.

Colton Haynes Wins #NationalSendANudeDay

His pic got 51,8000 likes in 43 minutes.
From: NewNowNext

 We didn’t know NationalSendANudeDay was a thing, but now that we do we know who won it.

Colton Haynes is clearly up on his social-media memes.

Now does anyone know how to Photoshop a kitty emoji out of a picture? Asking for a friend.

Colby Keller To Star As Wolverine In Inevitable X-Men Gay Porn Parody

He's the best there is at what he does.
From: NewNowNext

 Colby Keller as a superhero? The gay-porn icon meshes porn with pop culture in his next venture: playing Wolverine in an upcoming x-rated X-men parody from Men.com.

 A promo image of Keller (right) has surfaced, as has one of Brenner Bolton (below) as Cyclops.

 But there’s still no word on what other mutants will pop up in the film. (We’re kind of hoping Nightcrawler’s NOT in it.)

Keller as the clawed crusader may be even better news than if Hugh Jackman was playing Logan in the Men.com movie. The Aussie actor has revealed Wolverine 3, coming in 2017, will be the last time he plays the character after a tenure of nearly 20 years.

Jason

I Couldn't Agree More!

From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

'Seth Meyers has quietly turned the top half of his show into the best comic political-commentary show on television.'

Jack Moore, GQ Magazine

Frank

Christopher

Quote of the Day

Bears Most Likely To Suffer From Low Self-Esteem, Engage In Risky Sex

"Members have described harassment and discrimination from both heterosexuals and homosexuals."
From: NewNowNext

 New research suggests that gay men who identify as bears are more likely to experience lower self-esteem and lower physical health and engage in riskier sex than members of other gay tribes.

Academics at the University of Miami reviewed 11 studies on the bear subculture in the United States, finding that assimilation into gay culture is harder for huskier bear types.

 “Before discovering the bear community, members have described harassment and discrimination from both heterosexuals and homosexuals throughout their lifespan based on weight, which led to lower self-esteem,” reads a report published in The Clinical Journal of Nursing.

“Perpetuating this perception of low self-esteem,” it continues, “is the stereotypical image of a gay man who is usually young, slim, and smooth-skinned, an image which many men who identify as bears do not fit.”

For this reason, bear communities “[offer] a sanctuary for these men as a buffer against discrimination” while also giving them “a sense of belonging.”

Once bears begin to embody this identity, however, some research shows that the pressures to achieve the idealized bear body—whatever that might mean to them—can lead to the same anxiety about body image and sexuality they hoped to escape.

“Despite the health risks that are associated with increased BMI, the promotion of a certain physical appearance that includes a higher BMI is important for men who identify as bears. It helps them to recognize one another, strengthen communal bonds, and promote a gay identity that is masculine, sexual and mature.”

Researchers found that bears were more likely to engage in high-risk sex activities than their peers—including unprotected anal sex, fisting, asphyxiation, voyeurism, and exhibitionism. It was also noted, however, that bears also get tested more than any other gay subculture.

Are There A Lot Fewer Americans With HIV Than We Think?

A new study brings CDC estimates into serious question.
From: NewNowNext

 A new study suggests there are fewer Americans living with HIV than originally believed, and more of them are successfully using anti-retroviral drugs to suppress the virus.

According to the CDC, there are approximately 1.2 million HIV-positive people in the U.S., 86% of whom have been diagnosed.

Of those, 40% are reviving regular medical care, just 37% are on anti-retroviral meds and only 30% have undetectable viral loads.

 But a report published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS), claims an estimate of only 819,200 Americans with the virus. Of that number, 86% have been diagnosed, and a whopping 72% are receiving care. More notable, 68% were on anti-retroviral meds—almost twice the CDC estimate—and 55% are undetectable.

That would seem to be good news—the more people receiving treatment and the more people with undetectable viral loads, the less HIV can spread. Right?

But, as POZ magazine points out, if the nation’s leading health organization is way off in its estimates about one of the most serious medical issues of our time, it’s a problem.

“The CDC method risks overestimating the number of [people] living with HIV/AIDS if duplicate cases were not identified… and deaths were missed by routine death registry matches,” says Dr. Qiang Xia of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the lead author of the study. “Our method is not subject to these limitations and provides a more accurate estimate of the number of persons diagnosed with HIV.”

 So, how did we get two different sets of stats?

To estimate the number of people living with diagnosed HIV in 2011, the CDC researchers used HIV case reporting data, counting all those who have tested positive for the virus and who were not known to have died by the end of that year. To avoid artificially inflating the HIV-diagnosed population, surveillance researchers attempt to “deduplicate” records; but this process is by no means foolproof.

Xia and his team relied on HIV laboratory reporting data to make their own estimate of the size of the HIV-diagnosed population. First, to measure the number of people in care for the virus, they looked at reports from New York City and 19 other jurisdictions, counting as in care all those who had at least one CD4 and viral load test in 2011.

Next, they relied on observed patterns of individuals who were lost to and later returned to HIV care in order to extrapolate the number of those not in care during 2011. Then they added that figure to their estimate of the in-care population to arrive at an estimated number of people diagnosed with the virus. Last, to estimate the total HIV population, they presumed an 86 percent diagnosis rate, just as the CDC has, and extrapolated accordingly.

To arrive at their own estimate of the number of people with HIV who were retained in care in 2011, the CDC researchers looked at a sample of individuals who had at least one HIV care visit between January and April 2011.

Experts seem unsure which data to put their trust in.

“Are we really only 30 percent virally suppressed in this country?” Dr. Jennifer Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at The Kaiser Family Foundation, asked POZ. “We know that in some cities it’s much higher than that. Is [the national figure] as high as 55 percent? I don’t know the answer to that.”

Getting to the right number is essential—not just in understanding how to allocate resources, but to accurately predict how certain interventions will work.

The CDC estimates, for example, that use of PrEP could slash the rate of new HIV infections by 20% in five years—but that’s based on its assumption that only 30% of carriers are virally suppressed. If it’s more like 55%, we should see less of a decline.

For its part, the CDC promises it will release updated information later this year.